Symondsbury Church of England VA Primary School

Friday 17 October 2025 Cross country running Children from Oak and Sycamore class competed against 11 other schools on Wednesday at the Autumn cross country at Colfox. The children were up against some fierce competition and had to run a sizeable distance, but did brilliantly! we were so proud of their determination and positive attitudes, particularly their fantastic sportsmanship and support for each other and the other schools. Our 3/4 boys team came 3rd overall and all of the children did Symondsbury proud. Well done!

Thursday 16 October 2025 Sycamore digital music Sycamore class are mid way through their digital music sessions with Dorset Music Service. Guided by Mr keys the children have thoroughly enjoyed learning how to compose their own tracks using different sounds, effects and vocals. The results have been amazing! Along with learning lots of new ICT skills they have really impressed us with their creative talents. Everyone is really enjoying the sessions.

Friday 10 October 2025 Newsletter 6 10th October 2025

Wednesday 8 October 2025 Seedlings Forest School Seedlings have been out and about!

Friday 3 October 2025 Newsletter 5 3rd October 2025

Wednesday 1 October 2025 Washingpool Farm Sycamore class had a super day at Washingpool Farm on Wednesday for their ‘Expert Day'. Organised by Discover Farming a host of volunteers shared their skills and knowledge with us and we were treated to a carousel of four activities – Pond Dipping with Nick from the Dorset Wildlife Trust, where we talked about nature and then found dragon larvae, and all sorts of interesting wildlife in the water. We learnt about milk, cows and dairy farming with Helen and Amanda, including having a go at milking the wooden cows and labelling the internal organs. The children made fresh pasta, both linguine and pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with Ilaria from Mercato, Bridport and a team of helpers – which was delicious! Lastly, we had great fun on a tractor and trailer ride around the farm, whilst learning about tractors from the experts at Buglers, Beaminster. All had a fantastic, busy day and we are very grateful to Washingpool and the Discover Farming team. We look forwar

Friday 26 September 2025 Newsletter 4 26th September 2025

Tuesday 23 September 2025 Our Fantastic Peer Mediators The children in our Sycamore Class completed their training as peer mediators with flying colours today! They learnt how to support themselves and others with conflict resolution using active listening skills, giraffe language and ensuring that the listen to and empathise with both sides of the story. Well done all!

Friday 19 September 2025 Newsletter 3 19th September 2025

Wednesday 17 September 2025 Welcome to our new Seedlings A big welcome to all our new Seedlings and their families.

Friday 12 September 2025 Newsletter 2 12th September 2025

Friday 5 September 2025 Newsletter 1 5th September 2025

Friday 11 July 2025 Oak Class Ukulele Concert

Friday 11 July 2025 Newsletter 38 11th July 2025

Thursday 10 July 2025 Oliver Production Sycamore Class absolutely wowed us in their end of year production of Oliver! They sang, danced and acted their way through an incredible performance. We are proud of all of them!

Friday 4 July 2025 Newsletter 37 4th July 2025

Wednesday 2 July 2025 Seedlings - Washingpool Farm Trip Seedlings had a lovely day our at Washingpool Farm.

Friday 27 June 2025 Newsletter 36 27th June 2025

Thursday 26 June 2025 Seedlings - Axe Valley 2025 Seedling Class had a fantastic trip to Axe Valley, they got to see zebras, flamingos, snakes and so much more. It is such a great place to visit we all had a brilliant time.

Friday 20 June 2025 Newsletter 35 20th June 2025

Tuesday 17 June 2025 Oak Class Quadkids

Friday 13 June 2025 Newsletter 34 13th June 2025

Friday 13 June 2025 Oak Class (Y3) Art

Friday 6 June 2025 Newsletter 33 6th June 2025

Friday 23 May 2025 Newsletter 32 23rd May 2025

Wednesday 21 May 2025 KS2 Trip to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Lighthouse Theatre

Friday 16 May 2025 Newsletter 31 16th May 2025

Friday 16 May 2025 Kenya Fundraising Day!

Friday 9 May 2025 Acorns learn about democracy: Book Judging

Friday 9 May 2025 Newsletter 30 9th May 2025

Tuesday 6 May 2025 Our May King and Queen

Friday 2 May 2025 Fluffy Visitors to Symondsbury The children had a great wonderful surprise this morning as they were greeted by 11 chicks. These adorable fluffy chicks were born on Tuesday and Wednesday. The children got to take turns holding them, whilst we also talked about some of their features and how they are cared for as pets.

Friday 2 May 2025 Newsletter 29 2nd May 2025

Thursday 1 May 2025 Wyld Morris Dancers Visit Symondsbury We were thrilled to be able to invite the Wyld Morris Dancers to Symondsbury School this morning as they included us in their May Day celebrations. Children and parents enjoyed bacon butties as they watched the dancers perform. Of course, there was opportunities for everyone to join in too! A huge thank you to the Wyld Morris Dancers for including us in their special morning - and the sun shone! A huge thanks also to our staff and Friends of Symondsbury School for preparing refreshments and 140 bacon butties! Wow!

Wednesday 30 April 2025 Acorns attend Multiskills Festival at Colfox School

Tuesday 29 April 2025 Seedlings - Tennis We were very excited to begin our course of tennis sessions today! Lots of practise with throwing and catching! We are looking forward to our next sessions.

Friday 25 April 2025 Newsletter 28 25th April 2025

Friday 25 April 2025 Oak Class Visit to Bridport Library Oak Class Visit to Bridport Library –Today we visited Bridport Library. We learnt about all the things that the library has to offer, we made a book, played ‘Booky Bingo’ and had a tour of all the facilities. We then walked back to school, luckily, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our walk in the sunshine. Thank you to Amy Heaver and Claire Ackerman for supporting us with walking back to school.

Wednesday 23 April 2025 Year 3 Bee Club is Buzzing! Year 3's had their first session on Wednesday with the extremely knowledgeable pairing of Helen and Gareth. The children were shown a hive box and learnt all about its different parts. They found out what to do to keep themselves safe around bees. The children were excited to find out the different types of honeybees found in a colony and the jobs of a worker bee. They also had the pleasure of tasting some fresh yummy honey too (with wax!). The year 3's are now ready and buzzing for next Wednesday's session when they will be visiting the apiary.

Friday 4 April 2025 Easter Service 2025 We celebrated our Easter Service on the last day of the spring term with a message of hope continuing on from our performance of Yanamamo.

Friday 4 April 2025 Oak Class - Fab Finish - April 2025

Friday 4 April 2025 Oak Class Washingpool Farm

Friday 4 April 2025 Newsletter 27 4th April 2025

Wednesday 2 April 2025 Sycamore Class Watch Colfox Present Bugsy Malone Sycamore class were treated to a superb performance of Bugsy Malone at the Sir John Colfox School on Wednesday, The acting, singing, dancing and musicians in the band were absolutely brilliant and the children all thoroughly enjoyed it. It gave our Year 6 children a nice insight into opportunities that will be available to them and it was so lovely to see so many ex - Symondsbury pupils performing and continuing to shine in all areas. Thank you so much to Colfox for inviting us, and we look forward to the next one!

Friday 28 March 2025 Daffodil Picking This morning Acorn and Seedling Class went on their traditional Daffodil picking walk.

Friday 28 March 2025 Newsletter 26 28th March 2025

Friday 28 March 2025 Yanamamo

Friday 28 March 2025 Oak Class getting to grips with equivalent fractions

Wednesday 26 March 2025 Mindful Digital Collective Final Session Session Five: Final Showcase with Special Guests

Wednesday 26 March 2025 Seedlings - Library Visit Seedlings had a lovely afternoon at the libarary.

Tuesday 25 March 2025 Oak Class - DT - Roman Catapults

Monday 24 March 2025 Learning about our Kenyan friends at Gitare School We were thrilled to welcome Jane to Symondsbuy who had delivered all of our letters and our Big Book about Symondsbury to our Kenyan friends in Gitare School.

Friday 21 March 2025 Newsletter 25 21st March 2025

Thursday 20 March 2025 Seedlings Easter Gardens Seedling Class made Easter Gardens this week with support from children in Sycamore Class. It was lovely seeing the children working together to create their beautiful gardens. A big thank you to Groves who supplied the trays, compost and plants.

Wednesday 19 March 2025 Symondsbury Reads We love our reading here at Symondsbury!

Wednesday 19 March 2025 Mindful Digital Collective - Week 4 This week's session focused on why screens are so addictive and why it can be difficult to put them down.

Friday 14 March 2025 Acorns Art: Sculpture

Friday 14 March 2025 Newsletter 24 14th March 2025

Thursday 13 March 2025 Oak Class - Residential to Hooke Court

Wednesday 12 March 2025 Mindful Digital Collective Club - Week 3 We kicked things off with the basics—explaining what AI actually is and stands for.

Wednesday 12 March 2025 Sycamore Washingpool Trip As part of our Geography unit on climate change and sustainability, Sycamore Class visited Washingpool Farm. We had a brilliant day learning about sustainable farming and the impact of climate change on agriculture. We made smoothies using our own kinetic power, cooked using seasonal produce and looked at the food miles of different produce available in the Washingpool farm shop. This really helped us reflect on how we can have a positive impact on the world simply by paying more consideration to the food we eat and where it comes from.

Friday 7 March 2025 Inspirational visitors Key Stage 2 have been so lucky to have talks from two inspirational speakers this term to help us learn more and prepare for our upcoming Yanamamo performance. Last week, we had a talk from Joshua Castellino - an expert in minority rights and law. Joshua talked to us about his work for Minority Rights Group and his role in safeguarding the future of indigenous people and the land they call home.

Friday 7 March 2025 Celebrating World Book Day Together

Friday 7 March 2025 Newsletter 23 7th March 2025

Friday 7 March 2025 Oak Class - Celebrating World Book Day Celebrating World Book Day in our PJ's with our hats. We had a lovely day with the hat parade, House book quiz and story time.

Friday 7 March 2025 Football Coaching in all classes

Wednesday 5 March 2025 Seedlings - Superstrikers Seedlings had their second football session this week.

Tuesday 4 March 2025 Mindful Digital Detective Club - week 2

Sunday 2 March 2025 Oak Class at the Dance Festival On Friday 28th February, we went to Freshwater to perform in the annual Dance Festival. We performed the Daily Dance, showing how important daily physical activity is to us. We gained a certificate for being the 'Most Energetic'.

Friday 28 February 2025 Seedlings and Acorns Visit Bridport Arts Centre to see The Three Little PIgs Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin....! We were delighted to visit Bridport Arts Centre to see a Stuff & Nonsense Theatre Company production of The Three Little Pigs. We thoroughly enjoyed this joyful retelling of a classic tale which involved raucous puppets, physical comedy and much audience participation! Thank you to the Bridport Arts Centre for the kind invite, for the Friends of Symondsbury School for sponsoring our bus journey and to our lovely parent volunteers for helping us facilitate this trip.

Friday 28 February 2025 Newsletter 22 28th February 2025

Wednesday 26 February 2025 Oak Class 'Now Press Play' Online Safety Adventure! As part of our work on keeping safe online, children in Oak Class took part in a 'Now Press Play' adventure. Using the immersive headphones, the children experienced a scenario that helped them reflect on keeping safe online. Well done everyone!

Tuesday 25 February 2025 Mindful Digital Collective Club - Week 1

Friday 14 February 2025 Acorns Fab Finish Spring 1 We had a fun day reflecting on our learning in this half term. This included being environmental superheroes and reusing our classroom waste in our art projects and started experimenting with joining using split pins to make our recycled creations move. We were pondering on what might happen if our school banned paper. The children came up with very creative solutions to replace books, paper - even toilet paper! We also wrote kenning poems to reflect on our learning about vertebrates and put the structure of eggs to test by standing on them. To our great relief, nobody got eggy socks!

Friday 14 February 2025 Sycamore Class art

Friday 14 February 2025 Newsletter 21 14th February 2025

Friday 14 February 2025 Sycamore Class Fab Finish Sycamore Class shared their learning this term with a class assembly today. Our friends and family came along to celebrate our hard work and learn about the amazing legacy of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. We sang protest songs and displayed our activist artwork to demonstrate how our actions can make a positive change in the world.

Friday 14 February 2025 Oak Class - RE - Belonging & Friendship This week, we have finished our work learning about Sikhism. Our final lesson was based on creating a gift for our friends to show belonging. We made friendship bracelets for each other. We all loved this unique gift made with love from our friends.

Sunday 9 February 2025 Art in Oak Class In art, we have been exploring the concept of 'Telling stories through drawing and making'. Over the past few sessions, we have taken inspiration from Quentin Blake's images of Roald Dahl's characters. We have chosen our favourite characters, and today, we made them out of clay. Next week we will be painting them. Keep tuned!

Friday 7 February 2025 Seedlings - Lunar New Year As part of our 'Around the World' theme this half term, we have spent some time learning about how Lunar New Year is celebrated around the world.

Friday 7 February 2025 Maths in Acorn Class in Acorns class we enjoy hands on Maths learning! We like to explore problem solving tasks and get creative with a range of Maths manipulatives which help us understand the mathematical structures behind representations. Sometimes we even write and draw on tables....Shhh! Don't tell Mrs Roberts!

Friday 7 February 2025 Newsletter 20 7th February 2025

Tuesday 4 February 2025 Letters to Kenya! The children have been busy writing letter to our link school in Kenya. We have created a book to share all that we do at Symondsbury with the children at Gitare School in Kenya and look forward to getting some replies to our questions very soon.

Friday 31 January 2025 Acorns Class scientists! Acorns like to be scientists and experiment, make predictions and test their hypothesis. we like to wonder why and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the human body, materials and their properties as well as animals. We also observe the changes taking place in nature during the different seasons.

Friday 31 January 2025 Newsletter 19 31st January 2025

Friday 24 January 2025 Newsletter 18 24th January 2025

Friday 24 January 2025 KS2 Cricket Coaching

Thursday 23 January 2025 Seedlings - Forest School Seedlings were so excited to take their first visit to the Forest School site at Coppett Hill.

Tuesday 21 January 2025 Seedlings - Scarf Workshop Seedlings had a brilliant Scarf Workshop with Jane today.

Tuesday 21 January 2025 Oak Class - SCARF Workshop

Monday 20 January 2025 Acorns Forest School 20th January 2025-

Friday 17 January 2025 Newsletter 17 17th January 2025

Friday 17 January 2025 Oak Class - PHSE - Visit from PC Alex

Friday 17 January 2025 Oak Class - Maths Week

Monday 13 January 2025 Maths Week Launch at Symondsbury Today saw the start of our Maths Week at school with lots of exciting mathematical activities planned in each class from code busting to cooking, measuring to multiplying and competing in the TTRockstars Battle of the Bands!

Friday 10 January 2025 Newsletter 16 10th January 2025

Thursday 9 January 2025 Oak Class - Tea Tasting

Wednesday 8 January 2025 Acorns walk into town to visit the Bridport Library

Friday 20 December 2024 Baubles to Celebrate Brilliance!

Friday 20 December 2024 Newsletter 15 20th December 2024

Thursday 19 December 2024 Christingle 2024

Wednesday 18 December 2024 Seedlings Christmas Yesterday Seedlings performed their Christmas Nativity 'Doris the Donkey'.

Monday 16 December 2024 Christmas Countdown in Sycamore Class Sycamore Class are loving the Christmas Countdown! Today, we had a book and PJs day in school. Dressed up in our cosiest outfits, we shared book recommendations and read our favourite stories in front of a crackling fire. We can't wait to find out what the countdown has in store for us next!

Friday 13 December 2024 Newsletter 14 13th December 2024

Friday 13 December 2024 Our Christmas Countdown Continues

Friday 13 December 2024 A message from our Choir at Christmas

Friday 13 December 2024 Our Performance of Rocking Around Christmas is now available!

Friday 13 December 2024 Oak Class Sewing Christmas Decorations

Wednesday 11 December 2024 Oak Class are Podcasters! As part of our Science Day, Oak Class became podcasters as they used their ICT skills to make audio recordings of their podcasts discussing the mystery of 'Who stole the mince pies'.

Wednesday 11 December 2024 Science Day There has been a whole lot of drama at school today!

Friday 6 December 2024 Christmas Production 2024 The children of Symondsbury School did themselves proud once again as they performed their Christmas production of ‘Rocking Around Christmas’. They sang so beautifully, danced gracefully and acted brilliantly but above all they had an absolute ball! You could see from their faces that they loved performing together and there were individuals that absolutely shone like the stars we know they are! A very special THANKYOU to all of the staff who were busy choreographing, prop making and practicing these past few weeks and for giving the children such a special memory! Of course – I cannot fail to mention our ‘Director Extraordinaire!’ Miss Prentice who not only did an amazing job but also kept the energy and enthusiasm going for them all which was a joy to see!

Friday 6 December 2024 Newsletter 13 6th December 2024

Friday 6 December 2024 Our Christmas Calendar Countdown has Begun! The children have been super excited this week as we began our countdown to Christmas calendar! This week we have: • Had a day of kindness to spread joy • Enjoyed chocolate day and taken home a chocolate lolly • Brightened up school and Eype Church with their woolly hat day • Performed brilliantly in Christmas Production Day • Relaxed with friends on Movie day with some tasty treats

Thursday 5 December 2024 Choir Singing at Christmas Cheer 2024 A huge well done and thank you to all of the children and families that came to sing at Bucky Doo Square as part of the Bridport Christmas Cheer last evening. There were such positive comments from everyone and it certainly brought a smile to everyone's faces as you brought Christmas Cheer to everyone!

Wednesday 4 December 2024 Acorns - Author Zoom - Nicola Colton

Wednesday 4 December 2024 3rd December - Seedlings Forest School

Monday 2 December 2024 Christmas Tree Festival Representatives from each class have been to the decorate our tree at The Christmas Tree Festival today, in Bridport United Church.

Monday 2 December 2024 Oak Class - Dance for Christmas! This week we have been practicing our dance for next weeks Christmas Production!

Friday 29 November 2024 Newsletter 12 29th November 2024

Wednesday 27 November 2024 Acorn Class Fab Finish: What was it like to be a World War II Evacuee? Acorns class enjoyed sharing their learning on World War II Evacuees with friends and families during our Fab Finish! We came up dressed in 1940s style and set up a living museum in the classroom. We had studied a range of historical sources to help us understand the past, such as objects, documents, photographs, audio and video recordings as well as an actual primary source interview with a pupil's great grandfather who was a WW II evacuee!

Tuesday 26 November 2024 Fabulous Football at the Kenway Cup What absolute superstars our Sycamore footballers were this week. They showed amazing skills on the pitch, played 6 brilliant games and scored some super goals. But the thing that shone most of all was the children's resilience and team spirit. They showed great sportsmanship and kindness to each other and all the other schools! We were very proud. Thank you to Lee for all your help coaching and inspiring them.

Friday 22 November 2024 Newsletter 11 22nd November 2024

Friday 22 November 2024 Oak Class in the snow

Friday 22 November 2024 Oak Class - Forest School Year 4’s at Forest School. This week they have been busy making Christmas decorations for our tree that will be at the Bridport Christmas Tree Festival. Every child will be making something to go on our tree. The theme is a Natural Christmas. ??

Thursday 21 November 2024 A Snowy Surprise in Symondsbury A snowy surprise this morning at Symondsbury! The children were very excited and for some children, it was their first experience of snow! We built snowmen, made snow angels and threw snowballs followed up by a warming hot chocolate and a biscuit!

Monday 18 November 2024 A special message for our poetry club from... Michael Rosen!

Sunday 17 November 2024 Oak Class 11th-15th November

Friday 15 November 2024 Newsletter 10 15th November 2024

Thursday 14 November 2024 Class 2 Acorns: What was it like to be a WW II Evacuee? We discovered an old suitcase full of historical sources. We became historians and worked out that these were items that belonged to children in 1939. These children were being evacuated from our capital city of London and sent to the countryside to be safe. We are so eager to explore historical sources - including a video interview with a WWII evacuee - to learn more and to empathise with those whose lives have been impacted in this way.

Friday 8 November 2024 Remembrance 2024 We burst with pride today at how wonderful the children of Symondsbury School were as they marked this very important time of remembrance. They spoke so beautifully and sang while they shared their learning and acts of remembrance. We held our 2 minute silence and have shared displays of some our work at the Church ready for Remembrance Sunday. Thank you to those of you who were able to join us and well done to all involved.

Friday 8 November 2024 Newsletter 9 8th November 2024

Wednesday 6 November 2024 Class 2 Acorns: Science Exploration We have been learning about the human body and have thoroughly enjoyed being curious scientists! We've learned about the different parts that make our body, pondered on which one might be the most important and why as well as explored our five senses! We have also been observing the changes that are taking place in nature as seasons change and have been creating some nature art, collected pumpkin seeds and planted some bulbs.

Wednesday 6 November 2024 Press Release - Sycamore STOP PRESS! We are excited to be launching our very own school newspaper club. Year 5/6 are journalists and editors in training perfecting their writing, editing and photographic skills. The Community Chronicle will be issued half termly and you can expect to be treated to articles on current affairs, travel, positive news and our local community. There will be exclusive interviews with staff, children and locals as well as reviews of local products, places and events. Stay tuned for our First Festive edition.

Tuesday 5 November 2024 Oak Class Brilliant Beginning - What's Under Our Feet?

Sunday 27 October 2024 Friends' Pumpkin Trail Fun ????What a wonderful time we all had on Sunday at our Colmers Hill Pumpkin Trail ?? & Costume Competition ??‍???? event. Thank you to everyone who came and supported this fundraiser and a huge thanks to Coppet Hill for sponsoring our event, as well as a big thanks to Washingpool Farm for providing the pumpkins. Finally a massive thanks to Tina, Hayden and Nicholas Follett for the massive effort they go to every year hiding the pumpkins on the hill - not easy, especially when they have to contend with hungry sheep!We raised over £500 which is such a great start to our fundraising this year.Congratulations to Huxley for winning the costume competition, what an incredible creation, there were so many fantastic costumes that made us all smile! And well done to lucky Leila whose name got drawn out of the bag for the finishing the pumpkin trial.

Friday 25 October 2024 Harvest Festival 2024

Friday 25 October 2024 Newsletter 8 25th October 2024

Wednesday 23 October 2024 Acorns Class Fab Finish: Astronaut Experience Day 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 .... BLAST OFF! Class 2 Acorns had a wonderful day reflecting on their learning on How is our Planet Earth Part of Something Bigger? We have been scientists, geographers, historians and artists in our quest to answer this big question. During our Fab Finish we enjoyed building space rockets, creating constellations, sculpting moon craters, sampling astronaut food, creating space poetry and immersing ourselves in a Now Press Play-experience of what it might have been like to be Neil Armstrong! We had a brilliant day!

Wednesday 23 October 2024 Seedlings - Harvest Week We have had such a busy week celebrating Harvest.

Sunday 20 October 2024 Oak Class - Stone Age - Fabulous Finish Friday 18th October

Friday 18 October 2024 Newsletter 7 18th October 2024

Thursday 17 October 2024 Oak Class - Spear head making

Thursday 17 October 2024 Oak Class and the Dogs Trust

Thursday 17 October 2024 Oak and Sycamore Class enjoy an Author Talk

Thursday 17 October 2024 Oak Class (C3) - Now Press Play - Stone Age Adventure

Wednesday 16 October 2024 Acorns Class visit Washingpool Farm Acorns had a lovely time visiting Washingpool Farm to learn about farming, food production and seasonal changes to animals and crops. We made some pumpkin soup, collected freshly laid eggs and met a day-old calf!

Tuesday 15 October 2024 Seedlings - Morrisons Bakery Visit

Friday 11 October 2024 Newsletter 6 11th October 2024

Friday 11 October 2024 Oak Class (C3) visit Washingpool Farm What a great day we had, despite the torrential rain at times. We learned all about farming, and we will apply this knowledge to our Stone Age topic in the coming days. We also learned about what foods to grow in season and how the hedgerow can help us with our food production. It was a very wet and muddy day. But this did not stop us from having a great day.

Wednesday 9 October 2024 Seedlings Forest School We love getting out and about.

Sunday 6 October 2024 Colmers Hill Run 2024

Friday 4 October 2024 Oak Class - We are authors!

Friday 4 October 2024 Sycamore Class - Peer Mediation Training We were very proud of our year 5 and 6 pupils who learnt how to be peer mediators this week. They will be able to support pupils on the playground to talk through disagreements. They showed real maturity, responsibility and demonstrated all of our 6 Rs perfectly.

Friday 4 October 2024 Newsletter 5 4th October 2024

Wednesday 2 October 2024 Class 1 - Apple Crumbles Class 1 have made good use of the apples growing in our school field by making apple crumbles!

Tuesday 1 October 2024 Our Harmony Principle Artwork As part of our work around our curriculum, we have created art work to illustrate our Harmony Principles. Children from our Sycamore Class designed each collage with photos and did a beautiful job!

Monday 30 September 2024 Our Kindness Week Collective Worship To begin our Kindness Week we showed how unkind words can stick to our hearts - using toothpaste! Then we tried to take them back and put them back in the toothpaste tube.

Friday 27 September 2024 Congratulations to our House Captains The children have voted for their house captains who are going to do a great job this year. They have lots of ideas about how they can be great role models from welcoming children on the gate to handing out certificates in celebration assembly. Congratulations all!

Friday 27 September 2024 Newsletter 4 27th September 2024

Friday 27 September 2024 Year 4's PE and Stoneage Art

Friday 20 September 2024 Newsletter 2 13th September 2024

Wednesday 18 September 2024 Class 2 visit the Space Dome We were thrilled to visit the Space Dome as part of our How is our Earth part of something bigger?-unit of learning which combines science, geography and history. We were excited to learn about the mysteries of our solar system and were mesmerised by the myth of Orion and his dog, Sirius. Visiting the Space Dome truly was a brilliant beginning to our learning!

Wednesday 18 September 2024 Class 3 - Year 3 Cave Painting

Wednesday 11 September 2024 Class 2: This is Us! Class 2 have enjoyed exploring our value of Reflection through water colour self-portraits.

Friday 6 September 2024 Newsletter 1 6th September 2024

Thursday 5 September 2024 Welcome back to school Symondsbury! Welcome back to a new school year! It is great to see everyone. We are looking forward to all the exciting learning opportunities and experiences this year.

Friday 19 July 2024 Newsletter 38 19th July 2024

Thursday 18 July 2024 Our Creative Harmony Curriculum Comes to Life! Over the past two years, staff at Symondsbury School have been busy developing an exciting, creative, nature based curriculum that works alongside our school vision of ‘You, Me, Us and Everyone – We are a school that believe we have the power to change the world’. The golden thread of ‘Legacy’ runs through our curriculum which provides the children with rich and varied learning, encourages them to ask enquiring questions and develops the knowledge and skills that they need for the future. This week the children have been busy with Mrs Edney as they have created art work to represent their learning journey at Symondsbury School. The finished product will be revealed in September as we embed our curriculum and continue to build on it but here are a few pieces that the children created.

Tuesday 16 July 2024 Class 4 Love the Verge - WINNERS At the start of the year, we wrote letters to the council about the importance of supporting bees by creating habitats for them. Using land on verges and roundabouts and wasteland. We had a reply from the councillor that we wrote to, Giles Nicholson, and he sent in his Greenspaces team to talk to us in late May. As part of the visit, the team asked the children to create a poster about supporting bees. We created our visions, and they were judged by the Greenspace team. Today the results were announced. Congratulations to Rosa, Erin and Violet! Katie Dawes, Senior Communications Officer at Dorset Council, said ‘We are planning on displaying all the posters in the reception area of County Hall in August (5th to 17th).’ Thanks again to all the children for their fantastic entries, we were all very impressed with their creative skills and enthusiasm for wildlife-friendly practices. Kind regards, Katie

Tuesday 16 July 2024 Class 3 visit Class 1! Class 3 have been working hard writing, redrafting, illustrating and publishing their own picture books based on Flotsam. Today, we shared our finished stories with Class 1 who were a fantastic audience!

Friday 12 July 2024 Class 2: Teamwork Reward Day Class 2 have been showing all our 6Rs over the past term and received a Reward Day to celebrate their hard work and effort! We had the Great Class 2 Bake Off, some fun small world activities, artists' workshops, clay modelling, a pop up library, tie-dye tshirt making and plenty of time on the field playing and exploring with friends. Class 2, we are so proud of you all!

Friday 12 July 2024 Newsletter 37 12th July 2024

Friday 12 July 2024 Class 4's End-of-Year Production of The Wizard of Oz

Wednesday 10 July 2024 Bridport Mayor Visits Symondsbury School We had the pleasure of welcoming our new Bridport Mayor, Anne Rickards came along with Ian Bark and our fabulous Dorset Bee beekeepers, Helen, Alison, Gareth and Nicole as we were celebrating Bridport’s Bee Friendly status. Children from Class 2 and 3 demonstrating their learning about bumblebees and beekeeping and wowed everyone with their knowledge.

Friday 5 July 2024 Class 2: Exploring Abstract Art inspired by Rothko We have enjoyed exploring Rothko's abstract art and have been experimenting using colour and composition to express emotion. We were very focussed and thoughtful in our expression and have enjoyed reflecting on each other's work in class.

Friday 5 July 2024 Newsletter 36 5th July 2024

Thursday 4 July 2024 Class 3 Fab Finish at Forest School Children in Class 3 invited their families along to the forest for their fab finish and they had an opportunity to see what they have been up to!

Wednesday 3 July 2024 Class 4 Wizard of Rehearsals

Monday 1 July 2024 Forest School - Cave Baby It was our final session in the woods this year and we got creative with the natural resources.

Friday 28 June 2024 Class 2 Sports Week Class 2 had so much fun skipping, learning Quidditch, playing fun relay games, buzzying about pollinating flowers in a Bumblebee-game and taking part in all the fun activities on Sports Day! We wish every week was Sports Week!

Friday 28 June 2024 Sports Week and Sports Day 24 On Friday was sports day, following a fun-packed week of events including a skipping challenge, Quidditch, Marathon for KS2, house assault watercourse this morning and finally the team challenges at Symene Field. We have had a great final day of sports week with the traditional sports day activities. The children have worked hard and all had a great time. Thank you to the friends for the refreshments and to all the parents who came, spectated, and joined in with the parent race.

Friday 28 June 2024 Newsletter 35 28th June 2024

Wednesday 26 June 2024 Sports Week KS2 Marathon - Wednesday 26th June It was amazing to see so many of the KS2 children participating in this year’s marathon, nearly 40 children ran the course on a warm but beautiful morning. With the support of Shaun Dixon, being our fly runner and the parent marshals Cat Taylor, Becky Burden, Helen Bolter-Griffin, Phillipa Evans – thank you - the children made it round at what seemed like a rather fast pace. From the look of the children at the end, we can defiantly see that every single one of them put in 100%.

Tuesday 25 June 2024 Class 4 Quidditch A great day has been had across the school today play and learning Quidditch. This fast moving game, with links to dodgeball and tag-rugby, was exciting and very competitive. Such fun.

Monday 24 June 2024 Class 1 - Skip2B Fit Class 1 had great fun in their skipping session today. Skipping can be tricky but David had some great tips to get us started... elbows in , hands out, rope behind, over and JUMP!

Monday 24 June 2024 Class 3 Skip 2bFit Workshop Sports Week started off with a bang today with a brilliant skipping workshop! We were all amazed by how much hard work it was to keep skipping for just 2 minutes and lots of us have been inspired to give it a go at home.

Monday 24 June 2024 Class 3 Bee Club Class 3 have been so lucky to take part in Bee Club this term. We have been fascinated by our visits to the apiary and learnt so much about these amazing creatures. Last week, we got to experience seeing a swarm of bees finding a new home. Armed only with a swan's feather and a lot of patience, we carefully moved the swarm into a new hive.

Friday 21 June 2024 Class 1 - Trip to Axe Valley Wildlife Park Class 1 had a fantastic time at Axe Valley Wildlife Park today. We had an animal handling session where we held some millipedes, a tortoise, a bearded dragon and a snake! The children were so brave and very gentle and careful with these special creatures. We learnt about where they live in the wild and what they like to eat. We had some important jobs to do in the park. We fed the meerkats and went guinea pig fishing.

Friday 21 June 2024 May Day 2024

Friday 21 June 2024 Class 4 Rehearing for the Wizard of Oz

Friday 21 June 2024 Newsletter 34 21st June 2024

Tuesday 18 June 2024 RSHE workshop for parents Thank you to those who attended our Relationships, Sex and Health Education workshop as part of our annual consultation. Please see our website for more information.

Friday 14 June 2024 Class 4 Carey Camp 2024 What a week we have had. We spent Monday – Wednesday at Carey Camp. The weather was dry with some sun, but the temperatures were not always kind to us, especially at night. On night two, we wore all our clothes, but we had the best time. Over the course of the three days, we did: orienteering, blindfold trail, climbing, tunnelling, river walk and experiments, low ropes course, shelter building, played manhunt and find the teacher and archery. A great way to end our year together.

Friday 14 June 2024 Class 2 Visit Kingcombe Class 2 were excited to visit Kingcombe Visitor Centre for a fun day learning about insects and amphibians in their habitat. We learned so much and are very grateful to Dorset Wildlife Trust for this amazing opportunity!

Friday 14 June 2024 Newsletter 33 14th June 2024

Wednesday 12 June 2024 Class 1 Forest School We would love to share some of the photos from the last few weeks of Forest School so you can see what we have been upto.

Friday 7 June 2024 We Day 2024 Once again the children of Symondsbury School took part in our very own We Day celebrations and were joined by children from other schools - Broadwindsor Primary School, Sticklands Primary School and Parret & Axe Primary School.

Friday 7 June 2024 Newsletter 32 7th June 2024 /docs/Newsletters/Newsletter_32_2024.pdf

Tuesday 4 June 2024 Class 4 - Kwik-Cricket Tournament

Friday 24 May 2024 Bee Friendly Bridport! Bridport is officially a Bee Friendly Town! We've been celebrating this fantastic achievement in Class 3 as the children have been enjoying learning more about these fascinating creatures as part of Bee Club.

Friday 24 May 2024 Class 4 Talking bees with Dorset Council

Friday 24 May 2024 Newsletter 31 24th May 2024

Wednesday 22 May 2024 Class 2 Visit Lyme Regis Fossil Museum We were thrilled to visit Lyme Regis for some fossil hunting on the beach, followed by a tour of the museum to learn about the Mesozoic era, fossils and Mary Anning's pioneering work. We had a brilliant day learning and discovering prehistoric treasures!

Tuesday 21 May 2024 Writing Workshop with Author Liz Flanagan Today, we joined many other schools across the country with a workshop with the author Liz Flanagan. It was an inspirational workshop, where we were encouraged to plan out our own story with Liz’s expert support. We were so enthused with the workshop we then spent the rest of the morning writing our stories.

Monday 20 May 2024 World Bee Day: Creating Pollinator Friendly Habitats Class 2 have been creating pollinator friendly habitats around the school to help these ecosystem superheroes. We've planted pollinator friendly flowers, built homes for solitary bees and are in the process of creating a pollinator meadow in our wildlife area! We are excited to learn about these amazing creatures and are very grateful to Dorset Bee for all their guidance and support!

Monday 20 May 2024 Class 4 Music Concert at Bridport Arts Centre The children in Class 4 enjoyed a morning of music today as they took part in a music concert organised by the Dorset Music Hub. The children enjoyed a wide variety of music including string, percussion and folk and even enjoyed some songs from Colfox's recent production of 'We Will Rock You'. And of course, the children joined in with their own opportunity to sing with other local schools.

Friday 17 May 2024 Year 5 Biography Writing Year 5 Biography Writing While the Year 6’s were busy with their SATs test this week, the Year 5’s went into Class 1 to create a biography for the reception children. They spent time talking to their chosen person and then made a book all about them. The Year 5’s had a great time working with the Reception children and they loved having a book all about them. Great work Year 5’s.

Friday 17 May 2024 Newsletter 30 17th May 2024

Friday 17 May 2024 SATs are finished And that’s it! SAT’s is over!We have eaten our way through 68 bacon rolls and cupcakes!We could not be prouder of this lot! Their attitude. Their resilience. They have taken the past 4 days in their stride! No matter the result (in July) we know they did their very best! They have done themselves proud!

Thursday 16 May 2024 Class 1 Trip to Washingpool Farm Our highlight last week has to be our trip to Washingpool Farm. It was a non stop day and we were so lucky the sun was shining. We had some important jobs to do. First, we fed the chickens and turkeys and collected the eggs. It was really interesting to spot how many different colours and sizes there were. The pigs were next on the list, we fed them some vegetables and learnt about how they use mud as sun cream and why they have flat noses. The cows were very interested in us and let us sit quietly and watch them through the gate. We noticed their cloven hooves, their ear tags and talked about what food comes from cows. In the afternoon we were able to have a dig in the field and see how good the soil is. The more worms you find, the better the soil is for growing... we found lots of worms! We visited the poly tunnels and saw lots of seedlings growing, almost ready to plant out in the field. We also planted some of our own seeds to take home. What a busy day!

Wednesday 15 May 2024 Class 2: Geometry and pattern in nature Class 2 have been sharing their beautiful beach treasures and exploring the contents of Beaminster Museum fossil loan box as part of our Why is our Jurassic Coast so special-topic inquiry. The children enjoyed drawing detailed pictures of their chosen treasure, noticing the intricate geometrical pattern in the ammonites, shells, starfish and other precious objects. We are so proud of their focus, creativity and attention to detail!

Monday 13 May 2024 Class 3 Portland Residential Class 3 had such a fantastic time out in the sunshine for our residential trip to Portland Outdoor Centre. We kayaked, stand up paddle boarded, built rafts, made fires and foraged for edible sea weed. A brilliant couple of days!

Friday 10 May 2024 Keep the Date for SYMFEST 2024! 21st June.

Thursday 9 May 2024 Class 3 Head Out On Their Portland Adventure! Class 3 embarked on their exciting Portland adventure today and we can't wait to hear all about it!

Friday 3 May 2024 Class 1 Forest School Class 1 have made so much progress in Forest School this year, learning new skills, problem solving, collaborating and building resilience as well as having LOTS of fun! We are so lucky to have our very special Forest School Site at Coppet Hill

Friday 3 May 2024 May Day Celebrations We celebrated May Day as the sun finally began to shine and crowned our May Day King and Queen. The children danced a number of traditional dances and Class 4 even attempted (and achieved) the double plait! Fantastic job by all and a huge thank you to Ms Wakefield for teaching the children in all classes a dance to perform!

Wednesday 1 May 2024 RNLI Water Safety Visit As we live so close to the sea and the harbour, it is so important for our children to learn about keeping themselves safe. A huge thanks to the RNLI lifeguards who came into school to share some very important and wise words on how to keep safe near the water.

Wednesday 1 May 2024 We Day 2024 - Keep the Date - Friday 7th June It won't be long before we are celebrating We Day 2024 and will have a brand new logo... We invite families to join us at this special event where we share our work that makes the world a better place!

Tuesday 30 April 2024 Class 3 Trip to Bridport Museum Class 3 enjoyed a trip to the Bridport Museum where they all had the opportunity to learn about and make their very own piece of rope! They enjoyed exploring the museum and finding clues to help with their quizzes. A huge thank you to the lovely volunteers at the museum for having us.

Wednesday 27 March 2024 Class 2 Fab Finish! Class 2 enjoyed sharing all of their learning with families as part of their art gallery fab finish! Everyone was so impressed with their work and commented on what a talented class of artists we have! A huge thank you to Ms Lepisto and Mrs Edney for being such wonderful role models for the children! Wow!

Sunday 24 March 2024 Class 3 go Beekeeping Class 3, once again, have the opportunity to be beekeepers in our very own apiary. Working along Helen, Gareth and our other beekeeping friends from The Dorset Bee, children donned their suits and spent some time getting to find out all about the bees. They learnt about the different types of bees and the jobs that do which demonstrates one of our Harmony Principles of interdependence. 'You, Me, Us and Everyone' - we all have a part to the play. The children had the opportunity to hold a frame and were 'buzzing' about their experience!

Thursday 21 March 2024 The Magic Flute Children from our Symondsbury School Choir worked in collaboration with other local schools to perform a version of The Magic Flute. This is the second opera that Symondsbury have performed and the emotions and enjoyment were palpable as they sang together. Directed by Matt Kingston, the children also had the opportunity to work with an orchestra and a professional opera singer. It was a wonderful experience for all.

Thursday 7 March 2024 World Book Day 2024! We all had a great day celebrating World Book Day yesterday. The story spoons were fantastic! We are so proud of how much thought and effort the children went to, to create their favourite characters. We had lots of fun trying to work out who our 'Masked Readers' were, and many thanks to those who filmed a reading for us! The staff loved being able to share their favourite stories with the children too. We hope everyone enjoys the books they bring home.

Friday 1 March 2024 Nautical Day! We have had a wonderful morning sailing the high seas on our new boat in search of fish! We used a drama approach called ‘Mantle Of The Expert’ where the children experienced a brief trip to sea, experienced some very wet waves, cast a net for some fishing but unfortunately only caught plastic and a cryptic plea for help! The children then went on to talk about how we can prevent plastic entering the sea and following the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ message that we used as part of our ‘Plastic Free School’ status – just one of our 100 ways to change the world. In 2 weeks’ time we will be taking part in the ‘Big Plastic Count’ to help us reduce plastics in the sea.

Symondsbury Church of England VA Primary School

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