The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has launched ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’, a short 50′s style trailer that aims to get parents and carers thinking about their children’s online lives. Crosfields School will be marking Safer Internet Day as part of a week of activity surrounding Internet Safety: pupils across the school will be exploring issues relating to their online lives throughout the week, while national events will take place on Safer Internet Day itself on 7th February.

Towards the end of the week, Crosfields Parents’ Association have arranged for James Schlackman, the school’s IT Network Manager, to give a talk to parents on the wide range of technologies children use on the Internet, how this can affect their safety and well-being, and what parents can do to help.

The talk will be held on Thursday 9th February in Acorns Hall, starting at 7.30pm. Parents planning to attend are asked to reply to the school office using the below slip as soon as possible, or contact cpa@crosfields.com with any enquiries.

Safer Internet Flyer & Reply Slip

The year group and their families baked a wide variety of delicious cakes for the sale, which went flying off the cake sale tables at break time. The Junior School and Senior School enjoyed visiting the sale and a grand total of £164 was raised. The money will help the charity to increase participation in sports for both disabled adults and children.  Well done to Year 6 on this initiative.

• Hassan (Year 1) with Sheila Mitchell (Willow)
• Neha (Year 2) with Louise Jenkins (Maple)
• Jacob (Year 1) with Helen Edwards (Beech)
• Tabitha (Reception) with Jan Marr (Ash)

Each child entered a design and the four winning entries were made into beautiful, handcrafted mascots by 4 talented sewers; Sheila Mitchell , Louise Jenkins, Helen Edwards and Jan Marr.

The ladies spent hours making the mascots, ensuring that every last detail of the childrens’ designs were reflected in the toys.

The mascots have already been seen at the side lines of matches this term, cheering on their houses.

The group needed 14,000 pennants and ours are all going to be a part of this total. The children are very excited by the prospect of their pennants being used and being included in an Olympic display.

Year 2 were excited to be going to the Pantomime in Camberley to see the magical tale of Cinderella, staring Louisa Lytton.

The children visited Pizza Express in Reading as part of their science topic on healthy eating. At the restaurant the group were given a lesson in how to make the dough and to choose healthy options for their toppings.

There was much excitement as the children watched the chef twirling the dough in the air before rolling up their sleeves and kneading and pushing their own bases. The children tried a variety of different toppings including unfamiliar vegetables such as artichokes and capers. After they were cooked, each pizza was presented in a Pizza Express box for the little chefs to take home.

With wonderful acting and heartwarming songs from various groups, such as the cats and the sailers the audience had a very enjoyable afternoon. The scenery and costumes, which were produced by the staff, were sensational. Congratulations to the children, Miss Holleyoake and the teachers on this wonderful production.

The choirs combined to sing Benjamin Britten’s atmospheric Ceremony of Carols accompanied by a harp and Alan Bullard’s jovial A Feast for Christmas.

It was an outstanding concert with both choirs performing to an exceptionally high standard. They created music of great beauty, expression and power and our choir was an absolute credit to the school.

The girls were unfortunate to encounter the eventual winners in their first match. However, the team learned from the meeting and improved with each game. The third game against Hawley Place was very exciting with Annabelle Sykes scoring the winning goal just 1 second before the bell sounded for full time. 10 goals in 12 minutes was an excellent return in the final game of the pool.

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable and very rewarding afternoon for the girls who all worked incredibly hard.

The most recent event was held at Chiltern Edge School in December. Congratulations to Fergus Fox from Year 6 who came 6th on the day and 4th overall in the series. Year 5 girls Grace Atkinson, Kealey Meldrum and Eleanor Blois Brooke also performed very well.

At the November meeting, held in South Oxon Primary Schools, Crosfields Year 5 boys gained third place (team): James Rennie 5th, Oscar Fuentes 15th, Thomas Quinn 25th.

Many congratulations to everyone who competed.

The audience were treated to an evening of great entertainment as the race was on to rescue Mrs Periwinkle, reclaim the map and find the treasure.

Accompanied by their faithful cat Fiddlesticks, the twins join a mad admiral and his crazy crew on a voyage of adventure that takes them from Old London Docks to the mysterious island of Lumbago. With superb performances and fantastic singing and dancing, from 60 strong cast the Crosfields Theatre really did rock!

Undaunted by the large school theatre or the rows of people sitting in the audience, the Nursery children told the Christmas story with enthusiasm and energy. The children, aged 3 and 4, sang beautifully accompanied on the piano by the Assistant Director of Music, Miss Holleyoake. The Nursery class impressed their audience by remembering where to stand, their individual lines and the words of the songs.

Reception Class shortly followed with their Nativity play, ‘A Little Nativity’. Congratulations to all the children who performed so well on the stage. Your parents and teachers were clearly very proud of you.

Head of Pre-Prep, Janey McDowell, commented:

“What wonderful Nativity plays our children have performed. It is so impressive to see such young children take to the stage with such confidence. The boys and girls clearly enjoyed being stars today. My thanks to the Nursery, Reception and music staff who have worked so hard to produce such two such lovely plays.”

Year 1 pupils, showed their audience that not everyone has a cold Christmas when they performed ‘Children of the World’, a vibrant musical production which took guests on a world tour of Christmas celebrations. Guests were transported from Australians in shorts and t-shirts to Irish river dancers and African drummers.

The production brought the traditional Bible story to life. The stage in the Crosfields’ theatre was awash with colourful costumes as the children showcased their singing, dancing and musical talent. Staff worked together to produce the outfits and choreograph the show. Assistant Director of Music, Miss Holleyoake, accompanied the children on the piano.

After the production the guests enjoyed tea and mince pies in the Theatre and had the chance to meet some of the stars of the show, who were all very keen to find out which part their visitors enjoyed the most!

Head of Pre-Prep, Janey McDowell, commented:

“What a wonderful concert our children performed this week to the residents of the three homes. It was a fantastic joint effort by pupils and staff and a great display of our music and drama talents. Well done to everyone involved in making such a memorable Year 1 production. We were delighted that our visitors enjoyed being part of this special Christmas Celebration.”

44 teams competed across 11 pitches and there were some first class football skills were on display. Despite the damp weather the teams were cheered on from the sidelines by enthusiastic parents and friends.

There are no cups or medals at the event as the emphasis is placed firmly on participation and enjoyment. At the presentation, children had the chance to shake Ian Harte’s hand and each competing team received a new match football to take back to their school.

The tournament is now in its 13th year and is a very popular event in Berkshire schools’ Autumn calendars. The first tournament, held in 1996, welcomed 12 teams, so today’s event has grown almost fourfold, with 44 teams playing, representing over 700 visitors.

Jonathan Wansey, Headmaster, commented:

“Today marked our 13th Festival and the appetite for these events is growing year on year, with more teams applying than we can host. The event is hugely beneficial for all the children and the experience of playing in such a large event and to big crowds is very exciting. I congratulate all the competitors on their excellent football skills and team spirit. My thanks go the Crosfields sports department for their hard work in organising such a large event.”

Director of Sports, Gareth Edwards, commented:

‘There was a very high standard of play across the pitches. Well done to all the children who joined us and represented their schools with such passion and commitment. We are delighted that Ian Harte joined us today; he really made the afternoon extra special for the children and visitors. We are most grateful to the coaches, referees and parents who have ensured the tournament has run so smoothly. We look forward to seeing the schools again next term for our Primary Schools Tag Rugby and Cross Country Events in March 2012.’

Whilst away in Holland, the boys were linked to PSV Eindhoven, one of the biggest clubs in Holland, who also have strong links with their local community. The boys were incredibly fortunate to train at the PSV Eindhoven training facility and experience what it would be like to train like a professional footballer. Later the boys were also able to play against a PSV community team.

During their stay in Holland the boys split into three teams, all of which played 2 matches against local club teams. All of the games were very close and competitive, with only one out of the 6 games separated by more than 2 goals.

The boys visited the Phillips Stadium, PSV Eindhoven’s home ground to watch the PSV 1st team train, before going on a guided tour of the ground. The boys would come back to the ground over the following days to take part in PSV’s educational programme, “Playing for Success”, and also to watch PSV defeat FC Lisse 3-0 in front of a crowd of 30,200.

PE Teacher Jonathan Smith commented, ‘The tour was a great success, with the all of the boys developing their footballing skills, but also making new friends in different year groups and working together in different environments. The boys all wore their new tour shirts, with their name and squad number on the back, making the experience of playing against their Dutch counterparts, even more special. My thanks go to my colleagues who joined me on this tour and to the boys for their hard work on and off the pitches and for their brilliant team spirit.’

Throughout the day as Vikings, the children participated in four sessions led by energetic and theatrical workshop leaders. There was much excitement at the prospect of building a 5 metre ‘Long Boat’ from recycled products, a task that the pupils set about with great enthusiasm.

Heading outdoors to the Outdoor Classroom in the wooded grounds of the school, the groups then explored the spirit of the Viking, through learning about their lifestyle, mythology and warrior-code. This included a session around a camp fire and a re-enactment of a Viking battle.

In the cookery room the children had a chance to make and sample flat breads, a typical food from the period. The children set about grinding corn into flour with a quern to make this typical Viking meal. The children thoroughly enjoyed eating their breads before heading out to participate in more Viking endeavours in the theatre.

The final session was held in the Theatre and called upon the children’s singing and acting skills as they worked together to produce a dramatization of the Vikings setting sail in their newly created Long Boat, enduring a storm and celebrating on reaching land once more. The crashing storm music and the dramatic lighting created a fantastic atmosphere as the cheering Vikings reached land.

Headmaster Jonathan Wansey commented: ‘It is wonderful to make use of our outdoor classroom space for workshops such as this; it adds a very real dimension to the learning experience. Every child contributed fully to the day, totally embracing the role play elements as well as the practical tasks. The costumes that parents have created for their children were excellent and our thanks go to the Workshop leaders and staff for making the Viking Day such a huge success.’

Other fascinating experiments included participation from both teachers and children. Using different equipment the volunteers were very surprised by the results of the ‘who was the strongest’ test. The excited audience were most amused when Raj showed that teachers were weaker than year 4 girls!

The science theatricals did not stop there; the school were treated to other amazing sights such as seeing clouds zooming over their heads.

The Mad Science® company is on a mission to spark the imagination and curiosity of children by providing them with fun, interactive and educational programmes that instill a clear understanding of what science is really about and how it affects their world.

An exciting programme of Mad Science® workshops will shortly to be run as an after school activity at Crosfields.