- September 6, 2010 13:46 to November 11, 2010 18:30

February 8, 2010

Cross Country

On a beautiful, crisp, January morning  11 visiting schools arrived at Hallfield to take part in the annual cross country competition. It was a perfect day for running, cold but with no wind and the bluest of skies.  The melted snow had left the ground quite muddy, posing a challenge for the runners as they descended the mound – a notorious place for losing shoes and nerves! Mr Tobin ran the event with his usual panache and the catering staff kept the freezing cold spectators warmed with hot soup and sausages. A willing Year 6 helper rattled a bucket and grateful, refreshed spectators gave £121 that was sent to the Haiti Disaster Fund.

As always there was a good atmosphere between the competitors and plenty of support and encouragement from the teachers, mums and dads.

Results

U9 boys -  1^st Kings Hawford with 27 points, 2^nd Bluecoat 34 points,

3^rd Hallfield A with 35 points – 8 schools competing.

U11 boys – 1^st Bluecoat with 18 points, 2^nd Birchfield with 34 points and 3^rd Hallfield A with 56 with  7 schools  competing.

U9 girls – 1^st EHS with 47 points, 2^nd Abberley Hall with 58 points and 3^rd Solihull with 73 points – 9 schools competing.

U11 girls – 1^st EHS with 16 points, 2^nd Solihull with 41 points and 3^rd Hallfield with 48 points – 6 schools competing.

Congratulations go to Matthew Ritson in Year 4 for winning the Under 9 boys’ race. Our highest placed runners in the other races were Sneya Pimpelnarker, Tom Ritson and Hannah Nolan. Congratulations also go to Lewis Smith and Joe Lamb for being our highest placed Year 3 and Year 5 boys and to Anneka Brench for being the highest placed Year 5 girl.

Well done to everyone who took part and helped to make the occasion such a good one.

February 22, 2010

Tutankhamun

Tomb diggers

For those of us lucky to have seen the treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the lasting memory is of artefacts made of shining gold and objects made of precious metals and jewels of the most intense and beautiful colours. Year 3’s musical ‘The Boy King’ written by Anthony James and with a musical score by Tim Spencer lived up to that visual feast of colour. The iconic death mask of the young pharaoh, shimmering with gold and blue collaged foil paper, provided a back drop for the play against which the magnificent headdresses of the ancient Egyptian gods seemed to glow. The costumes too seemed to shimmer with colour and decoration- the young Tutankhamun resplendent in gold and black – every inch the god on Earth, though as he told his future wife Princess Ankhesen, he didn’t feel like it!

In contrast to this the diggers and slaves were dressed in whites, greys and neutral colours with simple cloths tied around their heads, evoking the feeling of heat and the dry, dusty conditions in which they toiled. The effect was stunning and for half an hour the audience was transported from the rather uninspiring Upper School Hall to the hot, dry wastes of the Valley of the Kings where Howard Carter had finally excavated the lost tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

We travelled back in time 3,330 years to meet the nine year old boy who for ten years is Pharaoh of all Egypt and who, with his wife, tries to re-establish the ways of the old gods banished by his stepmother Nefertiti. He fails and is murdered at the age of nineteen and in the Afterlife he meets the old gods who promise him that his name will live on in the future.

It’s a story that has all the right ingredients to guarantee its survival – glamour, murder, curses, secrets, treasure, intrigue and youth and beauty and the children of Year 3, their teachers and helpers are to be congratulated on their interpretation of this classic story.

February 22, 2010

Years 3, 4 and 5 are invited to enter the ‘Grand Polyhedron Competition’

Year 6 are producing these as part of their Maths course and an entry is expected from every Year 6 pupil.

The challenge is to produce the best and most inventive shape that you can.

There is no cost to enter and the deadline for entries is the Monday after the Half Term  holiday  (Monday February 22^nd.

You could look at the website http://www.korthalsaltes.com/ for some ideas

Pupils may get help from family members but the pupils should do most of the work.

There will be a competition for each Year 3 – 6 and the winners will be announced by the end of the week  (February 26^th).

GOOD LUCK     Please hand final creations to Mr Goldman or your Maths teacher.