Dear Parents,
So, Term 1 has flown by!
One highlight for me was this week with our open Worship and Praise. It was wonderful that 50 of you could join us both in person and in voice as the children were led by Mrs Bateup in singing some of our favourite new worship songs. It really was a special time. If you missed out this time, keep an eye on the calendar for future sessions.
We began today awash with newspapers! Mrs Fowler has provided a brief report:
Today was our first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) day! Instead of working within classes today, children across the school were split into house groups to take on a bridge building challenge. The children were tasked with building a bridge made only out of newspaper and masking tape. The bridge had to span a distance of 30cm, be at least 11cm and be strong enough to support at least 200 grams. The children began the day by looking at existing bridges around the world and analysing the strength of different types of structure. The children learnt that triangular structures are often the strongest, and that shorter constructions are often sturdier. The children spent the rest of the day creating bridges. Many were surprised by how strong newspaper actually is!
At the end of the day, Key Stage 2 held a competition to see which house had created the strongest bridge. The winning team was St. David’s whose bridge held an impressive 1300g! Well done to Noah, Sally, Matty, Billy, Mylo, Ajla and Sally for the winning design. In Key Stage 1 special mention also goes to Finley and Thomas, who created exceptional bridges!
The children had a great day, and it was lovely to see them working collaboratively within different groups and demonstrating skills such as courage, resilience and creativity. We are already looking forward to the next STEM learning day in November.
There have been several highlights through the term; Sports has provided some and Mr Carrick has kindly given us an update of the events so far:
Schools of Somehill Football Tournament:
Our Year 3/4 and 5/6 football teams had their first football fixtures of the year at the Schools of Somerhill tournament. This was a fantastic event in which our teams both played exceptionally well. The Year 3/4 team won all 6 of the games meaning they came 1st place and won the tournament. Our Year 5/6 team also did very well and came in 3rd place overall in the age group.
Year 5/6 player of the tournament was Jonathan
Year 3/4 player of the tournament was Finley
ESFA National Football Tournament:
On the 12th of October our year 5/6 team had the ESFA National tournament at St Gregory’s school. In this tournament they played against Langton Green, St Johns, Claremont, St Peters and Bishops Down. The team played some Fantastic football and scored some excellent goals meaning we won two games, drew one and lost two. Overall we came 3rd place in our group behind the two teams Claremont and St Johns who played in the Final.
Player of the tournament was Theo.
Bidborough V Speldhurst Yr 3/4:
Lastly this Wednesday our year 3/4 team played their first league game of the season at home, against Speldhurst Primary school. Bidborough started really well scoring two early goals giving them great confidence to go on and score another 3 goals, this completing a 5-0 victory. Well done to Harry who scored 3 out of the 5 goals.
Man of the match was Sam who had energy in abundance and showed great footballing ability throughout the game.
Overall a great start to year for Bidborough School. Well done everyone!
You may have noticed that Mrs Rutherford has not been in Class 1 this week. She is currently on extended sick leave and I am sure would welcome your thoughts and prayers. Miss Dean will be supporting in Year 1 until she returns. Today, we also wished Mrs Pollard luck as she begins her maternity leave. We are all looking forward to cuddles with another new addition to the Bidborough family (little Miss McCarthy was welcomed during Learning Reviews with much attention).
I hope you all have a great week enjoying some Autumnal sunshine. Don’t forget, children return to school on WEDNESDAY 31st October. This will also be our first Home Learning Exhibition where children will be able to share their learning across year groups. I am looking forward to seeing some of the creations I have been hearing about.
Kind regards,
Julie Burton
Headteacher