On June 14th 2019, the children returned to school from 6pm armed with sleeping bags and bed rolls to participate in a 'Refugee Sleepover.' The evening was designed to enhance the children's understanding of what it would be like to be affected by a natural disaster or living in an area of conflict.
"I enjoyed the team-building sports activities, but it's sad to hear that so many children around the world can't play in safety." - Etholle
On the 7th & 8th June 2019, we welcomed visitors from the school and local communities as well as from Norfolk and further afield to join in with the 25th anniversary of the Open Studios.
Two hedgehogs came to visit Castle Acre with their 'minder' from PACT. We learnt all sorts of things about PACT, the work they do and the animals they care for (around a thousand!), as well as hedgehogs.
Everyone got a chance to handle the hedgehogs which seemed quite friendly and inquisitive. Afterwards it was agreed that this is a very worthwhile charity and a very good choice for our Charity of the Year.
"I really liked holding the hedgehogs." Seth
"I liked stroking their prickles." McKenzie
" I learnt lots about hedgehogs." Esther
The School Council decided it would be fabulous to have an art competition linked to animals as our school charity this year is PACT Animal Sanctuary. The children could use any medium, 2D or 3D. We invited three judges, who had the unenviable task of selecting a winner in each year group from Reception to Year Six. Our judges were Sarah Hickling (a local vet), Canon Nairn and Sophie Keeney.
Our School Charity for the year 2018/19 is PACT, an animal charity based in Norfolk. Each term we hold a fundraiser, our latest being an art competition. Children were asked to create an animal using any medium they wished. It was lovely to see a large amount of entries and we are pleased to say that a total of £47.21 was raised.
The children were very imaginative. We had a pig made from a plastic bottle, a dinosaur made from Lego, a papier-mache fish and another decorated from sweet wrappers to name but a few. Well done everyone!
Our current improvement focus is Global Citizenship. Building upon what the children already know, we are looking at how the children can gain a better understanding of the people and communities beyond their immediate experience.
It was lovely to see so many parents attend our Launch Assembly on Wednesday morning. Children from each of our classes spoke clearly to explain what they have been doing in class so far. Rowan spoke about water, Whitebeam about festivals around the world and Oak shared some startling statistics regarding child poverty.
Thank you to everyone who attended or have contacted school regarding this subject, we are grateful for all the supportive comments.
On Tuesday 12th February Whitebeam went on a school trip to Pensthorpe Nature Reserve.
On Monday 27th January we all dressed in colourful clothes for Caribbean Day and Steel Pan Workshop.
Whitebeam Class had a cafe focusing on writing. We read a book, Arctic Song, and then tried to make our sentences longer and more interesting. We also tried to make them as descriptive as possible.
First we had a page out of the book we were focusing on and with the parents help we highlighted verbs, adjectives, nouns and adverbs.
Next we drew a picture of an arctic animal and decorated it. After that we cut out special templates and tried to describe the animal we chose, making the sentence a little bit longer by adding more words each time.
Finally, we joined all the pieces together to make a mobile.
Soon the parents needed a coffee while the children were tidying up.
Whitebeam say a big thank you to all the parents who came in to help.
Report by Sophie Wilkinson
Spotty Day!