On Friday of last week, pupils and staff from Beckley  performed a specially written play about the life of Beckley School throughout the years of the First World War. The moving and powerful play was based upon the entries in the school log book between 1914 and 1918, by Mr Blackmore the Headmaster at the time. The performance took place in the village hall, with over 100 people in the audience – including the 92 year old sister of one of the ‘Garden Boys’ in the play, who lost his life during the Great War.

The play was a very powerful and poignant reminder to all those who were there of the impact that WW1 had on the school, the village and the lives of so many people!

Last term, many of our pupils entered the Stormont Art Competition organised by Rye Art Gallery. This year the theme was ‘Jungle’. We had 25 pupils whose work was chosen to be included as part of the exhibition, which had its official opening to the public on Saturday. Out of all the local schools involved, the judges selected Alexander from Beckley as their overall winner in the 5 -7 years category! What fantastic news! The exhibition is open to the public until 25th November, so please go along and take a look – you will be inspired!

Early this term, the pupils in Years 5 and 6 went on  their week-long residential trip to an activity centre, near Ashford. They had an amazing time, challenging themselves to work as teams, face their fears of heights, problem-solve and be creative. For some of the children, it was the longest they had spent away from home. Some of the most popular activities included the ‘leap of faith’, the ‘3G swing’, the ‘night line’ and the ‘chariot building’. Many pupils developed their confidence, independence and made new friends. It was a fantastic week and a brilliant way to start the new school year as a new class. Huge thanks to Mrs Morley for organising such a wonderful residential trip!

Last week, we held a ‘Vision and Values’ evening for parents of the two schools in the Federation. It was an opportunity for parents from both Peasmarsh and Beckley to hear from the headteachers about the sharted vision and values developing as we move the schools forward together. Parents said they really appreciated the opportunity to share their ideas and comment upon the Church of England Vision for Education document that both schools are using as the basis for this developing piece of work.

Welcome back to all of the pupils and parents at the start of a new school year, and a big welcome to all of our NEW pupils and parents. Over the summer break, there have been a number of contractors in school, working hard to develop various parts of the building and outdoor spaces. Work over the summer has included:

• Developing the piece of land behind the school, including access from the playground so that we can begin to use this area as an outdoor learning space
• Re-developing the old staffroom so that we now have an extra two room spaces. One is being used as an office space for our bursar and SENCO, with the other room being multi-purpose for small group work; music lessons; meetings and a teacher workspace.
• Decoration of the school hall
• Decoration of the school entrance lobby
• Completing the Learning Pad by adding a weather panel that allows us to countine to use the space as the weather deteriorates

The works carried out form part of our rolling programme to enhance, upgrade and develop our school environment.

‘It was a pleasure talking with your pupils. I was impressed with how confidently they talked about their school, their learning and what they enjoy.’

Beckley had our OFSTED inspection on 14th June and we have now received our report from the inspector. There are many positive aspects to the report and we are very pleased to have been judged as a ‘good’ school. If you would like to read the full report and the parent letter from our governors, they can be downloaded from our Policies and Documents section on the web-site.

‘The school’s Christian values, particularly the need to care for eachother, are very evident.’

‘The curriculum provides exciting and memorable learning opportunities.’

Since last week, pupils at Beckley are even more enthusiastic then ever to be active and exercise! This is because our brand new playgound exercise equipment has now been installed. Pupils have been having lessons to show them how to use the variety of exercise machines and the climbing wall, allowing them to exercise every day! The re-development has been funded through the Health Improvement Grant that we were successful in getting last year and our new playground is now a key part of our various activies to promote healthy living in the shcool.

Last week we celebrated our 200th Anniversary with a whole ‘Victorian Week’. This included the entire school dressing in Victorian costume for the week and every day having a different Victorian theme for the learning taking place.

On Monday – we held a Victorian history day, where the children learnt about clothing worn by rich and poss Victorian people, plus some of the different uniforms worn by Victorian soldiers throughout the empire.

On Tuesday – a photographer came to the school and we re-created some of the early photographs of the school from the Victorian period

On Wednesday – the school held our Beckley 200 Victorian tea-party, with Victorian food prepared by the pupils.

On Thursday – the whole shool visited Preston Manor – a large Victorian Manor house in Brighton. Here the children experienced life down in the servant areas, washing and cooking and then saw the contrast by finding out about life upstairs, where the wealthy family would have lived.

On Friday – we had a Victorian science day when the children learned about some of the major scientific breakthroughs that happened in this period of history.

What an amazing week!!

This week our Year 5 pupils have all taken part in the cycle safety programme, ‘Bike-ability’. Cycle instructors have worked every day with the children, teaching them about safe cycling. The children have grown more confident about cycling on the road, going out every day under the supervision of the Bike-ability trainers. At the end of the week, the Year 5 pupils were assessed on their cycling skills, road awareness and knowledge of the laws about cycling on the road. We are delighted that every  one of the children passed both Level 1 and Level 2. Well done!

We recently took part in the national ‘sun safety week’ and used lessons and school assembly times to learn about the importance of being able to enjoy the sunny weather safely. Children  have engaged in a whole series of classroom activities and learnt the’Slip, Slap, Slop’ song – as a way to remember how to enjoy the sun in  a safe manner. As a result of our week, we have now officially become a ‘Sun Safe School’!