Whole School Blog
Whole School News
Year 1 RE
teachers on: Whole School News
In Re this half term, Year 1 have started to explore whether it was easy for Jesus to show friendship. This week they have been listening to bible stories to think about this big question and thought about how Jesus showed friendship in the stories. They have also been thinking about why it can be tricky to show friendship sometimes.
Are Miracles Real?
teachers on: Whole School News
Year 3 have begun to explore the big question of ‘Are Miracles Real?’. This has sparked lots of conversation between the children, discussing if they can be real or if they are just stories. Year 3 have listened to the bible story of Jesus and the Blind Man (John 9: 1-12) where they though about why Christians may believe that this story is real and why Jesus would do this for a stranger. All the children expressed how Jesus was a loving and caring person and how he wanted to show the people that he loved them.
January 12th, 2023. The French Postcards have arrived in Year 4!
teachers on: Whole School News
There was great excitement in Year 4 today as the postcards from our link school in Chaumont, France arrived. The children enjoyed working out the names, ages, and birthdays of the French children as well as their family members and what they like / don't like to do. A lot of them don't like tidying their bedrooms - children are the same the world over it seems! We all agreed that their handwriting was AMAZING, so neat and well presented. Merci to all at Ecole Jean Macé in Chaumont, you made our French lessons so much more interesting and our learning came alive.
Brill School on Sky News!
teachers on: Whole School News
Our fantastic year 3s and Mr Gore were stars of a Sky News report in September 2018.
Researchers had found that a little known condition - dyscalculia - which makes it harder for people to learn maths, may be as common as dyslexia.
The producers wanted to see a primary school teaching maths and asked if they could come to Brill.
Mr Gore - our maths coordinator as well as year 3's teacher - explained how we teach maths to engage all abilities, and our year 3s showed how fun learning maths can be!
Children In Need
Children came dressed in their own clothes and spots to promote ‘Children In Need’, the school raised a total of £260, thank you to everyone who donated.
Christmas Jumper Day
It was lovely to see all the children in their festive jumpers on Friday 9th December, Christmas joy ran through the school. The school raised a total of £155.10, which will be donated to ‘Save The Children’. Thank you to everyone who donated.
BMX Growth Mindset Workshop
The PTA have funded the recent visit to school by the BMX, Skate & Scoot Academy! Mike Mullen, academy founder and BMX champion, treated all the children to a motivational assembly and trick display followed by a workshop for years 5 and 6.
Mike's approach is, “designed to empower children by role-modelling a growth mindset approach and encouraging children to stretch their comfort zones. Children are taught to self motivate, close the 'I Can't Door' and use positive self talk.” He taught the children to keep on 'Flearning' (to learn by failing).
Mike's display wowed the children and even some of the teachers got involved with the tricks (ask your children!). The day seemed to be enjoyed by everyone and Mrs White described it as 'incredibly inspiring... phenomenal'!
The BMX, Skate and Scoot Academy with hopefully be returning to school next year... watch this space.
Our Jubilee Celebrations
On Wednesday 25th June the whole school celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The whole school were off timetable for the day and took part in creative activities that enriched and celebrated the whole curriculum. This included designing and making crowns, historical activities, cookery tasks and much more. Each class took part in planting an oak tree in the school grounds to mark this memorable day and recognised that it is their responsibility to look after and care for the trees for their time at Brill.
We were amazed by the efforts of the children’s costumes and the buzz in the school was fantastic. A truly memorable day!
Click on the images below to see them more clearly.
Recovery Curriculum
Our focus this term on the children's return to school has been to ensure that they have re-established their love for learning and have felt safe and happy at school, all of which will make them more effective learners. We want to make sure that the children do not hear that they are ‘The lost generation’. We agreed with a view shared by the British Psychological Society that ‘…..the notion that children need to catch up or are 'behind' at school due to the pandemic reinforces the idea that children have 'one shot' at their education and puts them under even more pressure to perform academically after what has been a challenging and unprecedented time for everyone.’
We were heartened by the comments of the recently appointed Education Recovery Commissioner Sir Kevan Collins: “We have to be bold and ambitious,” he said. “The recovery needs to be long term, sustained and far reaching. Catch-up is not the language I’m using. It’s much more about recovery over time. Catch-up is part of it but that is not going to be enough.”
We agree and believe that children need to recover not catch up. They need nurture, laughter, play and meaningful, exciting experiences. We know that learning starts with curiosity which starts with feeling safe. If we focus on that in the first instance, we are certain that the rest will come.
Please click here to watch a short video from Mrs Oliver and Miss Butler who have been leading on our recovery curriculum. This will give you a flavour of the work that they have been doing to support pupils and staff across the school.
Year 6 Play
Year 5 and 6 amazed us all this week with their stunning Wizard of Oz show. In just 5 weeks, the children learnt dozens of dances, made props, painted the set, created stunning costumes, learnt hundreds of lines and built (and then re-built) the stage! The result was a high-class show full of beautiful singing, dancing, great characters and fun. With Year 5 supporting with their wonderful chorus singing, the performances to both the school and parents were truly magical. We're so proud of all the children involved, and incredibly grateful to all the adults who helped ensure it was a success: Mr Dickson, Mrs Worthington, Mrs Ellis, Mr Horton (and his tech assistant Oliver!), Mr Birt, Jenny Davis, Mrs Wilkinson and all the staff who helped backstage. One of the key themes of the Wizard of Oz is the power of friendship. Year 6 are a shining example of how even in the toughest of times, they can rely on each other and pull off something truly amazing!
Meet our new Vicar
Swap Day
We were very impressed with how well the children transitioned and embraced the experiences in their new class. Both the staff and children have reported how much they enjoyed this session and we plan to offer other opportunities for the children to meet their new teacher prior to the Summer holidays.
Click on the gallery below to see photos of the children across the school.
Sports Week
Opening Ceremony
We were very lucky to have XYZ music at school on Friday morning to perform a concert to the whole school. The children interacted in the concert and it started our race day off with a bang!
The concert was followed by a performance from the winning dancers of Monday's dance competition. Rushbed were the winning team on Monday and therefore a group of Year 3 and Year 6 children performed dances that they'd choreographed to the whole school, they were incredible! Well done to both groups who represented Rushbed wonderfully.
Year 6 - Rushbed
Year 3
Year R
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Eco School's Silver Award
Mrs Keeping and her Eco Councillors (with the support of children across the school) have achieved the Eco School's Silver Award. We are very proud of the children at Brill School and hugely grateful of Mrs Keeping's passion and drive in this area of the curriculum.
This month's value is 'Action' and the children have been considering how their small actions can have a BIG impact. We would like to share with you a video that we have put together which shows the work the children have been doing recently on 'Biodiversity'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAt1ofCDFRk&list=UU4GeT47oGL-FOktY8Ju8qTA&index=2
Whole School Assemblies
It was such a pleasure to deliver a whole school assembly face to face for the first time in a very long time last Friday 11th June. The whole school congregated outside, sitting in their paired year group bubbles to celebrate our 'Stars of the Week' and to collate our house points. The assembly finished with an opportunity for the children to reflect on what had been their most enjoyable experience back at school.
There is something very special about congregating as a whole school and listening to the many success across the year groups. We were very proud of all of the children who demonstrated our value of respect beautifully throughout the assembly.
Stars of the Week
Elizabeth (Y1), Maisy (Y2), Isabel (Y3), Grace (Y4), Gabriel (Y5), Harriet (Y6)
Remembrance Day 11.11.2020
School News
Remembrance Day
admin on: School News
As a school we have been marking Remembrance Day today with lots of reflection, writing, crafts and artwork. In Year 6, we made 'hope' butterflies after a nature hunt using leaves and twigs. We also designed our own remembrance pebbles.
Watch what we've been up to...
admin on: School News
Click on the link below to watch a short video capturing what we've been up to in school so far!
We are all so pleased to be back!
The rain doesn't stop us!
admin on: School News
Year 1 are having a wonderful time in their new outdoor area! Everyone has their new waterproof outfits on too.
International Literacy Day!
admin on: School News
This week it was International Literacy Day and we marked the occasion by recognising the importance of language development and how lucky we are to be at Brill school, where we learn to read and write amazing new words every day. Happy reading and writing everyone!
Need Some Music in Your Day?
admin on: School News
Check out the new videos Mrs Baker took on Friday on our Music Page of the website. They are for fun, they are to sing along to, they are to keep music alive!
