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

• Avon Tyrrell - Day 1

  Mon 14 Nov 2022

  Marvellous Monday at Avon Tyrrell

  We have had a glorious start to our residential here at Avon Tyrrell! After a successful journey on the coach, the children were incredibly excited to find out who they would be sharing a room with; the excitement soon passed as they realised that they then had to make their own beds! With a little cooperation and teamwork, all of the children have a cosy bed to sleep in tonight.

   

  Our afternoon started with a delicious lunch (pizza and salad) which was swiftly followed by an afternoon jam packed with activities, including: pioneering, zip wire, mountain biking, problem solving and shelter building. 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 size catapults! The children were then able to score points based on the accuracy of their aims and success of the structure of their catapults – a few collapses ensued throughout the activity!

   

  Each year at Avon Tyrrell, we also like to keep a daily diary to help us reflect on all of the wonderful activities we get up whilst we are here. The children were keen to record their initial thoughts of Avon Tyrrell so far and enjoyed thinking ahead to what they are excited about next. After a filling dinner (lasagne/cottage pie), we also enjoyed a leisurely night walk where we learnt about the history of Avon Tyrrell and made fresh pine needle tea.

  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:

   

  “So far, Avon Tyrrell has been an incredible adventure. Everyone has worked cooperatively which has been lovely. I took part in zip wire and archery, which were very exciting! The house is really big and it’s been nice to have some free time in our rooms to get to know our roommates.” Francesca

  “The shelter building was an amazing experience. I really liked how we all worked together as a team and that it was a bit messy.” Darcee

  “It has been a thrilling first day at Avon Tyrrell! I really enjoyed the zip line and would definitely recommend coming here!” Ivy

   

  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.

  

• School Council join in with Basingstoke Parade.

  Mon 14 Nov 2022 Ms Rogers

  I would like to thank the members of our School Council who joined Miss Khan and I today as they represented our school beautifully. All 6 children joined in with the special service so well - saying the prayers outlined in the order of service and singing the hymns as well as listening very carefully to Lacie and Francesca, our Chair and Vice Chair of the School Council laid a poppy wreath along with other children who were also representing their schools today. 

  This is a Great Binfields tradition as it is very important to us to mark our respect for those people who served and for those men and women who are currently serving our country to ensure that we all live a free life.

  

• GBPS Remembrance Service

  Fri 11 Nov 2022 Mrs H

  As part of our annual GBPS tradition, we all gathered in the courtyard today for our Remembrance Service. We held our two minutes' silence during which all of the children were incredibly respectful. Each class laid a ceramic poppy and our Chair/Vice Chair for School Council laid a poppy wreath. Miss Rogers shared a poem and we listened to poignant music and took time to reflect. A huge well done to Lorenzo, who alongside Mrs Brittain, played The Last Post. Thank you children of GBPS for being so respectful.

  

• KS1 Multi Skills Festival

  Thu 10 Nov 2022 Miss Barnett

  Yesterday afternoon, a selection of our Year 2 pupils were lucky enough to participate in a Multi-skills Festival. The festival consisted of a carousal of 8 activities that helped them to practise their fundamental movement skills. Some of the activities involved: jumping, throwing, balancing, ball skills and many more! Each station was run by pupils from Queen Mary’s College who are studying sport and this contributed to their qualifications in coaching.

  The children were exceptionally behaved and showed their Great Binfield’s values throughout every part of the afternoon. It was a fantastic opportunity and the children were able to grow in confidence and ability with their fundamental movement skills. We hope to participate in many more festivals and competitions this academic year.

  

• Year 5 DT

  Thu 10 Nov 2022

  Yesterday in Year 5, we had a DT day with a focus on bread making. We tasted different breads from around the world, designed our own bread and then made it. We also evaluated our bread creations and designed the packaging for them. After seeing Year 5 action, Paul Hollywood may have some competition!

  

• Year 2 Great Fire of London Workshop

  Fri 04 Nov 2022 Mrs Harvey

  On Friday Year 2 were lucky enough to be visited by Ben from Treehouse Theatre. We went back in time and learnt all about the Great Fire of London. To begin the session, Ben re-enacted the events of Sunday 2nd September 1666. The children were very excited by this and it was interesting to hear the various things that happened when the fire broke out. We then took part in a workshop where we had to pretend to be someone who was alive during the Great Fire. The children chose jobs that they would have had during those times. Can you remember what your job was?  They had to think carefully about what items they might save from the fire and how they would feel about all those that they had left behind. They then acted out trying to put out the fire, and realised what a tricky job this would have been in 1666. To end the workshop they had to discuss as a team how they could pay the ferry to take them across to the other side of the Thames. The session was a great success and the children gained a great deal of knowledge from it. 

   

  

• Year 3 Victorian Day

  Fri 04 Nov 2022 Year 3 team

  Today Year 3 travelled back in time to experience what life would have been like for a Victorian school child. Boys and girls had to line up separately and of course they had to pay for their education. They entered their dark, dull classroom and had to sit in rows and rise every time an adult entered the class. Boys and girls completed separate activities, including sewing for girls and gardening for boys. If children found themselves in the pit, they were not offered any help or resources which the teachers found very hard!! Other activities of the day included: drills, Geography map work, History mnemonic, listening to traditional fairytales, reciting times tables, singing the National anthem, reciting the Lord's prayer and writing on slate boards with chalk (right hands only!). We reflected on the day during circle time at 2:45 and recognised we are super fortunate not to have had to experience Victorian education!

  

• Year 3 Treehouse Theatre

  Mon 31 Oct 2022 Year 3 Team

  Spookily enough... we chose Halloween to be our day to re-enact some sinister events from the past with Ben from Treehouse Theatre. Each child was given a role in one of 4 groups and then we came together in the afternoon to act out the performance from start to finish. Some of the roles included; chimney sweeps, rope pickers, Lords, judges, poor school children and rich family members. The children showed great resilience in learning their lines with such a quick turn around! The Year 3 team were blown away by the final polished performance - well done to all involved. 

  

• Year 5 Travel Brochures

  Fri 21 Oct 2022

  As part of our Oh La La topic, the year 5 children have been working really hard to create their own travel brochures. The travel brochures needed to use persuasive language to persuade the reader to visit Paris. We were lucky enough to have a real travel agent, Mrs Streeter, come in and judge the brochures. She was so impressed with the children's attention detailed and chose 3 winning brochures from each class!

  

• Year 6 Veteran Talk

  Thu 20 Oct 2022

  Today, Year 6 experienced a truly awe-inspiring session with a veteran who visited us 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 was a great opportunity for the children to discuss what soldier life was like with a real life veteran 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 his own helmet, his 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.