Amberley School

In the UK and Ireland World Book Day was on Thursday 7th March and as always it was celebrated with gusto at Amberley Primary School. Numerous studies have shown that instilling a love of reading in a child is top of the list of factors that help them with educational success and prepares them for adult life in today’s society. World Book Day Ltd is a small, registered charity which aims to encourage the love of reading and book ownership amongst children.

Pirates, ghosts, wizards, superheroes and villains were just a few of the characters who enjoyed a Heroes and Villains themed World Book Day at Amberley School.

The pupils and staff at Amberley School were visited by local author Jo Baxter who has written a series of children’s mystery books.  Jo launched the day reading the opening pages from her book ‘Viola Pumpernickel and the Emerald Lady’ an exciting debut which has been described as “Agatha Christie meets Enid Blyton”. Together with her older brother, Teddy, her best friend, Flo, and the mysterious Emerald Lady, Viola uncovers a plot far more dangerous than anyone could ever have imagined in this exciting Victorian mystery. As you might well imagine the children were spellbound!

Having trained as an actress, Jo had written three stage plays before realising her passion for writing children’s book. Jo explained to the children why she decided to become an author and what her job entails.

The children then spent the morning creating hero and villain character profiles and writing plots for their characters.  The older pupils attended an ‘Intrigue and Mystery’ workshop where they learnt how to write stories in this genre whilst the very youngest children created zig zag adventure books telling stories of their superheroes. In the afternoon the children decorated hero and villain masks and made capes and the day closed with the oldest children sharing and reading books with the youngest.

This was a super day enjoyed by all.  ‘I absolutely love reading books! World Book Day is my favourite day at school.  I could not get to sleep last because I was actually quivering with excitement!’ said Elsie, a Year 6 pupil. Tom in Year 2 said, ‘I really like to dress up for World Book Day! It’s great seeing all my favourite characters at school all on the same day!’

We love World Book Day at Amberley Primary. Not only does it help encourage children to read but it allows them to act out fantasies inspired by characters in books. As we all know one of the great joys of reading a book is that everyone has a slightly different view of what the characters look like.

Ray Jackson, Chair of Governors

Find out more at www.amberley.w-sussex.sch.uk

Arundel C of E Primary

Cross Country Success

ACE qualified for both the Southern Area Finals for Cross Country and Indoor Athletics for a record four years in a row again this academic year. The Southern Area Finals for cross country is for both state and private schools and we were one of only eight out of a potential 75 schools who made it to the finals. All of the children tried really hard and ran well; special congratulations to Emily in Year 6 who ran her heart out and came third overall. This is an amazing achievement, not only to come third, but because of her impressive fighting attitude and steely determination to do her best for herself and her school team. However, this was not the only significant thing Emily  did; one of our runners who wasn’t at all well on the day, ran because she was determined not to let her teammates down. She never gave up, even though due to her illness she was not able to run to her normal ability. When Emily – who was in the winner enclosure – saw this she ran as fast as she could to run beside her friend and teammate and support her over the line. Both girls truly represented all that our school stands for, not only in never giving up and trying your hardest, but in believing in loving your neighbour and one for all and all for one!

Our Reception children in Rainbow Class had the opportunity recently to visit St Nicholas’ Church.

It was an incredible trip and the children were absolutely brilliant. Father Andrew was outstanding in the way he shared the love of Jesus and showed the children some of the beautiful aspects of the church. On return to school the children completed work linked to the church by constructing their very own stained glassed windows based on the ones on the western window at St Nicholas’ Church.

The children in Rainbow Class again illustrated their exemplary attitude towards learning and worked incredibly hard as a team. Thank you to the members of the congregation of St Nicholas’ church, to Fiona in the office and to Father Andrew for making us feel so welcome.

www.arundelchurchofenglandschool.org.uk