Latest News

Nursery – Young Leaders Project:
As part of their Young Leaders Project, the children in the Nursery have been learning all about their natural environment and how to care for it.
This morning, a group of children from the Nursery took a short bus ride to Radnor Park to see if the park looked tidy and cared for, and to observe which birds and animals are thriving there.
We all agreed that the park looked quite tidy, but we thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to have a few more rubbish bins available.
We visited the top pond and fed the ducks, then took a short walk to the lower pond where we saw even more ducks, some pigeons, and plenty of seagulls.
The ducks weren’t very hungry today, but the birds certainly were. A little squirrel also popped along to say ‘hello’.
In the afternoon, the younger children in the Nursery took a short walk to Jock’s Pitch to look for local wildlife and to check that the park was clean and tidy. On the way, we saw plenty of seagulls, some starlings, and a butterfly. Some of the children found pine cones that had fallen from a tree.
We have had a very interesting day exploring our surroundings in the beautiful sunshine. ... See MoreSee Less

Year 6 Canada Class – Forest School
The Year 6 children were extremely lucky that, by the time the afternoon arrived, the weather had brightened up and there was only a slight drizzle in the air.
They were excited to be back out in Forest School, enjoying their favourite activities.
Some of the children created a long water channel running across the Forest School, while others came up with some lovely mud recipes!
A group of boys were busy building a treehouse and decided they needed a ladder. With a little help, they worked together to construct one using logs and planks, practising their tool skills. They are keen to try it out in their next session.
One of the boys wanted to make his own shovel. He had started it in the previous session and returned to finish it off this time. Not an easy feat – and involving some creativity on both his part and Mrs Judd’s – they succeeded in creating a very respectable shovel, of which they were both proud.
Well done, Year 6 – a great session! ... See MoreSee Less

Year 1 – Forest School
After a lovely few weeks of dry weather, the Year 1 children were not so lucky this week.
Italy Class did not manage to go outside due to the heavy rain but enjoyed playing some wildflower identification games and team games, including the tricky task of moving marbles and cubes using only spoons!
Spain Class were a little luckier. After playing a wildflower identification game, the rain had stopped enough for them to head outside for a short Forest School session.
They were excited to return to all their favourite activities. Some of the children worked extremely hard to move bark chippings to muddy areas. It's great to see them taking responsibility for keeping the area in good condition. ... See MoreSee Less

Sri Lanka Class-Folkestone Museum:
This morning, Sri Lanka class was lucky enough to take part in a workshop at Folkestone Museum. We first had the opportunity to see some real-life Ancient Egyptian artefacts, which were donated to the museum in 1903 — they were all over 2,000 years old!

Next, we took part in a range of archaeology activities, including examining artefacts and placing them on a timeline, using clues to solve the mystery of a famous person from Folkestone, re-building broken pottery, and even completing our own archaeological dig!

The children were so careful and engaged with the tasks, and they all had a wonderful time exploring the activities. We ended the morning by looking around the rest of the museum, where the children were amazed by all the fascinating things they got to see.

Throughout the trip, the children showed impeccable behaviour and a real thirst for learning. We are so proud of them. What a wonderful morning! ... See MoreSee Less

Forest School - Year 2:
This week in Year 2, we again had a very welcome visitor.
Jackie, our local councillor, came in again to help with planting up our raised bed garden boxes. This week the children planted some strawberry plants and then created a pollination garden with sunflower seeds, cornflower seeds, and poppy seeds. They weeded and watered all the beds. They are really looking forward to seeing how their seeds and plants grow, but they know they have a lot of hard work to keep them watered and weeded.

The children also had time in the Forest School area, and while the mud kitchen, climbing, and den-building remain firm favourites, some of the children made some musical scrapers by sawing some wood and then using a file to create notches in the wood. They found the sawing quite difficult but were all pleased with the results.

Thank you, Jackie, for all your hard work on our gardens—we look forward to seeing and tasting the results! ... See MoreSee Less

Year 4- Forest School:
This week in Forest School, year 4 were lucky to have lovely sunshine.
They enjoyed some teambuilding games on the field, which are important for building skills needed to work with others as well as being fun.
They also spent time in Forest School area enjoying all their favourite activities.
Some of the children made dancing bugs, whilst others enjoyed climbing or creating their favourite recipes in the mud kitchen.
Well done year 4, you demonstrated some great teambuilding skills. ... See MoreSee Less

Year 1 - Kindness Concert:
During an RE lesson, the children heard all about a local Christian charity called ‘The Rainbow Centre’, who help homeless people in Folkestone. After a visit from some volunteers who work there, the children wanted to do something to help raise money for this charity. They decided to host and perform a Kindness Concert, which focused on songs that linked to our school values of friendship, kindness, and compassion. The children practised singing some songs with sign language and all made maracas, which they played at the concert. We also had some children play the claves, glockenspiels, guitars, and piano during the concert. Many parents attended the concert, along with a lady from The Rainbow Centre, and the children raised a total of £140. ... See MoreSee Less

Easter Bunny - Eggs-ercising!
Does the Easter Bunny ever stop? No obstacle course is too challenging for this bunny! ... See MoreSee Less

Easter Bunny-Nursery:
We are beginning to think we have lots of Easter Bunnies here at St Mary's! One has just been seen in the Nursery! ... See MoreSee Less