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Buddy Bench

ANNINGTON SHARES GIFT OF FRIENDSHIP WITH PORTON SCHOOL

Friday 26^th March 2021

Children at St Nicholas’ CE VA Primary School in Porton, Wiltshire, are enjoying being back at school this Spring, and the gift of a Buddy Bench from Annington, the company responsible for building the new homes at The Bluebells in nearby Allington, is set to help them settle back into their new routine.

The Buddy Bench is designed to help children to combat loneliness and foster friendships, which will be as important as ever in helping them re-adjust to school after lockdown. Children that are feeling sad or anxious can sit on the bench to signal to others that they need a friend to speak to. Made from sustainably sourced wood, the Buddy Bench is personalised with a hand-engraved message to remind all pupils of the importance of supporting one another:

“We sit, we chat and ask each other questions,

We leave as friends, with all good intentions.”

Mrs Sandy Smith, Headteacher at St Nicholas’ CE VA Primary School, commented: “It’s so important to create a safe and caring environment for children so that they are able to talk about their feelings, especially during such uncertain times. A shy or anxious child may struggle to ask someone else for support, which is why the Buddy Bench is such a vital tool in teaching the children what to do when they feel lonely, and how to act when they see that someone else needs support. We are very grateful to Annington for donating the bench to us.”

Louise Saunders, Sales and Marketing Manager at Annington, adds: “At Annington, we strive to support local communities wherever we can, right down to the very youngest schoolchildren. We are proud to gift the Buddy Bench to St Nicholas’ CE VA Primary School, and we hope that the children will be able to use it to create new friendships and feel more confident for many years to come.”

Toilet Twinning

As a school we decided to support the Toilet Twinning Charity and raise money to buy a toilet block for children less fortunate than ourselves. We collected donations and then planned to hold a non uniform day to complete the collection but sadly the pandemic delayed this for a number of months. But back in the Autumn Term whilst everyone was at school we did go ahead with our plans and due to the generous donations were able to collect in total £231!! You will see that his money has funded four toilet blocks and we are sure these will make a significant difference to those children.

Thank you and well done to everyone who took part.

Father Christmas visits and brings playground toys for each class bubble.

Anti-Bullying Week 2020

The theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2020 was: United Against Bullying. Anti-Bullying Week took place in England from Monday 16th - Friday 20th November. This nationwide event is organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and is intended to raise the awareness of the issue of bullying.

This year we linked our learning to our PSHE Jigsaw theme this term, celebrating differences.

All of the children were involved in discussions about what makes them unique and how to celebrate each others differences.

They all designed and created their own jigsaw piece with pictures and words describing what makes them unique.

'We are all different but we all fit together'

School Council Meeting

The School Council is made up of one representative from each year group (except Reception) across the school and their job is to raise important matters to Mrs Smith, Headteacher on behalf of their classmates.

This is the first meeting of this school year and all our Council members were very prepared with ideas and requests from their peers. Some of these included: altering the play trail rota, new play resources, charity fundraising, creating a wild flower & insect garden, an outside quiet area, yogurts for lunch and a school pet!

As you can see the topics raised are very varied but we are so pleased that every child takes their responsibility so seriously and comes prepared with a list of points to raise. After the meeting children go back to report the details of what was discussed to their classmates and Mrs Smith is busy trying to action as many requests as is possible.

Amazing Virtual PTA School Disco!

Thank you to some of our amazing families for supporting this years Christmas Shoebox Appeal

Remembrance 2020

This year we held our Remembrance Worship outside where Mrs Smith talked about why we hold these services, we also had prayers and played The Last Post whilst observing a two minute silence.

There was also a small service on Sunday 8th November at St Nicholas Church in Porton where a wreath was laid at the War Memorial from the School along with others from the Armed Forces, St Nicholas Church, Parish Council, Porton Memorial Hall and the Scout Groups of Bourne Valley.

On the outer door of the church is a display of tags with messages of Remembrance from our school and also from other members of the community. This is a special display as we have not been able to visit church in the same way this year.

'Thank You' posters from our children to key workers displayed at Tesco, Amesbury

Official Opening of New Classrooms

We were delighted when Mrs Alison Riley and her family attended school to officially open the two new classrooms. Mrs Riley has just stepped down as Vice Chair of Governors having previously been our Chair of Governors for 4 years. She has worked tirelessly for the school and it was a fitting tribute to her dedication that she was able to cut the ribbon and officially open our new 6th class. Our thanks and gratitude to Alison Riley.

Whole School Assembly on the playground

Seeds of Friendship Whole school singing Seeds of Friendship

Here are a few highlights from our previous school year:

Snack Attack Shack : The Relaunch!

Badger and Hedgehog Class trip to Beaulieu Motor Museum

Christmas Service at St Nicholas Church, Porton

A Little Bird Told Me

Volunteer Day

We were fortunate to have one of our Governors, Colin Eastwood, and some of his work colleagues from the Ordnance Survey spend the day with us recently. They kindly offered us their work's charity day and came and tamed, trimmed and re-wove our willow dome. Colin and his team are hoping to return in the spring when the dome starts to shoot and help us with some more tasks around the school grounds. It was great to meet such a willing and able team and we are extremely grateful for all their hard work.

A Wonderful Operatic Experience

Many of our children and parents will recall the visit we received from the professional opera singers and the fantastic workshop and performance that followed. After this most successful visit we were then fortunate enough to receive a second visit, please see below.

Released: 19th November 2019

Guess what happens when professional opera singers spring a surprise visit to our school? This!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz7koe-qs5A&feature=youtu.be

"This is the best day of my life"

(pupil aged 6)

Organised by Wiltshire Music Connect

Netball Tournament

PTA DISCO

Badger Class 'Bringing Prayer Alive' with the Bridge Project

School Games - Quad Kids Year 6 Final

After a successful Quad Kids Festival at the Laverstock schools our team was selected to attend the Final at Marlborough College

Years 5 and 6 School Residential - Fairthorne Manor

Visit to the Porton Over 60's Garden Party

Concert at Salisbury Cathedral

Year Six Bikeability

A visit from Parliament

We were fortunate enough to experience a visit from Parliament this year and learnt a lot about all things politics! It is so great to see such a keen interest from the children,especially in this time of change for our country. We learnt about many things such as - how new laws are voted for and who our local MP is. We finished with a debate about school start time, which was very interesting indeed!