St James' First School - Wimborne

We are looking to appoint a new 1-2-1 Teaching Assistant to join our supportive and friendly team. If this is for you, or you know the perfect person, click the link for more information.

https://mynewterm.com/jobs/148300/EDV-2024-SJCFS-79262

What a fantastic Sports Day! Well done to everyone who represented their team; throwing the furthest, jumping the longest and running the fastest! It really was a great day and I know every child demonstrated our school values in abundance. A huge thank you to all those who volunteered to help set up, park cars, take photos and officiated the results. Thank you for coming out and enjoying the family fun and supporting our community.

And of course, well done to Yellow Team who came away victorious!

Foxes class were treated to a special afternoon exploring the culture of Indonesia. Mrs Thomas and her friend Rhea explained where Indonesia is, what schools are like and how the life is different to ours. Children then sampled so incredible home cuisine which was super tasty!

Owls class had a fantastic afternoon with the Sports Leaders from Cranborne Middle School . They organised a rotation of activities for the children to complete including a Connect 4 relay activity and a rock, paper, scissors team game. It was lovely to see the children having fun with their friends and participating fully. A huge thank you to the Sports Leaders who supported our children and were a credit to their school.

Year 4 made use our school pond and had a wonderful afternoon exploring what wildlife their could find with the help of Mr Beard (our Chair of Governors). They used the different classification keys to help identify the different living things discovered. We were very excited to find several newts!

What a special treat we all had this afternoon! A huge thank you to M&M Theatrical Productions for your performance of Oliver Twist. The whole school thouroughly enjoyed your performance and left knowing that kindness and love wins the day as they watched this classic tale.

Year 4 began their long farewell as they atttended the Diocese of Salisbury Academy Trust leavers service at Salisbury Cathedral. The children joined 27 schools from across the Trust to celebrate their time at St James' and consider how they can shine brightly as the light in our world. In the afternoon (after a sneaky ice cream), we took part in the guided reflection around the cathedral. With so many children in attendance, it was a monumental team effort! A special thank you goes to the Diocese of Salisbury for supporting the service and guiding our children in some of their reflections. We look forward to continuing our leavers celebrations as the end of term approaches.

The St James' PFA do such an incredible job fundraising for the school. With so many of you already committed to attend Sports Day, why not stay after for some more family fun.

Year 4 refined their cycling skills as they all completed their Level 1 Bikeability. Children focused on controlling their bike, pedalling without wobble and being aware of their surroundings whilst turning. They all did brilliantly and passed with flying colours.

It was a privilege to be able to perform in the centre of Wimborne in colloboration with WimborneMinster TownCouncil 80th anniversary D-Day celebrations. Year 1 – 3 children took to the stage to perform some classic war time songs including 'Run Rabbit Run' and 'White Cliffs of Dover'. We then stayed to watch St Michael's CE Middle School choir perform and later joined them on stage for a collaborative rendition of 'We'll Meet Again'.

We are lookng forward to taking part in the 80th Anniversay D-Day celebrations in Wimborne and would love you to come out and support our choir.

With only one week remaining until the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 2024, here is a list of activities happening throughout Wimborne Minster. We hope to see lots of people attending.

All that is left after another succesful half-term is to wish you all a relaxing break! If you are interested in what we've been up to this half-term, why not have a read of our latest newsletter.
https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/stjames-coe-vcfs/UploadedDocument/f61b7704-7736-4892-8bcb-a28112322aac/summer-one-2024.pdf

Foxes class have been growing their own cress. They have discussed how a seed grows, written instructions about how to make a cress sandwich and then followed these, using our own home grown cress. Of course, once they finished they had to sample them to make sure they tasted great!🥪😀

Squirrels class had an excellent trip to Carymoor Environmental Trust and spent the whole day being Eco Pirates. As part of their visit, they took a walk over a capped landfill and discovered how our waste changes over the years before journeying through the interactive waste tunnel. In the afternoon, children donned their bandanas and focused on how they can reduce, reuse and recycle their waste. A huge thank you to all the parents who came out and supported us.

In Art Club this term, the children have been creating relief prints using styrofoam. They have been focusing on drawing imaginary houses with plants, birds (and some cheeky worms too 🪱) After creating their designs and producing their relief blocks, they have produced some incredible prints.

It was such a privelege to welcome Witchampton CE First School to St James' for a Year 1 & 2 Multiskills Festival. Children competed in a variety of sporting activities to earn points for their team. Sports Leaders from St Michael's CE Middle School did a fantastic job hosting the friendly competition and were a credit to their school. Well done everyone for a wonderful afternoon.

Hedgehogs were the first to make use of our new class set of iPads as part of their work on non-chronological reports. A huge thank you to St James' PFA who have been able to support the school by funding their deployment.

Our Year 4 children had a fantastic residential at Hooke Court - we just cannot believe how much they managed to fit into three days!

Day 1 - Upon arrival, year 4 got straight to work with a Viking workshop. They were making jewellery, translating Viking runes, trying their hand at weaving, re-enacting a Viking battle and they even made a wattle and daub fence. After an evening meal, everyone gathered around the campfire for some fun, games and singing.

Day 2 - On day 2, we celebrated the great outdoors and learnt the power of working as a team. Children took part in shelter building, negotiated the low ropes course and navigated the orienteering course across the beautiful site.

Day 3 - On our final morning, the children worked in teams to create their own rockets which were then launched into the sky

A huge thank you to everyone at Hooke Court for hosting us and to the St James staff team who went above and beyond to give our children a wonderful experience.

Are you looking for a school place? We have some availibility in all years to start this September. With the sun beginning to shine, why not send us a message and book a school tour to take a look around.

What a fantastic way to begin the long bank holiday weekend. Well done to all the wonderful children for their traditional country dances around the Maypole, you were all fantastic!

A day like today highlights the strength our community with so many parents, carers and family out to support everyone. A huge thank you to St James' PFA for providing tea, coffee and so many cakes. The money you raised continues to bless the school and provide more opportunities for our children.

Enjoy the long weekend!

A big thank you to the team of parent volunteers who gave up their afternoon to clear the pond ready for the summer pond dipping season. We missed a team photo but we are so grateful.

Foxes and Hedgehogs took their music outside as we welcomed the Dorset Rural Music School to St James' First School - Wimborne. Felix, a percussionist for over 20 years, had all the children taking part and enjoying playing Samba in our wonderful Peace Garden for the afternoon. Thank you to the Mansel-Pleydell Trust for supporting the event.

On the 29th August 2024, St James' school will celebrate its 50th anniversary. In 1974, the village schools in Hinton Martell and Holt closed their doors and merged to become one new school here at Gaunts Common (which also has a long history). As part of our celebrations planned in September, we would love to collect as many memories and photos from the fantastic and rich history of the school.

So now's your chance to share a memory. What was your favourite part of life at St James'? What event will always bring you joy when you look back? Was there a particular teacher that inspired you and made a difference in your life? Perhaps you have a funny story to share?

We are hoping to create a '50 Years of Memories' timeline to form part of our celebration events in September 2024 and would love to hear from you. If you have a photo to go along with your memory - please send to [email protected]

Please feel free to share this with old school friends and family.

https://forms.office.com/e/C8QGzWmtAf

A huge well done to our Year 4 team who competed at Castle Court School across a challenging cross country course. The team finished 3rd overall which is a tremendous achievement.

A special mention must go to Arthur J and Mason who finished 1st and 3rd in the boys race to bring home the silverware for St James'. We look forward to celebrating in Collective Worship on Monday.

The Summer Term has begun and it was wonderful to see so many children enjoying their practical learning this week. There is so much to look forward to this term. Whether it's Maypole dancing, school trips, Think Bigger Day or Sports Day, St James' will be the place to be.

Foxes were able to share some of their learning in music as part of their latest Parent Share event. They performed four well known nursery rhymes and incorporated the use of a glockenspiel to compliment their singing. Well dones Foxes 🐶 - what a wonderful performance.

Owl's kicked off what was a day of live performances with their Samba ensemble. They have been working with the Dorset Music Service and learning to play a variety of drums and percussion. Led by Harry, they put on quite a show. Parents and carers joined Hedgehogs and Foxes in the audience and were treated to a wonderful performance.

Foxes class had a wonderful trip to Launceston Farm as part of their Understanding of the World topic. They explored what makes healthy soil and were able to dig up worms and talk about the role they play. They then went back to the farmhouse to bake some delicious bread, thinking about how a small seed eventually becomes flour for baking. Thank you to all those who helped support this fantastic adventure.