Week Ending 21st July 2017

The final week of the 2016/17 academic year started with Hamsters Class Sports Day on Monday morning.  The children took part in all sorts of races, and there were the obligatory parents' races as well!  In the afternoon, the children enjoyed a party with lots of yummy food and fun games.  What an exciting day for our youngest children!

The whole of Tuesday this week was devoted to the EBA Talent Show, which has become an end of term tradition!  This is organised and hosted by the School Council, who also act as judges, awarding scores to the various acts being showcased.

The whole of Main School went into the Hall to watch, and were entertained by singers, dancers, gymnasts, comedians and some wonderful trumpet playing!

 

On Wednesday, the Year Six children presented a Leavers Assembly, to which their parents were invited.  These are always happy/sad occasions - a wonderful celebration of all that the children have achieved, experienced, enjoyed during their time at EBA, but also an emotional farewell, and a few discreet tears are usually shed by both parents and staff!

The children treated their parents to a performance on the cahon drums that they have been learning to play this year, and sang a wonderful song that they wrote themselves to the tune of "7 Years" by Lukas Graham.  This described their journey through Primary School and touched on their aspirations for the next stage of their young lives.

There was a fun video that the children had made, and a slideshow of photos documenting the children's progress through school - in some cases these photos dated back to when the children were just two years old!  All the children were presented with an achievement scroll, and in return gave gifts to their teachers.  A truly lovely event, and we wish this wonderful group of children every success and happiness for the future.

More goodbyes on Thursday!  This was Mrs Hawkes final day at EBA, and to wish her well for the future, and thank her for all that she has done in the many years she has been a part of our school, we surprised her with a special "Sportsfest" day.  We all came to school in sportswear, and the day was devoted to celebrating the sports and PE that Mrs Hawkes has worked so hard and successfully to promote.

There were some special visitors, including a fondly remembered former pupil, and following a wet and muddy morning hike, even the sun put in a welcome appearance in the afternoon!  Everyone enjoyed sports and games on the field (the three legged race was especially popular), and the inaugural "Mrs Hawkes Sports Trophy" award was presented to the triumphant Team 2!

 And so to Friday and the last day of term...  What an eventful year it's been!

There were more fond farewells as we said goodbye to three other members of staff who are moving on:

Mrs Flitton, who has been with us for fourteen years, and has worked as a Teaching Assistant mainly in Reception and Key Stage One.  The children will remember her for her contribution to art at EBA and the very popular Art Club;

Mr Potton, who has clocked up four years here as Teaching Assistant in Badgers Class, and has made a huge contribution to sport (especially football), willingly driving the minibus hundreds of miles, and taking part in residential trips.

Mrs Blake, who started with us as a Supply Teacher several years ago, and liked us so much that she stayed!  She has taught in almost every class in the school, eventually ending up in Otters Class, where she has been a greatly valued and much loved member of staff.

Goodbye and good luck for the future from all your friends at Eaton Bray Academy!

 Now all that remains is to wish everyone a wonderful summer holiday!  We look forward to seeing the children back on Wednesday 6th September (and new Hedgehogs on Monday 11th).

Week Ending 14th July 2017

This week we have welcomed new faces and "old" to Eaton Bray Academy!

The week started with an Induction Day for the new Hamsters children that will be starting with us in September.  While the children played and got to know one another and the Nursery staff, parents had the opportunity to sort out the details of their child's admission, ask any questions, and purchase uniform.  We look forward to seeing all the children again after the summer holiday.

We have had the pleasure of welcoming three sixth former from Cedars Upper School this week, who have been here doing work experience.  The girls are former pupils who left Eaton Bray Lower School (as we were then) some years ago, and are amazed by how the school has changed and grown since their day!  And of course we were all struck by how much they have changed and grown...

2007

2017

They have been very busy all week, helping in the classrooms and doing all sorts of useful tasks - the main one being sorting out all the books in the school library.  We are upgrading to a wonderful new computerised library system over the summer holiday, and all the books need to be categorised and barcoded ready for this.  The girls have worked hard on this and done an amazing job - we are very grateful to them.

On Tuesday, Hamsters Class had a very special visitor.  This week they have been learning about kindness and looking after others, and as part of this, they received a visit from a community police officer, who brought his car to school and let the children take turns to sit in it and press the controls.  They all enjoyed the sound of the siren going off!

The policeman spoke to the children about how to keep safe, and even spoke to them about safety when answering or using a mobile phone.  They then had the opportunity to try on his police hat!  The children all decided that they would like to be police officers when they grow up!

Tuesday was meant to be the day for Hedgehogs and Key Stage One Sports Day, but pouring rain put paid to that, and the event was postponed until Wednesday afternoon, when the sun, happily, chose to shine.

The children took part in hurdles, obstacle and relay races, sprints, and distance races around the school grounds.  Parents came along to spectate and cheer heir children along, and afterwards there was an awards ceremony where certificates and trophies were presented.  It was a lovely afternoon, and well worth waiting for the sunshine!

 

 

 

 

Moving sports day to Wednesday meant that this ended up being a very busy day!  The afternoon also saw the finals of our EBA University Challenge quiz.  Key Stage Two teams have been battling against one another in the general knowledge arena throughout the year, and the finalists went head to head in the Grand Final, with the winners from each year group receiving a certificate and gift voucher prize.

After school on Wednesday, it was Parents Evening, so the school was once again full of Mums and Dads, who came in to have a look at all the wonderful work that their children had completed over the course of the year, and to speak to the class teachers.  Then in the evening, there was a meeting for parents, giving an update of all that we have been doing in school since our Ofsted Inspection last year.  Thank you to those parents that came along - we do appreciate your support.

On Thursday we held our "Meet the Teacher" morning, when all parents can find out about the class that their child will be going into next year, and meet with their child's new teacher.  The children have a nice long assembly, then playtime, and afterwards, when their parents have gone home, they spend the rest of the morning in their new class with their new teacher, which is always very exciting!  Once again we welcomed some children who are new to our school and will be joining us in September - we hope they enjoyed their day with us and will be happy at Eaton Bray Academy.

And finally it was Friday, with just one more week to go until the long summer holiday!

On Friday lunchtimes throughout the year, a group of Year Four children have run the EBA School Shop, which sells small toys, stationery, gifts and other pocket money items.  Under the supervision of Mrs Hornsey, the children are responsible for sourcing and purchasing the goods to sell, pricing everything up, serving customers, giving change, and counting up the money.

This year's group have done a wonderful job, taken their roles very seriously, and best of all, seem to have enjoyed every minute of being the EBA shopkeepers.  This was their last week of running the shop, which will be handed over to a new group of children in September.  So thank you children, for all your hard work - Mrs Hornsey is very proud of you all!