Writer of the Week

Wall of Fame

This morning's Wall of Fame assembly was a little different to usual, owing to an unexpected fire alarm. Thankfully the weather was lovely so we took our assembly outside. 

Mr Pearce just loves having his photo taken so much he wanted to be in this one twice!

The Persistent Chaffinch

Keeping 31 children on task and concentrating at the end of term, when they are tired and really just want to play outside in the glorious sunshine, can sometimes seem like an impossible task. And it seemed that even nature was conspiring against me today as a friendly chaffinch spent most of the day desperately trying to break through the window, apparently as eager to get into the classroom as the children were to get out of it.

It even posed for me when I got the camera out. Oh well, only one more day until the holidays!

Hunting for Eggs

This afternoon, the Easter Bunny (pictured below centre) and his team of helper bunnies, distributed cards, golden coins, eggs and even a golden chicken, around the playground and meadow. The children then worked in pairs within their colour groups to hunt them down for a mini-egg reward.

The weather was perfect and everyone had a fantastic time. Happy Easter everyone!

Quicksticks Hockey Tournament

For some of our older children this has been an extremely busy sporting week, what with cross-country, tag rugby and after school dance club all yesterday, and you could have been forgiven for thinking they might have been a little tired today! Not a bit of it! We set off for Debenham wondering what it would be like, never having entered a Quicksticks tournament before and the first few minutes of the first game were a little hairy, going one nil down. BUT - we soon got into our game and ran out winners 2-1. There then followed another win, and another.. and another! Did we dare hope?
Looking at the match schedules I was thinking - eight games without a break, on fast astroturf, only 4 players in a team, we'll surely run out of steam.
However, the team were SUPERB! They worked as a team, no-one 'hogged' the ball, they passed brilliantly, defended well when they had to, and the tally of victories went up to 6 in a row.
The seventh match - against Mellis - was the toughest yet, but we were going well right up until the end when they scored from a corner. Hopes were dashed at this point, but we didn't have time to be down for long as we had one more game to play. We won that one, so 7 wins out of 8 was pretty impressive, but was it enough? We weren't sure.
Moving over to the presentations, 3rd place was given out as Fressingfield, the suspense was building,
2nd was given as Mellis, hooray - yes - Earl Soham were the winners! Fantastic!
I was so proud to be there this morning to witness a great team effort. WELL DONE!!

TAG Rugby Tournament

On Wednesday afternoon, following on from the exhausting cross-country, Earl soham took part in the TAG Rugby tournament at Thomas Mills High School.

A rather punishing schedule of 8 games in 90minutes saw Earl Soham record 2 wins and a draw. This put Earl Soham in 7th place overall.

Year 2 Mini-Olympics

On a very warm March afternoon our 10 Year 2 children joined the other local primary schools for a fiercely contested 'mini-olympics' competition, organised by the Debenham High Sports Leaders. There were medals to be won in cupstacking, sprinting, low hurdles, bean-bag boccia, and triathlon. After the appropriately named 'heats', we had enjoyed several successes and qualifications for semi-finals.

At the end of the afternoon we returned to school with 2 silver medallists who received their medals in true olympic style on a podium, and several children with near misses finishing in 4th place.
Everyone ran/jumped/threw and stacked extremely hard, and judging by their faces had a great time.
Once again, thank you to the team of parents who transported and stayed to spectate. We'll make cheerleaders of you yet!!

The Human Eye Documentaries

In Blue Class this half term we have been working on a video project.

While some of the class were away on the How Hill residential trip, the ten of us who were left created a video sequence about the human eye. We combined video clips, an interview with our headteacher, and stop-frame animation to produce the video element over three days. We also selected music to accompany our videos from www.jamendo.com.

When everyone else returned we worked on writing narration to tell the story. We tried to ensure our narration had a clear structure, that it helped to link the visual elements together and that it formed a cohesive piece of writing.

Finally, we recorded ourselves and combined all the elements to create the videos embedded below. There are nine videos altogether, all using the same video footage, but with different versions of the narration.

We hope you will take the time to look at some of the results of our hard work and leave us your feedback in the comments on our blog.

A playlist of all the videos can be also found in High Definition on our YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL93B2741D27E96F37

Playlist of our nine videos

Another Cross Country Success

Shortly after 9:00 this morning, we set off to Stonham Aspal for the annual cross country run. For the first time in several years, the event went ahead on the planned date as the glorious Spring sunshine we are having continued to beat down on us.

The children were both nervous and excited, and the staff were anxious to see whether the children would step up to the challenge and better their previous standings.

After a gentle warm-up, the children took their places, the boys setting off first, followed by the girls a few minutes later. Thankfully, all our children managed to avoid injury in the desperate bid to lead the pack when the whistle blew.

Our first boy to cross the line took fourth place, a commendable result. He will go on to the next round, later in the season, accompanied by four girls, who took 7th, 13th, 19th and 21st places.

Congratulations to all the children, many of whom exceeded our, and their own, expectations and improved on last year's result. I am pleased to say that everyone finished the course and the children sportingly cheered on others, some even going back to run the last part of the course with a friend to offer encouragement on the final hill.

I hope you enjoy the photographs below. I am sorry if I did not manage to catch everyone. Some of you were just too quick for me!

Writer of the Week

Wall of Fame

Sports' Activities at DHS

This morning, children in Blue Class from Years 4 and 5 took part in a range of sporting activities at Debenham High School. The activities were organised by Sports' Leaders from DHS and were thoroughly enjoyed by all of the children.

Writer of the Week

Wall of Fame

Mother's Day Lunch

Our special Mother's Day Lunch was a huge success today, with more than a hundred dinners served. Mums, Dads and Grandparents came to share lunch with their children, and despite a rather longer-than-usual wait due to the sheer number of dinners being served, everyone was satiated and had an enjoyable meal. 

Our thanks must go to Caroline, our superb cook, who toiled over the cooker and prepared more vegetables than it seemed humanly possible to prepare!

Thank you for all your hard work.

Hi-5 Netball Tournament

This morning, our squad of players took part in the Hi-5 Netball Tournament at Thomas Mills High School. A tremendous series of performances saw 6 victories (out of 7 games) against Dennington Primary, SRH Framlingham Primary, SRH Debenham Primary, Halesworth Middle (x2) and Wetheringsett Primary.

The 'crunch' match between Earl Soham and Easton Primary resulted in a 5 - 3 victory for our opponents, who deserved their first place overall. A second place finish in our first ever attempt at this format of the game is quite remarkable.

It was great to see the skill, commitment, fair play and enjoyment shown by all the children who have another medal to add to a growing collection.

Writer of the Week

Wall of Fame

OFSTED Inspection - 12th & 13th March

Just to inform you that next week the school will be having an OFSTED inspection. Questionnaires have been sent home today.

Yellow Class Visit to Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology

Despite being apprehensive of the weather yesterday, today dawned kindly and we were able to set off to Cambridge for our postponed museum trip.  On arrival we were met by Jacqui, the Museum's Education Officer, who very quickly inspired the children with her enthusiasm.
She gave us an initial introduction, and was really surprised by the amount of  information the children already knew about the myths and characters in them. The children were then give time to just look, no writing or drawing. We came back together to discuss what they'd found, and again she was impressed by their observations. There followed an activity where the children had to form statues as part of a pediment - the top of a temple. Then some of them imitated some of the statues around them for their friends to guess which one. (Some were much easier to copy than others!)
Next we went off in small groups to look in more detail at some of the themes running through the exhibits, which included Athletes, Fighting, Colour, Gods and Goddesses, and of course the mighty Herakles.

We finished our visit by hearing the story of  Perseus and Medusa and found out why Athena has a Gorgon's head on her breastplate.
After a short walk into town, and lunch, we popped into the Fitzwilliam Museum briefly whilst waiting for the coach, to look at their collection of greek pottery. I think, parents, that many of you may be being asked to take your children back to Cambridge in the holidays as there was so much more to see but no time!
All in all a good day, endorsed by the fact that the museum curator congratulated the children on their enthusiasm, knowledge and understanding of the subject for ones so young. Well done Yellow class!

Writer of the Week

Wall of Fame

How Hill - Day 3 - Orienteering

And so to the final activity of our little 'adventure' - orienteering. Year 3 and 4 children had to locate coloured markers in the woods by using a map, whilst the Year 5 and 6 children needed to use compasses to find the direction they needed to travel in to find the next marker, and so on. It tired me out just watching it from a distance!

Then it was time for one last meal together before boarding the bus for Sunny Suffolk. It's been an interesting few days, during which I've learnt a lot about all of the children and life in general!. This includes:
1) The children's knowledge of the outside world (habitats, food chains, etc) is really good
2) It's incredible what you can find in an owl pellet!
3) The capacity for the consuming of polos and softmints (other minty flavoured confectionery is available) is almost legendary.
4) Thank goodness for digital leaders.
5) The caring attitude shown by all children to one-another is top rate.
6) How humorous the slogan 'may contain nuts' can become!
7) Seeing a Kingfisher and Marsh Harriers will always have a 'wow' factor.
8) Sometimes, it doesn't matter how many times you hold up the same jumper and ask who it belongs to, it is destined not to be claimed...
9) A smile says more than a thousand words.
10) All children appear to love weaving.
And finally,
11) Sleep. Is. Good.

How Hill - Day 3 - Woodland Art

 The first activity of the morning was 'Woodland Art'. the children were allowed to use any material they wished which were no longer alive. With a blank 'canvas' and access to a range of 'resources', the children set about creating their masterpieces in small groups.
A range of pieces were produced which I think are fantastic. By the look s on the children's (and Mrs exton's) faces, they feel rather please with what they've done too.

How Hill Day 3 - We're Up

It is now half past 8. We are packed and ready after a more restful night's sleep. This morning's activities are Orienteering and environmental art.

Below are a selection of pictures of the children before breakfast.

This post has been created by William Handley.

How Hill - Day 2 (Evening)

This afternoon saw the children take part in two very different activities. Again, they were split into two groups, changing over halfway through the afternoon.

Owl pellet dissection was incredible, although the looks on some of the children's faces may suggest otherwise! It was simply incredible discovering the wide range of bones which the owls had been unable to digest.

The other activity was thatching. The children worked in small groups to thatch a section of roof. Their efforts were then judged on appearance, teamwork and waterproof factor. Waterproof factor was by far the most interesting category for judging as it involved a team member standing under their thatched piece and then having a bucket of water thrown at them...

And so ended another great day.

How Hill - Day 2 (Afternoon)

The weather is absolutely beautiful! It is almost impossible to believe that it is only March 1st.
We've just finished a lovely lunch (believe me, the children (and staff) are eating well) and are now about to start our next activities: thatching and owl pellet dissection!

Earlier today, we split into two groups which then swapped activities. There was a fantastic boat trip where the children saw a Kingfisher, four Marsh Harriers, Egyptian Geese, Cormorants and a Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) to name just a few.

The other activity involved observational drawings followed by clay model work.

How Hill - Day 2 (Morning)

As night rapidly turned into day, we awoke (those of us who had slept) to a beautiful hazy morning.

Having showered, brushed teeth and combed hair we settled down to some weaving before breakfast.
This morning a boat trip on the River Ant to Barton Broad beckons...