Queen Boudica Primary School

Year 3 welcomed Prehistoric Experiences to school for a day in the life of a Stone Age person. The children got to observe a fire being made in Stone Age times, in addition to a fish being prepared and cooked. The children got to use Stone Age tools and gained deeper insight into the different periods throughout the Stone Age and Bronze Age.

Elm and Birch had fun this week collecting yellow leaves from around school. They worked together to make two fantastic creations of Pudsey Bear. Well done Year One. 

Today Olympian Lewis Richardson returned to school to show us his bronze medal and talk to us about his time at the Olympics. Back in June Lewis spent the day with us for our Sports Week and promised to return if he was successful in Paris. Today he talked to the children in assembly, gave out this week's Headteacher Awards and visited each class. Thank you Lewis and congratulations again on your fantastic achievement!

In July, Year 4 children took part in the Colchester Schools Gardening Competition, and helped to design, create and plant a trug which was on display in Culvery Square throughout the summer holidays. We were very pleased to be awarded 2^nd place in the Competition which had included ten other schools.  Today, Lee Connolly came into our school to award our prizes of various gardening tools and a certificate. Well done to all the children incolved, and a big thank you for all votes!

Mr Elmer took a team of archers to participate in an archery event at Thurstable school. The team were commended for their excellent team spirit and for being such a polite group of children. We came 4th place out of 11 schools. Well done archers!

Ms Woodward and some of our School Councillors had the pleasure of visiting the new Wellbeing Garden at Colchester General Hospital, which has been designed by the well-known garden designer Adam Frost. We were so excited to be the very first people invited to see the completed garden and are very proud to have taken some wonderful purple bunting which the children have made during Forest School to hang in the garden. Thank you, Mrs. Byrne, for sewing the bunting together so cleverly! We hope that you're able to visit the garden over the summer and enjoy it too - it looks so beautiful.

Year 6 put on a fantastic production of 'The amazing adventures of Superstan' to parents this week.  Well done Year 6 you smashed it!  The singing and dancing was spectacular.  Thank you!

Year 4 had a fantastic day at Writtle College learning more about food and farming. The Essex Agricultural Society gave us a wonderful opportunity to get up close to machinery, animals, wildlife and food products. We had good fun making our scarecrow for our competition and were very proud that we came 1^st place out of all the schools there. The free tasty treats were an extra bonus to an enjoyable and educational day!We had good fun making our scarecrow for our competition and were very proud that we came 1^st place out of all the schools there. The free tasty treats were an extra bonus to an enjoyable and educational day!

As a school, we have been inspired and motivated through discussions around the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To promote appreciation and understanding of inclusive sport, Year 3s and 4 took part in a in Sitting Volleyball challenges and had lots of fun learning the rules for this variation.

On Thursday, KS1 had their Sports Day in the morning and EYFS had theirs in the afternoon. The children completed carousel activities that involved throwing, rolling, balancing and kicking a ball, all scoring points for their tribe. EYFS showcased careful but quick climbing in their obstacle challenge and KS1 had great resilience in their frisbee challenge. Children also competed in different races, from running races, egg and spoon races, obstacle races and fun runs. Well done to all of the children for their fantastic effort with each activity and for cheering on their tribe!

After making its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021, skateboarding will once again be on the programme for Paris 2024 and to celebrate this, QBPS welcomed The Dry Skate Project to deliver exciting skateboarding sessions in Sports Week.There was a real buzz around school on Wednesday as the team from the Dry Skate Project set up an impressive skate park on the Key Stage 2 playground.

The children were raring to go and couldn’t wait for their turn outside! Each session was carefully designed to develop children's balance, coordination, motor skills, and spatial awareness. All children learnt how to balance themselves on a board and become braver by facing their fears and overcoming them with determination, resilience and perseverance!

EYFS and Key Stage 1 Classes had lots of fun completing different sporting challenges with head coach Ben from the Tiny Rugby School. The children enjoyed the partner activities, where they worked together to pass a rugby ball under their legs and over their heads and competed against each other, listening carefully for the whistle and racing to turn and grab the ball before their opponent!

On Tuesday, Lower KS2 had their Sports Day in the morning and Upper KS2 had theirs in the afternoon. The children completed activities that they have been practising in their athletics lessons in PE such as speed bounce, long jump and javelin throw, as well as other activities such as archery, frisbee throw, a basketball shoot out and dribbling a ball with a hockey stick. All of these activities helped them score points for their tribe. They also took part in running races, hurdling and an obstacle race. Well done to all of the KS2 children for their effort and participation in their events.

KS1 Classes took part in a Cricket Festival, led by Chloe from Essex Cricket. Each activity was carefully designed to promote a range of benefits for children, such as developing gross motor skills, increasing fitness, boosting social skills and self-confidence and improving overall mental wellbeing.

Queen Boudica Primary School proudly welcomed Team GB Boxer, Lewis Richardson who delivered a motivational talk and boxing workshops for Key Stage 2 children. Being from Colchester himself, Lewis was a fantastic role model for the children as he reinforced the message that if you work hard, show resilience and believe in yourself, you can achieve great things!

He shared his boxing achievements but also detailed how he overcame challenges and injury set backs in his career, ultimately coming back stronger both
mentally and physically.

Lewis received the ‘golden ticket’ for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games when he won the light middleweight qualifier bout with Puerto Rico's Angel Llanos Perez.

Year 2 had a brilliant visit to Barleylands Farm in Billericay on Wednesday. We rode on a tractor, fed goats, pigs and sheep and made our very own pizzas with delicious toppings! It was particularly good to see where our food comes from as we had a chance to see carrots, herbs, strawberries, and many other delicious things growing. Thank you to the parent helpers who joined us on the day!

Wednesday 25th June- Six Year 1 children took part in a local Three Tee’s Cricket Competition at Colchester Cricket Ground. The team was very excited and felt proud to be representing the school and wearing our new Key Stage 1 Events Kit. They came 6th place out of the 7 schools participating, and showed brilliant sportsmanship throughout the morning, enthusiastically encouraging their teammates and shaking hands with their opponents. What fantastic sporting role models!

The children showcased superb batting skills and scored an additional 20 points overall by hitting the ball through the small target gates. Also, throughout the morning, their fielding skills improved as they worked together to place the balls back on the tees, before sprinting quickly back to the fielding line. Well done QB!

This week both Maple and Rowan class visited Beth Chatto Gardens in Elmstead Market as part of a science trip, to develop their knowledge of how plants grow and the different types of soils! The children had an excellent day, making their own mini greenhouses and planting their own herb seeds as well as observing the exquisite gardens at Beth Chatto!

This week Beech and Elm class had fun at forest school, worm hunting and den building!

We've had so much fun today! During the course of today, there has been so much wonderful outdoor learning taking place. I've seen treasure hunts, wildflower planting, rockets firing, decorative stone painting, digging and planting and so many smiling faces! It's been a joy to be a part of it! As a result of our Time Outdoors today, our school environment has had so many new projects created. We are really grateful to you as parents and families for your support and are really looking forward to finalising the grand total of our sponsorships. We can already see that a significant amount of money has been raised, for which we are incredibly grateful. Thank you so much, and please extend our thanks to your families and friends for their generous support too.

We have had a lot of fun in school for World Book Day, here are a few photographs of everyone looking fantastic dressed as their favourite book characters.

To celebrate International Women's Day, the Year 3 girls had a visit from Colchester United. Mr Elmer delivered a fun footballing activity, supported by two players from the female Colchester United team. The girls had a question and answer session followed by a mini football tournament. Everybody involved had so much fun!

On Thursday morning, Mr Elmer and Mrs Metson took a team of Year 5 and 6 children to Shrub End Community and Sport Centre for a tournament. We won the first game 2-0, lost the second game 2-0, lost the third game 1-0 and finally won the last game 1-0. The children represented our schools extremely well and demonstrated some excellent football skills. 

This week we had a netball fixture against St. John's Green. It was a really close match and got very nail-biting towards the end! The team played really well and we ended up winning 4-2 - Well done Team QB!

Mr Elmer and Mrs Eaton took 14 Year 3 and 4 children to a football festival at Shrub End Community Sports Centre. The children competed in 4 very close matches winning two and losing two. There was some superb goalkeeping performances and a few excellent goals. Everybody involved demonstrated wonderful sportsmanship and had an exciting afternoon of football!

Year 1 & 2 went to Northern Gateway Sports Park and took part in different sporting challenges relating to cricket. They practised many fundamental skills such as throwing, catching, rolling, balancing & batting. We loved the ‘fairy target throw’ activity and will keep this in mind for our Sports Week this summer. The children had lots of fun and represented the school brilliantly. Thank you to all adults for supporting with transport to and from this fantastic event. 

Year 3 had a visit on Friday from Prehistoric Experiences, who delivered a Stone Age experience for the children. Last term the children in Year 3 focused their learning on the Stone Age. Today they had the opportunity to learn about Stone Age life in greater detail, about hunting and different types of animals in the Stone Age. They observed a fire lighting demonstration involving mushroom fungi and two stones! 

Mrs Morgan-Soane and 4 children took the decorations made by our very talented and creative Year 5 and 6 pupils to St. Michael’s Church. We were given the opportunity to decorate two of the trees – I hope you agree that both trees look beautiful. The trees are part of a Christmas Tree Festival taking place this weekend at the church and they shall be officially lit, along with the Nativity Scene, at 4pm if you would like to go along. 

On Friday we hosted two football matches between ourselves and Heathlands Primary school. Overall we had 36 girls playing football!

Year 5 & 6 children took part in a local Cross-Country event held at Northern Gateway. They had to run 1500m, which is approximately 10 laps of our school Astro. In addition to great stamina, the children needed to be speedy, as there were over 100 children competing in each race. All children were fantastic ambassadors of our school, and we are very proud of their wonderful achievements.  Well done everyone! 

This week some of our Year 6s represented the school in our local girls’ football tournament.  We faced some tough competition, but the girls played exceptionally well. We came away with 3 wins, 2 draws and just one loss. As always, our children were fantastic ambassadors for Queen Boudica and were very supportive and encouraging of each other, we are very proud of our future lionesses!

In Art Year 1 loved creating symmetrical and repeating patterns with stones, leaves and flowers in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. We are very proud of our creations!

Year 4 had a fantastic day at Writtle College learning more about food and farming. The Essex Agricultural Society gave us a wonderful opportunity to get up close to machinery, animals, wildlife and food products. We particularly enjoyed stroking and holding the animals and learning why they are so important to us in so many ways. The combine harvester was very impressive, and it was great to see in real life what we have been learning and understand more about how these machines are used to help farmers work efficiently and have hands on experience with the crops that they help to harvest. We loved learning more about how we can help protect the environment including growing wildflowers in our gardens for the bees. We had good fun making our scarecrow for our competition and were very proud of our creation. The free tasty treats were an extra bonus to an enjoyable and educational day!

Year One went to Brightlingsea on a double decker bus.  We went paddling first.  Then we got dry and built sandcastles.  Then we went crabbing and for a walk on the prom.  After we had our lunch, we went to the playground and had an ice lolly.  Then we went on the top of the double decker bus.  I had a super day in Brightlingsea and can’t wait to visit again.  

This week some of our Year 6s represented the school in a cricket tournament at Colchester Cricket Club. They played exceptionally well as team: always making sure their field was set well, encouraging their teammates and supporting each other with when to run – or not! Their bowling, batting and fielding were all spot on and there were a couple of sensational catches too. We won all our games and came a very well deserved first place. The team will now travel to Billericay in July to compete in the Essex County finals. Well done team QB!

Eight Year 1 and 2 children took part in a Fun Run at Northern Gateway on Thursday afternoon. Lots of other local schools also took part and there were roughly 30-50 children in each race. There was some fantastic, speedy running, with Mia and Amelia both coming 2^nd in their races, what a wonderful achievement! All the children represented our school brilliantly and had lots of fun - well done everyone!

On Tuesday Year 2 were very excited to be invited to a concert in the hall as part of their new English book 'The Bear and the Piano' by David Litchfield. 

Write up by Musa Year 2:
What an amazing day I had! When I came into the classroom I saw 5 posters that said 'live music concert'. Miss Harris gave us a golden ticket for the concert. We went into the hall and we saw Mrs Warrington with a violin. We listened carefully to the songs she played. She played Star Wars, Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When the songs ended we all clapped in amazement. After, we came back to the classroom with a smile on our faces. 

Children have been taken part in some very excitng experiments as part of their learning for science week.  

In our After School Club the children have been busy making Mother's Day cards.  

What a fun day we've had! Traditional tales were a favourite this year: we had a Sleeping Beauty theme in EYFS, which involved a lot of glitter and fairy wings (always an interesting look when going to Forest School!), the Three Little Pigs in Year 1, Goldilocks in Year 2, Little Red Riding Hood in Year 3 and 4, and Snow White (lots of aptly named dwarves!) in Years 5 and 6. The office team did an amazing job as key characters from The Wizard of Oz, and Mrs. Clynick was a memorable Pied Piper with a trail of rats following behind her! Mrs. Clynick had hidden rat pictures all around school, which caused much hilarity. Well done everyone!

Year 2 children took part in a football festival at Shrub End Sports Ground. They took part in different drills, practising ball skills of dribbling, defending and attacking. The children then split into two teams and played a total of 4 games  against other local schools. There were some super saves from the goalies and excellent teamwork to get the ball up the field to shoot. All children represented the school beautifully, had lots of fun, and truly showcased the kind, caring nature of QB. Well done everyone!

Elm Class very much enjoyed their Now Press Play experience this week taking part in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. 
We loved taking Daisy our cow to market, planting the magic beans and hiding from the giant in his castle.  However,  our favourite bit was running away from the giant and chopping down the beanstalk so that we could all  live happily ever after. 

Year 5 have had a fantastic start to their time in Highwoods and have enjoyed their first two weeks exploring the woods. This week they enjoyed the frosty start, having fun breaking the ice and definitely needed their extra layers to keep warm. We have practiced making shelters to keep us warm and dry, have worked together to build a new stick den and this week enjoyed using the tools to make tree cookies to decorate.

We all greatly enjoyed our Christmas celebrations and were so pleased to see so many members of our school community joining us. It truly was a 'Season of Goodwill' as we all came together to care for our community and share the joy of Christmas. We were very privileged to have been able to take part in several 'community goodwill' events over the festive season, reinforcing that true meaning of Christmas for us all. A very big 'thank you must go to our families who had responded to the School Council's request, and who generously donated items of food. We took these to Colchester foodbank and I know that every item will have made a difference to a family.  We were also very fortunate to have been part of Dunelm's 'Delivering Joy' project this year: what a wonderful campaign that was. Thank you very much to Dunelm for including us, and to everyone who donated gifts to the campaign: it was so kind of you and was greatly appreciated by our community. We are also very grateful to Myland Council for their generous donation of funds which we are going to utilise this term to benefit all our pupils: thank you very much!  You may have seen in the local press that our school choir visited Woodland View Care Home to share some Christmas spirit and festive fun with the residents there: singing carols and enjoying sharing seasonal excitement. A very big 'thank you' to everyone who made our Christmas time at school such a memorable one. 

Our children in Reception and Year 2 performed in very beautiful nativities - we were so proud of them for their wonderful narrating, singing and acting. It was lovely to see so many family members attending: it set us all up very well for the Christmas period. Well done to all the children for their successes! As ever, we greatly appreciated the very warm welcome from Revd. Gibbs and the team at St. Michael's Church when our Year 4 pupils held their Carol Concert. The children did a wonderful job and we had a fantastic family singalong of Jingle Bells at the end of the event too! Children in school greatly enjoyed sharing the Posadas and making Christingles - there was so much festive activity and excitement as we celebrated the joy of the Christmas story together. 

This morning we all took a few minutes out to stand quietly on the playground for the minute's silence at 11am. We are so proud of the quiet and respectful way that all our children (and our neighbours at Nanna's) stood whilst we reflected back on the sacrifice made by previous generations. A very big 'thank you' to Mr. Bailey for his beautiful trumpet playing: it was an honour to listen to him play.

Year 6 children took part in an atheletics event against other local schools.  Each child competed in track and field events earning points for the team.  There were some fantastic scores in field events and several 1st places in the relays.  Overall the team came 2nd, well done QB!

Some of the children and staff wore traditional clothing in school today to celebrate Diwali, you all looked fantastic.  In Year 5, the children have learnt about the importance of good triumphing over evil and light chasing away darkness. Traditionally, Diya lamps are lit to light the way for gods/goddesses to visit the homes of those who follow Hinduism/ Sikhism. Sycamore and Hawthorn class created their own Diya lamps using a variety of bright colours. Mrs. Mungur and Mrs. Jasthi kindly came in to share their faith and experiences with the children. They shared how they worship and the importance of Diwali. We would like to say a huge thank you to both. You looked amazing!

This afternoon Children from across school went to Ten Pin bowling and took part in a competition with 12 other local schools. Every child scored a spare by knocking all the pins down, and on his last go, Jacob scored a strike! The combined total score was a whopping 489 points and we came 4th! The children represented the school brilliantly and all cheered each other on which was lovely to see! Well done QB!

This week  children from Years 5 and 6 took part in this sporting event at Thurstable High School. They were fantastic ambassadors for the school and showed great sportsmanship all morning. 

Our Year 6 Girls Cricket team won the local Dynamos competition this week. Their play was outstanding with some stand out fielding. Well done girls!

On Day 4 we have had the first proper Sports Days for Early years and KS1. They were all fantastic ambassadors for the school and really loved having parents there to watch them. 

Today saw the return of our Sports Days with LKS2 in the morning and UKS2 in the afternoon. It was wonderful to have all our parents back with us after the last couple of years and the sun shone! The children took part in a carousel of field activities as well as traditional running races. Well done KS2!

On Wednesday, six Year 5 pupil attended a Fencing Festival in Marks Tey. They met Olympic fencer James Beevers who now runs 'Musketeers Education' and got to take part in a number of games and activities. We had a great time and they are now Musketeer trained and ready!

Sycamore and Hawthorn have had a fantastic start to their time in the woods and we have been very lucky with the weather with cold but sunny mornings. All the children have worked together to construct some amazing dens, made some delightful mud kitchen surprises and worked on some Forest School crafts.

The children have taken part in a range of different games and challenges to keep ourselves warm and this week worked well in pairs in a blindfold tree hugging challenge!

All the children loved having a go at making their own natural bubble wands using Willow and Dogwood. The results were amazing and they all thoroughly enjoyed trying to catch each other’s bubbles.

Year 3 have had a very exciting week with lots of fun activities! We consolidated our learning of Stonehenge and had a go at creating our own using bourbons biscuits. On Thursday, Rowan and Maple Classes had a visit from Reverend Gibbs who talked us through the meaning of a Christingle and what each component symbolises. If we had extra sweeties in our bag, we got to eat them!

This week the children in Ash and Oak class performed their Nativity to parents in both classes.  Considering this would have been their first ever performance due to Covid restrictions last year, they did a great job!  There were a few challenges along the way but we hope that parents and carers enjoyed the story and singing nonetheless.  A huge well done to all of the children for their efforts, we were very proud of them.

Year 4 treated us to a magical experience at Myland Church on Tuesday evening. They sang their carols beautifully and it was so lovely to listen to their sweet voices and see their beautiful smiley faces. Thank you Year 4 for starting the Christmas season so wonderfully and spreading your festive cheer. 

Year 5 & 6 made beautiful decorations for the Queen Boudica Church Christmas tree.  Mrs Eaton and some of the children went to decorate the tree this week.   The trees will be lit at the Lighting of the Christmas Tree Service at Myland Church on Sunday 28^th November 4:00pm.

On Wednesday, the Year 6 classes travelled back in time to 1939 for an Evacuee Experience at Braintree Museum. Dressed in authentic Evacuee attire, they experienced what life was like for some children during war time.

During the morning, they spent time in a 1940s classroom: sitting at wooden desks, writing on slates and practising gas and air-raid drills so they would know what to do during a bombing raid. Back 'at home', they played games such as dominoes, Jacks and cards before being interrupted by the air-raid siren and scrambling into their Morrison shelters.  The children also experienced what life was like for children evacuated from the cities: the long train journeys, the uncertainty of where they were going and the feelings of relief and rejection during the selection of evacuees by host families.

In the afternoon, the children had the opportunity to handle real artefacts from the era. These including trying on military uniforms and using detective skills to work out who would have worn them. They were surprised at how small some of the uniforms were! They also saw the remnants of an incendiary bomb, an Air Raid Warden's torch, military medals and a stirrup pump as well as a 'make do and mend' wedding dress and sandals which had been crafted from a damaged parachute! 

The day was wonderful in adding depth to their understanding of the work covered during lessons and they returned with a greater empathy for all those involved in the Blitz. 

On Thursday children from Year 3 and Year 4 took part in the Change for Life sports festival at Thurstable school. We had a brilliant time trying lots of new activities including archery and kurling. Mrs Eaton and Mr Wilkins were very impressed with all the children and had lots of fun themselves!

Total Raised £423.25 Thank you!

We have had a fun day in school and Year 6 had a sports event with egg & spoon races and welly wanging!

Year Four stepped back in time this week on an incredible trip to Colchester Castle to support our learning on the Romans.  We constructed a Celt Roundhouse and a Roman Villa and saw real Roman mosaics.

We listened, enraptured, to the story of Boudica’s rebellion as we explored the castle vaults and went for gold in a chariot race simulation game. It was wonderful to see how much the children already knew and to watch their eyes pop as they saw the evidence of all the theory they've acquired, placed before them.

On Thursday children form across schol took part in the Active Essex bowling competition at Ten Pin Colchester. It was great fun and we loved cheering on our team! Well done everyone on taking part in this brilliant event!

Holly and Willow have been busy in the woods again this week and have enjoyed campfire cooking week. They have used fire steels to light mini fires, whittled sticks and roasted marshmallows.

The children have been fantastic and are looking forward to the Tribal Forest School Challenge next week. This week we had some near misses with falling chestnuts and a competition to find the largest chestnut.

We would like to say a huge congratulations to some of our Year 5 and 6s for taking part in the Boccia and New Age Kurling competition at Thurstable school this week and winning 1st place in both games! Both teams loved learning the new games and playing against children from other schools in Essex. Well done for such positive sporting behaviour, it was a fantastic event! 

Alex and Kelly from Krav Maga Elite, which is based in Wivenhoe, came to run some sessions with Year 2 and 3. Krav Maga is a form of self defence. Alex and Kelly’s sessions also helps to improve social interaction, focus and concentration, whilst promoting ways to keep fit and healthy. 

Day 3 also saw our LKS2 Sports day take place - well done years 3 and 4!

On day 3 we welcomed Football Freestyler Ash Randall who showed off his amazing skills and taught the children some new tricks. Ash is a British professional football freestyler and twenty-three time Guinness World Record breaker. He is a professional football entertainer, sports coach & Street Football ambassador.

Day 2 has been great fun - with KS1 Sports Day in the morning and EYFS in the afternoon. The staff had to cheer extra loudly this year to make up for the missing spectators!

Our Sports Week got off to a great start on Monday with a visit from ex-Team GB 100m Hurdler, Julie Pratt. Julie gave a talk to Year 6 in the hall first thing, which was really inspirational, we even got to see her gold medal! This was followed by hurdling workshops with a variety of different classes. 

Our new Forest School experience is underway with Holly class this half term. Mrs Parry has recently trained as a Forest School leader and we are all very proud of her and thankful for all the effort she has put into these wonderful experiences. 

On Thursday 29^th April, 12 children in Year 6 went to the new Northern Gateway Sports Park to take part in a session with a British Cycling coach. First we were all given our bikes and helmets and practised cycling on the proficiency course before testing out the 1 mile track. John, our coach, also spoke to us about some of the tactics the cycling teams use to work together, which we then practised together. In total we cycled almost 3 miles on the track! Well done to all of the Year 6 children who attended, we hope to go back soon!

Since coming back into school, Year 2 have been having fortnightly Zoom calls with Farmer Beck who works on a farm on the Scottish Borders. This week we learnt about what the cows eat and were excited to see some of the calves that have already been born. Farmer Beck also set us a challenge to find out, and show, if a particular animal was a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore by making different animal poo! We did this using oats and cocoa powder and used pasta for bones, grass and seeds to represent the different animals! 

Our topic for Spring term was ‘To Infinity and Beyond’ which links to all things space related. For our short return to school, we focused on a book called ‘Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover’ by Markus Motum which told the story of the 2011 NASA mission (to land a rover on Mars) from the perspective of Curiosity, the rover. As a class, we were so gripped by the book and were fascinated to see pictures that Curiosity took from Mars, resulting in us wanting to create our own rovers. Fantastically, the children could remember all the features that a rover would need and used their very best imagination to create a ‘Rubbish Rover’.

We couldn't have Oak Class missing out on the fun of Christmas lunch day! So the children made Christmas hats, as they would have done in school, and we provided take-out Christmas lunch for those who could collect it safely. 

Whilst reading the chapter 'Explorer School' from our class novel, The Explorer, it was noticed that lots of animals were mentioned. Sycamore Class followed this up by conducting research about animals that live in the Amazon rainforest and created an information page. The focus was to present our work effectively and as you can see, the children rose to the challenge!

In school Years 2, 4 and 6 looked at the reasons behind Remembrance Day - here are some of the photos from the day.

In Year 6 our recent topic lessons, we had studied the Armistice and how the Treaty of Versailles had contributed to the rise of Hitler and the outbreak of WW2. On Remembrance Day, we looked at the history of the Poppy and listened to an audio recording of the guns falling silent at 11am on November 11th, 1918 which was very poignant and led into our two minutes silence. We looked at a special centenary commemorative poppy pin which was made from the shell casings excavated from the battle of Passchendaele. Our pin was to remember Private James H Tovey and looked at the plaque in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium that honours his memory.

Year 2 have been busy this week building wooden bird houses which will be displayed around the school next term.

We loved using real tools to build our bird houses, and were careful while using the saws, drills, hammers and hot glue guns! 

Here are some photos of our day and the finished products. 

We hope you can spot them in the trees around school next term.

Year 4 had a wonderful time making their Roman Shields this week.

Our first virtual week back and we have loved seeing all the work you are doing at home and all the lovely activities you are doing with your families. Lots of classes have started their new topics. We've seen wonderful myths in Year 5, biographies of Charles Darwin in Year 6, The Stone Age in Year 3, telling the time in Year 1 and much, much more. Lots of you are growing your own vegetables and plants at home and it has been wonderful to see those picture too.

The few children and staff who were in school today had great fun decorating the front of the school, in the hope that NHS staff see it on their way to and from work. 

We had a fantastic day celebrating World Book Day; sharing stories with parents, a costume parade and much, much more.

Our first match of the season saw us play North Primary. A great game was had by all and a win for QB at 15-0! Well done team QB!

Report by Year 4 children who attended:

On Wednesday the 5^th February we took part it a Cross Country event at Colchester Rugby club. We ran a 1000m race against around 20 other schools in North Essex. We had separate races for year three and four girls and boys. At the start of the race we all felt quite nervous, but as we drew nearer to the finish line we believed in ourselves and felt more confident. At the end of the race we all had to go down a single file barrier where at the end of the race we got tickets with our numbers that we came in. We all came in pretty good places but we are all very proud of one of our year 3 girls for coming 3^rd place out of so many people. We are really grateful to the that adults that took us to the event, as otherwise we would of had no way of getting there.

Year 6 have recently been learning about basic first aid by following the St John's Ambulance KS2 first aid course. So far we have looked at bleeding; bites and stings and choking. On Monday we had a visit from Amber who is a student paramedic at UEA and a St John's Ambulance volunteer. Amber spoke to the children about the importance of first aid and what a difference it can make to a critically ill patient. She then taught the children how to perform basic CPR - which was a lot harder than it looks on the TV!

On Wednesday 22^nd January, the whole school took part in our ‘Amble for Aus’ to raise funds for two charities supporting the devastating effects of the bushfires in Australia. The whole school walked around Highwoods Country Park – our youngest children were supported, in such a caring way, by our eldest children. Each child wrote their own personal message, which was placed on an Australia flag halfway around the walk. After school we held a cake sale to raise more funds and thanks to the overwhelming generosity of our school community we have raised close to £700! Thank you!

Report by Year 4 children who attended:

On Tuesday 21st January we went to Essex University Sports Centre and took part in an event against thirteen other schools. We did events such as: javelin, speed bounce, standing long jump and the five strides. For the relays we did: 1 lap relay 2 people, 1 lap relay 4 people, 2 lap relay 2 people, obstacle relay 4 people. Turbo Javelin was really fun but we had to aim at the perfect height. We got it quite far. Speed bounce was really difficult because you had to jump over a high height, but I did okay. Standing long jump was quite hard because you had to jump really far in order to win. Five Strides was quite easy because you only had to go as far as you can, but I really enjoyed it. The 1 and 2 lap relay was really tiring but we really enjoyed it because we like a challenge.The obstacle relay was really, really hard because there was so many different obstacles and we think the speed bounce slowed us down and that was a little tiring. We came 10^th place which was okay because it was our first event and we had never done some of the events before. All in all we really enjoyed the experience and were lucky to be chosen to do it.

Congratulations to Ordovices tribe who have won the Tribe Cup for the Autumn term. They will be awarded with a tribe non-uniform day very soon - well done!

Willow class have had a great afternoon today making slime!

On Tuesday we held our winter themed Tribe Day. Children moved around different activities around the school in their tribes, with the older children supporting the younger ones. It was a great success as always with some lovely art and poetry produced, alongside fun outside and fitness games in the hall.

This term, Year 2 have been learning about the Great Fire of London. We really enjoyed learning about how the fire started and why it spread so quickly. We used iPads to research facts about the Great Fire of London and wrote fantastic non-chronological reports. A particular highlight of our topic was creating our own London Street and setting it alight to really experience what happened in 1066. It was fabulous end to our topic!

This week Oak and Ash class had a wonderful day partaking in lots of different winter craft activities, they had a fantastic day and went home with a bag full of beautiful crafts to share with their families.

Children from across the school have joined the Big Climate Fightback organised by the Woodland Trust in which one million people have pledged to plant a tree.

We have been working hard to improve the school environment and children have worked in groups to learn about the importance of trees and plant a variety of tree species across the site. We aim to plant over 200 trees across the school site.

A huge thank you to Mrs Harrington and Mrs Parry for all their hard work and commitment.

This week we have held our bi-annual Christmas tree competition. Each class has designed a tree based on a favourite book. As you can see there are many wonderful and creative designs. The trees are in our school library – please do pop by to see them if you get the chance.

In Year 3 we have studied different adventure stories and written our own set in Ancient Egypt!

We have explored a range of adventure stories and discussed how they have elements of danger and how something out of the ordinary usually happens. We were able to identify the language features used in fictional stories, such as adjectives, adverbs and similes. We also learnt how to create tension and suspense in our writing by including short sentences and ellipses. We then planned our own adventure story set in Ancient Egypt by using a story mountain to plan the opening, build-up, problem, resolution and ending paragraphs. Next, we spent a week writing and editing our stories and then shared them one afternoon with each other and also both Year 1 classes. We are really proud of our stories and you can find them on display in the school if you would like to read some!

In Year 3 we have been learning about how Ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife, and the process of mummification. We know that the liver, lungs, intestines and stomach were washed, dried in natron and either wrapped in cloth to place in the body later or stored in canopic jars.
We then chose one of the four canopic jars and used paper mache, clay and paint to make them!
Here are some photos!

In Year 3 we have been learning and perfecting gymnastics routines.

First of all, we learnt the static shapes of straddle, pike and tuck and practiced these on mats. We then progressed to performing these shapes as a jump from a bench. We are now working in a group of 3 to use these moves, along with props such as beanbags and balls to create a gymnastic routine to perform to the other Year 3 Class! Here are some photos to show you our PE sessions this half term.

On Thursday, two of our Year 6 School Councillors, along with Mrs Eaton and Mr Rush, visited Colchester Food Bank. We took all your very generous Harvest donations and, after many trips back and forth from the car, had donated a total of 114 Kg of food! The pupils then helped to sort some of the donations and we learnt about how the Food Bank operates. The Food Bank were blown away with our generosity - thank you to our parents for your kind donations that made this possible.

Our Harvest / Autumn Tribal Day was a huge success. Children took part in four activities throughout the morning in their tribes. The older children looked after our younger children in a very kind and considerate way. A big thank you to all the staff and our Year 6s for helping make the day so special and run so smoothly.

On Monday, Year 3 had a wonderful day celebrating their topic. The children (and adults!) had lots of fun.

Following our competition in the summer term, our four tribal design winners finally got to see their designs brought to life. The huge shields are now on display in the school. I think you'll agree we have some very talented young designers!