On Tuesday 21st January, 4 year 4/5 pupils attended Ashbourne Leisure Center ‘C4L Champions Conference’ run by Rural Derbyshire School Sports Partnership. The conference is set up to train pupils how to become ‘Health Champions’ who will then act as catalysts, advocating and motivating their peers to make healthier options at meal times, and to take part in more frequent physical activity in and out of school.

Change4Life is a Government programme designed to help schools meet the Key Performance Indicators for  the Sport Premium Funding and meet the Chief Medical Officer guidelines of 30 active minutes per day. By taking part , the school is working towards retaining the Gold, Games Mark Award of which this programme is a fundamental requirement.

The session involved physical activity, problem solving and investigation. The pupils had to work collaboratively with pupils from other schools to undertake tasks which involved collecting then matching items. The games provided creative opportunities to promote an environment where all children participated regardless of ability, confidence and  life experience.

The final part of the session involved matching pictures of food with their sugar/fat content. Some of the children were very surprised at how much sugar a famous burger bun has in it. Surprisingly there is enough for it to be sold a cake!

All the children that took part thoroughly enjoyed the event and were eager to share their morning with friends during lunch.

On Friday 17th January the pupils took part in a Christingle service at St Giles Church. The worship included the lighting of the candle, hymns, prayers and readings. Then the children’s Christingles  were lit and a prayer read reminding us of the ‘Light shining into the darkness’.

The symbolic object represents the Children’s Society and money raised from the service helps to make a difference to children facing life’s hardest challenge and can protect vulnerable children at risk on the streets.

The Christingle is a symbolic object that means ‘Christ’s light’. It consists of an orange with a candle held in its centre and a red ribbon around it. The red ribbon goes all round the ‘world’ representing his love and reminding us Jesus died on the cross shedding his blood. Four sticks holding fruit and nuts or sweets are pierced into the orange and have two meanings; the four seasons or the four corners of the world. The sweets, fruit and nuts represent God’s creations that he blessed us with.

The children undertook follow up work to help them understand the impact the donations would make to a child’s life. In class 1 the children compared the impact to the christian value of Hope and made many perceptive suggestions of how the donations could be used.

One child said: “I know that some children might not be able to have a pet like me because it costs money to feed them, but it would be lovely if they could go to a ‘petting farm’ or zoo,  where they could feed and stroke cuddly animals. This would help them to feel happy and cared for.”

On Friday 10th January the Fire Safety Officer, visited the school, to deliver a talk to to class 1 followed by class 2. The pupils were engaged in discussion about how to keep safe in their homes, preparing an escape plan with their families and the importance of fire alarms and checking them weekly. They also watched an animated slide show which supported the content of the presentation.

Pupils were sent home with an informative Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service leaflet plus a ’10 great reasons to become a Fire Fighter flyer.

At the end of the talk Abbie quoted ‘I didn’t know that the dogs in the show were real dogs and that they went to places to help find out how the fires were started. Mrs B asked Sharon if the dogs could come and visit us at school but she said that they were so busy helping the fire fighters that it would be hard to choose which schools they could visit.’

As part of the end of term Christmas celebrations the children performed their annual nativity in St Giles Church called ‘Strictly Nativitv’.  (Don’t forget to visit the schools Christmas display in the South Transept of the church). The performance was followed by the PTA ‘Pea & Pie Supper’ which this year came in the form of a hearty stew in a Yorkshire pudding, kindly prepared by Mrs Stubbs the schools catering officer. A huge thanks goes to Lower Hurst Farm who generously donated the meat. The evening was a massive success raising a fantastic £1727.40 after expenses for the PTA. Thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets and donated in any way.

The following day the children enjoyed a visit to Buxton Opera house to watch the pantomime ‘Cinderella’. This was enjoyed by all who attended. “Oh No it wasn’t.” ” Oh Yes it was!”

On the final day of the term, the children performed a Christmas carol concert in school to governors, parents and members of the community. This was followed by a buffet lunch for the children and staff, a Christmas party with games and a visit from Santa and his elves! School closed at 3:30 for the Festive season.

The Head teacher, staff and Governors would like to wish all parents and supporters of the school a Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2020. School will reopen on Monday 6th January at 7:45 (7:30 by prior arrangement) for breakfast club.