Many of the children were very excited to produce artwork for a national competition led by the Royal Academy of Arts. Now in its seventh year, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–18 studying in the UK. We have now submitted all the children’s entries online and are hopeful that, when judged by a panel of artists and arts professionals, some pieces may be displayed online and on-site at the Royal Academy of Arts. 

To give parents a chance to see the entries, we held our own exhibition of the children’s artwork in the school hall.  Everyone thought the children had worked really hard on their art work and the exhibition was a huge success.  Some pictures of our exhibition have been displayed above.

Fingers crossed for the entries to the Royal Academy of Arts.

On Thursday 6th March the children and staff celebrated World book Day, dressing up as book characters and having a fun packed day with activities all related to books and the love of reading.

Acorns children in EYFS, enjoyed activities based on stories shared during the day, including ‘The Rainbow Fish’, ‘Supertato’ and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. They creating some beautiful rainbow fish, made some super masks and even invented their own book characters.

Year 1 and 2 pupils in Oaks had a fabulous time focussing on the famous Roald Dahl book ‘The Twits’. Amongst other activities, they sequenced the story and had lots of fun making Mr Twits gruesome beard before making ‘The Twits’ themed book marks and writing book reviews.

Cedars pupils in year 3 and 4 considered book characters who are villains. They made wooden spoon villains then created dioramas with a scene for their character. They also enjoyed designing and making ‘wanted’ posters to describe and capture their villain.

Year 5 and 6 pupils in Maples, wrote their own books and designed bookmarks. They also had their book knowledge tested with a World Book Day quiz! 

As a school, we also collected donations of good quality books for a book sale to raise funds for the Pets As Therapy (PAT) charity who provide us with our Read2Dog who visits school each week. Libby, our Read2Dog, helps our children improve their literacy skills, confidence, interest and enjoyment in reading. She is great listener and everyone looks forward to her visits with her owner!

The spring term at Bow Brickhill CE Primary School got off to a good start with the children eager to discover the new topics they would be learning about.

Children in our early years Acorns class have been discovering new things through a topic called ‘Starry Night’. They have enjoyed learning about night-time, discovering how we sleep best and what animals are active during the night as well as finding out about planets in space. The children have had lots of fun, exploring different art media such as pastels to create space pictures and also using their creative skills to

design and make ‘cuddle pets’ to help them sleep.

Years 1 and 2 in Oaks class have been developing their geographical knowledge and skills in their ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ topic. They have learnt about different features and landmarks of the city of London as well as some of the history behind the famous Great Fire through timelines, role play and artwork.

Pupils in year 3 and year 4 have explored how to reduce our carbon footprint through a topic named ‘Our Planet, Our World’, enjoying a fun and informative visit from Anglian Water Education team as part of this. Their second spring topic, ‘Misty Mountains, Winding River’ has helped them understand the characteristics and

features of rivers and mountain ranges around the world. Topics such as this provide lots of cross curricular opportunities such as in Art, where the children have studied a variety of landscape artists and their different techniques for creating colour and atmosphere before creating their own artwork based on a mountainous landscape. 

Year 5 and 6 pupils topic of ‘Frozen Kingdoms’ has developed the children’s knowledge of the characteristics and features of polar regions, including the North and South Pole and the environmental factors that shape and influence them. The class have investigated the Inuit way of life, including some of their cultural and artistic traditions, exploring the skills of carving, printmaking and painting. The children have also been learning about key polar explorers as well as the sinking of The Titanic, an aspect of the topic that they always find fascinating!

The run up to Christmas was a busy one at Bow Brickhill CE Primary School. Not only did we have our annual Christmas bazaar which was very well attended by pupils and their families but we also enjoyed our EYFS and KS1 pupils’ performance of ‘Prickly Hay’, a fun retelling of the story of the Nativity. The children thoroughly enjoyed performing their songs, dances and lines on stage and were met with enthusiastic applause.

In the last week of term, as is a tradition at our school, we travelled by coach to MK Theatre to watch Peter Pan, followed the next day by our children’s Christmas party and, on the last day of term, our carol service in All Saints Church.

As we enter a new year, it is time to look ahead to future events and learning opportunities. Maples started the term with a polar expedition workshop led by the Scott Polar Institute at the Cambridge Museum which has supported their current Frozen Kingdom topic. Cedars have also welcomed experts from the Anglian Water Education Team who visited the class as part of their Misty Mountain topic, teaching them about the

water cycle, water processing and how we can save water to help our environment.

We are excited for the year ahead and are really looking forward to watching our pupils continue to grow and develop as they continue their journey through our school from EYFS to year 6.