Sense of Place, Purposeful and Collaborative, our Pupil Parliament at Barnby and North Cove Primary care about our community and always encourage pupil voice.

Very soon after the new committee was elected, they decided that they wanted to support the local community. Linking to our Global Citizenship theme of Power and Governance, they organised a food collection for a local food bank. They took part in an assembly asking the rest of the school for help. Our school collected 50kg of food which is equivalent to 71 meals.

The focus of their first online Trust meeting was “What conditions do we need to have in place to be effective collaborators?” and to think about how to encourage pupil voice.  Pupil Parliament used their purposeful, collaborative and participation skills in assembly to ask our pupils for suggestions on how to make our school a better place. They encouraged these suggestions to be placed in their suggestion box in the hall and three more boxes were made to be placed in classrooms. Pupil Parliament also encouraged the children to speak to them about their suggestions or tell an adult in school for it to be passed onto them. The boxes are regularly emptied, the suggestions are typed up and displayed on their noticeboard for all to see. Letters have been written to senior staff to ask some requests. They have updated the school, via assembly, of suggestions they can action, the ones they cannot and why. They have a responsibility to continually work through the list and keep our pupils informed. They are determined and resilient.

Respectful, active citizens and collaborative, Pupil Parliament with our Junior Road Safety Officers organised fund raising and a non-uniform day for Children in Need, which also involved highlighting the need for wearing brighter clothing to be seen by traffic when out and about in gloomier days and darker evenings (Brightness Day). After the event both groups participated in counting the money raised together.

Even parent suggestions are taken on board. A request was made asking if the school could collect toys for those in need. This request was made to our parents via email. Just before Christmas the toys were delivered to the drop off point for The Salvation Army Christmas Toys Appeal in Beccles.

Red Nose Day was the next event Pupil Parliament wanted to support. Taking their place in assembly, an announcement was made. A Pupil Parliament independent learner used her own initiative to create a PowerPoint at home to share with the school via our new interactive whiteboard in the hall.  She had made 7 slides so that each member had a part to read. Everybody was asked to wear as much red as possible. A plan of the day was explained with some history about Comic and Sports Relief too.

Our awesome Pupil Parliament had a fantastic day at our Academy Trust office in Halesworth with other academy schools. This was the first time they had attended a face to face meeting since before Covid and they had lots to offer throughout the meeting. They looked at the PP Constitution, a set of rules used to run Pupil Parliament. Learning characteristics have now been added to this document as discussed at the last meeting. They shared their ideas around “What conditions need to be in place to be an effective collaborator”. They engaged in the debate “Only big actions can make big differences”. The majority attending disagreed, the main argument being a combination of small actions can also make a big difference. After lunch, presentations were made by each school around fund-raising. Our Pupil Parliament confidently shared details around previous fund-raising in our school, some carried out by their families and other people in the UK and around the world.

The children at Glebeland thoroughly enjoyed their celebrations for the King’s Coronation on Friday each class took part in activities throughout the week then the whole school came together to celebrate on Friday. 

Robin Class learned two songs to sing and learned all about Westminster Abbey and the important part it had to play in the coronation. They made junk models of the Abbey and finger painted union jack flags. Woodpecker Class discussed the attributes they thought they would need to be a good King and designed their own crest to display these.

Starling Class Have been discussing the different stages of the Coronation and also learned to play ‘God Save the King’ on glockenspiels. Some of the children decided to get creative and made models of the Stone of Scone from clay.

Red Kites Over the past few weeks Red Kites have been learning to play ‘Oh When The Saints Go Marching In’ on the recorders. They also created mirror portraits of King Charles using a range of images taken throughout his life.

What better way to celebrate community engagement than to immerse ourselves in the preparation for the Coronation Celebrations last week. At Helmingham the children decided to share a tea party with their friends and families to celebrate the Coronation of our new King. 

The children were very responsible when they collaborated to make cakes, sandwiches and decorations. They not only participated in the celebration, but in the preparations too. Parents also brought in a fabulous array of cakes, crisps, sandwiches and snacks to produce a feast fit for a king. The children demonstrated their understanding of their sense of place by dressing in red, white and blue and the older children shared their understanding of the importance of the coronation in the wider community, society and nation in an assembly presentation. 

It really was fabulous to see our wider community join us in school and we are already looking forward to more community events including our outdoor learning week celebrations in a couple of weeks time. 

Today our younger children are off exploring their wider community and learning how to be respectful, active citizens with a trip to the fire station and local area. 

The children in Jellyfish Class sat together to eat their fruit kebabs. On World Book Day, the children shared books together.

Dolphins Class went to Kingswood for their residential at the beginning of this term. They had to be responsible in many ways from making their own beds to deciding on suitable clothing for the activities. During the ‘Low Ropes’ activity, one of the group wore a blind fold and the rest of the group had the responsibility of guiding the blindfolded child along the course.

We sent messages of support and encouragement to families in Ukraine. We hope the fighting stops soon so that families can be reunited and the country re built.

This term we congratulated Neda who entered a book competition with the catering company EATS that provide our school meals.  She designed and told her story of “Super Macaroni” and was one of 3 winners from over 100 schools that EATS cater for winning a £20 book voucher.

We are looking forward to the first of our regular visits to Kirkley Manor this month. The children will be spending some time crafting, baking and socialising with the residents.  After meeting with Helen the Home Manager it was clear that the residents are as excited as we are.

We had a great time celebrating the king’s coronation, making our own crowns, baking yummy cakes and bread to enjoy at our special party and learning all about the royal family.

With the help of parents and members of the village Church Mendham sees lots of community involvement.

A group of parents are in school regularly to ensure that children are heard read daily. The children look forward to being asked to go and read to a parent and this has had a visible impact on pupils attainment.

The same parents are also keen volunteers elsewhere in school and can often be found on a school visit or being involved in FoMSA the school PTA. A big thankyou to them all for all that they do.

Each term, in each classroom we hold a parents engagement session. This term the theme has been Science.

Pine class parents took part in a lesson learning about the different parts of plants and their functions. We used our scientific skills to closely observe and draw different plants, and found out what the parts of a plant are for.

The Coronation gave further opportunities for community engagement.  Children were involved in a variety of activities including stone painting and the creation of artwork for the village Church. We used the colours of red, white and blue for mosaics, Coronation themes to fill a profile of the new King and some children choose to create their own portraits of the King himself.

We were also lucky enough, with the support of Rev. Diane Ekins, to be able to visit the Church and look at the history of monarchs through the ages. While there the children were presented with a commemorative Coronation medal. Key Stage 2 pupils also met with Mr Don Simpson a past pupil who had been evacuated to the village during the war. Mr Simpson was kind enough to gift the school a commemorative coin from 1953 the year of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.

Community Engagement at its best!

Our parent community has united this half term to support us in our mission to make the grounds of our tiny little school the most attractive oasis for our teachers, neighbours, parents and most especially our children.

In conjunction with our teachers and pupils our parent volunteers have helped design, source gardening paraphernalia and created the most attractive space that has totally transformed our grounds. 

The playground has been weeded, long standing overgrown areas cleared and dug over, seeds planted and looked after, hanging baskets have flourished, outdoor furniture has been relocated or taken down and tyres transformed to create the most appealing insect beds!

The children (and staff) watched in awe as our very own ‘Ground Force’ team set about the work, whilst learning in the classrooms has all been focused on growing plants, plant adaptation and considering which is the most amazing plant of all!

We enjoyed celebrating the coronation in school on May the 5th.  Of course a fair proportion of our celebrations included lots of learning about this historical event.  However, the afternoon did conclude with a ‘Coronation Cake’ bake off and the sale of the beautiful cakes.  It was so lovely to welcome members of our wider community from the village into the sale and enjoy our transformed grounds.

A huge thank you from all of us to all the team of parent volunteers who have helped facilitate this project.  We really appreciate it.

The children in Reception have been learning the story, Handa's Surprise and they have been looking at what life is like in Kenya. This has been part of their Literacy work as well as gaining an understanding and respect for other cultures. They enjoyed tasting the different fruits from Handa's basket and other fruits that grow there. They also looked at some traditional Kenyan names and chose one for the character in their own story. When looking at different homes in Africa, the children talked about the differences and similarities.

This term royalty has been firmly on our minds, years 1 and 2 have been answering the big question, 'What is the life of a King like?' The selection of learning from Emily, Thea and Charlotte clearly shows their thoughts and ideas about royalty and responsibility.  While years 3 and 4 have been learning all about Edward VI to answer their big question, 'Would you make a good King or Queen?'  All of the children have been proudly sharing their knowledge and ideas using the vocabulary: commemorate, succession and hierarchy.  

It was wonderful to see the children engaging in the celebrations for the coronation of King Charles III.  The school was awash with red, white and blue as the children left their uniforms at home for a day.  In the afternoon a whole school stone painting activity was enjoyed by all.  Years 5 and 6 used inspiration for their stones painting a mandala, carefully selecting colours. This is just a small selection of the finished stones from all of our pupils, once varnished they will be on view at the front of the school.  

On Friday 5th May, nine of our year 1 and 2 children had the opportunity to participate in something completely new to them. They went to Ransomes Sports Ground to play against other schools in an 'Under 7s All Stars Cricket Tournament'. Throughout the tournament the children represented our school amazingly well and amassed a total of 306 points! During the games the children worked collaboratively (especially when fielding) and when they got back to school were so excited about the opportunity they had just had trying something new and playing against children from other schools. Who knows, we might have some future cricket stars on the way?

Educational Visit develops a real sense of place in our local community!

On a soggy wet day in May our Reception Class donned their best waterproofs and braved the elements to catch a bus from our local bus stop in Southwold to Lowestoft.

Children in Astronauts often enjoy a walk in our local environment discussing the beach and attractions in Southwold and this educational visit provided them with an opportunity to compare Lowestoft beach and pier.  They noted all the differences and similarities.

For some children it was their first bus ride too!

The Claremont pier team were amazing and let the children seek refuge from the rain and eat their packed lunches in the fish and chip restaurant.

St Edmunds Primary are always seeking opportunities to engage with the community.

Every fortnight we hold Shared Celebration Assemblies where we invite all of the families of our pupils to attend. This term we have had record numbers in attendance - particularly when we commemorated the King’s Coronation on the 5th July. In these, we share our learning that we have all participated in during the week. We also award our Stars of the Week to those pupils who have shone in their learning and we also love to hear about those achievements outside of school. 

Our Coronation Celebrations really brought the whole school community together and the children enjoyed a very special lunch served by staff and ended the lunch with a very ‘British Cake’!

We look forward to participating in the Hoxne Garden and Social Club Show in September. We have recently had representatives from the club visit and talk about the opportunities for pupils to enter the show with both Art and Craft entries - next year we will be working alongside the club to grow produce that can be part of the show too!

As a school we also contribute to the ‘Village Voice’ magazine where we update the local community on the topics we are studying and encourage them to contact the school if they feel that they have anything to contribute to our learning. 

As a school we feel that being an important part of the community provides all the children with the understanding of what it means to be an active and respectful citizen - a key lifelong skill. 

It was wonderful to welcome back the pupils following the Easter break. The first day back was a fun-filled Community Engagement Day with lots of activities for the pupils to participate in. This included a visit from Miniature Donkeys for Wellbeing who were very popular with the pupils. 

Pupils were also being creative with their art and design activities linked with World Earth Day - some excellent creations. The day ended with a joyous singsong with our signing choir, it was lovely to see parents and carers join in with the activities throughout the day.

We also welcomed Parents and Carers into school to participate in a Scholastic Book Fair to give them an opportunity to buy books for their children at home and classes and to raise money for the School. Pupils were invited to enter a competition to design a book cover and win a £5 voucher which they can spend at the book fair. There will be 5 winners across the school.

To celebrate the King’s Coronation children rehearsed traditional British dancing including Maypole dancing and learnt celebration songs. They shared these with their parents, carers, aunts, uncles and grandparent’s during an afternoon picnic.
Unfortunately, a last minute thunderstorm moved us all indoors but lots of fun, laughter and celebrating still occurred. It was wonderful to have parents back to school events and able to share in both learning and celebrations together as a school community. We have also been fortunate to have a local tennis club visit school to share in a game of tennis with the children, many have said how they enjoyed the sport and are keen to join a club. Our local church group have visited school during the year to share their “Open the Book” assemblies. These are a lovely opportunity for the children to see stories performed and with each one containing a moral or a message they promote talking points afterwards too. Looking forward to the remainder of the Summer Term, we are excited to share our Key Stage 2 play and our sports day. Our children in years 3 and 4 are visiting Minsmere to engage with local wildlife and our reception children will be visiting Easton Farm Park where they will have the opportunity to meet a range of animals.