News & Events

Term 5

We had some very constructive feedback from the adults who attended our 'Helping your Child with Maths Day'. All the children really enjoyed themselves explaining and demonstrating the four mathematical operations and it was interesting to see the progression in the teaching of these through the different classes in school. In Years 2 and 6 parents could test themselves on SATs papers. All our visitors were impressed and wished maths had been so enjoyable when they were at school! A booklet with ideas of how parents can help their children with maths at home is now available for download from the individual class pages of the Leighfield website. Photos of the event are in the Gallery.

 Maths Day

We begin the summer term with the news that Leighfield now has Academy status, with effect from 1st April. Please read the latest (March) issue of the newsletter for further information.

Term 4

Appreciative audiences thoroughly enjoyed the perfomances of 'Maui Cathes the Sun', a traditional Maori story performed by years 3, 4 and 5. With a break from tradition, the perfomance was 'in the round' requiring no stage or scenery. Grass skirts and a Haka together with lovely singing and poy dancing all helped to create the mood. Simply delightful and a credit to our children.

Despite the weather it is Spring - and Key Stage 1 gave us all the 'feel good factor' in their Spring assembly which was well attended by KS1 parents. Well done to everyone involved!

KS1 Spring assembly

Cakes? competitions? telling jokes? mad hair? wearing pyjamas? - all in school? It's got to be Red Nose Day! We have all had lots of fun raising money, with each class organising their own unique event, from a 'bake off' in Year 6 to a toy swap in Reception. The Cookery Club baked enough biscuits for everyone in school to eat (provided they handed over 20p first!) and everyone sang the special Red Nose Day song in assembly. Enjoy some of the fun by taking a look at the photos in the Gallery.

Red Nose Day Assembly

We have been celebrating World Book Day this week, with all the children and staff being invited to dress up as a book character for the day. We held a special assembly to show off the fantastic costumes and there were special prizes for lucky winners chosen by members of the School Council. This was in addition to other competitions and events organised nationally. Look in the Gallery for more photographs.

World Book Day

Mrs Darlington spearheaded Fairtrade Fortnight and every class worked hard to produce an impressive display of work for our special Fairtrade assembly. Parents kindly baked almost 30 cakes using Fairtrade ingredients which were prizes in an enormously scrumptious raffle!

Year 1 and Year 4's Fairtrade Art

We have a particularly busy term ahead with lots of events to look forward to in the weeks ahead. Years 3, 4 and 5 are rehearsing their annual production being staged on 20th and 21st March. Year 3 are also taking part in the Rutland Spotlight Dance Festival on 25th and 26th March. Look out for further details via parent mail or letters in book bags. We plan to have photos of these events in our gallery section, so please keep a look out!

Term 3 2012

As a follow up to the reading breakfast, Farmer Brown visited the children in Reception and Key Stage 1 to give a very interesting talk about how our breakfast foods are produced, life on a farm and facts and figures of food production. Definitely some food for thought!

Farmer Brown

All the children in Reception and Key Stage 1, their younger family members and parents were invited to school for a Family Reading Breakfast. Following a delicious breakfast, the children created pictures, read books and listened to stories. What a fabulous way to start the day!

Family Reading Breakfast

Reception up to Year 4 children enjoyed an interesting visit from the Leicestershire Life Education Centre to Leighfield. They all came away with a little more knowledge than they had before about the way our minds and bodies work, following very lively and entertaining sessions tailored to each class.

Leicestershire Life Education Centre

Term 2 2012

Staff and children enjoyed the company of a number of school Governors when they joined in the fun of making party hats and relishing the delicious Christmas lunch beautifully served at Leighfield. A massive 'thank you' to the kitchen staff and dinner supervisors for all their hard work. Truly scrumptious!

Xmas Lunch

All the children have enjoyed participating in the very many festive activities held both at school and in the community. Many braved the cold to sing beautiful carols in the Market Place at the annual late night shopping event in Uppingham. Parents and friends of children in Key Stage 1 were treated to a delightful performance of 'The Nativity' by all the children in Reception, Years 1 and 2. As always, it was a delightful start to Christmas!

Singing at Late Night Shopping

Every class took part in raising money for Children in Need. All the children were involved in deciding what they would like, as a class, to undertake. Events ranged from a teddy bear's picnic in Reception to alien dressing, sales of cakes and used toys, wearing pyjama's and bad hair all day - not forgetting the sponsored playground jogs and silences. We ALL enjoyed ourselves - take a look in the Gallery to see what great fun we had!

Term 1 2012

The children of KS2 presented our harvest assembly which was well supported by parents and friends. Their poetry, stories and singing made it a wonderful celebration for everyone to enjoy. Donations were collected for the ShelterBox charity.

We begin the new academic year in great style with the introduction of two new ideas! In addition to our legendary cake raffle, our Friday 'Celebration' assembly will see the lucky winners of the 'Star of the Week' award (one child from each class) being announced. These 6 children, nominated by their class teacher for excellent behaviour / work, will enjoy a 'teaparty' with Mrs Sedgwick as well as receiving a fab shiny sticker.

Our first 'Stars of the Week'

Our very popular Ticket Time has also been upgraded with the children being able to choose activities from Groovy Moves, Netball Numbers (KS1), Newpaper Nonsense, Click It, Dramerama and Fun Pod (KS2). Friday's are definitely the favourite day of the week! Take a look in the Gallery for photos of the action.

Term 6 2012

The entire school was invited to watch the official Olympic Torch relay at Rutland Water. Thanks to Mrs Allison and Mrs Wedge for a massive organisational operation, the event was a great succcess and everyone enjoyed a very memorable afternoon. More photos in the Gallery.

Olympic Torch Relay

All the children were very fortunate to have a chance to hold a replica of the Olympic Torch thanks to Mr Wedge who recently ran a stretch of the torch relay. Mr Wedge kindly agreed to come into school and show the children the torch and answer their many and varied questions about his relay experience. We were all very pleased and honoured to be able to have this opportunity. Thank you Mr Wedge.

The torch comes to Leighfield

Our annual Fete was a fantastic success despite the weather! Grateful thanks to members of the FOLS and everyone who gave freely of their time and talent. The theme for the evening was definitely FUN!

Human Fruit Machine!

The first week back at school started very regally for the eight lucky winners of our Diamond Jubilee poster competition. They attended the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration at Burghley House in Stamford - and had a fabulous day seeing HM the Queen, the Red Arrows, Blades air acrobatics display and a host of other entertainments. They also enjoyed picnicing to the music of various high calibre bands. See more photo's in the Gallery.

Our 8 lucky poster competition winners at Burghley House

Term 5 2012

Everyone enjoyed a Jubilee picnic at lunchtime on the last day of term. There may have been dark clouds gathering outside, but Leighfield was ablaze with colour and fun. Many staff and children were wearing red, blue and white and sitting on rugs in the hall they eagerly tucked into a delicious picnic style lunch. Surrounded by a glittering display of crowns and impressive display of Jubilee themed artwork - it was almost like a picnic at the palace! The 'design a crown' competition winners were announced and a jolly nice time was had by all. Look in the gallery for more picnic photo's.

'Crowned' - the winners

Our school choir were invited to perform at a Jubilee party organised by Age UK held at St George's Barracks. Accompanied by Mr & Mrs Ffrench they sang beautifully (as always) and delighted the audience for the afternoon. The children thouroughly enjoyed themselves- thank you to all the adult helpers.

Choir performs at the Age UK Jubilee concert

There have been some remarkable entries to our house 'design a royal crown' competition which will be judged next week - they are all certainaly fit for a queen (even one to eat!). Look in the Gallery to see some of the sparkling 'jewels' on display in the hall, together with our individual class portraits of the Queen.

Jubilee crown competition entries

We are entering the Jubilee celebrations with style. Oakham School have co-ordinated an exciting project whereby Rutland schools have been asked to design and make a bunting to be displayed on flotillas of ships as part of the Jubilee festivities in London. Year 6 have used their design and crafting skills to great effect and we hope to see the Leighfield bunting on TV next weekend as it sails gracefully down the River Thames!

Jubilee Bunting

With a prize of a picnic at Burghley House in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II, the judging of the poster competition was incredibly difficult! 7 lucky children from KS2 will be there on 18th June. Admire the regal posters in the Gallery.

The school Eco-Team organised a design a poster competition to remind everyone to become 'eco-friendly' in school. The Team acted as judges and there was a winning entry from each class - take a look in the gallery. Copies of each poster have been put up in appropriate areas of school to encourage switching off lights, re-cycling and not wasting water.

Term 4 2012

As usual, we had some `eggsellent' entries to our annual decorated egg competition, which this year had an olympic theme. Photos can be viewed in the gallery.

Members of the Cookery Club showed off the new skills they had learnt to a hungry crowd of parents and children in Year 2 as they prepared a selection of Mexican dishes. The classroom was buzzing as everyone tasted the gorgeous food on offer and we were all very impressed with the culinary talents of the Cookery Club. A big thank you to Mrs Gant and Mrs Thomas and their team of helpers on the day!

Cookery Club goes Mexican!

Years 3, 4 and 5 have been busy learning lines and songs for our annual KS2 production. This year, it was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as written by Roald Dahl. It was fabulous to see the obvious enjoyment of the children - and the audience- as they sang, danced and acted on stage. A great big 'pat on the back' all round! See some of the action on display in the Gallery.

A very tired but extremely proud group of Leighfield School Choir children returned from performing at the Barnardo's Annual Choir Competition and Concert held at the Barbican Concert Hall in London on 6th March. Our choir was selected from over a hundred entries in the junior section, to be one of 18 chosen to appear in the final. It was a thrilling experience for the choir to perform to a packed audience in such a prestigious setting, and whilst not (this time) returning with any silverware, everyone involved had a truly memorable day. Our thanks once again to Mr & Mrs Ffrench for their dedication resulting in the outstanding performance given by the Leighfield School Choir. Thank you also to the band of parents and friends who travelled to the Barbican to support and watch the choir in action.

Choir performs at the Barbican

Our school choir, under the direction of Mrs Ffrench, accompanied by Mr Ffrench, have had an outstanding start to the term. On 1st March, they won the Junior Choir category at the Wellingborough Rotary Music Festival, shortly followed by the Luton Jubilee Challenge Shield at the Bedfordshire Festival of Music Speech and Drama on the 3rd March. They were also awarded the Most Outstanding Choir Prize, being the best under 19 choir in the competition. This is an amazing achiement and testament to the hard work and dedication of Mr & Mrs Ffrench and the choir children. Big thanks are also due to parents and supporters for travel and uniform management!

We celebrated World Book Day with a special assembly led by Mrs Mahon. All the children (and staff) were invited to make a hat depicting their favourite fictional character or story, which they wore in assembly. There were some fantastic - breathtaking - creations which had obviously taken a few hours to construct! Later in the day, a number of parents kindly came into school to read a story to small groups of children in each class. A delightful way to finish the second week of term! Look in the Gallery for more photographs.

World Book Day Assembly

Term 3 2012

Key Stages 1 and 2 went star-gazing when a mobile planetarium visited school. Everyone enjoyed a stimulating and interactive presentation as the effects of sunrise and sunset, phases of the moon, planets, stars and constllations were shown. There was even a guided tour of the night sky shown on the inner surface of the planetarium. It was out of this world!

Planetarium visits Leighfield

All the children had great fun raising money for the NSPCC by participating in a fabulous 'Buddy's Big Workout'! A big thank you to all the friends and family who sponsored them.

NSPCC 'Buddy's Workout'

Term 2 2011

A big thank you to everyone who braved the cold weather and filled to the brim St Peter and St Paul's church in Uppingham for our Christmas Concert. Children from each class sang or performed a piece of seasonal drama / poetry which was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. A wonderful way to start Christmas.

The KS1 and KS2 House winners of our 'decorate a Christmas tree' competition have been chosen by members of the school council. These are displayed on the noticeboard in the main foyer area.

Our KS1 production of 'The Nativity' was a huge success and all the children (and staff!) involved must be congratulated. It was easy to see how much the children had enjoyed themselves as expressed through dance, drama and music. Friends and family who watched each performance left spellbound at their children's performances, and delighted at the costumes. A truly magical event. See more photos in the Gallery.

Scene from `The Nativity`

We welcomed a very special guest of honour to officially open our new school library on Monday, 21st November - Mrs Kate Markless, who retired at the end of the summer term. A 'bookworm' cake was specially baked for the occasion and every child in school enjoyed a piece of cake and juice. Mrs Sedgewick thanked everyone who had worked so hard to get the library up and running, especially Mr & Mrs Allison for project management and consultation and also the volunteer parents and friends who had tirelessly administered books. Thanks were also expressed to FOLS for organising events that had helped towards funding the necessary alterations, furnishings and new books. During the day, Mrs Markless held a story telling session in the library with each class. A fabulous day for all the children to visit and enjoy the new Leighfield Library. View more photos in the Gallery.

Mrs Markless and School Council members at the library opening

Following a special Children In Need assembly, we had a very busy day! Members of our after school Cookery Club had baked a 'spotted' cookie for every child in school. These were sold (and eaten!) at break time. We also held a sponsored skipping event where the money raised will be split between the British Heart Foundation and Children In Need. Fundraising from the sale of handmade bracelets (made by crafty girls in Year 6) and the weekly cake raffle will also be donated to Children In Need. A fantastic day for all. See the Gallery section for photos of the fun.

Cookery Club Cookie Team

As part of our partnership with Dengshuang School in China, we welcomed their Headteacher, Mr Deng, to Leighfield. He was visiting the area with a delegation of teachers from Xinjin province Chengdu, Sichuan who visited 6 schools in Rutland. The visit was organised through the British Council. Mr Deng observed various lessons happening in school and went away very impressed with our children and their work. Additional pictures of the visit can be viewed in the Gallery section of the website.

Our children welcome Mr Deng to Leighfield

Year 3 gave a very moving and memorable touch to our Remembrance Day assembly through verse and dance. Even the cake for our raffle was decorated like a poppy, and the proceeeds from the raffle were added to our British Legion collection. Poppies made by years 3 and 4 helped to make a very colourful display in the hall.

Thanks to the volunteering help of parents,staff, friends and children, our environmental area had a major early spring clean and tidy. All the children in school are looking forward to visiting the area and discovering what is living there!

We returned to school to find a fantastic new ball court in position at the side of the playground! A very big thank you to FOLS who helped towards the cost of this. There are also new tables in our playground where we can have lots of fun playing games and meeting friends.

Term 1 2011

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our very enjoyable KS2 Harvest Festival assembly. We had a beatiful display of produce and the KS2 children gave some impressive performances to our visiting parents and friends. All contributions from the sale of the produce will go to the charity soon to be nominated by members of our School Council.

We all enjoyed the skipping demonstrations performed by our children in assembly, following on from the skipping workshops held in school recently.

We start the new academic year by welcoming our new Deputy Headteacher (and Year 6 teacher) Mrs Mills. We have also introduced two significant new initiatives to the children - more lunchtime choice/ flexibility and 'Ticket Time' (which leads to an extremely special extra Friday playtime for the whole school - inlcuding the teachers!).

Term 6 2011

After 21 years teaching at Leighfield, we all said a very tearful 'goodbye' to Mrs Kate Markless, deputy headteacher and Year 6 teacher, at our annual leavers assembly. To recognise her retirement, Mrs Markless was presented with a framed picture from staff and children at the school.

Mrs Markless and Year 6 prizewinners

Ash House was the worthy winner of our KS1 and KS2 sports days (123 points). Well done to all the children in school who took part in various sporting activities during the new format sports days with alternating individual and team races. Beech came second (100 points) and Oak third place (88 points). We are extremely proud of a number of the sporting achievemnts of our children this year - read more in the latest edition of the school newsletter section of the website.

On 13th July, there was a chance for parents, staff and friends to hear our school choir in concert at Uppingham School. They were absolutely amazing (and the staff choir sounded was pretty good too!). Once again our thanks to Mr & Mrs Ffrench for leading the children through a fantastic year. Once again our annual musical evening was a big hit and enjoyed by a packed audience. Children from reception to Year 6, past pupils, teachers and parents performed instrumental solo's - Leighfield certainly has talent and a big thank you to all the fantastic performers. We were joined later in the evening by members of the Uppingham Jazz and Soul Band who played a number of brilliant items featuring solo's by past pupils and staff who are members of the band. After much joyous toe-tapping, the school orchestra joined the band for a rousing rendition of Land of Hope and Glory. Pure magic!

Uppingham Jazz and Soul Band and Leighfield Orchestra entertain.

As we begin the final few weeks of the academic year, each class has a busy schedule of visits and whole school events to prepare for. Children who have attended the Cookery Club prepared and served afternoon tea and cakes to some Year 4 parents. The ingredients were sourced from Fairtrade to coincide with the work each class has undertaken for their Fairtrade assembly.

Fairtrade afternoon tea

Term 5 2011

We are ending term 5 in celebratory mood as our choir has (yet again!) triumphed at the recent Northampton Festival of the Performing Arts. They secured 1st place in the junior choir year 6 and under (hymn), 1st place junior choir year 6 and under (set piece and own choice) and 2nd place in the junior choir year 8 and under (own choice) sections. There seems to be no stopping our talented group of children who practice and rehearse very hard under the direction of Mrs Ffrench, accompanied by Mr Ffrench on piano. Big congratulations and thanks to them all - not forgetting the supportive band of helpers who accompanied them to the festival.

Things are beginning to grow rapidly in our garden! The children are really enjoying watching the seeds grow into healthy plants and eager to get involved with daily watering during the hot weather.

Our garden area

We had some superb entries to the Leighfield Photographic competition 2011. Mr Andrew Wilson, a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, had the very difficult task of selecting three winners from each class. Their photos are displayed in the school entrance and will be made into a photo book. Well done to all entrants and congratulations to the winners.

To celebrate the Royal Wedding, we held a special luchtime 'street party' in the hall. We made flags to decorate the tables and dressed in red, blue and white. Our sandwiches tasted extra delicious! See more photos in the Gallery.

Our Royal Wedding Feast

Term 4 2011

See the 'ingreggible' entries to our decorated egg competition in the gallery section of the website. They were just too 'eggsellent' for words to describe!

Four children from Years 5 and 6 travelled with a party of children from other Rutland primary schools to see local sailor, Sarah Outen, set off from Tower Bridge on her latest adventure. It was a fabulous and most memorable day for everyone - read more on the Year 6 class page.

Another absolutely fantastic achievement by our choir at the Oundle Festival of Music and Drama. Under the direction of Mrs Ffrench and accompanied by Mr Ffrench on the piano, they won the Brudenell Cup (choir 10yrs and under), Rev. E.F. Lake Shield (choir 13yrs and under) and the Mrs George Brudenell picture (choir 18yrs and under). Their amazing performance was breathtaking. Congratulations to all the children for working so hard during rehearsals and singing brilliantly. A big thank you to Mr & Mrs Ffrench for all their hard work and dedication too. The choir has more competitions in the pipeline - watch this space!

Leighfield School Choir

The children in Reception, Years 1 & 2 really enjoyed learning more about the importance of road safety from a recent presentation by a visiting theatre company.

Year 2 at the road safety presentation

School turned red inside for Red Nose Day! Many pupils organised competitions, dressed up and participated in red nose races during the day. Look on the gallery section at some of the fabulous costumes paraded in our special Red Nose Day assembly. Even the cake in our weekly cake raffle had a red nose.

Some of the prizewinners & competition organisers

The children in Years 3, 4 and 5 have been busy performing Troy Story. Their acting, singing and dancing was fabulous and a credit to everyone involved. It was magical to see all the smiling faces and obvious enjoyment of the children - and the enthusiastic audience. Thank you to Leighfield staff, parents and of course the children fora memorable Key Stage 2 production. See the photos of our performers in the gallery section.

We are celebrating the fantastic success of our choir, directed by Mrs Ffrench, at the Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama held at the Corn Exchange on 5th March. Not only did they win their section (Junior Choirs, year6 and below) but also the award for the most Outstanding Choir at the Festival. We are extremely proud of all the children and their wonderful achievement at their first competition this academic year. The adjudicator was full of praise for the children and only wished he could "bottle the sound". A big thank you to Mr & Mrs Ffrench and all the supporters who accompanied the children on Saturday.

Well done to the Tag Rugby Team who took part in the Rutland Tournament. They were runners up in their group and did extremely well to cope in such freezing weather!

We were represented at the Rutland Swimming Gala by some of our Year 5 and 6 children. They all swam really well and gained places in the finals.

Term 3 2011

Year 5 have now returned from a very successful residential visit to Scarborough. The children (and accompanying adults) thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were very lucky with the weather. See photos in the gallery and on the Year 5 page of the website.

As a school we have signed up to join 'Get Set', the London 2012 education programme. This is all about involving children in the excitement and inspiration of the Olympic and Paralympic games. As part of this, each class has been allocated a value from: respect, friendship, equality, inspiration, determination, excellence and courage. We are awarding special certificates each week to children who demonstrate that they live up to these values.

Our first 'Get Set' winners

To increase the level of physical activity of all the children to meet the target of 3 hours per week per child, we have introduced 'Active 10'. This 10 minute programme of exercises to music happens each day in the hall prior to assembly and is great fun for everyone!

'Active 10' in progress

Term 2 2010

The children from Reception and Key Stage 1 gave brilliant performances of our annual Christmas production to packed audiences. This year it was 'Children of the World' - showing how Christmas is celebrated in various countries around the globe. Everyone enjoyed the singing, dancing and colourful costumes and the Reception children were spectacular in their nativity scene. Photos of the hall displays for the production are in the Gallery section of the website.

Year 6 recently enjoyed an excellent educational day visit to RAF Cottesmore where they were given a guided tour of many parts of the base. There were many learning points brought back to the classroom, not least the importance of teamwork. Thanks to contributions received from Year 6 parents we have been able to make a donation to the Royal Airforce Benevolent Fund. Gemma, the RAFBF Regional Fund Raiser, visited school and thanked the children during assembly, accepting a 'large' cheque presented by Year 6.

RAFBF presentation

The children have just finished recording a very special CD of christmas music. Every class has been busy rehearsing songs and carols, not forgetting the school orchestra and boomwhacker club! Availability of the CD will be notified to parents through school - make this CD your number 1 chart topper for all those Christmas presents to friends and family.

Thank you to all the families who filled shoeboxes for the 2010 Samaritan's Purse appeal. We have donated a large number of boxes to Operation Christmas Child.

Operation Christmas Child

We held a two minute silence in assembly on 11th November to commemorate Remembrance day. Photographs appear in the gallery section of the website.

KS1 and year 3 were treated to a visit of the Blunderbus Theatre Company. The children enjoyed an action packed performance involving a multi-coloured elephant, followed by theatre workshops geared to individual classes.

Term 1 2010

KS2 took the lead this year at our annual Harvest themed assembly. Through words, song and dance years 3, 4, 5 and 6 entertained the other classes and a large number of parents and supporters. Everyone enjoyed themselves and thanks to the contributions of produce by parents which was sold / raffled at the end of the day, we made a very respectable sum for our chosen charity. Pictures of the harvest displays at school can be found in the gallery section of the website.

Our focus for art week was 'one picture'. Everyone in school studied Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night (1888) and each class teacher chose a particular element of the picture as a theme. The resulting mini- masterpieces look fantastic in our hall and can be viewed in the gallery section of the website.

Only the second week of the new school year and KS2 had a visit from dance teacher Sarah Jaggard. Look at the gallery to see the children learning dragon dance moves.