Newsletter April 2017

Robert NEWS HEADLINES…….. ISSUE 10 | April | 2017 Bloomfield  HAZARD ALLEY RAINFOREST  EXHIBITION Academy  BIG BANG TRIP THE BATTLE OF  BANDS  DANCE SHOWCASE News from Mr Axford  HOCKEY FINALS Dear Parents and Pupils,  NETBALL FINALS I’m sure that if you have been able to follow us on social media you will have  FAITRADE gained a flavour of the diverse activities that the pupils and staff have all been  NSPCC RECORD involved with this term. There are some highlights contained within this newslet- NEW PIANO ter, but the daily opportunities and successes of the children are there to see  and are what make the school such a rich environment. On weekly visits into  MATHS CAFÉ classes around the school, the message that if you work hard then success will follow, permeates so much of what I see. It was a pleasure to see so many par- ents at our series of consultation evenings, and whilst for every individual there are always areas for improvement, I know the staff were able to give many posi- tive messages of progress made. Thank you to all parents who attended these important evenings. SOCIAL MEDIA AT RBA To keep up-to-date with eve- All the children will be returning after Easter knowing that exams and assess- ments are just around the corner and there are a number of revision resources rything that is happening at on Firefly which will allow them to use their time wisely whilst at the same time RBA please take a few having a well deserved rest! minutes to have a look at There is much else to look forward to in a packed Summer term, with the pro- our Twitter and Facebook duction, a new athletics season, year group residential trips and many more House competitions. Year 4 parents and pupils will receive information about pages. Both can be ac- which school they have been allocated over the Easter holidays. RBA has again cessed via the school web- been heavily oversubscribed which is testament to the excellent reputation our pupils gain for our school. site. Wishing you a restful Easter, Julian Axford PARENTMAIL+ As we move towards a cashless system in school please ensure you have downloaded the Parentmail+ App on your phone. CONTACT DETAILS Email: [email protected] Tel: 01462 628800 Fax: 01462 628801 Website: www.robertbloomfield.beds.sch.uk

YEAR 5 NEWS Hazard Alley This term Year 5 visited Hazard Alley, a safety centre in Milton Keynes. Pupils got the opportunity to experience hazardous situations in a safe environment. Some of the situations they experienced included a house fire, being on a building site, petrol station and even by a railway track. A highlight of the day was getting to make a 999 call to experience what it would be like talking to the operator. As always the guides were fantastic with the chil- dren and they learnt many ways to keep both themselves and others safe. Another part to our day was an E-safety session, part of which involved the pu- pils making up a rap about keeping safe online. Although the rap was great fun, the pupils were also learning many important messages. RAINFOREST Teachers and parents of Year 5 had a brilliant morning exploring the tropical rainforest to see the incredible exhibits the children had been busily making at home. A super effort was made by Year 5 and some fantastic factual knowledge was shared! Shipwrecked en France Once again, the talented and highly entertaining Onatti Theatre Company came in to perform their latest production “Shipwrecked en France” to the whole of Year 5 and a few very lucky teachers! YEAR 5 LEADERSHIP TEAM As ever, the play was action packed and included plenty of French to test our Year 5’s, who demonstrated a remarkable understanding of the language for Head of Learning - Rebecca Woolston students so young. Not only did they remember vocabulary that they had already Assistant Head of Year - Vicki Collin learnt, they were also able to work out the meaning of new words based on the acting and props. YEAR 6 NEWS YEAR 6 Year 6 have been working really hard this term - heading confidently towards SATs. They are rising to the challenge of extra homework, revision sessions and boosters. Progress is being made in leaps and bounds by many of them. The pupils de- serve praise and credit for all their hard work (as well as a relaxing Easter break). For helpful revision tips please use the Firefly link below. https://rba.fireflycloud.net/maths/website- links May we remind you that SATs begin week commencing 8th May - please do Year 6 have been learning how to put someone in not book any appointments during this the recovery position in PSHE from Jenson Lattimore time. who is a member of St John’s Ambulance. Of course the biggest success of this term has been Year 6's continued amazing sup- port for our year group Charity, the NSPCC, culminating in a cheque for £5065.50 YEAR 6 LEADERSHIP TEAM Head of Learning - Lorraine Young Assistant Head of Year - Kath Lee

YEAR 7 NEWS Year 7 Big Bang Trip Once again, Year 7 students visited the NEC in Birmingham to attend this years Big Bang exhibition. Pupils were treated to a huge display of presentations and hands on experiments from a wide range of disciplines within the areas of Science and Engineer- ing. There were experts on hand to explain what was going on with the various demonstrations as well as lots of careers advice for those interested in that particular vocation. Pupils that went have said that they really enjoyed the activities and liked the free \"stuff\" that was given to them from the various stands and stalls. It was a pleasure to lead the trip and the pupils were extremely well behaved. Key Stage 3 Maths February has been a busy month for Key Stage 3 Maths. Alongside the successful maths café, we have launched two new clubs in Year 7. Maths Animation involves children creating short films explaining key maths concepts which are notoriously diffi- cult. The children are having great fun with these and rather than use animation, some are choosing to feature in the video themselves! Alongside this new club is the Year 7 UKMT Club aimed at our more able mathematicians. The monthly maths competitions are continuing with over 60 entries in February for both our Year 7 and Year 8 competitions. Congratulations to our February winners: Will Trevor and William Henshall. YEAR 7 LEADERSHIP TEAM YEAR 8 NEWS Head of Learning - Colin Marshall Assistant Head of Year - Harri Kinnear Debate Club Year 8 Debate club have been working hard and are getting ready to partake in their first de- bate in front of an audience of both pupils and parents. It promises to be a very ex- Anthony Glenn citing showdown! This summer is very exciting for our Year 8's here at Robert Art Trip to Higgins Art Gallery Bloomfield. We are embarking on Year 7 and 8 Art Options students visited the Higgins Gallery in Bedford. They spent our yearly exploration of Shake- time looking at the 'Picasso and Masters of Print' exhibition, before completing tasks speare in English lessons which based around the work of Edward Bawden, who was most famous for his Lino-printing. takes us to The Globe itself and Finally the students had the opportunity to learn the basics of Lino-printing, producing sees RBA favourite Anthony some fantastic art work. The school has recently purchased some Lino-printing equip- Glenn give (what promises to be) ment and we look forward to getting more students experimenting with this. a brilliant one-man performance of Macbeth. Radio 2—500 Word Competi- tion But it's not just Shakespeare who has inspired us this term, over 60 Year 8 students entered Radio 2's 500 words competition in March and we are eagerly awaiting the results- we had some fantastic entries and, if it were up to me, everyone would receive a top prize. YEAR 8 LEADERSHIP TEAM Head of Learning - Paul Edwards Assistant Head of Year - Neil Mills

MUSIC NEWS Bedfordshire Music Festival th th On Sunday 5 and Monday 6 March we took part in the Bedfordshire Music Festival. We played a piano duet called “I Know Him So Well” by Tim Rice and on Monday we played our solo pieces. Lily played “On The Ball” by Hammod in the grade 2 class and Ellie played “Clowns” by Kabalevsky in the grade 3 class. We played on a grand piano in front of a large audience and panel of judges. We are looking forward to next year’s event already. Solo Music Concert th Our most recent solo music concert took place on Thursday 17 March. Our new piano – funded by the PSA (many thanks to the PSA!) – had arrived just a few days before the concert. The standard of the performances was particularly impressive with a wide varie- ty of repertoire performed on many different instruments. The piano soloists clearly en- joyed performing on the new piano and showed their impressive playing skills and musi- cality. All the pupils’ efforts were very much appreciated - judging by the many very com- plimentary comments at the end of the concert from the studio theatre audience. Very well done to all of the participants. Ensemble Music Concert nd Our most recent ensemble music concert took place on Wednesday 22 March. Once again it was a very enjoyable and rewarding event with a varied programme of music per- formed very impressively by the RBA orchestra, keyboard group, string group, brass group, Vocal Zone, guitar group and pop choir. A big thank you and very well done to all the pupils and the staff that worked really hard in preparation for this concert. Instrumental, vocal and theory of music examinations Not all of this term’s results have been received yet but here are a few superb results to add to this year’s instrumental, vocal and theory successes. Congratulations and very well done to: Amelie-Rose Meyers 5B piano grade 1 (distinction) Ivan Barnes 5C violin grade 1 Molly Cheesemore 5W violin grade 1 Thomas Hayward 7H violin grade 2 Joseph Cornelius 8M drum grade 1 KS3 Battle of the Bands 2017 st On March 1 Ted Day 7R (drums), Robert Harrison 7C (vocals), Jake Hornsby 7R (lead gui- tar) and Lyra Smith 7R (rhythm guitar) performed with the band name of “Wild Fire” and represented RBA at the KS3 Battle of the Bands 2017. The band chose ACDC’s song “Back in Black” to perform at the event, having perfected their performance of this song over several rehearsals prior to the event. The band’s solid preparation really paid dividends on the evening of the event with a performance in front of a big audience at Redborne Upper School’s Connolly Hall that was full of energy and rhythm. Very well done to all the mem- bers of the band. MUSIC LESSONS at RBA Over 250 pupils take part in additional music lessons, if you are interested in your child joining them please contact Mr Powell via the front office. MUSIC LEADERSHIP TEAM Head of Music - Mark Powell

PERFORMING ARTS NEWS Year 8 Dance Options Our Year 8 Dance option pupils performed their Ghost dance and another con- temporary dance routine in the GCSE dance showcase on Thursday 30th March at Samuel Whitbread Academy. They worked really hard on these performanc- es during their lessons and they did us proud performing alongside GCSE stu- dents. They were fantastic! Peter Pan Rehearsals The rehearsals are in full swing and the show is already looking fab. Our year 5 and 6 pirates are really getting into character and look so comfortable perform- ing on our stage already. Our backstage crew are ready to make props and work with the art department on backdrops and scenery and we even have some fantastic costume designers. The cast have been working really hard to put this show together for everyone so we hope we have lots of people coming to watch. Tickets will be on sale in May for the following dates; st Wednesday 21 June nd Thursday 22 June rd Friday 23 June. Gymnastics/Cheerleading Our National finalists, Olivia Fox, Aisha Bartlett and Megan Butt, have been training hard at school on their gymnastics tumbles ready for their competition in May. Our cheerleading squad will start their training again after Easter to prepare for the County cheerleading competition. We wish them all the very best of luck! PA LEADERSHIP TEAM Head of PA– Angie Marshall

SPORTS NEWS Year 5 Cross Country Well done to the Year 5's who ran at the cross country event at Alameda this term. There were some fantastic performances by all with the boys finishing in 2nd over- all and the girls finishing in 3rd. It was a fantastic course with some challenging terrain. A particular well done goes to Callum Saunders who finished in 3rd posi- tion. Well done to all who took part, some fantastic running and well deserved results! Year 5 & Year 6 Netball County League Finals The Year 5’s played some strong netball and were rewarded for their efforts by reaching the semi-finals against Lincroft. This was a nail biting match which ended in a draw. The game went into extra time and unfortunately Lincroft finally pulled away to claim the win. Although the girls were disappointed, their hard work and rd determination paid off and they placed 3 in the County League Finals and brought home the bronze medal. The Year 6 team also played extremely well and fought hard in their first round of games but unfortunately didn’t progress through to the next round. Both teams have shown a lot of dedication and have worked incredibly hard this year. Well done! Year 7&8 Rugby Waterfall Tournament On Monday 27th March RBA held a Year 7&8 Girls Rugby Tournament with the intention of providing the girls with a high level of competition. School's travelled from Ipswich, Leicestershire, Hertfordshire, Buckingham, Cambridge and Rutland to play in the competition. The 12 schools were divided into 2 pools of 6, in the pool everyone played each other in 10 minute games in a round robin format. The girls played superbly winning all the games in Pool 1. This meant their final SPORTING HEADLINES game of the year was against the winner of Pool 2, Royal Latin Grammar School, Buckingham. The team played their best ever rugby and gave a commanding dis- Hockey County Finals play recording a convincing 4 tries to 0 win. It was a fantastic performance from the girls who should be really proud of how much hard work they have put in this YR5/6 Mixed—the team won year. all but one game in their group The team: Chloe Benjamin (Capt), Kizzy Angell, Lauren Appleby, Libby Holmes, stage and went on to win in Jessamine Game, Emma Beard, Lara Jones, Chloe Baker, Sydney McGrath, Hannah the finals bringing home the Collins, Libby Cook, Hanalei Fortune, Francesca Ashby, Sarah Murphy gold for RBA! YR7/8 Girls— the girls won all but one of their games in the group. They went on to play in the finals but unfortunately lost in the last few moments. YR7/8 Boys— the boys won one game, drew two and lost lost two in the groups stages, finishing in 4th place overall, PE LEADERSHIP TEAM Head of PE - Sarah Robson AH of PE - Colin Marshall AH of PE - Natasha Cooper

CURRICULUM NEWS Key Stage 2 Maths Monthly Competitions Pupils in Key Stage 2 have shown great interest in our monthly Firefly competitions. A large number of entries were received from Year 5 and 6 students this term. Each month the winning pupils are presented with a prize during their year assemblies and the form with the most correct entries received inter-form points. The winners of February’s competitions were: Year 5 Xiao - Ali- Hill 5C Winning form 5R Year 6 Jemma Oldroyd 6L Winning Form 6H For more information on these challenges please look at our Maths Firefly page and encourage your children to not miss this opportunity. https://rba.fireflycloud.net/ maths/maths-competitions Maths Café Maths café is buzzing with a range of board games, origami, puzzles and many problem solving activities every Tuesday in room 47. Pupils are thoroughly enjoying the café and are attending regularly. They have enjoyed solving tricky mathematical problems and playing board games with a nice hot chocolate and marshmallows too! Well done to all who attend this popular club! Explore us on: https://rba.fireflycloud.net/maths/maths-café Year 6 Rocket Club The pupils have worked hard designing and building Eggnaut landing craft to safely land their raw egg from different heights. One eggnaut cracked under the pressure of a 2m fall but the rest soldiered on to try the fall from the Year 5 block balcony. Here another two shattered to a rather gooey mess and one had hairline fractures. The survivors were then put to the test of being dropped from the staff room win- dow. There were eggcellent results from two teams who managed to carry their egg safely to the ground and they were rewarded with un-cracked Cadbury Easter eggs. Rocket club has now finished for this year but it will be replaced after Easter with Lego Robotics Club. CONTACT DETAILS Email: [email protected] Tel: 01462 628800 Fax: 01462 628801 Website: www.robertbloomfield.beds.sch.uk

CHARITY NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS NSPCC Over the summer, pupils set about researching the NSPCC and Childline – producing some amazingly creative pieces for display to raise awareness of their work to all pupils. Many of Year 6 raised money on their own by selling home-made lemonade, having cake sales and doing odd jobs – including trampoline washing!! Several pupils made cakes to sell at the start of term, in fact we had so many cakes the sales ran over 3 consecutive days! In Febru- ary, Fiona Westwood from the NSPCC came in to talk to the year group about the work the NSPCC do and to launch our main fundraising – Buddy’s Multiple Marathon – a sponsored Maths event. A grand total of £5065.50 has been raised this year – brilliant! New Piano for Concert Performances Many thanks to Amelia Wolf (8W) and RBA piano teacher Mrs Claire Hills, who spent a very musical Saturday afternoon in search of a new concert piano. Our new Offenbach over- strung piano has now been delivered to school and it featured prominently at our recent solo and ensemble music concerts. Thank you to the School PSA for funding the new piano. Book Fair The Book Fair raised a grand total of £1,160. This money will be used to purchase a new set of texts for English and resources for both the KS2 and KS3 book clubs. Fairtrade Earlier this term, RBA took part in yet another successful Fairtrade Fortnight! Pupils spent lessons and form times discussing issues involving Fairtrade, the benefits to producers/ farmers and how we can help in the developing world to do our bit. This year’s interform competition involved writing a poem with a Fairtrade theme. Winners are to be announced in year assemblies. Thank you everyone for your support. Parentmail + By now you should have received an email from Parentmail (this is not the current RBA email system) inviting you to register for online payments. If you haven't done so already please could you take a moment to complete the necessary steps. Also If you have an An- droid or Apple smartphone, we would highly recommend you download the free Parent- Mail App so that you can make easy, online payments on the go. To do this, simply search for \"pmx ParentMail'' in the App store or Google play. Additional functions, such as notify- ing absence, tickets for events and parents eve appointments will be used at a later date. Admissions Policy 2018/19 Admission Policy is now available on Firefly. Please click on the link below. https://rba.fireflycloud.net/useful-information/policies/statutory-documents Academic Calendar The Academic Calendars for 2017/18 and 2018/19 are available to view on Firefly. Please note some dates do differ from the school calendars on the Central Bedfordshire website. Please click on the Firefly link below for calendar and forthcoming event information. https://rba.fireflycloud.net/useful-information CONTACT DETAILS Email: [email protected] Tel: 01462 628800 Fax: 01462 628801 Website: www.robertbloomfield.beds.sch.uk

COMING UP NEXT HALF TERM 19/04/17—26/05/17 18th April Teacher Training Day 19th April Pupils Back to School Achievement Sticker & Attendance Non- 21st April Uniform Day YR8 High Attainers 27th April UK Maths Challenge YR6 House Dance YR8 Anthony Glenn Visit 1st May Early May Bank Holiday 3rd May HPV Vac - YR8 Girls 4th May YR5 House Dance W/C 8th May SATs Week YR5 English & Maths Assessments 10th May ESAA Track & Field Cup Rd1 W/C 15 May YR7&8 English & Maths Assessments W/C 22nd May IF Assembly Week 22nd May Bikeability 23rd May Bikeability YR 8.1 House Dance 24th May Bikeability YR 7.1 House Dance 25th May Bikeability YR 8.2 House Dance 26th May YR 7.2 House Dance Last Day of Term CONTACT DETAILS Email: [email protected] Tel: 01462 628800 Fax: 01462 628801 Website: www.robertbloomfield.beds.sch.uk