Hockey Players get to use top facilities

Yesterday our after school hockey club had a trip to Harleston to use the facilities of Harleston Magpies HC. 21 year 5 and 6 children from Robert Hitcham's had a training session and match on the top class astro turf pitch at the club. Thanks to Mr John Pope for helping with the coaching, Mrs Hunt for taking the photos, Thomas Mills High School for the mini bus and of course to Magpies for the use of the pitch (no charge!). It was a really enjoyable couple of hours and a good opportunity for the children to see & use top class facilities. Magpies has a Nationally recognised Youth system and will be running a beginners course (6 Thursday evenings) after Easter. More details soon.

School Chess Match v Kyson

On the 17th march 2010, our school chess team played Kyson Primary from Woodbridge. The chess tutor for Kyson was Mr Hawes, former teacher at Sir Robert Hitchams.
Our chess team consisted of 12 players, including the reigning champion of last year’s year 5-6 chess tournament – Josh Briggs. Also in the team were Jake Briffa, Lucy Tappenden, Hattie Hopkins, Freddy Legg, Oscar Wood, Theo Bimson, David Orrell, George Johnson, George Harold, Ewan Mclean and Billy Caiger.
The match started out with some early victories for SRH, but several games were concluded with stalemates as time went on. In the end, 1 game was lost, as few drew, but most of us won our games. The final score was 8 ½ - 3 ½ to Sir Robert Hitchams.

Snape Maltings Music for Schools Concert

On Saturday the 13th March our School performed in one of the 6 concerts at Snape Maltings Aldeburgh. We had all been practising hard and learning words to the all of the 5 songs that we sang: Summer is icumen in, Early One Morning, Loch Lommond, Scarborough Fair and On Ilkley Moor bat’at. Beforehand we had been having long rehearsals in the afternoons making sure everyone knew what they were doing. On the big day we had a 30 minute rehearsal at Snape. We were shown to our 2 dressing rooms, where we could go in the interval and before and after the show. Then we went into the concert hall where we did a run through of our performance and made a couple of minor changes.
In the evening, we were asked to arrive at Snape at around 6.15, we went to our dressing rooms and were told when we were going to perform in the show. We had been chosen to perform first after the interval. Before we knew it, it was show time! We were shown to our seats in the front of the audience and watched some of the other school perform.
When it was the interval we went back to our dressing rooms to collect our hats and instruments that we needed for the show. We then got into our three lines to go onto stage, we silently walked to the stage door where we waited anxiously, to perform our act that we had been practising for weeks.
We walked on stage half blinded by the lights and got into our places. Mrs Beal started playing her melodeon, Ella started step dancing to the beat and the recorders joined in shortly after. Then the rest of us started clapping. We then started singing and before we knew it we had sung all of our songs and the audience were clapping and cheering as we walked off the stage and returned to our seats to watched the rest of the show.
When the show was over we walked back to our dressing rooms, we got a programme each. Miss Ashberry and Mrs Mawson gave Graham Owen, Mrs Beal and Mrs Elphick gifts as a Thank You present. We went back to the auditorium to find our families and went home.
We are sure everyone enjoyed the experience.

By Hattie Hopkins and Olivia Lewis.

see videos below showing photos and recordings of the children singing

Military Display in Framlingham

On the 15th March 2010 Year 6 went to Framlingham College for an army display. We met people who been to real battlefields in Afghanistan. They had a whole series of weapons from knifes to Rocket launchers. They was also a collection of vechicles, trucks, landrovers, and armoured personel carrier. We had to do an obstacle course we jumped over hay stacks and went through tunnels. There were boats that we got pulled along by the army people.
We were allowed to go in the vechicles. We saw a cannon which is used for shooting at helicopters or tanks. We also saw some helicopters fly over, so on the whole we had a brilliant afternoon.

By Joshua Briggs and Emily Hunt

See video below for more pictures

WHOLE SCHOOL LETTER (29)

2 more Non-Pupil days have been added to the 2010/11 ACADEMIC YEAR:
Friday 8 October 2010 + Friday 24 June 2011
Updated sheets are available from the office for anyone who would like a copy of all the school dates.

SHARE SESSIONS
Share sessions have been a great way for parents to spend time with their children in class and join in with activities. Future Share Session dates are detailed below – class letters will come out nearer the time: KT Wed 31 March PSKM Wed 28 April CH Wed 19 May
RV & DBGM Thur 10 June – with a reserve date of 17 June (outdoor activities)
GH Wed 30 June KS Tue 6 July

REMINDER - SHARE OUR WORK – WEDNESDAY 17 MARCH 3.15pm to 4.00pm
Parents are welcome into the classrooms at the end of the day where their children will show them their trays and discuss their work with you. The Nursery children will not be taking part in this.
Could we ask bus parents to please make it quite clear to their children if they are to travel home on the bus or not on this day. There will be NO Maypole or Holy Horrors on Wednesday.

IMPORTANT REMINDER - MATHEMATICS WORKSHOP – TUESDAY 30 MARCH
Please may we remind you that the form to attend the workshop should be returned by 26 March. Please note that the week following the workshop, Y1 to Y6 children will be sent home with two pieces of maths homework to be done with their parents. There will be no literacy homework that week.

LUNCH PAYMENTS
Please can we ask parents to make it clear which class your child is in and which days they would like lunch on the envelope when dinner money is sent in on Mondays. Payment envelopes are available from the office for £1 a pack. Thank you.

PURCHASING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
For those who wish to purchase musical instruments there are two ways that you can do it saving money:
· The school office can order an instrument for you, saving you 17.5% VAT.
· Alternatively the Sue Ryder shop in Framlingham stocks a wide range of instruments (incl violins, guitars, recorders, clarinets and flutes) at reasonable prices; all sales go to the charity’s funds. Contact Sue Bartholomew on 01728 723536 to arrange a time to see the full range.

FRIENDS BEETLE DRIVE / BINGO NIGHT
The Friends are pleased to let parents know that they raised over £330 at the Beetle Drive / Bingo Night. They would like to thank all those who attended for their support and hope they enjoyed the evening. A big thank you too, to those parents who kindly helped stack chairs and tables at the end.

KEY FOUND
A key, similar to a car key but with no identifiable logo, has been found in the corridor at school. Please ask at the school office if you think it may be yours.

ACTIVITIES UNLIMITED – EASTER HOLIDAY PROGRAMME
Visit www.activities-unlimited.co.uk to see numerous activities, clubs and camps over Easter supported by Suffolk County Council. There is a catalogue in the office for those who cannot get on-line.

Mums to Lunch

Our annual Mums to Lunch has been very popular this year. 171 children are having their mums for a school dinner over the 2 days.

Clay Sculptures in Year 6

Class DB have had great fun this afternoon with Mrs Turner. They have made designs in pencil and plasticine over recent weeks. Today they got their hands dirty with some clay. You can see everybody's work on the video below.

Office Staff in Newspaper

Our brilliant office staff have featured in the 'Evening Star' newspaper. They have been nominated for a 'Stars of Suffolk' award. Click on the pictures to see full size versions of the articles.

NUMERACY WORKSHOP

On Tuesday 30 March, we will be holding further Numeracy Workshops. This time we will focus on multiplication and division. As before, there will be one workshop in the afternoon, and one workshop in the evening. These workshops will give you the opportunity to discover more about how we teach multiplication and division in the school and the methods the children will be learning. Each workshop will have three sessions. They will be based on year groups.

The afternoon session will start at 1.30pm and finish at 3.00pm.
The evening session will start at 6.00pm and finish at 7.30pm. This will be a repeat of the afternoon session.

The sessions will run as follows
1.30 / 6.00 Years 1 and 2
2.00 / 6.30 Years 3 and 4
2.30 / 7.00 Years 5 and 6

You are welcome to attend all of the sessions, or those you feel are appropriate for your child/children. We would recommend that if your child is in year 3, you also attend the year 1 and 2 session and if your child is in year 5 you also attend the year 3 and 4 session. If your child is in the lower year groups, you would benefit from seeing the follow on sessions.
During the workshops you will be given our school calculation policy, if you do not already have one.
We would strongly recommend that you attend one of the workshops in order to fully support your child with their numeracy.

Please could you reply as to which workshops and sessions you will be attending. There will be a crèche available for both sessions, but we need to know the numbers and ages of the children.

Homework set during the week of the workshops will be related to what we have covered.

World Book Day Costumes

World book day has been celebrated by our Key Stage 2 children - wearing costumes from a book character.

Year 6 Sculpture Ideas

Children in upper Key Stage 2 are following a topic on sculpture at the moment. Year 6 children have drawn sketches and made plasticine models. These ideas will be mmade into clay sculptures next week.
In a few weeks we will be having a sculpture day. This will be led by a professional artist: Mr Laurence Edwards. Follow this link to find out more about him.

Class JC window garden

Class JC have been growing broad beans from seed on the windowsill.

Over the last few days the growth has been impressive both above (shoots and leaves) and below (the roots) the soil.

Swimming Gala 2010

Our inter house swimming gala was held at Framlingham College last Friday.

It was a veryexciting and closely fought event with all 60 children in year 6 taking part. There wer races for freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke. We also had some medley relays and a raft race to finish off with.

The final result saw HOWARD beat HITCHAM by only 1 point. Miils were 3rd and Bulstrode 4th.

Welldone to everybody. It was great fun and a high standard of swimming.

WHOLE SCHOOL LETTER (27)

MRS DWYER
Mrs Dwyer is delighted to inform parents that she is expecting a baby; her due date is the end of July. Mrs Lord will take on the class full time towards the end of the summer term when Mrs Dwyer starts her maternity leave.

YOUNG ART EAST ANGLIA
This annual art competition, to be exhibited at the Peter Pears Gallery in Aldeburgh on 12 – 14 March, was entered by a number of pupils from our school. We are delighted to let you know that 4 pupils have been selected to have their work exhibited Billy Caiger, Ella Way, Annie Miller and Nathan Grant (who has also been awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the Year 5/6 category). The exhibition is open to all and the entrance fee (for adults) goes to Cancer Research.

MORNINGS
We again must remind parents not to leave your children unaccompanied in the playground before 8.30am. There is no supervision and your children are at risk if you leave them before this time.

SCHOLASTIC LEAFLET ORDERS – CHEQUE PAYMENTS
Please can we remind you that all cheques for these book orders must be payable to ‘SCHOLASTIC’, NOT to the school. This is completely separate the the Book Fair and orange slip on the previous letter. Thank you.

SHARE OUR WORK – WEDNESDAY 17 MARCH 3.15pm to 4.00pm
We would like to invite parents into the classrooms at the end of the day where their children will show them their trays and discuss their work with you. Teachers will be available for general help and advice but it is not intended that this be an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress in detail. If you wish to make an appointment for another time, please speak with the teacher. If you have more than one child in the school, you may wish to visit each class with the other siblings so that you can enjoy looking at each other’s tray together. The Nursery children will not be taking part in this.
Could we ask bus parents to please make it quite clear to their children if they are to travel home on the bus or not on this day? There will be no Maypole or Holy Horrors on this day.

SUMMER DRESSES AND OTHER UNIFORM
We have some girls’ excellent quality second hand school summer dresses for sale in all sizes. They will be available outside the School Office on Wednesday 17 March (Share our Work Day) until Friday 19 March. They can be purchased for a donation to the school. We will gladly receive any dresses that are found to be too small this year – come and do a swap! Other uniform is also available.
Donations of girls’ grey tights and small boys’ trousers would be welcomed for spares at the office.

MUMS TO LUNCH – WEDS 10 / MON 15 MARCH
We have had an overwhelming response to this, and are unable to accept any late orders. We have had to split both days into 2 sessions: 12.00pm for child’s surname A-H and 12.25pm for I-Z. Letters have been sent home to those who have booked a lunch confirming these details – please speak to the office if you have any queries

MOTHER’S DAY SERVICE – FRIDAY12 MARCH
On Friday 12 March at 9.30-10.30pm we are holding a Mother’s Day Service at St Michael’s for Nursery (KS) and Reception (CH/PSKM). Parents are welcome to attend, where they will be invited to sit with their child and join in with the activities. There will be a limit of 2 adults per child.

TESCO VOUCHERS FOR SCHOOLS
Tesco are again running their campaign for schools, to provide computers and/or sports equipment. The vouchers will be available from stores from 1 March until 9 May for every £10 spent. The box for collecting these will be outside the school office.

FREE SWIMMING
Stradbroke pool is offering FREE swimming to all under 16s, as part of a national campaign to promote swimming and general fitness. More information can be found at www.everyoneactive.com

St David's Day

1st March is St David's Day. He is the patron saint of Wales.
St David (Dewi Sant was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. He spread the word of Christianity across Wales.

The most famous story about Saint David tells how he was preaching to a huge crowd and the ground is said to have risen up, so that he was standing on a hill and everyone had a better chance of hearing him.The national emblems of Wales are daffodils and leeks.

St David's Day is commemorated by the wearing of daffodils or leeks. Both plants are traditionally regarded as national emblems .

The black and yellow flag below is the flag of St David.

Click here to go to a calendar of events for all of March