Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Awesome Avon Tyrrell - Day1

  Tue 14 Nov 2023

  We arrived at a rather soggy Avon Tyrrell but within the hour, the weather had cleared up beautifully – how lucky are we! First on the agenda was to tell the very excitable children who they would be sharing a room with. After plenty of celebrations and jubilations, the cheering soon came to a pause as the children were required to make their own beds. With a little cooperation and lots of adult help, everyone is able to settle into a cosy bed tonight.

   

  Our afternoon started with a delicious lunch (fish fingers/halloumi sticks and chips) which was swiftly followed by an afternoon jam packed with activities, including: pioneering, shelter building, archery and high ropes. During the pioneering session, the children built their very own catapults. They had to use some intricate knot styles to secure a selection of poles in place to create giant sized catapults! The children were then able to score points based on the accuracy of their aims.

   

  It was also great to see lots of children getting out of their comfort zone as they took to the trees in the high ropes session. The instructors were brilliant at supporting, encouraging and stretching the children’s limits to as far as they felt possible and it was certainly evident during this session. Mrs Roberts was so proud of the children who took part in this as it was the first activity of their schedule and they all pushed themselves further than they thought they could.

   

  After a filling dinner (vegetable/beef pie), three of our groups enjoyed a leisurely night walk where they learnt about the history of Avon Tyrrell and made fresh pine needle tea. The other half of the year group had a traditional ‘games night’ with lots of family games. They will swap these activities around tomorrow night to allow the children to experience all that Avon Tyrrell has to offer.

   

  This evening, the children have settled beautifully and are already making all of the adults incredibly proud. Here are a few quotes from the children themselves about their day so far:

   “Avon Tyrrell is phenomenal and a wonderful experience so far. We got to do lots of fun activities and can’t wait for tomorrow.” Daisy and Amalia

   

  “The food is amazing! This is the best place you’ll ever go in primary!” Bogdan and Elissa

   

  “Everything is awesome here. I’m pretty sure this sums up everything I need to say!” Maxi

   

  “The day was fun but there are still many adventures ahead of us. The best bit from today was probably the climbing wall. At times, I found it a bit tricky but managed to still have fun” Raegan

   

  “The archery was so fun and we played lots of games involving our skills. Also, the food tastes really good!” Isla U

   

  “The house is like a mansion – it’s tricky to find my way around but I’m sure I’ll pick it up quickly. The school trip has been phenomenal so far but we still have many more activities to come.” Fredie.

   

  Keep checking in throughout the week to see what your wonderful children are getting up to. Take a look at a selection of photographs from today, more will be uploaded over the next few days.

   

  

• Remembrance Service at the War Memorial Park

  Mon 13 Nov 2023

  On Sunday our Chair and Vice Chairs of School Council took part in the Basingstoke Remembrance Service, accompanied by Mrs Franklin and Miss Lyddon. The children laid a remembrance wreath, on behalf of GBP, and were incredibly respectful throughout the service. 

  

• Year 5 visit Chineham Library

  Mon 13 Nov 2023

  On Friday afternoon, the Year 5 children were lucky enough to take a trip to Chineham Library. The children learned about all the different services the library provides, discussed some of their favourite books and listened to a story read by one of the librarians. The children finished their visit with a scavenger hunt searching for different books. 

  

• Year 3 Iron Age Day

  Thu 02 Nov 2023 Miss Thomas

  On Wednesday, Year 3 were extremely lucky to have Matt from 'Experience the Iron Age' come to visit. Throughout the day, the children learnt lots of facts about the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age and they were even able to touch and handle some artefacts. Matt provided the children with spear tips and shields to decorate themselves in the style of the shields that he had brought with him. Having completing 'Warrior Training' in the afternoon with targets and 'swords', children discussed what wonderful, fun learning they had done. 

  

• House Point Reward Time

  Mon 30 Oct 2023 Mrs H

  On 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 2023

  Today, 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 2023

  Today, 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 2023 Mrs Gough

  Well 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 2023 Mrs Gough

  Yesterday 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 2023

  On 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!