News

• Sunday 12 April 2026 Class Assembly The last day of term saw Alder Class present their class assembly, the first class of this academic year. The children put on a condensed version of the Mock Trial that they recently competed. They were brilliant, as always, and it was my pleasure to share with them that they were awarded the best team costume trophy and prize.
• Thursday 26 March 2026 Coach Dylan At Northleach Primary, we are very lucky to have our qualified and dedicated PE Coach, Dylan. He really embraces our philosophy of building 'Physical Literacy', which is the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engaging in physical activities for life. It is a holistic, lifelong journey that fosters a love of movement, starting in early childhood to build foundational skills, and is not limited to sports but applies to all forms of movement.
• Wednesday 25 March 2026 British Science Week and Explorer Dome
• Tuesday 24 March 2026 Oak - Explorer Dome We had a great experience on Friday. The Explorer Dome came to our school. We got to crawl inside using a tunnel and Sian and Archie told us stories and information whilst amazing images were projected onto the inside of the dome. I was really proud of the children showing off their amazing knowledge of our planets, and just how brave they were, as it was very dark inside at times.
• Tuesday 24 March 2026 Maple Explorer Dome What a treat we had today with Sian and Archie from Explorer Dome!
• Sunday 22 March 2026 Willow Class British Science Week
• Wednesday 18 March 2026 Year 3/4 Gymnastics Last week ended on a high, with our Year 3/4 competitive gymnasts taking part in a floor and vault competition. There were individual and team places up for grabs, and I was so impressed with their dedication to practising and their composure when competing in a quiet room in font of a panel of judges and their peers. This is such a tough discipline, as you start at 10.0 and take marks off for errors - the slightest wobble, a toe not pointed, not holding a move for long enough. It is such fine margins. They were phenomenal in supporting each other, exhibiting such great team spirit. Individually, we got two bronze medals on vault, and as a team they secured the bronze spot, with all of them contributing to this amazing result.
• Wednesday 18 March 2026 Year 5 Dodgeball 2026 Another day, another sporting success story! This time, the turn of Year 5 at Dodgeball, and boy did they show everyone what tough stuff this small school is made of. Some fabulous individual performances, but as always, you can't win on your own; they exhibited excellent teamwork, accuracy and passion, finishing the tournament in 1st place.
• Wednesday 18 March 2026 County Cross Country Finals These 5 superstars gave it their all at this SUPER competitive County Final, running for the North Cotswolds, an area stretching from Chipping Camden to Cirencester. Just to be at this event as one of the top 10 finalists for each age category, is a phenomenal accomplishment. They were running against the best in Gloucestershire to try to gain a place in the National finals. No places at this event, but when you consider there are circa 7000 pupils in Year 5 and 7000 pupils in Year 6 in Gloucestershire, just to get to this stage is a major accomplishment. To have 5 out of our cohort of 31 Year 5/6 students qualify is outstanding.
• Wednesday 18 March 2026 Year 5/6 Netball 2026 Warning, long post incoming! I am blown away by these children. I cannot put into words how impressed I was with them at this event. It was the biggest event that Northleach has entered, with 18 teams, and our small school SHONE. When I say I was BURSTING with pride, I mean it! We hadn't practised much, and one of our players was a reserve that got the call up that morning, but you would never have known. Netball is a technical sport; you have to consider footwork, held ball, learn where all the different positions can go on the court, plus learn the different roles that the positions play when you rotate around. Netball is my sport, and I can honestly say that these children could hold their own against Secondary teams. They won all 7 pool games, and went through to the final where they were drawing until about 10s before the full time whistle. This was an amazing accomplishment, they are just phenomenal. Individually they were excellent, but more importantly they understand the conce
• Tuesday 17 March 2026 Year 5/6 Tag Rugby Cirencester 2026 WOW, what an amazing evening. The toughest competition to date, and the smiles on their faces say it all! These children were absolutely INCREDIBLE. I cannot put into words how impressed I was with their attitude, behaviour and teamwork. The medal around their necks, showed their physical capabilities and their teamwork, but the thing that made me most proud was their attitude. I am so privileged to be able to take these children to all of these events. They were fair in taking it in turns on the pitch, freely offering to take their turn off, they offered to help out schools who didn't have enough children on their team, and they ensured that ALL children on the team had turns and an equal time to shine. It is not a co-incidence that these children consistently perform well in these competitions, they are true role models, and deserve every opportunity and investment.
• Monday 16 March 2026 Cheltenham Town Hall Music Ensemble What an amazing day! Today, Maple Class took their brass instruments to Cheltenham Town Hall in order to play as part of a large scale musical ensemble. The children performed in front of over 250 other children and adults and had an absolutely incredible time. Although many of them felt nervous about the idea of being on stage, they all got up and performed their hearts out. Lots of them decided that the spotlight was definitely for them!
• Monday 16 March 2026 British Science Week Maple We had great fun this week celebrating British Science Week. The theme this year was 'Curiosity - What's your question?'.
• Friday 13 March 2026 Year 3/4 Tag Rugby 2026 These 2 teams of 21 children took to the fields of Bourton Primary School, to take part in a Tag Rugby tournament. It was a cold day, but they soon warmed up, as they worked their socks off! It was a fabulous morning, with both individual and team success. For some, they tried something new, pushed themselves out of their comfort zone, and they all put everything they had learned in PE into practise.
• Saturday 7 March 2026 World Book Day - Oak Thursday was World Book Day. The children looked gorgeous in their book character costumes and snuggly bedtime story clothes. We took part in an online story session and had great fun, working with a partner, to find lots of different items in lots of different books in a story scavenger hunt.
• Friday 6 March 2026 Maple World Book Day On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day and came to school dressed as a character in a book or in snuggly clothes ready for a bedtime story.
• Thursday 5 March 2026 World Book Day Willow Class We had a lovely time celebrating World Book Day! Some of us came dressed in cosy pyjamas ready for a bedtime story, while others came dressed as a favourite book character. As the sun was shining, we all chose a book and went up to the beautiful school garden. Here, we spent time reading, sharing and discussing books with each other. What a way to spend World Book Day!
• Wednesday 4 March 2026 Maple Performance Poetry On Wednesday, for our annual performance poetry competition, Maple performed 'Walking with my Iguana' by Brian Moses, in front of the whole school and 3 invited judges.
• Saturday 28 February 2026 Year 5/6 Tag Rugby 2026 Mud...what mud? A little bit of rain, and a LOT of mud, didn't stop these two magnificent Tag Rugby squads from getting stuck in and proving, yet again, that 'Teamwork makes the dream work!' As a cohort they exhibit all the best qualities of successful athletes; they work hard, persevere, are resilient, are competitive, they work as a team, listen, take on board feedback and advice, and most importantly, they are kind and supportive. They ALWAYS make me proud. When you have all these building blocks, then individual and team success happens. 2nd and 3rd place is such a fantastic result for a school that is small, BUT MIGHTY!
• Wednesday 25 February 2026 Year 2 Science Fair Test Which toy car will travel the furthest?
• Friday 13 February 2026 What a busy end to the half term! Where do I start?! We recently had some local magistrates visit to talk to the children about the legal system, and introduce Mock Trials. The children, as always were amazing! I received an email afterwards, which praised them for being a delight. They were attentive, engaging and asked perceptive questions.
• Thursday 12 February 2026 Year 5/6 Hockey Tournament Monday saw the last sporting fixture of the half term, and what a way to go out! These two amazing teams performed brilliantly, with both individual and team successes. For many, they had not played much hockey before the tournament, which is something that's about to change, but they got stuck in and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, trying something new, working as a team, working hard, improving hand-eye coordination and considering tactics. Our two teams gelled really quickly and worked so well together, which helped significantly in bringing home a team win.
• Wednesday 11 February 2026 Anglo-Saxon Printing This term, we have been learning all about the Anglo-Saxons. We learnt about different Anglo-Saxon artifacts, such as shields, coins and brooches.
• Saturday 7 February 2026 2025/26 Roundup -half way through the school year! It has been a busy, busy first half of the year; I can't quite believe we are now over half way through!
• Friday 6 February 2026 Year 1/2 Benchball On Monday, it was our turn to house a School Games event, for KS1. We took 2 teams, who both did brilliantly! The atmosphere in the hall was electric. Our SGO captured it perfectly, with the caption 'sheer joy!'
• Friday 6 February 2026 Orienteering Years 3-6 A little bit of rain never stopped anyone! Plus, a little bit of mud can be quite fun :-) What a fabulous morning these 25 students had in Sherborne woods. Map reading, team work, finding clues, getting fresh air in our lungs! We are SO lucky to be able to experience this on our doorstep.
• Wednesday 4 February 2026 Cross Country Another big event ticked off the School calendar, and what a success it was! These incredible children took part in a highly competitive cross-country event this morning, trying to secure a place in the County Championships representing the North Cotswolds. We had 3 children secure places in the Championships, and 2 children finished in the reserve places, as the fastest runners up. They, as always, were a credit to the school, running their socks off with a smile on their faces.
• Friday 30 January 2026 Maple brass lessons Maple are having a brilliant time in Music learning how to play the cornet with Mr Storer. Only 3 weeks in and we have already mastered how to play the notes C and D, as well as learning how to read music notation.
• Friday 30 January 2026 Year 1/2 introduction to Gymnastics Another FUN evening for KS1 children. This year I am trying to offer more sporting events and opportunities for our younger children. These 10 superstars thoroughly enjoyed their taster evening at The Cotswold School, trying new things, meeting new friends and challenging themselves. It is also a great opportunities for the young leaders to develop their mentoring skills.
• Wednesday 28 January 2026 Maple exploring sound In Science, we have been learning how sound is made and how sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases. Today we used string telephones to help us learn that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear. When we spoke to our partner in a normal voice across the playground we couldn't hear what they were saying, but when we spoke through the string telephone we could! The sound vibrations travelled though the string (medium) to reach our partner's ears.
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