Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Key Stage 2 - Spanish Day!

  Fri 24 Jun 2022

  The Key Stage 2 Spanish day was a huge success! Now that we have launched Spanish as our Modern Foreign Language, Miss Lapwood and Mrs Leon planned a fun-filled Spanish theme day to really immerse us in the country, language and culture of Spain.

   

  The children took part in four different sessions: how to make guacamole, Papel Picado craft, a Spanish treasure hunt and mindfulness colouring with a sugar skull theme. All of this took place alongside a Spanish lesson on the Mexican festival 'Día de los Muertos', which was the inspiration for the day. 

   

  I hope the children have shared their experiences of the day with you and had as much fun as the staff did! We hope that they are all looking forward to continuing their Spanish learning in the new academic year!

   

  

• Ezekiel Ewulo visit

  Tue 21 Jun 2022 Hayley Davey

  Wow, what a great morning we all had with Ezekiel Ewulo ‘Zeeks’.

   

  He hosted our whole school assembly, sharing his long jump career and achievements and answering lots of our questions too. We were very impressed with his longest recorded jump that was more than 7 metres and couldn’t believe how high he could jump vertically too!

   

  In our class groups we completed the circuit with him out in the playground, we had some music to keep us motivated and look forward to sharing what we learnt with you at home.

   

  We are thrilled with the experience your children had today as well as the impressive fundraising efforts of our community, raising over £1000!!!!

  Some of this money will be shared between the school and athletes that are working hard to achieve their goals.

   

  Thank you to everyone for your support!

   

  

• Sports for Champions

  Thu 09 Jun 2022 Hayley Davey

  We are looking forward to completing our sponsored circuit with Olympic athlete Ezekiel Ewulo on Tuesday 21st June. I hope the children have been practising their moves and preparing their questions, as well as raising funds to support GB athletes and our school too.

  Our Crowd funder page is now live and can be found following this link https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/richarddeclare

  Please remember to clearly name the child you are sponsoring so that thank you rewards can be easily allocated.

   

   

  

• Queen Elizbeth's Platinum Jubilee

  Wed 01 Jun 2022

  At Richard de Clare, we celebrated the Queen and her Platinum Jubilee before the half term break. Leading up to our performance to parents and residents from Colne View Residential Home, we had a visit from Sue at Essex Music Services who worked with our Year 5 and 6 children to compose a song to commemorate the Queen. 

   

  To kick start the celebrations on Friday 27th May, we all dressed in red, blue and white for the day and had a traditionally British lunch of fish and chips that we enjoyed in takeaway cartons on the field. We then played outdoor party games and basked in the sunshine with juice and a biscuit before performing for our audience. 

   

  This consisted of singing, ukulele and recorder recitals and a musical rendition of God Save the Queen from Miss Bickmore and Mrs Oakenfull on their wind instruments.

   

  An enjoyable Jubilee celebration was had by all. 

  

• Mayor Visits RdC!

  Mon 23 May 2022

  This morning, we had two very special visitors attend our Monday morning assembly. The mayor, Jackie Pell, and her deputy, Peter Caulfield, came to our assembly to congratulate the children on the outcome of the recent Ofsted inspection.

   

  Whilst with us, they shared some personal memories of the school, and of Halstead, as Jackie Pell was herself a pupil at Richard de Clare when she was a young girl. Peter Caulfield also has some personal connections to the school having been a governor here over the years. 

   

  The children were very excited to be congratulated by two of our local dignitaries and very much enjoyed asking them questions about their roles and duties in the local community. 

  

• Grab and Go - Hot Picnic

  Thu 19 May 2022

  Today we enjoyed the wonderful, warm weather by having a 'Grab and Go' picnic in various outdoor areas around the school. Some children ate their packed lunches outside whilst others chose school dinner, which consisted of a take away hot dog and chips followed by a 100% fruit ice lolly! We all had such a lovely time and the children are already asking when we can do this again. Watch this space!

  

• Roaring Engines! - Motorcycles Through the Ages Visitors

  Wed 18 May 2022

  Year One had a very exciting this week when we were visited by some members of the AJS and Matchless Owners motorcycle club, who had driven all the way to Halstead for us to enjoy their beautiful vintage bikes.

   

  The children were spellbound as the engines made their way into the school playground and asked lots of thoughtful questions. They learnt about the different ways to start a motorbike, found out how bikes have changed over time and discovered how motorbikes work. 

   

  This visit was linked to our topic on transport and the children were full of enthusiasm when they returned to the classroom; they couldn't wait to talk about what they had learnt and to draw pictures of their favourite bikes.

  

• Year 4 Visit Thriftwood!

  Tue 17 May 2022

  This week, year 4 visited Thriftwood Scout Camp in Brentwood for an adventurous and outdoor activity day! 

   

  The day was fun-filled and packed full of activities such as rock climbing, pedal cars, axe throwing, crate stacking and more!

   

  We all challenged ourselves, encouraged one another to try new things and step out of our comfort zone trying new activities. A wonderful time was had by all and we already can't wait to go back in Year 5!

  

• Dancing Through The Commonwealth

  Mon 16 May 2022 Hayley Davey

  In the lead up to celebrating the Queens Platinum Jubilee, the whole school took part in a live 'Dancing through the Commonwealth' activity. We drummed our way through Africa, did some Bollywood dancing through Asia, did the Haka in Australia, some Cowboy and Indian moves in Canada, some traditional Caribbean dancing and the Highland fling in Scotland. The children had a great time learning the moves and talking about the different styles of dance too. 

  We are all looking forward to further celebrations this week!

  

• World Down Syndrome Awareness Day 2022

  Mon 21 Mar 2022

  We celebrated World Down Syndrome Awareness Day this year by attending school wearing blue and yellow non-uniform, which are the Down Syndrome awareness colours! 

   

  The day was largely planned by Summer B (in conjunction with the school council). She led a whole school assembly in the morning and shared with us some fascinating information about Down Syndrome and those living with Down Syndrome. 

   

  Here are some of the interesting things that she taught us:

   

  •Our bodies are made up of billions of cells and inside most of these cells are chromosomes, which are thread like strands that contain hundreds or thousands of genes.

   

  •Chromosomes usually occur in pairs and we have 23 pairs altogether.

   

  •Your chromosomes are your genetic building blocks that make you who you are.

   

  •People with down syndrome have an extra chromosome on the 21st pair making 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. That’s why on the 21st day of the 3rd month (March), we celebrate world Down Syndrome day. 

   

  The children in arts and crafts club continued with raising awareness by making posters with the information that they had learned about Down Syndrome. You may see some of these displayed in different areas around our school.