Friday 31 January 2020

EACH Fundraising

In assembly today, we were delighted to welcome Jo White from the East Anglia Children's Hospice (EACH) for the School Council to present her with our fundraising cheque for an amazing £935.
We'd like to thank families for their generous donations at the Nativity plays, Carol Service and Christmas Jumper Day.

Healthy Eating Hints & Tips

We are grateful for OneLife Suffolk who came into school yesterday to deliver a parent session on ‘BRAIN & BODY FUEL’, i.e. healthy eating for your child (& family).
The session covered the best foods to help boost children at breakfast for a day at school, and foods to help to improve their concentration and learning through the day, along with healthy lunchbox ideas. Parents also shared their own helpful hints and tips with each other.
Those who came along were given handouts, a few of which have been scanned on the links below:

Lunch Box Ideas for 5-8 Year Olds
More information can be found on the Change for Life website.

Remember the Importance of a Healthy Filling Breakfast

Don't forget how important it is for your child to have a good and filling breakfast to help them make the most of their school day. They need to have foods that will sustain their energy levels and boost their brain for learning. 
It's important to avoid high sugar breakfasts which will give an instant lift but then will see them flagging shortly after.

Here's a surprising list of how much sugar is in common breakfast cereals

Wednesday 29 January 2020

Seventh in Suffolk! Football County Finals 2020

On Thursday 23rd January 2020, Nine children from year five and six participated in the Suffolk County final Football tournament. The children were ready, skill-full and together. We thank the adults for their support and the team for their incredible achievements this year.

Bronze at SportsHall Athletics 2020

On Wednesday 22nd January 2020, twenty-one pupils from year five and six participated in an indoor athletics competition. The children were resilient, determined and honest. We thank the sports leaders at TMHS for operating the event so well. Also, we extend our gratitude Mr Parry and the support from our wonderful parents. lastly, we thank the children for their incredible efforts, well done to all. 

Monday 27 January 2020

Class LH looking for clues as 'Street Detectives'!

As part of the 'Street Detectives' topic,  Class LH walked around Framlingham this afternoon looking for clues about how Framlingham has changed.  We identified some different chimneys, doorways and windows.  We also discovered why so many shops have low windows and what a lot of shops there actually were in Framlingham. 

We also talked about some of the street names that we walked down and why they were called these, we looked at how some more recent changes to buildings have covered over or removed the wooden timbers that houses were built from.  We were able to experience how it used to be by walking up through Queen's Head Alley!   

We drew pictures of some of the windows and doors around the town.  

We visited the Thomas Mills' tomb, looked at Thomas Mills' house where he used to live and also the almshouses that he bequeathed money to that were next door to his house and tomb.  

We looked at a lot of street furniture, including lamp posts, the water pump and even  discovered the difference between the post boxes in Double Street and on the Market Hill.  The challenge for our super detectives is to find out what the difference is with the post box at the bottom of Mount Pleasant compared to these two!  There might even be a promotion to a detective inspector from a mere street detective!!

Some of the class taking in the awe and wonder on the Market Hill and identifying changes, looking at the Guildhall, which was the original boys school, and noting how busy it is today compared to some of the archived photos they've been studying.

We also were able to look at Road Safety too and identify good, safe places to cross and were able to cross independently on Double Street when we knew it was safe to cross. We will do more practicing when the JRSO's come and work with us in a few weeks. 

There was a lot of learning to take in that will be used in our follow up work. 

Eco assembly


On Friday in assembly the children from Eco Council shared a very important message about looking after our world. 
They shared lots of ideas including saving electricity and water and picking up litter, before telling the story of The Messy Magpie. 
The main message from the assembly was to encourage recycling in school and at home. 
The children shared the new labels for the recycling bins and our recycling collaboration with Bedfield school. 
Mrs Cooper was incredibly proud of all the children who delivered their message clearly and with such passion!
Keep an eye out for the recycling box on the playground outside Nursery and keep your eyes open for our next Eco initiative...

Edit: By lunchtime on Monday the Bedfield box was already full! Thank you so much for your support. Well done Eco Council!






SRH Art Competition



Following the SRH Art Competition last term the 12 pieces of art have been chosen and displayed.  As a school we have been blown away by the standard of art and I would have loved to display them all.  All of the children came up with unique and individual ideas linked to the theme 'Our World'.  Well done to our overall winner Matilda for her beautiful piece showing how life has changed over 100 years in our seas for the sea animals that live there.   
Please pop in to see the art work displayed down the corridor from the office and here are a few pictures to show you how amazing it looks. 
A big thank you goes to all pupils who entered, I look forward to seeing your entries next year. 
Thank you
Mrs Venton

Young Art East Anglia

Just a few of the amazing works of art from children at our school entered into the Young Art East Anglia competition on the theme of 'A Moment in Time'.


The entries were collected on Friday for judging.  Winning entries will be displayed at the exhibition in the Peter Pears Gallery, Aldeburgh  from 13-15 March.
All money raised from entries and sales goes to Cancer Research UK.

Thursday 23 January 2020

FINANCE, PREMISES & HR MANAGER VACANCY

We are seeking to appoint a Finance, Premises and HR Manager who will work closely with the Headteacher and Governors on budget, financial and HR strategies, and be accountable for all matters relating to the school site and buildings, including compliance.

An application pack can be downloaded from Suffolk Jobs Direct.
Closing Date 5 February 2020; Interview date w/c 10 February 2020; Start Date April 2020

For further details, please contact the Headteacher on (01728) 723354 or email: admin@hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk

Eco Council launch new Recycling Collaboration

On Friday in our assembly Eco Council will be launching a new recycling scheme that we are taking part in, together with Bedfield Primary School. 

Please see the attached poster for information on what we will be able to recycle at school for families - these are items that cannot be recycled through your bi-weekly SCC bin collections.

There will be a box on the playground each morning outside the Nursery fence for the children to put the recycling in and Mrs Cooper will be regularly dropping this to Bedfield Primary School.

The Eco Council are hoping that all families will fully support this scheme and really help make a difference to reducing the landfill waste that we all generate.   Thank you!

Tuesday 21 January 2020

FOREST SCHOOL

WEEK 2 & 3- CLASS LH

We have had a busy couple of weeks at Forest School. The children have enjoyed experimenting with different kinds of wood. Last week using  Elder wood to make necklaces and bracelets and this week using Willow to create fish. We have also been learning about the woodland discussing woodland animals, hibernation and habitats as well as learning about the trees we have at Robin Wood. There were some wonderful creations in the mud kitchen and lots of worms to be found in the digging area. Some of the children worked together to make a fantastic den using pegs,material and rope. We also managed to plant some daffodil and bluebell bulbs!










Friday 17 January 2020

STEM Challenge

Today, the whole school were set an exciting STEM Challenge: to construct a chair made from newspaper and tape. Firstly, we needed to think about what a chair actually is, so we reviewed the definition of a chair. Principally,  a chair is:  'A separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs’. The rules for KS2 were as follows: 
•The chair must  have at least 4 points of contact with the floor.
•The structure must be free- standing, i.e. not supported by anyone or anything.
In the event of a tie break, the winning chair will be the one that holds the team member  the greatest distance from the floor.
When tested, the person must have their feet off the ground, i.e. their body weight is completely supported by the structure.
The houses ventured off to their respective meeting areas, where they were put into smaller groups. After building their chair, the teams came together to decide which one chair would represent the whole house at the end of the day. Ultimately, Howard were victorious but all the staff were blown away by the attitudes of the children and their work ethic.
KS1 and Foundation took part in the challenge, too. The objective was adjusted so groups made a chair which supported a teddy bear. Everyone enjoyed looking at the the various creations that were displayed at the end of the day. A big thank you to everyone who has  donated newspapers over the last 2 weeks. 

Thursday 16 January 2020

Spelling in the balance in Class LH!


Class LH have started gymnastics this term.  We are creating sequences using balances at high level, mid level and low level.  We have been practicing lots of different balances and movements ready to use and perform in our sequences. 

As part of our warm up, we worked with a partner to make different letters of the alphabet at a range of levels.  Some of the letters were really tricky!!

Can you work out what these letters spell?  

First Word:



Second part:

 Did you work it out?  Answer: CLASS LH


Crossing Patrol Service Leaflet

The Suffolk Roadsafe team have provided us with a very useful leaflet regarding School Crossing Patrols and the responsibilities of both Drivers and Parents when the Crossing Patrol is in action.
We feel this is important information to share with parents and, in the interests of all our children's safety, we hope that you will take the time to read it.

Tuesday 14 January 2020

'School Detectives' on the hunt from Class LH

In our “Street Detectives”  topic we will be finding out about the history of Framlingham and comparing differences and similarities of houses, businesses, life in Framlingham and street furniture however class LH started to think about the history of the school and became ‘school detectives’.  We went for a walk around the school hunting for clues from the past and looking for evidence of parts of the school which have changed and have been altered over the years.

Fynley's comment - "I enjoyed being a detective and looking for the clues" and Benjamin enjoyed seeing the school and looking for evidence of the past. 

We found evidence of a special rose motif on the bricks which was made by local brickworks in 1907.  Look carefully at the photo below – the bricks were on the outside of the school in 1907 but miraculously they can now be seen in the corridor outside the office, Class LC and Class VWe.  Check it out next time you are in school!

Other historical evidence we found was of a plaque in memory to Sir Robert Hitcham 1571-1636 who founded the school.  He also founded the almshouses at the back of the school and we went to look at their design.  We also found a school photo 1924 before the school suffered a bombing in 1940, an infant class photo 1948, the school building photo 1969, a plaque for building work by builders in 1993,  a commemorative plaque for the Gilder garden 2000 and a plaque to mark the dedication of the new school extension 2004-2008.

James and Liza both liked seeing the painting of Sir Robert Hitcham by the hall. 

It was great fun finding out about the school and we thought it was amazing to find all these things that can still  be seen around the school.

Looking for evidence and clues around the school 

Finding the plaque to commemorate the Gilder garden which is now our special reflective area

Tuesday 7 January 2020

FOREST SCHOOL

CLASS LH - WEEK 1

A busy first morning for class LH at Robin Wood. The whole class took part in a tree ID hunt to help get familiar with the trees in the woodland.We discussed it was difficult to identify trees without their leaves. 



The children enjoyed experimenting with a new slack line.


Making soup for the animals.




Den building. 


Bug hunting





We finished the morning with a game of 'Eagle Eyes'