Thank you to everyone who, despite the non-stop rain of the day, attended our annual bonfire event on Saturday 3^rd November. The rain finally abated as the event opened – phew – and the crowds arrived!

This year we added an ‘activity and treat’ element to the celebrations to mark Halloween. Children came in fancy dress ranging from fairies to super heroes, robots to old ladies and witches to wizards. Thank you to almost everyone for sticking to the non-scary theme which helped the children stay relaxed when the sun went down. Activities included the very popular Tin Can Alley, Guess the Popcorn in the container, Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin, Decorate a Cookie, the Doodle Zone, Tattoo parlour and Face-Painting. Mr Masafu’s obstacle course was busy throughout the evening and involved children weaving, climbing, balancing and leaping around the play equipment. The intrepid group of mums who face-painted were focussed and dedicated in their mission to adorn the faces of the huge queue of children. A big, big, BIG thank you to all the volunteers and staff who helped on the evening, you made many, many children VERY happy!

The bonfire and disco were ignited at around 6.30pm as the darkness set in. Children and adults were seen to strike a pose on the dance floor to some aptly chosen songs and many tucked into a sausage in a bun and cone of JP’s infamous, delicious chips. At 7.30pm the crowd counted down to start the firework display. Each bang was followed by the usual ooooooing and aaahhhhhing from the crowds and the final explosion was received with a huge round of applause. The display was fantastic and left most people with huge smiles on their faces.

The U11 boys’ team travelled to Nairobi to play in the annual St Christopher’s football tournament on 3^rd November.The team had a tricky start but gained confidence with each game they played. Billy, Maynuel and Flynn were in midfield and demonstrated their skill at passing between themselves; Charlie made it particularly hard for defenders to mark him as he wove up and down the field to put himself in a ready position to take a shot; Theo, Hector and Luca made some good tackles and caused frustration for the opposing teams; and, in goal both Clive and Sam took their turns, playing very well and making good saves – well done boys! We were very proud of the whole team, and we look forward to next year when we return, stronger and wiser – watch out Nairobi, we’ll be back!

Results:

BNIS vs BGE 0-3
BNIS vs Oshwal 0-2
BNIS vs BGR 0-1
BNIS vs Rusinga 0-2
BNIS vs Nairobi Academy 1-0

During November, children in Braeburn Nanyuki are being asked to demonstrate their love of reading through our Extreme Reading Challenge. Throughout the month children will be providing photographic evidence of reading in ‘strange’ places (eg up a tree, in the supermarket, under their bed, on the car bonnet etc) - the more extreme the better!  We have reminded them about the need to ensure they are safe whilst taking part and for them to tell their parents where they are at all times. We are looking forward to spotting landmarks around Nanyuki in the photos as well as some weird and wonderful places they think of to read.

Here are some photos of the Year 3 children ‘extreme reading’ within school during their weekly outdoor reading session.

Our Year 5 children had the experience of becoming parents in the first half of this term. As part of their Amimal Life Cycle unit in Science, fifteen eggs moved into their classroom. They were housed in an incubator with a warming light and lots of comfort. After 21 days there was enormous excitement when the children arrived at school to find the first evidence of a hatcher!!!! Slowly, and clearly with lots of effort, the first little bedraggled chick emerged. There were tears in eyes and lots of ooooooing and ahhhhhhing! 

Over the next three days another six chicks emerged. Mrs Lettsome even had to help one of the chicks out of their egg as, after over several hours and clear discomfort, she felt that the little fluff ball would probably not make it out! The class became parents to a total of six chicks who, when old enough, will be moving into our pet pen down in Early Years.

The children did a whole range of learning activities linked to this experience including daily studying of the development happening inside the egg, seeing live pictures of what the chicks looked like throughout the development, weekly journal entries on the process, and on hatch day actually watching the chicks come out of their eggs! The children also enjoyed opening up the eggs at the end of the week that didn’t hatch as they could see partial development and make scientific guesses as to when they had stopped their development. It was also an experience enjoyed by much of the rest of the school who visited, amid a lot of shhhhhhh-ing from the Year 5 children!

Each half term the children in FS1 and FS2 help choose the activities for their Friday afternoon clubs. This term they wanted a pottery club and what a hit it was! Each child used their own creativity to produce something out of our lovely, squidgy clay. The activity was not only fun, messy and creative but it was also an excellent opportunity to strengthen those little hands leading to improved fine motor skills and ultimately writing. Well done children, we wonder what exciting activity you will choose next!