St James’CE Primary School

It was such a privelege to welcome you to our first ever Art Exhibition this afternoon - we had a great time and we hope you did to! Over the last few months, children from every class have been working alongside local artist Maria Vinney to learn some new artistic techniques and skills. We were so impressed by what they had made it just had to be exhibited. The work will now be moved to displays around the school, so if you missed this afternoon you will still have a chance to see it. A huge thank you to Maria and the St James' PFA who helped fund the project and of course well done to all our fantastic artists.

On Friday, Squrrels and Hedgehogs class joined with many schools from across the nation to celebrate the life and work of Sir David Attenborough's on his 100th birthday. Here is Mrs Trevor's report from a fantastic afternoon of learning and fun! "We started the afternoon reading Lilly's sister's lovely book all about Sir David. Thanks Lilly! Then Mr Lawford lead a worship all about Sir David. He discussed how he can inspire us and how his values align very much with ours as a school. It was sad to see the clip about the bird whose talent is to mimic the sounds of the rainforest and now include a chainsaw and car alarm amongst other unatural sounds for a rainforest. This lead so well on to one of our activities where the children were set the challenge of analysing the sounds in our own environment. Once back in the classroom I gave children their eco passport. The plan for the afternoon was to get round as many of the activities inspired by Sir David's passions and working life. 1. Immortalised in art. We discussed how some animals have become extinct and now we can only see them in paintings or photos. We discussed current animals that are critically endangered and painted or used pastels to create a picture in the hope it won't be the same story for them too. 2. What we hear can paint a picture. The children sat outside and linking to our Maths, tallied all the human, natural or animal sounds we could hear. The results were actually surprisingly good. No chainsaws or car alarms for us!!! We are lucky we have so many birds in our school grounds so this bumped up the animal sounds column! 3. Be more Sir David. This activity gave the children the chance to research, film and present their own segment of a show about a wild animal of their choice. Many linked this to their non-chronological report work in English and presented all they'd found out about wolves. 3. My pledge. The children made a promise on a handprint of one thing they will do in the future to support our planet. There were ideas about saving water, litter, recycling and planting projects. Their awareness and passion really was very touching AND reassuring! 5. Seed bombs away! We made some lovely little parcels of wildflower seed and soil to 'bomb' our school grounds with. 6. Clean up the ocean. In a water tray some lovely little sea creatures were busy living their lives... until the humans dumped their rubbish in it! The children had a bag of items that commonly can be found in our waterways and oceans. They were surprised by the gritty little bits the toothpaste left in the water and how the coffee pods disintegrated quite quickly and leached into the water. Even the apple changed the smell of the water. Half way through the afternoon we tried to 'clean up the ocean'. Unfortunately many of the animals were tangled in the rubbish and we couldn't get the water to go back to its original colour! This really highlighted to the children that rubbish should not ever be in our oceans and lead to questions about how we can help. 7. Mastermind? This was a fun word search of vocabulary linked to Sir David's life's work. 8. Tree Detective. The children went outside with iPads and a tree map of our grounds and identified as many trees as they could using google lens, fact sheets and books. I'm going to collate all the information and Mr Lawford is going to 3D print some QR code tags for all of our trees! When they appear, please use them with your child and celebrate the hard work your children put in to share their knowledge and love of our beautiful trees! What a fun and busy afternoon! I really hope they enjoyed it."

Year 4's had a fantastic three day residential at PGL Osmington Bay and are no doubt recovering this weekend from a busy few days. Day One - After unloading and finding our rooms, we had a site tour and lunch. In the afternoon, the children took part in Aeroball as well as testing their nerves on the giant zip wire. The evening campfire is always a moment of fun and laughter. Day Two - After breakfast, the two groups completed both orienteering and survival slills. It was so impressive to see the children independently lighting a fire as well as testing their navigation skills acrvoss the large site. In the afternoon, the children travelled over to Portland where they worked as teams to construct and sail their own rafts before warming up with a hot chocolate and our evening activties. Day Three - In the morning of day three, children tested their skills at the archery range as well as overcoming their fears on the climbing wall. After our final lunch together, we packed up and headed back home. A huge well done to the staff team who led the trip and ensured every child had a fantastic time away. Thank you also to PGL Osmington Bay for looking after us so well and ensuring there was never a dull moment.

Last week, we competed in the third Priory Cup fixture alongside Cranborne CE First School and Nursery, Trinity CE First School and Wimborne St Giles CE VA First School and Nursery. It was a glorious afternoon in the sun playing rounders against our Diocese of Salisbury Academy Trust neighbours. After some excellent games, we emerged victorious and are bringing home the silver wear! Well done to all the Year 3's and 4's who made such a great team. #DSATFamily

We had a wonderful afternoon celebrating some rich traditions at St James'. Children from all classes, joined by parents, carers and wider family, performed a number of country dances culminating with Owls dancing around the maypole. A huge well done to all the children, especially our nursery children who danced in front of such a large crowd for the first time. Our afternoon wasn't over and it was wonderful to join as a community together for cream teas, cake and ice cream (and a huge amount more). Well done and thank you to St James' PFA for all your hard work - it is a blessing to the school. Enjoy the bank holiday weekend - see you Tuesday!

Last week, we were lucky to have local artitist Maria Vinney join us for the day looking at under the sea themed art. The morning started with the children completing some mark making activities that would then become the scales of their fish. Over the day the children rotated around 3 activities having a go at everything and most importantly creating their own large fish which will be on display at our art exhibition later this year. Well done Squirrels you showed great teamwork and listening skills today

On Thursday afternoon, Mrs Hamer brought in her chicks for us to stroke and handle to help support our learning about lifecycles. The children loved this awe and wonder moment. A huge thank you to Mrs Hamer for enabling us all to enjoy this experience.

It was an absoulute privelege to welcome back Saltmine Theatre Company to St James' for their performance of the Rhyming Bible. The adaptation of Bob Hartman's Rhyming Bible journeyed through the Bible, searching for the Tree of Life. As the children travelled through time, they found Zaccheus up a tree, Jonah in the belly of a whale and Daniel in the Lions den to name just a few adventures. The children were captivated by the performance, laughing and singing along and thoroughly enjoying themselves. The opportunity to see live theatre every year is so important and will no doubt inspire our children as they start rehearsals for our own big show!

https://www.stjames.dsat.org.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=202&type=pdf Another half-term draws to a close and I am so incredibly proud of every child at St James'. Ploughing through the winter months can often feel tiresome, as if Summer might never come, but the children's vivacious attitude and love of learning has made me smile every day. We have used Spring Two to focus on our core value of love and have explored how we can love those around us because we are loved. This week's Easter celebration rounded off our theme with these words that Jesus spoke to his followers. Our challenge to our children and to our community is to be the light bringers in a world so often consumed by darkness. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 With so much always happening at school, it is hard for me to celebrate one highlight. That said, I have been struck by how the arts continue to become part of everyday life at St James'. Owls have been working with the Dorset Music Service and put on a spectacular samba performance and Foxes performed a collection of nursery rhymes on the glockenspiel. We have also welcomed local artist Maria Vinney to school, and she will be working with every class to create some wonderful art. We will be holding our first art exhibition in the summer term to showcase the children's learning. The arts clubs continue to flourish with choir, musical theatre and dance clubs all happening this term! The summer term is by far my favourite term, not only are the days longer and warmer but there is just so much in the calendar to look forward to! As always, have a restful holiday break and we are looking forward to welcoming the St James' community back for the Summer Term. Mr Lawford

Our first Easter bonnet parade brought an end to our Spring term. With the hall packed to capacity, children from Nursery, Reception and Year 1 paraded their bonnets that they had been making with the St James' PFA whilst the choir performed Risen for Me. As part of the parade, we awarded prizes for our Easter colouring compeition. After school, children enjoyed an Easter egg hunt, cakes and craft. We continue to fundraise for our fifth classroom and this event raised a fantastic £370! Thank you to all those involved and for your hard work supporting the event.

We had a fantastic afternoon at Trinity CE First School competing in the second round of the Priory Cup against Wimborne St Giles CE VA First School and Nursery and Cranborne CE First School and Nursery. The children demonstated such quality both on the pitch but also in the rich sense of sportsmanship and togetherness. Well done to all our children who represented our school, you should be incredibly proud of yourselves. Of coutrse, a huge well done to Cranborne CE First School and Nursery for a well deserved and comprehensive victory, your players worked tirelessly and thoroughly deserved to lift the trophy.

This morning, we gathered as a whole school community for our Easter Celebration. Our theme for the worship explored how Jesus brought light into the darkness. We left knowing that there is always someone to bring us light in dark moments and that we to can be bringers of light to those around us. A thank you to Reverend Nick who led our interactive message and to the school choir who performed as we lit candles to symbolise the part we play in bringing light to others.

A huge well done to Owls class for their Samba performance, culminating 10 weeks worth of work with the Dorset Music Service. Pete has expertly guided our children to think about pulse, beat, rhythm and groove and it was wonderful to gather the whole school and the parents as part of their performance.

Many of you will be aware that, for some time, Tilly in Hedgehogs had been extremely unwell. Over the Christmas break, Tilly sadly passed away. Tilly had been suffering from cancer since last year and had not been in school in since April of her Reception year. She was a bright light in our community and will be dearly missed by her classmates and all the staff at St James' First School and Nursery. For those of you still connected with St James', you will have noticed some incredible changes in the Peace Garden which took place over the half-term. Richard (Tilly's dad) has been carefully planning and worked tirelessly to construct a beautiful addition to our Peace Garden which has made a significant improvement to the space as well as giving all of us a focal point for our remembering and celebration. On the 17th April, at 14.00, we are planning a service of celebration for Tilly in the Peace Garden to celebrate her life and commission the space as a place of Remembering for years to come. This invite is not only for your child, but for the whole community and we are opening the service to anyone who wants to attend, so please invite those who you feel would like to. In the evening (20.00 - 21.00) we will be opening the school for those who want to come and use the space for quiet reflection and to light a candle. The Peace Garden is one of two bigger projects we have planned. Last year, we had to sadly cut down a beautiful Cherry Blossom tree that stood just outside the main entrance to the hall. It seems appropriate at this moment to plant a new tree as a way of both celebrating and remembering Tilly. As part of this, we want to add some additional seating and create a new path up past the tyres to the school. https://www.justgiving.com/page/st-james-first-school-pfa-tilly If you would like to support these projects financially, we have set up this page to collect your donations, and we are hoping to raise £2,500. The children will also be completing a one hour sponsored dance to play their part in raising money. Any surplus funds will be used to further enhance the outdoor space for generations to come.