The children have had a wonderful first day, enjoying canoeing, leap of faith and a nightline activity.

We arrived safe and sound.  Fantastic day. Great behaviour and attitudes on display, along with courage, resilience and loads of encouragement from your mates. That’s what Braeside is all about.

On Wednesday, Ash and Chestnut participated in fantastic sessions called ‘Scootability’. These sessions were about teaching the children how to be safe on a scooter through thinking about their balance, control, and the ability to stop.

The children practised scooting in a line, stopping safely for a hazard such as an animal or a reversing car. They also practised how to approach a pedestrian on the pavement. The children learnt that they need to step off the scooter (hedge side not road side), walk towards the person, say excuse me and thank you. Our Newtown children were fantastic at this activity, showcasing their brilliant manners (as they always do anyway)!

Additionally, the children completed a range of activities about balance and control when going around obstacles. The children successfully avoided all the obstacles and thought carefully about turning their scooters on tight bends.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ash class, and I know Chestnut class did a superb job outside too. Tina was very impressed with all the children. Everyone behaved beautifully, listened carefully, scooted sensibly, and importantly had a lot of fun! Well done years 3 and 4!

This year we have been developing our music curriculum. Firstly, all children have been having weekly singing sessions with Sam Evans since the beginning of the year. Over the past couple of weeks, classes have started to use our new instruments – ukuleles and glockenspiels. It is always exciting when we get to learn a new skill! Not only are we learning how to play the musical instrument itself; we are also developing ourselves as learners. We are needing to demonstrate determination, resilience, and teamwork to create a collaborative sound. The children will be sharing their musical masterpieces with the rest of the school in term 6.

In addition, we have had two other visitors this year. Earlier in the year we had a performance from the West of England Youth Orchestra. On Tuesday this week, years 4, 5 and 6 got to take part in Rock music workshops. During these sessions, the children learnt about key elements of music such as pulse and rhythm before getting to play a range of instruments. The children got to play bass guitar, electric guitar, drums, tambourines, and vocals. Using these instruments, the children were able to perform part of the song ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen. They made an amazing sound!

As always, Newtown were noticed for their fantastic behaviour! All the children behaved beautifully and showcased some real talent, impressing our guests. We hope to see Danny and Rhia again in the future!

Mrs Dowler

During our Harvest Festival on 12th October, our families very generously donated non-perishable items for the Storehouse Foodbank in Trowbridge.  Our Youth Parliaments went along to the Foodbank to drop off our donations and talk with the staff about how the Foodbank works and how our donations will be used to help the people in our community.

Our children were lucky enough to be invited to the Bethesda Church for a Harvest celebration and our Youth Parliament representatives, Daisy and Michael helped with sorting out the many donations of non-perishable items for the Trowbridge Food Bank.