Children in Year 5 were invited to apply for the position as Junior Travel Amabassador. 2 children from each class were selected from their excellent application forms.
 
The role of the JTA's will be to promote road safety, sustainable methods of transport and raise awareness of the benefits of walking, cycling or scooting to school.
 
The JTA's are encouraging children across the school to enter the national WOW Badge Design Competition, where children can design a badge that will become one of the monthly badges given to children who walk to school on a regular basis. The closing date is Wednesday 19th March. The JTA's will have prizes for the best designs. The best 3 will be entered in the national competition.

Parents Info - SATs information meeting

Thank you to all parents who attended the SATs information meeting this week. Year 6 SATs procedures and requirements were explained and we gave details about the tests that children will be sitting. Tests are in reading, spelling, punctuation and grammar and the Maths test.

A lot of information was provided so we have posted the presentation here for those who could not attend and for parents who would like a second look!

Year 3 Assembly

Year 3 had a fantastic afternoon on Wednesday (12/02/14) performing to their parents and friends all the amazing things they have learnt during the last half term in Maths, Literacy and IPC. Fashion was the key theme and the parents and staff particularly enjoyed the swinging 60s, exciting 80s and present day catwalks. Dance through the decades was also demonstrated in an exhilarating demonstration of TAKE 10! (a daily 10 minute workout).

Parents were also treated to a fantastic display of limbo dancing which linked to the children’s work in literacy. Appropriately, the children also read their poems describing rain using alliteration.

Clearly, the children and staff have been working very hard and their enjoyment and enthusiasm was infectious!

Well done everyone!

Year 3 - Fresh Water theatre company visit

Year 3 went back in time with Fresh Water theatre company on Tuesday 11th February. During the session Year 3 experienced fashion through the ages. The children had a fantastic time and enjoyed acting and dressing up for the history parade.

Netball tournament

Hilldene Netball team went to a netball tournament last week at Hornchurch sports centre. After a gruelling 4 games, the netball team were over the moon with the games they drew against Upminister Juniors and Towers Junior Schools.

The effort and team work they demonstrated during the tournament showed their fantastic progress over the last term. Well done!

Watoto bake Sale

The School Council held a cake sale on February 6th and 7th to raise funds for the Watoto Children's Village in Uganda. The School Councillors in the Infants and Juniors enjoyed icing and decorating the cakes for sale at breaktime.

The sale raised the grand total of £120.04. The money will go along to help support the Housing, Schooling and Medical needs of children and families who have been affected by the civil unrest and poverty in Uganda.

Well done to everyone who bought a cake!

Year 5 Writers' Workshop

Some of our Year 5 children (accompanied by Mrs Spicer) were invited to Gidea Park Primary school last week to meet Colin Parsons, the children's' author. They all had a fantastic day writing their own stories and even got a chance to buy one of his books! Mrs Spicer was very proud of the children as they showed enthusiasm and confidence when reading their stories aloud to the other schools.
Well done Year 5 and of course Mrs Spicer!

Recent Year 6 Author visit - James Campbell

Ever wondered where Lollipop Ladies have gone? James Campbell came in to share with us his amusing tales of what he has noticed around him, he has recently noticed the decline in Lollipop Ladies. He had many theories on why this is the case - one being that during the 1980s, they were painted in radioactive paint so they were easy to spot but unfortunately the radiation sent them slightly insane! The children can tell you more! James was as inspiration for our budding writers. He gave us his top tips on story writing - use what is familiar to you and practise telling your stories to others to see their reactions. The first Boyface book is now available to pre-order on Amazon...just follow this link!

Year 6 - Rotary Quiz - Round 1

In a closely fought competition, Hilldene narrowly missed qualifying for the next round of the Havering Primary School Quiz on Friday. The annual event is run by the Rotary Club - who raise funds for good causes - and this year it took place at Broadford Primary School.

Our four Year 6 contestants felt quietly confident as the quiz got underway,  correctly answering challenging questions about maths, literature, science, history and sports and leisure. Flexing their mental muscles, they certainly displayed an impressive array of knowledge about a broad range of subjects.

Unfortunately, our bright boys and girls felt the pressure when it came to naming animals' offspring and lost valuable points in the final round. However, the Hilldene heroes finished with a very respectable score of 46, only five points behind the winning team. Well done to everyone who took part!

Year 4 - Ocean Maths

Pupils in Year 4 were very fortunate on Friday  to be  joined by parents in maths class, where they  tested  their addition skills playing Ocean Maths games. Demonstrating their skills and abilities, some of them even beat the adults!  The children have taken a similar game home for homework enabling them to flex their mathematical muscles all weekend!

Football - Hilldene vs. St Ursula’s

Our last game of the season against St Ursula's was played in very wet and windy conditions.    Both teams had plenty of chances, but outstanding goal keeping kept the score level until St Ursula's scored a brilliant goal, in the top left corner, just before half time. Unfortunately, we could not reduce the deficit and the score stayed the same until full time.  Next week's play-off will be the final game of the season.

I would like to thank all the pupils for their dedication and hard work during the past five months.  A special thanks to all parents attending games. We do appreciate the effort and no away games are possible without your support.

Year 4 - A visit from an Author!

Year 4 had a visit from an author on Wednesday; he came to test his ideas by reading us parts of his exciting new book, ‘Boy face.’  It is about a family, called the Antelopes, who make their money as stripe mongers.  A complicated profession which entails removing the stripes of zebras then selling them as white horses and simultaneously offering to re-stripe anything from your car to your baby brother with the zebra stripes!  We cannot wait for it to come out in June!

Amazing author - James Campbell - Year 1

Year One greatly enjoyed the visit of author James Campbell. He told some very funny poems and stories and told us about his new book, out in June, Boy Face.

Year 4 - The Jewells of Hilldene!

The Year 4 IPC topic this half term is Archaeology and Treasure!  We have designed and made our own treasured jewellery such as an ancient Viking helmet, the tiara of a famous princess, a friendship bracelet and a magic sword broach!  These are all things that can be considered treasure for different reasons, monetary, historical and sentimental or rarity! 4W’s turtle Zippy even received the royal treatment!