Malvern Outdoor Centre 2019

We had an amazing time at Malvern this year. The children were superb and really went for it with enthusiasm. They dazzled us with their resilience, courage and behaviour and mixed superbly with our friends at Hanbury First School (a good sign for when they mix with new children in Year 5 at middle schools). It was a real pleasure to have taken them.

See photos below...

Working With An Artist On Road Signs

Following their amazing effort earlier in the year at the RSA Takeover event, Year 4 have recently had the opportunity to work with a famous artist / illustrator / author / designer. Our local council have been to visit the site and Cllr Brunner will be in touch soon as she has a plan for one of our designs to be used somewhere to promote road safety and more careful driving through Church Hill centre.

Find out more by clicking here.

Ethan Raises Money for the Blind

Ethan raised a huge £1,128 to support the Redditch Association for the Blind.  He gathered sponsorships to climb Mount Snowdon.  This was a massive challenge that he achieved with his Dad in just under 8 hours.  We are so proud of you Ethan and the Charity are delighted to be able to use this money to ensure that the partially sighted can take part in many fun activities.  Representatives from the charity were delighted to visit Abbeywood to tell us exactly how Ethan's money would be helping their Charity. 

Children's University Graduation 2019

This year the children have amazed us once again with their commitment to learning outside of the classroom. Because of their wonderful efforts, we took a huge number of years 3 and 4 children to Worcester University to celebrate their graduation and for them to collect their certificates.

Thank you also to all parents who support our children so well. 

The Feel-good Factor 

To launch our new theme, Patrick from Drumlove joined us for the day to teach us some drumming skills. It was great fun and good exercise, so a perfect introduction to the week that has also included yoga workshops, mindfulness, singing, dance and more (see our class pages).

We made the movie below whilst experimenting with one of our new iPads.  

Easter Bonnet Parade April 2019

Well done to everyone who contributed to the spectacular display of Easter Bonnets. Choosing the winners was a very tricky job! 

Abbeywood Goes Global! - Showcase April 2019

The children put on another spectacular showcase, displaying their learning from the term where the children have explored topical issues across the globe and considered how they could make a difference.  There was a fantastic catwalk show from year 2, displaying their costumes made from re-used materials, bird houses and feeders, litter sorting, recycled art, an eco village, printed bags displaying powerful messages and much much more.  Here is some of the feedback from the parents:

"Amazing!  So much information to take in and I learnt new information! Well done Abbeywood."

"Very creative as always Abbeywood!"

"Excellent work and the children were so knowledgeable.  Very impressed."

"Your showcase was excellent.  It showed hard work and i learnt a lot of new things.  Every showcase gets better and better.  Well done"

"Abbeywood, you do us parents so proud.  The showcase was brilliant and its such a joy to see the children have so much fun whilst learning.

"A great way to raise awareness."

"It was highly insightful and the children were lovely and polite, giving out great information."

Pyramid Music Festival - April 2019

Abbeywood choir did us and their parents proud as they performed at the annual Pyramid Music Festival at the Palace Theatre. They performed 2 group numbers along with children from Tenacres, Matchborough and Moons Moat First Schools and Ipsley and Church Hill Middle Schools.  They also did a wonderful individual performance of 'From Now On' from the Greatest Showman and a Swing Medley.  

Year 4  Cross Country team took part in a Redditch Schools Cross Country competition on Friday. 

They had a brilliant afternoon, with great success! 

80 children took part in total and Alicja from Beech Class came third overall, a massive well done to everyone!

RSA 4 Social Action Project

Our year 4 children are currently involved in a project to make positive changes to our community and beyond. At the moment, all of the children are pondering over just what our project to make a difference will be whilst a group of 10 children have been getting training on the skills needed to drive and lead the project with their classmates back in school. 

Watch this space for some exciting news on this soon. For now, find out more by following the link below...

RSA 4 Project  

World Book Day March 2019

What better way to share a story than to snuggle up in your pj's with a good book?  So that's what we did! Children shared storied with their families, friends, different year groups and different teachers throughout the day for a thoroughly book inspired day!

STEM Workshop - February 2019

Year 4 had a fantastic opportunity to work with a STEM representative (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) today. We built model train stations and took part in a competition, with two winners now going on to the county final at Six Ways Stadium in Worcester!

The children used their team work skills brilliantly to create these, here are some of the final products... 

Young Voices January 2019

The amazing Abbeywood choir, made up of children from years 2,3 and 4, performed at Birmingham's Genting Arena at the NEC, along with 6566 other children.  They performed some incredible songs alongside professional artists such as Tony Hadley and a young singer from Britain's Got Talent Final.  The Urban Striders street dance crew got the whole crowd up dancing and the children loved seing such high quality, inspiring dancers.  A brilliant night all round! 

Church Hill Big Local Community Christmas Fayre

Thank you to all the year 3 and 4 children who joined us at the Church Hill Big Local Christmas Fayre to entertain the community yet again.  The children gave a great performance and got everyone in the festive spirit. 

Singing for the Elderly

Year 4 did a fantastic job of entertaining the elderly group that meet at Willow Trees, our local community centre, on Friday 7th December. They performed a selection of festive songs and the audience were delighted! Merry Christmas to all! 

Carols at St Stephens Church

Well done and thank you to the year 4 children who performed at St Stephen's Church in Redditch town centre.  As always, it was a great way to start the festive season, with performances from several first, middle and high schools across the town. 

Abbeywood Showcase 'On This Day...' November 2018

The children at Abbeywood opened the doors to their living museum on Friday 30^th November, showcasing the culmination of their term’s learning. ‘On this day…’ was the theme, where each class had selected a day in history to explore in great depth. The mini historians investigated events such as the day the titanic set sail and the day the first British motor car traveled above 4mph. The children even experienced what this would have felt like by travelling around their field at that speed in the minibus! As the classrooms opened their doors to parents and the local community, characters from within these periods came to life, explaining the events of the day and sharing the wealth of knowledge gained over the term.  Well done everyone - it was a fantastic event.

"Such a lot of hard work and such a great result!  The children were so proud of themselves and keen to share everything they knew." (year 3 parent)

"The children were brilliant and their classrooms looked fantastic. The effort that went in was immense.  The children were so confident they almost didn't need their teachers!"  (year 2 parent)

RSA Takeover Day 2018

A wonderful team of our Year 4 children represented our school at RSA House in London recently. Teams from all of our RSA schools pitched an idea to aid their local communities and ours won a special prize! We will now be getting help from a member of the RSA Royal Designers for Industry and funding to make 3 traffic signs to encourage safer driving through the Church Hill Centre. Take a look at their amazing presenting skills below. 

Lest We Forget - November 2018

To commemorate the 100 year anniversary since the end of WWI, the children have been up to a whole host of activities.  Our remembrance flag has been waving proudly from our flagpole and the children were really excited to come to school dressed in wartime clothes.  Years 2 and 4 took a walk to our local War Memorial at Bomford Hill to see the names of local soldiers who fought in the war. A member of British Legion delivered a special assembly and the children donated treats which were sent off to the families of local service men and women.  The afternoon was spent with the children working together to create a collaborate piece of artwork displayed centrally in school. Thank you everyone. 

Pudsey Bear came to visit! November 2018

On 8th November the children at Abbeywood were lucky enough to have a visit from Pudsey Bear who came to collect the money that we had raised for Children In Need.  The school council asked that everyone dress up in spots for the day in return for a donation for this great charity.  Pudsey visited as part of his tour with BBC Hereford and Worcestershire and was delighted to see the effort that the children had gone to for the day.  Thank you to all our families for your generous donations.  

Summer Fete July 2018

Together with Church Hill Middle School, Abbeywood hosted yet another fantastic summer fete.  The school was filled with family and friends from the community and the children and staff did an amazing job of putting on an afternoon of fun, which also celebrated some of their learning from the term.  KS2 sold delicious Indian street food and their beautifully handmade cushions, whilst KS1 showed off their Rovers and spectacular writing display. There were games to be played, inflatable fun on the bouncy castle and slide, speeding go-karts and spinning tea cups.  The weather did us proud, meaning the BBQ and ice cream van went down a treat.  The PTA had rounded up some brilliant prizes for their raffle and all in all, the 2 schools made around £1500 in total. 

Well done and thank you everyone! 

Song Cycle 

Final Performance

Y4 were extremely lucky to be working with the RSA and our composer Michael Betteridge to compose and perform their own music. The final performances were breath taking- especially at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham. It was such a fantastic opportunity for our young people to experience singing in such a grand venue.They were amazing and showed themselves to be excellent students of music.

Languages Day July 2018

15 year 3 children had a fun filled day of language learning at Arrow Vale High School, working with children of all ages from other schools to develop their language skills.  They experienced a range of activities to broaden their understanding of a variety of cultures and traditions from different countries.  Mrs Garside was very proud of all the children involved. 

RSA Competition Winners

Congratulations to Ellie-maie David for being the runner up in the RSA Art Competition around the theme of Belonging.  

Congratulations also to Bryce Bralee-Broadbent who also came runner up in the RSA Poetry Competition. 

Both were judged against hundreds of entries from across the 7 RSA schools by professional artists.  

RSA Arts and Creativity Day July 2018

15 year 4 children had the opportunity to take part in an exciting and highly creative day at Whitley RSA Academy in Coventry alongside the other 6 RSA Academy schools.  The children took part in one of five workshops hosted by a range of professional artists, choosing from visual art, spoken word, drama, dance and music.  They worked together with the students of different ages to create a very moving performance to share with each other and several VIPs in the afternoon. 

Malvern Residential for Year 4 - June 2018

Year 4's had the most fantastic time away with other children from Hanbury, Blackwell and Dodford First Schools, developing their communication, teamwork and independence.  They overcame challenges by staying away from home and trying new things such as climbing, quad pole, low ropes course, orienteering and even climbing to the top of the Beacon.  We would like to say a special thanks to Church Hill Big Local for contributing £250 towards the cost of the visit and our wonderfully supportive parents for fundraising to make further contributions.  

Well done everyone! 

The Royal Wedding - whole school picnic

The weather did us proud and allowed us to really celebrate the Roayl Wedding in style with our whole school picnic.  Nursery blew us away with their handmade crowns and the children were treated to royal cupcakes, complete with edible pictures of Harry and Megan by our catering company AIP. 

NSPCC Assemblies - May 2018

Thank you to the NSPCC who visited children in Key Stage 1 and 2 to deliver their Speak Out Stay Safe programme.  The Nationally recognised Speak out Stay safe programme gives a generation of children the knowledge and understanding they need to stay safe from abuse and neglect. Pupils are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or to Childline. For more information visit the NSPCC website by following the link below. 

Dogs Trust Workshops - April 2018

Visitors from the Dog's Trust worked with every child from Nursery to year 4 to share some important messages about how to stay safe around dogs and how to be a responsible dog owner.  Years 3 and 4 went even further to apply their maths skills to calculate the financial responsibility of owning a dog. Thank you to the Dog's Trust for giving up their time to help support our children in staying safe when they are out and about. 

Showcase March 2018 - When Abbeywood became London...

Wow!  What a day! The children and staff worked tirelessly to use their learning from the term, along with what they saw on their visit to London, to turn Abbeywood into London for the day.  Parents entered the City Centre (hall!) through the underground (corridor!) where they were taken on a tour of the main sites. These included Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, National History Museum, Covent Garden, Shard and the London Eye.  Parents were immersed in the full experience and were entertained by buskers, magicians and street artists.  The feedback from both the children and parents was overwhelmingly positive.  Well done everyone! 

Easter Bunny visit March 2018

All the children of Abbeywood enjoyed a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny! A huge thanks goes to the charity 'Lear' and their contributors for donating a chocolate egg for every child in our school and Nursery.

Sport Relief 2018

Sport Relief this year was a bit different, we were part for fundraising for a WHOLE WEEK here at Abbeywood. The theme this year was 'Do Whatever Moves You' which included a gamete of different sports and activities for all of the children across school to enjoy.

Pyramid Music Festival March 2018

Congratulations to Abbeywood's Choir who performed fantastically at the Pyramid Music Festival at the Palace Theatre in Redditch.  Together with the other 3 first schools and 2 middle schools from the Pyramid, they wowed the audience with their rendition of 'Can't Stop the Feeling' and 'Can't Stop the Beat'.  Their solo performances included the showstoppers 'Roar' and 'We Will Rock You', where they even got the audience joining in!   Well done Choir!

Abbeywood Choir Perform at Birmingham Symphony Hall - February 2018

We were very proud of the 20 members of the choir from years 2,3 and 4 who took part in a singing workshop and performance at Birmingham Symphony hall.  Along with hundreds of children from other schools, they sang pre-rehearsed songs as well as learning several new ones.  As always, we were very proud of both their commitment and hardwork but also the way they represented Abbeywood at this spectacular venue.   

RSA Song Cycle Project Spring Term 2018

We are very excited to be working collaboratively with Church Hill Middle School as part of the seven RSA Academies Song Cycle Project, organised by the RSA and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG).
This involves our year 4 pupils working with a professional composer, Michael Betteridge, and performing the completed works at the CBSO Centre, Birmingham in July as well as a more local performance in June.
There may also be opportunities for teachers, parents and governors to share their thoughts regarding our school and our mission – more details soon!   
Michael has already had one really successful visit to begin gathering some material and we are excited to welcome him back soon for a day of composition. Here the children will compose their own compositions either for them to sing or for a professional singer to perform.

We will keep you posted of key dates and concert dates as we get them. 

Singing at the Willow Tree Centre

On a very snowy Friday morning Year 4 were privileged to have the opportunity to take the short journey to Willow Tree, to sing for the elderly in our local community. It was a joyous event! The children sang wonderfully and encouraged the audience to join in. They were delighted to put smiles and songs into the heart of our community and certainly did us proud! 

Bounce for books!

It was absolutely fantastic to see so many children across the school bringing their bouncing shoes today!

As a community we recognised that we needed new books to inspire us to read for pleasure. Excitedly, we came up with a plan and 'Bounce for books' was born. So, on the 1st December 2018, the wonderful pupils all got wrapped up (it was particularly chilly) and took turns bouncing for books! For this they were sponsored and they brought in their sponsor money in the following weeks.  

RSA Takeover Day 2017

On Friday 30th November, 8 Year 4 children travelled to London to The RSA to partake in workshops and then present a pitch to 3 dragons!  It was very scary but the children did an amazing job or putting a pitch together to support our bid for a Outdoor Stage.  Despite not winning the money, congratulations must go to the Year 4's who had an extremely long but fun day.  Below are some of the highlights.  

Artsmark Willow Trees Project.

As a school we are working towards our Artsmark award, led by our Art Co-ordinator Mrs Kemp. She praganised the opportunity for our Year 3 children to take part in some art in the community. They designed their own mural with the help of artist, and friend of Abbeywood, Kate Brookes. She helped the children to develop their own designs, contributing their own pieces to the final overall art work. Then, last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the children where taken down to the Willow Trees Community Centre and were able to paint their mural with Kate's support.

It looks fantastic, I'm sure you'll agree, and it will be there to brighten up the day of all those who use this fantastic centre.

Coomber Factory Trip

It is always wonderful to see into the 'World of Work' and a set of lucky children got the chance to visit the Coomber factory last Tuesday. The trip was a chance to see how products are designed and made by the UK based company who source all of their materials as locally as possible.

We witnessed the use of multi million pound equipment and looked carefully at the CAD software which helps to design each of their products to exacting specifications. We also were able to see the circuit boards for many of their products and bring some back for others to investigate.

We would like to thank Coomber for being so kind and accommodating to our needs and answering ALOT of questions!

Harvest Festival

The KS2 Harvest Assembly always bring joys to our hearts at Abbeywood. All of the children work really hard to present a fantastic set of songs and poems and this year was no exception!

At Harvest we are very grateful for all of the food that we receive during the year. We think about the farmers who harvest for us and keep all of us well fed. But we also think about those who are less fortunate than ourselves and, as always, we are extremely grateful for all of your kind donations to this years charity. Thank you for all of your support and singing, who doesn't love Cauliflowers Fluffy!

Young Voices January 2017

Abbeywood's choir took part in a spectacular concert at the NEC Genting Arena in Birmingham along with 6500 children from other schools, including some from Church Hill Middle School. They performed with several professional artists such as the Urban Striders Street Dance Crew and World Class Beat Boxers and made us all very proud!  

NSPCC Assemblies - Jan 2017

KS1 and 2 both had visits from the NSPCC to deliver the very important message about 'Speaking Out and Staying Safe'. During these exciting assembles, the children had the opportunity to reflect on how to keep themselves safe and which trusted adults they could talk to if they had any worries. This work will be followed up in classes. 

Curriculum Launch - The World of Work.  Jan 2017

The children were very excited to return after Christmas to Abbeywood having been turned into their very own shopping centre, where they were sent on a mission to collect items off a shopping list in the style of a treasure hunt around school.  This ended with a trip to the bank where all the classes signed a loan agreement for their loan of £20, with the challenge of turning this money into as much as possible over the course of the term. We are looking forward to welcoming many visitors into school throughout this term, who will be able to share information about their careers with the children and really bring the world of work to life. 

Lads and Dads Autumn Term 2017

Several year 4 lads and their significant male role models took part in a 6 week programme packed with fun filled activities such as competitive team games, model making and orienteering in order to spend more quality time together.  A fantastic time was had by all. 

Christmas at Abbeywood December 2016

As always it was another fantastic run up to Christmas at Abbeywood filled with many special events. There was Reception's Nativity, Key Stage 1's Christmas storytelling assembly, Key Stage 2's beautiful carol service at St Leonard's Church, Christmas dinner, a special Christmas assembly from Open the Book, Key Stage 2 performance at the Community Carols at Willows Trees, Carols around the Tree, Christmas Jumper Day and finally the Christmas Fair! What a lot of hard work and fun was had by all.  Thank you to all of our Abbeywood families and friends who joined us for so many special events.  Your children made us very proud. 

Children's University Graduation December 2016

Congratulations to the 23 children who achieved their bronze award, 6 children achieving their silver and 5 children achieving their gold award for their dedication to out of hours learning as part of Children's University.  This was a record number of 34 children graduating from Abbeywood at Worcester University where we enjoyed a fantastic afternoon tea and Graduation Ceremony with parents to celebrate their success!  

Tell Me A Story Autumn Term Showcase

On Thursday 1st December, Abbeywood opened its doors to friends and family to share in the finale celebration of the children's learning for the term.  Each class had transformed their classroom into an exciting performance space reflecting the stories they had been learning about and pefromed a creative dance. Visitors went on a journey though the school to watch the show in every class. Well done everyone - what a fantastic day! 

Pennies and Pounds for Pudsey - Children In Need 2016

A huge thank you goes to our fantastic Abbeywood families for your kind donations to Children In Need. Earnings from the cake sale, combined with your pennies and pounds donations meant that we raised a massive £431.14 to donate to this worthwhile charity. 

We were very lucky to be a part of the BBC Hereford and Worcester Pudsey tour this year, where Pudsey visited Abbeywood on Wednesday 9th November to collect our savings and the children had a fantastic time celebrating their efforts with Pudsey and embracing the pirate theme! 

Harvest Festivals October 2016

Thank you to all of you who attended our Harvest Festivals.  They were a wonderful celebration of the children's hard work and thoughts about Harvest.  Thank you also for your generous contributions of Harvest produce.  Newstarts charity in Bromsgrove was delighted with the amount we had managed to collect and the goods went immediately to help local families in need and crisis. 

MacMillan Coffee Morning September 2016

Church Hill Middle School hosted their annual coffee morning to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Appeal and invited Abbeywood families to join.  Thank you!

It's Good to be Different - September 2016

All the children in Key Stage 1 and 2 were lucky enough to have a visit from Jess and her Mum Jo and spend some time exploring what it is like for Jess to live with a disability.  They shared the story of 'Jess the Goth Fairy', which they have had published to raise awareness of life for those living with disabilities. The children had lots of opportunities to ask questions and develop a greater appreciation of celebrating differences.  

RSA Takeover Day Launch - September 2016

Miss Ellison from the RSA Academy in London visited Abbeywood First School to get the children in Key Stage 2 thinking of some entrepreneurial ideas for the RSA Takeover Project.  The children were tasked with brainstorming ideas to improve the school learning environment with the aim of presenting this idea at the RSA in London, in hope of winning a cash prize to get the project off the ground. Watch this space to find out what their final decision was...

Curriculum Launch September 2016 - Tell Me A Story...

As always at Abbeywood, the start to our new curriculum theme has gone off with a bang!  After being read a magical story by Miss Resuggan, all the children from years 1 to 4 at Abbeywood and years 5 and 6 from Church Hill Middle School, worked together to build a giant library made entirely from cardboard. Overnight, the library mysteriously disappeared and all that was left behind were 2 huge books over 4 feet tall.  Unfortunately all the words were missing from the books so the children's next challenge is to fill them with wonderful story telling language and inventive ideas to use in more of their exciting learning to come.   

As well as this, a record number of 360 children and staff from across the 2 schools learnt the story of Charlie off by heart, complete with storytelling actions and sound effects and performed it as one huge group. 

Well done everyone! We cant wait to see where this takes you next...

Year 4 Malvern Outdoors Residential Adventure July 2016

Congratulations to the 42 year 4 children who had a hugely successful experience on their 3 day residential visit to Malvern Outdoors Centre.  Fears were overcome, exciting challenges were faced, new relationships were built and the children made their families, friends, teachers and community very proud.

A big thanks goes to 'Church Hill Big Local', who supported the visit financially with a £500 Community Grant.  We are already looking forward to Residential Adventure 2017!