Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
-
House Point Reward Time
Mon 30 Oct 2023On Friday 20th October, before the half term break, the YELLOW team (topaz) earned their first House Point Reward time for the academic year. The weather wasn't playing ball so we had a wet weather plan up our sleeves but fortunately the sun shone last minute and we were able to enjoy:
1. Football outside on the field
2. 'Just Dance!' in the Hall
3. Baking 'Mummies' in the Kids Kitchen
4. Making spooky bookmarks in the Forest School Room
Once the Topaz team had all finished their chosen activities, they all got to enjoy a biscuit which had been lovingly prepared for them by our wonderful kitchen staff.
It was great to see the Topaz team unite and we got great feedback from the pupils on their first official HP reward time for this academic year.
Who will win the next one for this half term before Christmas?
-
Year 6 - WW2 Veteran Visit
Thu 19 Oct 2023Today, Year 6 experienced a truly awe-inspiring session with a veteran who paid us a visit to talk about his career as a Sergeant in the RAF Regiment. Our Year 6 children were so respectful throughout the session and asked lots of insightful questions about his training, different job roles and where he served on his tours during his time in the army. Whilst Ian did not serve during WWII, it provided a great opportunity for the children to discuss what military life is like with a real life veteran as we have been discussing this a lot in class.
Ian also kindly brought in some of his own memorabilia to help bring the session to life. This included a WW2 helmet, his own medals of honour and a button shining tool which he was issued in 1958 when he first joined the RAF Regiment. Throughout the session, Ian was very honest and candidly opened up about some of his experiences during his service including how he first came under fire at the age of 18 in Cyprus. Other tours saw him travel to Borneo, Northern Ireland and Aden. It was also interesting to learn that he was evacuated at a very young age with his sister during WWII. Year 6 have been empathising with WWII evacuees within their History and French sessions so they were able to apply their knowledge when discussing this with him.
Whilst Ian was able to offer the children lots of personal anecdotes about his time in the army, the children also enjoyed sharing their WWII inspired letters and I am Poems with him. He was incredibly impressed and was struck by how realistic and emotive the letters were. Providing an authentic and critical audience for our Year 6 children added real value to our topic and was such a lovely way to finish off our WWII focus this half term.
Take a look at the photos below to see how engaged and inspired the children were by our wonderful visitor today.
-
Year 6 - Children on the Home Front
Mon 16 Oct 2023Today, was Year 6's WWII Day and an amazing effort had been made by all; the costumes looked fantastic and really helped us to get into character. We have had a busy day exploring what life would have been like for people on the Home Front during WWII. The children spent some time in the School's Anderson Shelter, even during a bombing (sticks and stones). We learnt about VE Day and made some bunting for the celebration, following the Government request of Make Do and Mend. The children then had to take part in their own air raid and take shelter under the tables.
The day finished with the children performing their very own WWII themed play-in-a-day based on the real life events of ‘Children on the Home Front’. The amazing Ben from the Treehouse Theatre Company helped to bring our WWII topic to life and focused on the role of civilians who contributed to the war effort whilst at home. The children empathised beautifully with a variety of characters and took their roles very seriously. These included: soldiers, evacuees, shopkeepers and land army girls.
We were impressed with how confidently the children delivered their lines too. There are certainly some impressive actors and actresses within the year group.
Take a look at the photos below to see how in awe the children were of their year group performance.
-
Year 3 Stone Age Day!
Fri 13 Oct 2023Well we certainly did not let the dull weather dampen our spirits for Stone Age Day today! We had a fantastic day of: creating settlements, being hunter-gatherers, preparing, cooking and eating our very own Stone Age stew and making Stone Age houses out of clay. It was a jam-packed day and certainly one to remember! Our outfits were super authentic and we really got into role! A great way of bringing our topic to life!
-
Year 5/6 Netball match
Fri 13 Oct 2023Yesterday our Year 5 and 6 Netballers took to the court to play their first competitive game of Netball. Mrs Gough was blown away by their commitment and dedication to the game. As always, the team displayed our school values on the court and represented our school brilliantly. Well done team GBP. I am so proud of you. A big thank you to all of our dedicated supporters. We appreciate you and the cheers!
-
Teen Tech Festival
Wed 11 Oct 2023On Wednesday, ten lucky children from Year 6 were chosen to attend this year’s TeenTech Science and Technology Festival. The aim of the festival was to help our children understand the opportunities available to them in the science, technology and engineering industries, encouraging them to aspire and dream big when it comes to future possibilities in these fields. Schools from across Hampshire attended the event and the room was filled with a buzz and energy unlike any other.
It was an incredibly lively and exciting day full of activities led by industry experts such as Amazon Web Services, Ocado, BT, BBC, IBM and many more! Our children were able to successfully collaborate at every stage of the day in order to maximise their ideas and skillsets when trialling advanced technology and participating in games to demonstrate how businesses of tomorrow may function. The children gained so much from this opportunity as they had an insight as to what it would be like to become ‘innovators of the future’. The children behaved impeccably and were able to communicate with a wide variety of people to investigate solutions to problems we are currently facing in our everyday lives.
One of the most poignant moments of the day was when we had an inspiration session with Alex Lewis - a local man who requires the use of innovative technology to help him on a daily basis. The children were incredibly respectful and showed a sensitive curiosity to how Alex continues to dream big and inspire others.
What a wonderful opportunity this festival was for our children to experience. We will certainly be back next year with more aspiring innovators!
-
Democracy Week
Tue 03 Oct 2023This week at GBP it is our annual Democracy Week. It is an opportunity for us to focus on the importance of democracy and what this means for us as a school.
The week began yesterday with a visit from Chineham Ward Borough Councillors: Paul Miller and Jenny Vaux. They shared some information about what their roles as local councillors entail and then had a question and answer session with the children. Many of them were really excited to learn that Cllr Paul Miller also used to be Basingstoke Mayor!
Across the rest of the week, year groups 1-6 will be holding a vote to elect a School Council representative for their year group. This representative will be responsible for feeding back ideas from their peers to the rest of School Council. This allows the children to witness democracy in action.
The Year 6 candidates will also be making speeches to the rest of school and then campaigning to be Chair and Vice Chair of this year's School Council. On Friday, the rest of the school will take part in a secret ballot and will cast their vote for the candidate of their choice.
So...watch this space!
