Latest News
Keep up to date with all the news happening in school at the moment.
Please click a headline to read more.
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Fab Fencing
Thu 23 Jun 2022Thank you so much to Mr Adam Dowling, who answered the school’s call a few week’s back, for any parents/carers with extensive DIY/landscaping skills to help out with some projects around the school site. Adam (pictured with the new fencing), who is an experienced builder, had kindly volunteered his time - free of charge- over the last two weekends to come into the school to build two new picket fences. One, which overlooks the school field (at the back of the car-park) and the other, at the front of the school, are very nearly completed. I am sure that you will agree with me that they look absolutely amazing.
On behalf of the school thank you so much for your time, Adam (and also to mum and the children for letting us borrow him for the last few weeks!)
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Quick-Cricket Tournament
Fri 17 Jun 2022Last week, 9 pupils from Year 4 took part in a cricket tournament at Saffron Walden Cricket Club. The children played a series of faced-paced and carefully adapted games, based on the key cricket skills of bowling, batting and fielding and I can tell you that there was a lot of intricate tactics involved! Over the course of the Friday morning, St Mary’s played St Thomas More, Wimbish, Newport, Bentfield, Elsenham and Manuden and won a fair few games! All the children involved thoroughly enjoyed themselves and learned a lot about the skills and techniques needed in cricket. Well done to Fraser, Freya, Harlee-May, Justin, Maisie, Maisy, Riley, Sammy and Theo.
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Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations
Fri 27 May 2022Today St Mary’s held it’s very own celebratory event, to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee (her 70th year on the throne). As you will be aware, for the rest of the country, this celebration will be taking place between Thursday 2nd June and Sunday 5th June.
At St Mary’s, each class chose a special theme:
Reception enjoyed a whole week of Jubilee activities, which included singing the patriotic anthem ‘God Save the Queen’, making a London landmark and finding more out about monarchs—past and present.
Year 1 chose: the Moon Landing (from July 1969) - an important historical event from the Queen’s early reign.
Year 2 focussed upon the Queen’s Coronation (from June 1953) - including her wedding. They coloured pictures of the queen, made their own special crowns and even enjoyed their very own party in the afternoon!
Year 3 picked the 2012 London Olympics; they watched the Opening Ceremony (including the spectacular entry featuring James Bond meeting the Queen), looked at British athletes who had won Gold medals and in the afternoon created their own London 2012 posters. They also looked at the Windsor’s family tree—include heirs and descendants.
Year 4 selected Beatlemania; they looked at the 1960s, the importance of the Fab Four in British modern history, listened to a range of their popular music and focussed on some of the positive messages from the hippy era—including compassion and peace and love.
Year 5 looked at the 1980s through food, music and fashion. For those of us around that time I think we would all agree that it was a fascinating and eventful period in Britain, at the mid-point of the Queen’s reign.
Year 6 studied the 1966 World Cup victory by the famous Three Lions and the impact that football has had since that momentous occasion (sadly, we have not won anything in Men’s Football internationally since—although we have got close several times!). Just before breaktime, Ruth Gilmour (Co-Chair of the PTA) along with Miss Allin (Staff PTA Liaison) went into each classroom to decide upon a winner of the Best Crown Award.
Poppy was chosen as Reception class winner, Jasper was chosen as the Key Stage 1 winner and Lilly B was chosen as the Key Stage 2 winner. A huge well done to everyone who took part in this competition.
At lunchtime, the Kitchen team of Riina, Emma and Sian, laid on a incredible spread of British favourites—including sandwiches filled with brie and cranberry, bacon, lettuce and tomato, coronation chicken, egg and cress, ham, tuna and sweetcorn and cheese and cucumber. This was accompanied by platters of scotch eggs, sausage rolls, crisps, vegetable sticks and houmous, coleslaw and potato salad. This was followed up with some delicious meringue with cream and berries and washed down with the children’s favourite squash.
To add to the party atmosphere, Claire Burgess (the school’s Finance Officer) had been hard at work in the corridors, outside the school and the school hall and each space was beautifully bedecked with bunting (in red, white and blue), crepe streamers, balloons and Union Jack flags, with a selection of British tracks playing in the background—the children were literally gobsmacked as they came in to eat their lunch! What a memorable day!
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New Canopy Roof area
Fri 27 May 2022Exciting news! Over the May/June half term break, a roofing company will be busy working at St Mary’s to add a new bespoke roof to the canopy area (which is just out the entrance/exit doors to the Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 classrooms). These roofing specialists will be adding a solid timber roof with GRP fibreglass complete with 6 large roof skylights in between each section (see attached photograph) and this new structure will replace the old Perspex panels which had been installed previously—and frequently blew out in high winds. I am sure you will agree with me that this is very exciting news and everyone at the school cannot wait to see the finished article.
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Danbury 2022 - Day 4 Update
Fri 13 May 2022Our last day was totally amazing.
Some of us started our day with zipping across the sky, some started by crawling through the tiring caves and some stepping through the sky, hoping not to fall.
Those who did zip lining today watched everyone fly through the air like birds ( it felt very exciting ). Those who did caving were challenged by the twists and turns of the tunnels (although they are made of plastic )! Everyone did the high ropes today and were faced with the challenge of keeping on the ropes.
Some of us were lucky enough to get the opportunity to go on the first and second level.
We loved our experience and would love to go back!
Written by Daisy, Scarlett D, Freya R and Lily
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Danbury 2022 - Day 3 update
Thu 12 May 2022Our last full day of activities and we’ve had such a good time. Plenty of great problem solving went on (amazing the games you can do with some guttering, a ball and a bucket!) and the children proved themselves to be very talented archers. The caving was tricky, involving a lot of scrambling in the dark up and down tunnels, as was the obstacle course where the children again showed how well they could work as a team. One group tried out the zip wire and came back raving about it so the rest of us are all very excited about doing that activity tomorrow.
We celebrated the lovely Scarlett F’s birthday in style around a fire in the woods with lots of cake, games and music. Thanks to Scarlett’s mum for the cake and pass the parcel - the kids absolutely loved it.
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Danbury 2022 - Day 2 update
Wed 11 May 2022We are so proud of the kids after their first full day of activities. They have taken on some tough challenges - facing fears of heights up the climbing wall and crossing bridges they have built themselves with determination and then feeling so happy afterwards, it’s really lovely to see. The instructors have been great, supporting and encouraging the children in a friendly and calm way.
The children are really learning to work better as a team, listening to one another and supporting one another during the activities. This can be seen when we’re relaxing at the cabins too - they’re playing nicely together and organising lots of games amongst themselves. All manner of ball games, giant jenga, wink murder, talent competitions and dancing to name a few!
After an excitable first night they were all super tired last night and slept really well after a film with hot chocolate and biscuits. The food here is really tasty and the kids have been going up for seconds and trying new food which is always good. Can’t believe we’re already half way through our residential!
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Danbury 2022 - Day 1 update
Tue 10 May 2022What a great first day - a couple of groups had a session down on the lake paddling around in kayaks and canoes. We played some fun games like sharks and fishes, capture the ball and heads, shoulders, wriggle , jump! We were all very soggy by the end! Another group really challenged themselves on the climbing wall and had to work well as a team for the low rope challenge. After a delicious roast chicken dinner we played capture the flag on the huge field near our cabins. Needless to say the children slept well after all of that, recharged and ready for another day of fun challenges
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New Activall Activity Boards
Fri 22 Apr 2022Over the Easter break St Mary’s was extremely fortunate to have two new interactive ActivAll playground boards installed, just outside the Year 3 classroom, facing onto the playground. These interactive boards were kindly paid for using funds generated through PTA fundraising events throughout the last academic year.
So… What are Activall Boards?
ActivAll is the fantastic high-impact reaction wall, designed for fitness, health, and fun. Combining movement, action, coordination, and problem-solving, ActivAll is acknowledged as a unique inclusive fitness tool, giving everyone access to exercise regardless of ability, age, or fitness.
Þ Encourages active play during breaktime and lunchtime (as well as PE lessons)
Þ Engages those children who may struggles with PE and Sports, increasing the confidence and skills of pupils and staff
Þ Tackles obesity and improves fitness
Þ Strengthens cognitive skills, mental agility, as well as concentration and also improves mental health
Þ Increases competitive play and sport opportunities and records improvements
Þ Develops communication and team work
So… What do our pupils think of them?
Lucas said, ‘I really like the board because you get a lot of exercise and build your arm strength. A lot of people like doing it because you can see your score in different amounts of time, for example 5 seconds, 30 seconds and 1 minute. Some people hit it too hard and some hit it too soft! I really like the gloves because they are quite comfy!’
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Visit by Linda Strachen - Olympian Athlete
Fri 22 Apr 2022During this morning’s assembly we were very privileged as we were visited by an Olympic athlete—Linda Strachan—who is currently promoting the Commonwealth Games, which are happening in Birmingham, this July. Linda will be promoting this important event to all the local schools during the summer term.
During the assembly, she gave a fascinating and informative presentation about her experiences in the Olympics. We found out that Linda competed in the summer 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics in the discipline of Fencing. Linda was really great with our pupils and answered some thoughtful questions and pupils posed for photos with her afterwards, including our Sports Ambassadors. If you would like to know more about Linda Strachan please see more info on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Strachan