The Sunflower Challenge!

Each family will now have taken home a pot with a sunflower seed and some instructions! We would love you to try and grow your sunflower and share with us  your success (or failure!) during the Summer term. These have been kindly provided by Dobbies Garden Centre. We are grateful to them for supporting activities like this which connect our pupils with nature.

Bench Marked For Success!

We're very proud to have just received a special bench completely recycled from plastic bottles. A group of our pupils took part in a competition to promote and encourage everyone to do more recycling. Their efforts have been rewarded with this fantastic bench which will now find a home in our school grounds. Well done!

Bench-tastic!

Thanks to Alresford Interiors (www.alresfordinteriors.co.uk) for creating this amazing Lego themed bench for our learning garden. The bench is dedicated 'In loving memory of our friend Lydia' and will be very much enjoyed by all the children in school. We would like to thank the generous support of our PTA in funding the purchase of the bench.

Nature Trails

Year 4 have been working on writing nature trails all week and Year 1 were invited to follow them. The trails included questions and activities, like making bark rubbings or turning over logs to hunt for woodlouse. Each Year 4 pupil paired up with a Year 1. The Year 1s obviously loved doing the trails because they kept swapping partners to follow another trail! At the end Year 1 thanked us and even drew us a picture. We enjoyed the morning as much as they did. Thanks for coming.
(written by a Year 4 pupil)

 

Mosaic Renewed!

You may have noticed someone working on the mosaic art at the front of our school. Her name is Rachel Fenner and she is the original artist who designed and created it for us back in 1990. She has agreed to come back and attempt to restore and repair her work and to try to get it back as near as possible to what it was like when  new. It has been really interesting talking to her about the ideas behind her work and its historical context. Next time you're passing look out for the Roman and Celtic designs. Her original ideas and drawings are in the picture below. If you would like to know more about her art and other examples of her work in our area then head over to: http://rachelfenner.co.uk

The Bike Doctor at work!

Bitterne Manor had a visit from the 'Bike Doctor' this week. We invited pupils to bring in their bikes and scooters and to allow them to be checked for safety. The Bike Doctor - his real name is Tim - runs his own cycle repair shop in the area but also visits schools to support and encourage pupils and parents to get to school in a healthy and sustainable way. His visit coincided with the completion of our new scooter shelter and bike rack which will provide pupils with a sensible place to keep them.
We will also be encouraging pupils to follow our 'wheels code':

Remember when you’re on wheels:

Wear sensible clothes that can be seen

Have a helmet

Examine your bike/Scooter

Each time you ride

Look, listen and concentrate

& Stay Safe!

While we think getting to school on a bike and scooter is a great idea - remember that children have to know how to do that safely before they can do so. We will be offering bike training for pupils in Year 5 and 6 in the Autumn term.

End of Spring Term in Year 4

The highlights at the end of Year 4's term included a geography fieldtrip comparing the locations of Botley and Southampton:

Creating a nature trail round the school grounds, which we shared with Year 1:

and celebrating our habitat homework project. The homes created were amazing, well done Year 4 (and to the parents for all your support too!)

Mayor Opens Our New Learning Garden!

Today saw the official opening of our new learning garden. We were pleased to welcome the Mayor of Southampton to perform the ceremony and, along with our school council, he cut the ribbon to declare the garden area open. All pupils will get a chance to visit the area tomorrow and start using it straight away which is very exciting. The Mayor also spent some time touring the classrooms and meeting the children who asked him lots of interesting questions about his role.

Road Safety Training...

Safety clubs have started today! Our team of JRSOs from Year 6 are supporting younger children in learning how to cross the road safely. They set up a pretend road in the playground with safe places to cross and children practised following the Green Cross Code.
Find the safest place to cross.
Stop just before you get to the kerb.
Look all around for traffic and listen.
If traffic is coming let it pass.
When it is safe, go straight across the road - do not run!

Gardening time...

Here are Year 6 after they've just been giving their classroom garden a facelift as the Winter fast approaches. They've been planting as well so we should see some new life emerging in the Spring!

Year 4's patio garden

Spurred on by our successful entry in this summer's 'Southampton in Bloom' competition entry, Year 4 have moved on from growing flowers. This year we will have a vegetable plot instead. We have now sown some winter vegetables, along with spring bulbs too. By covering the plots with fleece, we're hoping to deter cats (and small people!).

Green finger's crossed for a harvest later in the year!

New Tyre Park Installed!

Thanks partly to contributions from our PTA and your support, a brand new tyre park is being installed on the school field for the children to enjoy! A tyre park is an outside play area made up of brand new heavy duty tyres which are then fastened to the ground either in halves or on their sides to make a great play area.



The design for our area was an idea from one of our school councillors. They were shown around the play area as it was being fitted and talked to the installers about their work.

Sports Day

Sports Day 2011 was a great success! All the children took part in teams representing Challengers, Freedom, Victory and Stars.



Each team took part in a round-robin of events to test their skills and their ability to work together. There was huge enthusiasm and everyone had fun taking part.



After the excitement of the class races everyone settled down for a picnic on the school field.



And the winner was...FREEDOM! For the second year running, the trophy was awarded to the captains of Freedom. Well done to everyone who took part and who came to support.

Y3 become pirates!

Year 3 began their new topic by learning 'How to be a Pirate'. There was the learning of new pirate words, the singing of sea shanties, a quiz to find out what they already knew about pirates, some map reading and pirate maths.
In the afternoon, the pirates practised tying knots, making pirate maps (for themselves and the PTA) sketching, and puzzles. After reading about Jolly Rogers, they formed teams to make their own flag designs by using natural materials found round the school grounds. From the photos, you'll see what a great job they did!
Great fun was had by all AND you all looked fantastic! Welcome aboard, me hearties. We've got some amazing adventures planned for you this term. Signed ... Captain Teach.

Tuesday gardening club

What an exciting lunchtime it was this Tuesday, the first day of the weekly gardening club. Supported by 2 able parents, hoards of children tackled the weeds in the KS1 patio gardens, began weeding Year 4 patio garden, planted out bedding plants, watered ... the list of jobs goes on! A BIG well done to you all.

Mini - beast Hunt!

As part of our 'Bugs' topic Year R have been on a mini-beast hunt! We are going to use the information we gathered from this to form tally charts and bar graphs.

Interclass potato competition!

Every class is competing to see who can grow the highest yield (most weight) of potatoes by the beginning of July! The children in each class have planted 3 seed potatoes and it is up to them to care for their potatoes well.

Will your class have the highest yield?

Good luck everyone!

Year R transport models and Spring Hunt

Thank you to all those parents and family members who joined Year R for their Spring Hunt. The children collected objects and materials that remind them of Spring. Year R also enjoyed showing their visitors their own transport models.