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."
It was a privelege to welcome The Creature Teachers to St James' First School and Nursery for a whole day of creature exploration. We met a blue tongue skink, a royal python, two ferrets, millipedes and a barn owl and were able to get hands on with the creatures. A huge thank you to St James' PFA for funding this special day which was a resounding success.
We are looking to appoint a part-time Nursery Practitioner to join our flourishing team from September. For more information, please contact the school office. https://mynewterm.com/jobs/148300/EDV-2026-SJCEFS-24087
Before the heatwave took hold, Year 4 refined their cycling skills as they all completed their Level 1 Bikeability. Children focused on controlling their bike, pedalling without wobble and being aware of their surroundings whilst turning. They all did brilliantly and passed with flying colours.
Look at these happy little feet! Our topic in Nursery is 'Under The Sea', so today we took a little trip to the beach for a lovely sensory activity. The children used some brilliant language to describe how the sand and water felt and had lots of fun mixing them both together to change the consistency and texture.
Last term in Nursery we introduced some tiny caterpillars to support our topic of Life Cycles, and our focus story of The Hungry Caterpillar. We observed with fascination over the weeks as they got bigger, then formed a chrysalis and eventually hatched into five beautiful butterflies! At the end of the term we were able to release them into the Peace Garden. Such an exciting and memorable way to learn about life cycles.
What a fantastic Sports Day! Well done to everyone who represented their team with pride; throwing the furthest, jumping the longest and running the fastest! It really was a great day and I know every child demonstrated our school values in abundance. A huge thank you to all those who volunteered to help set up, park cars, take photos and officiated the results. Thank you for coming out and enjoying the family fun and supporting our community. Of course, a special well done to Yellow Team who came away victorious! (Again) Our Sports Day was followed by a fantastic Summer Social, hosted by the St James' PFA which was once again a resounding success and was a fabulous way to end Sports Day. There was a rich sense of community as parents, carers and the wider school family enjoyed an afternoon food and fun in the sun. The final count is in progress but we expect the afternoon to have raised in excess of £1300 profit!
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!