St James’CE Primary School

Year 4 enjoyed our visit from Mr Stevens who works for Wessex Water. During the afternoon, we explored on average how much water we use each day and discussed water efficiency. Working in small groups, we were challenged to see which group could turn the dirty water into clean water through creating our own filters. Lots of great teamwork was shown and the children listened brilliantly.

Our Reception class have been learning about technology from the past. This week we had a focus on music and talked about record players, cassette tapes, CD's and digital music. Mrs Hardyman brought in a record player and a very old record of 'The Jungle Book'. We enjoyed seeing how the music was played and had a great dance too!

Our Nursery children have been looking at the classic story of Jack and The Beanstalk this week, they've had great fun building castles in the clouds, planting beans, collaging beanstalks, and re-enacting the story in the hall with Mr Lawford using the sports equipment to climb the beanstalk and jump from the top!

It was once again a privelege to welcome Kate from Life Education Wessex & Thames Valley to St James' for a series of workshops in all classes. SCARF is our PSHCE scheme and today's focus was All About Me, Our Feelings, Expressing Gratitutude and Protecting our Body and Mind, The children had a wonderful day and loved meeting Harold, the SCARF giraffe.

Our Nursery children were so excited for the first of our new weekly Forest School sessions this morning. The children put on their waterproofs and wellies and carried their backpacks with their drinks in, all promoting independence and school readiness. These sessions are completely child led; giving them the freedom to explore, be creative, build resilience and grow a love of nature!

This weekend is the last chance to complete Reception 2025 applications. If you've not done your application yet or still sat on the fence, there is still time for a quick tour at St James' First School before the deadline closes.

We had a wonderful Christmas Party day celebrating the end of term together. The school was alive with festive cheer with crafts, games, dancing and of course a fantastic Christmas lunch. A huge thank you to all the team for making our term a success. Have a wonderful Christmas break and we will see you all in 2026.

It was standing room only at Holtwood Methodist Church for our annual Christmas Nativity. Well done to both Foxes and Nursery for putting together such a wonderful morning for us all to enjoy. The story of The Little Fir tree follows the adventures of a small fir tree who was seemingly all alone and forgetten as the other trees in the forest had been cut down. However, the woodcutter had other plans and she became a special tree, adorned with a star for all to see and witness to the first Chistmas. The final song encouraged all of us at this season to let our lights shine brightly. A special thank you to the Reception team, led by Mrs Walker and Nursery team who worked tirelessly to ensure everything ran smoothly.

We are super proud of Owls class for singing out in the community this morning. We started our tour at Stewarts Garden Centres in Broomhill where we were joined by parents and visitors off for some Christmas shopping. Our second stop was at Verwood House Care Home where the children sang a collection of 8 songs for the residents as well as giving them Christmas cards they had made. It brought us all joy to see the residents singing along to their favourite Christmas tunes and no doubt kindling some wonderful memories.

On Monday we were very lucky to have storytellers from Truth Be Told: Intergenerational Storytelling Groups join us in Cottage, with their bag full of fun props, lots of songs, a parachute and bubbles! We welcomed parents and grandparents in for the afternoon to share the fun and it was great to see everyone getting involved. We're already looking forward to having more storytelling sessions with Truth Be Told next year.

Last Saturday, our wonderful St James' PFA hosted our annual Christmas Fair which was a resounding success. The afternoon was action packed with performances from the Choir, Musical Theatre and Dance Club and Owls Class, as well as games and activities for the whole afternoon. A massive thank you to all the craft stall holders and to our main sponsor Ferndown Commercials for giving generously to support the school. In total, we raised over £2600 which is a fantastic total! A special thanks to the St James' PFA and the staff team who gave so generously of their time to make the event a success.

A huge well done to Owls class who showcased some of their Christmas Carols they had been learning as part of their latest parent share. This week, we will be out in the community carol singing at Stewarts Garden Centres and Hamberley Care Homes in Ferndown.

As part of Collective Worship this afternoon, we marked the first day of advent by lighting the Hope candle which was lit by George who demonstrated our school values in abundance this week. We also decorated our tree which was kindly donated by Mannington Heath Farm Christmas Trees. When children join St James', they each create a decoration that they use each year and they take on with them as they leave in Year 4. Our worship concluded with a wonderful performance by Owls class who will be singing in local nursing homes in the last week of term.