Greetings of the season! Wonderful performance from our children in Y4, Y5 and Y6 as they presented the story of Scrooge in this lively adaptation by Out of the Ark. 

The ‘Bah Humbug’ production was nothing short of spectacular. With incredible acting and beautiful singing, the story was beautifully told, full of emotion and promise. A huge thank you specifically to Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Robinson for putting the production together and all their work on the singing and stage performances. As well as the wonderful actors, narrators and singers, thank you also to the children who did the ‘behind the scenes’ tasks - controlling the spotlights, special effects and mixing desk, and adding musical percussion, and those Y6 children who helped create the scenery. It all came together so well. 

Well done everyone, and Happy Christmas!

See a video with highlights from the show and more pictures here in the gallery:

https://www.hillsideavenue.org/christmas-production-2023-bah-humbug-a-christmas-c/

This week the Woodland Phases classes (Y1, Y2 and Y3) performed their Christmas production of 'It's a miracle'. Beautiful singing, great acting, coordinated dancing, musicians and readers - and all with smiling faces as the children have really genuinely enjoyed sharing the story with their audiences over three days of performances!

Great to have new basketball equipment in school, thanks to the Friends of Hillside. In use already for lunchtime basketball club, the children love the teamwork and skills they are learning.

Y3 had an amazing Stone Age day. With real 'stone age' people visiting school, it was an immersive day of experiences and hands-on learning. Our 'stone age' visitors stayed in character all day, and it was great fun at lunchtime as the children had to show them how to use knives and forks! 

Y3 thoroughly enjoyed their day and plenty of learning has followed on.

We started Anti-Bullying Week 2023 with Odd Socks Day, to celebrate our differences and recognise that everyone’s unique. We talked about seeing ourselves in a positive way and being proud of how we’re different to others. We went on to think about the importance of the words we say, that we mustn’t say unkind or untrue things about anyone, and the danger of media stereotypes which can allow untruths to get hold of our thoughts. The theme was ‘Make a Noise About Bullying’ and we hope that children will feel confident to speak out against stereotypes, speak up about wrong things that are said or done, and speak to an adult if they become aware of someone being unkind to someone else.

Our Year 5 children and staff have begun their adventure on Residential this October! The children were super excited to set off and started the activities with settling in to the house and dorms and having team-games together in the sunshine. More information on the visit features on the Gallery here.  https://www.hillsideavenue.org/y5-residential-visit-october-2023/

Children from Y1 to Y6 joined together for our 2023 Harvest Assembly. Singing three songs about water along with traditional Harvest singing, Father James shared a message about the importance of water for the harvest, for those in need around the world, and for our own lives.

The assembly was a wonderful occasion with superb singing and thoughtful, attentive children - and many thanks for all the donated food which will go to the Norwich Food Bank.

As part of their volcano learning, Year 3s have been busy making and testing their own volcano models. This created huge excitement and enthusiasm for science and experimenting with chemical reactions, as well as reinforcing the learning the children had done about rock layers, volcano shape and structure and surrounding vegetation - all of which featured in their models. Some 'vegetation' was even destroyed in the 'lava flow', just like might happen in real life!

Our amazing new climbing frame was installed this week! The climbing frame will be ready for use from Monday onwards. The climbing frame has been paid for with a sizeable contribution from Friends of Hillside along with grant funding. Many thanks to the Friends - the children will get so much out of this!

It was so much fun to watch being installed I thought I'd make a quick time-lapse to share, which you can watch here in the gallery.

Our new Reception children have got off to a flying start with their 'Wheely Fridays'! It's great to see how they are developing their balance, coordination and physical skills as they make the most of the big space on the playground. Many thanks to Reception parents for supporting with their children's  bikes and scooters for this weekly event!