At Therfield First School, there is always something exciting or magical happening throughout our days, weeks, terms and year.  Below are just some of our annual highlights.  

The Class of 2024-25.

Whole School End of Year Performance

Every year, the whole school comes together for a musical performance, held in the local chapel.  This year’s play was called the Bee Musical and every single child had an important part to play.  Typically our Year 4 leavers get the lead roles as part of their final farewell to the school.  As always, the children spoke with confidence and sang with the gusto of a choir of 1000. 

Monthly GAP (Generations at Play) Sessions

At the beginning of every month, a year group of children accompany the Head to the chapel opposite the school for a much-loved GAP session.  Our children spend an hour playing traditional board games and puzzles with the more elderly or isolated members of the village and/or school community.  Mid-way, all participants enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, tea or juice, with a home-made cake or biscuit.  These sessions are the highlight of everyone's calendar and are great for supporting mental health and wellbeing.  

Annual Whole School Trip

Towards the end of year, the whole school hopped onto a coach and set off to Woburn Safari Park.  The coach was filled with songs and laughter as we eagerly waiting to see the many animals that live there.  Favourites from the children included the elephants, giraffes, penguins, sealions, monkeys, giant tortoises and the meerkats.  For some children the pythons and locusts were up there too!  Not forgetting the highlight of having a packed lunch.  I had the pleasure of being with Duckpuddle Class.  It was wonderful to see the awe and wonder on their faces throughout the day, and the excitement when the whole of Duckpuddle Class and Honeypot Class went on the same train ride together. 

Annual First Aid Workshops for All Classes

Every year, we organise for each of our classes to take part in a fun and practical First Aid workshop led by Daisy First Aid.  Children as young as four years old learn how to get help in an emergency, DRABC (Danger, response, airway, breathing, compression), how to put people in the recovery position and practice compression skills (CPR) using a manikin.  Older children, aged 7-9, also learn how to respond to chocking or bleeding.  At Therfield First School, we feel that First Aid is an integral life skill and children should be exposed to potentially life-saving strategies as young as possible. You never know when these skills might be needed. “I can’t believe that I can actually save someone’s life!”,  Said Emily, aged 8.

LKS2 Residential

Biannually, our Year 3/4 children take part in an overnight residential, team building trip.  This year the children went to Tolmers Activity Centre in Cuffley.  The children set off early on Tuesday morning and after a quick settling in, they started with their many and varied adventurous activities.  Throughout the two days, the children took part in wall climbing, pedal karting, tunnelling, orienteering, den building and a host of problem solving/team building games.  They were fed like Kings and Queen’s and enjoyed an evening of playing games around the camp fire and in the forest.  The children fell asleep late and woke up early as not to miss a single minute. 

Miss Haxton's 'Wedding'

With our wonderful Miss Haxton’s real wedding drawing closer, we decided to organise an in-school version so that the whole school could be part of her special day.  Every child changed into their wedding/party clothes in preparation for the ceremony that took place on the school field.  We tried to mimic the real wedding as much as possible by having a groom, best man and flower girls.  Miss Haxton wore a real wedding dress and was walked down the aisle by her mummy.  After the ceremony, the happy couple walked back down the aisle as the rest of the ‘guests’ threw petals at their feet.  Next came the first dance, followed by speeches and the cutting of the cake.  The children enjoyed drinking lemonade, eating a cupcake and dancing on the field.  What a magical day that I know everyone will remember forever. 

Talent Show

With the idea being initiated by our very productive School Council, we decided to host a whole school Talent Show.  Over 90% of our children put themselves forward to take part; some riding solo, some in pairs and others in small groups.  Acts included singing, dancing, gymnastics, skipping, magic, comedy, maths and even animal noises.  We even had video entries showcasing our children’s talents in horse riding, skiing and karting.  The show was a huge success and everyone enjoyed watching and celebrating each other’s talents.  What a talented school we are!

World Book Day

One of the many things that we LOVE at Therfield First School is reading.  We love books, books and more books!  Every day and week is a celebration of all things books.  This means that when World Book Day comes around, we go BIG!  This year, with a theme of Roald Dahl and across two days, we had an author visit, launched our Human Book initiative (read more about this below), held a special book-based breakfast, created a Play in a Day, walked down the character catwalk, took part in a rotation of creative activities and finished the day with a Story Meadow workshop.  Our Year 3 and 4 pupils also took part in the local Dance Festival, dancing to the song Lucky Charlie, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!  We cannot wait for next year’s celebration already!

Annual Decorations Day

Every year, we launch Christmas in school with our book-themed Decorations Day and this year’s book of choice was The Nutcracker.  Sporting their Christmas jumpers, children are organised into mixed-age groups and they spend the day completing a carousel of creative activities inspired by the story.  After school, the staff use the children’s creations to decorate the school’s central areas.  What a wonderful surprise our children (and parents) have when they next step through the school doors. 

The Return of Mr Bojangles!

Every December, we feel very lucky that Santa lets Mr Bojangles come to stay at Therfield First School.  This is very exciting for the children (and staff!)  Every morning, the children eagerly seek to find where he is hiding.  We know that Mr Bojangles LOVES to have fun in the school during the night, sometimes inviting his elf friends over too!  As the first footsteps enter the school in the morning, Mr Bojangles freezes in that position for the rest of the day.  This has seen him being at the top of our Christmas Tree, peeping out of shelves, being on the top of Honeypot’s sandpit and even inside a glass jar!  Each year, the children write letters to Mr Bojangles, asking him their many and varied questions.  The wonderful thing about Mr Bojangles is that he answers EVERY SINGLE QUESTION in his letters back to the children!  Our fingers are cross that he comes back to see us next December. 

The Human Book

Launched this year, the Human Book showcases our children being an ‘expert,’ ‘knowledgeable’ or ‘passionate’ about a topic of interest.  Much like reading a book to help us learn more about a subject, our children have the opportunity to be a Human Book and share their knowledge with an eager-to-listen-and-learn audience made up of children and school staff.  This year, our children have led talks on bugs, ice-skating, Minecraft, hearing loss, cats, Harry Potter, art, Pokémon and space.  We look forward to continuing with our half termly Human Book sessions next year. 

Harvest - The Gift-of-Giving Community Project

Each year, in October, the whole school comes together for our 2-day Harvest gift-of-giving event.  This is just one of our many 'making a difference' community projects.  On day 1, in small groups, we made over 500 chocolate chip cookies during the morning session.  In the afternoon, children put two cookies in each cellophane bag and wrote their names on personalised tags. The next day, the children hand-delivered the treat bags to over 190 houses in the village.  Every year, we are inundated with cards, emails and phone calls of thanks from the village residents.  This project develops our pupils' personal development and makes them feel good about the positive impact that they can have on others.  We also enjoyed a harvest breakfast at school, where children came to school dressed as fisherman, farmers, farm animals, farm vehicles, fruits or vegetables!  This year, we even had a barn!

Half-Termly Visits to Age UK

Every half term, the head takes our Year 4 pupils to attend part of the local Age UK '10 to 3' club. During our time there, the children sing some songs whilst the attendees play some light instruments as an accompaniment. Sometimes this leads to a group sing-along which was heart-warming to see.  Our children then pull up a chair and have the most wonderful intergenerational conversations.  Some of the attendees, typically aged between 80-100 years, have hearing, sight or memory difficulties and our children are brilliant with them.  We've learnt that Donald used to be a Headmaster, Ruth used to bake cakes (to wedding cake standard, no less!), Ron used to drive the Flying Scotsman steam train and Charles taught Robert a magic trick with an elastic band!  I genuinely believe that our children leave different to when they enter – they truly understand the gift of giving and the powerful impact that they can have on others, and on themselves.  I know we make the attendees day too.  

Here are some of our 2023-24 highlights.

Therfield Summer Fete

Our fantastic Friends committee planned a wonderful summer fete for our small school.  Families were invited to spend a couple of hours together in the glorious sunshine enjoying a range of stalls, games, refreshments and entertainment.  You cannot beat Therfield in the sunshine!

Fairy Garden Re-opening

There was huge excitement across the school when the children found a mysterious key in each classroom with the message ‘Bring me to the forest school circle at 10:30am.’  When the school gathered around, we found a letter written by the fairies.  They thanked the school for the newly refurbished fairy garden and said that they have already moved back in.  They left a tray of rainbow fluffs for the children (and staff) to enjoy - yummy scrummy!  Our new fairy garden is absolutely stunning – seeing really is believing.  Awe and wonder at its Therfield finest!

Monthly GAP Sessions (Generations at Play)

For this monthly session, Year 1 pupils joined me for our monthly GAP (Generations at Play) session in the chapel.  Across the year, each year group gets to lead these sessions twice.  During the session, children played traditional board games with members of the village older generation.  For many of the people joining us, this is one of the highlights of their month.  It is always a joy to see everyone chatting away, with big smiles on their faces, or laughing at a shared tale.  Part-way through, conversations continued over cups of tea, hot chocolate and a homemade cake/biscuit.  To round off the session, the children buddied up with their ‘new friends’ for a game of bingo.  The children are always excited to take part in GAP sessions and the personal development I see from them is huge.

Whole School Afternoon at Greys Farm 

What does Therfield First School do when they have two special visitors in on one day? … Paula ready to lead her half termly Mindfulness workshops with the children and Rachel Lawston, author of Mia Makes a Meadow ... they do what they do best … they walk the whole school down to Greys so that the mindfulness sessions can take place set within the idyllic countryside grounds and Rachel can read her book, actually surrounded by glorious real wild meadows!  Throw a still life water colour painting session into the mix and we have an afternoon that dreams are made of.  What a magical way to spend our days. 

STEM Week

There was a huge buzz across the week for our awe-and-wonder STEM week.  Each day, focused on a different STEM subject and our school motto of Bringing Learning to Life permeated through all activities. 

Tuesday – Engineering

Jenifer from KAPLA Clubs led very exciting workshops for all of our classes, taking over the entire school hall!  Children worked together, using thousands of identical planks, without glue or clips, to create large-scale grand structures.  Parents were invited in to look at the masterpieces before the big demolition!

Wednesday - Maths

We were delighted to welcome the Happy Puzzle Company to Therfield to lead workshops with each of our year groups.  Working in small groups, children undertook a range of puzzles and challenges, demonstrating team work, logical thinking, resilience and growth mindset. 

Thursday – Technology

Children used the drawing programme on Purple Mash to create an ‘All About Me’ design.  This was printed onto Iron On Transfer Paper and ironed onto a fabric tote bag.  The bags looked fantastic and the children were very proud to take these home to use as a sustainable product. 

Friday - Science 

Across the afternoon, children took part in a rotation of three awe-and-wonder practical science investigations; Magic Ink, Magnetic Mazes and Balloon Blow Up!  

Below showcases some special moments in previous years.

The King’s Coronation – Friday 5^th May

In true Therfield style, we were all very excited to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III.  On Friday 5^th May, the whole school came together, dressed in red, white and blue, to undertake a range of Coronation-themed activities.  The day started with a whole school assembly, outlining what the day ahead had in store for us.  Activities included:

• Making a sceptre, orb and crown in Forest School
• Creating a Coronation medal
• Designing a Coronation mug
• Making a Coronation coin, based on King Charles’ side profile
• Creating a Union Jack Flag

At lunchtime, the whole school ate a buffet lunch together, followed by a Coronation playground party.  Children were able to take home all of their keepsakes to mark this very special moment in living history.  After school, our Friends committee led the May Ball disco in the school hall. 

The Day we all went to Waterstones!

At Therfield First School, we LOVE all things books and every day feels like a celebration of reading.  So what better way to spend a World Book Day than uprooting the whole school for a book-based morning in Waterstones in Cambridge.  Throughout the fun-packed morning in the store, children took part in a rotation of three activities; listening to a read-aloud story, undertaking a book scavenger hunt and choosing a book from the children's section to take home to keep.  The books were gifted to the children from the school, and The Rotary Club, Royston contributed £300 towards this.  Our children had the most amazing day and they couldn't wait to start reading their new books.  How exciting!

The Day the Author Came to Therfield!

We were very excited to have Rachel Lawston come to spend the day at our school.  Rachel read her book, Mia Makes a Meadow, to the whole school and answered a range of questions from the children.  At breaktime, Rachel signed copies of both of her books for the children.  Throughout the rest of the day, children wrote poems based on the hedgehog and fox characters, made bird feeders and created collage foxes and hedgehogs made from clay and pinecones.  Rachel also led a creative writing master class with a group of children from Years 1-4.  We collated everything together from the day to make a stunning entrance hall display.  We had the most amazing day, as did Rachel, and we are already looking forward to her return in May.  

Marking the Passing of the Queen

To honour the very sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II, we decided that we would celebrate her long life and all of the amazing work she has done in our country and across the world.  We hand-painted pebbles with pictures linked to the Queen, wrote messages in our Book of Condolences and created craft flowers using egg cartons, which we joined together to make a special wreath.  We had a tree planting ceremony on the school field, arranged our pebbles next to the tree and sang a special song.  At the end of the day, children took their parents onto the field to look at our new tree and pebbles.  We then took our flower wreath to the village church, ready for their special weekend service.  

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

What didn't we do to celebrate the Queen's very special Jubilee?  Throughout the week we ... had a special museum workshop taking us back in time to the Queen's Coronation, had an art masterclass where the whole school drew a portrait of the Queen, were visited by a famous author and her Corgi, Ditto!, played old-fashioned games at playtime, made willow crowns in forest school, re-enacted the Coronation in the local church and finished the week off with a special lunchtime street (playground) party!  Another example of how we bring learning to life at Therfield.  

The Big Burn!

As part of their Great Fire of London topic, Duckpuddle Class worked together to recreate a  cardboard version of Pudding Lane.  With the help of Royston Fire Service, Pudding Lane was set on fire!  

The Fairy Garden - Ssssssssh - you might wake them!

We are very proud of our magical and unique Fairy Garden.  What a wonderful place to spend your break and lunch play times.