We were very pleased to welcome all the children back to school last week. We hope you have all had a lovely break and we wish you a very Happy New Year. 

Last Friday all classes took part in an Online Safety morning. Reception Class listened to a story all about Digiduck and they joined in with Sid’s music video from the Thinkuknow website. Year 1 learnt about sharing information and how it can go wrong. Year 2 made an Online Safety game with snakes and ladders. Year 3 found out there are so many Online Safety rules. They learned how to make a tally chart and, although all rules are important, they had to choose the three they felt were most important. Year 4 made a piccollage of ways you can communicate online and discussed how communication can go wrong. They also went on the Thinkuknow online café. Year 5 learnt how to be ‘SMART’ online. To be SMART you need to be S- stay safe M-don’t meet up A-accepting files R-reliable T-tell someone.

By Rhys and Ryan

Top Tip: Never give out your passwords.

Violin lessons began again this week for the Year 4 children - please remember to send in violins every Monday.

Following their meeting on Tuesday, The Eco Warriors would like to buy some new bins for our outside area. They would like to raise money through organising a book sale. Please can you send any books (in a good condition) into school. When they have enough books they will set a date for a book fair. Thank you.

Music tuition with Mr Telford began today - we hope the children are enjoying learning their instruments and look forward to hearing them play at the music concert in March.

Unfortunately, due to the snow, the school was closed on Monday. Mr Parry worked extremely had to clear key areas ready for school to reopen on Tuesday.

A huge congratulations to all the children for their performances in ‘Lights, Camel, Action!’ and thank you for all your supportive comments and emails. An amazing show once again.

On Wednesday Nursery children joined the Reception class to take part in their Christmas Together Day. Firstly, Miss Willmore read the Nativity Story then the children took part in various activities including arts and crafts and making gingerbread men.

On Thursday the children enjoyed a superb Christmas dinner, prepared by Class Catering. Years Four and Five worked hard to decorate all the tables. Afterwards we had a very special visit from Father Christmas who gave all the children a Christmas gift. 

Christmas play rehearsals started this week for this year's production 'Lights, Camel, Action!'. The children are excited to perform to audiences next week.

We held another successful music concert in which the children were able to share what they had learned in school this year. Over two thirds of the school performed with individual and small group performances on the clarinet, recorder, cornet, guitar and piano and also whole class performances on the fife, violin and recorder.

Reception class had a fantastic trip to Smart Trees! The children enjoyed orienteering around the Christmas trees, visiting Father Christmas in the grotto, looking at the reindeers and playing in the playground. Andrew said “my favourite bit was seeing Santa”. Julia said “I just liked everything!” and Daisy said “I enjoyed the bus and seeing Father Christmas”. The children behaved brilliantly and were a credit to the school.

Our school hosted the Evesham Cluster Art Morning on Monday and we welcomed children from other schools to participate in art activities. Thank you to Mrs Clarke for organising the event.

We held Parent Consultation Evenings on Monday and Tuesday of this week when parents heard of their child's learning and progress. Thank you to everyone who attended.

On Wednesday the whole school walked to St James' Church to attend an Advent Service led by Reverend Richard. 

We have a lovely Mary and Joseph and other traditional characters that love to go on a journey during Advent just like hundreds of years ago when Mary and Joseph completed their journey to Bethlehem.

If you would like to take them home with you for a night, and record their journey and visit with you, please contact the office and we will add you to the list.

We will also be looking for a child to escort Mary and Joseph safely to the Christmas Eve service in the church; please let us know if you will be attending this service and can help.

Christmas play rehearsals started yesterday - the children are looking forward to performing this year's production 'Lights, Camel, Action!'. The costumes look wonderful - thank you to everyone who has brought them in.

We are holding a special Festive Film Night tonight showing the British hit favourite ‘Nativity’. This is in aid of our school charity – Vale Wildlife. Children from Reception to Year Five can come dressed in their pyjamas and bring their favourite teddy and a small comfy cushion or pillow to sit on! There will be an interval treat of biscuits and hot chocolate or squash. Thank you everyone who has bought a ticket. 

School run after school clubs finished this week - thank you to everyone who has supported with these. Sports Challenge Tag Rugby on Tuesday and Thursday Football club will continue for one more week.

On Thursday, four Year Three children went to St Andrew’s First School to join in with lots of other schools for a gymnastics tournament. There were different stations that they worked around each with a gymnastics coach. The children all worked together and worked on their rolls, headstands and balances. At the end, the children put together a routine to music and performed it to the rest of the schools.

The PTFA have organised two discos this evening for all children. Nursery and KS1 disco starts at 5.30pm until 6.30pm and KS2 from 6.45pm until 8pm. 

'Bake-Off-with-a-Difference' 

On Tuesday staff members produced some wonderful 'Showstopper' cakes and, after paying an entrance fee, these were judged by two governors. The best looking Showstopper was won by Miss Ashmead. Thank you to all the children who paid £1 to guess which staff member had made which cake. We are very pleased to announce that £94.40 was raised which will be going to The Vale Wildlife Hospital.

On Tuesday some of the Pupil Parliament ministers went to the Teams4u warehouse to help sort the shoe boxes that had been kindly given by school. We had to check each box had toiletries, warm clothes and toys for the children and watched a video about where our boxes would go. We sent 92 shoe boxes and are top of the shoe box leader board for the amount sent in from a first school. Thank you to everyone who sent in a shoe box.

Written by Elaina Groom and Lily Kealy

Year 3,4 and 5 visited Tesco as part of Economic Awareness week. We looked at packaging to see where the foods had come from and how far they had travelled, we also learnt about fairtrade and rainforest alliance products. The children particularly enjoyed learning about the different types of fish on the fish counter and where they had been caught.

Children in Need on Friday meant that everyone dressed up as a 'Super Hero' for the day in return for a suggested £1 donation. Key Stage 2 had been busy all week making hundreds of Pudsey biscuits and these went on sale too. The total amount raised is now over £300! Thank you to everyone who supported this.

We were blessed with a lovely clear, dry night last Friday for our annual fireworks event organised by our wonderful PTFA; perfect for enjoying soup, hotdogs and hot chocolate whilst watching the professional display.  Thank you to everyone who supported this event and those who gave up their time, to help it run so smoothly. In particular, special thanks to those who donated food to sell on the night:

The Golden Cross
Ralitza Gilbert
A.P. Meats
Tesco
Ferry Fast
Harvington Guides

These contributions make all the difference to the final amount raised, which will be confirmed as soon as possible.

On Monday, Miss Beaver gave a Phonics Presentation to parents which was followed by visits to Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 to see how phonics is taught in the classroom. Thank you to those parents who attended - we hope you found it informative.

Mrs Clark and the Eco Warriors met on Tuesday lunchtime to discuss how we can make our school even more eco-friendly.

Our Roots and Shoots have been busy harvesting, drying and hand packaging sunflower and runner bean seeds from our school garden.  These hand-crafted packets will be for sale on Tuesday 14^th November after school outside Year 5 at the amazing price of of 50p!

The governors, staff and children of Harvington C.E. First and Nursery school took time out from their classrooms for two services of remembrance today.

Firstly, the school remembered all those who lost their lives or who were injured in the wars. The Year Five pupils read out the names of the fallen and the whole school stood in silence. Ethan Nicol, Lotty Sealey-Wade and Freya Dishart played the Last Post with Mrs Fishbourne and then the whole school honoured the two minutes silence. After the service the children walked back to their classrooms silently, placing their poppies on the altar as they went. It was a very moving service and one that is so important to us as a school.

In the afternoon we all went outside and stood around the new tree and bench that we have in our outside area. These have both been placed in our grounds to remember our special, best friend Brian Tarling who sadly passed away last year. We held a short service to remember all that Brian did for the school, not only in his long standing role as Chair of Governors but also as a supporter of the school. The children turned and looked at our sports field and buildings and had time to reflect on all Brian achieved.

We welcomed children back to school after the half term break.

On Monday Year 5 went along to Ellenden Farm to do some cooking. The children worked brilliantly as a team measuring and weighing all of the different ingredients. They practised lots of skills such as grating and mixing. Thank you to everyone at Ellenden Farm for having us, the children had a great time.

A football match was hosted at Harvington First School at 3:30pm on Wednesday 1st November. The great Harvington took on Bengeworth! After school, the two teams trained to make sure they were ready for the big match. Bengeworth were extremely good and scored the first goal. Quickly after, Matthew Turner scored a great equaliser for Harvington.

At half time Miss Beaver made a couple of changes and we were raring to get back on the pitch. Reece Brighton soon scored a great goal which took the score to 2-1. Shortly before the end of the game, Bengeworth scored their final goal, making the final score 2-2.

By Mikey Sale, Year 3.

Harvington First School hosted a netball match on Wednesday 1st November for children in Years 3, 4 and 5. The teams were Harvington and Bengeworth. The girls were all feeling nervous but were excited for their game. Sophie Newrick managed to score two great goals for Harvington and the Harvington crowd roared with encouragement! Bengeworth put up a good fight and the final score was 15-2. Although Harvington did not win this match, they are preparing for more matches in the future.

By Willow Harris - Year 3.

On Thursday we had a VIP visit our school. The bear himself - Pudsey - made a surprise visit to talk to the children about Children in Need. The children were very excited to see him! We will be fundraising to support Children in Need on Friday 17th November when children are invited to come into school dressed as 'Super Heros' in return for a suggested donation of £1.

As part of their theme 'People who help us', Reception class had a special visit from a Policeman this morning. Sergeant Beard talked to the children about his job and how he helps us in our day-to-day lives. The children also had fun trying on some police uniform. Many thanks to Sergeant Beard for visiting us.

This evening the PTFA will be holding their annual Firework Display on the village playing field. Refreshments will be available from 6pm in the village hall with the display starting at 6.45pm. Tickets are £5 per adult, under 16's are free. We hope to see you there.

We held our Harvest Festival Service on Tuesday morning. The children were very confident in performing their songs and poetry. Thank you for sending in so many beautiful baskets. We enjoyed taking them to our senior residents and they were received with thanks.

Mrs Fishbourne hosted another Golden Tea on Wednesday afternoon. The children enjoyed a drink and biscuit whilst talking about their school experiences.

The children have produced some fantastic work during their History lessons and opened a KS2 History Museum to display their work. The themes were: Year 5 Vikings, Year 4 Ancient Greeks and Year 3 Egyptians.

Year 1 had a fantastic time at Bishops Wood yesterday despite the dreadful weather. The children used their senses to tell the seasonal changes, searched for wildlife and built shelters. Thank you to Mrs Gilham and her team for organising such a great day.

We break up today for half-term and look forward to seeing everyone on Monday 30th October.

We welcomed Mr Bob James from the charity, Teams4U to our assembly on Tuesday. Mr James spoke to the children about the shoebox appeal and the importance of giving a gift to a vulnerable child or family in Eastern Europe at Christmas time. We look forward to receiving many filled shoeboxes to pass on to Mr James. 

On Tuesday KS2 were once again "wowed" by Professor McGinty who came in to teach us about our history topics. As well as being able to hold real-life artifacts from the past, we got to hear lots of interesting and adventurous stories and show off what we have learned this half term. We cannot wait for next year!

Reverend Richard and his team presented another inspirational  'Open the Book' story to the children on Wednesday morning. 

We held a very successful 'Come Dine with Me' lunch for parents and carers - we hope everyone enjoyed their lunch cooked for them by Class Catering. There will be another chance to join us in the spring term.

Today our Year 2 class have visited Leicester Space Centre to explore the planets and to carry out scientific enquiry experiments. We are sure they will have all had a fabulous time and look forward to hearing all about their trip next week. Thank you to Miss Kite for organising such a fantastic trip!