Week Ending 18th October 2019

The half term holiday is almost upon, and we are now all looking forward to a well earned break after a busy few weeks.

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Squirrel Class children have been enjoying their history lessons, learning about the Great Fire of London. Last week, they all brought in cereal boxes, which they transformed into medieval half-timbered style houses to recreate Pudding Lane in 1666. This week, the children gathered on the field, to watch their cardboard houses burst in flames as the Great Fire was re-enacted...

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Foxes and Deer Classes had to fit in a lot of work into a short week, as they spent Thursday at Hazard Alley Safety Centre in Milton Keynes. The children all had a fantastic day, which was both fun and eye-opening, as they saw and learnt about lots of different hazards that are all around us.  The children learnt how to call for emergency services from a phone box, how to identify unsafe situations around the house and when out playing, and also how to place someone in the recovery position if they are unconscious.

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Thursday afternoon was exciting for the younger children, as the PTA organised a fancy dress disco after school. There were some marvellous costumes, including plenty with a Hallowe'en theme, music, dancing, drinks and snacks, and lots of noise as the children enjoyed themselves with their friends. Thank you to the PTA and other volunteers that gave up their time to help out - we hope your eardrums have recovered!

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Friday was an enjoyable day for all. As it was the last day before half-term holidays everyone was allowed to wear their normal clothes instead of school uniforms. This was to raise money to go towards future school trips, as the children were all asked to bring in a gold coin donation. As a school, we raised £129.

Deer Class practised another dessert for their Italian restaurant, making vanilla ice cream from scratch. They learnt some quite advanced cookery skills, including how to split a vanilla pod, and how to separate eggs. Very impressive! The children are really looking forward to the opening of Mount Foodius in a little over a month's time.

Meanwhile, Mr Bannister taught Foxes Class children a traditional playground game to finish the week - conkers! The children made holes in their conkers, threaded string through them, and had a knock-out tournament to the last conker.  Chloe and Annalise were lucky enough to get through to the final, with Chloe ultimately winning the title of Conker Champion. All of Year Five had a lot of fun, and the children are definitely going play more conkers over the holidays.

Eaton Bray Academy Conker Champion 2019

Have a wonderful half term holiday!

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Week Ending 11th October 2019

The school was a very busy place over the weekend, with fun, games and activities, as families gathered on the field to enjoy the PTA "Camp Out."

Lots of fun was had by all with a barbecue, Wild Woodlander adventures, tug of war, movie and popcorn fun, and roasting marshmallows on the fire. Some families just came for the evening, but several camped overnight and enjoyed the experience of sleeping in a tent on the school field! 

The rain held off until everyone was tucked up in their tents and although there were a few showers in the morning, everyone went home tired but happy.  By all accounts it was a great success!

 

 

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On Wednesday, Affinity Water Company came in to spend the day with our Year Four children. The focus of the day was water saving and our environment, and the children enjoyed a day of activities relating to this.

The first activity was in the hall and involved large scale board games like Twister, Snakes and Ladders, Top Trumps and Bingo, with water based questions allowing the children to progress through the board. The children loved these activities and showed great team work.

After break the class made pledges about what they will do to save water and shared them with the whole school in the afternoon.

The next activity was a real challenge. Then children were given huge maps with lots of different resources to use, and they were tasked with designing a system that would get water to four different places from the main water source without breaking any of the rules. Once the course had been completed REAL water was fed into the system to see if it worked. This was particularly thought-provoking as they had to ensure there were no leaks and that the water was evenly distributed!

After lunch the children went into the hall to complete a water cycle challenge. They got to dress up so that they were in character and had to try and solve the "problems" of climate change and water stresses. The children all got a free water bottle to encourage them not to use plastic disposable ones.

The children had a fantastic day, learning a lot of water related facts, while also being encouraged to  consider matters of conscience with regard to how we use and conserve water.

 

 

 

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Hamster children have been enjoying autumn activities this week with the help of the Gruffalo and his friends. They also had a visit from Dasher the school pet hamster!

 

 

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Otters children also had fun exploring all things autumnal. They went on a walk around the village to find autumn leaves and other evidence that autumn is here.

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Thursday of this week was World Mental Health Day, so on Thursday and Friday the children all took part in activities relating to this. 

Key Stage One children have been thinking about self-esteem, creating posters about what makes them happy and identifying positive things about themselves and their classmates. The older children in Key Stage Two have been discussing anxiety, and exploring strategies to deal with negative emotions. 

For the youngest children in Hedgehogs, World Mental Health Day was "Elmer Day".  The children have been sharing the story of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, discussing his colourful patchwork patterns and thinking about how it feels to be different. They have been working in small groups to make their own large Elmer (everyone had a turn) and have created their own "Elmer Day" designs.

On Thursday afternoon a special assembly was held, where the children shared their thoughts and ideas with the rest of the school. The children all recognise that looking after their mental health and well-being are as important as taking care of their physical health.

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Week Ending 4th October 2019

On Tuesday, Rabbits Class had a very enjoyable day out at the Chiltern Open Air Museum in Chalfont St Giles. The trip was linked to their topic work on the Iron Age, and the children spent the day finding out about life in pre-historic times.

The activities took place in a wonderful replica Iron Age Roundhouse, which was an ideal shelter from the frequent rain showers that fell during the day. The children made pots from clay, learnt how to grind grain to make bread and to churn cream to make butter. They also found out how to make iron age tools including spears made from sharpened stones which they tied onto sticks with dried grass.

It was an excellent "hands-on" day, and the children really gained a lot of knowledge about life on an Iron Age settlement.

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Badgers Class was visited by keepers from Whipsnade Zoo, who came in to talk to the children about conservation and endangered species. The children handled some animal artifacts and were given interactive activities to help them explore this subject in an interesting manner. They found out lots of fascinating facts - for example, that elephants are afraid of bees! So, they learnt, bees hives are now being planted around farms in Africa to keep elephants off the crops, and therefore preventing the need for farmers to cull this endangered animal.

After the visit the children wrote lovely thank you letters to Whipsnade Zoo to let them know how much they had enjoyed the afternoon.

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Foxes Class children have been learning a new game to help them recall, or look up, their times-table facts with greater speed and accuracy. It's been a great success, with everybody on the edge of their seats! Their work on the Anglo Saxons is progressing, and they are now mapping the areas of Britain that were conquered, and finding memories of Anglo Saxon dominance that has been left behind in our place names. 

In music, they are starting to learn how to dance and mix music, and in Computing, they wrote their very first computer program by compiling lines of code!

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