Friday 8th July 2022

The Eastnor Express

"To Inspire and Achieve"

Summer Term Diary Dates (Covid restrictions permitting)

AMENDED DATE Wednesday 13th July – Eastnor Adventure Day

Wednesday 13th July – Leavers Disco 5.30 - 7.30

Friday 15th July – Leavers Day Out

Wednesday 20th July – Leavers Service 9.30 and rounders

Wednesday 20th July – Last Day of Term

Pupil Voice

Class 1 - Hannah “I am proud of my patterns. I have made a 5 colour pattern.”

Class 2 - Freddie wrote a fantastic colour poem and said “It’s so long and I made everything rhyme.”

Class 3 - Molly “For working hard to impress Miss Watson on move up day.”

Class 4 - Erin, " I enjoyed learning about Humanism in RE".

Reading Raffle Winners

There were many reading raffle tickets given out across the school this week! Raffle tickets are awarded to those children who read 3 or more times during a week. A child from each key stage is then selected at random and, as our reading champion of the week, they get to choose a book to take home.

Our winners from this week are pictured below. What a fantastic achievement.

We know many of you are busy and the children have lots of other things to work on outside of school however, we can't stress enough how important it is to their reading and writing development that they read often.

Well done to those children who received raffle tickets this week. Keep up the fantastic reading, as not only will you be in for a chance of winning the raffle next week but you are helping yourself to become a confident and competent reader!

KS1 - Martha

KS2 - Alex

Internet Safety

We all have a part to play in keeping children safe online. The internet is a fantastic tool for lots of things, but there are games and websites that are unsuitable for children to view. It can be tricky checking what your child is viewing. Below is a link to some really good resources to help talk to your children about online safety.

NSPCC Online Safety

Digital Leaders

On Tuesday, we took three very enthusiastic children to Hampton Dene Primary school. Ruby, Joe K and Jacob took part in a Digital Leaders workshop that was based on the iPads and how best to use them. The idea of the day was to be able to show the other pupils in the school how to use the skills they picked up in the day.

The theme for the day was the Platinum Jubilee. The pupils were asked to make either a movie, gallery or radio show all about it. They chose to make a movie and it turned out amazingly. They were shown how to add pictures, videos, voice overs, sound effects and how to use green screen.

As well as this movie, they were taught how to use some of the features that Apple have put on their iPads. Such as dictation, speech, screen shot to PDF and lots more

The children and Mr Marchant learnt lots of new skills and had a fantastic day.

Herefordshire Games

This past Wednesday was a fantastic event for the pupils we took to the summer games. After it not being held for the past couple of years, it was great to see so many schools from across Herefordshire come together and celebrate sport.

The Summer Games, is an event that is held at the Hereford Leisure Centre every year. This year we took 27 pupils to take part in handball, tennis and dance activities across the day. The dance group learnt some new dances with other schools and was thoroughly enjoyable. The tennis group got taught new skills from Hereford Tennis club. The handball team took part in a competition after having some training from Kingstone School, where they made it to the national school handball finals.

In the handball competition we didn’t lose a game in normal time, we played against Almely and drew 2-2, Ewyas Harold and won 3-0 and then against Withington and drew 1-1, meaning we finished 2nd in our group. We played against Stretton to see who finished 3rd. We went 2-0 up with some great play, but let the lead slip and ended up drawing 2-2 in normal time and with golden goal, Stretton got the ball back and scored with a lovely shot that flew into the top corner. They all played fantastically with lots of compliments coming from the sports leaders, teacher and other children on how well we played.

Pyramid Sports Matches

On Friday afternoon, we took a netball and football team to Ledbury Primary School for the Pyramid Sports tournament. It was a fantastic afternoon of sport to finish off the year on a lovely sunny afternoon.

The football team were put in a tough group with, Colwall, Bosbury, Much Marcle and Ledbury. We won the first game 2-0 against Ledbury which was then followed by defeats against Colwall and Much Marcle with everyone playing amazingly. It came down to the last game to determine if we would get out of the group stage. This match was against Bosbury who hadn’t conceded a goal all day. They defended fantastically and we drew 1-1, which meant we finished 3rd in the group.

This set us up with a quarter final fixture which finished 0-0 after 10 minutes and then again with 3 extra minutes of injury time. It was still level after 3 penalties each so went to sudden death in which we lost to eventual winners Ashperton. The team played and defended with their hearts, well done all.

Whilst the netball team managed to cover all their opponents to win every game with the only points conceded were the 2 in the final as they won the final 8-2.

They started in a group with Ashperton, Bosbury and Much Marcle. They scored 10, 9 and 14 points respectively. Which set up a semi-final against Colwall which they won 4-0. Well done team you played incredibly!

Thank you for the support of all the parents that attended.

The Green

It is so lovely to see all the children playing on the Green after school, but we must remember to treat it with respect. The trees that are planted on there are very special, especially the new Jubilee trees. Please remind children not to swing on the branches or jump over the small trees.

Thank you!

Lunches Price Increase

School lunches are very popular with all the children at Eastnor. Unfortunately, the prices will increase this September to £2.30 per meal. We believe that this is still value for money for good quality meals.

Move Up Day

Class 1:

On Thursday our new Reception children came to visit us for two stay and play sessions. Miss O-S and Mrs Layton had prepared lots of interesting activities for the children to explore. Water play proved to be particularly popular with children mixing colours, adding ingredients and trying to lure Miss O-S into tasting their concoctions! We had a lot of dressing up with children acting out different characters, galaxy playdough, small world play and some wonderful painting. Following a snack, story and some singing, the children all went home with their copy of our core text, The Gruffalo, and a bag packed with activities to familiarise themselves with the book over the summer. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone again when they start school in September.

Class 2 :

The new class 2 spent a lovely day together on Thursday for our transition day where they enjoyed thinking about their upcoming summer holiday and all the exciting things they will get up to. Unfortunately, Miss Morris, their new teacher was unable to attend the transition session so the class are very lucky to be having another transition day next Thursday where they will get to spend the day with their new teacher and find out all about their new core text and all the exciting learning they will get up to when they return to school in September. The children were all very excited to spend the day together and as always amazed their teachers with their enthusiasm and hard work. We can't wait to see their learning and fun in September.

Class 3 :

What a fantastic day we had as the new 'Class 3' on Thursday. The children all were so happy and willing to carry out a range of activities. We learned how to write a Kenning poem what great imagination they all had. We then joined Michael Rosen on Zoom, he shared his amazing poems with us. We looked at our new class text, Swallows and Amazons, which all the children were very excited to read. We then played some fun maths games based on times tables and number facts, the children impressed me with their knowledge. Our afternoon was filled with sharing how we are all special and later some great artwork, based on our class text. Well done 'new' Class 3 - I am really looking forward to all our adventures in September!

Class 4 :

Move up day in Class 4 was a Harry Potter extravaganza! We began the day with a sorting ceremony in which the children completed a quiz to determine which Hogwarts house they would be placed in. After this, we had a potions lesson and carried out lots of fun potion making activities such as creating various colour changing mixtures. The children were intrigued to learn that red cabbage worked as a pH indicator! In the afternoon, inspired by Van Gogh's famous painting Starry Night, the children made their own pieces of art with the Forbidden Forest as their subject. It was a lovely day and I hope the children are all as excited for September as I am!

Michael Rosen Zoom for Ledbury Poetry Festival

This week, children in Key Stage 2 had the fantastic opportunity to meet famous poet and author Michael Rosen as a part of Ledbury Poetry Festival. Having spent some time learning all about him and reading some of his poems in class, the children were all very eager to meet him and have the opportunity to hear him read some of his poems aloud.

The session was great fun and Michael Rosen was extremely entertaining. The children laughed throughout and loved Michael's funny and quirky style.

Many thanks go to the organisers of Ledbury Poetry Festival for inviting us to engage in the session and to Michael Rosen for providing such a fun learning opportunity for the children.

Leavers' Disco

We are all really looking forward to seeing the children’s dance moves next Wednesday at the whole school leavers disco and we look forward to welcoming you to Eastnor Cricket Pitch between 5:30 and 7:30. The event is always full of smiles, laughter and lots of fun and with DJ Dom ready with a fantastic disco and a tuck shop filled with yummy snacks and treats this year's disco promises to be better than ever.

This event is usually a paid for event involving tickets being sold by the PTA however in thanks of your kind donations and support this year the PTA are offering this event for free. This will allow the whole school to come together to celebrate what a wonderful year it has been and to say a final big Eastnor goodbye to the children who will be leaving us at the end of the school year.

Please not that this event requires parents to stay and oversee their children.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Class 4

Residential Trip to The Isle of Wight

It is hard to put into words just how brilliant this year’s Class 4 residential trip to the Isle of Wight was. The children were just amazing and truly showed their Eastnor school values at all times. Everyone we met commented on how fun, happy and polite they were – and we went to lots of places!

We were so lucky that our journey to and from the ferry, as well as the crossings themselves, all went so smoothly. From the aquarium at Portsmouth before our crossing to the Isle of Wight on Friday, to our tour around Queen Victoria’s holiday home Osborne House on Monday morning, the children enjoyed all of the new experiences. Here are some recounts of each place we visited, written by the children:

Blue Reef Aquarium by Jim

When we went to Blue Reef Aquarium, there were so many unique and mysterious creatures; some big, some small, some nice and some vicious. It was fun everywhere though, and rather interesting. The first part of the aquarium was full of the biggest creature like dogfish (a species of shark), sting rays, spider crabs and angler fish. The second part was fun and had a massive tunnel with some creatures like puffer fish, clown fish and lion fish. Finally, there were mainly reptiles in the last part like iguanas, baby turtles, frilled lizards and snapping turtles. It also had a few axolotls that were cute and smiley. In the middle, there was a lovely Aztec style pond with piranhas in it! It was really fun and I advise you to go.

Robin Hill Country Park by Goda

On Saturday, we went to Robin Hill Adventure Park. It had lots of fun places to go to. We started at the boat ride, which was really fun – we all had two goes! Then afterwards, we went to the toboggan, where Julian very kindly paid for everyone. Next, we went to watch the bird show, which included falcons and eagles. After lunch, we visited the gift shop and then we went on the bus to our next activity.

Brading Roman Villa by Ted

At the villa, we met a man who guided us around the site. He showed us lots of interesting things like the mosaics and told us that there was not a heating system because it was a summer home. He explained that the Romans had pictures of Medusa in their houses to ward off evil spirits. We learnt that Brading was abandoned when the Vikings came to the UK.

Bembridge Lifeboat Station by Sophie

Bembridge lifeboat station was an educational part of the trip and we learnt all about the RNLI. From the beach, we walked 276 steps along the board walk to the sea until we got to the lifeboat station where the big boat was stored. We learnt that oars on one side of the boat were white and on the other side of the boat were blue to avoid confusion. The RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) saves lives and we made a donation to them by going to visit, which is great.

Blackgang Chine by Anya

Blackgang Chine was probably my favourite place that we went on residential because we went on a rollercoaster and it was so fun! We also all got an ice cream, which was amazing (thank you Julian!). If you got the incredible experience of going up high on one of the rides, the view was stunning – I would definitely recommend going there!

Osborne House by Charlie C

We went to Osborne House on the 4th July 2022. This house was where Queen Victoria used to go on holidays with her husband Prince Albert. Osborne House was where Queen Victoria died while sleeping on January 1st 1901 and we saw the bed that she died in. The house was very big and some of the areas were restricted because they were too precious. There were lots of interesting paintings and statues including ones of gods and goddesses. It was really fun to look around the house and we went to the gift shop afterwards.

Shanklin Beach

On our holiday at the Isle of Wight, our hotel was near a beach that was called Shanklin Beach. We went there a couple of times in the evenings and when we were there it was really really fun. The sea was really warm and the walk down to the beach from the hotel was only a few minutes. Some people played cricket at the beach, lots of people swam in the sea and some people looked for nice stones, crabs and sea glass.

Thank you to all of the children and staff who made the trip so special.