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• Thursday 19 January 2023 Our trip to the Post Office We have been changing our role play areas and this week it was a Post Office!
• Wednesday 18 January 2023 Firecrest Interviews - The Great Chocoplot Firecrests have been working on their interview skills by asking questions to the people of Chompton-de-lyte. They have used their knowledge of our book 'The Great Chocoplot' to ask interesting questions and role play as people who are living through the chocopocalypse.
• Wednesday 18 January 2023 Gymnastics 16.1.23 and 18.1.23 Firecrests have been working on their balancing skills and using their bodies to make shapes. They have worked on their own and in groups to make shapes. Can you see the word we made with our bodies
• Wednesday 14 December 2022 Intra House New Age Kurling This term's Intra House event was New Age Kurling.
• Tuesday 13 December 2022 Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
• Saturday 10 December 2022 PTFA Christmas Market 2022 Pictures from the PTFA Benenden Christmas Market 2022
• Friday 9 December 2022 Firecrests Snow Fun! 9.12.23 Firecrests had great fun playing in the 'snow' in our outdoor area. Look at those hairstyles! It must have been our own version of a snow dance as when we came back to school on Monday there was lots of real snow too...
• Thursday 8 December 2022 Firecrests Drumming and Guitar Performance 8.12.22 Firecrests performed their djembe skills to the other pupils. Two groups of Firecrests (plus a special Kingfisher guest) also performed on guitar and ukulele. Here are the videos to enjoy.
• Thursday 8 December 2022 A Victorian Christmas Swallow Class loved exploring Victorian Christmas traditions at Kent Life on Thursday. We met Charles Dickens, made our own candles, found out about Christmas in the workhouse and we played with some of the toys that rich Victorians may have received from Father Christmas.
• Wednesday 7 December 2022 Year 5 shadow puppets In Science this term, we have been exploring Earth, Light & Space and as a part of this we have been looking at shadows. We have explored how the strength of the light source impacts the shadow and how the proximity of the object to the light changes the size of the shadow. To link our learning in Science to English, we have created our own shadow puppets to re-tell the story of A Christmas Carol. Can you guess who they are
• Wednesday 7 December 2022 Science - Up Periscope! In Science Year 4 learnt that a periscope lets you look around walls, corners or other obstacles. Submarines have periscopes so that people inside can what is on the surface of the water.
• Tuesday 6 December 2022 KS1 Nativity 6.12.22 Firecrests, Cuckoos and Barn Owls put on an incredible show (or three!) this week with their fantastic performance of The BIG little Nativity. A huge well done to all of the pupils for the effort they put in, both on the day and in preparation. Thank you to all of the parents and carers who supported this by providing costumes, learning lines and coming to watch, the children loved being part of it. An additional thank you to Joel Tinker for filming, what an exciting opportunity to be able to share this with everyone!
• Tuesday 6 December 2022 KS1 Nativity 6.12.22 Firecrests, Cuckoos and Barn Owls put on an incredible show (or three!) this week with their fantastic performance of The BIG little Nativity. A huge well done to all of the pupils for the effort they put in, both on the day and in preparation. Thank you to all of the parents and carers who supported this by providing costumes, learning lines and coming to watch, the children loved being part of it. An additional thank you to Joel Tinker for filming, what an exciting opportunity to be able to share this with everyone!
• Tuesday 6 December 2022 KS1 Nativity 6.12.22 Firecrests, Cuckoos and Barn Owls put on an incredible show (or three!) this week with their fantastic performance of The BIG little Nativity. A huge well done to all of the pupils for the effort they put in, both on the day and in preparation. Thank you to all of the parents and carers who supported this by providing costumes, learning lines and coming to watch, the children loved being part of it. An additional thank you to Joel Tinker for filming, what an exciting opportunity to be able to share this with everyone!
• Tuesday 6 December 2022 Jingles bells We have worked really hard with Mr Reid this term to perform Jingle Bells on the trumpet. The first video shows you how much progress we've made in just a few weekly sessions. Thank you very much Mr Reid!
• Thursday 1 December 2022 30.11.22 Woodpeckers Christmassy Forest School! Woodpeckers had lots of fun on their last week at Forest School for the Winter! We very much enjoyed the mud and the mud slide. Lots of us also had a go at using the tools to finish off some reindeers. As well as this, some of us had a go at cooking a cake in an orange over the fire. Jury is still out on how good they are...
• Thursday 1 December 2022 30.11.22 Barns Owls Christmassy Forest School! Barn Owls have had lots of fun in the forest this week! We had a go at making reindeers using twigs and we had our very first experience of toasting marshamallows and making smores!
• Monday 28 November 2022 Diwali Dancing! We learnt some Hindu dancing that they might do during Diwali!
• Friday 25 November 2022 Schools Linking Project Robin Class have been linked with Cavell Class from the Wells Free School in Tunbridge Wells.
• Wednesday 23 November 2022 TWKSSP Team Building 2022
• Tuesday 22 November 2022 Recycled Paper 22.11.12 Firecrests made their own recycled paper using newspaper, water and cornstarch. They ripped it into tiny pieces and then blended it. They squished the mixture onto foil and left it to dry. They discovered that it was very smooth afterwards and you could still see pieces of the old paper.
• Wednesday 16 November 2022 16.11.22 - Barn Owls at Forest School We managed to just about miss the rain!!
• Tuesday 15 November 2022 Firecrests UK experiences 15.11.22 We have been learning about the countries of the UK in practical ways. We had an English tea party where we tried cups of tea and scones with jam. We heard some brass band music and thought about other things we know are popular in England like fish and chips and football.
• Monday 14 November 2022 Swallow Class - Carol Of The Bells On Monday 14th November, the children in Year 5 joined five other schools to record the traditional Christmas carol, Carol of the Bells. At the same time, a choir in Ukraine sang the carol and both versions will be merged to create a single track to raise both money and awareness of our support.
• Monday 14 November 2022 Diya lamps! This term we are looking at celebrations - who celebrates and how they celebrate.
• Monday 14 November 2022 Design & Technology - Levers & Linkages We had to generate our ideas before making our designs. Once we had finished, we evaluated the outcome.
• Thursday 10 November 2022 RE - The story of Jesus' birth This term we have been looking at the story of Jesus' birth and being introduced to the characters. This week we had a go at acting out the story.
• Thursday 10 November 2022 Upper Key Stage 2 Football Festival 2022
• Monday 7 November 2022 Our wet trip to St Ronans! On Monday 7th November we took a trip to St Ronan's! It did not quite go to plan because it was so wet! But we still had a lovely time having a walk in the woods. We talked about our senses and then looked out for things we could see, hear, feel and smell. When we got back to school we did some super writing about what we saw in the woods!
• Friday 4 November 2022 Copy of: Forest School - 02/11/22 In the deep dark wood...
• Friday 4 November 2022 PTFA Firework Feast & Bonfire Bake Sale Another fantastic homemade food sale with families taking home delicious homemade meal deals! Chili bowls with freshly baked bread, pumpkin mac n cheese, leek & potato bakes as well as tasty apple crumbles and cookies were just some of the offerings to take home for the firework weekend.
• Friday 4 November 2022 Forest School - 02/11/22 In the deep dark wood...
• Thursday 20 October 2022 Girl's Football at Dulwich The rain finally abated and we enjoyed a glorious afternoon of football in the sun. The girls battled and hard and attacked throughout their games. The played four games, losing one and winning three.
• Thursday 20 October 2022 Intra-House Cross Country Well done Issy (Red House) and Alfie H (Yellow House) for their 1st place positions.
• Wednesday 19 October 2022 Copy of: Firecrest Forest School 19.10.22 Firecrests had an incredible time at Forest School last week. They brought their science learning into the forest to make potions with natural materials. Some Firecrests came up with magical powers for their potions too! They tried fire striking with Mrs Reed and Mrs Tompsett and showed great commitment to the challenge. We also had time to explore the forest: trying on the hats, making bows and creating some beautiful face paint too.
• Wednesday 19 October 2022 Firecrest Forest School 19.10.22 Firecrests had an incredible time at Forest School last week. They brought their science learning into the forest to make potions with natural materials. Some Firecrests came up with magical powers for their potions too! They tried fire striking with Mrs Reed and Mrs Tompsett and showed great commitment to the challenge. We also had time to explore the forest: trying on the hats, making bows and creating some beautiful face paint too.
• Wednesday 19 October 2022 Firecrest at Forest School! At Forest School this week we have been having a go at fire lighting with Mrs Reed. We had a go at using a fire striker and lighting a cotton wool ball. We showed great perseverance and team work!
• Wednesday 19 October 2022 Intra House Cross Country 2022 What a gorgeous day for a run around the field. Year R ran 1 lap, year 1, 2 laps, years 3 & 4 - 3 laps and years 5 & 6 a whopping 4 laps. Lots of the year six children ran many more laps as they acted as hares for the younger classes. All the children running showed determination and great resilience. A huge thank you to the year six Young Sports leaders who were working as scorers, photographers, hares and marshals, we would not be able to run the event without them.
• Wednesday 19 October 2022 Year 5 step back in time to a Victorian classroom! After lunch, we stepped back in time and entered a Victorian classroom. Miss Jackson rang the bell and we were very shocked to see that she had a cane, which we found out was a real Victorian punishment. We had our hands inspected before we entered the classroom and had to wash them in a bowl of water if they were too grubby. Once we were inside, we had to sit in neat rows as we were read out the rules. Unfortunately for the left handed children, everyone was told to write with their right hand and stand before speaking - we couldn't do this without laughing as you can see from the pictures. On our tables, we found a slate and piece of chalk for writing and an abacus to help us with our arithmetic but we had to be careful to not make any mistakes otherwise we were forced to sit in the corner wearing the Dunce cap or even worse, copy out lines!
• Tuesday 18 October 2022 Firecrest Animal Visit 18.10.22 Our Amazing Animal World visited Firecrest class and brought some of their wonderful animals with them. We got to meet a Pygmy Hedgehog, 'Skinny Pig', Giant African Land Snail, Bull Frog, Panther Chameleon and a Royal Python. We learnt what nocturnal means and got to hold and stroke the animals. A HUGE thank you to Mark & Kate for their lovely session with all of the rescued animals. We had such a good time, even with a chameleon on our heads!
• Monday 17 October 2022 PTFA 2nd Hand Uniform PTFA 2nd Hand Uniform available to everyone anytime. Please get in touch.
• Friday 14 October 2022 Swallow Class Week 6 This week we have been busy both in class and out of class with a trip to the Forest on Wednesday and fantastic music performance at Benenden School on Thursday. We particularly enjoyed creating our own Hetty Feather inspired 'squirrel houses' at Forest School and loved learning about the different instruments making up a professional orchestra, our personal favourites being the crazy kazoo drummer and the Star Wars theme tune being played on the trumpet!
• Friday 14 October 2022 Kidenza Robins had a lovely time at Benenden Girls School learning about the different parts of the orchestra.
• Tuesday 11 October 2022 People who help us: Occupational Therapist Emily's mummy, who is an occupational therapist, came in to speak to us!
• Monday 10 October 2022 People who help us: Police We had some policeman come to visit us! One of them was Rohan's daddy!
• Monday 10 October 2022 Quidditch Harry Potter
• Friday 7 October 2022 Year 5 Quidditch This morning, Swallow Class loved taking part in a Quidditch taster session with Premier Sports. We had our own broomsticks (hockey sticks) and were assigned a house from Harry Potter. Some of us moved so fast, you may have even thought we were actually flying!
• Friday 7 October 2022 Quidditch! We had some friends from Premier Sport come in and play quidditch with us!
• Thursday 6 October 2022 Lullingstone Roman Villa What did the Romans ever do for us
• Thursday 6 October 2022 Swallow Class Week 5 Happy National Poetry Day! This year's theme was the environment, which inspired our own acrostic poems about nature. We also celebrated by performing a poem written by our very own Milo Pollard (Year 5 child and published poet!) about what life may be like waking up in the Victorian era as a poor child. We have loved learning more this week about the lives of Victorian children and the influential figures who helped to change them so this was a great way to share our learning!
• Sunday 2 October 2022 Rawlinson Run 2022 What a fantastic afternoon for us all at Dulwich Prep School on Friday 30th September. The children from years 2-4 took part in some very competitive cross country races and showed huge determination and resilience. There were many top 10 finishes in races with 40-50 children taking part. A special mention to Issy Morgan who just missed out on a Bronze medal with a fantastic fourth in her race.
• Sunday 2 October 2022 TWKSSP PE & SPORT CONFERENCE 2022 On Thursday 29th September I attended the TWKSSP PE & Sport Conference in Tonbridge.
• Sunday 2 October 2022 Commonwealth Games 2022 What an amazing week I had at the Commonwealth Games this summer. The weather was glorious and the athletes were amazing. I was lucky enough to see netball, hockey, gymnastics and several sessions of athletics. The joy of watching such fantastic athletes compete in such a range of sports was a real treat.
• Thursday 29 September 2022 PTFA Apple Pressing Following our Produce Sale the children in Cuckoo's class got to make fresh apple juice with some left over apples. They used a hand crank apple press and blender and then all got to enjoy a taste of delicious local apples.
• Thursday 29 September 2022 PTFA Autumn Produce Sale £225 Raised in our first fundraising event of Term 1. With thanks to our parents and local community who donated fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs from their gardens Benenden Primary was transformed into a mini farmer's market for the day!
• Thursday 29 September 2022 Seekers Eggs 29.9.22 Seekers had an eggstraordinary time this afternoon learning about the fruits of the spirit from the Bible. We eggsplored the theme of gentleness through all sorts of eggciting activities. We are hoping that eggventually they will make their way back to school next Thursday in one piece.
• Thursday 29 September 2022 Swallow Class Week 4 Another busy week in Swallow Class with trips to the church for Harvest Festival and the celebration of European Languages Day 2022. We also had our first 'proper' trumpet lesson which you can watch a sneaky preview of below using the QR code.
• Thursday 29 September 2022 Steam Train Trip 27.9.22 Firecrests had an amazing time on their trip to Bodiam. We travelled from Tenterden to Bodiam on the steam train and thought about how different it is to the trains we use for journeys now. We even managed to fit in a walk through the castle. Firecrests found all sorts of lovely activities: dressing up, climbing the tower and they even spotted a dragon! Although it rained a little on our walk back to the train, it was a fantastic day and we loved our adventure.
• Wednesday 28 September 2022 Barns Owls go to Church We joined the rest of the school for a ‘Whole School Harvest Festival’ at St George’s Church. We joined in with hymns and listened beautifully to the service. We even performed a dance to the ‘Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’. The entire school were not only really proud of us, but really impressed.
• Wednesday 28 September 2022 Consolidating numbers to 4! The Barn Owls worked hard to understand the value of number to 4. Firstly counting groups of objects using one:one touch correspondence then moving on to subitising. Children then used the digital ‘five frame’ to place counters. Then we played a game involving throwing beanbags to numbers called out and finally practiced number formation using chalk.
• Tuesday 27 September 2022 World Languages Day 2022 We loved wearing our red and yellow clothes to school for World European Languages Day on Tuesday. In the afternoon, the whole school celebrated the Spanish language and culture, we even enjoyed a bit of flamenco dancing, which you can check out using the QR code below!
• Tuesday 27 September 2022 Creating Our Solar System What a wonderful world!
• Friday 23 September 2022 Swallow Class Week 3 After a busy week at Bewl Water, we have enjoyed continuing to explore our first place value unit and even took our learning outside to create our own number system, just like Roman Numerals! We created our birth dates out out green leaves (1), stones (5), sticks (10) and brown leaves (50).
• Wednesday 21 September 2022 Number work Thank goodness for the amazing Barn Owls and their incredible counting skills. Mrs Newman got herself in a real pickle ordering some numbers and the fabulous children were on hand to put her right. They even demonstrated some incredible one-to-one touch correspondence skills when matching the numerals with counting bears. Nice one Barn Owls.
• Wednesday 21 September 2022 Fine motor skills We’re always keeping busy in Barn Owls class, and as soon as the children step through the door in the morning there are a range of fine motor skills activities available for them to choose from- strengthening those tiny hand and finger muscles all in preparation for them to write their socks off!
• Wednesday 21 September 2022 PSED A lovely session with the children exploring ‘what makes me special’. The children shared a special item with other children from the class- explaining why the item was special to them. This brought about a huge opportunity for discussion and for the children to find out a little more about each other.
• Wednesday 21 September 2022 PE- balances After a number of listening and attention activities, Barn Owls worked hard producing a range of beautiful balances. A number of the children were keen to show off their best moves, and we even discussed how pointing toes and fingers and stretching limbs would make our balances more appealing.
• Wednesday 21 September 2022 Sugar Cube Experiment 21.9.22 Firecrests and Cuckoos worked in groups to investigate the properties of sugar cubes. They tested how many could dissolve in hot water and how many could dissolve in cold water. They compared their results to see if there was a difference.
• Wednesday 21 September 2022 Sugar Cube Experiment 21.9.22 Firecrests and Cuckoos worked in groups to investigate the properties of sugar cubes. They tested how many could dissolve in hot water and how many could dissolve in cold water. They compared their results to see if there was a difference.
• Tuesday 20 September 2022 Firecrests Debate 20.9.22 Firecrests are learning about persuasion this week. Today they had a debate on the topic 'School dinner or Packed Lunch: Which is Healthier' They prepared their thoughts in groups and presented their arguments to the rest of the class. Very persuasive thinking already!
• Sunday 18 September 2022 Year 5 Residential Swallow class had a fantastic time during our three day residential break to Bewl Water activity centre. The children loved having the opportunity to partake in axe throwing competitions, archery, rock wall climbing, giant SUP and canoeing. What a great start to the year!
• Wednesday 14 September 2022 Rei Judo Taster Day On Thursday 8th September the children in years 1-6 were all lucky enough to take part in the Rei Judo Taster day. They had a fantastic time learning about the discipline and even managed to throw the coach down. If your child is interested in starting the Rei Judo Club please find the details and the link on the clubs list.
• Monday 12 September 2022 Rawlingson Run Trials Last week we held trials for the Rawlingson Run Vross Country. Lots of children attended to try out. A huge congratulations to the selected squad who will be representing Benenden at the Rawlingson Run at Dulwich Prep on Friday 30th September.
• Monday 5 September 2022 Our First Day! We had an awesome first day at school!! We focused lots on our construction play as well as exploring the outdoors!
• Tuesday 19 July 2022 Hillview Festival & Dancing through the Decades Wow, what a busy time we have had. The federation took four groups to the Hillview Festival of the Arts and two groups to the Dancing through the Decades Performance.
• Saturday 2 July 2022 COLOUDASH What a fantastic day we had at the COLOURDASH event run by TWKSSP at Dunorlan Park in T wells on Friday 1st July.
• Sunday 29 May 2022 Intra House Assault Competition On Wednesday 25th May all the children at Benenden took part in an Intra House Assault course. The course was designed and led by our Year 6 Young Sports leaders. They also ran the sessions by timing and supporting the children as well as re setting the course and taking photographs. Well done to the Young Leaders and to all the children for showing great spirit and determination.
• Saturday 14 May 2022 Ancient Greece comes to Year 6
• Friday 8 April 2022 Intrahouse Skip On Wednesday 30th March the children in KS2 took part in an Intrahouse skip. The children all took some time to work on their technique and stamina before counting how many skips they could do in one minute. Congratulations to Green house for winning the event with the highest average skip.
• Thursday 10 March 2022 #LETGIRLSPLAY On Wednesday 9th March the girls of the 10:10 Federation took part in the #LETGIRLSPLAY Biggest Ever Football Event.
• Friday 4 March 2022 Cuckoo's Book Recommendations! We have been celebrating World Book Day and we made our favourite books talk!! They tell you all about them and what to expect if you read them!
• Thursday 24 February 2022 Kent Sportshall Success for Oscar What a superstar.
• Tuesday 8 February 2022 TWKSSP Sportshall - year 3/4 On Wednesday 2nd February a large squad of year 3s and 4s travelled to The Angel Centre in Tonbridge to take part in the TWKSSP Sportshall Athletics festival. They all competed in a number of track and field events, including hurdles, relays, jumps, and throws. There were 16 schools entered over the course of the day and Benenden performed very well, ending in 8th position.
• Tuesday 8 February 2022 Dulwich Hockey Festival On Thursday 3rd February a team of year 3 and 4 children travelled to Dulwich Prep school for a Hockey Festival. The team played 6 games, they won 2, drew 2 and lost 2. Medals were awarded to outstanding player - Harry , Most improved - Tabitha and Sportsperson - Penny
• Wednesday 19 January 2022 Dulwich Football Festival The thumbnail has been assigned to the news item, and for convenience also added to the body here:On 9th November a team of children took part in the Dulwich Football festival. The children all played well and thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon.
• Wednesday 19 January 2022 Intra House New Age Kurling On Wednesday 15th December the children from throughout the school took part in an Intra house New Age Kurling competition. The children all had great fun and the year 6 Young Leaders did an excellent job of leading and managing the competition.
• Wednesday 19 January 2022 Kent Athletics Success We are so very proud of Oscar who has been selected to represent Kent at the Southern Counties Sportshall Athletics competition. Well done Oscar !
• Tuesday 18 January 2022 One Run Global Relay On Friday 15th November the whole school took part in the One Run Global Relay along with children from schools all over the country. Well done to everyone for running and dancing for an active 15 minutes.
• Tuesday 18 January 2022 Rawlingson Run On 17th September a team of children from Benenden competed in the Rawlingson Run at Dulwich Prep school. The children all ran well and enjoyed competing against lots of other pupils from lots of different schools. Thank you to parents for all your help and support.
• Tuesday 18 January 2022 Active 30 Festival On 6th November a group of children from Benenden took part in the Active 30 Festival at The Angel Centre in Tonbridge. The children had a fantastic afternoon taking part in taster sessions of a number of sports including boxing and Balloon volleyball. Well done to Jackson, Lilly O, Jacob, Molly, Hollie, Jake, Summer and Finn.
• Monday 17 January 2022 Kent Sportshall Athletics Trial https://benendenchurchofenglandprimaryschool.greenhousecms.co.uk/admin/pages/page-add.asp?PageTypeID=1001#/
• Monday 17 January 2022 Epiphany -A Bundle of Joy In case you missed it, the KS1 Nativity is now on video. Didn't they do well!
• Friday 14 January 2022 The Gingerbread Man We have been looking at the story of The Gingerbread Man. There was a special basket with lots of clues and even some dough to make our own Gingerbread Men. (They were very yummy!)
• Monday 13 December 2021 Amazing Mural A few months ago, we asked children, staff, parents and Governors one question: What is special about Benenden Primary School?
• Monday 15 November 2021 Remembrance Sunday This week the children have been remembering all the people who fought in the First and Second World Wars and in more recent wars and conflicts. As a mark of respect our Year 6's attended the memorial service in the village on Thursday 11th November at 11 am and Mrs Dignan was very pleased with their impeccable behaviour and thoughtful questioning. The rest of the school gathered outside on the playground and we were delighted that Miss Maynard played the 'Last Post' before we began our 2 minute silence. Well done everyone.
• Wednesday 10 November 2021 Welcome to our brand new website! We hope you like the new look and find it easier to navigate and engage with. Whilst the news blogs and galleries are currently looking a little empty, rest assured we will be filling them up very soon!

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