Success on Track & Field

Sixteen pupils from Year 3 and Year 4 represented Heritage at Bedford International Athletics Stadium for a Quadkids events (organised in part, by Mrs Eastwood) for the East Bedfordshire Sports Partnership. Eight schools were competing with 144 children participating overall in track and field events including (1) standing long jump, (2) vortex throwing (3) 75 metres (4) 600/400 metres.   Everyone had a great day and some impressive records and results were achieved.  Overall, Heritage won the Year 3 & Year 4 competition – with Megan achieving the 2nd highest score of all the girls over all four events. In the Year 5 & Year 6 event, Heritage came 2nd  with Scyld achieving the top score of all the boys, across all 4 events.  Many congratulations to all who were involved and special thanks to Mr Hulett and Mrs Eastwood too.

Year 4 Camp

There was great excitement in Year 4 as we left for the much anticipated annual overnight camp at Abington Woods. The week leading up to the camp had been particularly wet so we were delighted to find the clouds had cleared by the time we arrived on Friday morning.  Year 4 had been the first group to experience ‘Forest School’ back in September at Abington Woods, and were very pleased to be back.

First things first and the children quickly got to work putting up their tents. The afternoon was then spent designing and building trebuchets (a type of catapult) using woodland materials, learning the history and techniques of archery, as well as practising some basic orienteering skills. In the evening the children cooked their supper over the campfire and sang songs before snuggling into their sleeping bags. A hearty breakfast was hungrily devoured the following morning before packing up and heading home. The children are now very much looking forward to their longer Year 5 / Year 6 camp in the Peak District next year.  Mrs Eldridge

A New Location for Forest School

Heritage Forest School has moved location from Abington Woods to Clare Wood, (down Hobson’s Conduit, to the South of Brooklands Avenue). We are enormously grateful to Clare College for this provision, which hugely reduces the time it now takes to get to the woods and get things started!  This term Upper Prep and Year 5 have been honing their forest skills and Lower Prep have enjoyed some taster sessions too.

Whether crafting solitary bee homes out of elder, or making tools such as wooden pegs, hoops and mallet’s for setting up camp, Forest School remains a highlight in the week for all involved.  (Of course it may well be, that it is the hot chocolate around the fire at the end of each session which keeps everyone smiling!)

The Screen Free Challenge

Screen Free Week has become a firm fixture in the school diary. It is a time when, for one week only, Heritage challenges families (parents as well as pupils) not to use screens during leisure time. Instead, we hope families will find and enjoy other forms of recreation together, whether organised or spontaneous. Examples might include new sports, crafts, board games, cooking, sharing a picnic, an expedition or simply a good book.

Mr Fletcher says ‘I hope Screen Free Week will encourage us all to reflect upon the screen habits of our households. Statistics tell us that screens (watching programmes, going online, using social media, playing video games, etc.) dominate our leisure time, consuming an average of 5-7 hours per day. This is displacing many other healthier activities, particularly reading. The lack of reading, especially as pupils enter the secondary school years, is having a significant effect upon the depth of knowledge and understanding our children are developing. Excessive screen use leads to impatience with ‘slower’ things. It damages our capacity for sustained attention, the type of focus which is, as Charlotte Mason says, ‘the hallmark of an educated person’.

We hope that many families have taken up the challenge and look forward to receiving their feedback – the highs and the lows, the surprises and the rewards.

Gower Magic

The Gower Peninsular is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, where for 51 weeks of the year, wildlife and locals can enjoy a peaceful existence. Then every so often we hold the Heritage Senior Camp there and this sleepy corner of South Wales becomes much noisier as the children invade and explore it from all angles.

This year the four DofE practice expeditions (2 Bronze, 2 Silver) did themselves proud with excellent navigation and relatively high speed walking, completing their walks in good time. The Year 9 boys went looking for somewhere called “Eee-Bombay” (best ask them what this means) – not sure that they ever found it, but the search appeared to keep their morale high. Mrs Cubitt, Mrs Illman and Mrs Strachan all walked their socks off, providing both direct and remote supervision of some of the groups. The Year 7 and 8’s managed to surround their teachers and shoot them up at the Laser Combat zone and then either cooked a cake in a cardboard box over a fire (yes, really) or make a boomerang. They also had the chance to sea kayak from the beautiful beach at Oxwich bay. Year 9 and 10 recuperated from their expedition by spending a day canyoning in the Brecon Beacons, whilst the Year 7 and 8 climbed some mountains, enjoying a lunch break on Fan-y-Big before scaling Cribyn and Pen-y-Fan. Evenings on camp were spent playing games supervised by Mr Appleyard and helpers, to whom huge kudos goes for their patience under fire from a little polystyrene torpedo thingy. The final evening was a traditional campfire, accompanied by toasted marshmallows and slightly dodgy campfire songs.

On the return journey we enjoyed a tour at The Big Pit, where we toured an old coal mine, 90 metres below ground level, guided by some ex-miners. Their depiction of life underground for children as young as 6 years of age brought home to the children how very lucky they are to live in the 21st Century in Cambridge.

The children were fuelled by the legendary Mr Hulett’s breakfasts accompanied by a range of contributions from other staff members – including Mr Kwan, who’s vegetarian sweet and sour and mushroom curry dishes require special mention!

Senior Camp remains a great tradition at Heritage school, made possible by a group of dedicated teaching staff who support the children and keep them safe and well fed. This year’s camp leaders were (in alphabetical order): Mr Appleyard, Mr Bell, Mr Buchanan, Mr Burden, Mrs Cubitt, Mr Fletcher, Mr Hulett, Mrs Illman, Mr Kwan, Mrs Scarlatta, Mrs Srachan and Mr Williams. We hope to see you next year!