Ringwood Junior School celebrated World Book Day on 5^th March and children and staff embraced the opportunity to celebrate the magic of books. Walking through the school gates were ‘Enola Holmes’, ‘Robin Hood’, ‘Hermione Granger, ‘Harry Potter, ‘Mr Twit, ‘Beth Mead’, Slime, a Bearded Dragon, ‘Tom Gates’, ‘Lottie Brooks’, ‘Mary Poppins’, footballers, rugby players, gymnasts, horse riders and many more wonderful book characters.

Children and staff were also given the option of wearing cosy pyjamas to school. We are passionate about encouraging reading with children and it is important that children view reading as a cosy, safe and relaxing thing to do. We also want to encourage positive reading habits, and reading at bedtime is a great way to create a mindful, wind down time at the end of the day.

Year 3 staff acknowledged, ‘The Huey’s in The New Jumper’, Year 4 staff dressed in their pyjamas, Year 5 staff dressed as characters from, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and Year 6 paid homage to, ‘101 Dalmatians’.  

The children brought their books in to school and they spent time in class sharing these as well as staff also sharing their favourite books. Dedicated time was spent enjoying all sorts of books and book related activities, both inside and outside in the sunshine.

Mrs Evans, Headteacher, and Mrs Dallyn, Library Leader commented ‘World Book Day continues to develop children's enthusiasm and enjoyment for reading which extends beyond the classroom, encouraging the development of positive reading habits.’

Our Year 6 pupils recently took part in Bikeability cycle training, a national programme designed to help children develop the skills and confidence to cycle safely on today’s roads.

Throughout the week, pupils learned how to carry out basic bike safety checks, ensuring their bikes were roadworthy before setting off. They practised key cycling skills including starting and stopping safely, maintaining control, signalling clearly, and positioning correctly on the road.

As their confidence grew, children developed their awareness of other road users and learned how to make safe decisions at junctions, around parked cars, and in different traffic situations. The training took place in real road environments, giving pupils valuable, practical experience.

The children thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity and many rose to the challenge, showing great perseverance and determination as they developed new skills. We were particularly proud to hear that the instructors complimented our pupils on their excellent behaviour and positive attitudes throughout the training.

Bikeability not only improves cycling ability, but also encourages independence, responsibility, and road safety awareness. We are incredibly proud of how maturely and sensibly our Year 6 pupils approached the experience.

At playtime, children are encouraged to take part in physical games either on an individual basis or in a group. Recently, many children have purchased, or have borrowed, a Diablo and are now perfecting their skills to demonstrate a number of different tricks. The children enjoy learning from one another. 

Other children enjoy taking part in dance routines. We are fortunate enough to have a speaker on the playground and so groups of children enjoy choreographing their own dance routines with one another and then performing them.

Playtime is a time when the children can relax, have fun with one another and this supports their overall mental health and positive wellbeing.

Last week, the girls performed brilliantly at another football tournament, facing stiff competition across Dorset with the chance of joining the boys’ team in representing AFCB at the Premier League Final in June. Mrs Dallyn was extremely proud and impressed with both the skill level and determination as they were relentless in both attack and defence. Many goals were both scored and saved to keep all matches close with even a penalty being scored in the process!

All of the girls were positive and upbeat, even with some losses. They demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship-all of them putting themselves forward to sit certain games out to ensure they all had game time in the 6 a side games. They all encouraged and praised each other and all shook the hands of every player they played against and thanked every referee adult from AFC Bournemouth.

Although we didn’t make the final this time, it was another positive performance that they can be proud of and take into their next matches as, fingers crossed, they can continue enjoying football into next season. We are so grateful for the parental support, which helped to boost the girls too.

We were lucky enough to enjoy an afternoon devoted to developing our gymnastics skills and using the sprung floored gym hall at Noadswood school this week. Together, with other New Forest Schools, we had a great time meeting the young leaders, who gave us top tips on how to perform routines, stretches and vaults.
We completed a carousel of different exercises and equipment as we moved around as a small team. The gymnastics trampoline was a highlight, together with the springboard, beams and performing floor routines, with ease on a sprung floor made our round-offs much easier.
I’m sure this experience has encouraged our children to explore local gym or Acro groups to continue to improve on their natural abilities.
I’m looking forward to taking some Year 3 and 4 children to repeat this experience in the next few weeks.

The children in Year 5 were excited to experience a visit from a travelling planetarium as part of their science learning. During the session, the children enjoyed a virtual tour of the solar system, exploring the planets and learning fascinating facts about space. They also watched an immersive video about Planet Earth, which helped deepen their understanding of our place in the universe. The experience sparked curiosity and wonder, and it will support the children’s ongoing science work in class.