It was a fantastic start to a brand new week at Earls Hall today!

the morning started with a special assembly in KS1. James, from Year Five, thrilled and inspired the younger children by playing his electric guitar for the classes. James explained how he has been learning the guitar for about a year, first on an acoustic before moving onto his current electric model. He then impressed the children by playing the themes from Top Gear and James Bond beautifully. After he had played Mr B asked the children in the hall whether the performance had inspired them to learn an instrument with a wave of hands being raised in the air. Thank you James for performing so brilliantly and sharing your talent with us!

After James had performed, the children welcomed another guest to the hall as Mrs Critoph introduced Mr Jacobs once again to the children. Mr Jacobs regularly tells the children all about his Jewish Faith and today explained to them all about the festival of Purim. Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination. The heroes of the story are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more than his other women and made Esther queen, but the king did not know that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai told her not to reveal her identity. Mr Jacobs explained to the children how Purim is marked today with Jewish people giving to the needy, hearing the Megillah and feasting!

Our KS2 assembly focused on the importance of promoting and displaying good manners. Mr B asked the children reasons why it is always important to be polite with lots of children answering in detail. He then explained that in KS1 the children are learning basic good manners but by the time the children are older they should know how to be even more polite. He challenged the children to think of deeper ways they could show they are polite with the children deciding that;

• It is always important to give eye contact to people when they are talking to you.
• It is vital to respond to questions appropriately in a conversation to show that you have been listening properly and are genuinely interested.
• Smiling at others is important.
• If you don’t hear what a person has said properly, or don’t quite understand what they mean, it is better to say “pardon” rather than “what”.
• If you accidentally burp then you should say “pardon me” immediately and try not to do it again.
• If someone asks you how you are it is important to, in turn, ask how they are back.
• First impressions count and a polite manner goes a long way.
• You should always treat others how you would wish to be treated.

Later in the morning Mr B and Mrs Russell were joined by three children from Willow as they took part in our latest ‘AOK Club’ mission. Today the children ventured out of school to visit the residents of Priory House residential home. At the home the residents had been incubating duck eggs which had all hatched in the last few days. The children held the ducklings and chatted to the residents about how they had looked after them. Luke explained to the residents, without prompting, the aims of the club and then all the children took some time to talk to the residents about life at Earls Hall. The residents loved talking to the children and Mr B was delighted to present them with their badges when they returned to school.

Throughout the morning volunteers from the PTA held a special sale, selling gifts for the children to purchase for their Mothers or other special ladies in their lives. All the classes had the opportunity to visit the sale, with a second and final chance to buy gifts taking place tomorrow.

In the afternoon the children in Oaks enjoyed choosing books from the hundreds of titles on the upstairs book shelves whilst, downstairs in Foxes, the children used the laptops to create space pictures. Upstairs, in Beech, the children were also using laptops to research facts about the Pope whilst down the corridor in Sycamore and Willow the children continued to create their own moveable toys based on those popular in Victorian times.