School Bell A.C.E

ACE helps its town out

I think one of the key things about education is to highlight that we can all make a positive difference to the world in which we live. I think it is a natural human desire to help and to serve others. This is good because helping others is an important component of success. But, in addition to that, serving others is also a component of happiness and in a world where self- interest, self-gratitude and instant gratification is at the heart of society, it is one that more than ever needs to be reinforced.

Here are some recent examples of this in action:

Arundel Town Council Clean Up Day

Thank you to everyone who helped with the clean and tidy up Arundel on our Community Clean Up Day. Mr and Mrs Hine ran the event for the school and we had an excellent turnout of children. It was lovely to see our boys and girls interacting with others and making a difference to their local environment.

We even had our very own school clean up days, where we cleaned up the local wooded area near the school and some children even tidied up footpaths near their homes at the weekend too!

Arundel Mayor’s Service

Over 90 ACE children were involved to celebrate ‘community’ at the 2021 Mayor’s Service of Thanksgiving on Sunday 3 October which took place in a full Arundel Cathedral. We had over 60 children in our school choir there and many of our children represented the wonderful brownies, rainbows and scouts.

Arundel Ford Road Pathway

Pupils from ACE visited Arundel Town Hall on 1 October to present a petition to our MP, Andrew Griffith, and District and County Councillors in support of a safe Arundel to Ford pathway.

We presented them with colourful banners illustrating the need for a safe pathway for both cyclists and pedestrians too.

We believe education should be about raising children who are outward focused, who trust that they’ll experience what God is up to in our world—and that they’ll feel empowered to jump in and join in the quest to love, have faith and always hope that our actions can make a difference in the world in which we live.

Fire Service come to ACE

Officers used their training, experience and expertise to deliver fire safety messages in a sensitive and reassuring way last half term at ACE, so our children can understand the importance of home fire safety without becoming worried about a fire happening in their home. We were lucky to have three different workshop sessions, starting in Year R with our new children in Rainbow Class.

In Year 2, the children learnt that fire is dangerous, and can hurt people. The children learnt about common fire hazards, and to never play with matches and lighters. They also talked about smoke alarms and how they keep homes safe from fire, what to do in an emergency if there is a fire, and how to call 999

In Year 5, the session went into more detail. lt explained that fire kills, destroys homes and spreads quickly. It helped the children to understand that smoke can be as dangerous as fire, how smoke alarms work, and how to make sure they are working properly. The talk was also about how to make fire escape plans from homes (including tower blocks), what to do if there is a fire, and how to call 999. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who serve in public services such as the Fire Service.

ACE Sporting Success Athletics

It was an amazing success for our boys and girls at the locality Cross Country finals. This included 9 schools, some of which are 4 times the size of ACE, so we knew the competition was potentially tough.

The boys and girls were exemplary in terms of their behaviour and attitude, as were the amazingly dedicated ACE staff who braved the wind and rain to support our boys and girls. In fact, Miss Marchant and Mrs Ames even ran round with the children to encourage them to do their very best, in the ACE Way! Mr. Cox provided the children with motivation and coaching, while Mrs Grover was just the lovely Mrs Grover. I would also like to thank Mrs Lucy Tipton who gave up her own time to train the children to such an amazing level. Sometimes we can forget how lucky we are to have such dedicated staff who always put the needs of the children first.

ACE won 3 out of the 4 categories, winning events for the year 3/4 boys, 3/4 girls and year 5/6 boys. We came second in the year 5/6 girls’ event. With over 200 runners at the event- we won 7 out of the 12 individual races and came top in 3 out of the 4 categories- and second in the other one, which is why I wanted to share this magnificent performance.

ACE Boys’ and Girls’ Football Teams win the Locality events

I was so proud that our boys’ and girls’ Y5/6 football teams won the Locality Tournaments against 12 other teams. Both the boys and girls were fantastic and in fact performed so well conceding just two goals between them in over 12 games! But I was even more proud by the fact that we entered four teams (which is very impressive when you consider we are only a small single form school) and even prouder of the fact that our school children also volunteered to help another school out who were unable to field a full team. ACE is about reaching out to our neighbours in love and this is a perfect example when the whole of one of our teams offered to support another school by going to play for them. In this case, every single child in the team played for this other school at least once, as one child felt it was important that we were fair and every child took their turn to go off and play for them. This made me immensely proud and showed a true Christian hand of friendship to our other schools.

All the children played tremendously well, illustrating fabulous sportsmanship, and a special well done for their level of performance. I am sure you will join me in wishing them good luck as they go on to represent our Locality in the southern area finals.

MIC (Magistrates in the Community) come to ACE 

This was the message we got from the senior magistrate who led the training held recently at ACE:

“I just wanted to compliment your Year 6 children for their attention and good manners this morning. They were quick to offer to help and polite to my colleague magistrate and I.

I was particularly impressed by their correct answers to the questions relating to their knowledge of what is right and wrong. It was most refreshing to hear that they would automatically hand a £20 note (that they happened to find in a locker) into the reception desk. They even were quick to suggest that a £1 coin found in the street should go to a charity box.”