Here are the posts for March 2009

On Friday 20th March, St. James’ ‘A’ team played in a hockey tournament at Hawkenbury AstroTurf.

The first game was against Speldhurst, with the final score 0-0. The second game was against Pembury and the final score was 2-0 to them. The third match, against St. Paul’s was very tight and ended in a draw. The final game was against St. Mark’s and we had a goal disallowed and we let in a goal. We ended second in our group.
Thank you Mrs Moriarty and Mrs Gilman for taking us.

Team: Sam A, Max O, Oliver H, Tristan, Sasha, Olivia, Jodie and Nadine all from year 6.
 

On Monday 30th March, St. James’ senior choir went to the Assembly Hall in Tunbridge Wells for a Music Festival.

We had a practise on Monday morning with Pembury, Claremont, St. John’s and St. Paul’s Schools.

All of the schools sung very well, but I think our school was the best as we had instruments.

The first song was Ocean Commotion. We all made sea noises to feel as if we were actually in the sea.

We also did the noises in the song, The Rainforest Breaths. We split into three groups, the bees, monkeys and the parrots. When we were doing the real thing I think the Mums and Dads thought we had lost it!!!

The real thing went really well, nothing went and nothing went wrong.

Thank you Mr Smith for taking us and making it go well. Also thank you to Mrs Schone, Mrs Ingman and Mr Chandler for being there and helping us.

A Team

On Saturday 28th March, St. James’ ‘A’ team played in a tournament on the Astroturf at Hawkenbury. Our first game was against St. Matthews, we drew 0-0. In our second game, against Southborough we pushed hard for a goal, but unfortunately we didn’t score and the final score was 0-0. The third game was against Bidborough and they scored quickly and the final score was 1-0 to them. The next game was against St. John’s and we were hoping for revenge as they beat us by one goal in the league. We didn’t get a goal; the final score was 0-0. We then played against Claremont, we lost 3-0. Max got badly tackled but recovered to play in the last game against St. Augustine’s. We flipped a coin for the ends and thanks to Olli and Max we got the end we wanted. Ollie got injured by a player pushing him off the pitch, but played on. Unfortunately for us they scored in the last second of the game, to make the score 1-0 to St. Augustine’s.

Thank you Anton Brisley for some excellent coaching.

Team; Ollie, Max, Sam, Josh, Joe W, Joe B, Joe T, Miller, James and Dean.

B Team

On Saturday 28th March, St. James’ ‘B’ team played in a football tournament. Our first game was against Claremont, we lost 0-1. Our second game was against St. Paul’s, Sam kindly volunteered to go in goal as Will was feeling sick. We had a great break which led us to a goal which Fraser scored. Then we played St. John’s, the final score was 2-1 to them, with Matthew scoring an amazing goal. The next game was against Paddock Wood, we lost 2-0. Our fifth game was against Langton Green, we played well but lost 0-1. Our final game was against Pembury. Haytham scored the quickest goal in the whole tournament. It took 26 seconds. But unfortunately we lost 2-1.

Thank you to everyone who supported us, Nathan for managing us and Carl for arranging the tournament.

Team; Nathan, Max L, Oscar, Haytham, Jordan, Harry M, Matthew N, Sam A, Fraser and Will C.

On 27th March six boys and six girls went to Ashford to take part in the Kent Primary Schools County Finals with other schools from all over Kent.

We spent all day at a sports hall in Ashford, leaving at 8.15am and getting back to school at 3.15pm.

Our best results of the day were in the boys 2 + 2 lap relay and the 1 + 1 relay, run by Toby and Toby in which we came first and then second overall. We also came first in the girl’s long jump, triple jump and the boy’s javelin and third in the boys triple jump.

We tried our best and did very well. We came 5th out of 12 schools from the whole of Kent. Over 600 schools entered.

Thank you to Mrs Waller for organising us and thank you to Mrs Simkins for driving us and supporting us.

Team; Toby W, Toby R, Megan T and Alice all from year 6. Also Mungo, Joe T, Miller, Spencer, Sophie H, Sophie R, Isobel F and Alice R.

Report by Toby and Toby.

On the 24th March, St. James’ ‘B’ team went to play St. Matthews football team. We kicked off and had good chances. Harry was unlucky as he nearly broke the deadlock. Not long after Fraser slotted the ball into the net to make it 1-0. About two minutes later there was an own goal by the St. Matthews captain. Then Jordan scored a great goal and at half time the score was 3-0 to St. James’.

A few minutes after the game restarted we had a great chance and Harry scored our fourth. Straight after St. Matthews took the centre and we had an attack, the ball was like a pinball in St. Matthews box as it was bouncing off the posts, players and the keeper, eventually Jordan flicked it into the net to make the final score 5-0 to us.

Thank you to Carl for refereeing the match and to Mrs Simkins and Mrs Woolgar for driving us there.

Team; Sam A, Harry M, Nathan T, Fraser C, Jordan, Oscar and Max L.
 

On Wednesday 24th March St. James’ ‘A’ team went to TWHS to play Claremont and St. Matthews.

The first match was against Claremont. Both teams played extremely well, but despite the team’s best efforts we lost 4-6 to Claremont.

The second match was against St. Matthews. At half time we were winning 4-2 and a special thanks to Olivia, who scored most of the goals. Unluckily for us we didn’t get any more goals and St. Matthews got three more to make the end of match score very close at 4-5 to St. Matthews.

A big thank you to Mrs Simkins and Mrs Woolgar for taking us and to Mrs Schone who stayed with us and helped to umpire the matches. Mrs Waller who organised the matches.

Team; Maddy, Olivia, Suzan, Lauren, Alice, Sasha and Emily.

Report by Maddy.

click to see 14 full-size pictures

In the afternoon children all gathered in the hall for St. James’ Got Talent.

Sasha, Ellie, Megan and Phoebe, all from 6 Alpha organised the event, were the judges and presenters, (wearing red noses – of course!)

Auditions have been taking over the last ten days during break times to decide the finalists.

First to perform were Connie, Florrie & Jessica from yr 3, they performed a dance. They were followed by Lottie and Imogen also from yr 3 performing a line dance routine. Abby, Martin and Ellea performed a dance. Also from yr 3 were Emily and Olivia with a dance routine supporting Annabel singing "The Best Of Both Worlds". Next was Guy from yr 3 on the violin.

Charlotte, Madeline, Izzy and Lottie were the first to perform from yr 4, performing to Alisha Dixon’s The Boy Does Nothing. Eleanor and Connie were next to perform with some hilarious jokes. Following them was Amir from 4 Alpha with his amazing talent for skipping.

Katy & Olivia performed a dance routine, to rap music. Lastly from yr 4 was Celly who played the piano.

Moving on to yr 5.
First to perform were Autumn and Lucy, dancing to Genie in a Bottle. The Human Limbskip performed by Jessica, Bethany, Jazzy and Isobel from 5 Alpha, followed. Josh then played guitar.

Finally year 6 took the stage, first to perform were Mary on piano playing Pink Panther, with Phoebe and Talia acting. Next up The Black Roses; Francesca, Jodie, Emily, Olivia, Zoë, Natasha and Alice dressed in black, with ‘big hair’, performing to Rihanna’s, Disturbia . Matilda from 6 Alpha sang the chorus of A Moment Like This. This was followed by The Shopping Song, a hilarious song by Haytham and Toby.
Finally the last act to perform; Pickled Egg a band of boys from 6 Alpha. Tristan, Tom, Louis, Carl, Rhys and Kevin. Playing electric guitars, keyboards and drums. It is safe to say they made the most noise!!

Phoebe was left to calm the audience while the judges made their final decision, and thanked Louis for his computer wizardry.

Mr Chandler thanked the four girls who had taken the idea to him back in September and worked hard to make the afternoon such a success. They were presented with flowers and a photo of the judges from Britain’s Got Talent which was signed personally by Piers Morgan.

In fourth place were Pickled Egg, in third place were Lottie and Imogen, who received Comic Relief whoopee cushions. In second place were Eleanor and Connie and the winners were the Black Roses. Who were thrilled. They received certificates of St. James’ Got Talent which were also signed by Piers Morgan. The originality award went to Toby and Haytham for the Shopping Trolley Song – well deserved, they too got signed certificates. Thank you very much to Piers for adding a special end to an exciting day. The girls in the tradition of the show performed the winning act again.

At the last count to amount raised so far was just under £500. Money from sponsored events still has to be counted. Buckets were rattling around as parents collected their children from school.
 

click to see 8 full-size pictures

St. James’ Junior School welcomed delegates from the Tobago House of Assembly as part of an education programme Sounds Like Tobago, funded by the Tobago Government.

The delegation comprised representatives from the Department of Education, Youth and Sport, and the Department of Tourism from the Tobago House Assembly, including Heather Caruth, Administrator for Education, Youth & Sport; Elinore King, Schools Supervisor; Mr John Arnold, Event Co-ordinator , Avion Hercules and Oona McNeil, Development Officers. The delegation was accompanied by its very own steel pannist and videographer.

Harry, Sophie and Sophie were taught how to play the pan. They learnt how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb in a minute. Children were then shown a short film on life in Trinidad and Tobago. Before listening to music on the pan and learning how they are made. At the end of afternoon children were given a pack containing goodies and details of a competition, in which the winners win a week in Tobago.

We hope to further develop the link with the group in the next few months.

For more information please click the following links www.soundsliketobago.com

On Wednesday 11th March the ‘A’ team went to Tunbridge Wells High School to play two matches, against Bidborough and St. Marks. We didn’t get to play against Bidborough though as they didn’t turn up, so we won by default. Then we played against St. Marks. With speed from Alice and Suzan we managed to get the ball up to our half and Maddie and Suzan threw perfect shots. St. Marks scored one goal in the last few seconds. Despite St. Marks best efforts the final score was 10 – 1 to us.

Thank you to Mrs Waller for umpiring us and to Mrs Simkins and Mrs Woolgar to driving us there.

Team; Lauren, Alice, Emily all 6A and Sasha, Nadine, Maddie and Suzan from 6Alpha.

Report by Sasha.

Basketball ‘B’ Team - 4th March

The first game was against St. Marks it was tough and we got a draw 1-1. The next game was against St. John’s where the final score was 1-0 to us. Our next match was against St. Augustine’s ‘B’ team, we played really well and with one goal in it the final score was 2-1 to us. The fourth game was against St. Matthews with a six goal thriller and we won 4-2. The last game against Sherwood, we battled hard and the final score was 1-0. We won the ‘B’ group so got into the final which was against St. Augustine’s ‘A’ team, all of the team played really well, but in the last throw of the games they scored a basket. The final score was 1-0 to them.

Thank you to Mrs Waller for organising the event and to Mrs Simkins for some excellent driving to get us there on time.

Team: Max O’, Natasha, Olivia, Phoebe S and Oliver H Yr 6 and Euan A – Yr 5.

Basketball ‘A’ Team - 4th March

On 4th March pupils from years 5 & 6 went to Bennett Memorial School to play a series of basketball matches. Our first match was against Pembury, we all tried hard and had lots of shots, but the score was 0-0. Our second match was against St. John’s, they scored first, but we came back and scored 2 baskets, which made the end result 2-1 to them. The next match was against Sherwood, we drew 3-3. Our fourth match, was against St. Augustine’s they won 2-0. The final match was against Broadwater, they defended well and got a basket, but we got 3 more, which made the final score 3-1.

Thank you to Mrs Simkins and Mrs Woolgar for driving us there and thank you to Mrs Waller for organising it.

Team: Nadine, Jodie, Haytham, Rhys Yr 6 and Joe T Yr 5.

click to see 8 full-size pictures

3rd March 2009

On Tuesday 3rd March children were chosen to represent the school at a demonstration at the Camden Centre. It was in front of about 15 adults and a few of our parents and we showed all the basic moves, and even a few of the harder ones. We also were able to make and eat our own tortilla toasties afterwards.

Thank you, Mrs Walters, Mr Chandler and Mrs Benson for taking us, we are all very grateful.

Representatives, Yr 6; Alice, Lillie, Louis K, Haytham and Lauren
Yr 5; Amy and Aidan
Yr 4; Sanjana, Omar, Celly, Olivia and Jasmine
Yr 3 Ben and Isobelle.

As a result of the Tunbridge Wells Primary Schools Speedstacking tournament in December St. James’ Junior Speedstacking Team qualified for the Kent School Games. They were representing the Tunbridge Wells District, which was one of the thirteen representatives from Kent at the Games.

Each of the five competitors took part in the four events, which were 3-3-3 combination,
3-6-3 combination, The Cycle and the Team Relay.

Report by Max and Oscar.