Thank you to everyone who donated food for the Southend Foodbank last week. Your generosity and kindness are greatly appreciated, and your donations will make a real difference to individuals and families in our local community who need support.

Last Friday was a fantastic celebration of all things maths as the children spent the day exploring exciting mathematical concepts in greater depth. From tangrams to Pi, every year group immersed themselves in a different area of maths, discovering just how creative, practical and engaging the subject can be.

A historic achievement was secured at the BATTS Centre in Harlow as Hamstel were crowned Essex Table Tennis Champions, becoming the first Hamstel team ever to win a county title. The tournament represented a significant step up in standard from the previous round, with the team facing seven challenging fixtures against some of the strongest schools in Essex. Hamstel rose to the occasion superbly, displaying skill, determination and composure throughout an outstanding day of

5L clearly have a love of reading and proudly shared their learning from this term, particularly their enjoyment of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. While the class were keen not to offend any parents in the audience, they were also excited by the idea of discovering that one of their parents might secretly be a Greek god! As part of their learning, the children created Top Trump cards featuring the Greek gods to help determine who would make the best parent. They also

Tuesday morning saw the whole of Year 6 setting off for an exciting day at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. The day was spent touring the various hangars and the Operations Room. The children got to see a large number of planes as well as a range of World War II artefacts, all of which helped to bring their work at school to life. The children were particularly excited about having the opportunity to go inside different planes, including the iconic Concorde! From exploring

6B shared what they have learnt about the Second World War in their class assembly last week. Dressed for the part, the children showcased some of their key learning, including a group poem about the Blitz, their Henry Moore-inspired sketches, and information about Dig for Victory and Make Do and Mend. The children also shared their thoughtful and contrasting evacuee diaries, followed by an evacuee song. The assembly ended by remembering the courage and sacrifice of those who

Year 3 really enjoyed immersing themselves in the Stone Age period during their recent Stone Age Day, demonstrating and applying their knowledge to help them survive during this time. The children spent the morning learning about Skara Brae and recreating the village through dioramas and using clay to build Stone Age 'furniture'. The afternoon was spent on a wide range of activities, including fire making, hunting Stone Age animals with 'spears', dyeing cloth and using their

Last week, 6D proudly shared their learning from the first few weeks of term in their class assembly. Their topic, Conflict and Co-operation, provided the class with lots of opportunities to make links across the curriculum. In history, the children have been learning about World War II, while their PSHE lessons have explored important themes such as prejudice and discrimination. They also demonstrated how they have been working together in PE through basketball, as well as s

5H got our class assemblies off to a fantastic start this year as they shared their learning and their love of reading. Their excitement for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was clear as they introduced key characters and shared the beginning of Percy’s exciting adventure. The book links brilliantly with their history work on Ancient Greece and their learning about Greek myths. The children also showed that their reading goes beyond Ancient Greece, with some sharing revi

The children in Year 6 were transported back in time yesterday to 1941 and the middle of World War II! They participated in a number of different activities over the day, including finding out how to Make do and Mend by learning sewing techniques to patch worn-out clothes. They created their own propaganda posters to encourage families to Dig for Victory and learned how to send a message in Morse code before using VR headsets to explore a 1941 underground shelter. The childre

4M took everyone on a journey through time during their class assembly last week when they discovered a time capsule hidden in the school archives with their class name on it! Starting with the English archive, the children shared some of the wonderful books they have enjoyed reading this year and explained how these have inspired their lovely writing. The history archive showcased their learning about the Romans and Vikings, while the science archive highlighted their work o

The school was invited to see what 4D has been learning over the last two weeks during their class assembly – and what a busy nine days it has been! From fantastic poems about endangered animals to their work on rivers in preparation for their trip to Old Leigh, the children have clearly been working incredibly hard. They impressed everyone with their French conversational skills, as well as their achievements in science and PE. The children have also just completed their MT

Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo proved to be fantastic inspiration for 4W’s class assembly on the final day of last half term. Accompanied by expressive actions, the children confidently recited parts of the story, showcasing rich language and truly impressive memorisation skills. The children went on to share more of their fantastic learning, presenting examples of the writing techniques they have developed throughout Year 4. It was clear to see how much progress they have made

3HW shared their excitement on Friday as they prepared for the opening of Hamstel Lands, their very own farm, inspired by their recent visit to Barleylands! 3HW’s farm provided a great opportunity for the children to grow their own food and keep their own animals – all of which the children knew forms part of a balanced diet. The two tunes the children played on the glockenspiel to encourage their plants to grow seemed to work a little too well, resulting in what looked like

5S impressed their parents and the whole school as they shared the highlights of their year so far. The children demonstrated a genuine passion for learning as they proudly presented some of their best work. Their reading of excerpts from their class texts was clear and expressive, reflecting both their growing confidence and their enjoyment of reading. This enthusiasm extended beyond English; through their writing and work on timetables, the children also showcased their lov

3H delighted their audience with a lively assembly, opening with a humorous song describing just how “naughty” the class supposedly is—much to everyone’s relief, this was quickly revealed not to be an accurate description at all! The children explained that they had ‘vaguely’ heard of the Hamstel Rights and went on to confidently demonstrate their excellent understanding of the Hamstel Habits, sharing what they have been learning this term. The class then treated everyone in

5D invited everyone to enjoy the latest episode of Hamstel Newsround, focusing on Your Planet. The episode started with the class linking their work on the class text The Last Bear to explore differences in temperature and climate between Southend and Svalbard in Norway. Fortunately, 5D has its very own French designer, who used the children’s science learning to help them create a new clothing line, applying their knowledge that fleece and neoprene are the best insulators. T

Year 3 had a great time at Barleylands Farm Park yesterday. The children enjoyed a tractor ride and feeding some of the animals. The children also learnt about how wheat and rapeseed are grown and then used these as ingredients when making their own pizzas. Everyone had a lovely time. Thank you to all the parents who came along to help on the day; your help was much appreciated.

Well done to everyone in year 4 who performed so brilliantly this week in their production of Porridge! The children really enjoyed showcasing their great acting, dancing and singing skills during the performances to parents and carers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thank you to all the everyone who came along to watch.

On Tuesday, our year 3 children immersed themselves in all things Ancient Egyptian. Stepping into the role of archaeologists, they used their knowledge of four-figure grid references to try to discover the location of Cleopatra’s tomb. They also enjoyed learning about the purpose of the pyramids and even tried their hand at mummifying a tomato! The day concluded with the children designing their own pneumatic-powered sarcophagus. It was a fantastic experience that everyone th