Check out what our lovely children have been up to - Christmas has certainly arrived at Great Binfields!

https://greatbinfields.primarysite.media/ 

We also hope you have enjoyed the Christmas goodies that have been arriving at home. 

This year, we were unable to walk down to Christchurch for our annual Christmas service - a real shame for us all as this is very much a GBP tradition where we are reminded once again about why Christians celebrate the festival of Christmas. We also love our walk through the woodland too. 

We are so grateful to Rev Jonathan Clark and Maggie Chiverton for creating a service for us. We enjoyed watching it this morning. Thanks also to Oak Class (Y6) and our Year 5 children for your contributions too. Hugely appreciated by our school community.

Here is the link if you would like to share our service with your family at home this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21QNU96EXuM&feature=youtu.be 

Our children and staff are busy doing all things Christmas at school now and here is a little taster of what we have been up to. Later next week, we will be sharing links to our year group showcase storyboards with you which will include lots of photos and short video clips of all things Christmassy.

In the meantime enjoy the photos below plus some of our staff reading Christmas stories..... but most importantly our EYFS children retelling the Christmas Nativity story (all set in our school grounds) at the following link: https://greatbinfields.primarysite.media/playlist/christmas-celebrations-2020 ... basically go to the Children's tab section of our website - scroll down to the Video Resource Centre and you will find them in there!

Enjoy!

Today we received a lovely parcel from our local retirement living estate,  Oakfields in Lychpit. Inside were some Christmas cards and some beautiful knitted Christmas decorations which we shared out amongst every class before popping the rest on our main indoor tree situated in our school library. The children were so grateful as they are beautiful - each one is now sitting proudly for all of the children to see.  A huge thank you from us all. 

We usually pop down with some of our choir to sing carols but we couldn't do that this year for obvious reasons! I instead tasked our children in Years 1, 2, 4 and 5 with a very special job which is nearly complete. They have been busy creating a special Christmas pack for each resident at Oakfields containing Christmas cracker letters (from Y5), alternative funny 12 days of Christmas poems/songs (from Y4) and Christmas pictures (from Y1and 2) . I am popping to the shops this afternoon to get some chocolate treats for each of the packs too. Once all ready, we will drop the packs down to them, ready for quarantining, before the our elders can open them up and enjoy what's inside.

Just to keep you in the loop, Year 3 have another special job I have tasked them with which I will relay to you all at a later date. Years 1 and 6 are also busy writing and drawing to one another and will share these safely within school too.

 We are trying our best to bring cheer to as many people as we can this Christmas. 

This morning we met together as a whole school (virtually) like we do every Friday morning but it was extra special today as we had our Christingle Service. 

Each class had a representative who made their class Christingle whilst I was making one for our whole school. The children listened intently as I explained why this service goes ahead each year but to be honest we wouldn't expect anything less from our children, as they are always so respectful and committed to listening and responding appropriately in occasions such as these. 

I explained that in the past, on Christmas Eve, Christians passed lighted candles around to children, however now these candles have been replaced by the ‘Christingle’. The idea of a Christingle originally came from Bishop Johannes de Watteville way back in 1747, as a simple way to explain the happiness of knowing Jesus. The Children’s Society revived the idea and introduced it to Britain over 50 years ago now, as a way of shining a light on our vulnerable young people. It is now a popular, much-loved family event for Christians. Christingle means ‘Christ – Light’ and represents Jesus being ‘the light of the World’. Christingle celebrations can take many different forms from a large church service to a school assembly. We included songs and prayers too. Children in Years 2-6 passed around the lit Christingle whilst they listened to the calming songs - a little awe and wonder for them all as they shared a magical moment together. 

I am hoping our children will be able to explain to you all what each part of the Christingle  represents but in case our younger children get a little muddled..... the orange represents our world, the lighted candle - is for Jesus, the Light of the World, the red ribbon is the blood and love of Christ, and the dried fruit and sweets on 4 cocktail sticks are to represent the four seasons and the fruits of the Earth such as love, food, water, family, beautiful landscapes, etc - all God's gifts to everyone.

Our children had time to reflect for hope, wonder and peace as well as enjoy the excitement of the service. 

Some of our children may like to make a Christingle with you at home and here are the links to the special music we played alongside as we lit them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWCG6IiCAQI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9M8SmWh2Fo

Our EYFS children can't wait to play in this magnificent new role play area we have for them. Mr Quilter practiced popping it up in our music and drama room yesterday and he is going to transfer it in sections to the children's classroom after school on Friday so it is all fixed and ready for our super children on Monday. We hope that you all love it. I know other year groups including the adults are mightily envious!