School Bell A.C.E

WE enter the summer with hope, that life post-Covid will allow us to return to a sense of normality. Love is important and arguably – during a pandemic – more important than ever and I would like to thank our community for the continued support that we receive as a school. I hope you enjoy reading about some of the fun activities we have been part of at ACE during the spring term.

ACE makes it to Westminster and across the country!

ACE is thrilled to have been recognised as a best practice representative for the recently published 2021 edition of The Parliamentary Review; an independent publication which looks at how key British organisations are responding to different political and economic challenges. The article can be viewed via the following link: https://www.theparliamentaryreview.co.uk/organisations/arundel-church-of-england-primary-school

Being a good neighbour at ACE

Our school Vision Statement is key to school life and is something we try to follow every day; it is our belief that a Vision Statement should be lived not laminated! We believe that it is our responsibility to care for the most vulnerable, to work to make a difference in life and to ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself’ (Lev. 19:18). I would like to share with you a few examples where our ACE children have, in line with our Vision Statement, reached out to our neighbours in love.

Reaching out to our neighbours in love

Some of our wonderful ACE pupils decided that they wanted to make a difference to their community by litter picking. One young lady bought some litter pickers and then did a beach litter pick on Good Friday. Luckily the sun was shining! Elsewhere some of our ACE pupils carried out litter picking around Barnham; all of these children wanted to make a difference and to help the local areas, which they certainly achieved. The ACE Neighbourhood Crew 32 are hoping to tackle some other areas soon.

Thinking about all the staff

Another of our ACE pupils wanted to make a difference to the staff and was so kind that he saved up all his pocket money to buy every member of staff an Easter egg, including our cleaning staff, who play a vital role in keeping the school open and ensuring it is Covid-19 safe. Another pupil asked his nan to make some special knitted rabbit heads to cover a Cadbury’s cream egg for each of the staff. We were all very touched to see such kindness from both children.

Thinking about our wider world

We are very fortunate that our children are always thinking of ways to make a difference to others and within the wider world. This was never more evident than recently when one of our children emailed her class teacher following their lesson on orangutans:

“Dear Mrs __, after the lesson today I really felt for the orangutans. I always save my birthday and Christmas money because I don’t know what to do with it but now I do!

My mum and I were looking at some websites and we saw an orangutan called Popi.

After hearing her story I decided to adopt her for a year using my own money. I have attached information about her to this email. Thank you for giving us this subject now I get to help one.

Thank you, ___ and Popi.”

Our job as teachers is not just to teach subjects but also to encourage children to flourish in their own unique way. It is always so rewarding when we see the children flourish and have hope by reaching out to their neighbours in love and growing into the people God is calling them to be.

Supportive parents

Our parents are very supportive of the school and two of our parents have shown particular kindness by taking part in 14 runs in 14 days to raise money for the school.

We are so grateful to everyone who has sponsored them so far and this is another example of the ACE Vision Statement reaching out to the whole community. One of the parents said, “Our fundraiser is going brilliantly. Please share our ACE ‘be a good neighbour’ aim by doing things for others. We have an amazing school which has supported our children and us during this pandemic.”

The ACE grandfather

It isn’t just parents who support our school but grandparents too! This grandfather is a particular legend. He not only gives up his own time to support our school, but he also wore a John Lennon outfit to support our Red Nose Day appeal back in March 2021. What a great way for a grandfather to give something back and live the ACE Vision Statement.

Specsavers ‘Virtual’ Sussex School Games: The Winter Games Success

Every week throughout February 2021, children (and adults) battled it out to win trophies, medals, and points for their schools and School Games Area Teams, and to be crowned Sussex Winter Champions. With over 350 schools taking part in it, we didn’t do too badly by coming 4th in the ‘Spirit of the Games’ Leader Board. Well done team ACE. A special well done to Miss Marchant, Miss Dicker, Miss Liddell and Mr Cox.

Speaking to the MP

Gary Markwell hosted an evening meeting with the Minister for School Standards, Nick Gibb MP, discussing school reforms and the measures that are being taken to make returning to school safe for our children. We were especially delighted that Jemima, a year 6 pupil at Arundel Church of England School, was invited to take part due to her interest in politics. She was able to ask a question directly to the Minister on behalf of local pupils – and she did a fantastic job.

Some special visitors to ACE

On Friday 19th March we not only celebrated Red Nose Day with a flurry of jokes and donations we also welcomed four special visitors from our wider community. The visitors were representatives from the Arundel Wildflower Project, Arundel Town Council and the local Member of Parliament, Andrew Griffin.

The aim for the Wildflower Project is to support the Arundel Bee PROJECT by enabling schoolchildren to each grow a one-metre squared patch of flowers in order to attract bees and help Arundel to be become ‘The UK’s First Bee Friendly Town’.

We are excited to work alongside this organisation to address the alarming decline in the number of pollinators in general – and bees in particular – over the last few years, and during lessons pupils have looked at the reasons for this decline, highlighting issues such as the use of insecticides.

The children enjoyed the opportunity to speak with our visitors and talked about issues such as whether the Government will continue to ban certain pesticides which have a negative impact on bees now that the UK has left the EU. Mr Griffin reassured the children that the Government takes green issues very seriously and will be supporting anything that protects the valuable assets of this country.

The school will be taking part in further work as part of the Bee Project, including the sowing of the seeds on the 27th and 28th March 2021.