On Tuesday 25^th November, eight children from Ringwood Junior School in years 5 and 6 travelled to Applemore Leisure Centre to take part in the annual 'Can Do' Festival of sport with Mrs Thornton, Mrs Wells and Mrs Gordon. In total, there were 9 schools that took part. All of the children experienced a number of different, inclusive sports in a fun environment.  This involved participating in curling, blind hurdles, noughts and crosses, spike ball, shuttles, bean bag target, boccia and archery. 

The focus was to promote communication, team work and turn taking as they completed the activities provided. All of the children enjoyed the event and showed high levels of resilience and sportsmanship throughout. Each child earned a certificate that will be presented to them during celebration assembly. A huge well done to all involved!

Mrs Thornton

SENCO

We were fortunate to be able to compete and take 2 teams to the New Forest Schools Indoor Athletics Qualifier event last week held at Ringwood School. The teams are mixed Year 5 and Year 6 with all children competing in an individual run, jump and throw events along with a relay event using the kickboards to turn. It was lovely to be able to give more children a chance to participate a long with others who had previous experience.
There were 7 teams at the event and it was lovely to be involved in this from a competitive perspective but also it was great to see the children try so hard both individually and to gain points for their team. Our Red Team were really pleased to come away with their Bronze medals!
Thank you to all the parent supporters who were essential in making it a very memorable event for both our teams.

Year 6 girls football teams played brilliantly this Wednesday in a full afternoon of matchplay against 18 other New Forest school teams.
Both teams played at least 8 matches, which were exhausting to watch, but the girls showed great stamina and fitness levels throughout and fortunately we had no serious injuries.
The first few matches were goalless but we were attacking and defending well but not quite able to score the goals we deserved. As the event progressed, our set pieces fell into place and it was fantastic to see their skill, pitch positioning and teamwork develop. The shots were on target from both teams with some lovely team celebrations
I know the girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves and they can’t wait for more football events to be able to play and support each other. It was great to see so many teams participating in Girls Football, it shows how much the popularity of football continues to grow with girls and supports the FA Girls programme fantastically well.
Thanks again to our supporting parents, who were cheering almost as loudly me from the side lines.

The weather was kind to us as we had perfect running conditions to compete around the 1.3 km challenging course at Gangwarily Recreation Centre.
This event is a 3-runner relay race, where each competitor runs the course, green to amber to red, tagging the next runner, who waits excitedly in the change-over box. It encourages teamwork, perseverance and resilience as the children run independently with efforts building towards the final runner placing at the end of the event.
It was lovely to see the children getting around the course without injuries, having fun, supporting each other and digging deep for the team.
Our girls’ teams were rewarded with 30th and 38th placing out of 50 teams and the boys did an incredible job of motivating each other around the course on every lap as they were so close to each other in placing 7th, 8th and 20th out of a field of 52 teams from other New Forest schools.
This event is great preparation for the individual event next term and once again, I am very grateful to the parents who supported with transport.

We entered 2 teams into the STARF Schools Carnival Cup on Friday and we are pleased to say that we have retained the Cup for a second year. This will be presented in assembly along with individual certificates. There were some traditional relay races such as running, hockey dribbling but also some less common but fun races involving space hoppers and sponges! We had so much fun working together to problem solve during these races and we showed super determination and Percy perseverance during the over-sized sack race. We were pleased to see the sunshine and enjoyed some great parent support. Well done to everyone who took part, the Blue Team just pipped the Red Team to claim the win after some close fought races.

We have brought nature into our classrooms over the last few weeks, watching our caterpillars transform into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies.

After the chrysalids softened and became transparent, the butterflies pushed through first with their legs. They then crawled the rest of the way out of the chrysalids and hung upside down from their own chrysalis. The butterflies then began the process of expanding and drying their wings to enable them to fly.

Meconium is pumped into the wings and back into the body of the butterfly.  The small amounts that stay in the veins of the wings dry and harden, making their wings strong for when they are ready to fly. 

It can take up to two hours for a butterfly’s wings to completely dry. After, the butterfly takes its first flight and then squirt out any extra meconium from its body.

We kept the butterflies in their net habitats for a few more days to enable them to build up their strength. They were fed with pieces of orange and strawberries, plus a sponge soaked with a sugar solution.

It was a truly wonderful experience for us all to be so up close to this life cycle and all the children enjoyed taking part in the release of our new friends on our back playground. We have spotted the butterflies many time since!

May we express our gratitude once again to the PTA for funding this project for us.