We have had a fabulous day at the cricket. We got better and stronger as the day wore on and really making huge improvements with every match we played. Well done girls – I’m very proud of you all.
These are a sample of the photos – there are more on our school facebook page.
We have made a press release this morning about our involvement in the Nationwide flag competition.
The James Oglethorpe Primary School in Upminster has been revealed as one of 650 schools selected from across the United Kingdom to take part in a unique project that aims to connect young people with the democratic process and heritage.
In 2015 the Houses of Parliament will be celebrating two historic anniversaries that signify the beginnings of a journey to rights and repres…entation in the UK, namely the 800th year of the sealing of the Magna Carta (1215) and the 750th anniversary of the Simon de Montfort parliament (1265).
Dame Angela Watkinson, MP for Hornchurch and Upmnister, nominated The James Oglethorpe Primary School from amongst those in her constituency and the school were delighted to accept the creative challenge.
Mrs Paula Sewell, Acting Deputy Head, commented, ‘This was a fascinating event for the children to learn more about our local history as we drew inspiration from images from around the constituency.’
Finally, Year 5 and 6 children competed to produce the winning flag design to be submitted to Parliament. The winning team consisted of a group of Year 6 children: Elliott Bartells, Annah Dyett-Meade, Maisie Harvey, Luke Nixon, Marnie Manning and Oliver Murray.
Their design includes a plane representing RAF Hornchurch, home to The Fighter Command’s Group 11 during WWII; the children thought it was important to honour the Battle of Britain pilots.
It shows images of sound waves, as the first test of the speed of sound happened at St Laurence Church (measurements were made from a number of local landmarks, including North Ockendon church.) A District Line tube sign has also been included, as this constituency has built up as a result of the impact of the underground and of course, no flag would be complete without the iconic Upminster Windmill.
Children chose the colours of red, to represent the Cranham Brickfields (and our school colour), white, for England and a colour in the union flag, and green, to show that we are surrounded by green fields and represents the District Line railway.
Ms. Deborah Rowles, Head teacher, added, ‘We were delighted to be nominated to represent the constituency and have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this project. As James Oglethorpe himself was a parliamentarian, we feel that we are carrying on a long tradition.’
Flags from all the selected schools across the UK will ‘fly’ online via a digital exhibition which you can visit at: www.parliament.uk/2015flaghub
Today was the turn of Year 5 to take part in the Annual Spelling Bee competition at Engayne. As usual it was a very tense competition with 3 of our Year 5s and a mix of Year 5 and 6 from Engayne taking part.
Briony did very well but fell foul in the third round with the word electrically; Samuel got into the fourth round, taking fourth place, finishing on the word government. Our spelling bee superstar was Hani who got through to the final round and then won the competition overall with her final word aerodynamic. She received the Spelling Bee cup and a spelling game!
We were very proud of the fantastic sportsmanlike behaviour from the whole of year 5 who had gone along to support the team, and their behaviour walking to and from Engayne.
Well done everyone
We are very proud of our pupils who took part in the cross country event yesterday at Stubbers.
28 schools took part from across the borough with just under 200 pupils in both races.
Our boys’ team came 15th overall and our girls’ team came 12th so well done to all involved. We are now looking forward to our next race at Pages Wood on December 1st.
