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!

Week Ending 7th July 2017

Another successful week of rugby, with Year Fives triumphant in their tournament on Monday  Well done team!  Year Six's turn next week...

Rabbits Class have enjoyed the great outdoors this week.  They went on a bird watching adventrue around the school grounds and in the Forest School area.  They made a note of all the different species of bird that they spotted and identified, and are planning to upload their findings onto a database.

Hamsters children had a wonderfully fun and messy art session this week.  Working with Mrs Flitton, they created a huge colourful butterfly on their playground.  This followed on from the excitement of last week, when the caterpillars they have been looking after were released as butterflies on Friday afternoon.

On Thursday, Hedgehogs Class had a very enjoyable day out in Ashridge Forest.  The theme for the day was "Art at Ashridge" and the children took part in a colour treasure hunt, did some bark rubbings, whittled sticks, and painted a wonderful forest frieze.

The weather was absolutely perfect, just right for exploring the forest and playing some outdoor games in the meadow.  At lunchtime, the children were joined for a picnic by parents, grandparents and younger siblings, who joined in the fun, or were able to just relax in the sunshine.  It really was a lovely day out - please enjoy some photos!

Friday was the day of our Young Enterprise Fair, an event that the Year Six children have been working hard towards to for many weeks and months.  Back before Christmas last year, the children wrote to a number of local businesses, asking for sponsorship for their enterprise plans.  Thanks to the generosity of these benefactors, and following a visit from representatives from the "Young Enterprise" charity in January, the children were ready and able to start their own mini businesses.

The children formed four teams, and each devised a business plan, calculated their costings, and last month promoted their business to "EBA Dragons' Den."   Following useful feedback from the Dragons, they finally went into production, making goods to be sold at the Enterprise Fair.

There were several stalls on the playground, field and in the Hall, with many lovely items to buy on Friday afternoon.  These included scented candles, superb cakes, delicious home made lemonade, sparkly magic wands, beads and loom bands, and some cleverly designed paper planes and other toys.  There were also games and competitions that customers could pay to take part in.  Those local businesses that had so kindly helped the children were invited into school to visit the Fair, as were parents and children.

It was very busy, and plenty of money seemed to be changing hands, so the children are hoping for impressive profits for their endeavours!  Thank you to everyone who (once again) came along to support our school.

There's lots more to look forward to next week, as we rapidly approach the end of the school year.  Let's hope that the sun keeps shining so that everyone can really make the most of these lovely summer days!