Kingsbridge Primary School

Kingsbridge Primary School Christmas Fair

Pupils and parents enjoyed some early festive fun at the school’s Christmas Fair on December 5.

Held in the beautifully decorated school hall the fair included stalls selling Christmas goodies, refreshments, and the chance to have pictures taken with Father Christmas in his Grotto.

In the weeks before the fair, the children had helped to make tree decorations, painted tea light holders and created hand-printed wrapping paper. These were sold alongside Christmas cards, books, toys and festive wreaths and table decorations.

 

Our headteacher Peter Burner said: “This is the second year we’ve held the School Christmas fair, and it’s proved to be great fun for all the children. Our thanks go to the PFTA for their organisation of another successful school event.”

 

Slapton 2009

Our year four children enjoyed an adventurous residential trip to Slapton at the end of June with lots of activities to keep them busy.

The children spent their time rockpooling at lovely Lannacombe beach and visiting Slapton and the surrounding areas, including Hallsands and Burlestone Woods.

For most pupils the highlight of the stay at the Start Bay Centre was the archery session, the Indiana Jones obstacle trail through the woods and the nightwalk.

Our deputy head and residential leader, Chris Slaughter said the children had a wonderful trip and the week had been very successful. She said their behaviour was impeccable and they showed great enthusiasm for all the challenges that were presented to them. 

“This visit is a valuable part of the children’s year 4 curriculum. They enhance their work in science geography, history and art, through studying three different environments. More importantly they also learn about independence, responsibility for themselves and others and teamwork,” she said.

Miss Slaughter also thanked the staff of the Start Bay Centre and all the other teachers, school staff and parents who had come to the centre to help with cooking, activities and supervision.

 

Never-ending Nature

Our fantastic new Never-Ending Nature space was officially opened during Science Week at the beginning of April and the children are already making full use of the area.

Thanks to the dedication of a team of parents and children, led by Martin Longley and Paul Brizio, what was previously a nettle infested area of woodland on the edge of the school field is now a super place for nature study.

The team have cleared the overgrown area and put down wood chippings, created trails and built raised beds for flowers and trees. The pond area has been revitalised and surrounded by decking and is now perfect for pond-dipping.

A fenced area of benches made from tree trunks has been created which is a great space for eating lunch or circle time. During half term some of the older children helped make bird boxes, which now hang on the trees.

Janice King, our Y3 teacher who is the subject leader for Science says the area has had a big impact on the children. “Never-Ending Nature is going to become part of our school’s teaching environment. The children have already been using it for SATs science revision and practical science lessons this week and we look forward to incorporating it into our learning all year round.

 

 

 

 

Swimming

Girls do us proud at the National Primary School Swimming Finals

Four of our most talented swimmers, Ruby Barnett, Megan Carter, Emma Noyce and Ellie Vaughan, travelled to Ponds Forge in Sheffield on 20 June to represent the Western Counties region at the National Primary School Swimming finals.

The team had already done exceptionally well to reach the finals and this year the standard of swimming was very high with many records broken. Out of over 400 schools entering the event nationwide, Kingsbridge finished 18th in the freestyle relay and 16th in the mixed stroke relay.

Year 6 teacher Gareth Howells, who runs the school swimming club and accompanied the girls to Sheffield said: “I am really proud of our swimmers. This is the fourth time in six years that swimmers from our school have made the finals.

“We would like to thank our many sponsors including Quay Garage, Kingsbridge Community Transport Fund, Kingsbridge Feoffees, South Hams Council and Devon County Council for helping us with the cost of travelling to this event.”

“We train on a Wednesday morning before school and the children would like to give special thanks to Suzanne Richards, Jackie Stembridge and other volunteers who have made our swimming club such a success over the last six years.”

Headteacher Peter Burner added: “Our school is dedicated to giving children a wide range of high quality sporting opportunities and this is reflected in the consistent high standards of achievement we reach.”