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Day 1.

Left school at 10.45, it was a good Journey down to the Beacon centre with lunch in the sunshine. On arrival at the centre, it was time for making the beds and a show round the grounds

St Peters Beacon team reporting for day 2.

The children are engaging really well with the thoughts and discussions that are bought forward in our 'Think time'. Today we spoke about our fears as we discussed how the disciples must have felt when Jesus walked on the water and asked Peter to stand with him outside of the boat. The questions the children raised were very insightful and thought-provoking.

After splitting up into our 2 groups, we began our day with one team doing the crate stack. This involved the children working in pairs by being either climbers, builders or belayers. What a terrific job they did! 

The alternate group were off with Mrs Merriman to take part in archery and low ropes. They learnt some brilliant new skills as well as learnt more about each other and how to effectively work as a team in a variety of tricky low rope challenges. We then swapped after lunch time.  The children are certainly eating well, having fajitas for lunch and a curry for dinner we have seen the children trying new foods and a vast majority of them having seconds. 

We had a cracking time on the egg challenge this evening, where the children scrambled to fry up a solution on how to keep the egg crack-free. Unfortunately, 4 of the 5 eggs were met with quite a tragic fate. We welcome any egg puns, it's all part of the yolk.

Team Beacon 2024.

Day 3 at the Beacon is always a great day to follow the physical challenges of Tuesday's crate stack and low ropes - and today didn't disappoint!

A day of B's today with bacon for breakfast, Bushcraft , the beach and then the traditional Beacons Got Talent show. It's been a delight to watch the children play together without worrying about their phones and social media. We may have got a little wet at the beach but it was all great fun.

We were all thoroughly entertained with card tricks, gymnastics, jokes, singing and an act involving cups before hot chocolate and the Magic Pebble story from our bedtime book.

Best wishes from 

The Beacon team 

Day 4.

All had a great night’s sleep and are ready for Orienteering and the Zipwire.
The waffles at breakfast went down a treat.

Mr Robinson and Miss Dix enjoyed the Zipwire as much as the children. Such a fun last day.
We have had a fabulous week in a very special place.

Day 5.

Last breakfast before a visit to the farm to see the lambs and the piglets.

We’re on our way home - get the washing machines ready.
Magical moment- we saw twin lamb number being born.

It has been great to work with some artists from 'No Added Sugar' this week, working on the art installation in the media suite. The children loved making the fish and the finished artwork looks fabulous! Many, many thanks to Chippenham Borough Lands Charity and Tesco's for sponsoring this project!

With the weather still warm, but feeling a little more Autumnal, Year 3 were able to complete their den building. Some built big dens for themselves, others built mini dens for our cuddly bears. Miss Keats took photos of the finished dens, and these photos captured the energy and effort everyone put into the activity.
Shelter building is a brilliant team building activity for children allowing cooperation, language and communication to flow, as well as physical development, problem-solving solving and independence which boosts their self esteem. Every group evaluated their finished den stating what they loved about their den as well as telling the rest of the class what they would change about it if they did it again.
It has been requested as an activity to repeat, so hopefully, the children will get their chance to redesign some aspects of their dens!

Year 3 were able to enjoy their first outdoor session since they last had the sessions at the beginning of Covid.
Due to the extreme weather, the original plan was adapted to include water activities and understanding the importance of teamwork.
The children reminded themselves of the rules and boundaries when working outside before joining an activity of finding their name from a collection of the class names and realising that finding just one name and giving it to the correct person, was better and quicker than just looking for you name.
The teamwork focus continued when asked to fill up the ‘leaking guttering’ with water to get the ping pong ball out and the children realised by working as a team to fill the holes, the water remained in the guttering and the ping pong ball rose to the top!
The water escaping from the holes did have its benefits however, especially on such a hot September Friday afternoon!

Lisa Foster our Parent Support Advisor will be hosting a Parent support clinic on Friday 22nd September 2023 8:30am - 11:30 am. 

If you would like to meet with Lisa, please book a 10 minute appointment on the 22nd September via the school cloud app School Cloud Booking System

Yesterday our Year 5 and 6 pupils had the opportunity to visit the bus situated at school for the day.

The I Can & I Am team visit schools around the South West on the bus working with pupils and staff, providing valuable tools to help improve self-esteem and maintain good mental health. Presentations from the I Can & I Am team are combined with pizza making and wellbeing workshops on the bus.

Their mission is to enable those they work with to recognise their own balloon and give them the tools to keep it inflated.  

The pizza making was very popular and enjoyed by both pupils and staff.

Our Year 6 pupils have been working on their cycling skills over the past two weeks on the Bikeability Course.

Well done to everyone who has taken part! 

A fantastic well done to our Year 6 Girls Cricket Team for their effort at the cricket festival held last week in Trowbridge. 

Below are thoughts from the girls on the event:

"It was so much fun and it gave me the chance to see the competitive side of sports. It was good to play a new sport while chatting with others in the class that I haven't really socialised with before."

"The cricket was awesome as we had a lot of fun playing together. Our teamwork was amazing:)"

"When I went to Cricket County Finals, I was really nervous because I didn't think we would be any good. I was really happy when we came 4th."

"The cricket was really fun. We all tried our hardest and did very well. We ended up 4th in the whole county."

Chippenham Games took place on Tuesday 20th June.  This two-day event involved nearly 500 Year 6 pupils from local primary schools and gave them the opportunity to take part in a range of exciting activities. 

Here are some quotes from our Year 6 pupils about what they enjoyed:

"The Chippenham Games Day was amazing and I had loads of fun. My favourite activity was dancing."

"The Chippenham Games Day is where you socialise with new people whilst doing the most amazing sports ever. It was really fun!"

"The Chippenham Games Day was great because we got to meet new children and make new friends who will be at our secondary school. We also got to try out a variety of new sports."

"It helped me build up my teamwork whilst doing some amazing challenges."

"The Day was so much fun. I was in a group with just one friend from St Peter's and we were helped by Millie and Eleanor from Abbeyfield. It was time to socialise with some new children who are going to your secondary school."

The children had a choice to build a shelter with tarpaulins and ropes and face the water test to see how waterproof their shelter was; or to build a debris shelter, using the Hazel, and creating a freestanding structure.
The second group decided, despite choosing the debris shelter they still wanted to receive the water test!!
 

Children from Explorer, Discovery and Voyager had a fantastic day out yesterday at the Wild Place Project.

Thank you to FOSPA for your financial support towards the trip. 

We were lucky to have another glorious sunny day for our Sports Day this year.

Thank you to all the staff involved for their organisational efforts!

Pioneer class started their outdoor sessions by talking about who uses the outdoor area. We spoke about the different classes but also talked about which creatures may have created their habitat in the outdoor area. This first week we were focusing on mini-beast hunting.
We managed to discover quite a wide range of mini beasts, including woodlice, worms beetles, slugs, snails, centipedes and also found ladybird larvae on the underside of leaves.
We also discovered a small wasp nest and discussed how delicate the nest was, and near the stream area, we discovered a family of newts. There was a huge amount of excitement whenever a creature was uncovered.

Week two saw Pioneer class continue to discuss what is required in a habitat.
On such a hot day, we decided to look at the importance of water for animals and human beings. We discussed how lucky we were to be able to turn on a tap and get clean water in the United Kingdom and spoke about the fact that one in 10 people on this planet did not have access to clean water and often will need to travel a distance to be able to fill up a container.
We decided to create a ‘human pipeline’ of water and having discussed how animals work as a team  (dolphins, bees, ants) we followed in a similar way to Canada geese who fly in ‘V’ formation, allowing a different member of the flock to become the leader and direct the rest of them.
The children took it in, turns to be the person at the top of the water pipeline, and decided which order the containers should be in and how, by changing the order, it could reduce the amount of water we lost as it was poured down the line.

A good time was had by all, and the water spills helped, keep everyone cool!

This week, we were visited by some unexpected guests. A swarm of bees decided that St Peter's was a good place to stay for a couple of days. Thank you to Frances Shires from Wiltshire Beekeepers Association, for eventually convincing the bees that this wasn't the best hotel and for the amazing talk she gave to some of our pupils, they even inspired some baking in the afternoon!

Thank you to CGP for the recent book donations to our library!

Wow - what a fabulous day. The sun was shining as we continued with our activities. The highlights of the day were the 2 and a half hour play on the beach and the traditional Beacon’s Got Talent variety show. What a talented crew.
Our special moment was the compliment we had from a lady on the beach about how wonderfully behaved our children were - not sure about the staff!

All have had a good night's sleep after a very very busy day of activities. Crates were stacked up to 15 layers, archers enjoyed fun in the sun, and the traditional war paint was applied at the bushcraft fire. 

Lots of fun, laughter and noise from our wonderful year 6s. 

All good from the Beacon - day 1 complete. The sunshine was waiting for us along with the Beacon staff when we arrived ☀️

Bags were dragged up to their rooms, beds were made (?) and then the fun began with icebreaker games and a doughnut treat. 

After a tasty chicken meal, and apple crumble pudding,  we explored the estate before bedtime showers, story and of course hot chocolate.

On Friday 28th April, the Year 5s spoke about things we enjoyed doing and what we were looking forward to. This was a way of being mindful, appreciating how lucky we are and thinking about how enjoyable things can be.

We spoke about the new King and his love for the outdoors, especially plants and spoke about how his life would change and his responsibilities.. some would be hard and some would be more enjoyable. 

We spoke about he would have lots of things happening, so he has to stay fit and healthy. We discussed the benefit of trees and looked at opportunities within the area to create a fun, and healthy way to get fit outside. 

Each person created a station and then the group worked around each station until a phrase was announced. 

The first groups stations included King of the jungle (with a swing!), Step up to the crown, Sceptre twists, Sword push ups and All the Kings horses

With the changing words being “Next palace"

Whilst the second groups stations included Hoist the flag, Crown him, The royal wave and Changing of the guards; With the changing words being “Golden Crown"

We then discussed which were our favourite stations!

Thank you for all your amazing entries.

We were overwhelmed by the baking efforts of pupils across the school, the judges found it very hard to pick two.

Well done to our winners!

It was the year 6 children's final outdoor learning session last week. They were whittling a hazel stick so they could toast hot cross buns, crumpets, rolls and of course s’mores over the campfire.
They were also given the task of making butter to spread on their toasted delights, so the tub of cream and a pinch of salt was shaken by every person to create churned butter just in time for spreading!
The children also decorated wooden cookies and made them into key rings as a keepsake.

With the sun shining, Explorer Class had fun on the balance bikes and scooters this morning.

Pupils from across the school took part in Chippenham Sports Partnership 'London Mini Marathon' this morning.

Thank you to the Chippenham Sports Partnership team for providing an energetic fun warmup.

Pupils from KS1 had a visit from Wiltshire Police this week.

The pupils were taught what number to call in an emergency and had the opportunity to try on some of the police uniforms.

Explorer class even heard the sirens and got to sit in the police car!

Thank you again to Wiltshire Police for taking the time to come and talk to our pupils.

Pupils from across the school had the opportunity yesterday of practising their balancing skills in another fun-filled session with The Sports Project.

Look out for more information regarding The Sports Project's new after-school 'Circus Skills' club starting after Easter.

Enrichment takes place on Friday afternoons. Miss Perkins leads the computing sessions.

The pupils learn to use coding to program on a variety of software.  Pupils start with basic skills on how to move an object and as their confidence grows they progress into programming.

Everyone enjoys these sessions and it is visible to see how much they excel every week.

Below are a few pictures from the sessions.

Following on from the theme of “what happens after the current Year 6 leave”, we planted a series of plants.  Ones for now – flowering violas, a selection of bulbs to blossom at the end of their time at St. Peters in July which have been specifically selected to attract bees and butterflies to the area to simulate the Year 6’s who have ‘flown’ the school and the importance of focusing on our future; and plants for the future Y6 children– red strawberry plants which will return every year.

The Year 6s also made a start on a hibernaculum (a place for newts to shelter) to encourage more wildlife to the school pond.

A series of labels with encouraging messages for new Year 6’s, accompany each of the pots or beds.
 

Pupils from across the school had an exciting morning dancing with the Year 6 pupils.

The fun continued throughout the day with colouring and even some cupcake decorating.

Thank you to everyone who donated.

With just four more weeks of outdoor learning left for Year 6, we focused on how Year 6 would like to leave St Peters school in terms of how they would like to be remembered or legacies to leave behind.

As we discussed the number of weeks left, we spoke about how long it took for items of litter to ‘disappear’ - We discussed a number of items asking ourselves - “How long,’til its gone?”.  The children realised that if they were to drop a crisp packet whilst still attending St Peters, it would still be there in the grounds for 75 years if not picked up and recycled! 

Year 6 collected between them, three large bags of litter from around the school and also completed a general tidy up of the area, Also a great way to be part of the ‘Big School Clean 2023’.(17 March- 2 April)

Well done to everyone who took part in the Chippenham Schools Netball Festival last week.
Finishing 3rd overall out of 15 teams is a fantastic effort and we are all very proud of you!
Thank you also to the Sports Project coaches and the Chippenham Sports Partnership ladies.

Quotes from pupils:
'This morning I was really nervous to play but the coaches gave me courage and we all did really well'. 
'I enjoyed playing as a shooter and playing against other schools'. 
'Our matches went really well, we gave each other courage and we all had lots of fun'.
'The netball festival was really good and everyone was amazing. I can't believe we came in 3rd place'. 

Thank you to Music for Miniatures for providing a wonderful afternoon of storytelling and music. 

Pupils from Reception, Year 1, 2 and 3 were engaged hearing of Paddingtons adventures and his first concert. 

A big thank you also to FOSPA for their support with funding the event!

Children across the school have enjoyed sharing their favourite book with their class today. 

There were some fantastic costumes from both pupils and staff.

Pupils across the school had fun today holding pancake-flipping races. All of the pancakes were rendered inedible by the end.

A big thank you to FOSPA for supplying the pancakes!

On Tuesday evening, a group of Year 6 pupils donned their tutus and took to the stage at Chippenham Dance Festival.

A fantastic example of the school's worship values this term of courage and bravery. Well done to you all!

Thank you to PC Jenkins and PCSO Maplesden from Wiltshire Police for their recent visit to the school. An Online and Personal Safety presentation was given to Year 5 and Year 6 students. The children were very engaging and asked lots of questions! A copy of the presentation is available on our website Wiltshire Police Personal and Online Safety Presentation.