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The whole school experienced a wonderful day out at our annual visit to The Watermill Theatre to watch the Michael Morpurgo adaption of PINOCCHIO. The children were a credit to our school. We all were mesmerised by the superb acting, music and dancing and some of our older children enjoyed some audience participation, fully immersing themselves in the creative production.
Our service of Remembrance and Dedication was held this morning in St Faith’s church. It was a very poignant occasion for the school community. We would like to give a very special thanks to Mr Matt Mortiboy and Mr Steve Cloete from The Royal British Legion who were in attendance and to The Reverend Jeremy Goulston for leading the service. As a mark of respect, pupils were invited to wear their Brownies, Rainbows, Guides, Beavers, Scouts or Sea Cadets uniform. The school sang three moving songs, each class presented a wreath and poppies were laid as a mark of respect: Thank you also for supporting The Poppy Appeal. Every poppy shows that we care about the lives of our Armed Forces Community. The Royal British Legion wish to send their heartful thanks for your very generous donations. Our service of Remembrance and Dedication was held this morning in St Faith’s church. It was a very poignant occasion for the school community. We would like to give a very special thanks to Mr Matt Mortiboy and Mr Steve Cloete from The Royal British Legion who were in attendance and to The Reverend Jeremy Goulston for leading the service. As a mark of respect, pupils were invited to wear their Brownies, Rainbows, Guides, Beavers, Scouts or Sea Cadets uniform. The school sang three moving songs, each class presented a wreath and poppies were laid as a mark of respect: Thank you also for supporting The Poppy Appeal. Every poppy shows that we care about the lives of our Armed Forces Community. The Royal British Legion wish to send their heartful thanks for your very generous donations.
Earlier this week BeSpace and the Uffington Benefice of Churches organised a Prayer Space in St Faith’s Church to give the children an opportunity to experience prayer in a personal way. We were very grateful to the volunteers and for everyone’s hard work in providing this experience for the children. Activities focused on Max Lucado’s book ‘You Are Special’. The children wrote prayers about forgiveness and watched the ink fade away in water. They used plasma balls to think about God’s presence in the world, thought about our uniqueness and what makes us special by looking at themselves in mirrors and focusing on personal qualities.
Our Year 5 children were trained as Active Junior Leaders this week. The training programme took four days to complete and was led externally by ‘Active Leaders’. Our Year 5 pupils are now trained in leading practical outdoor playground games for younger pupils with an emphasis on teamwork, confidence building and being confident role models. It also included First Aid and CPR training. The trainer was very impressed with the children’s enthusiasm and attitude and was extremely complimetary about the school’s ethos. Thank you and well done to Year 5.
We had the most enjoyable Harvest Service and it was so lovely to see so many parents and families attend the celebration. The church was full and the children sang their hearts out! We would like to extend our appreciation and thanks to The Reverend Jeremy Goulston who led our service. Thank you also for your generous donations in support of The Fisherman’s Mission which raised £182.45.
Class 4 enjoyed a wonderful week at Yenworthy Lodge in Somerset, embracing a range of outdoor and adventurous activities - not even the rain could dampen their spirits! During the week, the children had the opportunity to learn many new skills including canoeing/kayaking, surfing, coasteering and mastering the centre's ropes course. We all enjoyed a night walk on the moors as well as rock pooling, scavenging for evidence of the Lynmouth flood of 1952 and making the most of the coast. As always, we were so impressed by the behaviour and resilience of the children, all of whom challenged themselves and made fantastic progress in such as short space of time. We are sure that they have many tales to share with you and made memories that will last a lifetime. Mrs Sucksmith and Mrs Carter
As part of Class 3’s topic this term on the children went to The Oxford Playhouse this week to watch a stage production of Floella Benjamin’s book ‘Coming to England’. What a fantastic way to kick-start the topic this term! "I couldn't take my eyes off it! Now I know why my mummy says Floella is her Hero!" Penny
At our school we also talk about the ‘Shellingford School Family Learning Culture’ and refer to this in our lessons. We expect all our pupils to have a ‘Growth Mindset’ and for children to embrace challenge, to persevere and learn from mistakes, show curiosity, enjoy learning together and have aspirations. We would really appreciate if you could help encourage your child/ren to ‘not give up’ when things go wrong, and to encourage resilience when issues arise with their learning or friendship difficulties. Our poster is up around the school as a visual prompt for the children. It is also on the Curriculum page of our school website and may be helpful for parents to refer to when supporting your child/ren at home.
As a church school our Christian vision is at the heart of our provision and steers all we do with our pupils and with one another. We talk about having ‘roots and foundation in love’ (Ephesians 3:17) to help inspire and guide our hearts and minds. In our Collective Worship and as part of daily activities and interactions we remind ourselves that the best roots we can have can be provided by Jesus and demonstrated by the way we show love for other people. We hope that this will become the foundation of our lives to enable us to grow into good people.
We ended the academic year with a truly memorable Leavers’ Service for our Year 6 pupils at St Faith’s Church, Shellingford. We wish them all the very best as they begin the next chapter in their lives.
