Gallery

Please see our latest news page for our most recent updates...

A fond farewell to Mrs Hayes and Mrs Ling!

I can now confirm that the total raised for our 'Big Hoot' fundraiser in aid of the St Elizabeth Hospice is
£960.00. This is such amazing news and we cannot thank you enough for your donations over the last few weeks.

KS2 Christingle at St Mary Magdalen Church Bildeston

Christmas Party Time at Bildeston

The Prime Minister pictured receiving his Christmas Card from James Cartlidge MP. Maisie's design has got to Downing Street! Well done Maisie!!

Best-known for his lush jungle scenes, Rousseau was inspired by frequent trips to the gardens of Paris.

KS2 have completed amazing work to replicate his work! 

What super Christmas table decorations made by Kingfisher class today!

During our KS2 drama lesson this week we were recreating the emotions showed by the characters Oliver and the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist.

We worked in small groups and one of the group chose the emotion, such as: sad, shy, terrified, happy, humorous, or bored and then one of the group performed the emotion.

Winners of our recent Junior Road Safety Officer Poster Competition in conjunction with @suffolkroadsafe - some great entries from the children. Well done all!

Thank you to everyone at Bildeston Primary for raising a total of £184 for our Teddy Competition for Children in Need.

We are sure you will all be watching tonight to see how all of these fantastic donations are used!

Having a super day for Children in Need in Kestrel class today!

Super Pudsey Face Masks Goldcrest Class - you all look super!

KESTREL CLASS REMEMBRANCE DISPLAY

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
OUR WREATH MADE IN SCHOOL CONTAINING POEMS THAT WERE WRITTEN BY THE CHILDREN THAT WILL BE LAID AT THE WAR MEMORIAL IN BILDESTON SQUARE ON SUNDAY

Robin Class can give directions using north, east, south and west. They made routes on the playground giving directions for their friends to follow. They also practised using compasses.

Making sandwiches using instructions! Yummy!

Finding a quiet spot on our new bench  for some reading with friends!

We will really miss our year 6 children but we wish them every success at high school!

Camp Fire Wild Adventure

To end our summer term, year 5 & 6 enjoyed a camping experience in the school groups joined by Whatfield pupils. They took part in a number of wide games and enjoyed their meals on an open fire! We wish our year 6 pupils every success at high school when they start in September.

Year 6 Leavers’

Year 6 pupils enjoyed a final trip together at the Suffolk Ski Centre taking part in Tobogganing with lunch.

Planting Sunflowers

Robin class enjoying planting their sunflowers this afternoon in the front garden

Thank you once again to Hadleigh High School for organising the U11 Quad Kids event today - Bildeston had a wonderful time competing against children in the Hadleigh pyramid of schools! 🏃

Fun for everyone in Goldcrest and Robin class at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary

Year 6 pupils enjoying a trip to Hadleigh High School for an U11 Multi Skills event.

All of our children had the opportunity to take part in ‘Walk to School’ week (17th May 2021). They were each given a card to record any walking they completed during the week and certificates were awarded to those who took part Keep Moving Suffolk.

Children in Robin class enjoyed an ‘Elmer Day’ at the end of half term. Lots of activities took place in class and they all got to dress up for the day!

Kestrel and Owl Class enjoyed their second ‘Tiny Plays’ playwriting workshop with

Whatfield Primary School this morning Looking forward to our Theatre Royal visit in June.

Kestrel Class have been working hard to produce these fantastic portraits of famous monarchs. They have also produced their own frames to display their portraits​.

Goldcrest class tasting lots of new nutritious fruits and vegetables!

Kingfisher class have been learning about how light reflects in mirrors. ​ They played two games – Mirror Maze and Mirror Messages. It was lots of fun and quite challenging!

Theatre Royal Workshops

Children in year 6 are enjoying workshops provided by the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. This project provides them with a memorable end to their primary school education.  In a year full of disruption, ‘tiny plays BIG IDEAs’, will provide children with an opportunity to creatively express their thoughts and ideas, to learn new skills and to take part in an end of project celebration with their peers.

Each group of children will get the opportunity to work with a high-quality, professional playwright to teach them the art of play writing.  Children will learn about plot, character, storytelling, drafting and staging during two one-hour workshops.  By the end of these two workshops, each child will have crafted their own short play and enjoy seeing some being performed at the theatre at the end of June.

Royalty arrived at Bildeston School when Kestrel & Owl Class arrived dressed as royalty to take part in a round robin of activities based on English Monarchs through time, organised to increase the children’s knowledge, enhance their learning and to enthuse their imaginations.

Kingfisher Class History topic for summer 2021 is 'The Stone Age and Iron Age'. Today, Friday 23rd April, to enhance the children’s learning and ignite their imagination they had a fun 'WOW day' enjoying activities with the aim to increase their understanding of the topic and in costume too!

We are looking forward to an exciting summer term ahead. We hope that with the Covid restrictions starting to ease, we can start to introduce more events and activities throughout the term.

All of our children will take the opportunity to make good use of our outdoor environment, hopefully with some much warmer weather! The little ones particularly will enjoy a variety of forest schooling activities including; bug hunting and making a log circle to complement our tipis. They will learn to use lots of skills during this time and have lots of fun!

We will also be hosting an overnight camp adventure for our year 5 and 6 pupils from both Bildeston and Whatfield as we have not been able to offer them a residential over the last year They will enjoy two full days of fun activities. There is a huge emphasis on team building and we know that the children will get to know each other well before some of them move on to high school.

We are also delighted to say that our Year 1/2 area will be enhanced over the coming months as many of our current reception and year 1 children have not had a huge amount of time in school because of the lockdowns in place.

We have installed three new picnic benches made of recyclable materials in bright colours for the children to enjoy sitting at and particularly to have their lunch outside.

Let’s hope that the April chills soon move into a bright and sunny summer.

Children in KS2 will kickstart the new term off with history WOW days where the children get the opportunity to come dressed as British monarchs or in Stone Age costume.

Lockdown Bears

All of our children received their very own “Lockdown Bildeston Bear” during the spring term to say thank you for how they all managed the remote learning during lockdowns. We are super proud of them all and what they achieved and of course thrilled to have all of our children back in school.

Chinese New Year

KS2 children started their week before half term celebrating Chinese New Year. In Science they made fireworks in jars, experimenting to see if water would mix with oil. They also looked at the food Chinese people would eat when celebrating the Luna New Year. They were then set the task of creating their own Chinese meal to celebrate and they definitely embraced the challenge!  

Robin Class

In English Robin class have been reading a story called the Dragon Machine.  In the story the boy builds a dragon machine so he can lead the dragon’s home.  Robin class made their own flying machines – the more imaginative the better!​ Robin Class also worked so hard on their activity days during remote learning making pancakes, tall towers and boats proved to be extremely popular!​

Also some messy science before half term for Robin class who investigated the viscosity of different liquids by seeing how long it took them to drip down a slope. Liquid soap, syrup and honey took a long time, but most children found that ketchup took the longest.​

KS2 Art

In KS2 art lessons before half term the children made figurative sculptures using tin foil. The different poses represent a different show of feelings. Well done everyone!​

In PE, Owls and Kestrels were set the task of designing a walking route in their local area. Dojo points were awarded to those who produced the most interesting routes. Well done Ashton, Mia D and Freya for being so creative.​

Romans

Continuing their work on the Romans, Kingfisher class cooked their own pizzas at home and also produced some Roman board games called Latrunculi or Ludus Latrunculorum –meaning The Game of Mercenaries.​

Tiger Reports

The children in Owl and Kestrel class have also continued their work on chronological reports by writing their opening paragraph and then a paragraph about the appearance of the tiger.​

Extreme Places to Read

World Book Day

The challenge to read in the most unusual or extreme place for World Book Day!

We are thrilled to announce that Bildeston Primary School have been awarded the Artsmark Gold. The Arts Council state that our commitment to the Arts is commendable and staff and pupils are very proud to receive this!

We are thrilled to announce that Bildeston Primary School have been awarded the Artsmark Gold. The Arts Council state that our commitment to the Arts is commendable and staff and pupils are very proud to receive this!

Romans

Kingfisher class has been working hard continuing with learning about the Romans.​ They were set the challenge of drawing a Roman soldier. They had some fantastic drawings, some of which were highlighted in our weekly celebration assembly hosted virtually for pupils and parents

Rocks

In Science, Kingfisher class have been learning about the different types of rock. Teachers set the class a task of creating their own igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks of chocolate. They had great fun being chocolate scientists.

Dragons

Robin class has been working really hard on their writing. They have written dragon poems, descriptions of dragons and described dragon eggs as well as producing some amazing drawings - well done Robins!

Ancient Greeks

Pupils in Kestrel and Owl class have been learning about the different accessories that were worn by the Ancient Greeks. Ancient Greeks that were wealthy wore a lot of jewellery. Look at some of the designs the children came up with themselves.

On 1 January 2021 we welcomed our new head teacher

We would like to welcome our new head teacher, Mrs Julia Shaw, to Bildeston Primary School. Mrs Shaw is now head teacher of Bildeston and Whatfield Primary School as they continue in their very successful federation.

Mrs Shaw is in the unusual position of having to introduce herself to most parents and pupils virtually or through personal phone calls to each family, since January has started with a national lockdown whilst we are in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope you will join us in wishing her success in her new role.

Remote Learning

The last few months have been a very unusual time, and many of us have had to adapt and learn new skills, from zooming at school to teaching at home.  Again, our staff has jumped to the challenge of maintaining in-school provision as well as guiding the learning of pupils.  Our parents continue to work with their children at home guided by the teachers and this is greatly appreciated.  We have regular Monday assemblies and during these we showcase children’s work from the week before. We also have a regular Collective Worship assembly on Thursdays hosted by Reverend Elke Cattermole, an opportunity for parents and children to take part together.

Whether the children are at home or in school, they continue to join in with county incentive PE events. Currently they are completing skipping challenges using school score sheets but also personal best sheets for the activities being completed at home.

Hadrian’s Wall

Kingfisher class well and truly conquered their Hadrian’s Wall walking challenge with family members and dogs! They managed to clock up 27.15 miles in one day to take their distance total to a massive 89.30 miles meaning their goal was surpassed by 3.72 miles - well done!

Talk 4 Writing

Teachers within our school have undertaken Talk for Writing training over the last few months. Developed by Pie Corbett, it is a powerful resource because it is based on the principles of how people learn. Talk for Writing has had an outstanding impact on schools. Schools already performing well have not only increased attainment, but also enjoyment and engagement. We really hope it will be a great resource for our children too!

Work in School

Work continues in school with recycled plastic fencing around our early years and key stage 1 areas. We are really proud of what we have been able to achieve in our school over the last year and we hope the children will be able to get back into school soon to enjoy their great surroundings!

Sporting Events

Sporting events continue at Bildeston as we take part in events in our school and post results on a sporting website. So far this term we have entered Cross Country and Basketball competitions. Our Early Years pupils continue to enjoy Forest School activities outside in the wonderful surroundings of the school.

Junior Road Safety Officers

Our Road Safety Officers met with Mr Andrews, the local authority Road Safety Officer. They discussed their ideas of how they could engage the rest of the school with keeping safe on our roads. They have recently organised a competition for pupils to design their own cycle helmets and emphasising the need to wear them at all times when out cycling.

Phonics Workshop

Our Early Years staff enjoyed a Phonics Workshop with parents whose children started with us this term. The workshop introduced parents to the way we teach phonics and included ideas of games and materials they could use at home to support their child.

Remembrance Assembly

Reverend Elke Cattermole joined us virtually for our Remembrance assembly this month and led the service across both schools. Children across our KS2 classes in both of our federated schools read poems they had written. Everyone observed a minute silence before we drew the assembly to a close.

One Life Programme

KS2 pupils have enjoyed a virtual session on Healthy Living with the One Life Team. The session looked at improving the health and wellbeing of our children after a long pandemic lockdown.

Our Grand Opening

Our newly refurbished school was officially opened on 9 October by staff, pupils, governors and contractors who were joined by James Cartlidge MP. We also had press coverage of the opening and so we appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times last week as they were keen to see and hear about the changes and how they will benefit the efficiency of our school building. Two of our school council representatives “cut the ribbon” at the opening!

Year 6 Environmental Letters

Whilst James Cartlidge was with us, two of our year 6 pupils took the opportunity to hand over their letters to the MP explaining how they felt we all could help our environment. They are currently working on the environment in class.

Harvest Assembly

Reverend Elke Cattermole joined the children at Bildeston Primary School for their Harvest assembly today, which was slightly different from their usual Harvest assembly. Due to the COVID pandemic and social distancing rules, pupils had to stay in their classrooms in their bubbles and the assembly was broadcast virtually which included wonderful parent participation!

Children brought donations of non-perishable foods which were displayed in their classroom bubbles. These donations will be collected together and will be donated to Bildeston Food Bank. Thank you to everyone for their generosity.

Bikeability

Thank you to the Bikeability team who came three times over the last few weeks (due to the rain!!) to ensure that our Year 5 pupils completed the necessary cycle training to ensure that they continue to stay safe on our roads. Every child was handed a certificate and a badge for their participation.

It has been lovely to welcome you all back to our autumn term and in particular to welcome new pupils and year groups we haven’t seen in quite a while.

Pupils have adapted very well to the stringent measures we have in place to keep everyone safe. They have accepted handwashing controls, social distancing and staff wearing face coverings in key parts of the building.

We have all worked incredibly hard to get the school ready for re-opening after summer. I am sure you will agree, our superb builders have done an excellent job  and the building has now had a fantastic facelift.  In essence, we went from a tired timber cladded school to a vibrant coloured modern looking school.

Our building now has solar resistant glass, double glazing, proper insulation and carefully considered fire breaks within the new smart outside cladding.  It is as if our school has a beautiful new overcoat, and now we feel the outside of the building matches the inside, which has always been welcoming with wonderful displays. Parents, staff and governors are delighted that Suffolk have seen fit to invest in us as a successful and sustainable school, which will take us into the future. 

Our newly beautiful school will be opened very soon and there will likely be some press attention. Parents will get the opportunity to see the new look on a ‘walk-around’ on Monday 21^st September after they have dropped their children into school.  This will be their opportunity to pop into the school grounds to see how wonderful the school looks from the other side!!

We look forward to seeing a big difference in the energy efficiency of the school, and it already feels a much more comfortable working environment.