We will continue to run our own provision ‘ABC’ (After Bede Care) for pupils in Year 4 - 6, and this will provide children with an opportunity to take part in a staff led learning sessions and a supported homework club. Alongside structured sessions there will also be time for socialising and for creative play, board games and use of laptops. You can find more information about ABC here on our school website https://www.stbedewinchester.co.uk/abc-and-ark-after-school-provision-information/.  A registration form link to re-register or register new places at ABC has been emailed to all families in Year 4 to Year 6 and is also available at the following link: https://forms.gle/V34LN2PYfYzNjpZ78

Please note that the registration for this will close on Friday 23^rd June.

This week we have been taking part in the Clean Air Scooter Challenge!  On Tuesday, pupils safely decorated their scooters to become bright, colourful ‘Flags of the World’ and took part in a special parade around the playground.  Photographs of the children with their decorated scooters will be submitted as detailed in the newsletter last week, for our chance to win a school prize.

 

Well done to everyone who entered and fingers crossed our entry to the scooter competition is successful!

It was so lovely to be able to hold our first sports day this morning. Children gave the best of themselves showing such determination and perseverance in the events and supported each other admirably. Thank you to all of the Heads of Sport and Sports Reps who helped set out equipment for races, or who took on other roles to make the event run smoothly.

 

Thank you as well to everybody who was able to attend and provide such encouragement to the children, we do hope you haven’t ended up with pink shoulders or noses after such a sunny day.

 

Congratulations to everyone who took part in an event, our overall winners today were Chimera who have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with!

 

We look forward to our Lower School Sports Day next Friday (23^rd June), starting at 10.30 on the recreation field.

Thank you to everyone who attended, supported, planned for, or was involved in the running of our summer fayre last week. It was an incredible event and lovely to see so many people at school enjoying such a lovely sunny evening and enjoying the opportunity to come together as a community.  Well done to our Year 2 pupils for their country dancing and well done to all of you who joined in the final country dance of the evening.  It was also lovely to see a performance from Integr8 Dance and we are very proud of our pupils who are members of this club.   

 

We are delighted to share with you that the fayre raised a staggering £3,400 and on behalf of the children of St Bede, who will benefit directly from the money raised, another huge thank you. We will be meeting with the HSA soon to discuss plans for next year and what some of this money might help fund.

On Friday the 9th of June, St Bede attended the Winchester City Penguins School Swimming Gala. 22 schools from across the district were represented, with some very strong squads in attendance. St Bede were confident going in to the competition, with a strong team of 11 children being picked from the 42 pupils who trialled. A massive well done and thank you must go out to everyone who participated and helped in the trials. To have so many children wanting to take part is fantastic, and being able to provide that opportunity was wonderful and only possible because of the support of our volunteers. Thank you very much!  

 

The Penguins' Gala has historically been a fantastic event, with a high level of swimming talent on show. This year was no different. St Bede was able to mix it with the very best throughout. The boys managed to qualify for the finals in the mixed and the freestyle events. The girls finished a creditable third in both of their heats, and just missed out on qualification to their finals, in one case, by 0.2 of a second. However, the disappointment for the girls was short-lived. They had an opportunity to compete in the invitational race, which they duly won by a massive 22 seconds, against 16 other schools. A well-deserved trophy for a team that competed brilliantly.  

 

For the boys, they achieved third place finishes in the mixed and in the free-style. The free-style medal was secured in the final touch on the wall, winning over the fourth place finisher by less than 0.1 of a second. This achievement was made even more creditable by the fact that the two private schools that placed first and second have their own pools.  

 

A massive well done to the team and also to the reserve swimmers who were the biggest team players of all. They sacrificed their time; they supported the team fantastically and were incredibly selfless in their efforts. A great squad and great ambassadors for St Bede!

In the final week of school before the half-term break, Year 3 children were whisked back in time to the Stone Age.  The children came dressed as cave men, women, and even woolly mammoths! The children took part in several activities linked to life in the Stone Age. The children learnt about pottery, tools, cave art and Stonehenge. They then made their own Stone Age pots out of clay; arrowheads and axe heads by carving soap; worked as a team to recreate Stonehenge out of biscuits as well as creating a whole class piece of cave art! The children showed amazing perseverance and teamwork throughout and were excited to learn more on their visit to Butser Ancient Farm later in the week.
 

When the Year 3 children visited Ancient ‘Butser Farm’ they had the opportunity to learn more about life in the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age by taking part in wattling- making fences from hazelwood saplings; clunching- to build walls using chalk, mud and water; along with jewellery making where they made bracelets or rings. The staff at Butser Farm also led a tour around the replica buildings so the children could compare buildings and life across the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. The children also enjoyed meeting the goats and sheep that are kept on the farm and spotting the wild deer up on the hillside. The children were excellent ambassadors for the school and upheld our school rules and values throughout the trip!