Harvest service

Our Harvest Service at St Michael's Church was a wonderful celebration of gratitude and giving. We were delighted to welcome Matt and Michelle from the Waveney Foodbank, who collected the many generous donations brought in by our school community. Rev Chris Davey shared a meaningful Harvest Blessing both for the donations and for the school. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who donated and helped support local families in need. Thank you as well to our talented Worship Team for leading the service and helping to make it such a special occasion for all.

European Languages Day

Each class chose an artist from a European country and focused on a collaborative piece of art focusing on this.  During the creativity time, the classes found out more about the artists along with some information about the relevant European country.  Several classes linked their artists to the whole school literacy book -  ‘Flower Block’.

·   Class VW recreated a collaborative version of ‘The Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vince with each child being given a section to paint to create a new picture.

·    Class SB Netherlands – Ambrosius Bosschart linked to Flower Block.

·    Class MS  Netherlands – Vincent van Gogh “The Starry Night” adapted with a silhouette of Framlingham Castle.

·    Class MBu – Norway – Edvard Munch “The Scream”  which was adapted to create their own feelings picture.

·    Class KN – Spain – Joan Miro  the class designed their own mathematical drawings using 2D shapes

·    Class RJ – Spain Picasso enjoyed recreating self-portraits

·    Class KHLH – France – Henri Rousseau linked to Flower Block.

·    Class JT – Netherlands – Piet Mondrian the class recreated their own masterpieces using simple colours and simple designs

·    Class DR – Spain – Juan Jose Garay enjoyed “Splatting” their piece to replicate the style

·    Class KM and Class MB were inspired by the German artist,  Paul Klee, and produced their masterpieces using different 2D shapes.

·    Nursery – Netherlands – Van Gogh – ‘Sunflowers’  where the children created observational drawings and decorated them around the nursery tree. A

Litter heroes in action around Framlingham

As part of this year's Civic Engagement, Class MBu pupils took part in a community litter pick around the Pageant Place and the front field at Framlingham Castle.  The children, who were very excited to be doing the litter pick, showed fantastic teamwork and a real commitment to caring for their local environment. As well as helping to make Framlingham cleaner and safer, the activity encouraged pupils to think about the importance of protecting wildlife and taking responsibility for the places we share. 

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to 1st Framlingham Cubs for kindly loaning the litter pickers; to David and Alex from Greener Fram for their support, guidance and stewardship throughout the event and to Framlingham Town Council for their support with bags - real community effort. Their help made this valuable community project possible and ensured that all the children had a safe and rewarding experience. Thank you to the parents who also volunteered to make this possible. We were amazed to discover just how much rubbish had been discarded and worked hard to collect an impressive 20kg of litter.

 

Wow - who has footprints like this?

To launch our next book, "The Journey Home", Class DR, JT and KHLH were amazed to find some unusual footprints in the Hitcham's hideout area at school.  We were trying to find out what kind of animals might have crept through this area over the weekend and using the clues from the footprints, we worked out what might have walked through and created some noun phrases to describe them.  There was an orangutan, an elephant, a polar bear and a panda but...we had one set (the last photo) which we are still investigating and using clues from the prints, have created posters using different sentence types to hunt for the mystery animal... Is it a chicken?  Is it a dinosaur?  Or is it something else? Watch this space.....

CYM Year 6 Camp – Day 3 Update

Year 6 are enjoying another full and lively day at camp. After a decent night’s sleep (they certainly looked refreshed this morning), the children continued their carousel of activities and really pushed themselves.

This afternoon’s challenge was a favourite: working together to complete a large puzzle… in silence.

They had to find new ways to communicate — gestures, signals, and plenty of expressive looks — all linking to today’s theme of creativity. The children explored how creative thinking can support people who are unable to communicate verbally, and they approached it with maturity and enthusiasm.

Last night’s activities were nightline and laser tag, both of which were met with great excitement. The children tackled the nightline course with impressive teamwork, and laser tag brought out plenty of energy and laughter.

Overall, camp continues to go very well. The grown‑ups have been particularly impressed by the children’s appetites — they are certainly enjoying their meals and making the most of the fresh air.

Fairtrade goes bananas!!

Steph Bennell from Fairtrade visited Class MBu to help the children find out about the Fairtrade charity.  During the session, the children discovered what Fairtrade means and how it helps farmers receive a fair price for their hard work, supporting their families and communities. Through an interactive quiz and discussions, the children learnt about bananas and other Fairtrade products and learnt where they come from.   Steph also shared some surprising facts about bananas, including how the inside of a banana skin can be used to polish and clean leather shoes naturally!! The visit was both enjoyable and informative, helping the children understand the importance of making responsible choices and supporting Fairtrade farmers around the world.  

Steph also shared that as it is Fairtrade fortnight, Framlingham library are hosting a banana trail for all children.  Please do pop in to find out more at the library. Thank you, Steph, for such an interesting and inspiring visit.

 

Civic Engagement - Class MBu

Class MBu were delighted to welcome Mr David Greenacre from Greener Fram, who came to talk to them about the importance of water and how we can all use it more wisely. Mr Greenacre explained where our water comes from and why it is important not to waste this precious resource. The children learned simple ways to save water, such as turning off the tap while brushing their teeth, taking shorter showers, and only using the amount of water they need. They also discussed how saving water helps to protect the environment and ensures there is enough for people, animals, and plants. The pupils answered some thoughtful questions, thinking about their own water usage during the day and finding out how much water we use compared to other countries.  We hope the children have become inspired to become responsible citizens by making small changes that can have a big impact.  

Inspirational visit from Sophy Henn

We were delighted to welcome children’s author and illustrator Sophy Henn to the school for a truly inspirational assembly. Sophy shared how she creates her wonderful books and showed the children that drawing can start with just a few simple shapes and quick ideas. Through live drawing demonstrations, she encouraged everyone to be creative, use their imagination and have confidence in their own artistic abilities. The children were captivated by her enthusiasm and left feeling excited to write, draw and create their own stories. 

Thank you to Julia from "Ottie and the Bea" bookshop on the Market Hill for helping arrange and organise the visit.  It was a very motivational session - the children didn't want it to finish!!

Friendship Assembly at Church

We gathered together in church for a special assembly to mark the start of the school year.  Mrs Cann focused our current value of friendship and encouraged us to reflect on the importance of being kind, supportive and caring friends. 

Mrs Nunn shared the story of the Good Samaritan, reminding us that friendship is shown through kindness, compassion and helping others. Our Year 6 pupils displayed the qualities that make a good friend:-  being kind, honest, helpful, supportive, respect, helpful, inclusivity and forgiveness. It was a wonderful opportunity for us all to think about how we can strengthen friendships and continue to build a caring school community.

Rev Chris Davey finished the assembly with a blessing for the school and talked about the importance of friendship not just in school but also in the community and globally. 

Year 6 Leaver's Service

Year 6 presented a lovely service packed full of their memories and their time at SRH including personal, sporting and musical achievements; class based achievements; privileges and responsibilities amongst others.  Reverend Chris Davey gave them a special blessing and Mrs Cann reflected on the children and their time at SRH. 

As the pupils have reached the end of an important chapter in their school journey, we would like to congratulate them on all they have achieved during their time with us.

Throughout the year, they have shown determination, resilience, kindness, and a positive attitude towards learning. They have embraced challenges, supported one another, and worked hard to achieve their goals. We are incredibly proud of their many accomplishments, both inside and outside the classroom.

As they prepare to move on to their new schools, we would like to thank them for the wonderful contributions they have made to our school community. They leave with many happy memories, valuable skills, and friendships that will stay with them for years to come.

We wish every member of Year 6 the very best for the future. Good luck in your next adventure, and remember to be confident, aim high, and always believe in yourselves. We are proud of you all and look forward to hearing about your future successes. Well done, Year 6!

Bright Smiles Ahead!

Sarah from Dentaid visited all the children from Nursery up to year 4 to remind them about the importance of looking after your teeth.  The children had some very engaging conversations and were shown the right way to clean their teeth.  Some of the children in year 1 and 2 reported “I found it good to find out about cleaning twice a day”; “it is important to go round and round with the toothbrush” and “we need to use a pea size amount of toothpaste, and we mustn’t swallow it.”  

Some of the older children said “we need to drink through a straw so that the drink doesn’t go on our teeth as much” and "I didn't realise that there was so much sugar in squash!"  Sarah showed all the classes terrible pictures of an adult and a child who didn’t look after their teeth.  Some of the children (and staff) were very shocked!  All the staff felt the children had learnt a lot and it was so good to have the reminders.  They all went home with a new toothbrush and some toothpaste.  Thank you to Sarah and Dentaid for providing this useful opportunity for the children.

Water safety assembly

With the holidays fast approaching, we turn our thoughts to holidays and days out by the sea, rivers and lakes.  We were extremely grateful to Emma from Stradbroke Swimming Pool who visited us to give the whole school valuable skills and strategies to use if they were to get into difficulty.  She shared about the "float to live" and also told us about which flags to look out for at the beach and their meanings.  Thank you to Emma for sharing such important facts with the children. 

Chrissie Sains - author visit

As part of our new literacy curriculum with "Literacy Tree", we have been lucky to enjoy a range of books this year and also welcome some great authors and today, was no exception, where we have had a very inspirational and uplifting day with Chrissie Sains, the author of such books as ‘Alien in the Jam factory’,  ‘Slugs in Jam’ and others.  The children heard about Chrissie's first attempt at writing, which she shared and was proud of as it went on the classroom wall!!  She spoke honestly and openly about her struggles with writing as a child.  She also shared that “Alien in the jam factory” was inspired by her god-daughter who had Downs Syndrome and so she helped Chrissie write this first novel.

After this introduction, year 3 and year 4  were invited to create their own ‘creature’ using a variety of ideas from her “Treasure chest of ideas”.  See the picture below which the children helped to draw and was designed by voting for each part from a choice of features.  Reception and nursery enjoyed singing a song all about strawberry, banana, orange and apple jam with actions.  Year 1 and year 2 designed their own jam:- “Strawberry jam with chocolate sprinkles, pink icing and flying dust” all voted for by the children from certain features. They then each designed their own jam.   Year 5 and year 6 – see separate blog post.

Some of the comments from the children:- “she was so good – I’m going to go home and write my own story”; “I loved listening to her and loved the magic that came out of treasure box”; "I loved designing my own beast” and “It was so good – I can’t wait to start drawing”.  Some of the teachers were also in awe of her inspirational box of ideas!  It was such a lovely day.  

Thank you to “The Friends” who kindly supported this event and thank you to Chrissie for being so inspiring to us all!

A little bit of Courage.....

This week the Worship team and the year 6 house captains led our whole school assemblies around the value for this half term - courage.  The year 6 house captains told the school about personal experiences where they had to show courage.  The worship team shared three bible stories and explained how courage was shown in them.  The story of Jonah; David and Goliath and Daniel and the Lions.   We continue life around school showing courage and also following our vision of Learning, Caring and Inspiring in the Light of Jesus.