St James’CE Primary School

https://www.stjames.dsat.org.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=202&type=pdf Another half-term draws to a close and I am so incredibly proud of every child at St James'. Ploughing through the winter months can often feel tiresome, as if Summer might never come, but the children's vivacious attitude and love of learning has made me smile every day. We have used Spring Two to focus on our core value of love and have explored how we can love those around us because we are loved. This week's Easter celebration rounded off our theme with these words that Jesus spoke to his followers. Our challenge to our children and to our community is to be the light bringers in a world so often consumed by darkness. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 With so much always happening at school, it is hard for me to celebrate one highlight. That said, I have been struck by how the arts continue to become part of everyday life at St James'. Owls have been working with the Dorset Music Service and put on a spectacular samba performance and Foxes performed a collection of nursery rhymes on the glockenspiel. We have also welcomed local artist Maria Vinney to school, and she will be working with every class to create some wonderful art. We will be holding our first art exhibition in the summer term to showcase the children's learning. The arts clubs continue to flourish with choir, musical theatre and dance clubs all happening this term! The summer term is by far my favourite term, not only are the days longer and warmer but there is just so much in the calendar to look forward to! As always, have a restful holiday break and we are looking forward to welcoming the St James' community back for the Summer Term. Mr Lawford

Our first Easter bonnet parade brought an end to our Spring term. With the hall packed to capacity, children from Nursery, Reception and Year 1 paraded their bonnets that they had been making with the St James' PFA whilst the choir performed Risen for Me. As part of the parade, we awarded prizes for our Easter colouring compeition. After school, children enjoyed an Easter egg hunt, cakes and craft. We continue to fundraise for our fifth classroom and this event raised a fantastic £370! Thank you to all those involved and for your hard work supporting the event.

We had a fantastic afternoon at Trinity CE First School competing in the second round of the Priory Cup against Wimborne St Giles CE VA First School and Nursery and Cranborne CE First School and Nursery. The children demonstated such quality both on the pitch but also in the rich sense of sportsmanship and togetherness. Well done to all our children who represented our school, you should be incredibly proud of yourselves. Of coutrse, a huge well done to Cranborne CE First School and Nursery for a well deserved and comprehensive victory, your players worked tirelessly and thoroughly deserved to lift the trophy.

This morning, we gathered as a whole school community for our Easter Celebration. Our theme for the worship explored how Jesus brought light into the darkness. We left knowing that there is always someone to bring us light in dark moments and that we to can be bringers of light to those around us. A thank you to Reverend Nick who led our interactive message and to the school choir who performed as we lit candles to symbolise the part we play in bringing light to others.

A huge well done to Owls class for their Samba performance, culminating 10 weeks worth of work with the Dorset Music Service. Pete has expertly guided our children to think about pulse, beat, rhythm and groove and it was wonderful to gather the whole school and the parents as part of their performance.

Many of you will be aware that, for some time, Tilly in Hedgehogs had been extremely unwell. Over the Christmas break, Tilly sadly passed away. Tilly had been suffering from cancer since last year and had not been in school in since April of her Reception year. She was a bright light in our community and will be dearly missed by her classmates and all the staff at St James' First School and Nursery. For those of you still connected with St James', you will have noticed some incredible changes in the Peace Garden which took place over the half-term. Richard (Tilly's dad) has been carefully planning and worked tirelessly to construct a beautiful addition to our Peace Garden which has made a significant improvement to the space as well as giving all of us a focal point for our remembering and celebration. On the 17th April, at 14.00, we are planning a service of celebration for Tilly in the Peace Garden to celebrate her life and commission the space as a place of Remembering for years to come. This invite is not only for your child, but for the whole community and we are opening the service to anyone who wants to attend, so please invite those who you feel would like to. In the evening (20.00 - 21.00) we will be opening the school for those who want to come and use the space for quiet reflection and to light a candle. The Peace Garden is one of two bigger projects we have planned. Last year, we had to sadly cut down a beautiful Cherry Blossom tree that stood just outside the main entrance to the hall. It seems appropriate at this moment to plant a new tree as a way of both celebrating and remembering Tilly. As part of this, we want to add some additional seating and create a new path up past the tyres to the school. https://www.justgiving.com/page/st-james-first-school-pfa-tilly If you would like to support these projects financially, we have set up this page to collect your donations, and we are hoping to raise £2,500. The children will also be completing a one hour sponsored dance to play their part in raising money. Any surplus funds will be used to further enhance the outdoor space for generations to come.

What an exciting day we have had in Hedgehogs class! It all started with a beautiful, sparkly egg from which our wonderful flock of birds have hatched. It was such an amazing experience to work with artist Maria Vinney and being inspired by her art work. The flock of birds will be put on display after Easter along with the other works of art created with Maria in the other classes.

We had a wonderful time at The Minster, Wimborne Minster taking part in the Easter Experience. Our children learnt about how Easter story is important to Christians and through a series of guided reflections were challenged to think about how they can make a positive impact on our world. A huge thank you to our parents and governors who came and supported our trip.

Nursery thoroughly enjoyed another of our half termly sessions with Truth Be Told: Intergenerational Storytelling Groups on Tuesday, welcoming parents to join us for an hour of engaging and interactive storytelling, singing, dancing, parachute and bubbles!

Foxes have been to Launceston Farm today to support our class learning about farms. Cath always looks after us so well at Launceston, and the children have had such an amazing time digging for worms and baking bread! We found out that the more worms there are, the healthier the soil is. We also enjoyed mixing ingredients to make yummy bread rolls! Thank you to our parent helpers for supporting on our trip, we've had such a lovely day.

It was a privelege to welcome Dorset Cricket to St James' First School to lead engagement sessions with Foxes, Hedgehogs and Squirrels. Everyone had a great time practising some new skills ready for the summer season. A huge thank you to Dorset Cricket for coming and running today's sessions.

Owls class had a fantastic opportunity to work with artist @mariavinney as part of their Art Day. Children focussed on the colours of Spring and created their favourite Spring image using felting. It was such a fun day, learning a new skill with such a skilled artist and we cannot wait to display their art as part of our art exhibition. We are looking forward to welcoming Maria back to work with Hedgehogs and Squirrels in the coming weeks.

A big thank you to PC Chris for visiting Nursery today, we talked about how the police help us, looked at what a Police Officer needs to wear and the children had great fun dressing Miss Jay up. We then played a game of 'Freeze!' whilst racing too fast on our bikes, scooters and cars!

World Book Day 2026 at St James' First School was a huge success and further cemented our love of reading! The day began with such joy, guessing everyone's characters and favourite books, there was even an old busker on the school gates. After our morning worship, where we awarded prizes for our Book in a Box competition, the children were kept busy with various reading activities from scavenger hunts, to bookmark making, to sharing their favourite book with a friend and hot chocolate. The day was made extra special as we were joined by children's author, Maudie Smith who shared some of her stories with the children as well as guiding children through her own writing proces Our day ended with a special Hot Chocolate, Cake and second hand book sale hosted by the St James' PFA in the evening sun.

Owls loved sharing reading time with the Nursery children this week. They proudly chose stories from the library and read with confidence and enthusiasm, helping to inspire a love of books in our youngest children. This is a wonderful moment of togetherness, where our oldest children were able to become part of the learning of our youngest, will now take place every week.