Britannia
Primary School and Nursery
Britannia
Primary School and Nursery
Britannia
Primary School and Nursery
To celebrate Earth Day, Mrs Doe took 5 children from each class across Years 1 to 6 outside to help weed, dig over and tidy, plant seeds, herbs, shrubs and two trees as well as litter pick. All our raised beds are now populated with new plants and/or seeds and there are two new trees. Keep a look out for the new flowers and shrubs and more poking through soon!
Eggtastic Art and Design Spring Competition 2024
Year 3 visited the the School Farm and County Fair at Trinity Park on Wednesday 17th April.
They learned about the importance of agriculture to Suffolk, the role of farming in delivering food to our tables and role wildlife and conservation play in building a thriving countryside. All activities were linked to the National Curriculum and the children went through a variety of interactive zones, where pupils participated in a wide variety of hands on learning activities about food, livestock, emergency services, STEM, wildlife and conservation, health and wellbeing - a very busy, enjoyable day!
The children have been learning about large organisations, whose aims are to help the planet by addressing the issues we face with deforestation, plastic pollution, whaling and much, much more. We found out how these organisations were created and the ideas of those behind them. It is also Earth Day on Saturday 23rd of March from 8.30 to 9.30pm. A time to demonstrate support for environment protection. You can take part by doing fun activities such as pillow fights or hide and seek in the dark, or dinner by candle light, maybe even a late walk to find out what wildlife is also about. Whatever you do, by turning off your electric and electronics for just an hour will contribute to helping our planet.
We will also be taking part in school on Monday 25th March. Each class has pledged an hour where they will learn without the aid of electronics. Have a look at some of the wonderful posters the children have created.
Year 3 took part in a wellbeing workshop with Suffolk County Council and designed their own wellbeing robots!
We were very lucky to have the author Mitch Johnson visit us at Britannia! Mitch did an assembly for Years 5 and 6, where he talked about being an author, the process he goes through to write his books and the deeper messages behind his stories, including child labour, the unrealistic expectations of beauty on social media and animal extinction.
Mitch also had time to answer some of our questions, such as how long it takes him to write a book, which of his own books is his favourite and which book he would rewrite if he had the chance!
Finally, Mitch signed copies of his books with personalised messages for some of our pupils.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience meeting him, especially for our budding young authors!
The Eco Committee have been researching ways to become more environmentally friendly and found out about Meat Free Mondays. This initiative is an excellent way to help save water, land, animals' lives and improve our own health.
See our jazzy poster and checkout this link to Meat Free Mondays, if you would like more information..
Children across the whole school will be learning about this in their Global Learning lessons next half term.
The Eco Committee are delighted at the response to their foodbank donation appeal and want to thank all those who have contributed to making this the biggest yet!
Mrs Doe and her helpers (Mr Doe and Miss Batchelor from EYFS) delivered 3 carloads of food and supplies to FIND in Gainsborough, who were equally delighted!
Our Britannia community contributions will help make a different to many families in the run up to Christmas.
Luke the Executioner came to visit Year 6 to support our learning about crime and punishment throughout British history. The workshop started with information spanning from Roman Britain to the Tudors, which was followed by role play, a witch hunt and discussion. This was an invaluable stimulus for our history unit!
On Friday 6th October 2023 24 children from Year 5 and 6 travelled to London to perform three songs to open a professional show at The Wigmore Hall fundraising gala to raise money for the ‘Britten as a Boy’ statue to be displayed at Lowestoft.
The children had a wonderful day travelling to London and visiting The Wallace Collection of art during the afternoon before attending a final rehearsal at The Wigmore Hall late afternoon. By the evening the children gathered anxiously on the back stair well to perform. They were welcomed on stage to huge applause and rose to the occasion to sing their hearts out. We are very proud of them all! - Mrs Lesslie
Year 4 had a fantastic day out to Sutton Hoo to support their history learning about Anglo-Saxons!
The children had a wonderful day recording ‘Just as you are’ by Alexander Campkin and ‘Me’ by Charlotte Harding. They sang their hearts out during the recording sessions between enjoying themselves as they made the most of the freedom outdoors in the beautiful Snape surroundings.
On arriving there was a surprise visit from Alexander Campkin. Alexander led the rehearsal of ‘Just as You Are’. During the rehearsal, Alexander asked the children how they felt when they sang his song, and they gave some truly honest and meaningful answers. One of the students said he sometimes feels lonely but when he sings the song with other children it makes him feel like he can join in with others. This is sure to be a day which the children will always remember!
To celebrate National Sports Week this year, Mr Turner hosted various different activities for the children to enjoy! Events included inflatables with Ipswich Town, a staff benchball match and completing the golden mile. Sport was the key focus of the week and fun was had by all, while promoting the physical and mental benefits of exercise.
On Wednesday 8th March, Mrs Lesslie lead our second trip to Snape, enabling a group of 70 Britannia children to perform there. The children worked very hard in preparation for the trip, including singing and instrumental rehearsals and small performances to the other children in the school. They were all a credit to the school at Snape and the performance was one that will stay with us for a very long time! A proud moment in Britannia's musical history.
Britannia's Foodbank Donation to FIND - February 2023
Over the last term, children across the school have been learning about the Cost-of-Living Crisis, how they can help their families save money on energy, fuel and water, as well as how other families are affected. This has led to the children wanting to organise another foodbank donation to FIND in Ipswich.
If you would like to donate any food to this amazing charity, please bring your donations to the Bell Door before and after school on Thursday and Friday 2nd and 3rd of February.
See our Eco Club's excellent posters that are going up around the school over the next few days.
Mr Turner took a group of Year 6 pupils to the UCI World Masters Cyclo-Cross Championships Experience at Trinity Park on 1st December. The event was supported by the UCI World Master Cyclo-Cross Championships, British Cycling, East Suffolk Council and Active Suffolk.
Our pupils had the opportunity to take part in a carousel of activities that included cycling science, art, road and bike safety as well as the chance to ride part of World Masters circuit! The day concluded with a visit to the main event podium and a photo opportunity. Mr Turner also did Britannia proud, winning the teachers' race!
Mr Agate took a group of 13 Year 6 children to Copleston High School to compete in the Philosothon! The children worked in teams to discuss a 'big question' set by Copleston, and 6th Formers assisted them with putting together their points for discussion. Our philosophers all presented very well and 6JW were the overall winners! Well done everyone on such philosophical thinking!
Ipswich Town player, Gassan Ahadme, visited Year 6 on Monday 26th September in honour of the European Day of Languages. Gassan spoke to the children about being bilingual and his experiences moving from Spain. He also answered the children's questions about languages and what it is like to be a footballer. A very entertaining and meaningful morning!
For National Fitness Day (Wednesday 21st September), Mr Turner set up a track for all pupils to complete a 'golden mile' during the day and an obstacle course at lunchtime. Our new Year 6 Sport Leaders helped to run the event and it was a huge success with very high participation across the school!
The development work has finally finished, enabling our purpose-built music pod to re-open this term!
Mrs Lesslie has loved having a space to teach using the full wealth of music resources and instruments that we are lucky enough to have at Britannia. The feedback from the lucky first few classes to have their music lessons in there has been very positive!
We recognised National Sports Week this year by hosting a range of sporting activities across the school. These included a special Olympic torch assembly, learning about the Commonwealth Games in the classroom, a lunchtime penalty shootout and additional PE time!
As a school, Britannia has taken part in the Duracell Big Battery Hunt. In just two weeks we managed to collect and count 7364 batteries! The children of 5D gloved up and counted through their lunch breaks. We want to thank everyone who sent in their batteries. These have all been saved from landfill, where they would take up to a hundred years to degrade and decompose but would leak acid into the environment in the process. They have all been safely recycled either by Mrs Doe at Foxhall dump, or through a battery collection service, we as a school already use.
Unfortunately we were not winners, the lead schools in the Big Battery Hunt collected over 35,000 in the first two weeks!
We look forward to taking part again next year!
During the week beginning 6th June, 80 of our 90 Year 6 pupils spent the week on the Isle of Wight! Our residential trip was a huge success and the children were a credit to the school! We visited many places throughout the week, including Spinnaker Tower (on the way to the ferry), Blackgang Chine, The Needles and Shanklin Theatre.
For many children, it was the first time they had been away from home; some had never been on holiday or stayed in a hotel before, so it was a true life experience! Some children also went on a rollercoaster or visited the theatre for the first time too!
We were truly amazed by the sweet and glass making and the history of Carisbrooke Castle.
The 10 children who stayed at school also had a great week, including a trip to Felixstowe, bowling, Ninja-Tag, working with younger children, going to the park and an afternoon in the Wonder Wood making fires!
What an amazing week!
Mrs Doe is so very proud to report that the Britannia community managed to donate enough food and toiletries to fill 4 large trolleys! We have received a thank you letter which explains that some days up to 34 families are in need of a food bank donation which will keep them going for 3 days, until they hopefully have more permanent support. Maureen at the food bank explained that the need is so great in our area at the moment, that FIND's shelves are at an all time low and they are currently receiving 20 new referrals every day.
So they are extremely grateful for our donations.
Should you wish to help further, please see FIND's website: https://www.findipswich.org.uk/
Our sale to raise money for The Red Cross and WWF last Friday was a HUGE success and our wonderful Year 5 pupils raised a total of £106 plus a further £287 in donations, making £393 in total, which will be shared equally between the two charities.
Thank you to all who contributed items and donations - what a fantastic school community effort!
Special thanks to Rosa, Elijah, Darcy, Alice and Ettie for all their hard work; we are incredibly proud of them!
On Thursday 10th March 2022, Mrs Lesslie and some other Britannia staff had the pleasure of taking a group of 33 singers to Snape Maltings to take part in their Celebration evening. This evenings involved seven local schools performing their favourite pieces of music in front of a delighted audience of parents and family members.
Britannia performed three songs: 'Our House', 'Words that Can't be Spoken' and 'Banaha'.
Ten year old Theo Goddard said after the event: "When I was out there on the stage in front of all those parents, I was a little nervous to start with and then I couldn't wait to sing. Once I started singing, my nerves started to fall away and I really enjoyed the whole experience."
