A huge well done to all the children in Year 1 for an unforgettable Christingle service at SML church. Every child sung, danced and grinned their way through the whole performance, bringing the joy of Christmas to everyone who attended. It was so wonderful to see so many families filling the church and we hope that you enjoyed it as much as we all did! 

 

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our parents and careers for their continued support. We look forward to seeing everybody for another successful term in the new year.

 

Wishing you you all a very Merry Christmas. 

 

The Year 1 Team

Earlier in the week, the Year 1 children were lucky enough to be visited by pupils from Year 6 who helped them to make some marvellous finger paint Christmas cards. It was an absolute pleasure to see our eldest pupils working so thoughtfully with some of our youngest and everybody had a wonderful afternoon. It was certainly a proud moment for the teachers - we hope to find more opportunities to do more like this throughout the school year. 

Year 3 Science Day

Year 3 have had a busy end to the term, as well as having a WWII Dress Up Day, we also had a Science Day. The Science Day looked at forces and magnets.

In the forces activities we learnt about pushes and pulls. We discussed what things we could push and what things we could pull. We came up with lots of things such as a swing, drawer, chair and each other! In the second forces activity we learnt about Newton Meters / force meters. These meters are used to measure how much force is needed to move an object. We choose an item to pull, (shoe) and selected different surfaces to pull the item on. We looked at the Newton Meter and recorded the amount of force needed to make the item move.

In the magnet activity, we got to use, (play), with magnets. We learnt about the ends of the magnet being called poles, the north pole and the south pole and the fact that opposite poles attract, they pull towards each other. Yet, the same poles don’t like each other and in fact push away from each other. The second activity with the magnets was going around the room and attending to find magnetic materials. We had to make predictions first and then we got to test our predictions with a magnet to prove ourselves right or wrong.

A fun day was had!

Evacuee Day

 

To end our topic we have had a WWII day in school. It was an action packed day. On arriving at school we had to write our evacuation labels. We prepared our gas mask, (made one), just in case they were needed. Fortunately, they weren’t! We also tried our hand at making our own Christmas cards and Christmas decorations, from newspaper. We then learnt about the role pigeons had in the war and their role carrying messages back from the battle areas to England. It was all very interesting and the day passed very quickly!

On Wednesday 13th December, our Y6 football team made the long journey to Portland for the second round of the Dorset Cup against Atlantic Academy. In very cold and windy conditions, the Lions made a strong start and took an early lead thanks to Dexter’s powerful finish. The boys continued to dominate the play and could have easily been further ahead at the break after being denied by a string of fine saves and the woodwork.
In the second half, we continued to press for the vital second goal but were caught on the break and found ourselves level at one all. Then a free kick was awarded to Atlantic Academy and a very powerful finish made it two one. The boys tried very hard to find an equaliser but couldn’t find a way past the goalkeeper.

Well done to all of those children who played.

Longfleet put in two hard-fought performances against Lytchett Matravers (away) and Ocean Academy (home) but unfortunately came away with defeats in both matches. Excellent movement from Lewis and William in both games ensured we had lots of chances, but we weren't quite clinical enough to put points on the board. Michelle's defensive capabilities were another highlight; many times she showed great defensive skill to intercept the ball and start an attack for Longfleet. Well done to all the players for their resilience and effort. 

The Longfleet Lionesses did themselves proud in the Dorset Schools Finals. After a 1-1 draw in the group stages against a very strong Radipole (a long range effort from Abhiya) and a hard fought 1-0 win against Blandford St Mary (a tap in from Keira) we were through to the quarter finals. A close match against Conifers from Weymouth was decided by a huge slice of luck. A huge clearance from Abhiya hit the referee square in the stomach and rebounded directly to their striker, who put the ball away. An unfortunate way to go out but the Lionesses should be very proud of their efforts this term, they have battled hard and scored some fantastic goals in their three tournaments. Huge improvements have been made in their touches, positional play and work rate.

Year 3 visited the tank museum and had a fabulous time. We had lots of time to look around the tanks. There were opportunities to look at the tanks from above, see inside a tank and go through the trenches, if we wanted. During our time there, we had two workshops. One was a war time home. In the home we got to see what a week's ration would look like. We also saw some toys that the children would have had. The second activity was the 'Home Front'. Here we got to put on uniforms, march and stand to attentioin. We also got to try a gas mask on (safe new version). The people running the session were very good and we cam away having learnt alot.

On Thursday, thirteen Year Five pupils represented the school at a Collective Worship at Salisbury Cathedral to celebrate 50 years of the Children's Society Christingle Services.  All the pupils involved made a Christingle and raised money for the Children's Society.

On Friday 7th December, our Y5 and 6 football team played Canford Heath Junior School. After beating Talbot 4 - 0 in our last game, the boys were full of confidence but found themselves one goal down after an excellent free-kick from Canford Heath. However, the boys showed great resilience and Noah scored a sensational goal - controlling the ball excellently and volleying home. 

The Lions continued to improve in the second half and made the pressure count as Lewis stabbed the ball in after Harrison's corner.

We are now looking forward to our Dorset Cup match next week and to our next round in the league in January. Well done to all of those who played and supported the team so well.