Our Blogs

Our ten chicks came out to play for the first time today and the children have had a lovely time learning how to hold them safely and watching them run around. Some of the chicks have very loud voices too! There are a selection of photographs in the gallery for you to see.

If any parents and pre-schoolers would like to come in and see the chicks, after school on Thursday would be a good time.

All of our eggs are now hatched and we have ten fluffy chicks running about in the brooder box. They will often be seen huddled under the light bulb which is the warmest spot.  There are some photographs in the gallery and the chick cam will continue to be online.

Over the next few days the chicks will begin eating and growing lots and hopefully next week we will be able to handle them.

As part of our Science Week we once again have the Living Eggs project in school. Today has been very exciting as several of our eggs have hatched. The chicks don't need any food or water initially as they have all their nutrients from the yolk they absorbed before hatching, but later in the week they will be moved into the brooder box when they will be able to run around and have chick feed to eat and water to drink.

Next week when the chicks are a bit bigger, parents will be able to come in to see them and bring any younger siblings; we will text to let you know when it is a good time to come. 

There are some photographs in the gallery and remember you can also view the live 'Chick Cam' 24 hours a day. You can also find out more by visiting www.livingeggs.co.uk 

Thank you to the PTA who have once again funded this fantastic project!

What a fantastic time we are having - investigating, experimenting and discovering, all as part of our Science Week.

Yesterday started with an amazing assembly led by Vicky from 'Mad Science' (www.madscience.org) and since then all the children have been on a journey of discovery through all manner of science investigations and challenges. There are too many to list so take a look at the photos in the gallery to see what we have been up to!

Thank you to all the parents who came along to help us, in particular Mr Box and Mr Foster who led some of our fantastic workshops today.

A big thank you also to the PTA for funding our Mad Science visit and to Mrs Hoar for planning and organising the activities - it's been wonderful and the children have learned so much! We definitely have some future scientists in our midst!

Thank you for all your support of our Red Nose Day fun today! The children looked FABULOUS in their outfits and we raised £170 for Comic Relief. There are some photos in the gallery.

We have had a fabulous day in school today with a visit from 'Owl Time'. We learned lots of interesting facts about owls and had a flying display in the hall, with several children having the chance to have the owls land on their hands!

Every child had a photograph taken with a Barn Owl sitting on their shoulder and these will be available to purchase fom the school office next week; we will send a text to let you know when they arrive. 

In the meantime, there are some photographs in the gallery and you could also visit www.owltime.co.uk to find out more.

We had a fabulous time for World Book Day this week with everyone dressing up as book characters and enjoying the fancy dress parade. There were some AMAZING costumes, well done everyone!

The photographs are now in the gallery do take a look!

Chinese Arts Days 2015

We have had a FANTASTIC two days in school this week for our annual arts days, this year on the theme of China. The children have taken part in so many different activities and have produced some beautiful work whilst learning all about the history, culture and traditions of this amazing country.

A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered to help – your extra pairs of hands are invaluable to us. Thank you also to the staff for their ideas and enthusiasm, without which there would be no arts days at all; their creativity never ceases to amaze!

We would also like to extend an especially big thank you to the PTA for funding the dragon/lion dancing and martial arts workshops which have been a big hit and thoroughly enjoyed by the children. To read more about these workshops visit www.nama.co.uk

Our Arts Days have also been greatly enhanced by the beautiful Chinese artefacts loaned to us from various families; thank you so much, they have really helped to bring the children’s learning to life.

The children's work will now be put on display for you all to see at the forthcoming Open Session on Monday 2nd February, do try and get along to see it!

There are some photographs of the arts days in the photo gallery.

Thank you so much to the wonderful PTA who funded the 'Kool Kids' Disco to come for this year's Christmas parties. The children had a fantastic afternoon with lots of dancing and games - and even a snow machine!

Thank you to parents for providing the wonderful party food contributions too - a fantastic way to round off a busy term.

There are pictures of the children putting their dancing shoes to the test in the gallery!

Our Carol Service this afternoon was beautiful. Thank you to all the parents and families who came along to join with us for this very special part of Christmas.

Class 2 acted out the Nativity brilliantly and the Young Worship group told the story of the first Christmas through Biblical readings. All the other classes sang and recited poems to create a really special act of worship. This year's service even had a European flavour, with Silent Night sung in German and Away in a Manger in French!

Well done children!

There are some photographs in the gallery of our rehearsal on Monday.

What an amazing afternoon! Class 1 gave a wonderful peformance of 'The Sleepy Shepherd' today to a hall packed full of parents and families, a wonderful start to Christmas!

The children may be small but they had huge voices up on the big stage and looked fantastic in their costumes. They had a lot of songs to learn too and we could hear every word. We are so proud of them all and know that parents and families must be too, there are definitely some stars in the making in Class 1!

Thank you to everyone who came along to watch their performance and we hope you enjoyed it.

Thank you especially to all the adults who work in Class 1, but especially to the lovely Miss Ingle who has worked so hard to ensure that the children could feel prepared and confident up on stage.

There are some photographs in the gallery, taken when Class 1 did their dress rehearsal yesterday for the rest of school and visitors from Wymondley and Sloe Hill Nursing Homes.

Well done Class 1!

This is a quick reminder for all those in choir taking part in tomorrow's Fair in the Square.

Please can the children arrive at the market square for 11:20 where I will be waiting. There should be a little stage so make your way there. The children have been asked to wear school uniform (skirts for girls) and can bring along a Christmas accessory such as a hat, festive hair decorations or tinsel.

Thank you to all for working so hard and giving up time to rehearse. See you all tomorrow bringing your wonderful voices!

 Mrs Stewart

The children had a lovely time this afternoon when we visited the Crib Festival in Church. It was amazing to see all the different kinds of nativity sets on display. There are some photos of our visit in the gallery.

Do try and go along to see the Crib Festival for yourself this weekend!

This year's Remembrance Day worship was extra special to mark the first world war centenary. We started by gathering in the hall and sharing in a short Collective Worship led by the children in our Young Worship group; we were glad that so many parents could come along.

Then we led over to Church with Revd Ann to join with members of the local community for a ceremony at the war memorial. Each class had made and laid a poppy wreath at the war memorial.

To end, the school choir sang a beautiful song called 'We Will Remember Them', a piece that had been written by musician Will Todd especially for the Hertfordshire Music Gala at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year. We have a video of the choir singing the song in the hall which we will put on the website soon so keep an eye out.

There are some photographs in the gallery for you  to see.

Today the choir took part in the Diocesan Harvest Festival at St Albans Abbey along with lots of other Church Schools from across the Diocese. It was a lovely, vibrant service with lots of singing, drama and readings, led by the Bishop of Bedford. Well done to Lily and Edward who helped the Bishop during the service (ask them about the jelly babies!).

As ever, the choir behaved impeccably and were a credit to St Ippolyts school, we are always so proud of them!

Thank you to everyone who supported our Harvest Festival by generously donating food items, contributing to the collection for the Bishop of St Albans Harvest Appeal and joining us in Church for our service of thanksgiving. The children did a wonderful job of leading the service with readings, poems, singing and showing their art work. 

Our Young Worship group displayed the food donations beautifully around the Church and today used some of them to make Harvest Baskets for members of the local community.

The non perishable items have been split between the Hitchin Food Bank and the Hitchin Sanctuary for the homeless. To read more about this year's Bishop's Appeal visit http://www.stalbans.anglican.org/faith/bishop-s-annual-harvest-appeal/

What a FANTASTIC weekend of glorious, sunny weather for the first ever PTA Camp Out! It has been a really lovely atmosphere up at the school field as a bunch of enthusiastic campers set up home for the weekend.

There has been lots of fun and games organised by Mr Jefferies, a BBQ and camp fire singing at night, all rounded off this morning with a hearty breakfast in the school hall.  It was lovely to watch families getting to know each other and make new friends.

This is the first time we have tried a camp out and it has been a resounding success so a huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported the PTA in their new venture. Thank you to the Governors for cooking breakfast this morning, to the staff who gave up their weekends-Mrs Stewart, Miss Ingle and Mr Jefferies and to all the PTA committee who have worked so hard, especially Chair, Nicola Allenby. We are also very grateful to the parents and families who 'mucked in' to help with traffic control, BBQing, fire building, cleaning, tidying, moving, carrying......the list goes on - what a team effort!

Do take a look at the photographs in the gallery to see what fun was had by all!

Today we said goodbye to Gem, Mrs Blencowe’s Guide Dog puppy, as she leaves to go for the next stage of her training.

Gem first came to us in September last year when she was just a few weeks old and she has spent a lot of time in school since, learning to interact with children, cope with busy places and even go on school trips! Gem will be sadly missed by us all but we know she is going to go on to be a fantastic Guide Dog and will change a blind person’s life for ever when she qualifies.  We are so lucky that Mrs Blencowe shared her with us!

Last week we had some professional photographs taken of Gem in and around school with the children, there is a selection in the photo gallery. We would like to extend very special thanks to local photographer Sharon Cooper for donating her time to take the photographs free of charge. If you need any fab photos taking, look no further! www.sharoncooper.co.uk .

Sharon also put together this lovely video for us which we watched in our Collective Worship this morning:

http://video214.com/play/ngvGSNtMsrz3kvQHta3ncQ/s/dark

Goodbye Gem!

Our school choir were very lucky to be invited to spend the day at Princess Helena College this week to take part in a music workshop day with Rufus Frowde. They had a fantastic day, culminating in a concert for parents in the afternoon. We were especially proud of them as they were the only school to sing a solo piece, which they did brilliantly! There are a few photographs in the gallery and if you would like to find out more about Rufus, visit www.rufusfrowde.com .

Thank you to PHC for their generous invitation, to Mrs Stewart, Mrs Archer and Mrs Thake for accompanying the choir and to the parents who came along to watch the children in action. Most of all, a big WELL DONE to the children, who were a credit to St Ippolyts School as usual.

There was lots of fun as school broke up for the summer on Friday. Mr Jefferies bravely volunteered to go in the stocks and there was a long queue to 'chuck a sponge' at him!

Thank you Mr Jefferies for being such a good sport. There are photos in the gallery.