Our annual trip to Lea Green on 18/19th July got off to a great start as the sun was shinning as we sped on our merry way to Lea. The children and staff were all so excited and couldn’t wait to take on the challenges that lay ahead!

Unfortunately the weather broke on the second day but didn’t dampen our spirits. It only spurred us on even more to succeed and have fun.

Please take the time to look at our photo gallery.

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On Tuesday 16th July the children participated in the programming and building of robots. This enrichment activity was designed to support the children working collaboratively in team building exercises to solve problems the facilitator from Bright Futures presented them with.  The children had a great time and said what a supper way it was to end the school year just before their annual residential trip to Lea Green.

Please take a moment to look at our gallery of photographs

The final Community Lunch for the school year was held on Friday 12th July. This was preceded by Collective Worship at St Giles Church with a theme of ‘Endings’. The Worship was thoroughly enjoyed by all the congregation despite it being the final Church Worship for the year six pupils.  Following the lunch cooked by Mrs Stubbs and which was enjoyed by all Bingo was played making a total of £35 which has helped the school to reach the target of £120 for the ‘Goat Appeal’. This now means that a further ten goats can be purchased for the small Ugandan village the school has links to.  This amount will also cover the purchase of one other to replace a goat that unfortunately died at the beginning of the year. This link was made through Peace Proscovia the Ugandan netball captain who we would like to send a huge ‘Good Luck’ as she is participating  in the World Netball Championships which is taking place in Liverpool at the moment.

Once the Bingo had concluded the pupils in the school presented their annual May Pole performance to contemporary music to a packed village hall and once again the children made it look easy. Family and friends were invited to take part following the performance.

The year 6 pupils received their SAT’s results and were both delighted with the outcome. A small celebration was undertaken by the entire school who wholeheartedly commended their performance. This was followed by a ‘Memories Assembly’ where members of the year six families were invited to listen to the pupil and staff’s memories of them. A small presentation of gifts was watched by everyone present and the whole school wish them health, happiness and success at their new school.

Biggin and Hartington KS2 children joined together in Biggin Village Hall on Monday June 17^th for a session of “Cheerfest” delivered by Megan Hambly a dance teacher from QEGS. The brightly coloured Tinsel Pom-Poms were distributed , the children standing in rows were eagerly anticipating the start of the session. The sequence of movements were quickly learnt and put to music. It was wonderful to see the children so engaged and enjoying the activity. They were soon in groups expanding the choreography and creating a routine of their own. The sense of rhythm, co-ordination and interpretation of the music was excellent. This experience will be one that they will refer to both within school time and at home.

Back in my day! – Hartington School is one of ten schools nationally taking part in a unique intergenerational sport project. 

We have been chosen to participate in the pilot Youth Sports Trust (YST) ‘Active Across Ages (AAA),’ Project.

School pupils in Hartington are joining forces with elderly local residents to help boost physical, mental and social wellbeing across generations, as part of this nationwide pilot project.

Funded by YST International and Sir John Beckwith Charitable Trust, AAA is an intergenerational activity scheme, bringing together school-aged children with older members of their local communities in settings including care homes, community groups and day centres.

Hartington, alongside Anthony Gell, in Wirksworth, are the only two schools taking part in the Peak District, together with eight other schools across England in Wilmslow, Weymouth, Wirral and Milton Keynes.

Our key stage two pupils have become ‘Active Buddies’ after receiving training from the YST, and are now working with older residents, who they have named ‘Silver Sports’.

They’ve chosen Boccia (a precision ball sport usually played by competitors who have a physical disability that requires the use of a wheelchair), as their specialist activity for the first three sessions.

The ‘Silver Sports’ – aged between 70 and 95 years old – meet with our children on a Tuesday afternoon at the Village Hall to take part in AAA. They are also teaching the younger participants about activities they enjoyed in the playground as children, including hop scotch, and oranges and lemons.

Former pupil Maddie Wager, who uses a wheelchair, now attends Buxton Community School but has allowed to attend and support the AAA sessions back in Hartington. She is a lead member of her school’s Boccia team and will be competing at the Derbyshire finals in Glossop next month.

Maddie said: “It is a privilege to be asked to come back to my old school and help them with Boccia which I love doing. Also to be with the older people in the village and see them again.”

Liz Broomhead MBE is the co-chair of Hartington C of E Primary School governors and the project lead alongside head teacher, Tracy Blackwell. She said: ‘The enjoyment and engagement of the young and old is tangible. The interaction is a pleasure to witness.’

Winola,  who is one of the  Active Buddy’s  added, ‘It is lovely to wear our T-shirts as we work with the ‘Silver Sports’, it gives us a feeling of being together. We would like for them to have a T-shirt which says “Silver Sports.”’ So they can also be part of our “team!”

Audrey Morson is a ‘Silver Sport’ and commented: ‘As a child we would play hopscotch for hours after we had been swimming in the River Dove.’

Alison Goodall, Development Manager, said: ‘At a time when physical activity levels are declining, loneliness is increasing and generations have never been more segregated, we have developed an action-based research project which uses physical activity as the catalyst to bring generations together.

‘The project aims to improve the physical, mental and social wellbeing of participants, provide volunteering opportunities, developing skills employers require and the confidence to be physically active. It is also providing opportunities to support the primary to secondary transition and enhance local community relationships.’

Following this year’s pilot project, an impact report will be drawn up and made available from February 2020.

Find out more: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/active-across-ages 

On Friday 24th May we were delighted to welcome Archdeacon Carol from Chesterfield  to our Celebration Worship, Maypole demonstration, Community Lunch and launch of the AAA project.  The service in St Giles Church, led by the children, was delivered to a “full house”- the culmination a blessing and prayer by Archdeacon Carol. Following the worship everyone met in the Village Hall to see a traditional and contemporary performance of maypole dancing- not a spare seat available.

The vicar accompanied the Archdeacon to school where she was met by children, staff, governors and parents, followed by a walk around the school where she viewed the wonderful displays of children’s work, before she down for lunch.

As we completed the customary raffle, we launched the “AAA” (Active Across Ages) project, when the KS2 Active Buddies met their ‘Silver Sports’ in preparation for the start of the project in June.

On Thursday 6th June alongside the five other Schools in the White Peak Benefice, it was a privilege to attend a service led by Bishop Libby of Derby, in St Giles Church. It was a wonderful occasion with representatives from the benefice and children from the five village schools. The musical presentation by the children was enjoyed by all, as was the art work on display in the Village Hall.

After the service the Bishop went on a “walk about” while the children enjoyed squash and cake with members of the community in the village hall. We were delighted also that some of the parents were able to attend this occasion.