Admin

We welcomed back to our school ‘BeSpace’ on the 25th and 26th April, an Oxford based charity who set up prayer and reflection spaces for school communities. The aim of BeSpace is to ‘help Christians serve their local communities through prayer and reflection spaces and exploring other ways to help people ‘be’. A bespoke tent with four ‘stations’ featuring different interactive tactile activities for the children to experience was led by local volunteers from St Faith’s church. Every child was then given time and space to reflect on different themes such as ‘thankfulness’ or ‘our world.’

Our Easter Service was held in St Faith’s church for parents, governors and the wider school community to attend during the last week of the spring term.  Class 4 led the service and reflected on the story of salvation.  As always, the school were in good voice and raised the roof with their singing! A lovely way to end the term and to celebrate Easter.

On Monday 26th March the whole school debated the story of salvation and the meaning behind Easter.  Class 1 thought about why Christians put a cross in an Easter garden, Class 2 discussed what Christians believe about being saved, Class 3 reflected on why Christians call the day Jesus died ‘Good Friday’ and Class 4 considered what Jesus did to save human beings and what difference the resurrection makes for Christians.  Parents and Governors were invited into the classrooms to join the staff and the children in their learning.

To celebrate World Poetry Day, we held a workshop and Poetry Recital’ on Friday 23rd March led by Oxfordshire based poet, James Carter.  The event was organised by Mrs Roberts and involved each class reciting poems they had learnt during the day which they then performed to parents and family friends.

Although our World Book Day was postponed due to the snow we still managed to dress up as book characters and have some fun listening to stories on Friday 9th March.  The day culminated in our weekly Celebration Assembly when parents found out about what the children had been getting up to and viewed the wonderful array of costumes that children were dressed up in.

This term we have organised a series of Enterprise Weeks and Friday Fundraising events to support the charity ‘Children on the Edge’ and to raise money for an Early Childhood Development Centre in the slums of Masese II in Uganda. A grand total of £291.25 has been raised following Class 4’s ‘Fairy-Tale Packs’, Class 3’s ‘Grow your own Beanstalks’ stall, Class 2’s ‘Edible Mini-Beasts’ and Class 1’s ‘Book Sale’. Thank you for supporting the children in their fundraising projects and for donating money to Children on the Edge.

Class 3 and 4 visited Baylab in Reading to participate in a Science workshop. Class 4 learnt about DNA, what it is and where it is found, and how the structure makes each person different. Class 3 thought about how science is applied to our everyday life; from the air we breathe, and food we eat to the products in our bathroom cabinets. Friends of Shellingford School (FoSS) very kindly agreed to cover the cost of the coach transport for both workshops.

The children had a wonderful time with Mosaic Artist Jo Webster.  Jo worked with each class on a unique piece of work based on our school values which we have installed in our school library.

During the week before half-term the school had a focus on ‘e-Safety, Science and Technology.’ The whole school spent a day learning about internet safety and a range of age-appropriate activities were taught to each class. On the 9th February the whole school was involved in a series of Science and Technology workshops lead by staff and parents. The children worked in their ‘Family (mixed-aged) Groups’ and learnt about stargazing, meteor impacts, made rocket mice, programmed LEGO robot rovers and designed computer programs using Scratch to navigate a maze.  This culminated in a school Open Afternoon for parents and family friends to view the school as a ‘working school.’ The children always enjoy these occasions and the opportunity to ‘show off’ their learning to their parents.

The Coram Life Education Bus returned to the school for a second year to deliver sessions for all classes in Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education. The sessions are designed to help the children’s self-esteem, to encourage positive attitudes towards themselves and their health and for the older children to recognise the risks associated with all drugs, including medicines, alcohol and tobacco. We are incredibly grateful to FoSS and The Rotary Club for their generous contribution making this valuable experience possible for the children.