We practised many American Football skills and had a fabulous time meeting the Chicago Bears yesterday (not to mention appearing on local TV).

What a lovely event! We had a great time with everyone cheering on each other as a team and lots of points being scored.

All the kids came away with medals and we have certificates for assembly on Friday.

We had a wonderful time yesterday at the girls’ football tournament at St Neots. We knew how well all our girls played but we were especially proud that the organisers presented Amy with a special award for self-belief. She was a star in goal; her percentage of saves was incredible.

Some children from Year 2 represented Thorndown at the Multi-skills tournament at One Leisure this week. The children had a chance to visit 6 stations and they tried a range of sports. They participated in cricket, tennis, football, throwing target practise, running games and a teamwork game. It was well organised event and the children really enjoyed themselves. The Sports Leaders from St Ivo were superb and it was lovely to see some old Thorndown pupils in this role.

Thorndown has achieved an Artsmark Gold Award!

We are delighted to inform you that your setting has been awarded an Artsmark Gold Award. Congratulations!

Your Statement of Commitment and Statement of Impact have been assessed and we’re pleased to share this feedback from our assessors with you:

‘You clearly have a strong, long-term commitment to arts and culture which is having measurable effects on staff, pupils and community engagement. Your commitment to measuring the impact of your arts work is laudable. It is rare to hear a school talk about evaluation mechanisms in the Statement of Commitment (the learning from your last journey!), and this has clearly stood you in good stead for this journey and will for the next one.

All pupils can access an established range of arts and cultural provision through work with local arts and cultural organisations, both in school and on visits outside the classroom, leading to effective showcasing opportunities. There is SLT and Governor support, the Arts feature strongly in the SIP, and there is delivery of Arts Award Discover.

The work with the Fitzwilliam and ensuing work sounds great. During the pandemic, the Arts have continued for wellbeing. Your partnerships with arts organisations are clearly working, so it would have been good to hear more detail about the concrete impact these are having on curriculum development, teaching and learning. 

The development of your music curriculum is a really good example of your working practices. Your Arts Ambassadors sound like they have real voice and choice within their learning, and this reach extends across the school.  Your child-led pupils voice work, or your commitment to evaluating your approach could be good aspects to share. Congratulations, and it sounds like you have a clear plan to explore on your next journey.’

Congratulations on your Artsmark Gold Award!

Our allotment is starting to produce the beginnings of its annual crops. Strawberries have been the first to be harvested and the children have been eating them at lunchtime as part of the fruit platter offered. Delicious!

Thank you as always to our caretaker, Mr Barnard, and his wife for the work and watering you do over the weekends and evenings. We’ve been very busy in the garden. We were really
fortunate to have some plants donated by Waitrose. The lovely lady called Emma then came to visit. She was excited to see the garden and she was put to good use, planting some seeds! The pond area is alive with insects, newts and flowers. It’s always exciting to spot a newt! This year we have decided to plant a bee friendly bed. It’s so important to attract pollinators. This bed will develop over the coming years.

At one end of bed three, the eagle-eyed ones amongst you may have spotted a sweet pea
wigwam. Come and sit in the middle, very carefully, and be immersed in the beautiful scent of the flowers! We are growing lots of different vegetables from the large orange pumpkins to beetroot, lettuce and potatoes. There’s nothing better than to empty a potato bag into the wheelbarrow to then discover the jewels within. We continue to welcome children
from Yr3 to Yr6 to come and enjoy this beautiful space and learn a little about the fantastic world in which we live.

Mrs Mills

Finley, Summer, Theo and Toby had the exciting job of unpacking loads of new books purchased using the Bounce for Books fundraising money! We really enjoyed unboxing and stamping them before placing them on the shelves in The Discovery Suite. Although this was a long task, it was really rewarding and we enjoyed getting the first glimpse of some marvellous new books. Theo, who stamped the Year 3 books, said, “The books looked very interesting and I think the Year 3s will really enjoy them.”

“I wish I could be back in Year 4 to read these marvellous books.” (Toby)

“The books look amazing!” (Summer)

“I am amazed how brilliant the books look and I’m looking forward to reading many of them.”

We want to say a huge thank you to all the teachers who took the time to choose these wonderful books for us to read, but the biggest thank you goes to all of the people who fundraised and raised this incredible amount of money!

Theo, Summer, Finley and Toby (Year 6)

May 4^th 2022 – Young Voices Trip: 

When we arrived at the O2, we went into the arena and it was amazing! At around 3pm, we practised all the songs including the medleys. We sang: Fortuna, Lion King Medley, Sing From Your Heart, Mambo Italiano, Lovely Day, The Living Years, The Beatles Medley, The Muppets Medley, Power In Me and The Pop Medley. After the practice, we had a break and the main event started at 7pm.

At the beginning of the show, there was a blackout. During the blackout, everyone shone their torch, then the music began. We had lots of lovely guests! The first were The Urban Striders who helped us with our actions and then did a couple dances by themselves. Then a lovely singer called Ru – she came to the O2 in 2007 – she sang two amazing songs. The Beatbox Collectives were next. They were amazing at beat boxing and they could make some amazing sounds; there was one girl who sang two songs and we joined in with this. It was an amazing event and we are very thankful Mrs Peach, Mrs Farrington and the other adults who took us all!

We were delighted to welcome back the golf coach from St Ives Golf Club to work with Thorndown children. He will be taking sessions with all Year 3 classes over the next few weeks.

Georgina from Pelicans wrote the following:

I think that ballet has really helped people to relax and even when they are still learning. I believe that some boys and girls thought they wouldn’t enjoy it but Jack proved it wasn’t a feminine activity when he showed us a brilliant dance.