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Chilthorne Domer Church School
Together we Love, we Aim High and we Celebrate!
Our School Blog
Maple Class art: Storytelling through drawing
Tuesday 22nd April 2025
We kick-started our 'create' curriculum for this term by beginning our 'storytelling through drawing' unit of art. We looked at the work of artists Rosie Hurley and Inbal Leitner and how they used their sketchbooks to capture their thoughts and ideas about poetry and stories. We then read 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea' and used our own sketchbooks to record our ideas about this much loved story.
Easter Church Service
Wednesday 2nd April 2025
We had a wonderful Easter Service with Rev. Bruce during our last week of school. The children, as always, did us proud with their Easter readings, as well as Beech Class performing a lovely poem and Ash Class singing an Easter song.
Maple Class Learning All About The North and South Pole
29th March 2025
Maple Class have been learning about North and South Pole. We have looked closely at our globe and identified the equator and the two polar regions, as well as used a torch to demonstrate their relationships with the sun. In addition to this, we enjoyed some chilly small world play, which included sorting animals into 'Antarctic' and 'Arctic' trays. Bbbbrrrr!
PCSO Police Visit
24th March 2025
Today was very exciting for Ash Class as we had a visit from a PCSO police officer. We were able to look closely at the police car and even sit inside it. We also found out what police officers wear and asked questions to find out what they do. The police officer also put on the blue flashing light for us to see.
Ash Class Welly Walk
18th March 2025
Ash Class have had a wonderful welly walk in the sunshine this morning.
A huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Luscombe for providing us with the opportunity to see the 3 week old lambs, as well as other animals.
We are so lucky that our Chair of Governors provides us with this opportunity.
Oak Class Geography Fieldwork
Wednesday 12th March
Today we investigated how rivers change with natural processes - erosion and deposition. We created rivers in sand trays, adding meanders and creating ox bow lakes. We then mapped out our rivers back in the classroom.
Ash Wednesday Service in St. Mary's Church
Wednesday 5th March 2025
Today we went to church for our Ash Wednesday Service. We thought about the meaning of Ash Wednesday and how it is the start of Lent in the Christian calendar after Pancake Day. Everyone listened carefully to some of the children in Willow reading from Matthew 6, 1-6 (CEV).
Afterwards, the staff and children had crosses placed on their heads if they wished as a reminder of this special time when we can self-reflect.
Shrove Tuesday - Pancakes and Smoothies in Beech Class
Tuesday 4th March 2025
As part of our Design and Technology, we made pancakes and smoothies. We weighed, chopped, grated, squeezed, peeled, whisked and measured. The best bit was tasting them all!
Happy post from Djibouti!
3rd March 2025
You may remember, last month, we sent letters and pictures out to the children in Djibouti that Mrs Chesterton visited in November. They sent pictures back for us and children across the school have enjoyed receiving this happy post. Ash Class can be seen below enjoying the pictures .
A big thanks to Amy for bringing the pictures safely back to us!
PEGI Ratings
1st March 2025
Chilthorne Domer is committed to keep all children safe when it comes to being online.
From when we did our online safety survey with the children, we realised that most children didn't know what the PEGI ratings are.
As well as being numbers they play a significant role in being safe online.
The PEGI ratings show you what age you can go on which app, game or website link.
Green means it is suitable for kids 3 and 7, orange is for kids 12 and 16, and finally red is for 18 and up.
Children should be using these ratings because the apps and games that they go on could be unsuitable for them so they should be following the rules so that they are safe.
Created by your Digital Leader Olivia!
Online Safety Lesson in Ash Class: Safe and Secure - Privacy
Friday 28th February 2025
Today we thought about how to keep ourselves safety online.
We began by playing a game where the children stood in a circle and had to go into the middle of the circle if they had the item Mrs Stradling said e.g. Stand in the middle if you have 2 feet. Stand in the middle if you have grey socks on.
Stand in the middle if your name begins with E.
We then talked about personal information and that your full name, address, school and where you like to play can be private information.
We then played a similar game where we had to think about whether their answer would be yes to a question about information about them and they could stand in the middle of the circle. If they thought no, they stood still.
Are you going to tell me where you live? (only if you are lost or your teacher needs to know)
Are you going to tell me your favourite colour?
Are you going to tell me your full name?
Are you going to tell me if you have a pet?
At the end of the session the children were given a device between them. They had to listen to a scenario about what questions they might see on a device screen and whether they would type in the information about themselves. (All of the devices were actually off.)
The children really began to understand that sharing your favourite colour, pet or hair colour was ok. What we shouldn't share is our full name and address if we do not know someone.
We also talked about when we play games how it is important to create a name that is made up e.g. Greenteacher for Mrs Stradling. The children then started thinking about different names e.g. alienteacher. They thought this was funny but we explained that this would not allow someone unkind to identify you and say/do unkind things to you.
Ash Class Exploring Magnetism
Tuesday 25th February 2025
Ash Class explored with the magnets in the classroom to find out about which materials were attracted to the magnets (magnetic) and which ones were not. The children also learnt that a magnet has two different ends – one is called the south and the other end is called the north. We discovered that two poles that are the same, repel and two poles that are opposite / different attract and stick together. It was great fun exploring with the magnets!
Geography Shared Learning Session
Wednesday 12th February 2025
For the last hour of the school day, parents were invited into school today to get involved with the children's learning and to see what we get up to in our classrooms. The theme for this session was around Geography. Some classes focused on making maps, whilst others created worlds and EYFS children 'travelled' around the world learning about new places and significant features of these places.
It was wonderful to have so many parents join us. Thank you!
Safer Internet Day Across Chilthorne Domer Church School
11th February 2025
After assembly, each of the classes across the school celebrated Safer Internet Day by completing a range of activities, as shown in the photographs. As part of this, the teachers also led a quiz in each class created by Safer Internet Centre that enabled the children to think about different scenarios. For the younger children, the quiz focused on identifying an appropriate trusted adult. For the older children, the quiz focused on scenarios that they could come across and encouraged the children to think about what they would do to solve the problem.
Safer Internet Day Assembly
11th February 2025
Today we did a Safer Internet day assembly.
You can tell if something is a scam if…
Something seems too good to be true.
If another person in a game agrees to trade but then takes something and not giving anything back.
A video or website that says it can show you how to get free money in your favourite game.
From your Digital Leaders E and A.
Happy post is on its way to Djibouti!
Tuesday 11th February 2025
We’re very excited to be sending this happy post today!
Amy, who Mrs Chesterton travelled to Djibouti with, is heading back there tomorrow to work on a new project. She’s taking letters and pictures from all of our classes back to some of the schools that Mrs Chesterton visited.
We hope these put a smile on the faces of our friends from afar - who knows, we may even get some happy post back one day!
Oak Class Rivers Workshop
Wednesday 5th February 2025
Oak class really enjoyed learning about the importance or rivers and reservoirs with Sam from Sutton Bingham Reservoir last week. She taught us about the water cycle, showed us how our water is cleaned and treated and explained the importance of saving water so that there is enough to go around in the future!
We look forward to showing off our knowledge by creating non-chronological reports about the topic in English.
Safer Internet Day 2025
We will be celebrating Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 11th February 2025!
Ash class sharing their learning with Maple Class
4th February 2025
It was a really lovely opportunity for Ash Class to share their hard work with Maple class. Ash class created their own Flip Flap Safari books which they were super proud of. The children were very excited to show how they could use the flip flap sections to make some really unusual mixed-up animals.
Year 1 science
29th January 2025
This week the Year 1 scientists investigated which material was the most absorbant. We were able to predict which one we thought might absorb the most water, and then explain our findings, as well as give reasons why. Excellent work Year 1!
Faith Week - Islam
Week beginning 27th January 2025
This week the children have been exploring the world faith of Islam. Each class explored the Islamic faith in their own way. The children were able to see Muslim faith in action by looking at photos and watching BBC Teach videos. The children were able to question and compare similarities and differences between other world faiths and their own thoughts and beliefs.
International Day of Education
24th January 2025
The day started with Mrs Chesterton leading an assembly all about the UN's 17 Sustainability Goals. We focused on goal 4 which is to 'ensure inclusive and equitable quality of education and promote lifelong learning opportunities'. We thought a lot about Mrs Chesterton's adventures in Djibouti and how sub-Saharan Africa is the part of the world that is the furthest behind meeting these goals.
We then had the pleasure of working in our 4 house groups today whilst taking part in various activities linked to the sustainability goals and Djibouti.
In Ash Class, the children learnt all about the faith Islam. The children discovered that in the north of Africa, including where Djibouti is located, the majority of people are Muslim compared to the south where the majority of people are Christian. During our session, the children discovered the 5 pillars of Islam and the importance of the Islamic symbol of the crescent moon and star. The children were amazed how Muslims fast for a whole month during Ramadan and we compared this to the length of time when we celebrate advent to new year in the Christian calendar. The celebrations for Eid at the end of Ramadan looked very special and we talked about how their celebration sweets are very different to ours. In addition to this, we learnt that Muslims wash their hands, face and feet before they pray and considered what this would be like if we did the same before Collective Worship each day. During the session, the children carried out activities that included using creative materials and loose parts to make the Islamic symbol, as well as Rangoli patterns. The children also enjoyed designing their own stained-glass windows for an Islamic mosque.
In Beech Class the children looked carefully at some of the photos and films that Mrs Chesterton took during her visit to Djibouti. We identified many differences between the schools in Djibouti and the schools in the UK. We enjoyed working in small mixed age groups, talking and sharing all our ideas about how different it is living in Djibouti. One of the things that all groups noticed, was how happy the children looked.
In Maple Class, with Mrs Hillier, we learned the song ‘Colours of the Rainbow’ in sign language. We discussed how privileged we are to live in a country where we have access to medical care and trained staff at school who can help us to learn and to feel included. Some children in Djibouti are deaf and do not have access to trained staff at school, like we do, and we thought children would therefore feel isolated and their learning greatly impacted. When the children were asked if they’d like to live in Djibouti, many said no but some said yes as they felt they would appreciate their education more. The colours of the rainbow reminded us to have hope that one day, every child will receive the inclusive education they deserve, wherever they live. 🌈🌍
Inspired by the captivating abstract art of Djiboutian artist Abdul-Wahab Youssouf, children , when in Willow Class, embarked on a exploration of emotions. Youssouf uses bold strokes and vibrant hues to create abstract maps that portray a range of feelings. After examining some of his work and discussing how colours can represent different emotions, the children took to the hall to experiment with art pastels. They then channeled their creativity into crafting their own abstract maps of the United Kingdom, each a unique expression of emotion through colour.
Beech Class - DT Windmill making
January 2025
Beech class did an amazing job at making their own windmills. The children explored how to create a sturdy base for the windmill, they tried to make 4 identical sails and worked with an adult to attach the sails to the base. They also created their own decoration for their windmills. Once made the children tested them to see if the windmills went round when they were pushed and whether the wind pushed the sails around when they took it outside. Then they evaluated their windmill to explain how they would make it differently next time.
Oak Class DT - Adapting a recipe
Friday 17th January
Oak had a wonderful time, and made a lot of mess, making basic biscuits today! We will taste test on Monday and start thinking about what adaptations we could make to improve them next time.
Spotting Winter Around Our School
16th January 2025
Today Ash Class began their afternoon by reading a story called 'Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter' by Kenard Park.
Afterwards, they went for a walk around school to look for signs that it was winter before exploring a range of activities in the classroom.
During discussions the children realised that this winter we've had rain, snow, ice and fog! Luckily we all have lovely warm coats and accessories to help us stay cosy.
Maple Class medics
Tuesday 14th January 2025
As part of our PSHE learning maple class learnt about and then role played the different steps you need to take if someone is bitten or stung.
1. Reassure them
2. Sit or lie them down
3. Clean the wound
4. Wrap it in a clean dressing
5. Monitor them to check for signs of an allergic reaction.
Tips for Staying Safe Online this Christmas
Celebrating Christmas in St. Mary's Church
19th December 2024
We celebrated Christmas in St. Mary's church today with special reading from children in Willow Class, as well as beautiful carols sung by the choir and all of our wonderful children across the school.
Mrs Batstone said a beautiful blessing and also lit the pink candle on the advent wreath.
Ash Class Christmas Fun in Forest School
16th December 2024
After listening to the story, 'The Lonely Christmas Tree,' Ash Class were challenged to follow some instructions to make some Christmassy treats for the woodland friends in the story. Everyone had great fun in the forest school area, making Christmassy muddy treats and also getting the chance to add their own flair and imagination into their creations!
Eco Club Autumn Round Up
Autumn Term 2024
Our Eco Warriors have had a fantastic term laying the foundations towards us being a more environmentally friendly school. After carrying out an initial review of the things we already have in place (not a bad start with our gardening area and forest school, among other things), they chose three areas that we intend to focus on this year. They are biodiversity, marine and water. We have already started to implement our action plan and hope you will soon be able to see the steps we take - more to come!
During our last session this week the children made bird feeders to keep our feathered friends happy over our Christmas break. These will go up around the grounds on the last day.
Oak Class gymnasts!
Wednesday 4th December
What a wonderful group of gymnasts they are! We are so impressed with the progress made in a short space of time! They are learning to use their core strength much more to maintain the balances and working so well in teams.
Well done Oak Class.
Digital Leader Assembly: I am Kind and Responsible
5th December 2024
Today we did a Digital Leader assembly. We talked about the eLIM Building Habits poster that are placed up in and around the classrooms. This poster gives you ideas on how to stay safe. We also watched a video called 'Help I'm Lost Online.' This was about a boy called Jack who made a balloon hat using digital instructions. Unfortunately they got lost online and came across an inappropriate website. At this point his Gran helped him out and solved the problem, returning to the original site.
The main habits you should remember are: Ask, tell, check, share, be kind, move, time, and mix.
Digital Leader, Aaron.
Beech Class investigating and writing about The Titanic
Oak Class gym progress
Wednesday 27th November
We were so impressed at the progress made by Oak class this week. They are working so well supporting each other to challenge themselves with the trickier balances. Well done Oak!
Oak Class PE
Wednesday 20th November
Oak class headed to the village hall to learn some gymnastics today and it turned out they are a bunch of natural gymnasts! They had a great time experimenting with partner balances and showed great strength and determination! Well done Oak Class!
A Wave of Thanks from Djibouti
Look at how happy you have made these children with their School in a Bag bags!
A Huge Thank You from Djibouti
A huge thank you from the children in Djibouti for changing their lives with your fundraising efforts in Chilthorne Domer with the School in a Bag charity.
Mrs Chesterton's Trip to Djbouti
November 2024
The first children have received their school bags! 57 bags were delivered to Lac Abbe School today - one of the most remote schools in the world.
It was quite the journey to get to them this morning but their appreciation for what they received was heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure. We are so lucky to have what we have in the UK!
We’ll be taking the rest of the bags to another school tomorrow so watch this space!
Individual photos of children with their bags will be uploaded once Mrs Chesterton is back in the UK.
Children in Need
15th November 2024
Today we all dressed in non-school uniform (some with a bit of Pudsey too) for a donation to raise money and 'Make Life Lighter' for those children who have to carry a load that is too heavy to manage alone.
Remembrance in Willow Class
In the week leading up to Remembrance day, Willow class focussed on a beautiful book by Nicola Davies called The Day War Came. We considered the effects of war on refugees, Mrs Bond arrived dressed as the girl in the story and after considering how refugees felt we wrote our own poems called: The Day the Girl Came.
We also painted poppies with Mrs Richardson and displayed them around school.
Finally, as a free writing activity, Mrs Bond challenged us to write about "The things Soldiers don't say"
Learning About Remembrance Day in Ash Class
7th and 8th November 2024
Today we looked at the special book ‘Why?’ by Nikolai Popov, which focused on how a frog and a mouse both wanted a flower, looking at conflict in an appropriate way for the children. As we read the story, we talked about what we could see in the pictures and answered these questions:
Why are they fighting?
Why can’t they share?
Why aren’t they friends?
We then talked about how on Monday 11th November everywhere in the country will be taking part in Remembrance Day, alternatively known as Poppy Day. This is why we wear poppies. Afterwards, we watched the CBeebies animation: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02qvbd9 and talked about how we are very lucky that we live in a special and safe part of the world but there are still soldiers in wars in different parts of the world.
During exploring time, the children were able to do:
Potato printing of poppies.
Colouring poppies.
Ordering poppies of different sizes.
Using loose parts to make poppies.
Decorating poppies with buttons.
Looking at people and poppies in Remembrance photographs.
Qualifying for the County Finals
12th November 2024
A massive congratulations to our footballers who have won today and have now qualified for the county finals! Excellent work boys, well done!
Shoe boxes to make a child's Christmas!
8th November 2024
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to a shoe box this year.
We have just delivered 15 boxes to our neighbour who coordinates the collection of them. 115 boxes so far will be collected on Tuesday ready for their journey to children who need them. Thank you as always for your ongoing support!
Online Safety Lesson with Smartie the Penguin
Wednesday 6th November 2024
During an Online Safety lesson today, Ash Class learnt all about Smartie the Penguin who has to make decisions about when he is connected to the internet.
Smartie had to think about what to do when he saw a pop up, found inaccurate information and what to do when people asked for personal information.
To help Smartie make the right decision, Ash Class learnt this special song. You might find it useful to learn at home as well!
This song is credit to Child Net who provide all of the Online Safety Smartie stories.
Family Reading Workshop
6th November 2024
It was lovely to see so many families turn up for our sharing workshop this morning with a focus on reading. The children loved sharing their reading activities with you. We hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about what we do in school and how to support your children at home.
Djibouti School Bag bag pack!
Friday 25th October 2024
We were very excited to visit Home Farm today to pack bags that we fundraised for last year.
All of these bags are being taken to Djibouti next week and hand delivered by Mrs Chesterton to the children in the school that Frontline Children built.
In time, you will be able to track your child's bag via https://www.schoolinabag.org/ and see who the lucky recipient was!
Making Soup
24th October 2024
Ash class have been busy learning all about different fruits and vegetables this week. They discussed the names of each item and used their investigative skills to identify if it was a fruit or a vegetable. They then learnt how to create a claw shape to hold vegetables before using their other hand to chop them. All their super efforts then came together to make their very own soup! Some thought it was delicious and others not so much!
7-1 to Chilthorne!
23rd October 2024
Following a football match at Yeovil Town Football Club, our Year 5 and 6 girls have qualified for the regional tournament to represent Yeovil! If they win their next match they'll be off to Wembley Stadium for the final!
Well done girls, you were amazing - good luck for your next match!
Thanks from the Lord's Larder
23rd October 2024
Oak and Willow Ancient Maya experience day
Tuesday 22nd October 2024
Oak and Willow classes had a fabulous day with archaeologist Vanessa, learning all about Ancient Maya. They explored the chronology of the time period and compared it to what what happening in Britain at the time. They then looked at so many artefacts relating to Maya way of life and beliefs, including trying on clothing, having a go and crushing the corn and dissecting 'poo' to see what diets people had! They even got to handle genuine potsherds from the Maya area that are over 1000 years old and look for clues about what purposes the pots may have had. These hands on learning experiences are so valuable for the children and enjoyed by everyone!
The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark
14th October 2024
Ash Class have been listening to lots of wonderful texts as part of reading for pleasure. Last week, they focused on 'The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark' by Jill Tomlinson. As part of this they have been thinking about questions asked by the reading detectives Rex Retriever, Sequencing Suki, Predicting Pip, Vocabulary Victor and Inference Iggy.
After engaging with the story some of the children were inspired to create their own owls at the creative area.
Digital Leaders Survey
14th October 2024
Our new Digital Leaders have already been busy at work, supporting Mrs Stradling in developing our Online Safety in school. Their current challenge is to survey all of the children in the school about their online experiences. This enables the team to know what we need to prioritise when educating the school community this year.
As a side note, it is simply wonderful to see all of the smiles between the older children and the younger children.
Kathakali came to Chilthorne Domer!
9th October 2024
A big thank you to Barbara, Vijay and the artists for a wonderful day emerging us in to the world of Kathakali Dance. It was a wonderful way to finish off our learning around the Hindu culture this term.
Chilthorne Children were a credit to their families and our school and Barbara sent this message following their departure…
‘The children were a joy to work with. Their visit to the makeup process was outstanding as they showed respect, knowledge and a wide awareness of Kathakali.
In the performance they followed the story and at times you could hear a pin drop.’
Well done children - you’ve shown again what wonderful children we have at Chilthorne Domer Church School.
Yoga for Ash Class
8th October 2024
We enjoyed a yoga adventure with Paula. We had to create lots of shapes with our bodies to accompany the story. We were challenged to curl up small like a hedgehog and show off our spikes, we pretended to tumble from the tree like parrot and did a snake dance. We all had a lovely time creating all the special yoga moves and practising our breathing by blowing parrots feathers. What a fun adventure we had!
Beech and Maple Trip to the Fleet Air Arm Museum
3rd October 2024
We had lots of fun at the Fleet Air Arm museum to learn about the history of flight. It was amazing to see the differences between old and modern day planes. The children also enjoyed experiencing life on board a navy ship, seeing a flight deck, becoming pilots in the cockpit of a helicopter and getting the chance to be on concorde.
National 'Totally Awesome' Day
27th September 2024
Today is National TA day. A day designed to celebrate Teaching Assistants.
At Chilthorne Domer Church School, we call it National ‘Totally Awesome’ Day so we can celebrate all of our support staff from TAs, to office staff to lunch staff and everyone in between.
We celebrate this every year and thank our staff with a tea party at break time. This year, we had the added celebration of congratulating Mrs White on being nominated for National Teaching Assistant of the Year 2024.
The Mayor of Yeovil, Andy, joined us to say well done to Mrs White and all of our support staff - he even visited Willow Class to congratulate them on their support staff poetry and created an off the cuff poem about a koala.
Schools would not function without wonderful support staff so thank you to each and every one of them!
Year 1 Science
Wednesday September 11th 2024
Today we have been talking about all the different parts of the human body. We took our learning outside to draw around each other and then label as many as we could. We even drew around Mrs Burt!
The Best Thing About Being A Digital Leader Is...
23rd July 2024
Here are the children's favourite parts about being a Digital Leader this year.
Thank you so much to each and every one of you for being amazing this year. You have helped lead Online Safety across the school and I couldn't have done it without you.
Thank you,
Mrs Stradling
The Best Thing About Being A Digital Leader Is... (2024) (1).mp4
Year 6's pack school bags!
22nd July 2024
Year 6 visited School in a Bag HQ today to pack some bags before they leave us tomorrow. The rest will be packed by the other year groups in the new academic year.
House Morning Fun
18th July 2024
During our house morning this week, the children were given the theme of trees to create something magical using a device.
The results were some magical artwork created using their painting skills in Jit, as well as some amazing animations using Scratch on the Chrome books. In addition to this some of the children chose to use the Microbits to create a flashing tree!
Micro:bit Fun
Using Scratch to create animations
MIcro:bit Fun
Using Scratch to create animations.
Digital Leader Kahoot Quiz
16th July 2024
This term we created a Kahoot quiz for the children at Chilthorne Domer Church School to complete! This quiz helped the children and their parents learn about Online Safety and how to think about your actions! If you completed the quiz your child will receive a sweet treat! This was to encourage everyone to participate in the quiz!
We had over 70 participants, which was amazing and will help us with our teaching next year.
Isla,
Digital Leader
Walk for Africa
Monday 15th July 2024
A massive well done to each and every child and adult who walked today. It was wet, it was miserable and our feet were soggy but no one gave up. Some were beaten but many completed as many laps as were possible which took them close, if not to, the half marathon distance we were aiming for.
What's more, in total (up until 22nd July 2024), we have raised a whopping £4757 for School in a Bag and they will also get an additional £865.95 in Gift Aid. We absolutely smashed our 150 bag target and have funded 281 bags in total including the Gift Aid. A huge well done to Albie for being our biggest fundraiser!
Art: Ash Class Creating Meadows
12th July 2024
This week we used Brusho ink to make a sky and greenery scene. We then learnt how to print using bits of card and thicker paint to create a grass scene.
The next day, we used our observation skills whilst watching a video about meadows. We then used pencils and colouring pencils to enhance the pictures and make them come alive!
Maple Class July Observational Drawing
This afternoon we made the most of the dry weather and took our sketch books outside to put in to practise all that we have learnt about drawing what we can see.
Year 3 Science July 2024
This week we have been exploring and investigating the features and properties of different soils.
Maple Class Art Workshop
Monday 1st July 2024
Maple Class had a fantastic morning with Mrs Steele, exploring colour and different art mediums, such as watercolours, ink and charcoal. We also learnt how to look very carefully at our subject whilst drawing portraits. We made amazing progress throughout the morning and we are looking forward to sharing our masterpieces at the Art Exhibition very soon.
Oak Class Art Workshop
Monday 1st July 2024
Oak class had lots of fun creating repeating patterns with Mrs Steele on Monday. The children had to choose a muted colour palette to work with and think carefully about the shapes they were cutting out and how they should arrange them. Their designs were then rearranged to create the repeating pattern, which they could add to.
We look forward to sharing these with our families later this term at our Art Gallery.
London Residential 2024
For three days at the start of June, there was lots of excitement to be had! Year 5 and 6 went on a trip to London. We saw many of the famous sites around the majestic city.
On Day 1, we had a long bus trip with our bestie (aka Bus Driver) Glenn. First stop: The Natural History Museum. We saw skeletons and representations of all different animals from throughout the ages, with a few fun facts sprinkled in for good measure. We saw how a volcano erupted and even felt what it was like to be in a real earthquake.
We arrived at the hostel just in time to have a quick shower before dinner (the shower was interesting!). After dinner, Mrs Chesterton opened her sweet shop and then we went downstairs to do a quiz.
Day 2: we woke up and had some breakfast, it was a fry-up (yum!). First thing on the agenda was a boat trip down the River Thames; we saw the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. We docked at the port and walked over a bridge towards the London Eye – there were lots of musicians playing a variety of musical instruments.
Once we had queued, we hopped on the London Eye… literally, as it was still moving while we got on! We saw views of London that you could not see from the ground. We could see almost the whole of London from up there! Once we were back on solid ground, we had our lunch sat in a calm park, where we also saw other schools.
After lunch we headed to St Paul’s Cathedral, we learnt all about the history as we walked around the breathtakingly vast place of worship. There were several sets of steps which seemed to go on forever (we definitely reached our step count for the day!). However, when we finally reached the top we had another opportunity to take in the stunning views of London.
We headed back to the hostel for a very quick dinner before we had to head straight back on the bus to go to watch The Lion King, which was a stunning performance we will never forget, partly because the show was paused unexpectedly due to technical issues which made us feel very tense. Once the show finished, we were ready for bed – a lot of us were falling asleep on the bus back to the hostel.
On the final day, we woke up and had breakfast before heading off to the zoo for the final stop of our trip! We managed to see a variety animals – including monkeys, butterflies, giraffes, penguins and many more!
We were sad to leave London, but we had so much fun; even just the journey to each new destination was fun - filled with laughter, cheering, and singing with all our friends!
Harriet and Dexter
London Residential 2024
Online Safety Lesson: I am healthy
Friday 7th June 2024
Today in Ash Class, we did a survey and discussed what we like to do at home and at school. We thought about how we love to use devices and how they can be really helpful to find things out. We also shared the types of games that we like to play that are not online or device led e.g. playing board games, going out on visits, making and building and games we can play outside.
Using the balance scales, we talked about how it is important to have a balance between playing on a device and playing other activities. We used a red snap cube to symbolise an activity based on a device and then how we needed to fill the other bucket with lots of green activities that were not device based to balance it out. The children were great and said they could play a board game, go on a trampoline, help do chores like clean their rooms, as well as help prepare dinner to balance out just one time on a device.
To help us keep a healthy mind, we also decided that at home it would be good to have fixed times on devices or to use a visual timer like we do in school to have a limit on device / screen time.
Oak Class Art
Friday 24th May 2024
Oak have ended the half term by continuing to create their 'Cezanne inspired' still life art paintings. They are looking forward to sharing these with you at the end of next term!
Ever wondered what play times and lunchtimes look like at our school? Check out the photos below!
Thursday 23rd May 2024
Year 5 science morning - Forces
Wednesday 23rd May 2024
Year 5 had a brilliant morning learning all about forces - who wouldn't want to throw eggs out of the headteacher's office window? 3 out 6 survived!
Whole school STEM day with Leonardo
Tuesday 21st May 2024
This week we were very lucky to benefit from the expertise of some of the engineers from Leonardo. Together, we ran a day of activities and workshops where the children could learn all about what skills engineers need to have, as well as flying a helicopter simulator to rescue a person from the water, they took part in building bridges, cargo holders and paper propellers
We thank the Leonardo team for giving up their time and engaging the children in the world of engineering so brilliantly, and hopefully inspiring the next generation!
Oak Class Tennis at Martock Tennis Club
Monday 20th May 2024
Oak had a fantastic afternoon practicing the tennis skills they have learned this have term and competing for the title of 'class champion' at Martock Tennis Club today! The progress they have made is amazing and we were so impressed with their attitude and behaviour. Well done Oak Class - maybe there's a future Wimbledon Star amongst you!
Year 6 - more than SATs show!
Friday 17th May 2024
Our Year 6s were amazing during SATs week - they worked super hard and tried their best. The most important thing though is that they know they are more than the tests show!
Our amazing Year 6s!
Year 4 residential - Barton Hall
8th - 10th May 2024
Year 4 had a fabulous time at Barton Hall for their residential. The children have been superstars - polite, courteous, courageous, resilient, determined and as many other positive adjectives as you can think of!
We are so proud of how Year 4 have tackled everything this residential - they have showed so many amazing traits.
School council
Our school council have worked with their classes to create ideas for a play charter.
Year 3 Science
Wednesday 1st May
This week we are investigating the rate of root growth in cress seeds. We had to work together to set up our investigation and we will be observing closely to measure how much the roots grow each day.
Online Safety Summer Assembly: I am healthy
Week Commencing 22nd April 2024
On Monday the 22nd of April 2024 the Digital Leaders held an assembly based on the subject I am healthy. We looked at the power of the words YES and NO. We also looked at scenarios and thought about what advice we would give them and if they should do what their friends said to do.
Composed by Yasmin and Henry,
Digital Leaders
Year 4 Science
Wednesday 24th April
Year 4 are currently learning about states of matter, and have been investigating whether temperature and location affects the rate of evaporation. They created puddles around school in various sunny and shady spots and recorded how long it took for them to evaporate. The chosen head scientist for the day kept a close eye on proceedings, ensuring fair testing was being carried out!
Year 3 Science
Wednesday 24th April
Today we were observing different plants. We noticed many similarities and some differences. We learnt that each part of the plant has a specific function. We used a microscope to look closely at the roots of a plant.
Music in Maple Class
Tuesday 23rd April
This week we have been exploring different musical vocabulary. We learnt about the dynamics, timbre, pulse and tempo in music, and used instruments to tell an underwater story.
Celebrating Earth Day
Monday 22nd April 2024
Today we celebrated Earth Day across the school.
We learnt all about plastic and how it has a huge impact on the Earth. Our special challenge was to collect as much plastic from our homes as we could and to bring into school. It was amazing to see how much we actually use each day! We then used it to create some amazing masterpieces themed around the sea, which will go on display at the end of term in our art gallery!
An Exciting Arrival
Friday 19th April 2024
Can you guess what arrived at school this week?
The children are super excited to watch them grow and learn first hand about the lifecycle of a butterfly!
Online Safety Lessons
Friday 19th April 2024
During the first two weeks of term the children in each of the classes take part in an online safety lesson which is appropriate for their age.
This term’s theme is ‘I am healthy’.
Children are encouraged to make good choices online, as they would do offline. In addition to this, children are encouraged to think about the length of time they spend on devices and alternative activities they can do when they are not using them.
Spiral Art Work in Ash Class
Thursday 18th April 2024
Ash Class have been exploring spirals today in their Expressive Arts and Design session. They began by making a tiny dot on their paper and then used their hands and arms to make the spiral move outwards, whilst listening to calming classical music.
At the end of our session, the children walked around their art work in their own art gallery.
Maple Class - Yoga
Wednesday 17th April 2024
Maple Class were excited to have their first yoga session this half term, with Paula. The children met a polar bear who was very sad and they thought about how a straight posture can help them to feel happy. Our yoga adventure helped Spark (the teddy) to cheer up polar bear. The children were taught how do different breathing techniques: 'bee breath' and 'ocean breath' The children were able to move their bodies into different yoga positions as they all went on the yoga adventure together.
Oak Class dives into our CREATE term
Monday 15th April 2024
Oak class have kicked off the term with an afternoon looking at the work of post-impressionist French painter Paul Cezanne, in preparation for the still life projects they will embarking on shortly. The enthusiasm from the pupils was lovely to see and they were very observant art critics!
Chicks Arrive in Ash Class
Saturday 30th March 2024
Ash Class have had another wonderful experience this week. They have been lucky enough to watch eggs in an incubator hatch into chicks, right in front of their very own eyes.
The excitement that this created was wonderful. A huge thank you to our Chair of Governors and his wife for creating this opportunity for the children. The chicks are now safely back in the countryside ready to grow.
Top Online Safety tips to stay safe over Easter
Friday 29th March 2024
Florence and Yasmin, our Digital Leaders have created a special Online Safety message to share their 'Top tips on how to stay safe over Easter.'
Both children and adults are more likely to be on their devices over the Easter holidays so these top tips will be a helpful reminder about staying safe.
Thank you, Florence and Yasmin.
Online Safety Assembly: Safe and Secure - Viruses
Thursday 28th March 2024
A message from our Digital Leaders, Alba and Isla:
Today we gave an assembly about being safe and secure online, with a focus on viruses. We watched a video about how a person called Jack clicked on a link which said it was from one of his family members. His computer then got a virus!
We talked about how we stay safe online and we should not press random links that pop up in an email, video or a game.
If a link pops up on your screen you must not press on it because it can cause problems and the person that gave you the link could even get on your bank account and steal money. We hope that the children learn to never press on a button that they don't know what it is!
Our Easter Church Service
Wednesday 27th March 2024
Today we came together for a lovely Easter service in our special St Mary's Church.
Lots of the children demonstrated courage and confidence whilst reading parts of the Easter story aloud for everyone to hear. Below are just a few of the highlights.
In addition to this, all of the children filled the church with their beautiful singing in celebration.
Ash Class learning about now and in the past
Monday 25th March 2024
Ash class children have been learning about significant people in our lifetime. To begin with they learnt all about King Charles III who is our monarch now. Coincidently, we received this framed picture of King Charles (along with every school in the country) to hang in our school which helped us see how important he is.
Afterwards, the children learnt about Queen Elizabeth II and how she is a monarch from our past. (In the Early Years, everything that has happened before now is thought about as the past.)
It was interesting to compare both of their coronations and identify how life has changed over time.
The final cross country race of the season
Wednesday 20th March 2024
A big well done to all of our runners, finishers and medal winners from this cross country season. It's been another great year for Chilthorne runners and we are proud of you all! Some will race again in the area cross country and we wish those runners the best of luck!
Judaism Faith Week
Week beginning 18th March 2024
This week we have been spending some time being faith detectives and learning more about Judaism. We started off by thinking about how we are all different and how people have different beliefs. We were also fortunate to have some class workshops led by Lynda from the Bournemouth Jewish Community. Lynda was a font of knowledge teaching us so much about Judaism. We learnt about where some Jewish people go to worship, we were able to handle Jewish artefacts and looked at some of the clothes Jews wear in the synagogue. The children were able to extend and be creative with their learning in the classroom. Some of the activities the children were able to take part in were the making of Torah scrolls, decorating a Star of David and the younger children were able to make a synagogue using different construction materials. The children also listened to stories from the Talmud and they looked at the meaning behind them.
Learning Jewish Songs with Lynda
WE ARE HISTORIANS!
Tuesday 19th March 2024
Over the last term Oak and Willow have become Historians and learnt all about the Stone Age, Iron age and most recently... the Roman Empire and the invasion of Britain. We were lucky enough to have been able to take a step back in time by visiting a re-imagined Roman Villa; 'Villa Ventorum" at the Newt and... what a truly memorable experience!
"It was like going back in time" Harriet
"It was almost like we were there!" Yas
"It was a whole new experience" Freddie
"It was fun but educational" Ethan
"It gave me a sense of power!" Poppy
"I started to feel like a Roman!" Dexter
Red Nose Day
Thursday 14th March 2024
The children had great fun doing something funny for money in aid of Red Nose Day. Children and staff came to school with crazy hair and children entered a joke competition - well done to everyone, a fabulous effort!
Ash Class Visiting Lambs
Ash Class were extremely lucky to venture out on a welly walk to visit some ewes and their lambs this morning. Our Chair of Governors always provides this first hand experience for our children and we are so very grateful.
Congratulations!
8th March 2024
The school have received a lovely letter from our local MP, Marcus Fysh, congratulating us on achieving Platinum Status in the school Games Mark. See the letter below!
Book Week - including World Book Day
4th March 2024
A big thanks to Mrs Bond and all the staff involved in Book Week this week. The children have had various activities to enjoy including Bedtime Stories last night and dressing up today. Check out the photos below!
Maths in Maple - finding half of odd numbers
Planting
This week the children in Ash Class have begun to look at the different parts of a plant e.g. roots, stem, leaves, petals and seeds. They also had the chance to plant some sunflowers!
Building Houses for the Three Little Pigs
The children in Ash Class have been learning about the traditional tale 'The Three Little Pigs.' As part of their learning, they had the challenge to visit the forest area and try to build a house for the pigs to live in. They had so much fun!
Ash Wednesday Service
Mrs Batstone kindly came to school to deliver our Ash Wednesday service due to the poor weather. It was a lovely service and she discussed how at this time of year the decorations in church have a purple theme just like we have over our fire place.
The Key Stage 2 children did some wonderful readings and we all sang hymns together.
As we left the hall, Mrs Batstone kindly placed a cross on our foreheads (if we wished this to happen) and said a blessing to each and every one of us.
Our Safer Internet Day Pledges - This Safer Internet Day I will...
This week all of the children across the school had the challenge to complete the Safer Internet Day signpost posters. Each child carefully thought about how they use the internet and how they could make positive changes in the future.
Some of the children thought about:
Being yourself. Don't try to be someone you are not!
Keeping your personal information private.
Remembering to be kind when messaging.
Knowing who you can talk to if something happens e.g. Mum please help me.
Remembering not to click on advertisements.
Understanding you can report or block people.
Knowing that you can turn off your device.
Message from Flossie our Digital Leader:
During the week of the 5th of February, we celebrated Safer Internet Day by having assemblies for EYFS/KS1 and KS2. We looked at how to stay safe online and what to do when something happens. In the assemblies, the children found it funny how old computers looked! For the challenge we asked the children to design sign posts about how to make positive changes online for the future .
Pancake Celebrations in Ash Class
The children in Ash Class had a wonderful time designing a pancake topping of their choice before using the ingredients to make their design come to life!
Safer Internet Day 2024
Our Digital Leaders have made us very proud recently by learning their assembly scripts and then delivering two wonderful assemblies this week. KS2 celebrated yesterday with the Digital Leaders and EYFS along with KS1 celebrated today.
Throughout the week, the children will be creating their own signposts about how to make positive changes online and we can not wait to see them.
Safer Internet Day 2024
We are excited to let you know that on Tuesday 6th February 2024 we will be celebrating Safer Internet Day, which is also celebrated across the world! At our school we are going to be doing assemblies for all year groups, teaching them how to be safe online. This year's theme is:
Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online.
So we are excited to welcome all students and teachers to celebrate it with your Digital Leaders.
Your Digital Leaders,
Harriet and Yasmin
Age Rating for WhatsApp
Age Rating for Discord
Age Rating for TikTok
The Digital Leaders have been thinking carefully about the apps that children in school may use and how important it is that we realise what the recommended age restrictions for these are.
Santa sent his Wildcat to see us!
11th December 2023
The children loved seeing the helicopter arrive and land before telling the elves what they’d like for Christmas and watching it fly away again. A massive thank you to RNAS Yeovilton for arranging this for us. What a lovely treat!
The Great Christmas Bake Off
11th December 2023
What are marvellous show of bakes this morning. Choosing star bakers was a very tricky task with many worthy winners!
Our break time sale raised a brilliant £140.45 so we have already raised enough to change 7 children’s lives. Thank you.
Christmas Cafe
10th December 2023
A big well done and thank you to the choir and Mrs Bond who came to the village Christmas cafe and sang beautifully on Sunday 10th December. You were wonderful!
Staying Safe Online Over Christmas
I am very proud to share that our fabulous Digital Leaders chose to use their last session of the year to make posters, independently about how to keep everyone safe online over the Christmas holidays.
Please visit our school eSafety page and Facebook page for further posters made by the children:
https://www.facebook.com/ChilthorneDomerChurchSchool/
https://www.chilthornedomerchurchschool.co.uk/e-safety/
Best wishes,
Mrs Stradling
School in a Bag Visit - Friday 8th December 2023
Luke from School in a Bag came to see us today to tell us all about our school charity of the year.
We’ll be doing various fundraising events between now and the summer with our first being our Great Christmas Bake Off on Monday. A Star Baker will be chosen from each year group and the money raised from the cake sale will go straight in to our SIAB pot. Don’t forget your bakes and money for break time treats!
The children have decided our target for the year is to pack 150 bags. Can we do it? Yes we can!
Christingle Service 7th December 2023
We were very lucky to have the wonderful Mrs Batstone in school with us today, leading our magical Christingle service.
Age Ratings for Games and Apps
A message from your Digital Leaders Olivia and Harriet:
Did you know that there are recommendations for you to only watch programmes and play games that are suitable for age? Most apps and programmes have age limits so you know what you can play\watch. PEGI rating (Pan European Game Information) is a guide to show you and your guardians / parents’ what games are suitable for you to watch/play on. PEGI rating is the minimum age you can be to download and play the game, programme or app. They put PEGI ratings to keep you safe.
The different symbols are 3+ that means it's for all ages and 7+ means all people 7 plus can play. Next you have 12+ so all 12 year olds and up can play, this is because there may be violence. Another is 16+, and finally 18+ means no children should be using 18+. So always look at an age limit before you buy or download a game. Stay safe online!
Christmas Trees by Construction Club
This week in Construction Club, the children had the challenge to use the construction materials to create their very own Christmas trees. They were very creative in their designs and came up with these masterpieces!
Being Kind and Responsible: Copyrights and Copywrongs! 23rd November 2023
In assembly today I saw the Digital Leaders talking about being kind and responsible. They focused on the copyright theme. They read out a scenario and children had to put their thumbs up, in the middle or down, depending on how they felt. Some of us thought we needed to ask for more information. They said that if you saw your friends work and copied it all and said it was your work you would be stealing it. This is called plagiarism. You need to ask first for their permission and only take ideas from it. Then it is important to acknowledge that it is their work. On the internet when you are copying/downloading a picture you need to make sure you have permission to go on websites that have pictures that allow you to use them.
Your Digital Leader,
Alba
Children in Need
17th November 2023
We did it! We completed our RunPudsey and between the 73 registered participants, we are close to raising £2800. Wow!
Every child ran today and did so marvellously. A big well down to everyone and to all the donators - thank you!
You can see our current total here! https://www.runpudsey.co.uk/school/chilthorne-domer-church-school
Remembrance
10th November 2023
Armistice Day has been recognised across the school again this year. Below are some photos of wonderful poetry based on the short film, 'The Piano' that Willow class have been working on.
You'll also find photos and videos from our service. A special thanks to the children who led the service and to Mrs Carter and her band mates Barry and Dave for playing the bugles before and after our 2 minutes silence. It really was special.
Loom Bands fund School Bags!
3rd November 2023
During the summer term, a group of Year 5 girls made and sold loom bands to the school community. They wanted to raise money for the school’s Opal Play provision and for our local charity School in a Bag.
The girls made a fantastic £83 and today we went down to School in a Bag HQ to pack their 2 funded bags and another 3 for good measure. Once packed, these bags were loaded straight on to the van and will be starting their journey to the Ukraine today.
Well done for all your hard work girls and for thinking of others whilst you were at it. We’re very proud of your thoughtfulness and compassion!
Shoe Box Appeal
1st November 2023
Once again this year our families and community have supported the shoe box appeal. In total we have filled 22 shoe boxes that will travel to children less fortunate than ourselves. How lovely to know that by filling these boxes, we have ensured 22 children will get a Christmas present this year. Thank you to everyone who helped achieve that!
Family Service
22nd October 2023
A big well done to all our the children who represented our school at the most recent family service. They read prayers for the world, our family and friends, our community, our church schools, the sick and those mourning.
Harry Potter Book Day - Oak Class
Oak class wizards had a great time last week celebrating Harry Potter Book Day. We took part in a virtual lesson with Luna Lovegood, who helped us write fabulous magical setting descriptions. Then we learned to draw magical settings like Hogwarts Castle and learned how to cast spells, with a lesson from a Hogwarts professor! We flew broomsticks in PE to round off the day.
OAK CLASS TRIP
Oak Class enjoyed their trip to Coates Willow and Wetlands Centre last week, exploring the Somerset Levels as part of their Geography learning, They have developed a greater understanding of what makes the levels unique and how they are managed. They had a go at making willow stars and sketching with charcoal made from the willow grown at the centre.
A great day was had by all!
SIAMS Parental Survey
September 2023
As a church school, we need to include different elements in our curriculum, details of which can be found under the SIAMS and Christian Values tabs on our website.
In September we sent a survey to our parents to gather their options on how the school manages the religious aspect of our curriculum. The full results will be available on our website soon, but below are the results of the last question which was: ‘The best 3 things about the school from my point of view are…’ and we cannot agree more!
Harvest Festival
4th October 2023
Today we celebrated our Harvest Festival with Mrs Batestone at the church. We all enjoyed a wonderful walk down to the church and then gave our harvest offerings, which will be going to the Lord's Larder. The Lord's Larder is a local 'bank' of non-perishable in life ambient food operated by volunteers from churches in and around Yeovil.
Afterwards, we sang 'Who Put the Colours in the Rainbow?', 'We Plough the Fields and Scatter' and 'Cauliflowers Fluffy' in celebration, along with the choir singing 'The Harvest Samba'.
Willow class gave some lovely readings, along with Mrs Batestone who also led some special harvest prayers and blessings.
Our New Digital Leaders
September is the time of year when our Year 6 children can apply to be the new Digital Leaders and yet again we have had some amazing applications. We are very proud to announce that the children below were all successful and will now work alongside Mrs Stradling with our online safety and computing needs. See if you can spot them as you walk around the school. They will all be wearing a special Digital Leader badge to help you recognise them.
Willow Poetry
15th September 2023
Following one of their RE lessons, Willow Class wrote some beautiful poems. Enjoy them below!
2023-24 House Captains
15th September 2023
Congratulations to our House and Vice Captains as voted for by their peers!
2023-24 School Counillors
15th September 2023
Congratulation to this year's successful school council members!
Roald Dahl Day
13th October 2023
Wednesday saw an awful lot of naughty school children and one grumpy Trunchbull!
Everyone had a great day followed by 10 lucky children finding Golden Tickets in their Wonka bars. Thanks to the PTA for organising the Wonka Bar sale and the Golden ticket prizes!
A busy first week of sport!
Week beginning 11th September 2023
It may only be the first week but the footballers and netballers have been out and had a great time! Watch this sapce for new football kits - they're going to look good!
The Best Thing About Being a Digital Leader - July 2023
Here is a little video of some of the things that our Digital Leaders have enjoyed doing in their special roles this year. A huge thank you from Mrs Stradling for their dedication, enthusiasm and commitment to making this year so successful!
360 Degree Online Safety Mark Pass 'With Flying Colours'
We are SO excited to share that after a visit from one of the 360 degree assessors we have achieved our 360 Degree Online Safety Mark 'with flying colours'. The assessor spent time throughout the morning, talking to the Senior Leadership Team, the Digital Leaders, representatives from each of our classes, class teachers, teaching assistants, governors and parents. This was to check that our Online Safety aims and values are lived out every day and this is exactly what they found.
A big part of the process is all the work that the fabulous Digital Leaders do. They meet with Mrs Stradling every Thursday during lunch time and are never shy of the next challenge that they are faced with. Below is a picture of all of the Digital Leaders celebrating the exciting news that we have achieved our Online Safety Mark.
Science Week 2023
All the classes have taken part in a science workshop with Forensic Frank from Fun Science, where they had lots of fun!
Each class has also carried out a variety of investigations. For example, Maple Class spent the morning investigating which type of biscuit makes the best "dunker"! The children had to plan their investigation, carry it out and then present their findings to the class. There were some surprises but they all agreed that the biscuits were yummy!
Creating Prints of Natural Objects in Ash Class
In Art, we have been learning all about different types of print and how we can layer our work to create different effects. Recently, we used a range of wax crayons to make rubbings of different natural objects like shells, bark and leaves. We then used our cutting skills to cut around the rubbings in different ways, before mounting them onto black sugar paper to create our own compositions. The results were wonderful!
Digital Leader Summer Assembly: Making Comments
Today the Digital Leaders led an assembly about making comments. We looked at a picture of a beach and another of some 'friends' at a wedding, discussing what we might say about them. We discussed positive comments made online about the pictures but how one negative comment made can over ride all of these positive comments for those who are sharing the pictures.
During this time, we talked about how when posting information on various platforms, we need to think about who may see our posts. Even if we post on platforms where we choose who can see our information, someone could easily screenshot or take a photograph of our post and share it with others, who we may not know.
Children were reminded of the importance to TELL someone if they are worried and how those people can then support them at home or in school.
Digital Leaders Reaching Out to Our Community
This term, the Digital Leaders have been very busy writing letters to all of our wonderful feeder nurseries and pre-school settings. Their challenge has been to share our fabulous Building Habits posters with each setting and to explain how to use them successfully to encourage their children to be safe online when using a device.
Each of the children wrote a letter and these were sent out to the nurseries. Please see a couple of letters from the children below.
Ash Class composing music for Traditional Stories
In our music sessions we have been thinking about adding sounds to go with traditional stories. We have used our voices to add sounds to Goldilocks and The Three Bears and The Snow Queen and Little Red Riding Hood. Then we used different percussion instruments to add sounds to show the different characters in the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We had to decide whether it was a happy, sad or a scary part. We used tempo, dynamics and timbre to try to create different elements across the story.
Ash Class exploring God's World
In RE we listened to the story of Creation. We thought about how God wants us to care for all the wonderful things he has made. We then went outside with magnifying glasses, microscopes and binoculars to look at God's Creation close up. During our exploring we found a poorly bee, we talked about how we could try to help him by giving him some sugary water. Mrs Turner mixed sugar and water together and we placed some on a leaf for the bee to have. We are hoping he gets better and will have the strength to fly off.
Learning about The Great Fire of London
To help us with our understanding of the Great Fire of London and what people might have heard, seen, felt and smelt, Miss Dare kindly lit a fire in the fire pit. We talked about why we might use wood to get the fire going and we saw how quickly it burnt, just like the wooden houses in 1666. We then saw how the flames were rising and were spreading across the fire pit as the wind blew. This helped us to understand how the fire would have set the houses next to them alight. Next, you thought about words to describe the fire by using your senses. This will help our writing later in the week. Of course we couldn't have a fire pit without toasting marshmallows!
Ash and Beech Class Trip to Magdalen Farm - Thursday 29th June 2023
The children had a magical time visiting Magdalen Farm where they were given the opportunity to do such a wide range of activities including:
Pond dipping
Looking for caterpillars in the willow dome den.
Pretending to be deer and listening to sounds around us.
Creating art with nature.
Making potions in the courtyard garden.
The day was full of happiness and fresh air. It was so much fun that on the bus journey home there were a couple of children fast asleep. All of the children were super stars and their behaviour was wonderful.
Sports Day - Friday 23rd June 2023
The children had a wonderful sports day in the sunshine today. EYFS and KS1 children took part in a range of field activities within their house teams, whilst KS2 children had their track events. This followed with EYFS and KS1 children completing their track events whilst KS2 children took part in their field activities. Each team demonstrated great sportsmanship and the house captains and vice captains did a marvelous job of leading their teams. Congratulations to the winning house - BLAKE!
Afterwards, the children competed in the long distance track running event around the recreation ground and a house tug of war for each year group, where each house team pulled on a different rope. There was even some time for toddler, parent and teacher races with an eventful parent tug of war at the end.
Technology Open Classroom Event - Wednesday 7th June 2023
Today we invited all of our parents and carers to our Technology Open Classroom Event. The children really enjoyed sharing their learning with their families and it was lovely to watch the level of engagement between them all.
In Ash and Beech Classes, the children shared their knowledge of programming Blue-Bots, using Jit5 to paint a picture and add text, as well as programming on Jit5.
During the Key Stage 2 learning, Maple, Oak and Willow Classes shared their knowledge of programming using Scratch and using Micro:Bits.
Between the sessions, Mrs Stradling delivered a presentation about Online Safety that included information about recent statistics, what we do at Chilthorne Domer Church School in regards to Online Safety and how parents and carers can help their children at home e.g. using the eLIM Building Habits posters. During the session, we emphasised the importance of TALKING to your child and having positive conversations. The more we talk about things, the more our children will share things with us, which in turn will allow us to protect them.
In the event that your child comes across someone asking to share inappropriate material or requests to meet them in person, please REPORT this to advisors at either:
Child Exploitation and Online Protection
or
Internet Watch Foundation
The session finished by reminding everyone to TALK and to ALWAYS BE KIND.
We had such a positive morning and look forward to hosting another similar event.
Athletics Event - 6th June 2023
Today a range of children in KS2 had the opportunity to represent the school in a range of athletic events. It was lovely to see the children take pride in their sport as well as showing respect and sportsmanship for their peers.
An Update from the Digital Leaders - Staying Healthy: Self Image 25th May 2023
Hello,
We are some of the Digital Leaders at Chilthorne Domer Church School. During this half term on the 25th May 2023, the Digital Leaders led an assembly in front of the whole school about Staying Healthy. This focused on Self Image.
We began the assembly by looking at photos and discussing what we could see was the same about the people in them and what was also different about them. Afterwards, we looked at how we can be good at different things, which our image might not tell us e.g. being good at reading, being a great mathematician or a wonderful listener.
As part of this discussion, we then spoke about how it is important to not always believe what you see online, as often this it is not real. When we see an image, that is all we see and do not really know or understand what is actually going on in that person’s life. Although they may appear pretty or handsome they have probably used lots of filters on the picture or video that they have posted. We do not know if they are genuinely happy or not.
To finish the assembly, we focused on talking about how important it is to believe in yourself and how to remember how amazing you are.
Thank you for listening,
The Digital Leaders.
If you are ever worried about someone or something, it is always important to talk to someone about it. To help your family stay safe online, the NSPCC have some helpful tips that you can follow to keep your child safe online.
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
Maple Class visit to Nine Springs - 22nd May 2023
Willow Class Visit to Shepton Mallet Prison - Thursday 18th May 2023
Willow Class enjoyed a visit to Shepton Mallet Prison today where they were able to learn all about what it would be like to be a prisoner.
Ascension Day Service - Wednesday 17th May 2023
Today we enjoyed a lovely walk to church where we could hear the church bells ringing as we reached the entrance. Mrs Batstone led a lovely service with some special words about Ascension Day and how this was Jesus travelling up above us so that he is always around us. Mrs Batstone reminded us of the candle that we lit at Easter and explained that it has been 40 days since this time and how it is now time to put it out and watch the smoke lift up around us, like Jesus did. Everyone sang some of our traditional hymns beautifully in church like Lord of the Dance and Shine Jesus Shine. To finish the service, children from each class read some special prayers.
As we left the church, we gathered in the church grounds and Mrs Batstone gave each year group some special balloons. Children then took it in turns to cut the ribbon and watch the balloons ascend up into the sky, just like Jesus did.
A Visit from the Fire Department - Friday 28th April 2023
Today each class were very lucky to have a visit from Lee who was from the fire service. He talked to us about how to keep safe and who we could contact if we rang 999.
Lee talked to us about smoke alarms and how important it is to have one at the bottom of your stairs and one upstairs. He also explained how smoke alarms have a nose that can smell smoke and smoke rises, which tells us when there is a fire. Our smoke alarms should be tested once a week.
Afterwards, we learnt what to do if our clothes caught on fire. Lee taught us to ‘Stop, drop and roll’.
Stop = Stop moving otherwise the fire grows quickly.
Drop = Drop to the floor.
Roll = Roll like a pencil across the floor, back and forth to out the fire out.
Lee then brought his fire equipment in. He showed us his special fabric leggings that were attached to his boots, followed by his tunic and helmet.
Finally we went out to see the fire van, where Lee put the flashing lights and siren on for us. It was an exciting morning!
Watching with excitement!
Monday 20th March 2023
The Digital Leaders led their Spring assembly to the whole school about being Safe and Secure. They shared examples of emails and discussed whether or not they should respond to them. Afterwards, they shared part of the video about Kim and Lee playing a game online and invited the children to think about what they should do at different points. Later on the children watched the rest of the video in their classes, which looked at how you can never be sure about who is behind an avatar.
If you would like to watch the video, please follow the link below:
Wednesday 8th March 2023
Today, Ash Class were very lucky and got to visit Mr and Mrs Luscombe's farm to meet some new born lambs. The lambs have only been in the world for 2 weeks. We were extremely lucky that we had the opportunity to stroke one of the lambs that is a triplet. It was made extra special by walking in the snow!
Monday 6th March - Willow Class Community Visit
This afternoon, Willow Class paid a visit to the village hall to chat to some memebers of the community and take part in the pop-up sports that take place every Monday afternoon. It was a great chance to meet some new people and have fun!
Thursday 2nd March - World Book Day
We are so impressed with all of the wonderful costumes everyone has worn into school today! Thank you to everyone who has supported this - the children have had a lovely day celebrating their love of books and reading. Happy World Book Day!
Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd March 2023 - Sports
A big well done to all children who represented the school at the girls football and cross country this week. As always, you behaved impeccably and tried your hardest - we are very proud!
A big well done to the following children for coming in the top 10 in the age group cross country race:
- Evie
- Gracie
- Olivia
- Harriet
Friday 24th February 2023 - Pausing for the Ukraine
On Friday, we gathered on the playground at 11am to mark the one year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine. After the minute silence, a poem, written by Mrs Bond, was read out. Thank you Mrs Bond for writing such a thoughtful poem.
A poem for the Ukraine
Written by Mrs Bond
A year has passed since the war began
Since innocent children and families ran
From their beloved country in to the unknown
Leaving behind the place they call home
Love and courage has kept them strong
Soldiers don’t quit and still march on
As your neighbour we welcome you with love and hope
Teamed with compassion to try and help you cope
The war is not over, but together we will persevere
With hope in our hearts, a smile and a tear
Ukraine have hope, you’re truly not alone
One day soon… We will get you home.
Wednesday 22nd February - Athlete Visit
This afternoon, we welcomed athlete Rich Parker to the school to take us through a sponsored exercise event. The children worked really hard and werre worn out by the end of the activities! You all did a great job!
Wednesday 22nd February - Ash Wednesday Service
The whole school walked to church this morning to take part in an Ash Wednesday service to mark the start of Lent.
Wednesday 22nd February - Parent Open Morning
This morning we all opened up our classes and invited parents in to learn with us! Everyone had a wonderful time sharing the learning with family members. Thank you to everyone who was able to join us.
Tuesday 21st February - Shrove Tuesday
In Willow Class, we remembered the reason why we make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. We even made our own which were delicious!
Tuesday 7th February - Safer Internet Day
This week started with our Digital Leaders delivering assemblies to children across the school to celebrate Safer Internet Day.
This year's focus is 'Want To Talk About It? Making Space For Conversations About Life.'
All the children across the school have been participating in activities to help them understand the benefits of technology and the internet, as well as what to do if they come across a problem and need help.
To find out more you can visit our E-Safety page and our Safer Internet Day page:
Friday 27th January 2023 - Mrs Chesterton's Tea Party
There was a super tea party this afternoon for children who have shown consistent and excellent behaviour, attitude towards learning and respect. They were treated to special cakes baked by Mrs Chesterton! Everyone had a wonderful time!
Ash Class Exploring the Church and Taking Part in a Baptism
After exploring our church, Mrs Batstone invited Ash Class to sit in the pews at the back of the church near the font. She explained that we were going to learn about how people are baptised and the different ages you can do this. Then Mrs Batstone explained that we were going to baptise a baby (doll) today so that we would understand the importance and structure of a baptism service.
First, we chose a Mummy and a Daddy who got to hold the baby in a special white baptism gown near the font. Mrs Batstone explained that she had made this gown and everyone in her family had worn it for their baptisms. We then chose 3 God parents who would help Rosie make good choices in life.
Mrs Batstone read out her special words and as a congregation we all joined in to say the special words 'With the help of God we will' to guide Rosie. Mrs Batstone then used a special oil to place a cross on Rosie's head and later on used a mother of pearl shell to place some Holy water over her head.
After more of the special service, Mrs Batstone lit a special candle for Rosie using the large special candle to welcome her into the church family.
At the end of the service we all joined together to say the Lord's Prayer.
It was such a wonderful experience for all of the children. We are very grateful to Mrs Batstone for making this experience possible.
Thursday 19th January 2023 - Willow Class visit to St Mary's Church
Willow Class had the privelidge of visitng Mrs Batstone at the church this afternoon. During their visit, they explored the different areas in the church and discussed the important objects found there. Willow Class asked Mrs Batstone a range of questions and listened really carefully to the information they discovered. They finished their time at the church with some moments of quiet reflection and prayers.
Monday 9th Jaunary 2023 - Fencing and Cheerleading Trial
The children were very excited to take part in some fencing and cheerleading today. During their fencing session, they learnt how to stand and move as well as some of the special terms used in fencing. In cheerleading, children learnt some movement patterns along with some chants, as well as using poms poms throughout! Fun was had by all!
Santa Visit
Carol Service in St. Mary's Church
Today we celebrated Christmas with our Carol Service in St. Mary's Church. We listened to children across the classes give readings and sang some wonderful Christmas hymns and songs.
As part of the service, the third purple candle on the advent wreath was lit for the third Sunday of advent. We also learnt about how the pink candle represents joy and the white candle represents the light of Jesus, which never fades.
At the end of the service, Mrs Battestone shared a special cake with the school. This was after she spoke to the school council in a recent meeting and they thought it was important to celebrate Jesus' birthday with a birthday cake. Mrs Battestone lit the candle and we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Once back at school, every child was able to have a cupcake made by Mrs Battestone to celebrate, which everyone was very excited about.
Digital Leaders Assembly: I am Kind and Responsible
The Digital Leaders delivered an assembly to the whole school about how to be Kind and Responsible online. They shared our Building Habits posters that can be seen around school and talked specifically about 3 of the main things to remember when using a device online:
ASK - Always ask an adult before you use a device.
TELL - Tell an adult what you are using and if you find something that upsets / distresses you.
CHECK - Make sure you check that an adult can see you and you can see them, when using a device.
If you would like to watch the video that the Digital Leaders shared with the pupils about how to be kind and responsible online, please follow the following link:
Christingle Service 2022
The children enjoyed celebrating Christingle in St. Mary's Church this week. They listened carefully to Mrs Battestone and watched in awe as she lit the first candle of advent.
It was lovely to see our Year 6 children feeling proud whilst reading to the rest of the school in church. All of the children held their Christingles during the service and focused on the light.
We remembered the symbols of the Chrisitngle as:
The orange to represent the world.
The red ribbon to represent Jesus' love or blood.
The 4 sticks to represent the seasons.
The sweets to represent God's fruit and creations.
The candle to represent the light in the darkness.
All children enjoyed singing our special Christingle hymns, including 'This Little Light of Mine'.
Online Safety Survey
November 2022
The Digital Leaders have been busy carrying out an online safety survey across EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Lower Key Stage 2 during the last week, whilst the upper Key Stage 2 classes have independently completed the survey using their Google accounts. The survey is being completed by all of our children to identify the areas of online safety that they are confident with and areas that we can support the children with during the year.
As always, the Digital Leaders have taken pride in their role, using wonderful communication skills with the children they are working with.
The Mock Trial Competition 2022
16th November
On Tuesday 15th November, the Year 6 pupils in Willow Class travelled to Perrott Hill School to take part in this year's Mock Trial Competition. In preparation, they had a visit from the Magistrate, Mary Ellis who explained her role as a magistrate and how a Magistrate's Court worked. During the build-up, everyone chose their role, ranging from court reporters and artists, to witnesses, photographers, solicitors and magistrates. This year our team included Leigh Smedley who had been accused of a fly-tipping offence. As our job was to prove that Leigh was not guilty, it was a big challenge to think of as many questions as possible to support the defendant and challenge the prosecutors! Everyone did a fantastic job, showing how confident and quick-thinking they could be and at the end of the trial, Leigh was found not guilty! Overall, we came 4th out of 6 schools. Well done everyone, we are very proud of your achievements!
Armistice Day 2022
11th November 2022
We held a lovely service this morning to remember today all of the sacrifices that were made in all of our yesterdays.
Willow Class lead our service and read wonderfully throughout. The whole school sang a beautiful version of In Flanders Fields and we had the wonderful Mrs Carter, David and Nigel who played the Last Post to start our 2 minutes silence. They then played their bugles again to finish the silence with Reveille. A huge thank you to the tree of them for playing at our service.
Below you will find some videos (when we can upload them!) and photos of our service. Thank you to all those who joined us and to those who wore their military uniform and medals.
The Christmas Shoebox Appeal
3rd November 2022
Thank you all for your Shoebox contributions. Together we made 11 Christmas boxes with plenty of other bits that will go towards making further boxes. 🎁
The school council dropped these of earlier so they’ll start their journey on Monday morning to some very grateful children. 👦 👧
'Why We Remember' house day
2nd November 2022
We had a lovely day in school yesterday starting with our sharing assembly. Each class shared some of their learning from the term so far all around why we remember. Thank you too all the visitors that braved the weather to share our learning with us.
Classes then split in to houses and spent the day taking part in activities that linked to the past. We also spent time thinking about remembrance.
Our New Digital Leaders
All of these smiling children worked extremely hard on their applications to be a Digital Leader and now they will work alongside Mrs Stradling with our online safety and computing needs. See if you can spot them as you walk around the school. They will all be wearing a special Digital Leader badge to help you recognise them.
Nothe Fort - Key Stage 2
September and October 2022
Over the last 2 weeks, each of the Key Stage 2 classes have been lucky enough to visit Nothe Fort in Weymouth. The children made a fantastic effort and dressed up as evacuees, ready for an immersive day to experience what life was like during World War 2.
We learnt in a WW2 classroom; some of us even got detention (the Headteacher was pretty terrifying), we visited a shop and learnt about rationing; we were particularly shocked about the lack of cheese they had each week! We had the chance to have a go at the washing in a kitchen and learnt that they only did their washing on a Monday and a bath on Friday- they all had to share the water!
A particularly nerve-wracking experience was sitting in the air-raid shelter while the siren went off and bombs were dropped!
We had a brilliant day and will be using our experience to support our learning back at school.
Maple Class Photos
Some pictures of Oak class
Cross Country Race 1 - Yeovil Rugby Club
28th September 2022
A fabulous 28 children signed up for the first cross country race of the season - this is an amazing 20% of our school!
The weather was mostly kind to us - the small bit of rain produced beautiful rainbows - but most importantly, the children ran wonderfully!
We still await the final results but a big congratulations to Taylor who came 9th in the Year 2/3 boys race and Harriet who came 1st in the Year 5/6 girls race.
All of our runners were amazing and tried hard. Well done to each and every one of you!
School Council 2022-2023
Friday 23rd September 2022
Congratulations to the following children who have been voted as school council members by their peers:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
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House and Vice House Captains 2022-2023
Friday 9th September 2022
Congratulations to all of the children who made a speech in front of their houses in a bid to become house captain. You were all amazing and brave to put yourself forward!
A big well done to the following children who were voted at House and Vice captains:
| Blake | Coleridge | Shelley | Wordsworth |
House Captain - Lilia Vice Captain - Chloe | House Captain - Kyla Vice Captain - Aiden | House Captain - Holly Vice Captain - Ellie | House Captain - Kaden Vice Captain - Sam |
Five Bears - Whole School Shared Text
5th - 9th September 2022
We all started off the new term with a whole school shared text. All classes took part in a bear hunt, collecting facts and paw prints as well as a variety of activities in classes, ranging from English to PSHE to art! A great week was had by all, have a look at the brilliant work everyone produced!
OPAL - Outdoor Play and Learning!
7th September 2022
The whole school has started it's journey to more exciting playtimes with the help of OPAL. Check out our new OPAL page for more information - you can find this under the Children tab.
We are looking forward to seeing where this journey will take us - watch this space!
Chilthorne Champions!
5th September 2022
It has been so lovely to welcome everyone back to school for a brand new year! We kicked off our year with an assembly full of farmers - you heard it right, lots of the staff had become farmers much to the children's amusement!
By the end of this assembly the children learnt about everything they needed to become a Chilthorne Champion and it included lots of gardening equipment (that explains the farmers then…!). Here are all the things the children will remember when being a Chilthorne Champion:
A dibber was used to represent belief - believing in others as well as yourself – always having a go and understanding that you may not be able to do it now but you will get there!
A pair of secateurs represents teamwork including encouragement and support, friendships and relationships – all very important in the daily life of a Chilthorne Champion!
A spade. This shows us that we need to dig deep – are we doing the best we can do? Are we giving this 100% of our effort? Are we making links in our learning and thinking about others (by looking beyond ourselves)?
The watering can encourages us to keep on trying! Practice, practice, practice! Try and try again – resilience and perseverance were two words mentioned by the children at this point. Remember, mistakes are marvellous – we learn from them!
The rake represents reflection – every lesson, every day, every week, and every month we can start again if we need to. The rake gives us an opportunity to reflect and consider what we need to do next in order to be the very best we can be.
Finally, no toolkit is complete without something to carry it all in. The gardening bag/toolbox holds it all together – we need all of the above in order to be a Chilthorne Champion. We need to think carefully about our behaviour and attitude in school and the respect that we have for ourselves, the environment, others and what we do – including the work in our school books!
Along with our daily meet and greets (you may have noticed staff shaking children’s hands as they arrive!) and our fantastic sitting and walking around our site, all of these things will set everyone up for a fantastic year ahead. We are looking forward to watching all of our Chilthorne Champions shine during this year!
This is how we do it here!
The Best Part of Being a Digital Leader
Our Digital Leaders have made us SO proud this year. It has been an absolute joy to have them working alongside me on all things computing, as well as encouraging others to stay safe online. They even had time on their last day (in between signing their polos) to explain why they have enjoyed being a Digital Leader this year.
Thank you Digital Leaders and good luck on your next adventure. We will miss you!
Mrs Stradling
Thank you Digital Leaders and good luck on your next adventure. We will miss you!
Mrs Stradling
Ash and Beech Class Visit to Carymoor 20th July 2022
What a wonderful day the children had, thanks to the wonderful Carymoor staff.
As soon as we arrived, the children were welcomed with big smiles and went on to act out the story of the Gingerbread Man before learning a song about the fox. They then got to explore a whole range of activities that developed their independence and also how to work as a team.
These activities included a treasure hunt to find parts of the story in the woods, making their own Gingerbread men by threading wool and using forest pieces as decorations and then working in teams to build a house for the Gingerbread man with items from the wood.
In addition to this, the children created their own boats, which they tested on water and even used willow to make their own dens before hiding inside before the storm (watering can) came.
The children demonstrated exemplary behaviour and we had a magical time together
Science Days July 18th & July 19th 2022
Scavenger Hunt - Friday 15th July 2022
Willow Class kindly invited Ash Class to take part in their scavenger hunt. Each of the Guardian Angels in Willow Class had designed their very own scavenger hunt to do with their buddies, in and around the school grounds. Items to look for included a leaf, a yellow flower and a stone.
All of the children showed high levels of engagement and enjoyed being with their guardian angels. We are very lucky that our children can get to experience these wonderful moments. Thank you Willow Class!
Mental Health Ambassador training
23rd June 2022
Children who applied to be Mental Health Ambassadors, along with Year 4 and 5 children, have today undergone Mental Health Ambassador training. They all had a great time and graduated together! Keep an eye on the Wellbeing page for an update from the Ambassadors and an action plan which will be coming soon!
London Residential!
8th - 10th June 2022
Years 5 and 6 had a fabulous time in London and got to do lots of exciting things including visits to the Natural History Museum and London Zoo, a sail down the river, a flight on the London Eye and a trip to the theatre to see Matilda.
A great time was had by all and, as always, the children were a credit to the school. Well done children!
The view from the very top of St Paul's Cathedral!
New technology - Micro:bits
Willow Class and Maple Class have been exploring the new BBC Micro:bits in school. The children have been testing and making different projects that involve the use of different inputs (buttons, switches and sensors) and outputs (lights and sounds). Both classes have been very engaged and have shown great excitement!
Our Digital Leaders Contacting the Community
Our Digital Leaders continue to keep our school safe and are now developing their skills to keep our community safe.
Over the last few weeks, the Digital Leaders have been writing letters to our local feeder nurseries, pre-schools and childminder settings to share our Building Habits poster.
Here is a message from one of our Digital leaders, Immy:
Hello there,
I am a Digital Leader from Chilthorne Domer Church School.
This is an internet safety poster for children in reception, year one, year two and people young like you!
You can put this in your setting to remind you or maybe you could print it and have it in your own home! These are just to remind you and your fellow classmates how to be safe online!
- Ask - Ask your parents if you should go on this game, website or video.
- Check - Check before you press on something.
- Share - Share with your adult so they know what you are going on.
- Time - Check what time it is and make sure you have some time off of a screen.
- Be Kind - Make sure you are kind to EVERYONE.
- Tell - Tell a parent or responsible adult if you are worried about something.
- Move - Shake and move around for a bit - You can’t stay on a screen all day!
- Mix - Do a board game or maybe read a book! Use your imagination!
Beam House Residential
4th - 6th May 2022
Year 3 and 4 had an exciting 3 days in North Devon where they got to do lots of exciting activities including surfing, archery, street surfing and a zip line to name just a few.
The children were incredibly well prepared and were amazing packers at the end of their stay. Who knew!
Well done to you all 
Tuesday 26th April 2022 - Pete the Poet Visit
Every class was lucky enough to work with Pete the Poet throughout the day. Everyone had a wonderful time celebrating diversity and inclusion through drama, poetry and role-play!
Friday 8th April - Whole School Easter Egg Hunt!
Everyone was so excited to find all of the famous bunnies for this year's Easter egg hunt. Ash Class were really well-supported by their Guardian Angels who were really kind and caring along the way. At the end, everyone got their prize of a delicious egg! Thank you to the PTFA for organising this event.
Ash Class Hatch Baby Chicks April 2022
Last Wednesday, the children were so excited to see a special incubator with some eggs arrive in Ash Class. They observed them closely, waiting for something exciting to happen. On Monday, the first of the chicks hatched and by Wednesday they had all arrived. We discussed how to hold them carefully and the children enjoyed being responsible and taking care of them.
A huge thank you goes to Mr and Mrs Luscombe for giving the children this opportunity. We are extremely lucky.
Our New History Timeline March 2022
Children throughout the school were very excited by the new additions of a wonderful world map and a fantastic timeline, allowing us to travel through time from the land of dinosaurs to present day!
Children have been discovering and playing with History and Geography; there is a wonderful buzz around the school!
Here are some pictures of Ash class children pointing out things they have learnt previously with huge excitement!
"there's Mary Anning!" "that's Mary Seacole!"
Such an exciting step to becoming great Historians and Geographers.
Next time you're in the school playground...have a look!
Comic Relief 2022 - 18th March 2022
The children enjoyed dressing up as a hero, superhero or in red to raise money for Comic Relief. In total, we raised £115.80!
Thursday 17th March 2022 - Ash Class Welly Walk to the Farm
We were very lucky that Mr and Mrs Luscombe enabled us to visit them on our welly walk. It was so exciting! The children saw ewes with lambs and even got to bottle feed a few of the lambs. We found out that the lambs were very strong and did not want to let go of the bottles. Afterwards, we went to look at the horses and got to stroke a chicken.
It was a beautiful day!
Tuesday 15th March 2022 - Oak and Maple Trip to Magdalen Farm
WHAT AN AMAZING DAY! Oak and Maple have spent the day at the Magdelen project. We fed animals, drank hot chocolate, brushed our teeth with leaves, groomed horses, built mini rafts and got very wet in the river! The children were amazing and told me they LOVED the day! We are now planning to do some art work and English linked with our wonderful day, so watch this space!
Friday 4th March 2022 - Non uniform day and the ice-cream van!
The children wore blue and yellow to school today and donated money towards the Ukraine Red Cross. Thank you to everyone for their thoughtfulness and donations.
The ice-cream van also visited us. He was due on the day Ofsted decided to visit so we postponed. It was a lovely way to end our exciting World Book Week. Thank you Noodles!
Wednesday 2nd March 2022 - Cross Country
A number of children represented the school again for Cross Country this week and did a marvelous job. Well done to all the children but especially to Harriet for coming first, Olivia for coming third and Yasmin for coming twelfth in their Year 4 girls race. Aaron just missed out on a placed certificate with his thirteenth place finish in the Year 2/3 race. An amazing effort by all, well done!
Wednesday 2nd March 2022 - Ash Wednesday
For the first time since the pandemic began, we were able to take the whole school to church - it was so lovely to have the whole school together once again and be in our wonderful church. Thomas and Noah even got to ring the church bells!
The children learnt about the meaning of Ash Wednesday and those that wanted to, had an ash cross marked on their forehead. The display of ashes reveals the recipient's belief in Jesus Christ and shows grief and mourning for a person's sins.
Tuesday 1st March 2022 - Cosy Story Morning
Today, everyone came to school in their pyjamas to enjoy a cosy story morning in their classes. The children enjoyed hot chocolate and biscuits while listening to stories told by their teachers.
It was also the first morning where all children across the school could have bagels for breakfast. It's safe to say they went down well!
Sharing stories in Ash Class
Monday 28th February 2022 - Clive Pig Storyfella Visit
Today, we were all really lucky to start our Book Week celebrations with a visit from Clive Pig. He spent the day telling captivating stories to everyone in school! The children (and adults) had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the visit, taking away lots of ideas for writing!
Tuesday 15th February 2022 - Sports Hall Athletics County Final
Our team of 6 boys and 6 girls competed at Richard Huish College. They took part in many different track and field events such as standing long jump, chest push and standing triple jump.
The children performed amazingly and came 2nd in the competition. Well done to everyone who took part!
Tuesday 8th February 2022 Safer Internet Day
Today, we celebrated Safer Internet Day with the focus on 'All Fun and Games. Exploring Respect and Relationships Online'.
Our digital leaders were very busy presenting an assembly to KS2 in the morning with scenarios about how to stay safe, as well as how to be kind online for KS1 in the afternoon. Afterwards, the children in KS2 had the challenge to make a recipe for respectful relationships online and the KS1 children had the challenge to make a spell for a kinder internet. Take a look below at some of the wonderful spells and recipes.
Tuesday 11th January 2022 - Key Stage 1 Dinosaurs and Fossils Workshop
The children really enjoyed a dinosaur and fossil workshop at school this week. The children were shown a short video clip which helped them to learn all about fossils and how they are made. They then got the chance to see how large a Plesiosaurus was by unrolling a carefully measured piece of string. We were amazed to see a Plesiosaurus would have been longer than our classroom! It was fascinating to hear about a famous Palaeontologist called Mary Anning, who lived in Lyme Regis. We even got to see the kit bag and tools she would have used. The children got to try out lots of activities. They cut out and made a moving dinosaur using split pins, they had a go at fossil rubbing and they painted an ammonite. What an exciting start to our topic about dinosaurs!
Tuesday 14th December 2021 - Willow Class Museum Escape Room Challenge!
Today, Willow Class welcomed a visit from Sandy from the Somerset Rural Life Museum. The children took part in 6 different challenges in order to find the correct combination to open the safe holding a mystery object. Throughout the morning, the children had to use their English, maths, logic and reasoning skills to solve the clues given to them. By the end of it, each team had correctly identified the 3 digits for the combination lock, the place where the mystery object was found and finally, what the mystery object actually was! Everyone had a great time and worked really hard in their teams. Well done Willow Class!
Friday 3rd December 2021 - Christingle Service
Today we all joined together for our virtual Christingle Service. Each class made their own Christingles and sang a song to the rest of the school during the service to celebrate Jesus as the light of the world.
Wednesday 1st December 2021 - Service of Thanks
We had the privilege of welcoming Bishop Ruth Worsley to our school today. She visited each class and took part in our Service of Thanks to celebrate the school's 150th year. The weather was kind as we celebrated out on the playground with hymns and readings.
Friday 19th November 2021 - Children in Need
We all had a very sparkly day raising money for Children in Need! Children were also invited to join a special colouring competition. Finalists designs are shown below along with the winning entries! Well done everyone who contributed towards raising money across the school - in total we raised £178.80!
Tuesday 16th November 2021 - Year 6 Mock Trial Competition
On Tuesday 16th November, Willow Class all travelled to Perrott Hill School to take part in a schools Mock Trial Competition. In preparation, they had a visit from the Magistrate, Mary Ellis who explained her role as a magistrate and how a Magistrate's Court worked. During the build-up, everyone chose their role, ranging from court reporters and artists, to witnesses, photographers, solicitors and magistrates. As we were the defense team, it was a big challenge to think of as many questions as possible to support the defendant and challenge the prosecutors! Everyone did a fantastic job, showing how confident and quick-thinking they could be. The results were announced later that day and out of 5 other schools - we came 1st with 116 points (quite a good lead compared to to 107 to the school in second place). Raul also came in at 2nd place for his role as Court Artist! Well done everyone, we are very proud of your achievements!
8th - 12th November - Maths Week England 2021
As part of Maths Week England we enjoyed playing a variety of maths games as well as competing against other schools in the England Rocks TTRS Challenge! We all had lots of fun!
The EYFS children had lots of fun exploring 'more than' and 'fewer than' with their teddy bears and then went on to look at how to share sweets with the bears so that the amounts were equal and fair. We used the 'one for you, one for you' strategy. In our continuous provision, the children loved exploring Numicon so that they could create their own firework shapes.
Chilthorne Domer Church School Digital Leaders
The Year 6 children have been working hard on their applications to become a digital leader. It was wonderful to see how passionate they were about computing and online safety. They created letters, videos, Google Slides and PowerPoints to share their thoughts and ideas.
Congratulations to our 6 digital leaders who can now wear their badges with pride, whilst supporting Mrs Stradling with online safety and computing across the school.
Wednesday 20th October 2021 - Ash and Beech Class Visit Gore Farm
The children enjoyed visiting Gore Farm to learn all about Harvest. They were able to learn all about the animals and what happens on the lead up to winter to ensure they are warm and safe. Afterwards, the children learnt all about the different machines and how to use the hay bales before harvesting conkers and apples in the garden.
Friday 8th October 2021 - Hello Yellow Day
Today everyone added a bit of yellow to their outfit to support the Young Minds charity. The charity supports young people with their mental health and Hello Yellow day is to show young people are not alone with their mental health.
Thursday 30th September 2021 - Willow Class music tuition begins!
Today, Willow Class began their music tuition! They are learning to play the violin and have so far learnt: how to take it out of its case, the different parts, hold it correctly and pluck the strings! They are fast learners - watch this space!
Wednesday 29th September 2021 - Cross Country
Monday 27th September 2021 - Key Stage 1 Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole Workshop
The children had a wonderful time learning about Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. They investigated two suitcases and compared them. One belonged to Mary and one belonged to Florence. The children also dressed in the traditional clothing that would have been worn at the time, as well as using equipment from around the home. Throughout the activities the children showed particular interest in using bandages to mend one another, as well as doing the ironing. At the end, the children designed some healthy food for the soliders.
Tuesday 14th September 2021 - Maple Class visit to the Museum of Somerset
As part of our learning about the Romans, Maple Class enjoyed a visit to the Museum of Somerset in Taunton. We took part in a workshop where we looked at lots of different Roman artifacts and we tried to work out what they were used for. We also spent lots of time looking around the museum at all things Roman. We saw a mosaic floor from a Roman villa as well as lots of coins and jewellery. We especially liked looking at some skeleton's and found it really interesting that all the things that we saw had been found in Somerset!
Friday 10th September 2021 - Willow Class Crime and Punishment Workshop
Willow Class enjoyed an in-school workshop delivered by the Somerset Heritage Team today. The history topic for the Autumn Term is 'Crime and Punishment' so the children spent the morning exploring artefacts and prison records as well as creating wanted posters and examining their own finger prints. Great fun was had by all!
Chilthorne Domer Church School's Sesquicentennial Service of Thanks
Friday 16th July 2021
What a gorgeous day we had to celebrate 150 years of our wonderful school - some would say it was too nice. A little hot maybe!
COVID-19 restrictions meant that the service was small but perfectly formed. Our children celebrated (socially distanced of course) on the field together with a few VIPs in attendance. It was a pleasure to welcome the parents of our two award winners, our ex headteacher Mrs Theresa Hobbs and some school alumni from years gone by.
The children performed beautifully - both reading and singing and their was most definitely a feeling of joy and celebration. Let's not forget the ice-cream van visit to round of the day. Just what was needed after all the sunshine!
We are already looking forward to the autumn and burying the Sesquicentennial time capsule - hopefully we will be able to celebrate again with our families and friends and fewer restrictions. We can but hope!
Wednesday 7th July - School of Rock Musical Theatre Workshop
Today, Willow and Oak Class took part in a fantastic virtual workshop run by Somerset Music. They learnt a song and dance rountine from the stage musical 'School of Rock' - it was really good fun!
Friday 2nd July - Ash and Beech Class Visit to Farmer Palmer's
Ash and Beech Class had a wonderful adventure at Farmer Palmers. The children had the chance to see a range of animals, including piglets, goats, alpacas and donkeys. In addition to this, each child had the opportunity to hold a guinea pig, feed the goats and go on a VERY bumpy tractor ride, as well as spending quality time together exploring the parks and searching for dinosaurs in the woodlands.
Thursday 1st July - Sports Day
The sun came out for our sports day this year! Key Stage 1 took part in sprint and egg and spoon races, as well as team event - 'Bean Bag Drop. Key Stage 2's races included a sprint, egg and spoon and obstacle race, as well as a team relay event. Everyone did really well and the scores were really close at the end! Blake House (the blue team) were the overall winners this year!
Wednesday 30th June 2021
Alumni Tea Party
EYFS and Key Stage One held a tea party for past pupils and staff of our school. They thought long an hard about questions they wanted to ask to find out more about how the school has changed over the years.
It was a lovely afternoon with some beautiful singing. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
Tuesday 29th June - Book Token Winners!
The school had been nominated by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer to win some book vouchers. We are thrilled to be able to use these vouchers to buy some really good quality texts to support our English and topic lessons during the Autumn Term.
Friday June 24th - Relationship and Sex Education Day!
We thought carefully about what positive messages we could write about ourselves on this important day!
Thursday 23rd June - Rock Bottom Rocks!
Today was a very exciting day for Key Stage Two. After working really hard for a number of weeks, learning songs and lines, everyone was ready to perform their end of year show in front of the cameras. This year was different because we had no live audience, but we were really lucky to be able to have it filmed. We can't wait to share the finished product with our families. Well done everyone - you all did a fantastic job!
Friday 11th June 2021 - Invites for our open day!
A big well done to everyone who designed an invite to advertise our open day. These will be shared in the village, via our website and Facebook page and hopefully one will make the newspaper!
Well done everyone 
Friday 28th May - Year 6 Leavers Hoodies Arrive!
A very exciting day for Year 6 - their hoodies have arrived. Here they are showing them off!
Monday 24th May - Maple Class to Somerset Rural Life Museum
Maple class enjoyed a fantastic trip to Glastonbury Rural Life Museum. It was a fabulous way to embed our exploration and learning about the Anglo-Saxons and their presence in Somerset. We made King Alfred aestels or pointers and created Saxon runes out of clay, as well as re-enacting the famous Battle of Edington between the Vikings and Saxons.
Friday 21st May - Heroes Stamp Competition
The whole school took part in this exciting competition. Children were asked to design a stamp to reflect all heroes during the Pandemic. The designs were bright and colourful and the children really thought carefully about who their heroes are.
Thursday 20th May - Arts Award Achievement
Today, children in Maple, Oak and Willow Class received certificates for taking part in the Arts Award. To achieve this, they had to focus on an artist and produce their own piece of work reflecting the work of their chosen artist. Some of the pieces of work submitted was work children had completed during lockdown. Everyone worked really hard children this time, so it has been so exciting to see their efforts rewarded. Well done everyone!
Monday 17th May - Oak Class Visit to Somerset Rural Life Museum
We all had a brilliant time during our visit and we learnt so much about the Anglo-Saxons in Somerset and how important King Alfred was. We re-enacted a battle and made some runes, as well as learning about different artifacts.
Tuesday 11th May - Celebrating Somerset Day
We have all been celebrating Somerset Day today! Each class has chosen their own special way to celebrate including: singing, dancing, eating and art - all reflecting the Somerset traditions.
Tuesday 11th May 2021 - Virtual collaborative memory book information...
Thank you to everyone that has shared memories and photos of their time at Chilthorne Domer Church School over the years - it has been so lovely reading your stories and seeing your pictures on our Facebook posts. These memories and photos are too precious to lose so we have created a virtual memory book that people can contribute to from wherever they are in the world. You can add any combination of photographs, messages, and memories. You could even add your 'Top 5' - top 5 teachers, top 5 memories, top 5 school events... the possibilities are endless! We are hoping to bury a time capsule during our celebrations on July 16th and a copy of this book will be added. Please help us to make this book as fantastic as it can be by sharing this information and encouraging people to add their memories and photos. It doesn't matter if you left the school 80 years, 8 years or 8 months ago - we'd love to hear from you. Staff, pupils, parents or anyone associated with the school, past or present, who have memories are welcome to contribute. The more contributions, the better the book! Please share this link far and wide and help us capture the history of what is now known as Chilthorne Domer Church School. Thank you.
https://www.newlywords.com/150-years-of-chilthorne-domer-church-school
Thursday 6th May 2021 - Year 4 and 5 go to Osmington Bay in Weymouth!
It's been so long since these children have been on a trip and, whilst it wasn't the residential trip that we were all hoping for, a brilliant day was had by all. Check out some of the photos below!
Tuesday 4th May 2021 - Somerset Day interview
Nicola Thompson, who came in and worked with our children on the Somerset Day song, has been interviewed about how the schools came together to produce the song. You can listen to the interview here - it includes a special message from Kate Rusby!
Tuesday 27th April 2021 - Chilthorne Domer Church School turns 150!
Having realised the school celebrates a big birthday this year, we are in the early stages of planning a celebration - keep your eyes peeled for more details.
Can you help us? Do you know someone who went to Chilthorne Domer Church School as a child? We are looking to include ex pupils from across the generations in our 150th birthday Service of Thanks. It would be amazing to find the oldest living Chilthorne pupil!
Please do contact the office if you can help us out.
Saturday 24th April 2021 - A year ago today...
A year ago today our amazing team of key worker staff and children created this dance to brighten everyone's days. In the darkest of times it was lovely to share this and even better to watch back a year on!
Thursday 22nd April 2021 - Library Service Flag Competition
We have some competition winners!
Many of our children entered the Somerset Library Service Flag Competition as part of our Somerset Day preparations; Children had to design a flag to represent Somerset.
- Henry came 3rd with his apple inspired flag
- Olivia came 2nd with her 3 picture flag
- Yasmin came joint 1st with he bright and bold flag!
Well done to all our children who entered and to our winners #flytheflagforsomerset
Tuesday 20th April 2021 - The Somerset Flag
A big thank you to the Eaton family for lending us their Somerset flag. This will fly in the run up to Somerset Day on May 11th. Did you hear us on the radio singing the Somerset Day song? #flytheflagforsomerset
Thursday 1st April - Easter Egg Hunt
Every one in school took part in the Easter egg hunt today - some were really tricky to find but everyone won an egg at the end!
How egg-citing! Happy Easter everyone!
Thursday 1st April - Easter Service
Today we all took part in the school Easter service on Zoom. Each class contributed a song and some Easter readings and although we were physically apart, it was still lovely to be together to celebrate the meaning behind Easter. Father Peter joined us to give a special Easter message and blessing.
Wednesday 31st March - Taking part in the promotional video for Somerset Day
Another very exciting day! Mrs Thompson from Somerset music is working with a selection of local primary schools to create a promotional video for Somerset Day on May 11th. Willow, Maple and Oak all learnt this year's Somerset Day song prior to her visit and were recorded singing it in their class bubbles while Beech and Ash learnt a dance to go with the song and were also recorded. Mrs Thompson will create the video which will then be shared on the Somerset Day website as well as the Somerset Music You Tube channel!
Tuesday 30th March - Willow Class are interviewed by BBC Radio Somerset
Today Willow Class spoke with Emily Brown from Radio Somerset about the things they have done in preparation for Somerset Day on May 11th. Elsie and Zack were interviewed and did a great job answering questions about the Somerset Day song this year and the flag competition run by the Schools Library Service. The whole class even sang their song to Emily. The interview will be aired on Thursday 1st April at 8.15am!
Chilthorne Domer audio.mp3
You can here the interview here!
Friday 19th March - Comic Relief
Today we raised money for Comic Relief by dressing in red, painting our noses and dressing up as woodland creatures - the theme of the noses this year! This year we raised a grand total of £126.60! Well done everyone - thank you for all of your donations.
Friday 19th March - Census Day
We have had a busy day in school today. Not only have we been celebrating Comic Relief but we have also taken part in Census Day. Throughout the school, we have learnt about what a census is and why it is important. Each class took part in a range of different activities including a whole school survey to find out everyone's favourite animal! At the end of the day, everyone received a certificate and sticker!
Thursday 18th March - Stanchester Wow Days
Today Oak and Willow Class got to try out some secondary school lessons! They were provided by Stanchester Academy and gave the children an opportunity to take part in lessons they might come across when they move on to secondary school. The lessons included: Business and Digital Technology, Art, Science and Spanish. Each lesson involved a live question and answer session at the end with the Stanchester teacher. Everyone really enjoyed the day! Below are some photos of the science investigation the children took part in - fake blood and saliva of course!
Thursday 4th March World Book Day
Today we celebrated our love of reading! Children dressed as their favourite book characters at home and in school and each class took part in some lovely book-related activities. In the evening, the children joined the teachers on Zoom to have some bedtime stories with their hot chocolate and teddies! During the week, the children also took part in The Masked Reader where they had to identify which member of staff was hiding behind each disguise and which book they were reading!
The CDCS 20-21 academic year so far!
11th February 2021
Tuesday 9th February Safer Internet Day
On Tuesday 9th February we all celebrated Safer Internet Day. Mrs Stradling shared safety advice during a KS1 and KS2 virtual assembly and we all thought really carefully about how we can keep ourselves safe when using the internet.
1st - 7th February Children's Mental Health Week
Between the 1st and the 7th February, our school community took part in Place2Be's Children's Mental Health Week.This year's theme was 'EXPRESS YOURSELF.' Children took part in expressive art activities and physical activities to support their mental health throughout the week. During our virtual Praise Assembly on Friday 5th February, we all 'Dressed to Express'!
Screen-Free Wednesday afternoons
January - February 2021
During this lockdown we have introduced screen-free Wednesday afternoons. Have a look at some of the things we have got up to below:
Ash Class Virtual Tour
4th December 2020
A short tour of Ash Class (Reception and Year 1) at Chilthorne Domer Church School, followed by some pictures of our wonderful children, busy having fun!
Christmas Hampers!
27th November 2020
This year the School Council decided to focus on our community's Children in Need following the global pandemic. Children had a non uniform day in exchange for a luxury item that would add a little sparkle to someone's Christmas.
The school council worked hard this week creating 24 hampers out of all the lovely items that were donated for and boy did they do a good job. The hampers look so lovely! A big thank you again for all your kind donations and to the school council, Mrs Dunn and Mrs Chapple for helping put together the hampers. On top of this, the school also donated a fantastic £87.00 – some of which helped top up the hampers. The rest going to Children in Need.
Great work by a great school community!
Autumn term so far!
11th November 2020
What a busy term we have had so far!
We have:
- Settled back in to the new version of school
- Learnt a LOT!
- Celebrated World Mental Health Day
- Collected many, many items for The Lord's Larder through our Harvest Festival
- Remembered our fallen during our first (COVID Secure) whole school Remembrance service
Just to name but a few of our events.
Please do head over to our Facebook Page to check out some of the great things we have been up to! https://www.facebook.com/ChilthorneDomerChurchSchool
Watson had his first day at school!
18th June 2020
Today Watson, our school dog, came to school for the first time since some of the children have been back. He had such a lovely time on the field and visited each of the classes from outside the window. Check out his page on here and our School Facebook page for some photos and a video.
We can't wait for school to be back to normal so everyone can meet him!
Ash Class visit to the farm
12th March 2020
Looking at the torrential rain outside now, you wouldn't believe that just an hour and a half ago Ash Class had a lovely welly walk to Mr and Mrs Luscombe's farm!
The children go to put out bedding and food for the sheep and lambs as well as feed the chickens. All the children had a great time getting up close and personal with the animals including a horse and a pony - they even found some rabbit holes! A great morning was had by all. A very big thank you to the Luscombe's for welcoming us!
Cross Country - Bucklers Mead Academy
11th March 2020
This evening saw a lot of Yeovil school children running various distances around Bucklers Mead School. Each one of our children ran brilliantly but what made me more proud was how they supported and cheered on each other - it was so lovely to see. Well done runners, you were great!
Key Stage 1 Activities - Westfield School
10 March 2020
This event involved a group of our children taking part in various sports skills activities including throwing, long jump, jumping and racket skills to name a few. Lots of fun and enjoyment throughout and an opportunity to try and learn different skills. The children were very patient despite a long wait at times between activities and were very tired at the end. A great effort and attitude from all taking part.
Netball Tournament - Westfield School
5th March 2020
A mixed group of 6 children represented Chilthorne Domer at the recent Netball Tournament. It was a particularly cold and windy day for the children. Our Captain was exceptional and lead her team at all times, so I would like to say well done and a big thank you to her and her team. Exciting news to hear today that we have now been promoted to 3rd place against other teams and will now enter the Netball final! I would like to wish our team the best of luck for the next stage. Congratulations to you all!
Boccia - Westfield School
3rd March 2020
Thankfully the Boccia day was indoors, which with all the wet weather we are currently having, we were all grateful for! Seven children from the School attended. All of the children were confident, they listened well to instructions, asked help when needed, and went out of their way to encourage each other. Absolutely fantastic, well done to all who took part!
Hockey Tournament - Holyrood School
27 February 2020
A mixed group of 9 children from Years 5 & 6 represented the School at the Tournament at Holyrood playing against 4 local Schools including Chard, Kingsbury Episcopi, Milford and Keinton Mandeville. Despite a couple of unfair decisions and a few injuries to our players, the children remained very positive and determined throughout each game, and represented the school extremely well in a professional and polite manner. A huge well done to those that took part. A great team effort you can all be proud of!
Race for Life
6th March 2020
3rd time lucky! 🍀
Our Race for Life today was such a lovely event, thank you! 😊
A massive thank you to all the children for being amazing, the staff for being on hand to cheer, mark tickets and run/walk, to parents for being great supporters and to all those that have donated to such a worthwhile cause.
I see no reason why we shouldn't make this an annual event with the aim to 'Beat Cancer Sooner!' 🏃
Thank you for joining us Olivia. It was lovely to have you with us - we hope you had a brilliant unicorn ride at the end 🦄
World Book Day
4th and 5th March 2020
Wold Book Day comes but once a year and it's always a fabulous occasion!
On Wednesday evening, many children came back to school in their pajamas and slippers clutching their favourite teddy bear. They snuggled up, listened to stories, drank hot chocolate and devoured biscuits. It's safe to say a fun time was had by all.
The fun didn't stop there! Thursday - World Book Day - saw the whole school dress up. Even the staff had the theme of 'Fairy Tales' to stick to! The costumes all looked fabulous and again lots of books were shared. Children also had the opportunity to take home a 'new to them' book, share photos of them reading in amazing places and share their love of reading throughout the day.
What a brilliant day. Check out the photos below...
Our new shelter!
28th February 2020
Have you seen our new shelter between Beech Class and The Cabin?
We are really grateful to Jonno and his team at J and J Plumbing and Construction for working tirelessly through the wind and the rain over half to to make sure it was complete. Not only does it give a dry passage between the building and the cabin but also a new working area for the school. I'm looking forward to seeing lost of outdoor learning when the weather improves!
Netball!
11th February 2020
What better day to play netball for 2 hours than the day we have hail, sleet and snow?! To say it was cold is an understatement but the 6 KS2 children that took part did a marvelous job. By the time the last game came, the children played with such determination and defence that they didn't concede a goal. Great work team - well done! No photo today - we were too busy keeping warm!
Pete the Poet - Diversity!
10th February 2020
We welcomed Pete the Poet to our school yesterday. He lead a whole school assembly and worked with smaller groups of children to create poems and songs about making the world a better place. Here's are a couple of examples:
Are children supposed to enjoy wearing the dunce cap?!
Victoria Day - 7th February 2020
The whole school has had a wonderful day today enjoying everything Victorian - gruel included! Ash Class also impressed with their vast array of kings, queens, princes and princesses.
Each class spent the day living the life of a Victorian child. There was plenty of marching, chanting and handwriting to name but a few of the activities; plenty of food was eaten and fun was had. The staff put such a lot of work in to the day and the whole school has had a lovely feel about it - maybe we should adopt more of the Victorians ways of school life?
Thank you to all parents, grandparents and wider family who have supported children with projects at home - we really appreciate you help and support. It all really added to our day!
Run, run, run!
5th February 2020
21 children from Years 2 to 6 headed out to Yeovil Showground for the 4th cross country this year. With much excitement they ran their age group races and all did superbly. Some ran for the first time and were brilliant, some came higher than they've ever come and Harriet even managed a top 10 finish, storming in in 7th place. A great big well done to you all!
Our newest addition to school comes with a massive thanks to Battens Solicitors!
30th January 2020
As you know, one of our Year 1 children, Olivia, was diagnosed with leukemia just before Christmas. She continues to be a trooper and we're all really proud of her. She even surprised us with a quick visit last week, which was lovely!
This week Beech Class took delivery of thier newest classmate - an AV1 robot 🤖! There was much excitement on Monday when the robot was up and running and the class got to have a play. What was more exciting was that Olivia joined the class, via the robot, on Monday afternoon for story time! The children loved having Olivia with them and are looking forward to her joining the class again when she feels up to it.
It's amazing that this simple piece of technology will allow Olivia to log in to the class from wherever she is.
We'd like to say a huge big thank you to the two charitable trusts within Battens Solicitors in Yeovil who have made an incredibly generous donation to Olivia's cause. This has enabled us to fund this robot for the next 10 months! Thank you to all concerned - this really will transform what Olivia is able to do whilst undergoing treatment and we at school, and Olivia and her family, are extremely grateful. Thank you! 🙏
Basketball
28th January 2020
Mrs Chesterton had the pleasure of taking 4 children to Westfield for a basketball tournament on Tuesday. We were one of the smallest teams but one of the most determined! The children worked amazingly together and got better and better with every game. Well done to each of you! The results were as follows:
Chilthorne vs Martock 1: 2-0 to us.
Chilthorne vs Ash: 3-0 to them.
Chilthorne vs Holy Trinity 1: 1-0 to them.
Chilthorne vs Holy Trinity 2: 3-0 to them.
Chilthorne vs Martock 2: 2-4 to us.
Year 3/4 Football
Monday 20th January
A fantastic evening of football run at Bucklers Mead Academy saw our Year 3/4 boys play four exciting matches. A brilliant performance saw us Win one, Draw two and Lose one game in the event. The team worked hard in all four games from start to finish and, despite not all playing in their favoured positions, worked well for each other. The results are as followed:
Chilthorne 1 - 0 Martock
Chilthorne 1 - 1 Preston
Chilthorne 0 - 1 Norton
Chilthorne 0 - 0 Ash
A new year, a new decade, a new website!
14th January 2020
We are very excited that our new website has now launched. Lots of people have been working really hard behind the scenes to get all the information up to date and in the correct place.
We hope you like the new look and find the website easy to use. If there is something you can't find or would like printing, please do not hesitate to contact the office.
As part of the new website, I aim to regularly update the blog with the events and goings on of our busy little school - watch this space!
Mrs Chesterton
Race for Life
8th January 2020
We will join thousands of schools across the country in supporting Cancer Research UK by holding our own Race for Life on Thursday 13th February 2020. Around 150 pupils, aged from four to 11-years-old, will unite with staff for the event and raise money for life-saving research.
One in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives, and sadly our school community know this only too well since Olivia was diagnosed. But the good news is, thanks to research, more people are surviving the disease now than ever before. The money raised by Chilthorne Domer Church School will help scientists find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, helping to save more lives. So, we thank all the pupils, parents and teachers for their vital support.
We have a school Just Giving page where we can collect all our school's donations. This can be found here: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/chilthorne-domer-church-school and every child that takes part will receive a medal to congratulate them on their hard work with their running and fundraising!
We are really looking forward to this event and hope all of our families and friends will support our fundraising efforts.