Author and Comedian, James Campbell, came to school to meet the children and inspire them to become amazing writers. James led the assembly and then worked with year 4 and 5, passing on his knowledge and passion for writing. The visit was a success; 2 children in the school now want to be bestselling authors and loads came into school on Friday telling me about the stories they had been writing at home. Hurrah!  Job done!

Team TSM were in top form at the Felixstowe  School Rounders Competition. After winning every game at the group stage we ended up in a final showdown with Colneis Junior School. On this occasion, we had to settle for the runners-up prize. Our team couldn't have played any better though ; the fielding was very strong indeed and the batting was also very good, we just got beaten by a stronger team on the day. Well done TSM! Excellent team play!

We arrived smart and fabulous for the KS1 Parlauff Relays at Causton Junior School. The afternoon started with lots of games and activities and then finished with the relay competition.  TSM ran their royal blue socks off to finish a very respectable 4th. Their attitude to the competition was spot on and those who took a tumble, brushed themselves off, got up and carried on. The behaviour today was very good indeed . It was easy to tell because it was a real pleasure to attend this event with year 2.

As mentioned in a letter to Parents dated 03.06.15, our Governor Graham Boulding has resigned from his post as Community Governor.

We totally understand his reasons for leaving and would like to take this opportunity to thank him, on behalf of everyone here at Trimley St Martin Primary School, for the support he has given to the school over the past years.

Being a governor is not an easy task with many meetings to attend, numerous documents to read (not always particularly exciting) and training sessions to attend.  The School is extremely grateful that he has offered his skills, knowledge and commitment voluntarily and that his support has helped our school achieve further success. His time spend working alongside Mrs Matthews focusing on the literacy and the classes he has monitored and  tracked closely has helped keep staff on their toes and in turn raise the quality of what we provide the children here at the school.

I also want to thank him for the putting on that hi-visibility vest and patrolling outside the school in all weathers in order to help keep our children safe.

Graham will definitely be missed by all! We invited Graham to an assembly where we presented him with some items to remember us by and some tokens of our appreciation:
(1) School Back Pack - whilst walking along the south coast, he may need something to carry his flask in. 
(2) Sun hat - like myself, in the warm summer sun a hat is essential to prevent a sun burnt head. 
(3) Thank you certificate framed - a centre piece in his new living room, he can remember us every time he sits down. 
(4) Super Governor Trophy - with u-turn logo. 
(5) B & Q vouchers - because no doubt there will be numerous trips to this shop when he moves into his new house! 

Mrs Ross and Mrs MacFarlane travelled with Team TSM to Quad kids competition held in Ipswich. The event included a whopping 62 teams and we came 34th. Now we know how the event works and what to expect, preparation for this event will commence a little sooner next year. We achieved 1357 points in total, the winning team had 1803.   

Robbie achieved a Bronze and Zack a Gold award for high levels of achievement in their individual events. All of the children competed in a 75m sprint, 600m run, standing long jump and Vortex Howler throw. Well done everyone! 

What a great week the children had! I really enjoyed following the blog and looking at the activities TSM children were getting up to! 

I also enjoyed reading all of the parents comments and those written by younger and older siblings. I'm so pleased to see the website being actively used but also pleased that if any perspective parents look at our site they are going to be super impressed with the activities we offer and the positive parent support that is out there. 

I am also so pleased that everyone of our children attended the Thorpe Woodlands trip. I know the trip is expensive but my hope was that after following the children for the week on the blog, Parents felt that it was money well spent! (Perhaps not so much when they opened the suit case in the kitchen on the Friday night!) 

During the week, the children have achieved things that they never thought they could do! It might have been climbing a wall, swinging through trees, being away from the comforts of home or just not seeing family for more than one day. Every child from this school walked away having learnt something new.

A huge thank you to Mrs Matthews and Mr Childs for leading this trip. Thank you for the super blog! I say this every time at the end of residential trip BUT leading residential trips IS HARD WORK! It is a massive responsibility taking care of 27 children for a whole week and there is no switch off time. It is constant. you are teacher 24 hours a day for the full 5 days!  However, the one thing that makes it all worthwhile is seeing a different side to the children that we know in school, watching them achieve things they didn't think they could and watching them mature and think for themselves in such a short space of time. Giving up time to lead a residential is above and beyond what is expected of a teacher. There's no handing children back to parents at 3:30pm! This is why I am incredibly appreciative of staff who lead these trips for our children. 

Thank you also to Mrs MacFarlane for the original organisational work that was put in. She was gutted not to have led this trip but has definitely been keeping up to date following the blog. Thank you also to Mrs Simpson who books the trip, coordinates the coaches, completes the paperwork for the local authority,does the finances etc as this bit often gets overlooked.


For more information about this year's Thorpe Woodlands Residential - check out the blog by clicking here. 

TSM had been selected as one of the schools in Suffolk to take part in the GREAT EAST SWIMMING COMPETITION at Felixstowe Swimming Pool on Friday 19th June at 9:30am.

Unlike the Felixstowe Gala, the school had to select 4 girls and 4 boys for the competition which will be split in to two challenges.

1 challenge for accomplished swimmers will be based in the deep end of the pool and will require four children to swim continuously for 4 minutes around buoys positioned in the water. The combined distance / laps achieved by the 4 swimmers will be totalled and then used to work out which team take home the title! 

The other challenge is designed for less confident swimmer and is based in the shallow end of the pool. Pupils can touch the pool bottom if they need to but as above need to navigate their way round the 4 buoys continuously for 4 minutes each. Again, the distance / laps will be totalled and used to find a winner.

The children did exceptionally well! All of the swimmers completed at least 3 laps (which is over 150 metres) in the 4 minute time frame. Harvey, Madelynne, Ava and Luke represented Year 4 and Zack, Robbie, Lauryn and Molly represented year 6. 

During the event the children met Olympic Silver Medalist, David Davies, and Lauryn was chosen to take part in a master class led by the athlete. 

All of the children received goody bags and a free GREEN swimming hat! 

When we arrived back at school the new TSM swimming hats we had ordered for the competition had finally arrived! Typical! 

Overall out of 12 teams, we finished a very respectable 5th place. Well done swimmers! 

 

TSM A-team and B-team attended another football tournament barely a couple of weeks after the previous competition on which they returned victorious. This time, the A-team were crowned joint winners as after 5 matches they scored the same amount of points and had the same goal difference as Colneis leaving both schools in exactly the same spot at the top of the league! Colneis will hold the trophy for the first 5 months and we'll hold it for the second. The B-team were undefeated winning 4 of their 5 games but although finishing joint top, they were  beaten on goal difference. It was a great morning, despite a wobble on the third match where we just didn't play very well, we pulled it back and finished in style.  Thank you to Mr Tranter and Mr Goodhand for their coaching on the day. My football knowledge isn't the greatest!  Thank you also to the parents who ferried the children back and forth from school to Causton.

We have now added an absence request form to the website for those parents who need to inform the school that they are taking their children on holiday. Although 99% of the holiday requests will be classed as unauthorised, the school must be informed of the fact that you are taking the children out of school.

The form will ask for details regarding siblings in other schools this is so that we can contact the other school ourselves to find out whether they have authorised the absence or not.

We've added this option to our website based on feedback from Parents and it is all part of trying to make sure we are more efficient, better functioning and just to general make things easier for parents.