Latest News | Britannia Village Primary School

Lille/Paris day 3...

Wed 14 Jun 2017

Blog day 3 - It was a 6am start this morning and as the teachers went around bleary eyed to wake up the children, one group opened their door all fully dressed, packed and ready to go down for breakfast! After petit-dejuener, we walked to the train station in Lille and boarded the 0813 train to Paris. French commuters were thrilled at the prospect of 50 excited English students joining them on the hour long trip to Paris! We met Kiel and Dave Mann in Paris and headed straight for The Sacre Coeur. The children climbed the steps with minimal complaining and when they got to the top of the hill they were rewarded with spectacular views across Paris in one direction and the incredible church in the other. We decided they secretly love stairs so took them up a steep spiral staircase to the top of the church for even better views. Next the children had a chance to spend some of the money they brought in the French souvenir shops. Then we took the metro to Notre Damme and had a subway lunch after a quick tour of the beautiful building. The next stop on our busy day was at The Louvre where we glimpsed a little known painting - The Mona Lisa. After that we took a boat along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower and paused in the shade for a while with an ice cream. As the children were beginning to tire after our jam packed day in the French sun, they still managed to find the energy to perform a couple of their songs in front of the Eiffel Tower. Next we grabbed a takeaway dinner and ate it on the coach while watching Hunchback of Notre Damme and unsurprisingly, many of the children slept! After a long but memorable day we have promised the children a bit of a lie in before we visit Belgium tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures...

Paris - Kiel's account.

Wed 14 Jun 2017

Day 3: Paris

Kiel here, writing all about how amazing your children all are. With temperatures peaking at around 29 degrees, our children tackled the Sacre Coeur (climbing all the way to the top of the dome - a BV first), Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre... to see the Mona Lisa and finally to the Eiffel Tower. The children travelled along the Seine and saw the Statue of Liberty - with only a minimal amount of them concerned that they had travelled too far and were in fact in New York!

Dave Mann and I were really impressed with the children's enthusiasm for the previous day's events and that they had made new friends and really rocked their audience! Apparently they sang in the presence of the Eiffel Tower! Credit to their excellent teachers- Paul, Eleanor and Matt as well as Luke and Linda- May who were doing everything they could to make our Y6 pupils' experience the best that it can be. Dave and I left the group enjoying an ice cream or slushie as they made their way around the back of the Eiffel Tower to 'bust a few moves and sing some songs'. There was a large amount of slushie slurping going on! Paul informed me later that they had arrived safely at the hostel and that they remained ambassadors for our school.

Lille day 2

Tue 13 Jun 2017

Blog day 2 -

Last night's predictions were correct: tired legs = deep sleepers! Everyone woke up this morning to bright sunshine after an incident free night. Breakfast was very French and included baguette and cheese. After that it was time to jump onto the coach to the French school and during the journey we found out the results of the dreaded room inspection! Not very good scores from boys or girls (no higher than 8/10) but perhaps they will make improvements as the week progresses... Who will be tidier: boys or girls? Having arrived at the school, the children broke into groups with a few French children leading them on a tour of the school. Many friendships were formed despite the language barriers and we began the carousel of activities: t-shirt decorating, grand poster design and a football tournament. A delicious French school lunch followed the carousel and then it was time for the very first (slightly chaotic) joint rehearsal of We Will Rock You! 3 hours later and the children were rocking the roof off the sports hall in front of all the French parents who came to see the performance. They did such a good job the crowd demanded an encore and refused to stop clapping at the end. Homemade dinner was provided by the parents as a thank you and then we went back to the hostel for an early night ready for an early start as tomorrow we are going to Paris! Just when we thought the week couldn't get any better...

Lille 2017. Day 1...

Mon 12 Jun 2017

Day 1 -

After an early start and a few tearful goodbyes we set off on our French adventure in a luxury coach! The journey to Dover flew by and everyone was very excited despite the lack of sleep. After arriving in Calais we travelled to Vimy Ridge without any problems and were welcomed by a Canadian guide. We learnt about the role the Canadians played in the war and got to walk in real trenches. After that we spent some time in the museum area and had lunch sitting outside. Then we got back into our coach and travelled into Lille for our first look at the hostel we will call home for the next week. It is very clean and secure - we have the whole floor to ourselves and no one else can get onto the floor without a keycard. Next we headed into Lille for a look around and we ate a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Flunch. After dinner we met Laurent, one of the teachers from our French partner school, who took us on a tour of Lille city centre looking at some of the amazing architecture and rich history in the area. The children are now all getting ready for bed and we have some tired legs which will hopefully result in a good night's rest ready for tomorrow. Until then, from all of us in Lille, bon soir!

Parent Consultation Letter

Mon 27 Mar 2017

Please see our 'Academy Conversion News' page for a spare copy of the letter which was sent out on Monday 27th March.

Click here to be directed to the page.

Academy Conversion FAQ's

Mon 27 Mar 2017

Click here to be directed to our 'Academy Conversion News' page for all of the latest information on our proposed Academy conversion.

Silvertown headteacher fears impact of air pollution

Thu 02 Feb 2017 Newham Recorder

Linda-May Bingham, of Britannia Village Primary School, called for clear measures of pollution levels to help her tackle the issue.

“We’re trying to ensure that our pupils have access to fresh air, but the quality of the air at present is debatable,” she said.

“We would like to know what the air quality is so we can protect our pupils.”

Linda-May explained how her school, in Westwood Road, West Silvertown, is in a pollution hotspot with building work leading to a surge in heavy goods vehicles travelling up and down Silvertown Way and London City Airport on the doorstep.

“Visual indicators such as the grime on cars and the school building would suggest pollution levels must be high. If we were to find out it was at dangerous levels we could take decisions about how long children spend outside. We certainly wouldn’t have the option of relocating our play spaces,” she said.

“I worry about the long term impact of them breathing in the air,.”

According to Greenpeace, air pollution can cause asthma and stunt lung growth by up to 10 per cent in children.

To take action, Linda-May added her signature to a letter delivered on Tuesday last week to the Mayor of London in which more than 100 school leaders urged Sadiq Khan to protect youngsters from polluted air.

The letter, put together by Greenpeace, urged the mayor to bring in measures to tackle diesel vehicles and make good on promises to create a “robust” Ultra-Low Emissions Zone. He was also called on to make walking and cycling to school safer.

“Some pupils can cycle on a safe route to school, but we have to discourage pupils whose journey would be alongside the heavy traffic thundering along the main roads. It would be negligent of us to encourage this,” Linda-May explained.

In response to the campaign, Mr Khan announced funding for 50 air quality studies he hopes will help selected schools identify how to reduce the risks.

“Our pupils would be delighted to be one of the schools selected,” Linda-May said.

Norway Headteacher Visit

Thu 02 Feb 2017 Kiel

On Tuesday 24th January, 80 Headteachers form Norway visited our school. They were interested about how we learn at Britannia Village. Our pupils presented to the headteachers, discussing the tools which assess their learning, as well as what the curriculum involves. They spoke clearly and were very engaging! tHe content of the presentation had been constructed by the pupils.

The headteachers toured the school and saw learning in action. They were interested in the creative environment and were very impressed by the behaviour of our children and the quality of their work.

The school was very proud of this showcase and it is a clear indicator that our standard is of a high quality.

Day 2 at FairPlay House

Thu 12 Jan 2017 Kiel

Day 2 at Fairplay House started with an early morning room inspection. The girls received high scores ( 9 out of 10) but alas, the boys in some instances only managed 6 out of 10. The children were keen to improve these scores and are hoping that there will be greater success tomorrow. To make you aware, the pupil underneath the duvet cover did make it to his morning activities with a semi-successful duvet effort!

After breakfast and the opportunity to make our own lunches we set off to our morning activities.

Kiel’s group tackled… the swing, which saw his group having to work together to hoist two willing participants led to some excellent expressions and superb video footage which we will try to upload! He was particularly impressed with Jack who faced his fears to tackle the swing twice. After lunch, Kiel’s group went caving where Daniel, Fortune, Tomi and Salma were keen to help each other and finally Benjamin who successfully made it through the legendary ‘squeeze’. There were many proud members within this team. Kiel was also proud of Shannon who had her first day with us today but put all of her effort into everything that was presented to her.

Harry’s group tackled archery and the woods. He was incredibly impressed with his group in the afternoon and how effectively they all worked together despite the wet and gloomy wether He was also impressed with Jahselah - for displaying excellent teamwork skills and zest, she embraced every aspect of her experience and was incredibly helpful to her peers. He was so proud to see her succeed like this! He was also proud of Lilly for stepping out of her comfort zone to lead the group and being very helpful and encouraging to others. Her attitude was great to see. Well done!

Nicki’s group took part in the woods activity as well as the swing. Nicki is constantly stating how proud she is of her group and how well they work together and all that they have achieved. She wanted to mention Mariam- For confronting her fear of heights with such a positive attitude. Mariam said before she went on the big swing, "I will not let scary things overcome me" and she proved herself right! Also Toki- For comforting another member of his group when they were apprehensive about an activity, he's also been very encouraging of others throughout everything we've done! A great team worker!

Bridie’s group took on the caves and archery. She was proud of how well her team worked together and their positivity despite the rain in the afternoon. She wanted to make a special mention for Daniel M - for smashing his fears of small spaces and not just going into the caves but completing the squeeze too! Amazing! Additionally, Bridie wanted to mention Bianca - for being supportive and helpful to everyone, particularly with Alex on the swing. Very impressed with her persuasiveness!

These pupils are merely a snapshot of the achievements made here at the house.

It was fantastic to return to the house and then, after dinner take part in an English lesson involving drama and using experiences of Fairplay house to help with writing. Samson worked incredibly well, formulating some exciting ideas and constantly wishing to develop his vocabulary. Mysha worked diligently along with Ethan and many other superstars. After an awesome English lesson, all of the Fairplay House pupils watched 4/5 of Stormbreaker… with the end to come after they have read the book.

Year 5 are having a great time here at Fairplay House. The instructors are incredibly supportive and friendly. The food is delicious with lovely and warm accommodation, keeping the snow effectively at bay.

The children will be sad to leave tomorrow but we are certain that they have missed their parents!!

YEAR 5 FAIRPLAY HOUSE

Wed 11 Jan 2017 Kiel

What an exciting first day we have all had at Fairplay House.

It was a long bus journey to Fairplay House today. Luckily the air was filled with the sounds of Alex Rider from our class book ‘Stormbreaker’ which made us excited about the adventures we were going to face. As soon as we arrived at Fairplay House, we were put into our rooms. The boys ventured upstairs and the girls downstairs to put their bags in their rooms. After a tasty lunch we then went to our first activity.

Harry’s group were the first into the caves. He was very impressed with how brave Aman was and also how well his group worked together as they moved through the caves. Nicki’s group fired plenty of arrows at targets, providing some thumping great results and Nicki was incredibly impressed with Asia achieving a top score. Kiel was impressed from the wise words Selma provided about challenging themselves as well as Jack’s resilience during the activities in the woods. Bridie’s group climbed on board the swing and were instantly sent flying from a great height. Alex faced his fears in style, supported by his peers.

The nightwalk followed our delicious food (burgers all round!!) The darkness surrounded our intrepid explorers who had only a torch and a pre-discussed map to guide them through the vast Essex countryside, illuminated only by the moonlight! Bridie’s group were first to return followed by Kiel and then Harry rescued Nicki’s group. The final destination for the children was Fairplay House where it was a tasty hot chocolate and then straight to bed… ready for their full day’s worth of activities on Thursday.

Thanks for reading, we hope to have many pupil comments tomorrow about their experience.