Archives for 2025

Children from Nursery to Year 2 enjoyed a fantastic trip to Westonbirt Arboretum. They took part in a wide range of activities, discovering fascinating facts about the trees and wildlife that live there, as well as learning how to identify different trees by their leaves.

The younger children loved pretending to be squirrels, hiding and later finding their ‘nuts’ and creating beautiful pieces of artwork using leaves and natural objects. The older children explored the arboretum and woodland habitat, whilst learning about plant structure and what plants need to grow. Everyone enjoyed exploring the arboretum, using their senses to experience the sights, sounds, and textures of autumn.

Highlights of the day included spotting the Gruffalo and other woodland creatures hidden in the woodland, and of course, testing out the new balancing equipment and play area. A picnic lunch in the sunshine made the outing even more special.

Throughout the day, the children’s impeccable manners and enthusiasm were praised by the adult leading the activities, who commented on how delightful they were to work with.

Well done, Hopelands – what a wonderful day out!

Y3 have been learning about Rosh Hashanah this term, and they loved celebrating the Jewish New Year in the traditional way, sharing apples dipped in honey to represent ‘Have a Sweet New Year’. Much fun had by all!

Year 5 and 6 had a fantastic morning at Raffles Forest School. It was lovely to see the children embrace the great outdoors and engage so enthusiastically in a wide variety of activities. There was den building, ‘cooking’ in the mud kitchen, creating artwork using natural materials, constructing journey sticks and tools, scaling nets and barrel rolling, to name a few. We loved the ingenious handwashing contraption and tinkly towers! We can’t wait to visit again later this term.

Surrealist Collage – Wonderfully bizarre and super creative, Y6 enjoyed using collage to create a multi-layered character that celebrated Surrealism. By carefully combining delicately cut sections of images from magazines and old photocopied costumes (some treasures found when clearing out cupboards!), Y6 took imaginative leaps into the unknown. Wonderful!

Year 5 children have been looking at adverbs of possibility in English. They demonstrated great knowledge and understanding of the grammar point. After they had studied the grammar and completed activities to practise, they were given the challenging task of writing a poem using adverbs of possibility. Their creativity was astounding and the topics they wrote about included animals, Sherlock Holmes, rugby, food, grammar, and even Beethoven and his curse!

Our super talented Year 4’s were introduced to pop up card techniques, and in a flash they had made their first ones! Their visual theme is ‘Monsters’, and they happily developed characters and made mini monsters to reflect their ideas. A super start Y4.

Nursery and Reception had a wonderful time exploring Raffles Forest School and getting to know the forest school leaders. The children were immersed in so many exciting opportunities to discover, play, and explore.

From climbing scramble nets and balancing on the tightrope, to whizzing down slides, creating tasty treats in the mud kitchen, and swinging high on the rope swing!

The children also learnt how to stay safe in the forest school area and why this is so important. A real highlight was gathering around the campfire, where they listened to a story and watched popcorn being cooked over the open flames before enjoying a taste.

We can’t wait for our next Forest School session!

Once again, the time came for us to bid a heartfelt goodbye to our wonderful Year 6 children. Their final assembly was nothing short of spectacular and served as a perfect reflection of the creativity, humour, and spirit they’ve shown throughout their time at Hopelands.

The event began with a surprise awards ceremony, where the children took centre stage to present custom-made shields to unsuspecting staff members—each one thoughtfully based on individual personalities and interests. This light-hearted and touching moment set the tone for what was to come.

Next, the children delighted the audience with a series of sketches that humorously captured their memories and experiences of school life. They then performed one of their farewell songs, beautifully accompanied by our Year 5 choir, which moved many in the audience.

Following this, the official awards ceremony took place. Excitement and anticipation filled the room as the children discovered which cup or shield they would be receiving in recognition of their hard work and unique contributions.

To close the assembly, the children gave one final special performance before enjoying some well-earned snacks and running through the traditional flag parade, waving goodbye to everyone as cheers, laughter, and a few tears filled the air.

It was a truly memorable celebration, one that reminded us all just how incredible this group of young people is. We are so proud of everything they’ve achieved and cannot wait to see the great things they will go on to do in the future.

Good luck, Year 6—you’ll always be part of the Hopelands family.

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 had an exciting afternoon at Cheltenham College Sports Centre, taking part in a fun-filled multi-skills session led by the Move More team.

The day began with a lovely picnic under the trees, giving everyone a chance to relax and refuel before the activities began. Once back on their feet, the children joined in a high-energy Zumba dance warm-up, setting the tone for an active and enjoyable session ahead. Following the warm-up, pupils rotated through a carousel of skill-based stations, each designed to support their development of ‘FUNdamental’ movement skills. These included balance, kicking, catching, jumping, object control and more – all essential for building confidence and coordination in sport and physical activity.

What really stood out was the way our young athletes embraced the School Games values throughout the afternoon:

• Respect
• Honesty
• Determination
• Self-Belief
• Teamwork
• Passion

Their positive attitude and enthusiastic participation were recognised with wristbands celebrating their commitment to these values.