Dear Parents,
As our half term comes to an end today, it is hard to believe that we are approaching the final half term of this year when we return. Time flies!
This week it has been wonderful to see so many fantastic opportunities for the children taking place both inside and outside the school.
Forms 1, 2, 3 and 4 thoroughly enjoyed their trips to the Southend Planetarium today and yesterday. This linked superbly with our Summer term topic of Space, the children explored the solar system, stars and planets. The children behaved impeccably and they asked many thoughtful questions. It really did spark their enthusiasm which is lovely to see.
On Wednesday, our children represented Maldon Court at the ISA Athletics competition in Southend. The children competed with enthusiasm, giving their very best in all of the events. Their support for one another was exemplary. Thank you to the parents who gave up their time to help with our children, it is much appreciated.
Also on Wednesday we were treated to an amazing Form 5 assembly. Children, staff, parents and grandparents watched a super recall of their time at Fellowship Afloat. We certainly have some budding actors in that class! It was lovely to see how much they enjoyed their residential stay and also to find out their favourite things such as sailing, high ropes, archery, the Fellowship challenges and most importantly – the cakes! The children spoke and performed with confidence and it was most certainly a hit with everyone. Well done, Form 5.
Our Reception children had a day trip to Abberton too. They had a fantastic time which included pond dipping, mini beast hunting and wildlife spotting. More information further on in the newsletter.
This afternoon, our KS2 children took part in our fantastic annual Swimming Gala held at Witham. I was so impressed with all of the children who showed great sportsmanship and determination to do their very best throughout. It was great fun to end with a children versus teachers relay and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Results of the Gala will be announced at Prizegiving.
Welcome to Elowyn who started Nursery last week with her sister Inara. I would also like to congratulate Owen in Nursery who’s family have welcomed a baby sister Lydia.
Finally, I would like to wish you all a very happy half term holiday. Thank you for all of your support and enjoy the sunshine!
Mrs Mason
Headteacher
STARS OF THE WEEK
Happy Birthday to Lennie, Harrison HW, Joshua C, George Y, Rose G, Miss Broadbridge, Mrs Harvey, Mrs Summers, Mrs Abrehart, Mrs Norton and Mrs Dickinson
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Happy Birthday to Lennie, Harrison HW, Joshua C, George Y, Rose G, Miss Broadbridge, Mrs Harvey, Mrs Summers, Mrs Abrehart, Mrs Norton and Mrs Dickinson ~~~
Nursery
Nursery have been very interested in our focused planet this week, which was Mercury. We had lots of discussions about how it is a small planet that is very hot during the day and very cold at night. This linked well to our Makaton signs of the week, which were hot and cold. In the role play area, the children sorted coloured objects into red and blue groups to represent hot and cold, they did very well with this activity.
This half term, the children also worked on a longer piece of homework. During Week 1 they created a planet, in Week 2 they added the Moon and in Week 3 they added stars. We were very impressed with their creations and they look wonderful displayed on our wall for everyone to see. Alongside this, Nursery have also enjoyed using the coloured hoops for physical time, pretending they are rockets!
Mrs Callaghan
PRE-RECEPTION
This week in Pre-Reception we have been looking at the force gravity, to link with this the children enjoyed a float or sink experiment, testing a variety of objects, predicting first then putting them into the water to see if they would float or sink.
Mrs Kennedy and Miss Hansell
RECEPTION
Reception had a wonderful trip to Abberton Reservoir on Monday. Last half term, we learnt about minibeasts and it was fantastic revisiting this topic on our special trip. We had a great time searching high and low for minibeasts. We found them under rocks, in bug hotels, in the trees and under stones. We also searched for minibeasts in the water. We took some pond dipping equipment to the pond and carefully used the nets to scoop the creatures out of the water. We checked the identification sheets to check what we had found. We all had a brilliant day!
Mrs S Clark
FORMS 1 and 2 - Numeracy Day
Forms 1 and 2 had a fantastic Space themed Maths morning for National Numeracy Day! Our carousel of activities included:
Making paper rockets, reinforcing our mathematical language around fractions. We then measured how far they flew in centimetres. We used ordinal language to discuss our positions.
We used 3D shapes to make rockets, recalling shape names and discussing their properties.
We answered sums to ‘level up’ and land on the moon to practise our mental arithmetic on addition, subtraction and multiplication.
Using special space pictures, we made repeating patterns thinking about the position as well for extra challenge.
What a fantastic morning of consolidating maths topics, using our space theme and having lots of fun!
Miss Vaughan and Mrs Caldow
FORMs 3 and 4
Form 3 and 4 had a wonderfully creative afternoon of junk modelling this week! The children were challenged to use their imagination, and lots of recycled materials, to create something space themed. By the end of the session, we had satellites, telescopes, UFO’s and even an alien! Well done Form 3 and 4.
Mrs Baron and Miss Oxford
Forms 3 and 4 - School Trip
Forms 3 and 4 had a fabulous trip to Southend Planetarium and Central Museum this week. We had a live planetarium talk inside a starry dome, where we learnt about the planets in our solar system, the sun and even some of the mythology behind the constellations. Our expert presenter was very impressed by the children’s knowledge and their curiosity to find out more! We then had the opportunity to explore the museum space, which was a trove of interesting artefacts. Well done Forms 3 and 4- what a fabulous, informative day.
Mrs Baron and Miss Oxford
Form 5
Form 5 found it fascinating to learn about constellations. They were amazed to discover that there are over 80 different constellations in the night sky and next time we will be exploring some of the stories and myths behind them in more detail. Using pictures as inspiration, the children enjoyed creating their own constellations with marshmallows and cocktail sticks, showing great creativity and teamwork throughout the activity.
Mrs Dickinson
Form 5 - Numeracy Day
For Maths Day, Form 5 put a huge amount of thought and effort into planning exciting activities for Nursery and Pre-Reception. They created a range of imaginative and engaging ideas and were fantastic in their roles as “teachers,” carefully explaining each activity and ensuring the younger children listened and understood the tasks.
They demonstrated excellent responsibility, patience, and leadership throughout the day, showing great maturity as they supported and encouraged the younger pupils. It was wonderful to see the children learning and having so much fun together. Form 5 enjoyed the experience so much that they have already asked if they can teach more maths lessons in the future!
Mrs Dickinson and Mrs Knight
MONDAY
Chicken meatballs with fusilli pasta in a homemade tomato and basil sauce served with garlic bread and salad
Yoghurt or fruit
TUESDAY
Roast chicken breast served with gravy, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, broccoli and carrots
Lemon drizzle slice or fruit
WEDNESDAY
Mild chilli con carne served with braised rice, peas and sweetcorn
Peach and chocolate chip crumble with custard
THURSDAY
Chicken burger in a crusty roll served with chips and salad
Ice cream tub or fruit
FRIDAY
Harry Ramsden fish fillet served with potato wedges and peas
Chocolate shortcake or fruit
Sports Timetable
dates for your diary
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Half Term
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Children return to school
Clubs resume
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Form 6 - Crucial Crew
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Grandparents’ Day
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Summer Safety Assembly
Form 6 - Cyber bullying talk
ISA National Qualifiers - Birmingham
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Form 5 - 11+ Mock Examination
District Sports - Gt Totham
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FOMCS Father’s Day pop up Shop
Form 2 Class Assembly
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Reception - Fathers Day Morning
FOMCS - Fathers Day Pop up Shop