Landguard Fort

On Tuesday, Year 6 ventured to Landguard Fort for an exciting and educational trip. They explored the historic fort, which has defended the coast of Felixstowe for hundreds of years and played an important role in protecting England from potential invasions. The children enjoyed discovering the fort's tunnels, rooms and defensive features while learning about its fascinating history.

They also learned about the beach environment and the impact of plastic pollution on our oceans. A lady called Leonie taught the children about the different types of plastic pollution: microplastics, mesoplastics and macroplastics. Following this, we explored the beach, searching for examples of each type.

We collected a wide variety of rubbish from the shoreline, including fishing nets, buckets, food packaging, sieves and cans. It took only a few minutes to fill our buckets, which was quite shocking and highlighted the scale of the problem.

The children were fascinated by what they discovered and gained a greater understanding of the environmental challenges facing our coastlines. To conclude the day, they created persuasive educational posters to inform others about the harm caused by plastic pollution and encourage people to take action to protect our oceans.

It was a fascinating and thought-provoking day out, combining local history with important environmental learning.

Waste Watchers

On Thursday, Big Bubble Theatre transformed our KS1 children into 'Waste Watchers'. To support the introduction of our new text 'Stella and the Seagull', we were taught about plastic pollution and taking care of the Earth. Remember to REDUCE, RECYCLE and REUSE!

Friday was World Environment Day, this year the focus was on lowering the impact on our environment, so KS1 children took to the playground to limbo, encouraging them to think about how they can reduce their environmental impact. 

Young Engineers at Work: Building Wind Turbines

This morning, our Year 5 engineers had a fantastic experience in the school hall by attending a STEM workshop with STEMPOINT and Will Sealey from Scottish Power Renewables.  We learned all about renewable energy sources. The children then constructed their own mini wind turbines. The children worked like real engineers, designing, testing, and then thinking about how they could make their turbines even better next time. What a brilliant morning learning about renewable energy!

             

Our Schools, Our World celebrate Sir David Attenborough

As part of the Friday Enrichment, "Our Schools, Our World" group wrote a collaborative acrostic about Sir David Attenborough.  We talked about his incredible life; the global impact his TV and films had in making us all aware - adults and children - about the need to help look after the planet.  The discussion that we had amongst the group about the impact of climate change was a revelation sharing thoughts and concerns together.  

David digs deeper into learning about nature

Always passionate about Antarctica

Very little bugs are still important to the world

Inspires us not put rubbish in the sea but to dispose of it correctly

David shows and inspires us to help save the planet

 

All habitats – giant deserts, rainforests, oceans and hills are studied

TV presenter showing us what a wonderful place the world is in nature

The rainforests shouldn’t be chopped down

Endangered animals around the world are being protected

Naturalist who has encouraged people to look after the world

‘Blue Planet’ made us aware of the plastic impact around the globe

Our world matters and we need to understand the world is important

Realising the truth of the impact of climate change on the world

Our ice-caps are melting, we need to take action

Undiscovered lands yet to be found

Global warming is affecting the habitats, the animals and plants

Humans are destroying our planet but he is trying to solve the problem

JRSO poster competition

The JRSOs organised a poster competition asking the children to design a poster to alert drivers in Framlingham to "slow down" for the ducks.  We were delighted that Clive and Emma from Framlingham Town Council were able to come and judge the poster competition and selected two posters which were chosen as they were bright and clearly laid out.   Well done to the girls for their winning posters... watch this space and look out for them around town!!  Thank you to Emma and Clive for judging the competition. 

 

Chicks at SRH

What a busy few days we've had. SRH have welcomed nine beautiful chicks. The children across the school have been fortunate enough to watch the chicks hatch and observe them as they have dried out and fluffed up. They have been mesmerised ever since. As scientists, it has been the perfect opportunity to discuss life cycles, understand how to take care of animals and what they need to thrive.

How EGG-citing!

To celebrate our upcoming book 'The Odd Egg', Key Stage 1 have welcomed some egg-cellent visitors. Watch this space for some egg-ceptionally cute updates. Thank you to The Friends for providing us with this egg-citing opportunity. 😀🥚🐣🐤

Friday enrichment afternoon - Eco awareness group

The Eco awareness group have been busy finding out about different areas of sustainability including energy, food, saving water, biodiversity, renewable and non-renewable energy and how to reduce, reuse and recycle. This group finished this cycle by choosing to make either a board game linked to these topics or they could chose to make a sustainable Christmas decoration using sustainable materials.

In addition to this, the whole school helped make history by attending a special assembly from Union Glacier, Antarctica last Friday about sustainability.   Robert Swan brought children from all around the world to learn why this is a special place and why we all need to help protect it. 

FRIDAY ENRICHMENT - Our Schools, Our World

As our first wave of our enrichment afternoons draws to end this afternoon, the “Our Schools, Our World” sessions have explored many aspects of sustainability within the community, environment and on a larger scale across the world and climate change.

Today the children have created some fantastic board games to show their understanding and have included some great ideas such as “You left a shower on. Miss a go”; “You have reused a t-shirt to make a bag. Move forward 2 spaces” etc all linked to energy, water, biodiversity, renewable sources, reduce, recycle and reuse.  

It was great to see the ideas that the children shared about the positives and the negatives that they have learnt and been applied to their board games.

Last year's Y6 School Councillors visit the Technology Centre

During the last academic year, the Year 5 and 6 school council members attended a meeting of the Framlingham Business Association at the Crown in Framlingham. They shared the inspiration behind the Climate for Justice artwork that had been displayed in the library the previous year. At that event, the students were invited to attend the following network meeting, which took place this past Wednesday at The Technology Centre. 

Four Year 6 children, who had attended the previous meeting as Year 5s, returned to share their thoughts on climate change. They addressed the business owners and offered suggestions on sustainable practices, coming together to deliver a fantastic collaborative speech. We later learned that their message truly inspired some attendees. A few business owners approached us afterward, sharing how the children’s presentation motivated them to reduce plastic usage in their companies and explore more sustainable solutions. Another business owner discussed their ongoing project to convert energy from solar panels to heat 100 radiators: he showed us the app where you could see this happening. 

Overall, the experience was incredibly valuable, providing the next generation with an important platform to share their ideas with current leaders, with the hope of making a real difference.

Class DR - Weaving and Wet Feet

Look at our fabulous artwork, created by weaving the materials we found around Robin Wood. 

It was very warm, so we kept ourselves cool by dipping our feet into the cold water. Just what we needed!

KS1 Trip to Jimmy's Farm

 

On Friday KS1 enjoyed a visit to Jimmy’s Farm. On a wet arrival, we were met by our Rangers, who talked to us about various habitats and animals throughout the farm. As it brightened up, we were able to explore the farm and all it had to offer. We had a lovely picnic in the sunshine before discovering the rest of the surroundings. We looked closely at the plants in each habitat which provided links to our current topic ‘Scented Garden’. The children particularly enjoyed seeing the brown bears and polar bears, as well as walking through the butterfly house. Thank you to all the helpers that made this day possible!

                                       

Global Neighbours

 Tackling  Global Poverty with Christian Aid Award   

 

Pupils with our Bronze Award from Christian Aid’s Global Neighbours Scheme for our global citizenship work.

From work on the Blue Abyss project, to Fairtrade commitment and a very proactive eco-council, pupils and staff at our school have been working hard to take their place as global citizens.

Framlingham Sir Robert Hitcham’s Church of England Primary School has achieved Bronze Award status in Christian Aid’s Global Neighbours scheme in recognition of its wide-ranging steps to love their global neighbour.

The accreditation scheme celebrates schools that are helping pupils learn about global poverty and the Christian responsibility to tackle it, as well as giving them the tools to play a confident part in creating a fairer world.

Mrs Cann says “We are thrilled to be recognised for the work we have done as a whole school community to raise awareness of the extreme inequalities across our globe and perhaps more importantly, the steps we can take to address these. The pupils learn about global issues regularly and gain an understanding of injustice in our world.”

Mrs Nunn, our Global Neighbour and Worship lead, explains “Pupils have been learning about examples of people who faced adversity and overcame this to be courageous advocates for change.  These stories have challenged the whole school community to think about how each of us can make a difference in our local community and globally. We took part in Christian Aid’s scheme because it gives us a practical way of living out our school value of Learning, Caring, Inspiring in the light of Jesus.  We understand that everyone deserves love, respect and compassion.”

Mrs Cann further added “Our world is increasingly connected, and our hope is for our children to grow as responsible global citizens who care about issues such as the environment and access to healthcare. The children have especially enjoyed taking part in Christian Aid’s ‘Creative For Climate Justice Scheme’ and held a gallery exhibition at our local library to share our art following letters to the library.  One piece by Year 6 was displayed in the House of Commons to raise the attention of MPs. Our pupils have written to, and spoken with, the Framlingham Business Association regarding climate Justice.” 

The ‘Creative For Climate Justice Scheme’ gallery exhibition held at Framlingham  library

Year 6 art displayed at the House of Commons.

Alison Brown, Global Neighbours Schools Programme Officer at Christian Aid, said: “The Global Neighbours Scheme was launched in partnership with the Church of England’s Education Office with a vision of helping young people understand more about the inequalities in this world and helping them to become courageous advocates for those who have no voice.

It’s wonderful to see how staff and pupils at Framlingham Sir Robert Hitcham’s have taken this to heart and are seeking to tackle injustice.

Any primary school in England can join the Global Neighbours scheme. There are three levels of accreditation: bronze, silver and gold. These are verified by independent assessors, who look for evidence across five areas: school leadership, teaching and learning; collective worship and spiritual development; pupil participation; and community engagement.”

Framlingham Sir Robert Hitcham’s CEVA Primary School has been the first to achieve this award in Suffolk.