End of Year Church Service 2012

Another bright morning saw the whole school walking down to Church for our service of thanks.  With the help of one of the church wardens, Mrs Taylor range a church bell to welcome us in.

The program included Rev. Andy Wolton discussing colours and their meanings relating to the Church calendar, followed  by a number of pieces of work read out by some of the children summarizing many of the events that have taken place at school over the year.





The children and adults alike 'rose the roof' by singing a number of favourite songs finishing the service with The Lord's Prayer and The National Anthem.  A lovely opportunity for us all to be thankful for the variety of amazing and exciting experiences we have had at school this year.

School Picnic

Once again, the sun shone down on us as we grabbed our picnic blankets, lunches and parents or relatives and headed out to the school field for a glorious picnic.
A lovely time was had by all. We could have almost been convinced it was Summer!

Kelsale Sports Day and Summer Fete 2012

Lots of nervous energy as staff and children watched the skies and the weather reports hoping for a break in the rain for Friday afternoon.  Once again, luck was on our side.  Just a few spots of rain but we were determined to go ahead.  The PTFA spent the morning setting up the various stalls as Mrs Ward spent the morning running around organising the sporting event.

At 1.15pm, the fete opened and parents began arriving.



At 2 o'clock, the races began. A variety of races were ran by all children.  Cheering and shouts of support could be heard from adults and children alike creating an amazing atmosphere.


The points from the swimming gala event were added onto the points total from the races and the winning team was announced...

THE YELLOW TEAM

Again, huge thanks to the PTFA, lead by Rachel,  for organising events, thank you to Mrs Ward for organising the sports day events and thank you to the children and their friends and relatives for making this another very successful event.  Totals raised will be announced when counted.

KS2 Swimming Gala at Leiston

All children were absolutely fabulous, in behaviour and sportsmanship. They cheered team members on and other schools.
Overall we managed team 2nd place and just lost 1st place by 2 points!
We came first in the U10 girls freestyle both the heats and the final, second in girls breaststroke in the heats and the final, first in boys backstroke in the heats and second in the final, first in the girls backstroke in the heats and the final.

The mixed style relay team won in the heat and the final.  The medley team came second in the heats and the final.
In total we achieved 20 points as a team!  Winners of the individual races who won the finals were also awarded medals.

It was an absolutely fantastic afternoon.  Thanks to all parents who were also able to attend and support.

At Easton Farm Park with KS1

Despite cloudy skies, KS1, teachers and a selection of brave (or crazy) adult helpers set off for a day at Easton Farm park.  For most of the Foundation children, it was their first experience of a school trip and on a coach with friends and to say they were excited was an understatement!

On arrival, we split into 2 groups.  Group 2 headed towards the pony and cart ride while Group 1 went pond dipping.  We swapped after half an hour.

We also had the opportunity to hug a bunny or baby guinea pig.



After lunch, we once again split into our 2 groups and either spent some time feeding the animals or going for an adventure through the woods.



As all the children had been so well behaved and because the weather had been so kind, we spent some time in the playground at the end of the day.

A big thank you to all the adult helpers and to all the lovely children for a very enjoyable day out.  

The morning after the day before- Olympic Torch 2012

After all the excitement of yesterday, Mrs Gill and I have been spending the morning looking at, giggling at and sorting out photographs from yesterday. I will try to add photos as the day continues.




As you may have heard from the children, all had the opportunity, not only to hold, but to have a photograph taken with one of the Olympic torches. These will be a lovely memento of the day for the children so we have decided to have each photo professionally printed as a 7" by 5" image which you will be able to purchase from the school for £1.  This covers the cost of printing and delivery.  Any additional funds will be put towards PE equipment for the school, which helps to reinforce the Olympic values.

The Olympic Torch comes to Kelsale School.

Wow, what an amazing, once in a life time day we have today.  Every time the teachers start the week with the words 'I'm sure this week will be normal' something happens, but today, that something will be a memory both children and adults will carry with them always.

We knew that today would contain lots of fun and Olympic activities, organised by Mrs Ward.
At the beginning of the day, all the children changed into one of the Olympic ring colours and were organised into circles on the school field by the teachers.
Parents and other adults gathered on the amphitheatre as the children held their position and photographs were taken.

Following this, our own Olympic torches were lit by our very own Greek Goddesses, symbolizing the beginning of our Opening Ceremony.  All classes took part, Class 1 with a song and morris dancing, Class 2 with a song sang in a round, Class 3 with their samba band and Class 4 boys with a rap and girls with a dance.  All performed beatuifully.

The children all made a flag representing the different nations taking part in London 2012 and one at a time, stepped forward to announce their country.

New field events equipment had been purchased with money donated by the parish council, so we put these to good use with a carousel of events including shot put, javelin, hurdling and hammer throw among many
others.

We had a break for lunch (yes, this all happened before lunch!) and then took our banners and flags down to our allocated spot on the road side to await the arrival of the Olympic torch.




After a shower of rain and some fairly raucous singing and shouting, we caught our first glimpse of the relay runner.

We walked back to school, wet, but totally in awe of the historical sight we had witnessed.  In fact, we were so excited to be part of the occasion, we drew attention of the nearby news crew, who stopped to interview a group of children.

TV Interview. 

We made our our way back to school to continue our field events.  All of us that is except two year 5 children who took part in a radio interview for Radio Suffolk, alongside Mrs Taylor.  They answered questions extremely well and represented the school beautifully.

Radio Interview (from 1 hour 49 minutes)

I can truthfully say that it has been an amazing day that none of us will forget. The children were amazing and took part in all the activities with gusto.  A huge thank you to all the adults who helped, supported and cheered us on and a huge thank you to Mrs Ward and Mr and Mrs Lumb for helping to make this day so special.
A quote from one parent today says it all.

'Kelsale Rocks'. 

Mrs Taylor is Famous!

As a brilliant kick-start to our Olympic festival tomorrow, Mrs Taylor was interviewed by Radio Suffolk this lunch time.  She was asked about what activities we will be undertaking as part of our celebration and our general level of excitement in preparation for the torch coming through Kelsale tomorrow.  

Radio Suffolk- Move to 14 minutes into programme.

A huge well done to Mrs Taylor.  You sounded very professional and very proud.  Best we make sure that New Zealand flag is waving tomorrow!

New Foundation children come to visit.

Today was a day of change.  We welcomed most of the new foundation children, due to start in September, for a morning's taster seesion to see if they like us!  We also welcomed four new members of staff: Mrs Drew who will be teaching Year 3 and three teaching assistants, Miss Sparrow, Miss Pugh and Mrs Kiley.

The new children settled in very quickly.  They spent the morning painting, playing and meeting the other children in their class.  They came into assembly and sat beautifully all the way through.  They went out to play with the rest of the school and finished off their morning with a tour of the school grounds, including a visit to the chickens and a try of the adventure playground.



We look forward to getting to know all the new children and seeing them settle into school life in September. A huge welcome.

Chick Update- The Hatching!

Staff arrived at school this morning to be told by Andy that the chicks had hatched.  The first of four appeared over night on Sunday and the others followed later that day.  Luckily, the early hours of the event were caught on video by The Hall family!

Thank you to Andy and Lucy for giving us the opportunity to see this amazing event and watch the chicks grow.