The school newspaper, written for the pupils, by the pupils
TheButtsbury
Bulletin
Buttsbury Junior School, Billericay
Autumn 2013
Year 5’s got
talent!
Year 5 have been truly getting
into the Christmas spirit.
Throughout the last month, year
5 have been learning carols and
preparing for their very own
carol concert. The concert told
the story of the first Christmas
through readings, carols and
Year 3’s
mime. Each class also wrote ‘Christmas Pickle!’
prayers, which were included in By Scarlett Morine
the performance.
‘Outstanding’, ‘Absolutely Fantastic’ and
A highlight of the carol concert ‘Brilliant!’ are some of the comments
was definitely the singing, made by an overwhelming number of
which was spectacular. Even parents, pupils AND teachers who have
some of the parents joined in!
been lucky enough to watch the Year 3
Whilst everybody put in 100% Christmas Performance – in fact, people
effort- a very special mention are still talking about it now, well over a
has to go to Katie McGowan, week later!
who stepped into the role of the The entirely original story and subse‘Star’ a few minutes before the quent script (along with the invention of
performance to the school! She characters etc) was carefully (and lovdid an absolutely fantastic job.
ingly!) put together by Mrs Coughtrey.
Thank you to Mrs Robinson and
all the year 5 staff for putting
the concert together. Thank you
also to all of our parents who
helped learning lines and supplying costumes. Thank you
again and MERRY
CHRISTMAS.
She originally began working on the concept way back in the Summer time, way
before the rest of us were even thinking
about Christmas……!
There were two performances of A
Christmas Pickle: the matinee on Tuesday 10th December at 1.45pm and the
evening performance on
Wednesday 11th December at 7pm.
There was an array of colourful characters, some ‘good’, some ‘evil’, from the
unlucky (but loveable) Pickles, to the
‘Moshi Monkeys’, the ‘Robin Robots’
and the ‘Rockin’ Elf Dancers.’ Special
mention must be made to the two
‘Captain Hooks’ (played by Nathan
Harle and Thomas Aris) and both Pickles
(Beau Sullivan and Caitlin Gale) – they
were all superb and showed such confidence on stage. I think it is fair to say
that everyone was extremely impressed
at the number of lines, songs and dances
that ALL the children had learned (and
remembered!) – each and every child
had their own part to play, whether it was
reciting lines, singing, dancing, or working behind the scenes. It was very noticeable how happy and enthusiastic the
children were; they didn’t seem intimidated at ALL by the jam-packed hall of
excited parents and relatives!
I am sure you will join me in congratulating the Year 3 staff and all their amazing
Year 3 children, for a spectacular Christmas performance – it was definitely one
to remember!!
Buttsbury Junior School, Norsey View Drive, Billericay CM11 0RX Telephone 01277 623217
Email: [email protected] Website : www.buttsbury-jun.essex.sch.uk/
Year 3 Build Cathedral
By Katelyn Aksyonov
Where does our water
come from? Yr 5 find out..
By Jake Michaels
Why are Year 3’s rebuilding Chelmsford
On 17th & 18th October Year 5 went to
Cathedral? Read on to find out…
At the beginning of October, the Year 3 Abberton Reservoir as they are learning
pupils went to visit Chelmsford Cathedral about the water cycle.
to find out more about Christianity.
We were taken to see the water works
Chelmsford Cathedral welcomes pupils
around Essex. Their aim is to make the where we were also
Cathedral welcoming to young people as a given life jackets to proliving and spiritual Christian place of Wor- tect ourselves in case we
ship. Here is what happened on the year
fell in the deep water
3’s visit…
pools!
When the pupils arrived in Chelmsford and
entered the cathedral, they were offered lots First stop was to smell
of interesting information about it. The the water. Every half an
pupils were told how Chelmsford Cathedral
hour somebody has to smell the water
was the smallest cathedral in England yet
contained the biggest bell.
Then, they to make sure that it is fresh and clean.
were overwhelmed by the sound of the or- The water is boiled to make the smell
gan filling the cathedral hall.
more distinctive and is checked to make
Later, they left the Cathedral and headed to sure that no oil or other substance has
the
learning
center
where got into it. If they can smell something
they made mini
3D cathedrals that is ‘not right’, they stop the process
out of paper. to clean the water and fix any problems.
They
also
We were then taken to see a rapid gravdressed up in
clothes that a ity filter which removes any large items
bishop would (e.g. sewage) from the water as it
usually wear passes through large stones.
including a Mitre (hat).
Next is the gravity
After eating lunch, the chilfilter where water very
dren returned to the catheslowly trickles through
dral and learned about stain
-glass windows and the
sand in a big tank. This
Tree of Life. Next, they
removes tiny particles in
saw a special window that
the water. The tank takes
had a picture sketched into
three and a half hours to fill up and 9
it by knives.
Following that, they climbed the bell tower hours for the filtering process to be
to see the mini bell room that contained all complete. If the water is not completely
the little bells, and the main bell room. To clean, the process is started again. This
finish the day, Mrs Harrington chose two
children, Lewis and Natalie, to walk down filter is half the size of a football pitch.
the aisle holding lit candles and placing
them on the altar.
Overall, year 3 had a wonderful time.
Natalie Aksyonov, 3M said, “My favourite
part was seeing the bell tower and looking
at the stain-glass windows and I got to hold
a candle.”
Thanks to all the
teachers
and
parent helpers
who took part
on the trip.
Page 2
our homes and our school.
During World War II the English were
afraid that the Germans would land
their planes in the water where the water works now stands so they placed
mines under the water which would
explode if the planes landed there.
Somehow the Germans found out about
this and the threat of the
mines was enough to
stop them trying to land
there. After the war the
mines were removed and
the water works were
built. The last mine to
be removed is now on
display at the reservoir which was very
interesting to see. Luckily it has now
been deactivated!
Later we walked around the park where
we had to answer questions about bugs
that live there. We also carried out an
experiment to see if we could clean water by filtering it using natural products
found in the reservoir. We were given
a separate top and bottom of a plastic
bottle and had to fill the top
with things like grass,
leaves, twigs and stones.
We then poured dirty water
into the top. The task was
virtually impossible without being able to use
something fine like gravel or sand. Our
guide showed us how it was done by
using sand and cotton wool as a filter.
The highlight of the day was pond dipping where we used fishing nets to find
out what lives at the bottom of the
The water then goes into a massive tank
pond. We found sea snail eggs, beetles
and one drop of chlorine is added to
and water boatmen.
remove any remaining germs. This
clean water is then sent to our homes We also got to see African Giant Snails
and is safe to drink. Abberton Reservoir in the visitor centre and we got to visit
provides water to Billericay including the shop to buy a souvenir of a great
day out.
Meet the News Team
Jack Hammond, Katelyn Aksyonov, Scarlett Morine, Thomas Henderson, Adam
Groves, Ben Humphrey, George Purkiss, Jake Michaels, Jamie Sullivan, Jenna
Clark and Louise Fail. Co-ordinated by Mrs C Coughtrey and our newest member
of the team, Miss S Carroll.
Macbeth Shakes Year Six Up!
Shakespeare wrote three types of plays Tragedy (a play
where a lot of people die and it is a bit gloomy), RoBy Jack Hammond
mance (a play about love) and Comedy (a play which is
On Monday 7th of October a Shakespeare company funny). It is also known that William Shakespeare wrote
came to Buttsbury Junior School to perform to us a play poems as well.
written by William Shakespeare, called Macbeth.
The actors were using old English
The performance was very interesting and was fun to so another actress was translating
watch and it was amazing how there were only 5 actors what the performers were actually
but they played about twelve characters! The play was saying. Everyone loved the play
about three witches who predict the future for a man but most people's favourite part
called Macbeth and Macbeth does crazy things so the was at the end when there was a slow motion battle over
prediction can become true.
the throne. The actors made the play creative as they didI interviewed two fellow students, Henry Trump and n't have any props so you would have to picture where
Caitlin Jones, who both agreed that
the play was set and at one point
it was really fascinating because the
you would have to imagine how
actors were using old English lansomeone died.
guage. Also everybody got to join
Everyone had an amazing day when
in and play a character. The play
the Shakespeare Company came to
was a tragedy written by William
play!
Shakespeare in 1603. It turns out
Year 6 takes Shelter
By Thomas Henderson
On Friday 18th October Year 6 took a
trip back in time to World War 2.
First and foremost we needed to make
sure that we dressed the
part! Boy
oh boy we sure did,
even the teachers and
other adults on the trip
looked like they had
travelled back in
time!
Throughout the
day, we experienced just what it
was like to be an evacuee. We were
taken to see a Morrison shelter (which
is a cage like indoor shelter, made of
steel), a 1940’s school room and house
and the weapons museum.
The 1940’s school room looked quite
different to our class rooms. The walls
had no decorations and we sat in rows
instead of around tables. The 1940’s
house gave us a good idea of what it
was like to live during the war. Everything inside looked very basic. Some of
us had a go at washing clothes on the
wash boards as washing machines hadn’t been invented yet. What surprised
us most was the fact that all the toys
were wooden and they didn’t even
have batteries.
In the
weapons
museum
we learned
that Lincolnsfield
was a place
where American
spies camped.
The museum had lots of interesting
things like spy tools, uniforms, food
and weapons. We were even able to
hold a gun and wear a very heavy
backpack.
I’m sure that Year 6 would agree that
experiencing the Blitz was the most
extraordinary part.
We heard
the air-raid
siren go off
and were
escorted to
a brick shelter. Then a man talked to us
about the different types of bombs.
The only way they knew how to defuse
the bombs was through trial and error.
After it was clear, we went to have a
look at another shelter, known as the
Underground. It has saved thousands of
lives and down there you couldn’t even
hear the bombs.
So as you have heard, we had a very
interesting day at the Lincolnsfield centre and now have a greater insight into
how
difficult
it was
to live
during
the war.
Page 3
It’s Another Harvest Festival
Christmas Bazaar
By Adam Groves
By George Purkiss
th
On Friday 4 October 2013 Buttsbury
went to Christ church for our annual Harvest Festival.
After walking to Christ church, we saw
our mums, dads and other family members and friends who had come to celebrate with us.
Mrs. Robinson opened the service with a speech about the harvest and about Reverend Maxwell of Kenya who knows Ciamanda Primary School with which we have a connection. Poems were then read by some of the classes. After that we sang
the songs “Harvest Samba” and “It’s Another Harvest Festival” (My favourite). Year 6 sang a song from Oliver called
‘Food glorious food’ which was very catchy. Then children
offered some of the food that the school had collected over the
past week. Which would be sent to Basildon Community Resource Centre. Mrs Robinson announced that it was the most
food that had been donated in recent years so well done everybody! Finally Reverend Pigeon sang and Reverend Maxwell
gave a speech about how much he liked England and would
come back again if he could.
On the table at the front there were many breads which were
shaped by a local bakery to look like animals including: a rabbit, a hedgehog and a crocodile. How clever is that!?
Dressing Gown for Children In Need
By Ben Humphreys
Mrs Robinson in Pyjamas??? So
much for teachers have to dress
smartly for school!
Everyone had a great week in November as the school became a buzz
with fundraising for Children in
Need. It all began with a vast quantity of CAKE! All the year groups
brought in cakes and they were sold
throughout the week at playtime.
The cakes were amazing and all had
Page 4
Before the Christmas Bazaar, a competition took place
between the year groups. In this competition, the year
groups brought gifts to school that had to be a specific
colour. Year 3 had red, Year 4 - green, Year 5 - silver
and Year 6 had gold. As predicted by other year
groups - Year 3 won! Mrs Sherwood said,
“We were thrilled when we found out we won; we
worked really hard and the children brought in so
many gifts.”
At the event, there were lots of fun games to entertain
everyone. There were raffles, tombolas, books and
toys for sale, and the grand prize draw! Nathaniel
Eade, 6C was the lucky winner of the 1st prize. The
school choir welcomed visitors warmly with a programme of festive songs!
Everyone enjoyed the event, and it was a great success.
We do not know what the Year 3s have won but we do
know that the Friends Association (BJSFA) raised over
£4000 which will be used to develop a new library for
the school. Thank you to the BJSFA and to all our
helpers and visitors that contributed to the day.
a Pudsey Bear
or Children in
Need theme.
In addition to
this there were
also raffles and
other competitions being held in the ICT suite at
lunchtime.
On Friday we had a grand finale
with a pyjama day. There were lots
of different pyjamas, the most
popular, that I saw, was definitely
Monkey Onesies. There were also
tigers, sharks, monsters and Max
Dempsie’s famous Sully (from
Monsters Inc.). All the teachers
made a good effort, I would give
Mr Redmill the award for the funniest as he was wearing a BATMAN
onesie. It was very strange seeing
all the teachers in their pyjamas. A
Huge thank you to Mrs Robinson,
Miss Kilby and the school council
for organising such an awesome
week. The school has always had a
very good history of raising money
but this year we excelled ourselves
and raised a massive £1435.67!
Buttsbury succeed in
Cross Country
By Jamie Sullivan and Adam Groves
On the 14th of December, Miss
Marshall and Miss Harris took
our cross country teams to William de Ferrers School to compete against 7 other schools in
the William de Ferrers Junior
Schools X-Country event.
The vast majority of us were
very nervous (and maybe a bit
excited) at the start, but we all
had red rosy cheeks from exhaustion and tiredness at the
end. Everybody ran their hearts
out and tried their best in their
races and the end result was that
Buttsbury has qualified as the
overall top school in both the
boys and girls competitions.
This means that we have all
qualified to race again at the Essex County Finals at Hylands
Park in March 2014.
Dodging to Glory
By Jamie Sullivan
On the 17th December the
dodgeball team went to
Broomfield School in Wickford
for the partnership final. Only
one team could qualify to go to
the next round.
We played three matches to
get to the final, beating teams
like Runwell & St Mary’s without losing a match which was
very impressive! We then met
These were
scores:
the
Saying hello to the new teachers at
Buttsbury!
individual
Eloise McGowan 1st Year 3
Eva Hills 3
rd
Year 3
Rowan Elliot 1st Year 4
Matthew Harvey 2nd Year 4
Finn Wilkes 3rd Year 4
Ariyanna McGee 1st Year 5
Jamie Sullivan 1st Year 5
We want to say a huge thank
you to Miss Marshall and Miss
Harris, as without their fantastic
training and encouragement we
would not have done as well as
we did.
By Louise Fail and Jenna
Clark
On the 29th of November
we interviewed two new
faces to the school we
discovered their differences, their past life and
how they became teachers. Read on to find out more.
The newcomers are Miss Miller and Miss Unite, they
arrived here at the school at the start of the new year.
This is what they had to say.
Our questions will be in green; Miss Unite: pink;
Miss Miller: blue.
Hello Miss Unite/Miller, we would like to interview
you about how you became a wonderful teacher.
Don’t worry it won’t be too long and it won’t be too
scary, let’s get started.
When you were young what job did you want to do
and why?
I wanted to be a vet when I was younger.
I wanted to become a professional ballet dancer because when I was little I did ballet.
South Green in the semi-final
which was really tough but we
managed to win 3-0. The final
was against Wickford, the team
was determined to do well and
we came through winning each
session to claim the gold medal.
Buttsbury have now qualified
for the finals in January 2014, a
great team effort!
Was there anyone or anything that inspired you to do
this?
Because of the TV show animal hospital.
My ballet teacher inspired me.
Do you think you have fitted well into the school?
I hope so!
Yes, I feel like I have because I know my class and
the whole school treats me with respect.
Did you and Miss Unite/Miller work and train together, if so where?
Sadly we didn’t.
No, but I trained in Billericay.
A big THANK YOU to Mrs
Marshall & Mike from Winger
Sports for all their help in get- How do you cope with all the hard work that you are
ting the team through.
doing?
Personally, I have chocolate and tea!
When I have had a busy day/week I spend time with
my family and play with my dog to relax!
Thank you very much, we hope you have a nice
rest of the year at the school and a Merry ChristPage 5
mas!
Mr Slater –
No
No--one Greater
By Scarlett Morine
A few weeks ago, staff and pupils were sad to hear the announcement that, after many (probably more than he would
like us to mention!) years of dedicated teaching at Buttsbury,
Mr Slater had made the decision to retire at the end of this
year. Although it IS sad news, it has meant that lots of pupils
(and teachers) have been sharing and reminiscing about their
own ‘Mr Slater stories’ – it is absolutely amazing just HOW
many stories and funny memories there are; it is therefore
only right that some of these be shared with everyone…..
A couple of secret, investigative reporters set to work on asking pupils and staff what their funniest or most enjoyable
memory of Mr Slater would be – here are just a few of the
things we found out about Mr Slater:‘He speaks French (a lot!) to everyone’
‘He entertains everyone with really funny stories about what
Isla, his grand-daughter, has said or done – it’s really funny’
A Baker’s Dozen
By Scarlett Morine
As some of you will know, Mrs Baker is going to be joining
a new school, in Ipswich, next year; you will ALL definitely
know that this is really sad news for Buttsbury, but wonderful news for her lucky new school. When we found out
that she was leaving, we decided to ask people what they
would remember most about Mrs Baker – all we kept hearing were an unbelievable number of different synonyms for ‘lovely’, so we thought it
would be fun to share just ‘13’ of the super
things we were told (there were way more
than that!) :1. ‘She is just so lovely – really kind’
2. ‘Really ever so patient’
3. ‘Really understanding – she makes
you feel like you can tell her anything’
4. ‘Fun – she really makes us laugh sometimes’
5. ‘She is just a really lovely, happy person – so I would
have to say ‘happy’
6. ‘Generous’ – ‘she used to let us have lots of free play
if we deserved it’
7. ‘Fair’ – ‘she always used to make the right decision’
8. ‘Helpful’ – ‘if you really needed her to explain something or help you with something you were worried
about, you knew you could go to her and she
would always listen’
‘He is the only teacher that has ever demonstrated the power
of ‘force’ by actually going up onto the school roof!’
‘Many, many years ago, he used to take enthusiastic pupils,
after Gardening Club, out to the car park and show them inside the bonnet of his car and they would all spend ages talking about the engine parts……!’
‘He is most definitely the only teacher that has ever demonstrated ‘fractions’ with the help of a chainsaw……’
‘He has endless funny stories – he used to talk about ‘Mr
Tumble’ a lot – he is absolutely hilarious’
All the above quotes are literally just a fraction (Oooo
where’s my chainsaw?) of the comments that children and
teachers have made about Mr Slater; he has left an unbelievable number of funny, happy memories with people and he
will most definitely be missed!!
We all wish Mr Slater a healthy and happy retirement; we
hope he doesn’t ever change and there is just one thing left to
say... See you later, Mr Slater!
9. ‘Kind’ – ‘Mrs Baker would give us sweets sometimes!
10. ‘Caring’ – ‘she made you feel like you could go to
her with a problem and she would sort it out’
11. ‘Gentle’ – ‘she is strict when you think she should
be, but for the rest of the time she is really gentle’
12. ‘Friendly’ – ‘she says ‘hello’ and is friendly to you,
even when you are not in her class anymore’
13. ‘Gullible’ – this last one needs a bit of explaining……. We found out a funny story about
how there once was a trip to Abberton Reservoir; Mrs Jacobs had been on the same trip the
day before and she had told Mrs Baker that
there was a fabulous Costa Coffee there and
she definitely should go there …….so when it
was HER class trip the next day, Mrs Baker
was really looking forward to a lovely coffee
and spent a lot of time looking it and asking
lots and lots of people where it was …….it turned
out there WAS no Costa Coffee………poor Mrs
Baker (and naughty Mrs Jacobs!)
Mrs Baker – we hope you enjoy reading about the wonderful memories that you have given all the staff and pupils at
Buttsbury – we literally had an unbelievably long list of wonderful things that people said about you, but we had to cut
it down into a sensible sized article (Mrs Coughtrey is very
strict and scary with her editing as you know!).
We all wish you lots of luck and happiness at your new
school !!