Friday 2 December 2016

Week Ending 2nd December 2016


The children had a wonderful time at the HSA Christmas disco on Saturday.  There was music, lights and dancing in the School Hall, an exciting Christmas craft room, and lots and lots of lovely party food!  Parents enjoyed teas, coffees and mince pies in the relative quiet of the library.  Thank you to everyone who came along to support the event or gave up their Saturday afternoon to help out.  Hopefully we have raised plenty of funds for the HSA!



It has been a busy week in the classrooms, with plenty of work being done, as well as rehearsals for our Christmas Concerts, which will be taking place in a couple of weeks.

Badgers Class have been writing and following instructions on how to make fruit salad.  Squirrels Class have been looking at birds and making sketches.  They have also been investigating 3D shapes.  Deers have been designing Roman inspired mosaics.






Rabbits had an interesting science lesson - they did some research into the properties of different rocks, and had to decide which would be the best to use to make a statue of a rabbit to live in the school playground.  

In groups, they had to think about which type of rock is hardest and which would be the least likely to erode in cold and wet weather.  When they had decided, they presented their findings to the rest of the class "Dragon's Den" style, persuading their classmates that their group's idea was the best!



On Wednesday and Thursday, we had visitors in from Ofsted, who came in to see how things are done at Eaton Bray Academy.  They observed some lessons, and spoke to a number of children.  They were also lucky enough to be present during Badgers Class assembly, which was a wonderful occasion, with singing, acting and fantastic ukulele playing.  The children have worked so hard, and all their guests - parents, grandparents, and others - were very impressed.

On Friday we had a non-uniform day, in return for a donation of a bottle or bag of sweets for our "Mini Christmas Fair" which takes places on Wednesday 14th December at 3.30pm.

As a non-uniform day is always a bit special, this doubled as a celebration day, when we all acknowledged how happy we are to be part of Eaton Bray Academy, and how lucky we are to have so many fabulous children here.  A special assembly was held, where Mrs Hounslow thanked the children for being their usual polite, friendly, helpful selves while our visitors were here, and then we all joined in with singing a "Happy" song.


More reasons to celebrate at lunchtime, when the kitchen staff reported that more children than ever before had requested a school dinner that day!  They cooked 183 meals - and a total of 510 sausages!! (There was a vegetarian option too of course.)  Well done to the kitchen team for making school meals so inviting and tasty!

Year Six children enjoyed Common Room time on Friday lunchtime.  They have a lovely space upstairs in our Nursery building, where they can relax, play games, read or just chat, which is available to them weekly, as a reward for their ongoing good behaviour.




The Year Sixes have been delighted this week to have received yet more backing from local businesses for their "Young Enterprise" initiative.  Thank you to Flicks and Bangs (hairdressers), Happy Valley (takeaway), Absolutely Plastered (plasterer), Marc Flack (painter and decorator), Anne Johnson (osteopath).  Your generous contributions are so greatly appreciated.

A festive flavour to next week, when on Monday we will be visiting the church for a Christingle service.  This is always a lovely event, and something everyone looks forward to each year.