Year 1 had a fantastic trip to Alice Holt this week. Although it was very cold, we kept ourselves busy with lots of fun! 

The children explored different parts of the forest to understand the importance of looking after it, both for humans and the animals. 

They completed different activities, such as a mini-beast hunt, colour matching, and looking for different habitats, and at the end, we even got to do the Gruffalo trail! 

From the 10th Nov to 14th Nov, the children took part in anti-bullying week. On Monday, we kicked things off with an assembly to help introduce this important week and the activities we would be completing. Every year, the group had important PSHE lessons surrounding bullying, and to help promote kindness, each class took part in '25 Acts of Kindness'. It was a kindness bingo sheet with 25 random acts of kindness that the children could complete throughout the week. At the end, we celebrated the children's efforts with another assembly, and each class received a special certificate.

On Friday 17th October 25, 35 of our Year 2 and 4 children took part in the Diwali Light It Up Festival! As part of this, they performed the dance they had been learning over the last few weeks in school. The children participated in the parade through town before making their way to the Amphitheatre. The children enjoyed watching a series of performances from both professional dancers and musicians, and by talented local young people and groups from the community. 

It was a fantastic evening and the children did us all proud! Well done to everyone who took part and gave up their evening to join in. 

On Wednesday 21st May, Year 1 went to Sir Hilliers Gardens in Romsey to explore lots of different plants, animals and habitats. Whilst there, they were able to go on a hunt to identify different leaves and the trees they are from, complete a scavenger hunt to see what helps seeds grow and what doesn't, and enjoyed testing their senses in a garden full of different scents from different plants. The children then used these scents to fill a hungry caterpillar! They finished the trip with some pond dipping and were able to find lots of amazing animals, including newts, water beetles, pond snails and more!

On Monday, May 19th, across the federation, we celebrated World Mental Health Day. Like last year, we chose to take part in the Mental Health Foundation's Wear it Green Day, but with a twist. The school council decided to include the NHS in our celebration of awareness by getting adults and children to dress as rainbows—hence ‘Wear it Rainbow Day’!

The children across the federation were given one small square, and each year group was given a colour - this allowed Miss Ferguson to create a beautiful rainbow to commemorate this special day.

During lesson time, we reviewed what mental health is and why it is important, as well as revisited the self-regulating techniques we learnt during our SEMH and PSHE lessons. 

The children were asked to bring in £1 for dressing down, and altogether we raised £432.50.

On Thursday, 8th May 2025, we were delighted to bring our school community together to commemorate VE Day 80. 

After lunch, we opened our classroom doors to parents and carers so that they could join us for a bit of poetry writing. Everyone created acrostic poems inspired by the word ‘Victory’, which opened up lots of opportunities for discussion about what happened during the war. We are so thrilled to hear that these conversations have continued at home, too, as lots of the children have been really keen to find out more about their family history and have been asking their grandparents and great-grandparents lots of questions. 

Here are some of the wonderful poems created on the day:

After we had done our poems, everyone went out onto the school grounds to enjoy tea, cake, and games. We encouraged everyone to bring in some traditional games to play, such as pick-up sticks, tiddly-winks, or hoopla. 

Our sports coaches organised some traditional games on the Astro, too. Thank you, Coach, for bringing in your bean bag toss game—it was very popular and lots of fun! 

It was brilliant to see everyone enjoying being together in the sunshine, surrounded by the beautiful poppies the children had made and ‘planted’ as a symbol of remembrance and inspired by the stunning installation at the Tower of London. 

We would like to thank our school community for supporting this event, helping us to spread the vital message of remembrance.