Week Ending 25th January 2019

There were more lovely cakes for the Bake Off on Monday.  Well done Badgers!

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On Wednesday there was a Year Six girls football tournament.  Defying the super cold conditions, our Year Six girls gave their all in four matches at the Creasey Park Football Centre in Dunstable.  There were plenty of goals, and a positive attitude throughout.  Our team came third, with two wins, one draw, and one defeat.

A terrific team effort from the girls!

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Meanwhile back at school on Wednesday, Otters Class had a special visitor, Eaton Bray local historian Peter Mayne, who came in to talk to the children about the village and how it has changed over time. 

The children learnt that Eaton Bray used to grow the best carnations in the world, that were ordered for royal garden parties!  They also discovered that the damsons that grew in the village were used to dye straw which was then taken to Luton and made into hats.  Plait schools were set up in the village and village children were employed to make straw plaits for small amounts of money.

Mr Mayne also spoke to the children about the history of Eaton Bray School, and showed them a large heavy key which used to open the door of the old school building.

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Rabbits Class children are studying persuasive writing in English, and part of this topic involves learning the skill of debating.  The children were asked to debate the following question: "Are tangerines the healthiest fruit?"  The children were split into two teams to research the question, then used lots of arguments and reasons to get their points of view across to the opposing team.  They then debated different issues working in small groups.

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Hamsters children have been enjoying the story of "Zog" by Julia Donaldson this week.  In this lovely book, Zog the dragon is accident prone, and often has to have his bumps and bruises tended and bandaged.  

The children were visited by a parent who is a nurse, who showed them how to put on bandages, just like in the story, and also talked to them about how to keep their teeth clean and healthy.  The home corner in Hamsters Class is currently a hospital, and the children are enjoying practising their new nursing skills.

 

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Friday afternoon as usual was Choices and Enrichment afternoon.  Some of the youngest children have chosen "Healthy Eating" as their weekly activity, and are enjoying learning all about how to prepare healthy nutritious food.  This week they made fruit crumble with apples and bananas - yum!

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Week Ending 18th January 2019

This term, every Monday is EBA Bake Off Day! 

The competition, organised by the PTA, kicked off last week with Deer Class, and this week it was Foxes' turn.  Children get baking over the weekend, and bring their goodies in on Monday morning to be judged on appearance and taste, with extra points awarded for the difficulty of the recipe.  In the afternoon the cakes are sliced up and sold to parents, with all proceeds going towards PTA fundraising.  What a delicious way to make money! 

We look forward to Badgers Class's yummy offerings next Monday...

Deer Class cakes

Foxes Class cakes

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Thursday was "Viking Day" for Foxes and Deer Classes!  As an introduction to this term's topic, "Raiders and Invaders", the children were visited by "History Off the Page", history specialists who came in to deliver a day of fun and learning.

The children (and adults) all came into school dressed in wonderful Viking costumes, and the hall was transformed into a typical Viking village from the year 878.  There were a number of different market stalls where a variety of activities were taking place - the children got to visit the wise woman, rune-caster, weaver, scribe, potter, metal worker, amulet maker and candle maker, learning some of the skills used by these 9th century craftsmen.  Some of the children trained to be Viking warriors, and had to defend the village against an attack by the Saxons!

In the afternoon, the children became archaeologists, excavating the village in the present day.  They "dug up" a number of artefacts, which they labelled for display in their own mini museum.

 

 

 

It was an excellent day, enjoyed by everyone who took part, and made even more successful by the parent volunteers who kindly gave their time to come in and help out.  Thank you to all of you, we are very grateful.

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Otters Class have had a lovely week.  They have a garden centre themed role play area in the classroom, and much of their learning has been based around this - in Art they have done some observational drawings of flowers, and in Science they have used the iPads to made posters illustrating the parts of a plant. 

Meanwhile, in English they have been writing their own traditional tales, based on the story of the Three Little Pigs.  Their next English task will be instruction writing, and on Friday morning, they enjoyed a very exciting outing in preparation for this.  The whole class visited Pizza Express in Leighton Buzzard, where they became chefs and were given instructions on how to make pizza! 

Once they were cooked, the pizzas were boxed up for the children to take home for their tea!

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And on the subject of food... the school kitchen has launched a great new menu for 2019, with lots of new dishes and old favourites.  This followed a consultation with the children about what sort of things they would like to see on the school dinner menu, and includes dishes from around the world, a wider selection of vegetarian options, and plenty of tasty and healthy choices.  Do take a look - it's on the website here.

We are always interested in feedback on the menu from children or parents - don't forget Mums, Dads and grandparents can join us for lunch whenever they wish - just let the School Office know.

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Week Ending 11th January 2019

Welcome to the new term at Eaton Bray Academy!

We started the new year with a fantastic fun "Freedom Friday", where the children came into school dressed in their favourite outdoor activity clothes, for a day of sport, games and enrichment learning.  There was all sorts going on throughout the school, both indoors and outside, with the children working together in mixed age groups and moving round to different activities throughout the day.

Amongst the activities on offer was: Forest School, Outdoor Masterchef, Mini Scarecrows, Computer Programming, Spanish, Lego Boats and much more.  It was a chilly day, but the children wrapped up warm, and the most popular activities proved to be the outdoor ones - cooking pizza on a wood fired oven, and collecting tree clippings and leaves to make a bonfire in the Forest School area.

It was a lovely day, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, and a great way to start the Spring term.

 

 

 

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It's been a very busy first week at school this week!  On Wednesday, Otters were visited by Explore Learning, an educational centre based in Dunstable, who came in to run a "Flipped Fairytales" English workshop.  The children were given the task of rewriting the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and had lots of fun doing so! 

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Thursday was a very special day; we held a Science Day, based on the books by Roald Dahl.  This was planned and organised by the Science Ambassors for the whole school to take part in, and each Key Stage had a different text to focus their science investigations around, as follows:

Early Years - George's Marvellous Medicine.  This included creating cabbage water, observing how it changed over time, then creating different shades of colours by adding either alkalis or acids. 

Key Stage One - Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.  This involved various experiments with sweets, changing their shape or size by placing them in different liquids, or making patterns from different sweets, adding water and watching the colours run as the sugar dissolved.  Year Two children also made some lovely scented playdough, and Year Ones enjoyed building chocolate factories from cocktail sticks!

Lower Key Stage Two - James and the Giant Peach.  Year Three children investigated the various insects that featured in the story, and created "food chains" using this information.  They also made parachutes that would safely carry a peach to the ground.  Year Four children meanwhile investigated how to preserve fruit.

Upper Key Stage Two - The Twits.  Year Six children looked into how to create glue, using a variety of scientific processes.  The aim was to produce a glue that might be strong enough to glue furniture to the ceiling!  The Year Fives investigated science in cookery, looking at why jelly sets hard, and why pasta changes in consistency when it's cooked.

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 Also on Thursday, Badgers Class children had a tag rugby session provided by specialist coaches from Triline Sports.  They learnt all sorts of new skills and really enjoyed their energetic afternoon on the school field!

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And one final visitor that we've enjoyed seeing at school this week... Mr Fox who has called round a few times to see what's been going on!  (Lucky we don't still have chickens!)

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