Somersham Primary School

About Our School : What's New Archive

17th June 2009: Tales from other worlds

Book Week 2009 Reviewed by Mr Dawe

On our return from half term, we immersed ourselves in the world of books. The week started with a bang, when nationally renowned storyteller Saul Jaffe visited us for the day. He enthralled pupils in all age groups with stories from around the world and passed on some storytelling skills to some of our Yr 6 pupils in a workshop session.

On Wednesday, classes visited Somersham Community Library, where they were free to browse and select books to borrow. All pupils in school took part in the ‘Read It Again’ scheme, where brand new picture books were purchased and children were asked to read them and then vote for their favourite. These votes then contributed to a wider county author’s award. Our most popular choice was ‘The Haunted House’ by Kazuno Kohara.

Throughout the week children in Upper School were involved in making books for our younger pupils. This gave the older children a real insight into the writing process for a ‘real audience’ and books were shared at the end of the week.

Finally, on Friday, we had our annual ‘dress as a book character’ day. Pupils and staff made a tremendous effort and the enjoyment of reading was reinforced for all.

Extending a welcome to teachers from Japan Mr Litting explains:

We have been delighted to meet two visiting teachers from a Junior and High School in Japan this week.

Arranged with colleagues from Swavesey Village College as part of our involvement in the national International Schools Programme, the visit enabled children from the School Council to show our visitors what makes Somersham Primary such a vibrant and exciting place in which to learn. The school’s band played, children in class showed their work and our Radio team captured opinions and comments during a bi-lingual interview with our visitors, which is now available to hear on Radio Somersham.

This proved to be a great start to our International Schools and Modern Foreign Languages Week later this term.

Football highs and lows Millennium Shield Report by Callum and William

Our Year 5 team came so close to lifting the trophy this year! After a thrilling semi-final victory over Bury Primary, we faced a very strong team from Crosshall Junior in this week’s Millennium Shield Final.

The game was extremely close with strong running and tackling but few shots. With half time approaching, Crosshall took the lead with a great shot from outside the box and, despite our having long periods of possession, we were not able to catch up. The final score was a 3 – 1 defeat, but we felt proud of our efforts in just missing out on winning this District schools’ competition for the first time in many years. Player of the match was Josh who was a tower of strength at the heart of our defence.

Thank you to our coach Mr Dawe, and to our many enthusiastic supporters – children from Upper School came out to watch the first half and their encouragement really spurred us on.

Our aim now is to go one better in the Year 6 Dickinson Cup next season!

Cricket champions! Hunts. Kwik Cricket Competition

Great news! Our cricket team won through to the County stage of the Huntingdonshire Kwik Cricket Tournament this week. A full report will follow shortly.

1st May 2009: Here comes the Summer

Welcome back to this term’s exciting and creative curriculum
Welcome back after what, I hope, has been a restful and fulfilling Easter break! The Summer term is a busy time in school, and with the following events already set in our schedule, this year promises new and familiar challenges and exciting opportunities for all our children. We hope that parent and community groups will also play an active part.

Testing times
During the first half term, the children will be taking National Curriculum tests, which provide important information for teachers and parents in gauging progress and achievement. Children in Year 6 will be engaged in end of Key Stage SATs in core subject areas, and teaching programmes for these children over the past several months have been tailored to provide careful and thorough preparation for each child to achieve their very best. There are established timetables for the administration of these assessments, most of which take place during the week beginning Monday 11th May. Years 3, 4 and 5 will also sit similar Optional SATs around this time.

What’s new in school?
There are new and expanded outdoor learning opportunities for the children, in line with one of the school’s key improvement objectives. The trim trail apparatus areas have undergone a full refurbishment and, with the generous support of our Parents’ Association through a sponsored bounce event, we now have a superb traversing wall that will challenge the children’s physical, social and thinking skills. Staff have been trained in safe and stimulating ways to teach children to use this facility, which will only be used during lesson times until half term, with the aim to extend use thereafter when safe routines are clearly established. Children will be taught to climb at a low height, and are supported at all times by ‘spotters’ (see pictures of our staff in training action).

Some curriculum highlights
There will be strong environmental and cultural learning themes this term. International Schools and Modern Foreign Languages Week in June is a community event that will bring colour, performance and digital links with partner schools in New Zealand and Japan. The theme is extended during Book Week 2009 (‘Tales from around the world’). A cross-curricular Green Day, also in June, will include art, cookery and recycling challenges, orienteering and investigations using alternative technologies. Our Summer agenda will provide 21 extra-curricular clubs for the children. There is also a Teddy Bears’ Picnic, St Lucia Day, ‘Sculpture Walk’ and team visits to Kentwell Hall and a residential experience at Caythorpe Court, Grantham. See Home-School Links at: http://www.somersham.cambs.sch.uk/parents_newsletters.shtml

When the weather gets hot: some tips for keeping cool
The children are already enjoying making use of our field during lunch breaks. With warmer weather come important health considerations for all our children. They need to drink water regularly. In addition to filtered and chilled water fountains around the school, we are encouraging children to use personal water bottles, which will be carried onto the field; please ensure that these bottles are cleaned and refilled ready for the next day. We also recommend that children wear school caps or hats that are clearly labelled with your child’s name. Sun Factor protection for children can only be administered by their parents before school starts.

Return to the news archive

Swine Flu Update

Tel: (01487) 840412 / Fax: (01487) 741194 / Emergency Site No. (07905) 945411
E-mail: office@somersham.cambs.sch.uk / Website: www.somersham.cambs.sch.uk
Copyright © Daniel Bates
18,213 visits to this site from 4,033 unique different people in 2009 (13,561 from 2,954 in 2008!)