Middle School

Year 3

In September, we welcomed an eager band of new Churcherians alongside existing pupils coming up from Year 2. Our team building afternoon went ahead, with a few adaptations, and the children really enjoyed low ropes, trim trail and orienteering in their new House groups. A wonderful opportunity to get to know each other and focus on teamwork.

As we headed through the Autumn Term, life went ahead pretty much as normal with a few key adaptations to be Covid-compliant. Our fabulous and very practical trip to Butser Ancient Farm went on almost as normal, and the Saxon round house and Roman villa experience seemed to be virtually untouched by the ugly spectre of the modern pandemic. The children had a great time making a clunch wall, weaving fencing and digging in trenches to find archaeological treasures.

It was all change again in Spring Term as everyone embarked on their second period of lockdown learning either from home or with Miss Dunning at school. What amazing spirit and fortitude everyone showed in their online lessons. Days were spent enjoying the usual broad range of activities and learning, with highlights including amazing author talks and activities for World Book Day. We have many budding authors in Year 3! Chinese New Year was celebrated with Chinese workshops and a chance to learn more about this fascinating culture and language.

Finally, we were able to return to school before the well-earned Easter break. A chance to share our experiences and enjoy spending time with our Churcher’s family once again, after an incredible effort and resilience in lockdown learning. Summer Term was filled with so much learning, field studies, drama shows and outdoor adventure days to name but a few of the highlights. Year 3 enjoyed “Showtime” with the whole school for the first time, singing about their Favourite Things. We gave it a new twist sharing all our favourite things about CCJS. We celebrated nature and explored the woods and meadows, using our creativity at The Sustainability Centre to top off a great year. The children have developed such resilience this year and can only be congratulated for all they have achieved in weathering the Covid storm so wonderfully.

Year 4

Bustling with activity and energy, Year 4 children have embarked on a huge range of activities throughout the year: amazing learning, investigations and even documentary making! Add to that the opportunities in the school grounds and class-based work and you will realise that this year has been incredibly successful and productive, despite Covid and home learning!.

Over the year we have seen lots of learning taking place in the shape of VIPERS – a comprehension scheme which has enhanced the children’s reading skills. Alongside this the children have been writing Super Sentences to develop their creative writing. Throughout our home learning we studied Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and the children really enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, the magic and the mischiefmaking and trickery of the characters.

On our return to school in March the weeks flew by, and suddenly we were in the midst of rehearsals for ‘Cats’. Year 4 loved working on it and their singing and choreography were outstanding! Every one of them relished the idea of a performance (to a very appreciative audience) on the incredible outdoor stage! Seeing every child performing to their peers and their parents was truly wonderful. The beautiful costumes, all that anticipation and butterflies in the tummy and an extravaganza to be remembered for ever more.

We were extremely lucky to be able to take the Year 4 classes on a Bushcraft experience in June, although with the organisers no longer able to host our residential in Kent, it fell to Mr Forbes – like a true hero – to step into the breach. He and Mr Maton, at incredibly short notice, set up a superb camp in the woods near Bramsdean. The children made fantastic shelters, learned how to safely use a knife to make tent pegs, lit fires, practiced archery, made and cooked bannock bread over an open fire and toasted marshmallows (without burning too many)!

Throughout this academic year, we have been documenting a lot of our work and activities on Seesaw. As a result of this, the children were able to continue to ‘post’ their activities during lockdown so that their teachers and families could share what they have been learning. This is an exciting, innovative addition to their learning journey and it has also proven its extreme usefulness!

Although we have spent a lot of time separated in our bubbles, we have been able to wave across the field to friends and check that everyone has been keeping fit and healthy. An incredibly strange experience, but one which we are sure the children will carry memories of for a very long time.