School Events

Rocket Crash!

Our topic in KS1 for this term is 'Blast Off to the Past - the history of space exploration.' The children were filled with excitement and trepidation when they discovered a rocket had crash landed in the school grounds! There was a lot of talk surrounding this and it provided the perfect hook for their creative writing.

Flying Pizza Company

The children enjoyed watching a production of 'The Musicians of Bremmen' by the Flying Pizza Company. There was lots of audience participation and it was a great opportunity for the children to watch some live theatre. 

Diwali

We were vey excited to welcome Atharv's dad to school recently. He spoke to us all about his memories of Diwali celebrations when he was a child and how he celebrates this festival with his family now. He explained that Diwali was all about kindness, love and sharing with others. We loved to see the photos of his family celebrations and we hope he will come back to see us soon!

Young Carers, Mavis and more Colebrook Carrots!

Our Young Carers had a fun time picking the last of the carrots with some help from our school dog, Mavis. We even found a pair of carrot trousers! Amy is looking forward to preparing these for the children's lunches next week.

Conkers Bonkers!

Here at Colebrook Infants, we have the most wonderful horse chestnut tree. It is a great focal point for our outdoor learning and is our regular starting point when we are observing the changing of the seasons. It really is a wonderful looking tree and the children are always thrilled to locate the conkers it gives us. The Year 1s have been learning about partitioning sets recently and these have come in handy!

Latest garden produce!

The rabbits class were thrilled to dig up these carrots in the final harvesting session of this year. We are looking forward to planting fruit and veg to look after this coming year. These carrots have been passed onto our school kitchen to be cooked up into a tasty school lunch later this week.

Mirror Me!

Every child in the school has had fun completing their 'other half'! They had to look very carefully at their own features and try to replicate them on the other half of the paper. We think they look fabulous!

Swindon SEND Families Voice 

We were delighted to welcome Amina and Rose to school this week to talk to parents of children with SEND. It was such a relaxed and friendly session with tea, coffee, biscuits and gentle chat. Amina and Rose talked about how SSFV can support families of children with SEND and shared useful tips and advice. We will definitely be inviting them back soon and we will be continuing with our SEND Coffee, Tea and Biscuits meetings.

Gardening Club

Lots of autumnal things to be found in our first Gardening Club of the year today! Seed pods, enormous sunflower heads containing huge amounts of seeds, poppy seeds, courgettes, pumpkins and a few left over raspberries!

A visit from a local nurse

Our KS1 pupils have been learning about Mary Seacole and her important contribution to the world of nursing. The children were lucky enough to have a visit from one of the nurses at our local hospital, Mrs Porte.

They learned that some aspects of nursing have changed a lot over the years, whereas others have barely changed at all. 

Gardening Club

We were very excited to discover that all the bulbs and potatoes we planted so carefully last Autumn have grown into fabulous things to eat! The Gardening Club donned their Forest School kits and braved the rain to harvest these amazing fruits and vegetables. They were delighted to find rhubarb, onions, garlic and potatoes in our vegetable patches. We think they look so much nicer since they have had a good wash!

They will be taken to the school kitchen were Amy, our fabulous cook, will prepare them for the children to eat over the next few days. 

Make Music Day

On this year's Make Music Day, we were lucky enough to watch a live performance by Sweet Nightingale. They delighted us with songs from Disney and everyone enjoyed singing along to "We Don't Talk About Bruno!"

Another big hit was Sweet Caroline (Elvis version, of course!) and the whole event was an amazing experience for the whole school. We even managed to get a little band together at the end.

Thank you to Tim and Nat. We hope to see you again soon.

Young Carers

Our Young Carers had a great time harvesting the spring onions from one of the vegetable patches. We had to pull them out carefully so they didn't snap!

Our school garden

Our school garden is starting to look wonderful. We are excited to see the rhubarb, onions, garlic, salads and potatoes growing so well. The apple tree we planted for the King's coronation is growing a small, but beautiful bud and we will be watching closely to see how it develops over the next few weeks.

Claud the Dentist

Our EYFS children had a visit from the very lovely Claud. As part of their topic, "I Need a Hero!", Claud came to talk to the children about why it's important to look after our teeth and the things we can do to keep our teeth nice and healthy. The children were very happy to take away goody bags containing toothbrushes, timers to make sure they clean their teeth for long enough and some fun stickers too!

Furry, wriggly Friends!

Each year group has a cluster of little furry caterpillars to look after for the next few weeks! We can't wait for them to become whatever they are going to be...

We are keeping a very close eye on them!

Reading Workshop for Parents

We were delighted to welcome Neil Griffiths to school again. This time he was presenting a workshop to parents and carers about reading and how to encourage our children to be lifelong readers.

Amongst other things, he explained why it was so important that we take the time to read daily with our children at home. He was entertaining, factual and inspiring. He ended the session with a wonderful example of how to instil awe and wonder in children when sharing a book. In a nutshell? It doesn't matter what children are reading as long as they are reading something. Make time to read with your child daily and make it fun! Children who see their parents read are more likely to become lifelong readers themselves. And finally, children are never too old for a bedtime story!

BKAT Schools Community Project

Inside Lydiard House is a painted window which is nearly 500 years old.  The window has over 100 different diamond shaped pieces of glass painted in bright enamel colours.  They show mermaids, mythical creatures like centaurs and satyrs, people hunting, fruit and flowers and wild and domestic animals. The glass is painted on both sides make it look 3d.   

Here at Colebrook Infant Academy we looked closely at the pictures on the glass and found out about the mythical creatures and flowers on them.  We thought about what would go on a painted window to represent our own school. So, we went out into our lovely school grounds to take photos. Then we made lists of all the flowers, plants, trees and animals that make our school their home. We carefully drew our favourites onto paper then transferred these drawings, in pen, to special acetate paper.  We also included the tree which represents our school and its logo – the weeping willow.  We think that the finished 'painted window' made for Colebrook Infant Academy looks just like Abraham Van Linge's painted window at Lydiard House –we hope you agree! 

Coronation of King Charles III

To commemorate this historical event, we spent some time in the week leading up to the coronation thinking about our environment and how we can best support it. The children took part in a litter pick around the school, they designed posters to remind everyone to turn off the lights and taps when not in use and they designed their own coronation crowns. We have also chosen two new trees - one apple and one magnolia - to plant in the school grounds as well as Coronation seeds in the Forest School area. To end the week, the whole school performed three Coronation songs to parents and guests in the school playground. It was wonderful to see so many people come to support our pupils. The children sang beautifully and the rain stayed away. It was a great way to welcome the Coronation weekend!

Blue Kite Academy Trust Art Exhibition

We were very proud to be part of the Blue Kite Academy art exhibition, held at North Swindon Library recently. The theme throughout was 'Journeys' and our pupils had great fun creating collage, sculpture and painted pictures for the occasion. Neil Griffiths was at the opening event and Colebrook Infants was represented by Mia, in Year 2. Well done to everyone who created such beautiful works of arts. 

Donut Day!

Our wonderful PTA, the Colebrook Friends, worked tirelessly today to count, pack and distribute hundreds of donuts for our pupils to take home. It’s always such a popular event and we are grateful to Crispy Creme donuts and our dedicated ladies for helping to make this such a success. Here we have Becky and Stacey at the end of their shift with just some of the packets of donuts! 

Neil Griffiths

We love it when Neil comes to visit! Not only is he a prolific author but he is the most fabulous story-teller. He is also a key figure within the charity, Project Gambia, which raises funds to enable children in The Gambia to access schooling and education. In our assembly today, Neil shared lots of information about The Gambia and the children were fascinated to learn about all aspects of this small but beautiful African country. 
Following this, we were treated to one of Neil’s own stories and the children loved that they were able to join in with the dancing elephant! 
Neil will be returning to Colebrook Infants in May to run a parent workshop on story-telling and reading with young children.
We look forward to seeing him soon. 

World Book Day 2023

Our theme for this year's World Book Day was 'Bedtime Stories'. The children were invited to come to school in their pyjamas, bringing with them a favourite book and a wooden spoon character they had made at home. Throughout the day we celebrated our favourite stories and shared books with one another. The adults presented their favourite books and the children chose which story they wanted to listen to. Later in the day, Year 2 visited EYFS to share books with them. The day was a great success and we are planning to allow time for our older and younger pupils to share books together on a regular basis.

Skippy John!

Our children had an energetic and fun-packed day when Skippy John came to visit! John from Skipping4Life was wonderful with all the children. He encouraged them to persevere when things got tough and it was fabulous to see their confidence grow. We love those happy faces!

Road Safety

We are very keen to improve road safety outside the Infant and Junior schools. We have engaged with Swindon Borough Council in order to do this and they have been very helpful. We are looking forward to seeing some new road markings outside the school gates and we have had these new banners installed recently. We are hoping our new scooters pod will encourage more pupils and families to seek alternative ways of coming to school, rather than using the car.

New Scooter Pod

We are very pleased to have a brand new scooter pod installed at the front of our school. We are hoping to encourage more of our pupils to scooter to school instead of travelling by car. Scootering is much more fun, it helps to keep the environment clean and is a healthy way to start each day. 

Chinese New Year

Our school celebrations for Chinese New year were great fun! The children wore an item of red clothing - for good luck - and they took part in some exciting activities where they learnt some Chinese characters, why each year is named after an animal and watching performances of Chinese dragon dancing. We'd like to wish the Chinese members of our community a happy and prosperous New Year. 

Art and Design

Our first few days back at school this term were dedicated to learning new skills in Art and Design. Year 2 were learning collage skills to create textured sea pictures. Year 1 were creating texture in clay using a variety of tools and Reception have been honing their painting skills and fine motor skills whilst painting fish and threading shells.

The Flying Pizza Theatre Company

To wrap up the Christmas term, the children enjoyed watching - and participating in - a hilarious version of Alice in Wonderland with The Flying Pizza Company. A wonderful combination of singing, poetry and story-telling throughout the afternoon. We look forward to welcoming back the theatre team next Christmas.

New School Books

With funds raised by the wonderful Colebrook Friends, we have been able to purchase these beautiful books for our new library and our classrooms. There are some classic favourites as well as newly published books and we are looking forward to sharing them with the children. Look out for them coming home in your child's book bag on their library days and please take some time to share them with your child. 

Christmas

Such an exciting day for us today. Year 2 belted out their Christmas production - super-strong, clear voices and top quality singing! Shortly followed by tasty Christmas lunch for all. Winner of the day goes to Santa who took time out of his busy schedule to pop in to say hello and to hand out presents to each class. Thank you Santa - we wish you and your elves a merry Christmas!

Year 1 visit to STEAM Museum

Year 1  have been learning about railways, bridges and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. They were very impressed by some of his other engineering projects such as the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Great Western Railway.  As part of their learning, they borrowed a box from STEAM museum. Inside they found clothes from the 1820s and learnt that people used to drink from Billycans. They enjoyed exploring these items and asking questions about them. Their favourite item was the neckerchiefs which they thought were really stylish! Following this, the children embarked on a trip to Swindon's STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway, where they were able to see how people in Swindon used to live. 

Local Author

We were very excited to receive this wonderful book, written by local author Hannah Dosanjh. It tells the story of how the railways played such an important part in the development of Swindon. Our Year 1 children loved it and identified many nuggets of information they learnt during their trip to STEAM museum earlier in the term. 

Christmas Disco

Thank you again to the Colebrook Friends for organising another great evening for our pupils. It was such an exciting event for them and they all behaved impeccably. Mrs S was mightily impressed with her dancing partners and is already looking forward to the next one!

Christmas Fair

Our Christmas fair was a huge success and it was great to see so many people from our community popping in. Santa took time out of his busy schedule to say hello to the children and some of our teachers even got tattooed... 

Thank you to the Colebrook Friends for organising another fabulous event.

Mavis

Mavis, our school learning dog, works hard on her Fridays in school. Here she is relaxing at home afterwards. When in school, she enjoys games of 'Sniff and Wag' where the children place small pieces of cheese on various numbers on the number line in the playground and she has to use her sense of smell to locate it, before eating it! Today it was multiples of 10, next week...who knows? She enjoys listening to our children read and is getting to know our Young Carers very well.

New Musical Instruments

Our school PTA, the Friends of Colebrook, have recently paid for a fabulous new set of glockenspiels. These will enhance our music curriculum and will provide the children with the opportunity to further their musical skills. The children love them and it's great to see them exploring new sounds and musical themes. 

Karate Taster Day!

The children had a wonderful experience when G5 Martial Arts came to deliver karate workshops this week. They learnt some new moves and also how to count to three in Japanese! We are hoping that some of the children will choose to join the after school club led by G5 very soon. 

Friends of Colebrook

The Friends of Colebrook have worked tirelessly over the last year to raise funds for both the Infant and Junior schools. We were delighted to receive a cheque for £1500 from Stacey Farr representing the Friends recently. It's a huge amount and will provide enrichment for all pupils. We will let you know how this has benefitted our pupils shortly. In the meantime, a huge thank you to the Friends and to everyone who has supported their wonderful events! 

Gardening Club

The children in Gardening Club have been extremely busy digging, planting and watering the new fruit and vegetables. We have planted potatoes in the big tyre, mange tout, raspberries, rhubarb and beans in the planters so far. There are lots more exciting things to be planted so watch this space!

Meeting a famous author!

We were all very excited to welcome children's author, Neil Griffiths to our school. Neil entertained us all with some of his own stories and demonstrated beautifully how books can really be brought to life. Mrs King became a fluffy sheep, Mrs East became a friendly donkey, Mrs Wakefield became a magnificent duck, Miss Kemble became a frisky horse and Mrs Raven became a beautiful Friesian cow. Mrs Shakespeare got off quite lightly and became Winnie's mummy. 

The children played instruments to accompany the stories and all were completely enthralled and engaged. 

We hope Neil will come back to visit when we open our new library later this year. 

Mavis, our School Learning Dog

Mavis started working with us in May 2022. She is a fox-red Labrador and has the perfect temperament for working alongside children. She listens to children read, she provides a sympathetic ear and enjoys joining in with our Young Carers group.

Planting Trees 

During our Forest School sessions, we have planted Ash, Hazel and Horse Chestnut trees in our school grounds. We are looking forward to watching them grow.