Dear Parents,

On Sunday our Head Girl, Zoe and Head Boy, Lucas, represented the school at the Remembrance Day Service in Maldon. They carried out the laying of the wreath and reading of the Kohima Epitaph with reverence and respect. It was lovely to see former pupil, Arthur, representing the Sea Cadets in the procession.

On Remembrance Day the whole school paid their respects in the school hall by marking the 2 minutes silence at 11 o’clock.

On Wednesday', children from Forms 5 & 6 represented the school at cross country and in spite of the wet weather, the children demonstrated determination and sportsmanship. More can be found later in this edition of the newsletter.

On Friday, the whole school donned their Pudsey ears in support of Children in Need. The money raised by this worthwhile cause goes to fund dedicated people who help children in every part of the UK, when and where it’s needed most.

Finally, on Monday we will be celebrating ‘Odd Sock Day’. This day marks the official start of Anti-Bullying week and the children will be taking part in a variety of activities, with this year’s theme being ‘Break the Silence’. So remember to wear your odd socks!

Mrs E Clark

Acting Headteacher

Happy Birthday to Florence, Alisha, Joseph C and Aimee

Stars of the week

Nursery

This week in Nursery, we have been focusing on our topic Our Local Community. We have been talking about Maldon and exploring the different places where the children live, including the towns and villages just outside Maldon. The children brought in photos of themselves enjoying different activities and visiting places within their local community, giving us lots of lovely opportunities to talk about all the wonderful places we are lucky to have nearby.

We also spent time talking about our local church, All Saints, which is an important part of our school community. We discussed how we regularly visit the church and use it to host different school events throughout the year.

Our tuff trays were transformed into Maldon and the Prom, while our role play zone became an Italian Restaurant, inspired by Luigi’s, which we know many of our families enjoy visiting!

Alongside this, we have been learning about Remembrance Day and why we wear a poppy. We talked about how the poppy helps us to remember and say thank you to the soldiers and service men and women who have helped to keep us safe, both in the past and today. The children also enjoyed exploring our Poppy Garden and its different activities.

Mrs Callaghan

PRE-RECEPTION

This week in Pre-Reception we have enjoyed engaging in lots of transport themed fun, its been a popular topic!

They have been practising name ordering using the transport letters, looking for each letter in their names and ordering them in sequence to create brilliant pieces of work which will be displayed in the classroom

The children also loved engaging in their traffic survey optional homework and we discussed the results as a group; car was the most popular mode of transport with bicycles being the least common.

Mrs Kennedy and Miss Hansell

RECEPTION

Reception have been learning about The Gingerbread Man this week. On Wednesday, we walked to the shops in the High Street to buy our ingredients. We walked very sensibly and used lovely manners when paying for our items. On Thursday, we measured the ingredients and combined them to make a delicious dough. We used the rolling pins to roll out the dough and cut out some yummy gingerbread shapes. We had lots of fun decorating them in the afternoon and were very excited to eat them at home time.

Mrs S Clark

FORMS 1 and 2

Forms 1 and 2 have been learning about The Gunpowder Plot. We have learnt all about the different religions involved and why Guy Fawkes tried to remove King James I. The children came up with ideas for both sides of the argument and could explain why it was a difficult time for Guy Fawkes. We then created a 'conscience alley' to help Guy Fawkes make up his mind, we had some fantastic discussions!

Miss Vaughan and Mrs Caldow

FORM 2

This week, Form 2 have been testing their problem-solving skills within their maths lessons to try and solve ‘missing number problems’. We love taking on a challenge and enjoyed using the large numbers and symbols to create our very own balanced number sentences. Well done, Form 2 - excellent problem-solving!

Mrs Caldow and Miss Broadbridge

FORMS 2 AND 3 - ENGLISH

Form 2 and Form 3 came together for a fabulously fun English lesson this week. We started our session by discussing the importance of planning our creative writing. We even looked at an example of J.K Rowling’s planning when she was writing Harry Potter. The children were then shown a picture to inspire a piece of writing- they were asked to focus on the five senses as a starting point. The children worked together in small groups to start brainstorming notes for each of the five senses, while also making sure to level up their ideas with effective adjectives and exciting vocabulary. We are looking forward to carrying on this task in our next learning session together. Well done Form 2 and Form 3- it was great to spend time together and learn from each other.

Miss Caldow and Miss Oxford

FORM 3

Form 3 are enjoying their current science topic on Rocks, Soils and Fossils. We spent the last two science lessons thinking about the properties of rocks and how rocks can be classified. In this week’s lesson, the children had a range of rocks and had to carry out three investigations. They needed to identify whether the rocks were hard or soft, if the rocks were permeable or impermeable and whether they were buoyant. Keep up the good work Form 3.

Miss Oxford

FORM 5

Form 5 had a fantastic time visiting Duxford this week. The children enjoyed the opportunity to walk aboard Concorde and listened fascinated as they heard some of the stories and history behind the aircraft, including how ice cream was made on planes during the Second World War.

One of the highlights of the day was watching a Hurricane flying display. The children were wowed by the spectacular loops, sharp turns and impressive manoeuvres!

As always, the children were a real credit to the school, demonstrating impeccable behaviour throughout the trip. The volunteers at Duxford were particularly impressed by their wonderful manners and were keen to pass on their compliments.

A brilliant day of learning, discovery and unforgettable experiences.

Mrs Dickinson

FORM 6

Form 6 have been having fun being creative this year. These are some of the art and design projects that the children have been working on. First of all, the children learned the gridding technique to help them accurately draw an object – in this case a dog. They them learned how to use the same technique to enlarge their drawing. Finally, they collaged Victorian etchings to create the effect of fur on their finished sculptures.

Some of the children joined me for textiles club during the first half term where we worked on: following instructions, cutting out patterns and learned a new sewing stitch (blanket stitch). The final project was an owl cushion which looked amazing.

To support the Healthy Schools Committee in earning their next award, the children attempted making art using found natural materials. We are now being watched in our classroom by a row of leaf owls looking down at us! In the coming weeks we will be brushing up our sewing skills with some cross stitch bookmarks.

Mrs Summers

Form 5/6 Cross Country

We are absolutely thrilled with our Form 5/6 Cross Country Team! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

The children were in action at the Colchester and Blackwater Cross Country event, held at Northern Gateway, and it certainly was cross-country running in its truest form! Cold, wet, muddy conditions and 120 children in each race made for a challenging event.

We were incredibly proud to see the children competing with such determination and displaying true Maldon Court spirit, cheered on by our ever supportive parents!

There were some outstanding results, with Maldon Court taking Gold in the Year 5 Boys' race, while our Year 6 girls secured both Silver and Bronze in their event. These were fantastic achievements, and we were so proud to see the hours of training and practice put in by all our children rewarded.

Our medal winners will now go on to represent the Colchester and Blackwater District at the Regional Cross Country event later in the year.

Well done, Team Maldon Court! Do It With Thy Might.

Mr Coyle and Miss Broadbridge