Whilst taking a prospective parent round the Junior School on a tour on Monday I was complimented on and was immensely proud of the politeness and excellent manners  that boys and girls demonstrated as we came in to class rooms and walked through the school. Our guest was greeted with several good mornings and doors were opened appropriately when necessary.  Well done boys and girls.

I was also somewhat amused, whilst on the same tour, to have the door to the hall opened, not by a polite Ashvillian, but by a man dressed as an Egyptian slave telling us that a mummification ceremony was about to take place! Year 4 had been transported back in time to Egypt where they were being given a hands on experience of how Egyptian people were prepared  for the after-life.  We were all suitably impressed and I know from the excited feedback I have heard,  that the children thoroughly enjoyed it too.

It was lovely to show our guest the wide variety and level of learning experiences the children are exposed to here at Ashville Junior School.

As I sign off the last newsletter of half term; I would like to say how much I have enjoyed my Ashville experience so far.  I very much like what I see and am very fortunate to lead such a unique school.

Best wishes

SIMON BAILEY

Don't forget to order your FoA Bonfire tickets for Friday 7 November.  Please click on the link for the order form.

The Ashville Grounds Team are in desperate need of additional material to build this year's Bonfire for our event on the 7th November.  If you have any pallets, wooden furniture or other suitable items to donate please email Tim Jarvis - t.jarvis@ashville.co.uk  Many thanks.

A wet, chilly day did not put off the Year 3 legionaries, on our trip to the Roman fort, near York! They dressed up in tunics and helmets and carried shields and spears, as they patrolled and guarded the fort, challenging anyone who approached, to shout out the password – Hail Caesar! The children practised formation marching and organised themselves into the ‘testudo’ formation, with shields above their heads and spears at the ready. They also enjoyed improving their javelin- throwing skills at the ‘target Celts’. All the children made a clay oil lamp to bring back and used the Roman alphabet to write a few words in Latin. Before we left, all the legionaries were given a Roman coin as payment for their hard day’s work in the ranks of the Roman Army!  Please click here for more photos.

On Monday morning the children in Year 4 took part in a Mummification Workshop, when an embalmer came to show them how bodies were mummified in Ancient Egypt. The children learnt about how the Egyptians would remove and preserve organs and how to wrap a body in linen bandages. They helped prepare the Mummy for burial and had a burial procession. Afterwards the story of Osiris and Isis was told using masks. Everybody enjoyed themselves learning lots of gory details about life in Ancient Egypt.  Please click here for more photos.

The new Junior School Council have held their first meeting and Eden, Oran, Victor, Lucas, James, Johnny, Ben, Annabel, Phoebe and Bethan all enjoyed sharing their ideas.  The two new Cheer-Up Chums, Libby and Will, also joined in for hot chocolate and biscuits.  Already some important decisions have been made and ensuring that pupils bring in healthy snacks is top of our priority list.  Fruit, dried fruit, yoghurt drink, cereal bars and carrot sticks should be part of our breaktime snack.  We all agreed that crisps and chocolate are not allowed.  Suggestions from different classes included a water fountain in the playground, improvements to the Quiet Area and a Girls' Rugby Club.  We will see in the future if these suggestions prove to be popular with all the classes and are then carried forward by the Council.  Bake-a-Break rota has been organised and we will continue to support Children in Need in November.  The next meeting is on Tuesday 21 October.

There are still some places available for the Christmas Glitter Course.  This will be an opportunity for the children to spend three days at the start of the Christmas holidays making a variety of Christmas things usually involving plenty of glitter! The course is run by Mrs Gladstone and will give the children the opportunity to make Christmas gifts, cards and decorations in time for Christmas.  Please click on the link for details of the course.

The Eco Team spent time this week creating a compost area in the Wildlife area of the playground. They collected loads of leaves and will be adding their fruit from now on!

Last weekend was Harris Weekend and the children enjoyed a relaxing weekend. On Sunday they ended our ‘charity weekend’ raising money for Open Arms by staging a Movie Marathon, watching movies all day. This weekend we are travelling to Blackpook for our annual City Day! Happy Half term.

Correction to last week's newsletter... it was Lucas Waligora (not his brother Finlay!) who was crowned the U9 Yorkshire Biathlon Champion.  Well done Lucas!

Finlay Waligora recently took part in the Darlington Swimming Gala and received 1st place in the following U10 100m races: Front Crawl, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly and achieved all personal bests.

Ghyll Royd Cross Country

Well done to Beth Walmsley, Jack Walmsley and Sebastian Elliott-Matthews for taking part in the Cross Country at Ghyll Royd last Saturday.  Bethan came 4th, Jack came 16th and Sebastian came 23rd and 25th in two separate races.  Well done to all of you.

On Thursday the U9 Rugby squad travelled North to the annual Yarm Rugby Festival.

Based on a league system with two pools of four teams, Ashville started their opening match with a thrilling 10-10 draw against Cundall Manor with tries coming from Charles Hayfield and Lucas Waligora. This was a super team effort coming from behind to equalise in the last couple of minutes.

Please click here for the rest of the report and other sporting news.