Somersham Primary School

About Our School : What's New Archive

19th December 2008: Christmas Showtime!

Reception and Lower School, and Upper School children performed separate Christmas productions to full and enthusiastic audiences in school this week.

The Upper School production was entitled 'Santa's on Strike!'; a sensitive and witty reminder (and celebration) of all that is still good about Christmas, and children. In an era of television programmes such as 'House of Tiny Tearaways', Santa is shown that children are really kind and giving, caring and sharing, and the show finishes with a traditional nativity tableau. The magic of the events was captured through some beautiful singing, with the children often using two part harmony, and dancing.

Reception and Lower School children described a 'Special Kind of Present' that every person deserves at Christmas time - that of peace and love offered by the coming of Jesus. The Nativity Story was at the centre of a lively show featuring cuddly bears, marching soldiers and twirling clowns all appearing from Santa's sack. Over 135 children sang, acted and danced with wonderful energy and a lovely sense of fun.

Following each of the four performances, a collection was taken for the school's nominated Christmas charity: The Milton Hospice near Cambridge, which cares for children suffering from terminal illnesses. We are proud to have supported this community charity at Christmas for the past five years, and this year's donation of £384.00 takes the total figure raised to more than £2000.

22nd November 2008: Being different, belonging together

Anti-bullying week 2008

In school this week the children have joined a national initiative to consider how preventing and responding to bullying, harassment and discrimination is interconnected and strongly associated with health, safety and welfare, one of the outcomes of Every Child Matters and the government's Children's Plan.

An introductory whole school assembly explored the children's understanding of bullying behaviour. We define bullying as 'the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person by another where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be carried out physically, verbally, emotionally or through cyberspace.'

Curriculum activities in every class challenged children to ask what it is that makes people unique and different, and most importantly what unites and unifies them. Personal and school responses to bullying behaviour were interpreted through role play and drama, designing posters and charters, and recognising the importance of teamwork in building an open and safe learning environment. The work forms powerful and eye-catching displays around the school.

A celebration assembly at the end of the week enabled groups of children from many of the classes to showcase the work that they had been doing. The range and breadth of their achievements and understanding was impressive, as illustrated by the images photographs on this page. The children also recorded a short clip of a performance they wrote which is available in the multimedia section.

We will continue to champion this central theme within children's safety and welfare as the school year progresses.

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