BlueCoat Primary School News

Yesterday was the culmination of a joint Blue Coat and St Mary's parish church singing project led by iSingPop. Children performed in 2 packed-out church performances so as to showcase their hard work and talent with their local community. The results? Pure inspiration...

A week ago today, Rob from the iSingPop team got to work with each class in school, teaching them 7 new pop songs for the concert performances. Each song had a series of key messages centred on the Christian values that we promote, teach and endeavour to live by in our school. The songs are so catchy that it didn't take long for the children to adopt them as their own, sing them at home and then, ultimately, commit them to a studio recording in school on Wednesday!

Over 30 children took part in Blue Coat’s recent science fiction writing competition, inspired by British astronaut Tim Peake’s current mission to the International Space Station.

We were lucky to have a fantastic prize, donated by the Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC), of a genuine Principia Mission Patch as worn by Tim Peake on his flight suit. The patch, which features an apple, the Soyuz rocket and a reflection of the ISS, was prize-winning design by a Blue Peter viewer, so many of the children were already aware of it.

iSingPop is officially under way at Blue Coat! 'Rob' is in school today and working with all year groups to introduce the songs that will make them the popstars who will be recording an album and performing at St Mary's church next week.

Judging by the sheer volume (I can't currently hear my own mp3's!), smiles on faces, coupled with dance moves, the children seem to be having the time of their lives! 

School uniform at Blue Coat today has been hijacked by the seasonal Christmas jumper. Why? In the name of charity. This appeal, in the name of the Text Santa charities (Make a Wish, Macmillan Care, Save the Children), has seen phenomenal support by Blue Coat families throughout the advent season.

This term Blue Coat homed an after-school club where pupils took to making a whole range of weird and wonderful things, all technological in nature. As the school's DT leader, Mrs Johnson has been working hard to organise the club, along with tech-whizz Mrs Alliston, so as to raise the profile of this subject in school.

Blue Coat has a proud cross country history and this season there is the added pressure of attempting to retain the district title. Mrs Arnold, one of the school's P.E. leaders, tracked the progress of our Key Stage 2 pupils as they faced the cold, wet and (of course) mud on the Katherine Lady Berkeley circuit.

Last year, our girls' football team narrowly missed out on winning the county championships due to goal difference. This year, under the tutelage of coach Tom Needham once again, the girls were determined to push for more and secure the 'County Champions' title. They did not disappoint...

We previously reported on the success of Milepost 3's new curriculum learning that resulted in a Christmas pop-up shop being set up and used to raise over £1100 in takings last Saturday - see photos here. This event was newsworthy enough to make The Gazette two weeks running! This week it was Milepost 2's turn to shine, albeit in different curriculum areas.

The autumn term this year has seen the inception of Blue Coat's renewed and innovative curriculum -  sharply aimed at preparing our children to be Future Ready.

This has seen our Milepost 1 pupils taking on the role of Christmas Party Planners; Milepost 2 going to art school and setting up a gallery to promote and sell their creations; and Milepost 3 pupils who have set up their own businesses with a view to making some serious profit for charities through a Christmas pop-up shop venture.

Last year, Blue Coat pupils put in a monumental effort over the course of the organised district Cross Country races, scooping winning places in all categories - a feat not achieved for many years, apparently. Mrs Arnold cheered on the teams from the sidelines once again on the opening race of this year's series and our pupils continued to pull out all of the stops, she reports...