Our Second Hero Visitor – Ben Parkinson

As part of our expedition, we welcomed our second hero – and we couldn’t think of anyone who embodies our core values more than Ben Parkinson.

Before his visit, the children spent time researching Ben’s life and his incredible achievements. This meant they came ready with knowledge, curiosity, and thoughtful questions. When Ben arrived, alongside his equally inspiring mum and dad, he shared photographs and special objects that held deep meaning to him. Listening to his story gave our children the opportunity to show real compassion and respect as they heard about his journey.

The children asked some fantastic questions, which Ben answered with honesty and humour, leaving everyone inspired. To recognise the way Ben embodies all of our school’s character traits, we were proud to present him with one of our Community Champion Awards.

The timing of Ben’s visit was even more special because, during our first week back, we had been selecting crew names inspired by people who show strong character. One of the crews had chosen Ben Parkinson as their role model, so they were absolutely thrilled to meet him in person and have their crew photograph taken with him.

It was a truly memorable and inspiring visit, and we are so grateful to Ben and his family for sharing their time and story with us.

Our First Expert Visitor – Author & Illustrator Phil Sheppard

Today we were lucky enough to welcome our very first expert visitor of the expedition – the brilliant author and illustrator Phil Sheppard!

Phil shared some of his fantastic stories with us, and we especially loved The Worm Book. There were plenty of laughs and lots of fun as he brought the story to life while reading aloud.

Afterwards, we took part in a draw along where we learned how to create our very own superheroes. The children did an amazing job and showed off some fantastic creativity!

To make the day even more special, we had the opportunity to buy our very own signed book by Phil – a real treasure to keep.

We all agreed that Phil truly deserved one of our special Community Hero awards for his craftsmanship and the quality of his work. What an inspiring start to our expedition!

Feely bags and the match box challenge

Crew Goodyer enjoyed taking part in some fun crew sessions outdoors this week led by Mrs Jackson. We began by using our senses to explore and describe objects found out in our school grounds.

We then took part in the matchbox challenge to see which team could fit the most objects into a matchbox. Frankie and Eliza were excited to be named champions!

World Maths Day 2025

We spent time celebrating World Maths Day in our key stage one community meeting this morning. We thought about when we use maths outside of school, why it is important and we even talked about some famous mathematicians!

We finished our community meeting with some maths puzzles. I was very impressed how people were grappling to solve the problems!

Super work Key Stage One

Mrs Parsons xx

Year 1 presentation of learning

We have had an amazing afternoon sharing our learning with our parents and presenting our final product. We have tried different fruit and vegetables, learnt lots of facts about plants, tasted beetroot smoothie and a Spinach cake.