Warden Hill Primary School Cheltenham
This term, Spirax Group, a large engineering company based in Cheltenham, invited our children to participate in a competition to recycle and reuse packaging materials. Children were asked to creatively design new products to enhance everyday life. We are pleased to announce that the winners are Olivia C, Rufus, Teddy and Linkang! Each of them received a book to inspire their engineering journey. Well done to all those who entered.
Following a wonderful performance in Cheltenham Town Hall, our Year 3 and 4 cornet players were thrilled to be invited to participate in the Music for Youth National Festival 2025 as part of the Gloucestershire WCET brass group. On Friday, we joined other musicians at the magnificent Birmingham Symphony Hall to perform on the iconic stage. Not to blow our own trumpet – should that be cornet? – but our children absolutely blew us away! They performed with tremendous confidence and they represented our school fantastically. We were immensely proud of them.
This week, our Eco Warriors were once again privileged to work with Tricia and Ken from Butterfly Conservation, who guided them in identifying common butterflies found in our local environment. The session aimed to prepare our children for participation in the upcoming Big Butterfly Count, a UK-wide survey designed to assess the health of our ecosystems.
Following the results from the 2024 Big Butterfly Count, Butterfly Conservation has declared a butterfly emergency, highlighting the urgent need for community involvement. We wholeheartedly encourage all members of our school community to partake in this important initiative. By simply counting butterflies in your garden or local area, you can contribute significantly to environmental conservation efforts.
Further information on how to get involved with Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count can be found on their official website. Your participation is vital in helping to protect these essential species and ensuring a healthier environment for future generations.
Parents
Further to the conversations Mr Antonious and I have been having, I attach some WakeupWednesday information sheets, that I thought might be pertinent as we move into the holidays. With more time on their hands, many of our children will want to spend more time gaming and online.
There are so many positives to the internet and social media, such as the ability to keep in touch with people on the other side of the world in real time. There is enormous potential for creativity and self-expression, and an unlimited wealth of fascinating content that can spark our imaginations and lead us to new hobbies, activities and learning, both as individuals and as families.
However, there are also dangers that we must be aware of for ourselves, but also perhaps more importantly, for our children. The long-term impact of doom scrolling for example on our children’s attention spans and focus in their formative years, and the impact of social media on their mental health and well-being as they are bombarded with curated and unrealistic expectations about themselves and their lives.
Messaging apps pull children back to their phones at all hours, potentially impacting amongst other things their sleep and self-confidence, exposing them to social pressures, privacy risk, isolation and anxiety. There are also risks brought to their doors by powerful algorithms that control so much of what they see online, often promoting disinformation and critically taking away from our children the ability to learn how to take responsibility for themselves.
Learning to keep themselves safe online is so important but children are naturally curious and cannot be expected to naturally police themselves. When they are gaming they are exposed to the language and attitudes of much older children and adults through voice or text chat. The online environment offers players an anonymity that is open to abuse exposing children to potential harassment, bullying and worse, alongside the obvious risks of addiction and microtransactions that can lead to substantial debt.
Amongst all the good there is so much we need to be aware of, and I hope the attached sheets will help your families enjoy a very happy, balanced summer of fun.
Belinda Chavasse
Wellbeing Lead
In this final conversation of the year Mr Antonious and Mrs Chavasse talk about the summer holidays, and how to ensure that you don’t feel like a full-time children’s entertainer. Holidays are not supposed to be a great rollercoaster of pre-planned activities. They also need to involve downtime, “I’m bored” time, spontaneous time, family time, 1-1 time, time in nature, time to try something new.
After a slightly longer break between videos than planned, Mr Antonious and I are back this week, talking about the benefits of the great outdoors and how important it is to actively plan to spend time in nature. Whatever your interests as an individual or a family, nature offers a beautiful space in which to connect, there are endless subtle learning opportunities, an abundance of ways to be active, chances to engage all your senses in noticing what is around you, and as parents, members of our communities and children there are so many incredibly rewarding ways in which we can give back.
In this week’s conversation Mr Antonious and Mrs Chavasse discuss supporting children to use technology as safely as possible, with really insightful input from some of our year 6 children.
This week’s conversation is all about fair play and friendly competition. We are talking about how best to encourage our children, in all kinds of competitive situations, to present their very best selves – it’s all about the journey.
In this week’s conversation Mr Antonious and Mrs Chavasse discuss supporting children to develop emotional resilience, taking a guide from the 7 Cs of Resilience.
They look at the importance of real relational connection, positive modelling for character development, coping strategies and the importance of seeing competence as being part of a journey.
In this week’s short video Mr Antonious and Mrs Chavasse discuss why we should all be, and how to go about, setting rules for devices and technology for everybody in the home. There are so many positives to technology, but there are also downsides, one of which is undoubtedly a loss of actively engaged family time. A whole family approach to when, where and for how long devices are available will help to reset that balance.
In a short video, Mrs Chavasse and Mr Antonious discuss managing conflict amongst family and friends. The conversation is based on the Well-Being poster and its top ten tips. As well as incorporating suggestions from the below poster, the conversation references how we manage conflict at Warden Hill. This includes creating a safe space, soothing the children, making sure they feel seen, heard and secure enough to engage positively with unpicking and adapting behaviour. After half-term, we will have a conversation about setting family rules for devices and another about supporting emotional resilience. If you have any suggestion for further conversations please let Mrs Chavasse or Mr Antonious know.
In a short 5-minute video, Mrs Chavasse and Mr Antonious discuss the 5 Ways to Well-Being, talking through how they incorporate them into family life.
This video is the first in a series of regular conversations between the Senior Mental Health Lead and the Well-being Lead about how best to support your family around everyday issues such as sleep, technology and managing conflict.
Alongside discussing strategies that they use at home, they will signpost useful resources and extra information such as family-friendly posters.
All year round, children have been working exceptionally hard at school and demonstrating brilliant behaviour and attitudes to their learning. They can earn house points in their classes for this, which are then totalled up and announced in our weekly whole school assemblies. Our children are always keen to be the winning house each term and earn the prized non-uniform day that serves as a reward for their efforts. Well done to Coln, who were announced as this term’s winners. This being the final term of the year, we have also announced the final house point totals for the academic year. Incredibly, over 45,000 house points were given out this year to children and little more than 100 house points separated first and second. This year, our house champions are… Windrush!
Congratulations!
This term Eco have been learning about water conservation and why it is so important to conserve this precious resource. Eco looked at the Severn Trent website, as well as BBC Bitesize during their research to find out information and also learn helpful tips and ideas about what we can do. They then shared an assembly with the children to inform them about why water is so important and what we can each do to not waste it.
Please see the notes for some of the ideas our Eco Warriors shared with the school:
DAY 4
Our final full day and we were bathed in sunshine for the duration. Most groups were fortunate enough to have our SUP sessions to cool off with, alongside disc golf and orienteering.
We’ve had a very impressive room inspection, featuring plenty of performance elements, in readiness for our final day, which includes giant swing for most of us, before heading home!
DAY 3
DAY 2
Not too many bleary eyes this morning after our first night at PGL (despite a late night for a few) and our we’ve now had our first day of activities. We’ve all had our fun swim session, with most groups also having had trapeze and rifle shooting today too. We’ve visited the gift shop, eaten dinner and the children are currently getting glammed up – or not, in some cases! – for the silent disco.
DAY 1
After a smooth drive down, we arrived on PGL site, ate our picnic lunch and our groupie Esther took us on a site tour. We had a flying visit to our rooms before heading out to our first activities – axe throwing and sensory trail for most groups. We’ve just finished our first dinner and are now heading out to our evening entertainment: balloon splash!
What a fantastic day Year 2 had on our trip to Nature in Art! We enjoyed three exciting activities that really brought out the artist in all of us.
First, we got stuck into printmaking with poly block, where each child chose their favourite minibeast to design and print in two vibrant colours – the results were amazing! Next up was making a clay sculpture. Using air-drying clay, we sculpted our own minibeast creations. The children learnt how to use different tools, add textures, and carefully join pieces together .
Our final activity was a museum exploration, where we took a close look at the amazing art and sculpture collection, and even had the chance to meet the brilliant artist Natalie Toplass, who inspired us with her beautiful work.
A huge thank you to all our brilliant parent helpers – we couldn’t have done it without you!
Warden Hill has enjoyed an incredible football season, showcasing a very talented team who played with skill, determination and passion. Three standout players—Jack, Jamie and Edward—were even selected to represent Cheltenham Schools, a fantastic achievement. The team played some excellent football throughout the year and, on their day, were a match for any school. They reached the semi-finals of the prestigious Albert Dix Tournament, narrowly missing out on a place in the final. However, their resilience paid off as they went on to win the second tournament of the year, defeating Lakeside in a dramatic penalty shootout—Jamie bravely stepping up to score the winning penalty. Well done to all our footballers and fans—what a season!
It’s been a fantastic cricket season at Warden Hill!
One of our open teams made it all the way to the County Finals Festival, where the girls played incredibly well and narrowly missed out in a thrilling final.
Throughout the season, our children truly embodied the spirit of cricket—competing with determination, showing respect to all, and giving their absolute best. I am so proud of every child who represented the school with such aplomb.
Our Year 4 team also showed great promise for the future. A special mention to our brilliant captains—Matilda, Jack and Sam—who led their teams with maturity and enthusiasm.
Well done, everyone!
