Boxford CEVC Primary School

We were treated to a wonderful evening of music last night from clubs in school to solo performances that blew us all away! Well done to all our performers, a thank you to our guests and a big thank you to all the staff who give up their time to run these clubs and put on the show.

Year 5 put on a wonderful art exhibition in the church last week that was viewed by all classes as well as their families. It remained in church all weekend, so it could also be seen by the community. The children have received some wonderful feedback - I think you'll agree they deserve it! Well done Year 5. 

Year 6 enjoyed 2 projects towards the end of the summer term- Dragons' Den and a local study. 

For Dragons' Den they had to design their own product to promote village life or encourage people to use rivers or the local waterways.  They worked out costs, profit margins and even wrote letters from companies already interested in their product alongside patent applications.  All groups gained an investment in the den with some even negotiating a better deal too.

For the Local Study project the children worked in groups to research about Boxford and then became tour guides of the village sharing their knowledge.  They also created questionnaires for the public who they interviewed in the village and then back in class analysed the results.  We included a river study of the River Box with fieldwork looking at the flow, depth and animal life within the river.

To bring all the learning together the groups put on a class exhibition of all their learning that also included: green screen TV adverts, art work linked to the village, prototypes of their products and research comparing our Boxford to Boxford, USA.

Have a look at the wonderful things we got up to on French Day this year.

In June Year 5 had a fantastic Ancient Greece day, with Portals from the Past coming in to host, the day was full of fun, games and learning new things. A huge thank you to FOBS who funded this wonderful experience.

What a fantastic performance we were treated to. The year 6 pupils really made this show their own and were all cast so well. A big thank you to the Theatre Arts Academy and especially FOBS who funded most of this experience. 

A few weeks ago Year 3 had an adventure! We visited a 'French village' in Essex! There, we met native French speakers, who taught us all about shopping in France. We ordered our own food in the café and watcheda puppet show in French. C'était fantastique!

Day 3 has proved to be just as fantastic - here are a selection of pictures from the day. We have the Talent Show tonight!

A lovely evening with a scavenger hunt and camp fire, followed by hot chocolate!

Another fantastic day here in the sunshine. Today's activities have included - climbing, zip wire, mountain biking, canoeing, big swing, caving, archery and tree trekking. Dinner was bangers and mash followed by sponge pudding with custard - much needed after all those activities! The children are currently taking part in a scavenger hunt and having a great time. 

What a fantastic first day we have had! The children have settled in quickly to life here in the forest. We were met off the coach by our instructors for the week and carried (dragged) our bags to the centre. After the children made their own beds (Miss pleeeease will you help me? No!) they played some energiser games in front of the centre and got to know their surroundings. We then had a lovely big lunch of filled baguettes with salad and an almighty flapjack. The afternoon consisted of orienteering and team challenges to get them ready for the bigger challenges to come. As I type, the children are enjoying their evening activity and I will hopefully be able to post some more pictures later this evening. 

Many thanks to everybody who was able to attend ‘1 Go Wild’s’ open day in Year 1. It was a tight squeeze, but the children were able to show off their excellent topic work, which included colourful artwork, fish aquariums and interesting fact files. The children also managed to perform a song and poem to our visitors.

Year 1 had a fantastic end to the Spring term with a visit to Colchester Zoo. The children enjoyed looking at many exciting animals including lions, elephants, penguins and seals. They also took part in a great ‘hands-on’ experience, where they got to look at many fascinating animal artefacts.

During our Art topic this half term, we have been learning to manipulate clay by coiling. We made volcanoes and then 'volcanic lava' to top them off!

This half term, we have been busy again with our French. In particular, we had the pleasure of a visit from a French exchange student - Ludovic earlier this month. He met all the children and they sang in French to him, asked him questions in French and talked about cultural differences. He was even read to by a child in Year 4. You can also watch our current year 4 French helper reading a story with the class.

As part of their PSHE unit on democracy, Year 5 had a visit from Prison Officer Iona Ross-Marrs. What an eye-opener! We would like to say a big thank you to Iona for her visit.

On Tuesday 13th March, a small section of year 6 pupils travelled to TGS to take part in a hockey tournament. There were 15 teams in total. Boxford won their first match 11-0, then their second match 11-0. After that, they won 6-0, followed by another 6-0. This meant that we went through to the semi finals. We won that match 3-1. The final was a tense game but thankfully we worked together and won 3-0.

Round two (regionals) is on Tuesday 27th March in Ipswich. I'm sure you'll join me in wishing year 6 the very best of luck.

World Book Day was interrupted by 'The Beast fron the East' this year - but that didn't stop Boxford! Take 2 was a week later and was no less fun and inspirational! The children (and staff) looked fantastic as always. A big well done and thank you to all.

Year 6 enjoyed learning all about Ancient Egypt with a visit from an Egyptologist from Horrible Histories.  Mark shared with us the history of how the ancient civilization started and how the Romans came and changed Egypt forever.  We learnt about Egyptian maths and measured in fingers, palms and cubits.  We played a game called Hounds and Jackals which was great fun!  Did you know that the eye of Horus was used to protect things which is why it is seen drawn and painted on so many Egyptian artefacts?  In the afternoon we looked at mummification and the Egyptian tombs even mummifying our very own Jake as the Pharaoh!

The children all enjoyed some great maths activities on Friday 2nd whilst raising money for the work of the NSPCC. Lots of small change was brought in which enabled many children to count and recognise coins, and to write down amounts of money with decimal notation. We all had a great day! Well done to Mr Wainwright and the Year 6 class, for being closest to estimating the Maltesers in the jar and well done to Mrs Cray and Foundation, for the Smarties in the jar estimates. Thank you for all your support to make this day such a success!

We had such fun on Monday recreating a Hogwarts Christmas feast. What a wonderful end to our topic. The children and staff were dressed in some fantastic costumes. We had pumkin soup, bread wands and iced biscuits all cooked by the children in DT. 

We all tucked into a wonderful Christmas lunch today, with Christmas songs playing and crackers popping. There was even a special guest appearence in Mrs Lane! 

Another wonderful service in Boxford church; songs, poems, prayers, readings, brass, recorders and guitar! Just the thing to get us in the festive spirit!

On Tuesday we were very lucky! We had the privilege of a visit from two mothers, who come from another country, one from South Africa and one from Norway. They told us about Christmas in these countries. We learned about the custom of eating rotten trout in Norway, and we tasted delicious Christmas pudding from South Africa. We also watched one of the typical video clips shown as an advent to Christmas is Norway. Merci beaucoup!

Yesterday the whole school were treated to a wonderful performance by our Reception class, and today they performed in front of their families for the first time. What a fantastic show, where every child shone! A big well done to all the staff and children for putting on such a spectacular performance.

On Monday 20^th November, year 4 travelled to Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge as part of our history topic, Anglo-Saxons. We handled lots of different artefacts, dressed up as Saxon warriors and explored the ancient burial mounds. We all had a wonderful day.

Last Friday the year 5 and year 6 children took part in a ‘Bubbly Maths’ organised lesson. The lesson addressed the topic of ‘time’ and all the children had to try and estimate how long a minute was and take part in some other activities related to time. The lesson was part of a “Guinness World Record” challenge for the most amount of students taking part in a lesson on the same theme at the same time. There were lots of schools taking part both in the country and across the world. We had to have two independent witnesses so we are very grateful to Tom (the ICT technician) and to Paul (Mrs Clarke’s husband) who came in to do that role!

We now have to wait and see if we have the world record as all the paper work needs to be completed and returned from all the schools that took part. Watch this space!!!

On the last day of the half term children cold dress down, or up as a bible character, all in aid of raising funds for 'Open the Book'. Open the Book is a project which offers primary school children an opportunity to hear the major stories of the Bible, from a team of volunteers from the localk church, who present the stories during assemblies. They visit Boxford every two weeks and the children thoroughly enjoy these assemblies. Below are some pictures of the children who chose to dress up as bible characters. Thank you to all our families for your kind donations. 

As part of our Anglo-Saxon topic, we have been designing and making 3D brooches. We spent time discussing and evaluating our final pieces. 

BEST. SCHOOL. TRIP. EVER! was said more than once on Monday when year 5 and 6 went to the Warner Bros Studios in Watford. The adults were just as excited (if not more!) than the children. It was a truly magical day. We got to see so many of the original sets; wandering through the Great Hall and down Diagon Alley, we even battled some Death Eaters! An experience, I am sure, that will never be forgotten. P.S I promise that's a Butterbeer I'm drinking!

Last week we gave you a beautiful rendition of 'Savez-vous planter les choux?', during the harvest festival.  This week we have been 'travelling around the world'.  Today we have been celebrating the European Day of Languages, like many other schools in Europe.....

Our Reception children went to Poland.  They had fun making Polish flags and tasting Polish pancakes -Lacuch. Year 1 visited Italy and they made an Italian village. They also created necklaces using coloured pasta. Year 2 also spent time in Italy. They studied the artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo and sang an Italian song together. 

Years 3 and 4 travelled all the way to China. They investigated Chinese writing and attempted to use chopsticks! They looked at the Chinese Zodiac and painted fantastic fireworks.

Years 5 and 6 had the pleasure of visiting the Czech Republic, with a native speaker Mrs Scott - Scarlett's Mum.  The children made and tasted various foods including halusky, zelny salat and platski.  They designed fact files, made flags with mathematical precision and learnt to sing the National Anthem!

Well done Boxford!  Another wonderful day, full of new cultural experiences and surprises!  Now we can speak some Polish, Italian, Chinese and Czech!

Our first big event of the year was our annual Harvest Festival. Once again we were blown away by the generosity of all our parents as the church was bursting with produce. The donations will be split between residents in the village and the local foodbank.  A big thank you too to Rev. Judith for hosting the service and to all the classes for their wonderful prayers based on the Fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.