October - Black History Month

As part of Black History Month, we have been looking at the story of the incredible Rosa Parks.

 

 On the 1st December, 1955, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere. Rosa Parks is called the Mother of the modern-day Civil Rights Movement Further details and activities for children can be found at http://www.gardenofpraise.com/ibdrosa.htm 

The children have also undertaken some group work, researching one of the following: Nelson Mandela, Harriet Tubman, Laurie Cunningham, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Martin Luther King Jr, Dotun Adebayo, Mary Seacole or Will Smith; all people who have (in their own way) worked hard to make a difference in the fight for equality.

 

Whole School Cinema Trip

This morning, the whole school went to Cineworld (Bury St. Edmunds) to watch 'The Lorax' as part of Film Education's National Schools Film Week.

It was a fantastic morning - the children were great and thoroughly enjoyed their time. The film was simply incredible - based on the story by Dr Seuss, 'The Lorax' has a vital message for us all on how to protect the world that we live in so that we'll all be able to enjoy it in the future.

Bedfield 2 Earl Soham 2

On a somewhat chilly autumn afternoon, Earl Soham travelled to our near neighbours, Bedfield, for a spiffing game of association football.

Both schools decided to split themselves into two teams, each contesting a match of two lots of 10mins. During the first  set of action, Earl Soham were rather unfortunate  to find themselves two goals behind having conceded via a corner and a deflected shot.

The next set of action was a highly entertaining goal-less ten minutes which saw end-to-end action between two equally committed teams.

Having reverted back to the original starting line up, the next set of ten minutes saw Earl Sam firstly reduce the deficit through Ashwell and then pull level via a splendidly taken goal by Smith (Z).

So, the last ten minutes would be decisive. Both teams are to be credited for their enthusiasm and endeavour, but neither side could quite find the deciding goal. Thus, it ended 2 - 2.

It was brilliant to see so many of our children playing for the first time - you did really well.

Ultimately, it was fantastic to see two great schools really enjoying the opportunity of being able to compete against each other in such a respectful and enjoyable way. More, please!

Photographs courtesy of H Nesling

'Waiting for Christmas' - Recording Session

 

  This afternoon, 38 of our Key Stage 2 children spent 4 hours recording songs and videos for the 'Waiting for Christmas' project. The children joined many others from local primary schools for a fantastic afternoon of singing, led by such enthusiastic organisers. The children have been learning the lyrics since September, so this was a chance for them to show how much they'd learnt...

 From the recordings, a CD and DVD will produced, which should be available during late November. The project culminates with a live evening performance at the Spa Pavilion, Felixstowe, during the week beginning 2nd December - based on today, it should be marvellous.

I'd like to thank the parents for their support of this project and also complement all of the children on their behaviour during a very long and tiring afternoon.

The project is aiming to raise over £50,000 to to enable Tearfund to undertake projects, supporting families, all over the world. Some of the key aims of the 2012 project are:
• To provide a creative focus of resources for schools leading up to Christmas
• To provide a unifying project for children at primary/junior schools in the area
• To raise awareness of issues of poverty and injustice
• To raise money for charity, particularly for third world children through Tearfund
• To help convey the message of Christmas in a fun way

Suffolk Sports Awards - Primary School of the Year - Runners Up

 Last night saw a group of Earl Soham staff attend the 2012 Suffolk Sports Awards at Trinity Park. It has been an exceptional year for the school both in terms of success and opportunities in many sporting arenas.

Reaching the final three schhols was a tremendous achievement which is a fantastic recognition of the efforts which staff, pupils and parents have put in to providing, participating in and supporting such a variety activities.

This year's winners were St. Louis Roman Catholic Primary School, Newmarket. Below you can see Mrs Barker, who has been such a driving force behind sport at Earl Soham, with our runners up award.

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6-a-side Football Tournament - Semi-Finalists!

Yesterday afternoon, the school football team took part in the Small Schools' Football Tournament at Stradbroke High School.

In a very tight and keenly contested league - Group A, Earl Soham started off with a hard fought draw (0 - 0) against Wetheringsett, followed by a 2 - 0 defeat to Helmingham. The final match against Thorndon (who at the time were unbeaten) proved to be the decider as to who qualified for the knock-out stages.

As it was, Earl Soham turned in their best performance (so far) of the afternoon, winning the match comfortably 2 - 0, both goals courtesy of Jan.

Having done exceptionally well to qualify for the semi-finals, Earl Soham took to the pitch against the winners of Group B, Wortham. The difference between the two teams was a 'rocket' of a free kick by our opponents, but this game was about much more than that. The Earl Soham boys really battled so very hard and can certainly hold their heads up high. As I've always said, it's not always about winning, it's about the effort that you put in, doing your best and, most importantly, enjoying it! Thanks, boys, for a great afternoon.

Bread Making

As part of our DT topic on Bread, we have been baking our own concoctions this week.

We followed our methods carefully (at least those of us who had a method!) and learnt some valuable lessons. For example:

• tsp = teaspoons, tbsp = tablespoons. Don't mix them up and put two tablespoons of salt into your bread - it is very salty!
• Cooking apple and onion don't mix well.
• Don't pour all your water in in one go - you end up with a very sloppy dough.

Although we weren't all successful, we enjoyed the process and will learn from these lessons next time!

Performance Poetry

This week in literacy, we have been rehearsing performance poems. These poems come from the book Spill the Beans by Paul Cookson and David Harmer. 

I Want, I Want, I Want

Picnic on the M25

Unzip Your Lips 

Let us know what you think of our performances in the comments.

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Yellow Class Outdoor Sculptures

Yellow Class outdoor sculptures were inspired by looking at some work by Andy Goldsworthy and also using our topic theme of Rocks and Soils. Under Mrs Exton's guidance they carefully collected rocks and stones from the mound on the meadow left by the recent building work - this must give us more points for innovative recycling!   The results are still currently on display on or near the mound if you haven't yet seen them.

 Year 2 children took a spiral theme for their creation in the first week.

 Year 3 children wove 'Willowsaurus' , standing on a sandy plinth.

 Year 4 began by building a dry stone wall which then 'magically' transformed into a crocodile/gecko/lizardy type creature! 

This 'snail' was created by Year 2/3 children and Mrs Lock after undertaking some stone painting in the Aboriginal dot painting style.

Greetings From Doha!

The Austins have been in touch. I'm sure many of you will recognise the two likely lads in the photograph below!

They wanted to say "Hi" to all their friends back in Earl Soham (some of whom are now at high school) on this, their first day at the Sherborne School, Doha.

It was lovely to hear from two of our ex-pupils who did so much during their short time with us.

 

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Earl Soham Thursday Toddlers

Every Thursday morning, the 'future' of Earl Soham Community Primary School meet in the hall.

Parents are also welcome to join for a cup of tea and a biscuit!

A variety of soft play equipment, toys and games are available to use. 

So, if you've got a child at the school and have a younger sibling, why not join us?!

2012 Suffolk Sports Awards - Short Listed!

 We are delighted to have been short listed for 'The Healthy ambitions Suffolk Primary School of the Year Award' as part of the 2012 Suffolk Sports Awards. 

This is in recognition of a fantastic year of sport for our school which saw many successes and opportunities for so many of our children. Following finishing 1st or 2nd in their regional heats, the school qualified for the Suffolk finals in four events; Quicksticks Hockey, Under 7 Gymnastics, Quadkids Athletics and Under 9 Gymnastics over the course of the year. As well as this the school won the small schools' Rounders tournament, finished 2nd in the Swimming Gala (highest places 'small school'), 3rd in the small schools' Basketball and Football tournaments. It certainly was an 'Olympic' year! 

The awards ceremony takes place on Friday 19th October - fingers crossed!

Custard Cream Pyramids!

Following last week's attempts to build a giant pyramid out of shoe-boxes, we drew on our new-found expertise this afternoon, and attempted to build some rather smaller, but no less impressive, pyramids out of custard creams. 

We began with a 'dry run', stacking our biscuits to form pyramids, then mixed up our 'mortar' (buttercream icing) to stick it all together. 

Of course, the most satisfying thing about making pyramids out of custard creams is eating them immediately afterwards! Thankfully, there was just enough time to grab a photo of each finished pyramid with its creators, before they were demolished.