Anglo-Saxon Workshop

On Monday, years 5 and 6 took part in an Anglo- Saxon workshop. The day began with an exciting and dramatic entrance, instantly capturing our attention! Ash from Marvellous Histories led the session, teaching the children how to stand and move like Anglo-Saxon warriors, which they thoroughly enjoyed. The loved lining up in formation, imagining they were about to engage in battle with the opposition!

The children were particularly engaged when exploring artefacts, especially the weapons and heavy chainmail, which helped them appreciate the skill involved in its creation. They also learned about Anglo-Saxon life, including clothing and diet, with some interesting discoveries during the Q&A.

Overall, it was an engaging and informative experience. Thank you to Ash from Marvellous Histories for bringing the topic to life for our pupils.

We will remember them....

As artists and historians, Class KHLH studied the details on a range of poppies and then each drew and made a quarter of a poppy which were put together to create collaborative poppies.  We discussed the importance of the poppy and remembrance day.  

We will remember them. 

Year 5 and 6 Trip to Colchester Castle

Today, Year 5 and 6 visited Colchester Castle to learn more about the Romans and Celts, linking closely with our current history topic. The children had a fantastic time discovering how Roman Emperor Claudius invaded Britain in AD 43 and made Colchester — known then as Camulodunum — the first Roman capital of Britain.

We explored the story of Boudicca, the Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe, who led a famous rebellion against the Romans in AD 60/61. The children were fascinated to learn that Boudicca’s forces attacked and burned Colchester to the ground. In the museum, we even saw artefacts that had been scorched in the fire — including a charred piece of Roman bread!

The children also learned that Roman soldiers were required to serve for 25 years — unless they were killed in battle — and were rewarded with land or Roman citizenship upon retirement. We talked about how the Celts, although brave and determined, were at a disadvantage because their weapons were not as advanced as the Roman army’s, which helped the Romans win many battles.

We particularly enjoyed the museum’s interactive exhibits and the atmospheric underground vaults beneath the castle. It was a brilliant and memorable day out. A huge thank you to the parents who helped make the trip possible!

Year 5 Enrichment Day @ TMHS

On Wednesday, Year 5 walked up to Thomas Mills High School to take part in their 'Enrichment Day'. We were one of several local primary schools to visit.

During the day we moved round as two separate groups (ES and JA) and took part in a range of activities across the school and completing/recording tasks in an activity booklet. 

The theme of the day was 'A Time Machine' and the subjects involved were: Drama, PE, History, Science, and MFL. Each session was led by a class teacher at Thomas Mills and supported by Year 10 students. At lunch time they ate their packed lunches in the canteen before playing outside. They were also able to purchase an ice cream and/or cold drink from the canteen which they thoroughly enjoyed on such a warm day!

In the PE session pupils did a series of long jumps in an attempt to beat various world / Olympic records over time; by adding some distances together they were able to beat the current world record. 

In Science they experimented with different methods of removing microplastics from sand and discovered that sieves were the most effective whilst static electricity was the least effective! 

During the history session pupils were able to visit the existing WW2 bunkers on the Thomas Mills field and learnt about Framlingham’s involvement as a designated safe town for evacuees during the war. 

In Drama they participated in a warm up game using stage directions and then created Melodramatic scenes in small groups using mime and freeze-frame techniques to tell a short story. 

For MFL the pupils learnt a few German phrases and then identified different seasons and weather types - writing these down as well as having a short conversation about the weather on the day. 

At each session, including the introduction, they were given a letter which they had to unscramble to reveal a hidden word. At the end of the day the word was revealed to be FUTURE.

Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed the day and were a credit to the school with their enthusiasm for the activities and their brilliant behaviour.

Thank you to all the team at Thomas Mills for this create enrichment day.

Year 6: Parliament Visit and Budgeting Workshop

Yesterday, Years 5 and 6 had a visit from Kelly, who works with the Parliament Outreach Programme. The children learned a lot, including that there are 650 MPs and the difference between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. We discovered that the role of Parliament is to monitor what the government does.

It was fascinating to learn about the different ways young people can get involved in Parliament, and the children had the opportunity to respond to a petition set up by a secondary school pupil about reducing the school week to four days—you can imagine how they voted!

On Thursday afternoon, Year 6 (Class VW this week) took part in a workshop led by Julia, who represented Christians Against Poverty. The children learned about a range of important financial topics, including income, budgeting, expenditure, tax, and much more.

A huge thank you to Julia and her team for joining us this afternoon—we look forward to welcoming you back for our follow-up sessions.

KS1 poetry competition

Key Stage 1 and Reception recited some beautiful poems for their poetry competition.  Some of the nursery children popped in to hear them too.  Reception performed their poems about Springtime whilst Key Stage 1 classes wrote and delivered their poems using some great rhyme, rhythm and actions about the Great Fire of London.  What a great way to remember the facts about the Great Fire of London! Well done to each and every child who performed Our judges, Rev Chris Davey and Mrs Akerman were astounded at the quality and found it really hard to decide the winners but Class DR won by a very small margin!  Rev Chris then finished the assembly with a prayer said as a poem. 

Class JT and The Great Fire of London

After the fantastic drama workshop last week, Class JT have been working hard remembering the facts about The Great Fire of London. The children have made timelines to record the events, written accounts of the facts and created art work depicting scenes from the time. The children are really enjoying this topic and it is reflected in the work they are producing.

 

KS1 The Great Fire of London

 

Today we were visited by ‘The Big Bubble Theatre Company’ and travelled back in time to 1666 discovering how the Great Fire of London started. Through drama and dance the children immersed themselves in history and brought the characters to life. It was a fantastic cross curricular opportunity for the children’s learning. Thank you to ‘The Friends’ for funding this fabulous experience for the children.

Class JT Black History Art Work

 

In October, as part of Black history month, Class JT learnt about the African women in Alabama who have been creating beautiful, colourful quilts for many years.

Using collage, class JT have created their own unique designs in a similar style.

 

The quilts of Gee’s Bend are created by a group of women and their ancestors who live or have lived in the isolated African-American hamlet of Gee’s Bend, Alabama along the Alabama River. The quilts of Gee’s Bend are among the most important African-American visual and cultural contributions to the history of art within the United States.

                                                

Year 1 & 2 in Framlingham

Last Friday the children from CRMBr joined the other KS1 classes on a visit to explore Framlingham and

Find out more about our school founder Sir Robert Hitcham.

We walked with all our helpers to the castle and explored the grounds. We imagined what life would have been like when the castle was a busy bustling place full of different noises, smells and activities.

In groups we went to the museum and found out more about the history of castle and how Framlingham has developed and grown around it.

At the church we found the tomb of Sir Robert Hitcham and thought how lovely it is with the Angels surrounding it.

Finally we joined Mrs Rogers and learnt about the Alms Houses and how generous and kind Sir Robert Hitcham was to the poor and needy of the town.

Thank you to all who helped to make it a lovely learning experience.

Key stage 1 - Historical walk through Framlingham

On Friday, Key Stage 1 were historians looking for all things Sir Robert Hitcham around Framlingham! 

We learnt that he was born in 1571 and died in 1636. We found his tomb at St Michael’s Church protected by an angel on each corner.

We looked around the castle grounds and found out that Sir Robert Hitcham purchased it for £14,000 in 1635. Later some of the internal parts of the castle were used to build the Sir Robert Hitcham’s Alms Houses.

After his death we learnt that money from Sir Robert Hitcham’s will funded the very beginning of our school community.

We had a lovely morning soaking in the history of our local area.

Hitcham Assembly

On Friday the Hitcham’s house captains and vice house captains lead the whole school assembly.  

They shared facts about Sir Robert Hitcham and how our school was established.  Lots of interesting facts were shared about his life.   

Well done for being the first house to do an assembly... we are looking  forward to  the house captains and vice house captains of Howard, Mills and Bulstrode  to do their assembly later on this term. 

Investigating the life and legacy of Sir Robert Hitcham @ St Michael's Church - Upper KS 2

On Friday 6th September our school were all able to worship together at St Michael's Church. After the service, Years 5 and 6 spent some time looking in detail at Sir Robert Hitcham's tomb and reading about his life and legacy. The children were all amazed that our school still carries Sir Robert's name several hundred years after he founded our school. The primary school is the oldest of the three schools in Framlingham and we are reminded each school day of his coat of arms which is our school badge and can be seen on our sweatshirts. The children spotted the school badge on the vibrant stained glass window near Sir Robert's tomb and had some very interesting discussions about why he was so passionate about education.

In class, the children had also been identifying the key facts and information about Sir Robert's life story and the history of our school.

 Here are some of the children's questions:

" he must have really wanted other people to have an education and inspire them"

"he must have cared about people as we also have the Hitcham's Alms Houses"

"imagine wanting to help people and build schools"

" Now I can see why we have Pembroke Road as Sir Robert Hitcham studied at Pembroke College at Cambridge University. I would like to visit it."

" I wonder why he chose Framlingham Castle to buy as there might have been others for sale at the time. He was not born in Framlingham so what did he like about Framlingham Did he want to use the castle buildings as a school?"

"  did he have a favourite subject and did he always want to be a lawyer and M.P.?"

"Did he have a diary and can we see it?"

We will continue to try to answer these questions in our learning and the teachers have also got to do some extra research to attempt to answer some of the very detailed questions asked by the children. The pupils worked us hard too!