Week Ending 11th November 2016

Science has been the theme in Key Stage Two this week, with Badgers Class doing experiments to find out all about volumes of liquid, and Deer learning about electrical circuits.

On Thursday, the School Hall was transformed into an exciting space exploration centre, when visitors from the Astronomy Roadshow came in with their mobile planetarium.  This consisted of a huge inflatable dome, with plenty of room inside for a class of children to sit and gasp at the fantastic 360 degree interactive presentations, which were projected onto the inside of the dome.

Key Stage Two children found out about the sun, moon and the planets in our solar system.  They were told all about gravity and were amazed to discover how much less a can of beans would weigh on Pluto and how much more it would weigh on the sun!  They enjoyed learning about the moon landings, and were able to investigate displays of model rockets and space patches from the space programme.  They also had the opportunity to handle pieces of meteorite and volcanic rock.

Our younger children meanwhile, have been very creative this week, with Hedgehogs stretching out in the hall to enjoy art activities!  They also used plasticine to form numbers.

Hamsters Class have been thinking about weather and the seasons, remembering fireworks night and making a wonderfully colourful display, by blowing paint through straws.  They went on a lovely walk in the park, and were very excited by the first frost and ice of the year - their story for this week was "Jack Frost", and it seems he visited at just the right time!

The Year Five EBA Enterprise team were visited this week by the local butcher, Mr Hines, who showed them how to make burgers.  They used a variety of different meats, which was kindly donated by Mr Hines, and added their own choice of additional ingredients and flavourings.  These included mushrooms, apples, barbecue sauce, tzatziki, and even biscuits and icing sugar!

The finished products were cooked and served, beautifully garnished, for Mr Hines to taste, and give his expert verdict.  He concluded that some of the more unusual ingredients made the burger surprisingly tasty!

On Friday, a team of Year Four children went off in the minibus to Dunstable Leisure Centre to take part in an indoor athletics tournament.  They participated in relays and sprints, long jump, obstacle races, javelin and other events.  They thoroughly enjoyed the experience of meeting and competing with children from other local schools.

Our value for this half term is "Peace".  The children have been thinking about the importance of living in friendship and harmony with others, avoiding conflict, and abiding by laws that keep us all safe.  On Friday, we acknowledged Remembrance Day, along with thousands of others across the British Isles, by observing a two minutes silence at 11.00am.

Week Ending 4th November 2016

The children had a wonderful surprise when they returned to school this week, following the half term break.  During the holiday, some new playground equipment was installed, and we now have a fabulous "outdoor gym" on the school field!

As you can imagine, everyone is thoroughly enjoying using it, and getting fit into the bargain!  Many thanks to the Home School Association who worked so hard to raise the money to buy this for the school - this is where all the pennies that were spent at school fairs and fun days have been used.

   

It was a golden autumn day on Monday, and the school grounds looked really beautiful in the sunshine.  The children all had a lovely time kicking through leaves - at least before Mr Wise got around to sweeping them all up...!

Hedgehogs Class busied themselves carving pumpkins, and made a wonderful Hallowe'en display outside their classroom.

There was more Hallowe'en spookiness at lunchtime, when on the menu there was a choice of "Green Monster Feet" or "Bats" for dessert!

On Wednesday, children in Foxes and Deer enjoyed a trip to the Natural History Museum in London. Our topic for this term is "Extreme Earth", so they were all very interested to find out more about the geology of our planet, by visiting the "Volcanoes and Earthquakes" show.

The children had the opportunity to investigate volcanoes and earthquakes, through interactive demonstrations, film footage, games and exhibits.  Best of all though, was the Earthquake simulator room, where the children became part of the action, finding out how it felt to live through an earthquake, and discovering more about the challenges faced by communities in this situation.  They learnt about monitoring and predicting seismic activity, and discovered how best to protect buildings against such catastrophic events.

They also had the chance to look around the other exhibits, and enjoyed looking at the displays of minerals and fossils.  As usual, our children were very well behaved and sensible, and everyone really made the most of their visit.

Back in school, children have been working hard with the usual variety of exciting work going on in the different classrooms.  Hedgehogs have been doing lots of measuring, while Squirrels Class have been learning about directions - left, right, clockwise, anti-clockwise and so on.  Badgers Class meanwhile, have been making Salvador Dali inspired melting clocks from clay!

Otters have made a start on their Christmas crafts and activities... with just a few week until the big day, everyone will soon be focusing on this, and the school will be full of glitter and tinsel in no time at all!

Week Ending 21st October 2016

A busy week at EBA, with Parents Evenings for Hamsters on Tuesday and for the rest of the school on Wednesday and Thursday.  Hopefully everyone who came along appreciated the opportunity to have a look through their child's work, and to speak with their child's teacher.

It has been Bikeability Week for children in Year 5.  Everyone brought their bikes and cycle helmets into school, for a week of instruction on how to cycle safely, responsibly and with confidence.  The first sessions took place on the school playground, with the children and their instructors venturing out onto the roads and cycle paths around Eaton Bray, later in the week.  The children were also given some advice about how to keep their bicycles in good roadworthy condition, and what to wear when cycling on the road to keep safe.

The cycle training was provided by Cycle4life, based in Leighton Buzzard.  They provide cycle training to groups or individuals, both children and adults and also offer bike maintenance courses.  So do get in touch with them at info@cycle4life.org if you require any more information, or would like to top up your cycling skills!

It has been a week of lots of visitors - new parents looking around the school, various contractors in to carry out routine inspections of equipment, educational specialists visiting to meet with teachers and children, and so on.  On Wednesday we had a visit from a music teacher from Inspiring Music, who gave an assembly to introduce children to the cello and double bass.  Many of the children were indeed inspired, and have signed up to find out more about learning to play these exciting instruments.

Our School Council had reason to be proud this week; they have been awarded a certificate to recognise the school's participation in the "Speaker's School Council Award" project.  This is a national competition that celebrates the achievements of School Councils across the country, promoting democracy and teamwork.  We didn't win a prize, but were pleased to be able take part, and help to endorse these important values.

EBA Enterprise children made delicious looking savoury pasties this week in their cookery session.  Just the right sort of dish for these increasingly dark and chilly autumn nights!

Have a lovely half term holiday, and we will see you back on Monday 31st October...

Week Ending 14th October 2016

The school grounds have been looking beautiful this week in the October sunshine, with the trees now beginning to show off their lovely autumn colours.  The children are making the most of dry days and playtimes on the school field, before the colder damper weather inevitably sets in after half term.

The creative children from Art Club have been inspired by the beauty of nature this week, using leaves and autumn colours in their artwork, to make lovely autumn wreaths.  (They also had a fabulous time painting their own hands to make colourful handprints!)

Children in Squirrels Class have been thinking about extreme weather in their science sessions, as part of the "Extreme Earth" topic.  They had to imagine that they were camping in a storm, and decide what would be the best material to construct their shelter from.

They conducted a series of experiments, making models of tents from a variety of materials, then attempted to destroy them with rain and wind...  They concluded that polythene is much more waterproof than paper or cotton, and that a tent needs a solid frame in order to withstand a hurricane!

Otters Class are continuing their work on the seaside, and have been finding out about the tradition of Punch and Judy shows.  In pairs, they made and decorated their own paper puppets, wrote scripts, then performed their puppet show for the rest of the class.

Friday was a really exciting day for a group of current EBA pupils, and some of our ex-pupils.  

Earlier in the year, before the summer holiday and all the excitement of the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, our former Year 6 children all entered the "Get Set to Ace It" competition.  This entailed writing a motivational speech for the British Olympic and Paralympic tennis teams, and our children enthusiastically rose to the task.  We were absolutely delighted to learn that one of the EBA entries won first prize - the winning speech can be read here.  We are sure that Nathaniel's words must have helped propel Team GB tennis players towards the grand total of seven medals won across both games this summer!

The prize was a fantastic all expenses paid trip to the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton, for the whole class - our wonderful Year 6 leavers from last year, now all in Year 7 at secondary school!  Joined by a group of current Year 6 children, who were lucky enough to have this opportunity as a reward for a homework task, they all enjoyed a fabulous day of tennis tuition, taught by some of the best tennis coaches in the country, using world class facilities!

There will be many photos and much more information to follow, keep an eye on the school website!  In the meantime...

Great to have the children from Eaton Bray Academy with us enjoying a day at the NTC after winning our Get Set to Ace it! Competition! 🎾💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/ZyuLOYvkco

— Tennis Foundation (@TennisFndation) 14 October 2016

A footnote: the Year 7 children all had to get permission from their current school to have the day off to take part in the trip.  The secondary schools were all of course happy to authorise the absence, and we received this lovely message from Queensbury Academy, the school that most of this year group now attend:

Dear Mrs Hounslow

Thank you for your letter regarding the success of one of your ex-students in the GET SET TO ACE IT competition. I am sure you and the whole school are very proud of this achievement and we at Queensbury pass on our warmest congratulations. We will be happy to authorise our new students to attend this visit.

We have been extremely pleased with the way in which our new Year 7 have settled in to life at Queensbury. Your students have made an excellent impression in terms of their behaviour, smart appearance and positive attitude to learning: they are a real credit to you, their parents and your staff.

Kind regards

 Sue Roberts

 Vice Principal