Welcome to our first newsletter of our new term. I would like to express my thanks to the children, staff, parents, governors and the wider school community for the on-going support that I have had whilst transitioning into my new role. The children continue to make us proud everyday and I feel very lucky to be leading our school as we work towards living our school vision in everything we do.
This term, the children have settled well into their new classes and there is a lovely feeling of team-work within the school. We have loved welcoming our new starters into Class S - it feels like they have been with us for much longer than six weeks. This week, the Reception children met with their Year 6 buddies who will help them throughout their first year at Gilmorton Chandler. To introduce themselves, the Year 6 children made an individual card for their buddy and read them a message of welcoming and encouragement. They also left a photo of themselves in the Reception classroom for the children to remind them that they always have a friend at school. The Year 6s are really looking forward to reading with their buddies and supporting them at lunchtimes. They thoroughly enjoyed walking and chatting with their buddies up to the church for Harvest.
During our first few weeks, we held elections for our House Captains , Vice Captains and School Council members. The following children were elected:
St George's house : House Captains- Lily and Elliot, Vice- Captains :Jacob C , Sophie and Chloe
St Andrew's House :House Captains -Pippa and Jude Vice Captains:Grace and Memphis
St David : House Captains: Jenson and Lori Vice Captains: Noah and Lauren
St Patrick: House Captains: Elijah and Anja Vice Captains: Freddie, Alfie and Lyla
The following children were elected as school councillors - Reception-Franco and Florence, Year 1 - Phoebe and Jowan, Year 2- James and Heidi, Year 3-Oliver V and Martha, Year 4-Rosanna and Oscar, Year 5 - Bea and Rudi and Year 6- Daniel and Zara. Mrs Temple has already held two School Council Meetings and has commented on how keen the children are to represent their class's ideas.
As a whole school, this half term, we have been focussing on the Christian value of generosity.
In our Monday collective worships, the children have explored stories, songs and quotes about generosity. Many of the stories and ideas that we have used stem from the Bible quote which tells us that Jesus said, “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
The children have taken part in our worship by acting out stories, reading poems and leading prayers.
Sharon March, our Pioneer Minister, held a special, 'Bless our Bags' Collective Worship , early in the school year. In addition to leading fortnightly worship, Sharon has also worked with the children in Year 2 and Year 3 to deepen their understanding of Christianity in their RE learning by answering their Big Questions.
On Fridays, we have introduced in-class collective worship. During this time the children discuss the focus value in greater depth whilst following our usual collective worship routines. Next term we will be focusing on the value of compassion. It would be lovely to hear, in the home-school diaries, recounts of when your children has shown outstanding compassion so we can share and celebrate these acts with them and the class.
It was such a delight to see so many people attend our Harvest Festival Service at All Saints Church, Gilmorton. Class F did a fantastic job of delivering a service that linked our value of generosity to the celebration of harvest.
The jubilant singing of the chorus from the Reception children was a real highlight for me.
All donated food products which were generously given were gratefully received by the Lutterworth Food Bank.
Last year, we had a whole class assembly by Wombles In Litter Education (WILE) which was followed by our previous Year 3 children going on a litter pick around the village.
The class were so inspired to make a difference that the learning needed to be continued. The children thought about volunteers in our PSHE lessons and used Geoff and Keith as great examples of people that give their time generously for others.
In English, the children wrote letters to various people including the local parish councillors asking for money to help buy a set of pickers and hoops. They replied with a cheque! The class received a book from the WILES and The Three Engineers called The Adventures of Scout Stop Dropping Litter. They then looked at this as part of our Geography topic of sustainability and English as the book cleverly rhymes. Year 3 also joined an online lesson with the authors of the book which was insightful and inspirational. In fact, it inspired the children to write their own books based on substainability which were shared with Reception and the Year 2 children. They were very impressed.
Due to their passion, Mrs Spadaccini entered the class, at the end of the summer term, into a competition to win more litter pickers and a trolley. The judges were so impressed with how much the children had learnt from their assembly and from their book - that they won!
To receive their certifcate and prizes, we welcomed back Keith and Geoff to an awards assembly. Since receiving the pickers and trolley, many of the children have been enjoying using the pickers and trolley, at lunchtimes. Thank-you for all your hard work Year 3 and Mrs Spadaccini.
Year 3 enjoyed an Iron Age day at Beaumanor to enhance their history learning.
Firstly, they sat in a replica roundhouse with walls made of wattle and daub (animal poo!). They were weaving, grinding grain to make flour, making beads, drumming and painting thier faces with woad . They were able to experience what it was like in Iron Age times,
Later that morning, they tried training as Iron Age warriors. First, they played football with the heads of our enemies and, to practise their spear throwing. they threw spears at a training horse.
Then, they were given a sword and shield. They practised their battle cries and scary faces!
After lunch, they looked at the Iron Age way of writing. They raced around the grounds searching for the clues and tried hard to convert Iron Age letters into words we use today to answer some tricky questions.
This week, Class R went to the Space Centre in Leicester. They watched how rockets use combustion to get into space. We were lucky to be invited to trial a new session which the museum is offering to schools.
As part of the session, the children became astronauts and travelled in the future to Mars. It was a bit of a rocky journey onboard the rocket but once they arrived on Mars, they carried out a range of experiments onboard the base camp. However, after a short time, an earthquake was recorded and they quickly had to return back to Earth.
After lunch, they went to visit the Plantetarium where they found about what it means to be an astronaut in space. After the compulsory trip to the shop, we made our way back to school with new knowledge learnt and memories made. As always, the children represented our school superbly and we were even complemented on our children's lovely manners.
The members of our FOGS PTA display generosity to our school in abundance. They give up their valuable time to organise, prepare and run many events to ensure all of the children's experience of school life is enhanced.
The ever popular Breakfast Bash was a roaring success.
On Thursday, the children (and staff) had a fantastic time dancing and singing at the Festival of Light disco.
On Wednesday, the FOGS PTA held thier second AGM.
You may have noticed the second-hand uniform rack which you are invited to look through before or after school. Having a spare piece of uniform always comes in handy whilst the lost fleece is being located!
Upcoming PTA events for your diary:
Christmas Art cards portal is open from today. Leaflets explaining the ordering process have been handed to the parents.
Friday 11th November Movie Night in the hall 5:30 - 7:30
Thursday 1st December Santa's Grotto - during school hours each class will visit Santa.
Friday 2nd December - the children are invited to 'Dress Down' in exchange for a donation to the raffle and tombola.
Friday 9th December - Christmas Fair 5:30 - 7:30 All welcome!
This half term has seen many successes for our sporting teams. We have progressed to the next stage in girls' football....
... and the girls' table tennis!
This week, we had our first local cross-country races at Market Harborough Football club. It was a delight to see all of our 44 runners cheering each other on.
Our cross country kicked off at Preswold Hall with a team of dedicated runners giving up their Saturday morning.
The children enjoyed trying out new sports at the Indoor Inclusive Sports Hall event.
Today we said a very reluncant good-bye and thank-you to Mr Thompson and his family as they leave to live and work in Wales. Mr T is an outstanding teacher who goes above and beyond in all aspects of school life. He has dedicated the last 15 years to our school with such passion and he truly is a legend.
THANK -YOU MR T!
We hope you have a restful half term and we look forward to our next half term.
Credits:
Created with an image by predrag - "autumn leaves on the ground"