Dear Mrs Cherly Hawkings,

Kindly convey our gratitude to all the teachers and pupilsof Venham Dean Gillums primary school for the books donated to Kitarini Primary School.  The pupils are enjoying the books so much as you can see in the attached pictures.

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Thank you so much,

Pia & Sune

Andover Food Bank

The children at Vernham Dean are conscious that not only are there people abroad that may need our compassion but that there are many people in our local community who may be struggling at this time and in need of the support of the local food bank.

Our Harvest Service this year focussed on collecting for the Andover Foodbank. We are grateful for all the donations we had considering how difficult it is for many at this time.

Thessalonians 5:18

“Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless” Proverbs 31:8

Kitanni Primary school Tanzania

We are delighted to be supporting Kitanni Primary school which is in a village near to the Longido Ruby mining area in Tanzania. It has 800 pupils (many are children of the artisanal miners) aged between 5 - 12 years.  They  learn English but have limited books to practise their  reading - so we have donated some schemed reading books we no longer use and 'fun' story books, after we had a sort out in our library. We are also sending school supplies such as pencils and exercise books to support their learning.

War in Ukraine

Our worship theme this half term is love and compassion, very pertinent at this time with the war in Ukraine. In class worship, the children discussed how we can support those children suffering due to the conflict. The children decided that we would send our thoughts and prayers, as well as putting messages of hope around our school on Ukraine's National flower of the Sunflower. The children also decided that when we raise money for Comic Relief on the 18th March 2022, half of our donations will go to the Red Cross to support the Ukranian Humanitarian crisis.

International Women's Day

In Year 5/6 on International Women's day they identified women that were inspirational to them and they drew them. The women ranged from famous Authors, to sports women and on a more personal level, women like their mum's.

After hearing a story on the radio, Beech Class decided to take action. Archie and Elizabeth have written this report to tell you more…… Edna is turning 101 this year but didn’t celebrate her 100th birthday because of lockdown. On Radio 2 Zoe Ball’s Breakfast Show, they asked the whole nation to send her cards. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland. Up until a few years ago, Edna was looking after her son who is 58 and has Down’s Syndrome. She did all the shopping, cooking and cleaning up, all at the age of 98. Beech Class have made a card for her, she is an amazing woman and everyone should send her a card. Happy Birthday Edna! This card we are making is because Edna couldn’t celebrate last year because of Covid and Lockdown. We all wish a Happy Birthday to Edna.

Beech Class Andover Foodbank Collection

In class discussions, Beech class have been increasingly concerned with the knowledge that locally within their own community, there are people who don't have enough food to eat. They decided that as a class they would set up their own food bank collection that they will donate to Andover Food Bank on a regular basis.

Legacy at Harmony Woods

Yesterday, we continued leaving our legacy by planting trees at Harmony Woods. This is supporting the environment and sustainability. We are the school who has planted the most trees so far in Harmony Woods, something we are really proud of to have achieved!

Persuasive letters from Oak and Beech class to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary

Oak class are currently learning all about the rainforest and the plight it finds itself in due to deforestation. As part of their English hot task they has to apply all their knowledge and skills needed to write a persuasive letter to the PM. They can't now wait to send them to see if he replies!

The Boy at the Back of the Class

This term, Years 5 and 6 have been using the book "The Boy at the back of the Class" as a stimulus for both their Guided Reading and Writing. Discussions emerged through JIGSAW sessions about the Refugee crisis in Afghanistan and the children felt so passionate about it that they wrote to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary about it. Yesterday, they received a letter from the Home Office saying their letters had been passed on but acknowledging their concern and reassuring that the Government are doing all they can to support Refugees abroad and coming to the UK.

Monday 22nd November 2021

Today in Worship we continued to think about peace and symbols of peace. We discussed why angels are symbols of peace, such as the wings they have like a dove which is also a symbol of peace, they are quiet and gentle and that they came to Mary to tell her she was going to have a baby and to reassure her everything was going to be okay. We talked about how angels are in heaven and if a loved one has died we believe that angels are looking after them or they are watching over them.

For class worship I asked the children to draw what they think about when they think of an angel. Here are some of their representations:

In our next worship we will be challenging what we may consider to be the stereotypical representation of an angel using the book below.

Worship Wednesday 24th November 2021

Mixed-A Colourful story by Arree Chung

Today, in Worship we looked at the story by Arree Chung called; Mixed- A colourful story. To begin with as we watched the story being read by the Author the KS2 children thought it might be a bit young for them. But I asked them to think deeper about what the story really represented and the children were amazing. EYs and KS1 talked about being kind and our Christian value of being Compassionate as well as being friends. KS2 did think so much deeper! They used principles they had learned in their JIGSAW lessons to do with protective characteristics so that they talked about racism-Black Lives Matter and white people in the past thinking they were a superior race with slavery, sexuality, gender and the refugees in Afghanistan and war. They were so knowledgeable about issues in the world but the clear message that came back from all of them is that we are all equal regardless of all of these things and we are all a Vernham Dean family together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ee0ZZ4WyU 

Grace's Adventures to far away places

Grace, our Prayer Bunny visited Rwanda with Sue Bowen from the Diocese to visit a school out there. Sue then came back and told us all about it. We are hoping to form closer links with the school out there.