Last week, two teams from Years 5 and 6, competed against other schools from the Braunton Co-operative Learning Trust, in an exciting tag rugby competition held at the Tarka Tennis Centre.   Throughout a series of very closely fought matches, both teams showed incredible resilience and teamwork to produce some fantastic results. Despite suffering some losses, all the children displayed school values in abundance by pulling together and managing to secure victories against some of their opponents.  

In a particularly close game, for a place in the semi finals, Southmead ‘A’ battled against Kingsacre. At the final whistle, the score was 0-0, so the game had to be decided in a 4-minute game where a ‘golden try’ would win the game. Determined not to lose, the team pulled together and scored the first try to secure themselves a semi-final place against Marwood. Unfortunately, they were just beaten 3-4 to miss out on a place in the final.

All the children proved themselves to be worthy representatives of the school with Southmead ‘A’ achieving 4^th place and Southmead ‘B’ 6^th place!

A huge well done to all the children that took part. It was lovely to see your smiling faces afterwards and the pride that you felt!

This week the children in Years 5 and 6 have been taking part in a national maths competition called the Primary Maths Challenge. This involved children taking a short maths quiz and was all about taking part and having fun. Well done to everyone who took part. Below are photos of all our gold award winners.

Thank you to everyone for getting involved today. Teachers, children and even some parents dressed up in Fantasy, Spots and Fairytale to raise £293.62. All funds raised will be sent to Children in Need. We have also been approached by local press for some pictures so look out to see if your child is in the local paper next week.
Our Kitchen Manager also made some lovely Children in Need Cookies today and our Year 2 pupils practiced their drawing skills too.

Max went to Bristol to an awards ceremony for the Wave Project. He was nominated for Adaptive Surfer of the Year and won. He received an amazing trophy! BBC Spotlight are going to interview him and will let the school know when it airs. It all started with the pure resilience of surfing in minus three degree waters and snow in February. We are so very proud!

Check out our Gallery to see Max on BBC Spotlight.
 

We have completed our first week of Switch Off Fortnight and already several classes have enjoyed doing special activities, including extra time outdoors. On Thursday, EYFS did a carousel
of space themed activities; learning about the formation of moon craters by throwing rocks into a bowl of flour, exploring and observing blocks of ice while learning about comets, leaping around the playground with fiery coloured ribbons and throwing star shaped bean bags at a chalk picture of planet Earth while talking about their shooting stars. After break, we all headed onto the field and worked on developing muscle strength and coordination; running, scooting or cycling around
the track, climbing on the fort and negotiating the trim trail. The children and staff all
had a wonderful time.
Some families will be receiving switch off challenges as part of their child's homework.  We hope that you will find this useful in a time when our World Leaders are seeking change and everybody's efforts count. Hopefully we will save some money in school and you could at home too.

Three winners of the pumpkin competition are:
Jessica E - EYFS

India A - Y2 Kittiwakes

Theo J - Y5 Seals.

WELL DONE!

You will have read on last week's newsletter that Dr Cathy Horsley from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust visited us to help plant a variety of bulbs which will attract and support bees from the Spring. Alana C won this prize with her drawing of a Brown Banded Calder Bee. She was also presented with a certificate and goodie bag.

We planted daffodil, crocus and grape hyacinth bulbs in abundance, so look out for their blooms in the Spring as you walk into school! Dr Horsley said she was incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm and planting skills of Year 5.

Just after half term, 16 girls from Years 3 and 4 were given the opportunity to learn some new sporting skills when they attended a football festival, at the Tarka Tennis Centre, with other schools from the Braunton Co-operative Learning Trust.   

During the morning, the girls had the opportunity to learn and practise a variety of skills from basic dribbling skills and keeping control of the ball, through to trying to dribble past an opponent. 

As a result of their increased confidence and ability, they were then able to put their new skills to the test in some mini games against the other schools, and returned to school with huge smiles on their faces!