News

Hamsterley's football team won the bronze medal at the Woodland Primary School Football Festival. We had a slow start in our first two games, drawing 0 - 0 with Woodland Primary, and losing 1 - 0 to St. Mary's. We now needed to win our final two group games to have a chance of qualifying. The team suddenly discovered its form, beating Cotherstone 4 - 0, and secured joint second in the group by beating Gainford 1 - 0 in their final group game.

The qualifying play off was a tense match. Woodland took an early lead, but Hamsterley soon equalised, and were pressing for a winner in normal time ... but the match ended 1 - 1, and we had the drama of penalties. Jack scored his penalty, and Matthew Barrass saved all of Woodland's penalties, to see us through to the semis.

The semi-final against Bowes was a very close game, but a contentious penalty award to Bowes at the beginning of the second half was enough for them to go through 1 - 0. The team now had to pick themselves up again for the third place playoff against the joint team from Middleton and Forest in Teesdale.

This third place playoff was a cracker, easily the best game of the day. Middleton took an early lead, before a fantastic dipping free-kick from Jack Armstrong and a wonderful volley from a very narrow angle by Tom Raine saw Hamsterley to a 2 - 1 lead at half-time. Middleton equalised almost immediately from the kick-off, but goals from Jack and Cameron Lewins took us to a 4-2 victory.

Hamsterley's team of Joseph Fitzgerald, Matthew Barrass, Taryn White, Olivia Barrass, Kyle Dodd, Martin Bell, Charlie Dixon, Tom Raine, Cameron Lewins and Jack Armstrong can be proud of their achievements. We finished as the leading goal scorers, scoring over twice as many goals as any other team.

The Kate Greenaway Award is a prestigious annual award for the best illustrated children's book. We have a copy of each of the shortlisted books, and the children in Class 2 have been reading the books, sharing them with the children in Class 1, and have written their own reviews. You can see a sample of our reviews on the CILIP shadowing site: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/grouphomepages/index.php?GroupID=9991

Our current favourite is "There are cats in this book" by Viviane Schwarz. During the half-term holiday, Mr. Hassan went to the Hay-on-Wye book festival where he met Ms Schwarz, and she has signed a copy of her book especially for school - it has a picture of a Hamsterley Hamster in the autograph.

We have been given the opportunity to take an extra swimming session at Wolsingham, which we will use for the KS2 swimming certificate. This extra session is fortnightly on Tuesday mornings, so our swimming timetable does look slightly complicated!

Whole school swimming: Monday 7th June, 21st June, 5th July, 19th July.

Class 2 only: Tuesday 25th May, 15th June, 29th June, 13th July.

Kew Gardens organised the Great Plant Hunt in the week of May 17th - 21st. The whole school went on a walk to Adder Wood, looking for which wildflowers and trees were in flower at this time of year. This gives researchers at Kew an indication of how flowering patterns are changing from year to year. Have a look at our photos on the Great Plant Hunt website: http://www.greatplanthunt.org/teachers/gphwmap

Children from years 5 and 6 had a great day last week when they went to the WorkPlace, at the Aycliffe Industrial Estate. They worked with children from Edmondsley primary learning about Emergency First Aid, keeping fit, keeping safe with mobile phones, and CADCAM.

Don't forget our Easter Fair is this Wednesday, 31st March, at 2:30 PM in the Village Hall, just after our Easter assembly.

Easter Assembly: Monday 29th March at 6:00 PM and Wednesday 31st March at 2:00 PM, at the village hall.

Children from Year 3 to Year 5 had a very enjoyable morning on Friday 26th when they took part in a multi-sports festival at Wolsingham community college, organised by the local School Sports Partnership. They had the chance to try out a rock climbing wall, table tennis, trampolining, trigolf, Kurling, and dance.

We held our annual individual Easter Egg design competition on Thursday 25th March. Everyone had fun, and there were some very imaginative entries. Congratulations to the winners: Luke Armstrong (Reception), Jane Horn (Y1), Jack White (Y2), Chloe Armstrong (Y3), Olivia Morgan (Y4), Halle Dixon (Y5), and Jasmine Raine (Y6).

Our Family Easter Egg competition will be judged on Wednesday 31st March, so there's still time for last minute entries!

Congratulations to Charlie Dixon, who came 9th out of almost 100 competitors in the finals of the County Primary Schools Championship on 19th March. He was racing against children from Year 3 and 4, so many of them were over a year older than him. Well done, Charlie!

The whole school went along to the Cross Country Festival at Wolsingham Community College on Friday 5th March. All the children did well, and there were some excellent performances. The Y1/2 girls team finished third in their competition, with Heidi Warren finishing 4th in the individual race, and the Y1/2 boys team also finished 3rd.

In the junior races, Charlie Dixon finished 2nd in the Y3/4 boys race, and has qualified to represent the county at the finals on March 19th. Good luck, Charlie!

On 3rd March, children from Year 2 to Year 6 took part in the World Maths Day challenge. This is a mental maths challenge where they compete against children across the world to see how many questions they can get right in 60 seconds. The 'day' actually lasts for 50 hours, from the moment that the 3rd March starts in Kiribati (10:00 GMT on the 2nd March) till the moment that 3rd March ends in the Pacific West of Samoa (12:00 GMT 4th March).

Congratulations to all the children who took part, and especially to our highest three scorers: Olivia Barrass (3594 pts), Molly Raine (3624 pts), and Cameron Lewins (4195 pts).

Thank you to everyone who came to the village hall to support the children in their performances of Cinderella. The children were buzzing at school this morning as they talked about their stage appearance last night. They really rose to the occasion, and all of them reported that their parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!) had really enjoyed the show. It's been worth all the hard work!

Everybody in school has been excited to watch as the team from Timberline erected the latest additions to our school playground. We now have an outdoor sandpit, an obstacle course, tyre swings, two new shelters, and a second play tower connected to the original structure.

All we need now is some good weather so we can use it!

Come to the village hall on Friday 29th at 7:30 PM or Saturday 30th of January 2:00 PM or 7:30PM to see this thrilling production. Remember, no Christmas can be complete without a good panto! Action packed fun for all the family!

Tickets £3 from Jaquie (01388 488323) or Simon (01388 488024)

Many thanks to all of you who supported our Christmas Carol Concert at the Baptist chapel, and especial thanks to Pastor Jim Williams and his wife Sally for their hospitality. We wish them all the best on their return to Phoenix, Arizona.

The concert was a great success; among the highlights were the spirited rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, and the brilliant modern carol "Sheep, sheep, sheep" composed by Andy Murray.

Our thanks to local photographer David Clarke for the photographs. He is willing to make copies of these for a small payment: email d.g.clarke@btinternet.com, or telephone 01388 488970.

On Friday 20th November, the school council organised a Children in Need fundraising day. They had a cake sale (where children could decorate their own fairy cake), a karaoke competition, a raffle, and a talent competition.

The karaoke was won by Tom. The judges commended his enthusiastic performance, and the way he encouraged the audience to join in.

The talent show was excellent, and all the acts can feel proud of their contribution. In third place was the dance routine by Amy, Claudia, Heidi, Jane, and Phoebe. Second prize was won by Molly, for her beautiful piano playing, and also in recognition of her dancing talents in the Class 2 dance routine. First prize went to Martin, for an outstanding electric guitar solo performance.

Overall, the children raised an amazing £204.83. Many thanks to the school council for their efforts, amd particularly to Taryn and Tom for taking a lead role in the organisation of the day.

We wish Linda all the best as she goes off on her maternity leave. The children presented her with flowers and a card, and the staff held a 'baby shower'. Hope to see you back at school soon!

On Friday 13th November, Class 1 went to Bishop Auckland Library. The children have been working on the story of Cinderella, and some of their work will be on display in the library for the next few weeks. They were able to borrow some books to take back to school. If you are in Bishop in the near future, do drop in to look at the work.

Our lower junior football team took part in a mini festival at Wolsingham School and Community College on Wednesday 11th November. After a slow start (maybe we should have a practice game before we leave school!), the team came roaring back to finish with a draw and a win. Well done to all the team, and thanks to our coach and manager, Paul Dixon. His job is safe for another week!

On Wednesday 11th November, the children from Hamsterley Primary School went to the village war memorial to lay a wreath in remembrance. The children have been finding out the stories behind the names, and we will be creating a remembrance page on our website to share these stories.

Two of the people named on the memorial, William (Bill) Guy and Dennis Bainbridge, are related to two of our current pupils, and we laid another wreath for them.

"At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them"

Thank you to all who donated toys, money or time towards the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Shoebox appeal. The children have worked hard sorting the toys and packing the boxes, and these have been collected for delivery to Romania and Serbia.

On Tuesday 10th November, we held our Christmas Fair in the school hall. The Christmas atmosphere was enhanced by delicious mulled wine and spiced apple juice, and a wonderful selection of mince pies. Children from the school sang a medley of carols, and played Christmas songs on the clarinet - well done Olivia, Taryn and Halle! We raised over £130 for the school. Thanks to all who attended or contributed.

Children from Hamsterley Primary School had a day to remember when they visited London on November 4th. In a hectic schedule, they saw the Latvian and Bulgarian ambassadors visit Buckingham Palace, had a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament where they met their local MP, Helen Goodman, and rounded the day off with a meal at the Rainforest Cafe.

The children had been learning about Parliament in their history lessons, and the visit brought that learning to life for them. Our thanks to all the parents who gave up a day to help us. It was a long day (we didn't get back until after 11:00 PM!), but very worthwhile.