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

• Year 3 - Vicious Vikings

  Thu 22 Sep 2022

  3H had a wonderful day at our Viking Experience. We started by learning all about the Viking's way of life and their raiding travels across the sea. We then turned our hand to weaving and learned that everything the Vikings had, they had to make themselves. This was followed by handling some Viking artefacts and some Viking armour.

   

  Did you know that the Vikings swords were longer and heavier than the Anglo-Saxons? It meant that the Anglo-Saxons had to be quicker on their feet!

   

  We tried out some archery on the school field and fashioned our own Viking longships from clay. To end our day, we held a Thing. This was the way the Vikings solved arguments, disputes and criminal matters. Everyone joined in with enthusiasm and a fantastic time was had by all. 

  

• Year 1 - Toys Through Time

  Tue 20 Sep 2022

  On Tuesday this week, we had a very exciting visit from Happening History. Our children in Year One had the opportunity to learn about and play with a huge selection of Victorian toys. This was planned to enhance their learning on their topic 'Toys Through Time'. The children learned that older toys were made from wood, plastic or fabrics and had no batteries! They had so much fun and we hope they shared some of their experience with you. Here are some photos of the children exploring the toys that their great, great, great grandparents would have enjoyed!
  
  
   

  

• Passing of Queen Elizabeth II

  Fri 09 Sep 2022

  Bridge Academy Trust and all of its schools, staff, young people and children was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, who meant so much to so many people, in this country and around the world.  The Trust sends it deepest sympathies to King Charles and the whole of the Royal Family. We know that many of our communities will be greatly affected by this sad news and Bridge Academy Trust stands with the rest of the nation in this period of national mourning.

  

• The Joy of Movement Festival

  Wed 06 Jul 2022 Hayley Davey

  Today we were joined by coaches from Colchester United to deliver a Joy of Movement Festival. The coaches worked with Years 1-6 completing physical activities outside and designing mascots, posters and adverts promoting healthy lifestyles indoors!

  Here is what some of our children had to say about the event:

  Isaac, Year 6 “It was good especially playing stuck in the mud.”
  Finley, Year 3 “It was good exercise and it was fun.”

  Cooper, Year 1 "It was lots of fun and we talked about what makes us healthy. We made superhero veggies and fruits and mine were Lemon and Lime. The coaches were really good"

  Laney, Year 4 "It was brilliant, the best part of my day. We designed healthy lifestyle posters and my poster won! Then we played some really fun team games that were cool too. Best day ever!"

  Thomas, Year 5 “I had so much fun playing ultimate tag. We laughed lots whilst playing.”

  

• 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. 

  

• Reading Week 14th-18th June

  Sat 12 Jun 2021

  Next week we will be celebrating everything about Reading. Each class will visit the school library. Everyone in school will participate in DEAR (drop everything and read) activities, in many different areas of the school grounds! The children may write book reviews. They also may become a librarian for the day!

   

  Extreme Reading Challenge

  Where is the strangest place you have ever read a book? Have a picture taken of you reading a book in the weirdest, wonderful and/or position.

  Post it on your Dojo portfolio, email it or bring it in to school - Dojo points await!

  Also, Double points awarded during our Reading week – so you more you read the more stickers you could earn for your reading chart and be one step closer of winning the Reading Trophy!