On Saturday some of the older school councillors represented our school at an Old Basing Family Fun Day organised by the Old Basing Scout and Guide groups. They ran two stalls: a lucky dip and coconut shy. I was hugely impressed by their efforts, as they were very polite and engaging with all of their customers. They also worked hard to prepare their stalls in advance and displayed brilliant team work. It was a really fun day and so nice to be able to take part in a community event again.

This afternoon Rowan and Birch classes invited their Dad's (or other family members) to come and spend some time in the afternoon with us.  During the week the children have been thinking about Father's day and what makes people who love us special.   They were busy making some surprises, which we hope they will remember to give out on Sunday.

Then this afternoon we set up several activities for the children to do with their visiting adult.  These included a scavenger hunt, biscuit decorating, tower building, target practise, reading, portrait drawing and paper aeroplanes.  It was a fantastic atmosphere and it was so nice to see the children being excited about sharing their learning with their family.

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to come in, the children loved it and we hope that you did too.

Wow, we certainly had great weather for the Beach day today! Although we were hoping for a sunny day, it may have been slightly too hot for us at times. The children seemed to really enjoy coming into school in their 'beach clothes' and we heard various stories about when they have worn their beach clothes to the beach before. 

We began our day by taking part in a cool photo booth with beach props, we were able to take our own pictures using the Ipads.

We then had a chance to go into the sandpit and take part in water play, like we would at the beach. The children were very excited by this and some even said it was the best day of school ever. 

Year 2 also looked at flags, and the various flags that are found on sand castles. We designed our own, using different patterns. They were really impressive.

The afternoon was even hotter so we cooled down with a story and an ice lolly! We couldn't of 'gone to the beach' with out a cool snack.

We ended the day with some Beach art and we looked at the beach huts that are found on the beach and we used our sketching skills to draw them. 

Overall the day was a great success, although slightly hot! 

Here is the full photo album from NATM - sadly the wifi at the Novium wouldn't allow me to upload much more. Either the wi-fi or my over-tired brain at the end of a residential ;-) your children did you so very proud, I awarded the class SEVEN gold spots upon our return and I haven't ever done that!! They could not have represented the school better and I lost count of the amount of times they were complimented by members of the public. WELL DONE HAWTHORN AND THANK YOU!

Wow! What a trip. Hazel Class were simply fantastic. Despite a very late night (only settling into our sleeping bags at 11pm), after a torchlit hunt around the museum for Stone Age artefacts, working in teams to build a mammoth out of cardboard and a snack and bedtime story, the children got their kits organised sensibly and comfy and were so respectful of each other when going to sleep. They showed a maturity beyond their ages - it was the adults that actually found it harder to sleep! 

We then woke up bright an early, with the Museum lights flashing on - much to the disgust of the children - and had a walk around Chichester Cathedral. We then jumped on the minibuses and headed to Itchenor Harbour, where the sun finally graced us with its presence. Hazel Class enjoyed a calming trip around the harbour on a solar-powered boat and then jumped off and enjoyed a picturesque lunch on the shoreline, followed by beach combing which was led by Chichester Harbour Conservancy staff. 

All in all a wonderful but jam packed two days, where the children represented Great Binfields beautifully. Thank you Hazel Class!

We have quite simply had the BEST day!!! The children have done you all proud and have been absolutely wonderful - following all of the school's values and representing the GREAT in Great Binfields! We have learnt so much about so many different time periods and even got a Tudor hook to bring back for the class from the Blacksmith! We were treated to lots of live tours from various different houses and we got plenty of playtime too. We were super lucky with the weather and it only drizzled twice momentarily. We thoroughly enjoyed our McDonalds and are now safely in the Novium about to enjoy a torchlight treasure hunt - how exciting! We can't wait to see you tomorrow to tell you all about it and please rest assured your children are being very well looked after and are having the best time! Enjoy the pics!

Here at GBPS we ended the half term with a bang, by holding our annual Arts Festival. This year the theme for the festival was Diversity. The children in our school council had asked if we would be able to incorporate creating portraits of the Queen, as her Platinum Jubilee celebrates were the very next week.  This of course got the cogs turning and we decided to link our Diversity theme to the Commonwealth countries. As of course the Queen is the head of the Common wealth and these countries are so diverse it seemed the perfect option. Every year group was given a Commonwealth country to use for their art inspiration and we all found out about different art cultures, movements and history from these.

There was a real buzz around school all week and the effort the children put into their pieces was incredible. Many of our school values were shown across the school such as; creativity, co-operation, respect and honesty. The week saw lots of us getting into the learning pit but feeling so proud by the end of the week. As one of our well known school sayings is 'never give up until your are proud!'

The final part of the week was displaying all of the children's work in our exhibition in the courtyard and we were so pleased we could open this up to our school community again. The courtyard looked truly magnificent with all the work being showcased, the Jubilee bunting hanging up and even the sun was shining for us! Thank you!

Thank you to our children for the enthusiasm and effort they put into this week, lots of memories were made and new skills learnt by all. An even bigger thank you to our staff team who put in huge amounts of time and effort into making the week run smoothly. 

On a side note I thought our Queen portraits were super and that she would be proud and very pleased with how they looked. 

What was your personal highlight from the week? 

Now to decide what next years theme will be ..........

Competition was in the air this morning in Y4 - you could feel the tension brewing. Ash and Pine are going head to head in their times tables knowledge. Each class had half an hour to get as many points as possible and already the scores are VERY close. We know Ash and Pine will be competing at home too - who will be victorious? Mrs Roberts, our Maths lead, has said she is going to be keeping a close eye on the scores and looking for any Times Table super stars that stand out in the points system. 

This ties in perfectly with our Times Tables check that our Y4s will be completing next week. Keep working hard Y4, you have worked very hard in multiplication this year and we are very proud.

Hazel Class have had a fab day on our Night in the Museum trip! We had a fun and noisy journey down to Chichester, and despite the drizzle our spirits remained high the WHOLE way around the open air Weald and Downland Museum. We even got to see a Blacksmith in action, right next to the filming of The Repair Shop!

We enjoyed our well earned McDonalds before making our way to the Novium Museum in Chichester centre. We went on a torch lit hunt for Stone Age artefacts around the museum and then worked in teams to create a cardboard mammoth. We are now getting ready for a snack, bedtime story and settling down for the night. We are definitely ready for our camp beds!

The children have been absolutely fantastic, showing all the school values and making the adults on the trip super proud. Have a look at some of the photos from the day.