The Spring term passed swiftly at Marchwood Infant School with our usual broad and exciting curriculum providing the children with real and memorable learning experiences.

One of these was the visit by the Juma Steel band. The group played us a variety of West Indian and popular tunes on their steel pans and the children found it impossible to sit still!

Afterwards our Year 2 children had the chance to have a go at playing simple tunes and rhythms, which they found great fun. We have now purchased our own steel pans, kindly funded by the PTA and these instruments have helped to swell our music resources from a range of different countries and cultures.

Poetry Week after half term was also a stimulating and interesting week for the children. Mike Jubb, a children’s poet, visited the school and led workshops which focussed on teaching the children to write their own poems using a variety of structures and on many subjects. The resulting work was to a very high standard and certainly showed our children using rich, creative language.

Poetry Week was followed by a visit from the Puppeteers who gave a performance of ‘Peter and the Wolf’. Live theatre always captures the attention and imagination of the children and they watched transfixed as the wolf stalked the cat in this story. Afterwards we used the music in our collective worship to remind us of the story.

Easter was a big focus as the term drew to a close with our annual Easter service at St John’s Church led by the children. The PTA held a very successful Easter Craft sale and a substantial amount of money was raised to go towards the purchase of a wonderful new climbing frame and safety surface for the rear playground. The May Fayre is our next big event and the PTA are hoping to raise even more money towards this very expensive addition to our outside environment.

The term ended on a poignant note when we planted a tree in the school grounds in memory of Mrs Sue High, Admin Officer at the school for many years who sadly passed away last June.

However, our outdoor act of worship was very moving and memorable and the children now have a living reminder of Mrs High’s care for them.

We hope the flowering cherry known as ‘Mrs High’s tree’ will provide some shade on hot sunny days and thereby continue to care for children in the years to come.


Maureen Green
Headteacher