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Chilthorne Domer Church School
Together we Love, we Aim High and we Celebrate!
Our School Blog
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
