Freshford Primary School Easter Newsletter
March 2016
‘If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear’
Bewitching, magical, mesmerising, wonderfully atmospheric, a
performance worthy of a professional company.
Thus was the Shakeathon production of a Midsummer Night’s Dream at
The Egg Theatre last week.
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But the delights and the passion don’t end here…. we are absolutely
thrilled that the following bid to perform at the RSC in Stratford on
Avon has been successful.
Freshford Primary: A small rural school outside Bath.
Our production is guaranteed to be astounding, vibrant and playfully
deep because as a school we value play - what our children do
outstandingly well is play: as teachers we trust our children to create
great things through play.
Every child from age 8 upwards is working towards performing to the
younger children and the wider community at and in collaboration with
The egg Theatre, Bath.
The children have chosen to start with the forest as the key force for
their storytelling: how they move, the atmosphere they can create as a
company, the soundscapes and how Shakespeare’s words give the
forest direction. Hazelwood coppiced from local woodland, (where the
whole school has spent an entire week learning through play), has
become the structure for the play itself: our wood from outside has
been brought in to be ‘A Wood Outside of Athens’. The children, each
with their piece of hazel, have become a collective director, deep
questions are asked and debates about the words arise because they
are all physically and equally involved.
Every child in the school, not just our ‘company’, is immersed in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream: all our thinking, work, philosophical inquiry
and play are inspired by it. Two years ago, we worked similarly with
The Tempest, with the intention that a lifelong spark for the love of
Shakespeare would be ignited in the imaginations of our community,
but this time around, the power of the last adventure has meant that
the spark is already aglow and the reaction from the children has been
a roaring furnace of passion.
It is this passion we wish to celebrate by performing at the RSC - in
either amazing space – we would relish an ‘improvised’ ten minute
street slot too! An experience at the RSC would be a lasting
touchstone of magic.
Shakespeare is now the soul of a Freshford child’s experience: because
the words, stories and magic of his plays are a doorway to other
worlds; because through the magic of Shakespeare, the children
recognise their own boundless capabilities. Through Shakespeare, they
astound us, they astound themselves.
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Thank you!
We would like to record our thanks to the anonymous donor who generously arranged for
their builder to complete the area around the pizza oven with paving slabs this term … this
has and will continue to make a huge difference to the use of the oven in all weathers.
Similarly to two parents who have kindly arranged for the school to benefit from matched
funding from employers for volunteer time in school.
It goes without saying that we remain indebted to the PTA and the support you as parents offer for
their many and diverse fundraising initiatives.
Congratulations!
Mid-Somerset Festival 2016
Enthusiasm and enjoyment were tangible, with peer support and guidance being offered in
abundance by all the children leading up to the Festival this year. An incredibly high
proportion of children competing in the verse speaking classes is one of the unique and
outstanding aspects of the culture of our school and we have one person to thank for
initiating, nurturing and inspiring our children in this work – Helen Lorraine, who is always
hugely impressed by the level of commitment of the participating children.
Verse Speaking and Creative Writing
Over 50 children took part in each of these classes. Lexi, Sofia and Ned came first in their
respective verse speaking classes, with Ned retaining the Plowman Memorial Cup, Aleksa,
Beth, Minna, Edwin, Joseph and George coming 2nd and Jon and Delilah 3rd in their classes.
Anna Wilson gave some wonderful feedback in the Creative Writing class, with Ted coming
2nd and Minna 3rd for their poetry contributions.
Musical Theatre & Group Acting
India, Sahara, Aleksa and Lexi performed two songs and a scene from Mel Lawman’s
Freckles in the Under 11 Group Musical Theatre category, winning their class. An
astounding performance. The girls also won their class in the Group Acting Under 11,
retaining the Paragon Cup.
Singing
Congratulations to :
 Matilda, who came first in A Song from a Musical and second in My Favourite Song
classes… we would have loved to hear her rendition of ‘Feed the birds’ from Mary
Poppins
 Ellen, Horry and Oscar who were part of Kate Courage’s Under 14 Choir and received
a Commended
Orchestral Day at Monkton Combe School
Acer, Cerys, Eleanor, Evie, Jon and Isabella accompanied Mrs. Joyce to an Orchestra Day at
Monkton Combe School in February, where the children joined 70 children in learning two
pieces of music for an orchestral performance during the afternoon. This was an amazing
opportunity for the children to perform as part of an entire orchestra, and enjoyed by all.
British Schools’ Modern Biathlon Championships – Crystal Palace
Three competitors from school eagerly anticipated these championships, but unfortunately
only one made it to the starting line due to illness. Considering she was one of the youngest
in her age group she did really well and managed to exceed her Personal Best in both
disciplines. Congratulations Alice.
I took part in the British schools modern biathlon championship 2016 on March the 19th
after qualifying at Bath University earlier this year.
I was very nervous at the start as unfortunately Robyn and Frankie were poorly so I was the
only representative from Freshford.
My nerves were quickly forgotten once I dived into the pool and swam my heart out followed
by a run shortly after.
I am so pleased I took part. It was a great experience to swim 50 metres in 40.93 seconds
and run 800 metres in 3 minutes 12 seconds at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
I came 118th overall and it has encouraged me to be more confident in taking part in sport. I
would thoroughly recommend it to anyone thinking of doing it next year.
Swim your heart out and run your socks off in the 2017 British schools modern biathlon
championship! By Alice – Yr. 5
Black Swan Open Arts Exhibition, Frome
Congratulations to Greta whose artistic clay creations ‘The things I like most – guinea pigs,
snow, stories and cakes’ were accepted into the Black Swan Open Arts Exhibition in Frome
in the 8 – 11 category. Only 100 pieces were accepted overall! The exhibition runs until
Saturday 9th April.
Juniors Cross Country
The sun shone on the inaugural Freshford School Cross Country (XC) which took place on
11th February .
Enormous support from so many parents, an inspiring atmosphere, Mark Hughes as a front
runner who really set the pace, infants cheering on the juniors, all helped to really bring the
best out of so many of the children.
First place winners : Yr. 3 – Lucy and Edward, Yr. 4 – Megan and Josh F, Yr. 5 Alice and
Frankie, Yr. 6 Elsie and George
Special thanks to Kate Allenby for her inspiration, foresight, hard work, enthusiasm and
planning of this new fixture in the school’s year.
Infants Sports Relief Fun Run
Inspired by the story of Champa, a young girl in Dhaka who would routinely pick up 6kg of
recycling everyday, and also after watching the KS2 cross country, George and Bythesea
Class put themselves forward for a Sports Relief Mile long fun run on Friday 18th March.
Watched, cheered on and support by junior children, and of course with the amazing
support of Kate Allenby in helping get the course set and dismantled, each child ran, jogged
and walked as far as they could.
Everyone tackled the steep climb up the Tyning and ran a circuitous route, all raising money
for this great cause as they went. We will let you know the final tally of sponsorship money
raised when all monies have been received and counted. Could we please ask that all
outstanding sponsorship forms be returned by the first week of next term. Thank you.
World Book Day – A resounding success!
Catherine Bruton brought her amazing energy and enthusiasm to the beating heart and soul
of Freshford School on World Book Day. Together with authors Fleur Hitchcock and Angie
Morgan, she inspired the children with her deep enjoyment in writing and fuelling the
imaginations of the children. An enormous thanks to all three, and to Catherine in
particular for making this event the huge success it truly was.
Thank you also to our parent body for espousing the event, producing inspirational
costumes, helping their children produce astounding cakes and supporting our visiting
authors.
Thank you for raising £103, which is being donated directly to Otjikondo Primary School in
Africa, to help provide books for their library and classrooms : http://otjikondo.com/
School Meals Terms 5 & 6
The cost of school meals is due to rise by 40p this year. We have decided to phase in this
increase over three terms.
Therefore from April until the end of the current academic year the cost of a school meal
will increase to £2.20.
We have just agreed a new menu with B&NES Catering Services based on children’s
preferences and will be trialling some new high end fish products for Fridays, which is the
most popular lunch day of the week. A copy of this new menu is in children’s book bags this
afternoon.
Parking
Parking around the school seems to be reaching a critical mass due the sheer volume of cars
at the start and close of the day, with more reported incidences of access being blocked for
coaches and residents, including those who live in Sharpstone and use the road along the
Tyning.
Please be aware that should you wish your child/ren to use school transport it is worth
contacting either B&NES or Wiltshire Transport Services to discuss availability and in some
cases cost. There are a few spaces available on all three of the buses which serve our school
at the current time.
B&NES Transport Unit : 01225 394312
Wiltshire Transport : 01225 713311
Residents’ private access road opposite the school entrance
We would draw your attention to the fact that he private road directly opposite the school
entrance is for residents’ access only. Whilst the residents are happy for pedestrians to use
their access road with caution, they are increasingly concerned about some vehicles using
this as a means of bypassing traffic outside the school at the beginning and end of the day.
There has already been one incident of a child narrowly avoiding being hit by a car travelling
at speed down this private road. The residents have spoken to our community police
officers on this subject and have asked us to draw this matter to your attention in order to
alleviate the risk of a potentially serious accident occurring.
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Keep collecting the Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers over Easter
and remember to ask friends and family!