REPORT ON THE SCHOOL YEAR 2009 – 2010
This report was presented at the Annual Prizegiving held at Batch Country Hotel on Thursday 8th July 2010. Mr Julian Baldwin, headteacher at
Ashbrooke House continues to thrive, offering high quality education to families in Weston and the surrounding villages. Our experienced teachers inspire the children to thrive independently and discover their potential. We foster a sense of belonging that creates the security for children to develop self-esteem and a strong work ethic rooted in high achievement even on ‘fun-filled’ days! Our small classes and excellent pastoral care ensure the individual is at the heart of everything we do.
We strongly believe that education should encourage students to become active, inquiring and life-long learners in search of truth – and we celebrate their achievements whatever and wherever they may be.
Trophies are awarded for ‘student of the week’, ‘house point champions of the month’ and even ‘best listener in the class’! We don’t only give prizes to our academic high flyers but also to those who are working very hard to improve their level of work. We encourage children throughout the school to take on roles of responsibility and in year 6 opportunities come for the pupils to be head boy and head girl, prefects and house captains.
19 children entered the school during the year including our reception class joining the school for the first time, and we end the summer term with 91 children on roll. Once again Ashbrooke has enjoyed excellent staff stability. Your children have the privilege of being taught within a school where the teachers share with them their passion for learning as well as caring about each of them as unique individuals with their own gifts and talents.
The year started on a high with the opening of our new adventure playground. Over the summer holiday many of the P.T.A committee toiled endlessly clearing the ground, and overseeing the installation of the new equipment to go from this…. to this. On behalf of all the children I would like to publicly thank all those willing volunteers and to assure you that it is being well used and much appreciated. This project took several years of fundraising but was well worth it now we can see the finished result.
The whole school really enjoyed celebrating harvest in a musical production entitled “Harvest – it’s a little bit corny”, which was enjoyed by all, both participants and audience. The service was enhanced by a wonderful Harvest display of tins, pasta and rice which was donated to the charity “Somewhere to go” who feed the homeless in Weston and were most appreciative of our gifts. We were also able to send £200 to Harvest for the Hungry to purchase goods for the needy in
Fund raising events this year started in November when we joined with the rest of the country in raising money for Children in Need. The children had a great day – everyone (including the staff) wore pyjamas to school. We had a pyjama parade and a Pudsey bear hunt and of course the traditional colourful cake sale. The culinary creativity had to be seen to be believed. We raised the magnificent sum of £333 in an enjoyable and relaxed manner.
As many of you will remember the start of the New Year was slightly marred by the news breaking of the
On the last day of the Spring Term (traditionally an ‘own clothes day’) the children were invited to wear sports gear and donate to Sports Relief.
Tomorrow we raise money for Children’s Hospice South West in our final ‘mufti’ day of the year. Earlier in the term John Wyatt came to talk to the children in assembly. He explained the work of the hospice and also dealt very sensitively with the issue of cancer itself.
It sounds so far as if all our time is taken up with fundraising and enjoying ourselves and while we recognize this is an important part of a balanced curriculum, I can assure you that the vast majority of the school year is spent on ensuring that the children acquire excellent core skills in line with The National Curriculum. National Assessments were applied in May with excellent results as well as preparing children for independent school examinations usually held in January.
Ashbrooke has continued its policy of thoroughly preparing children for both avenues of secondary education. Of our 10 Year 6 leavers, one will move on to Queens College, Taunton having gained a combined academic and performing arts scholarship, two to Redland High Girls School, one to Redmaids School, two to Sidcot, one to Churchill, one to Broadoak and two to Worle.
Foreign languages are an important part of the teaching at Ashbrooke. Pupils are taught French from Year 3 and German is introduced at Year 4. We all know learning a language is a rigorous process demanding focus and determination. Conjugations are learnt, different word orders tackled and vocabulary built up. But at Ashbrooke we also know it can be fun. Fun reinforces learning. By creating games and songs which draw on popular culture, the language springs to life, assumes relevance and the children enjoy delivering it. A highlight of the language lessons is always the end of term party where everybody is able to sample French and German food.
Music and drama also plays an important part in the life of the school. A large number of our children entered the Junior Arts Festival and our own Junior Choir won the Woodspring Trophy in their class. Children were also entered for examinations in speech and drama, piano and singing. All children from Year 3 now learn the recorder as part of their music lesson and Class 6 have the opportunity to play the ukulele. Many children have private lessons in speech and drama, piano, violin, brass and singing. In September there will be vacancies in all these activities. Our aim is to provide your children with as wide a range of experiences as possible.
Once again our school choir was asked to sing for the switching on of the Christmas lights in Weston town centre. They were also kept very busy leading up to Christmas singing carols in various retirement homes in the area.
The upper school put on an excellent Christmas production entitled ‘Stable Manners’ and gave two performances to parents and friends. The younger children entertained us with a performance of “Christmas with the Aliens”, an entertaining tale of how the Nativity was explained to a group of space creatures.
We ended the Autumn term with a visit to the Blakehay Theatre to watch Dick Whittington. This was put on by Weston College Performing Arts students and a chance to see how it should really be done. It was also an opportunity for Ashbrooke staff to meet up with three former pupils who are now studying at the Performing Arts Academy.
Education at Ashbrooke, as in all schools also means visits to places of interest and school trips are always the highlight of every year. In October Class 4 went to Peat Moor Visitor Centre on the
Pupils in Class 6 were given an insight into the Islamic faith during a visit to a mosque in Weston. Everyone removed their shoes before entering where they were taught about the religion’s ceremonies and prayers.
At the end of the Spring term classes 3 and 4 visited Goblin Combe Environment Centre for an overnight stay. The children took part in bushcraft activities including building fires, making bread and constructing shelters. As darkness fell everybody toasted hot cross buns and marshmallows around a camp fire.
Early in the summer term classes 5 and 6 enjoyed a wonderful residential trip at Hill House near
The entire main school went to the museum of Welsh Life at St Fagan’s – an open air museum near Cardiff – with over forty original buildings that have been moved from various parts of Wales to show how people lived in the past.
They enjoyed looking around a medieval church, a Celtic village, a Tudor farmhouse and a Welsh school at the turn of the century. Craftsmen such as saddlers, weavers and blacksmith were demonstrating their work.
Children in Reception and Classes 1 and 2 went to a brilliant workshop on Toys from the past and had great fun playing with wooden spinning tops, a ball and a cup, a metal hoop and a whip and top and finding out how marbles were made from clay. We even learnt to count in Welsh!
The nursery class visited Court Farm and enjoyed feeding and playing with the animals. They have also been on visits to Clarence Park to look for signs of the changing seasons and walked to the nearest post box to post letters.
On several scorching hot afternoons different year groups in turn visited the Sand Sculpture festival on the seafront. We were given a very interesting insight into how the models are created, a guided tour of the exhibition and then the chance to create our own sand sculpture masterpiece. If you have not visited the festival yet – it is well worth a visit.
There have also been visits during the year to the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton by Classes 5 and 6 and to the museum in Weston by the younger children. Class 4 took part in a local walk to find out information about the seafront and Weston’s piers which they turned into beautifully illustrated books.
During the past academic year many children enjoyed success in competitions they have entered. The school took part in a competition to design a poster for the switching on of the Christmas lights and four children won high achiever certificates.
Ashbrooke won a national competition as part of World Kids Colouring Day and enjoyed a special art workshop as part of their prize. Pens and pencils were presented to children and cartoonist Picasso Griffiths was on hand to give hints and tips on drawing.
A selection of pupils have been successful in a creative writing competition and their stories will appear in a new book to be published at the end of August entitled “Tiny Treasures Fiction from South West England.”
Last week 4 children entered a ‘spelling bee’ held at
Our PTA has once again been very active throughout the year. “Our Carols by Candlelight” was a huge success and enjoyed by young and old alike, whether it was mulled wine and mince pies for the grown ups or squash and sweets for the younger ones. The weather unfortunately did beat us on this occasion but we did discover one important fact – the stable does fit into Class 1’s room…just!!
This was only one of many successful fund raising events held this year: fill a film canister – sponsored pancake toss, school disco and to round off the year our annual summer fayre. We were very fortunate with the weather. The sun shone all day and allowed the children to enjoy a wide variety of activities while Mum’s and Dad’s enjoyed a glass of wine or beer or a cup of tea and a delicious home made cake. We raised over £1400 and were delighted to hear how much people had enjoyed themselves.
A successful sports day was held at
Swimming at Hutton Moor occupied the games lesson during the summer term and a mini gala ended the sessions with Tabitha Cameron-Kettle winning the junior trophy and Adam Elkins winning the senior trophy.
I would like to thank all the staff for their dedication and sincere efforts in fostering the welfare and education of your children. The school has endeavoured to provide a safe and secure environment for your child and the staff have sought to develop in them confidence, a love of learning and a concern for high standards both in work and behaviour. Have high expectations for your child and constantly encourage them. You all have very talented children and we at Ashbrooke hope we have played our part in fostering your child’s talents this year.
We wish all the children who will leave us a very happy confident and successful start at their new schools. For those who return in September we promise another eventful, busy and challenging year ahead.
We hope as parents that you have noticed a difference in your children over the year and after Mr Baldwin has given his address we will reward them for all their efforts.
