This year we have participated in Henley in Bloom by sponsoring a pot and all pupils created their own miniature gardens.

Libby in Year 2 was awarded First Prize for her Japanese Garden.

Thursday 11th July, 3 pupils from years 4 and 5 attended the Warwickshire Junior Book Awards run by the School Library Service. They had read, reviewed and rated four books prior to attending. They were lucky enough to meet and talk to all the authors and have their books signed!

The Eco Champions have continued to clear the pond. On Friday 12th July all their hard work was recognised by the Parish Council with an Environment Award.

9 year old Daisy organised our trip to Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. She made the phone call to book the tickets, sent an email of confirmation. Organised costs and travelling arrangements and worked alongside teachers on risk assessments. On the day she led us confidently from Birmingham Snow Hill to the Symphony Hall. There we had fantastic seats to watch the production of Stravinsky’s Firebird.

On Friday 21st June, the Eco-Committee challenged as many children to walk to school. Luckily the sun shone for them all.

The Eco-Committee were invited to produce a display for the Action Day on Saturday 22nd June. There was a lot of interest from the general public in what the school and nursery had been working on. We also came away with a lot of new ideas for them to try towards their Eco School Gold Award (Green Flag).

Rob from Sea Legs Puppets came to Merrydays and Henley Montessori on Friday and performed  Peter and the Wolf. The skills and craftsmanship were amazing and the pupils from the youngest to the oldest, the teachers and parents all  thoroughly enjoyed the show and holding the puppets after. We are already looking forward to his return next year.

The children of Merrydays Montessori Nursery have always liked visiting the pond in the grounds of Dell Court, Henley in Arden. Over the last few months relationships between the residents and the children have developed and the staff of the nursery wanted to be able to give something back to the community. Firstly, in December the children sang Christmas songs with requests from the residents and then shared afternoon tea. When the weather was more favourable, they were invited to play croquet. Last Thursday, they took along their puzzles and song spoons and shared them. A good time was had by all, the residents enjoyed the interaction with the children giving them something different to  focus on and the children developed their communication skills.
We are looking to develop this as a more regular programme.

The older pupils of Henley in Arden Montessori Primary are working towards their Eco School Silver Award. They had observed that the pond near the Medical Centre was needing some attention. Under the supervision of a zoologist they have started to clear the pond to prevent it changing state from wetland to grassland to woodland. For three hours they worked tirelessly removing lots of rubbish and cutting back nettles. There is still much work to be done so watch this space over the next few weeks.

On Thursday 16^th May, seven pupils from Henley Montessori Primary school, attended the opening of “MiniBrum” at the Thinktank Science museum, Birmingham, a creative city for children. This has been the culmination of being part of a long-term project starting September 2018.  The pupils involved had been asked to design and create a museum within “MiniBrum”, from the choice of objects to the creation of exciting displays. They designed everything that the public can now see and do within a fantastic museum.

Having the opportunity to work in collaboration with the Thinktank Science museum has been an excellent opportunity to showcase how our pupils learn at Henley Montessori Primary School. Much of what we do is based around the process of each pupils learning, their confidence, resourcefulness and having the freedom to develop interests.

The Thinktank Learning Team gave our pupils ownership of the project right from the beginning, their ideas were listened to and encouraged. In the classroom they had the time to use the whole curriculum in a purposeful way, drawing knowledge from previous experiences and developing new skills. In maths by working on scale drawings and plans, language producing presentations and stories for the exhibits, science, geography and history in research about the objects; with art and music for the finished exhibits and incorporating features like braille that will make the museum inclusive for all.

If there were any financial or logistical issues to overcome, they were still involved in the decision making, meeting regularly with their teachers and representatives from the Thinktank to shape the finished project. The finished museum is a replica of their original designs and ideas, testimony to the whole process they were involved in. An opportunity that I don’t think any of them will fully realise the significance in their education until they are older.

For anyone with children “MiniBrum” is well worth a visit, it provides an inspiring environment for children to explore and question their understanding of the world around them. Through play the city gives children the confidence to think like scientists and engineers in a real-life context, to test their ideas, to problem solve and create.

As a school we feel nothing but pride and pleasure we have all gained from this collaborative project.

Helen Everley, Headteacher, Henley in Arden Montessori Primary School