Do you want to write an article for

the A.C.E Newspaper?

If you do, contact Mrs Street

and let her know how and when you want

to contribute to the newspaper!

It could be your name in print!

From the 10th Decem-

ber until the 12th De-

cember the Infants per-

formed their Nativity,

Prickly Hay.

There were pigs, cows, horses,

stable boys and girls and much

more. They all worked very hard

learning their lines and songs.

They all looked amazing and the

show was incredible.

Year One, Year Two and Recep-

tion took on all different roles.

There was Sam, the animals, party

children, stable boys and girls, the

three kings, Mary, Joseph and we

can’t forget, the shrew.

All the narrators spoke very

clearly and the actors remem-

bered their lines. The songs were

also sang beautifully.

The whole show was very enter-

taining and everyone enjoyed it! It

got everybody in the Christmas

mood and was one of the best

Nativities we have had at Ashford

C of E.

By Kiera N in Leopards Class

Nativity Hoe-Down is a Great Success!

A Cracking Christmas Carol Concert

W H A T S I N S I D E ;

News

Reception Classes enjoying school

News

New Class Themes

Christmas Quiz

WHAT’S

INSIDE!

Autumn Term 2014

On December 17th at St Hilda’s

Church, Ashford C of E held

their Christmas Carol Service

to celebrate the birth of Jesus

Christ, The Church was full with

children, teachers, parents and

grandparents.

The children started by saying a prayer.

Then they all sang ‘All Around the

World’. After the song Year Six began

their performance of the Nativity as if it

were happening today. Sam and Megan

from Leopard Class were news readers

reporting on Emperor Augustus and his

census.

This was followed by everyone singing

‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’. Then, after

Year three sang ‘Deck the Halls’, Anne-

ka from Panthers, interviewed Mary and

Joseph, played by George G and Ellie C,

A.C.E. NEWS Ashford Church of England School Pupil Newspaper

Everyone sang well in the church

who were looking for accommodation.

After the song ‘Sing Hallelujah!’ the shepherds and the

wise men were also interviewed by reporters played by

Kiera N and Aneeka R.

Each Year group sang or recited poems throughout the

service that was interspersed with news from Bethlehem.

Year Five recited a poem called A Christmas Carol and

Year Six sang ‘Midnight’ beautifully. There were Bible

readings and prayers to thank God for His gift of Jesus.

The singing was completed with a resounding ‘Hark The

Herald Angels Sing.’

Father Chris congratulated the children and talked about

the importance of giving and receiving at Christmas before

Mrs Dyer closed the evening.

Everyone went home looking forward to Christmas.

By Anneka in Panthers Ferrell and Abbie opened the service

with a reading

We have come to the end of the Autumn Term and everyone is looking for-

ward to Christmas. This term saw the introduction of the new curriculum

with every class following different themes each half term. Each class also en-

joyed ‘Wow’ events linked to their themes.

With Christmas fast approaching, the whole school have been involved in

productions to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The Infant’s Nativity was, as usual,

a tearful event (for the parents) and the Junior’s singing was magnificent.

In this edition of A.C.E. News we have tried to include as many pictures as

possible of the exciting events that have occurred this school term. We hope

you like reading about them.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

From the A.C.E. Newspaper Club

The Day the Teachers Taught the Parents

The parents came to school on 25th November for a maths lesson. Mr Astill presented a ‘Progression in Calcula-

tion’ workshop to enable the parents of the Reception classes and Years One and Two to keep up with their chil-

dren in maths. Other teachers were on hand to help the parents.

The evening was a resounding success and it is hoped that there will be more lessons for parents in the future.

School Snippets

Spelthorne Schools Quiz

On Tuesday 2nd December Sahanna and Noah from Year Three and Henry and Connie from Year Four took part

in a general knowledge quiz at Ashford Park Primary School. Twenty schools from Spelthorne Borough took part

in the first ever Spelthorne Schools Together quiz. St. Ignatius School won the competition, Laleham School came

second and Clarendon School came third. The four ACE children were presented with certificates in Celebration

Assembly for taking part so admirably in the quiz. Well done everyone!

Jelly Kelly entertains the Infants

In November the Infants and Year Three were very lucky to be entertained by Jelly

Kelly, a children’s entertainer. There were magic tricks, puppets, jokes and songs. It

was a fun time for everyone.

On the evening of the 1st of Oc-

tober 2014, my parents went out

(they said that they were going to

Toys’r’us to get me something for

my birthday) leaving my grandpar-

ents in charge, Little did I know

that they had gone to get me my

best present ever!

My mum said to my Nan to keep me

awake until they get back, then after

a few hours my dad came in and

asked why I was up when he knew

why, so he said that I can have an

early birthday present and I thought

it would be something small like a

pair of sunglasses. But no, my dad

told me to sit down on the sofa and

put a pillow on my face. Then my

mum put something warm on my

lap. My dad took away the pillow and

it came to my surprise that a cute,

adorable boy Jack Russell puppy was

on my lap! I was shaking and crying

with happiness. I didn’t know what

to name him until the next day.

I named him Teddy because I think it

suits him. Teddy was 9 weeks when I

first held him, and I started giving

him walks when he was about 12

weeks old.

The night I got him he started crying

in the night which made me want to

take him out of his cage but he only

cried for 20 minutes or so. The next

day I had to go to school which was

sad and happy; it was sad because I

didn’t want to leave him but then I

was happy because I could tell all of

my friends.

Teddy By Loren in Leopards

Here at Ashford C of E School

we have a future television star.

Next term you will be able to

see Ella from Buffaloes in an ad-

vert for a well-known chocolate

spread. Rosie and Isabelle, who

are in her class, interviewed Ella

to find out more.

How did you come to be in an ad-

vert?

Ella: Through Stagecoach, the stage

school I go to. Every year they ask eve-

ryone if they want to be in an advert.

Were you nervous during the audi-

tion?

Ella: No.

Where was it filmed?

Ella: Putney.

Did you meet anyone famous?

Ella: Sadly, no.

What did you enjoy best throughout

the time there?

Ella: Eating the pancakes.

When is the advert going to be on

television?

Ella: On February 14th next year.

Well done Ella, we look forward

to seeing the advert.

ACE Pupil To Star on TV

P A G E 1 5

Answers to Christmas Quiz

1. Bethlehem 2. More than one, the Bible doesn't say how many! 3. 364 4. 1840s - 1843 by Sir Henry Cole 5. 25 because there is no ‘L’ 6. Three - Dasher, Dancer and Donner 7. Germany - it was Latvia but it was part of Germany then! 8. Carpenter 9. A six pence 10. Gabriel 11. In a manger 12. Deep pan, crisp and even!

P A G E 1 4

On Thursday December 11th

Year Four had a Science Fair as

part of their Power to the Peo-

ple theme which focussed on

electricity.

For the Science Fair the year group

chose an investigation, They were -

Which chocolate melts the fastest,

white or dark? Does a potato conduct

electricity? Does a lemon conduct elec-

tricity? The children made predictions

on what was gong to happen, tested

their experiment and wrote up their

results.

Oscar in Elephants wrote: The question I

studied was - Does a lemon conduct elec-

tricity?

To find out we first watched our teachers,

Miss Lonergan and Miss Matthews do the

experiments then we did them ourselves.

I got everything together (lemon, a copper

coin, a zinc nail, light bulb and crocodile

clips) I put the copper coin in the lemon

then I put the zinc nail in it. I attached the

crocodile clips to the light and to the coin.

The bulb did not light so sadly it did not

work (as sometimes happens with experi-

ments) but we still had great fun finding

out.

Miss Lonergan was very pleased with

how the day went. She said,

“It was a great learning opportunity for the

children because they were all engaged,

found it very exciting and worked well to-

gether as a year group. We then celebrated

the amazing achievements of each individu-

al child by holding a Year Four Graduation

Ceremony where each child was personally

handed a certificate of participation.”

Year Four’s Science Fair

For Years Two’s theme for the first part

of the term, London’s Calling, they built

Tudor houses from boxes and took

them onto the field. The children were

all told about the dangers of fire and that

they had to stand well back behind the

cones. There were also bowls of water

on hand.

Here is an account of the houses burn-

ing by Chloe and Niall in Zebra Class:

The houses burned down and had black ash

on them. It was fascinating when we saw

the houses burn down and we felt excited!

The houses were falling on each other be-

cause the wind was pushing the fire. The

houses were burning on each other because

the fire was touching them.

We learned that the houses burned down

very quickly. We learnt that we had to stay

away from the fire and if the smoke came

near us we had to move to a different

place.

Great Fire of Year Two

Our Tudor houses

The houses burned

Almost all destroyed

Only ashes remained Mr Astill set fire to the houses

P A G E 3 N E W S

Year One Visit

St. Matthew’s

Church

Year One walked around

Ashford as part of their

‘Amazing Ashford ’

theme. They included a

visit to St Matthews

Church were Father Stu-

art showed them around

the church and set them

a quiz.

Here are some of the re-

counts of their visit.

First we went to the church.

Next we sat down in the

church.

Finally we did some grave rub-

bings.

By Charlotte in Panda Class

First we walked down the High

Street.

Next we sat down on the

benches.

After that we were rubbing

stones.

Finally we had lunch.

By Justin in Panda Class

First we went to the High

Street.

Next Father Stuart was talking

to us.

After that we did some chalking

over grave stones. Finally we

had lunch in the church hall.

By Willow in Panda Class

The walk back to school

Talking to Father Stuart

On they way to the High Street

Father Stuart talking about the church

Looking at the font to find some

answers

HOW TO MAKE A PIZZA by Rosie and Isabelle in Buffaloes

Ingredients Serves: 2

250g plain flour

1 teaspoon dried active baking yeast

1 pinch salt

300ml water

1 tablespoon olive oil Toppings

passata

mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated

ham, mushrooms, peppers, olives, as desired

Method Prep: 30min Cook: 15min Extra time: 30min resting Ready in: 1hr15min

1. Whisk together the flour, yeast and salt. Stir in the water and olive oil,

adding more flour a little at a time if the dough is too sticky. Form the

dough into a ball, cover and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 200 C / Gas 6. Spread the dough onto a generously

floured baking tray.

3. Spread the passata over the pizza base, layer on the mozzarella cheese

and add other ingredients as desired.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes until the pizza base is

puffed and golden.

P A G E 4

1. In what town was Jesus born? 2. How many Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus? 3. How many presents were given in total in the 12 Days of Christmas? 4. In what decade was the first Christmas card sent in the UK? 5 How many letters are in the angelic alphabet? 6. How many of Rudolph's eight companions names start with 'D'? 7. What country did Christmas trees originate from? 8. What was Joseph's job? 9. What's lucky to find in your Christmas Pudding? 10. What Angel visited Mary? 11. Where did Mary place Jesus after he was born? 12. How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas? Answers on page 15

Christmas Quiz By Rosie and Isabelle in Buffaloes

P A G E 1 3

Santa’s reindeer may have a very busy night coming up but they found time to visit Ashford C of E to say Hello to everyone.

Reindeer Visit Ashford Early

Here are some of the

photos that were entered

for the photo competi-

tion that did not receive a

prize but we think you

would like to see.

P A G E 1 2

Reservoir by Dean in Llamas Dog by Isabel in Meerkats

Green Frog by Savanna in Zebras

Flowers by Finlay in Lemurs

Luke Andreas-Evans in Lemurs Deer by Isobel in Panthers

Sky by Connie in Rhinos

Dog by Isla in Rhinos

Spider by Finlay in Lemurs

Waterfall by Beau in Llamas

On Tuesday 9th September, Leopards got on a coach at 9:15AM with excitement as we

heard we were going to Pizza Express in Staines, for the morning. As Leopards got on the coach I said ’ Good morning’ to the coach driver and then my coach partner (Grace)

and I went straight down to the back of the coach. Time flew by on the coach as we were listening to the radio.

As soon as I was in Pizza Express I could smell a lovely

pizza cooking in the oven.

We met the pizzaiolos (chefs)

and as they took us to a long

marble table we were given a

disposable hat and apron,

and then we were sent to wash our hands for 10-15 sec-

onds. This was all for health

and safety reasons. When

we got back to the long table, one of the pizzaiolos was

sprinkling flour on the table for our next step. The next

step was that we were all given a small piece of dough to

kneed.

Then, the pizzaiolos took our dough in and gave us a pan

of different larger dough and we made a crust for the piz-

za. Not long after we got a special tomato sauce called

passata to spread on our dough.

Once we had finished spreading our passata on our dough

(base), we put a handful of mozzarella on our pizza. Then

we put a sprinkle of oregano and black pepper on top. Our

pizzas were put in the oven to cook. While they were

cooking, the pizzaiolo told us that the margarita pizza was

named after an Italian queen named Margarita! Also the

pizzaiolo told us other facts about pizza.

At last, it came to an end that the pizza was ready to

come out of the oven. Everyone was excited. It was

astonishing! Before they gave it to us they very kindly put

it in boxes for us instead letting us do it ourselves.

Once we got them, we had a look and they were perfect.

But we couldn’t eat them until we got home. We said

thank you on the count of 3 to the pizzaiolo and got back

on the coach to head back to school.

Pizza Express trip by Loren B in Leopards

P A G E 5 N E W S

On 9th and 16th October Le-

murs and Meerkats went to

The Hampton Youth Project

to learn how to rock climb.

Mrs Austin was there to in-

struct them and make sure

they were safe. Here is Isa-

bel’s (Meerkats) account of

the trip:

I enjoyed the school trip to

Hampton and we went rock

climbing. It was cool because it

was my first time going rock

climbing. Mrs Austin was very

kind and we all had to wear har-

nesses and helmets to keep us

safe.

We all got a go at bouldering

across the wall and climbing

properly up the wall. I really liked

it. It was great and one of the

best trips ever. The wall was

huge!

Year Three have also been busy learning about the Victorians and had a Victorian Day

when they all dressed up as Victorian children in school. Here are some of the photos from

the day:

Year Three Go Up The Wall!

Victorian Day

There’s always

one!

Sums were done on

chalk boards

What a scary

teacher!

N E W S P A G E 6

Everyone worked very hard

All listened to the teacher

What a lot of ragamuffins!

Grand Opening of Our New Kitchen On Wednesday 3rd December

2014 the new school kitchen

opened. At 11:30am all the pupils

gathered in the school hall to see

the new kitchen open.

It was very cramped because the dinner

ladies had set all the tables up ready for

lunch.

We also had some special guests. We

had the two builders who built our

kitchen, some of the school governors, a

couple of people from Surrey and people

from the Diocese.

Mrs Dyer and Mr Austin spent the

morning decorating the school hall with

light and dark shades of blue banners.

Also, there was a giant ribbon across the

kitchen doors.

Everyone cheered when the doors came

open and the dinner ladies were dressed

up in elf costumes. Now the school din-

ners will be really tasty.

By Abigail W in Panthers

N E W S P A G E 1 1

So, just how good are the new school meals?

Rosie and Isabel from Buffalo Class wanted to find out if the new school meals were as good as they had

been told by the teachers. So they decided to conduct a survey. Here are the questions they asked and

the replies:

Do you like the choice of meals?

90% said YES and 10% said SOMETIMES.

Do you prefer school dinners or packed lunch?

60% said they preferred school dinners, 20% said they preferred packed lunch and 20% said liked both.

What is your favourite meal?

The replies to this question were mixed. Amongst the meals they liked were fish, roast, pizza, spaghetti

and jacket potatoes. 40% couldn’t decide and liked ALL the meals.

What meal would you like added to the menu?

The majority of responses to this question involved burgers and chicken from well-

known fast food chain. – Well, you can’t win them all!!!

From the responses to their questions, the girls found that the new schools meals were a resounding

SUCCESS!

?

P A G E 1 0 N E W S

NRICH Roadshow a Resounding Success

On Thursday 5th December a

lady called Fran came from

Nrich to visit us. It was a great

opportunity to learn more about

Maths.

We took photos of the activities. The

most popular activity was the Soma

Cube where you had to puzzle to-

gether some blocks into a cube. Mil-

lie, Ella, Milan and Theo were the

only ones in our class to complete

the cube. There were other activities

like Cups and Saucers, making houses

with shapes and the Teddy Bear

game. Fran showed us a poster with

some shapes on it and we had find

the shapes she said.

I liked the Soma Cube because it was

fun trying to solve the puzzle.

By Freddie in Buffaloes

House Captains for 2014-15

At the beginning of the term the children voted for this year’s house captains. A boy and a

girl were chosen from Year Six to be House Captains and another boy and girl for Sport’s

Captain. Those voted in are:

House Captains

Mann - Loren B and Mufaro K

Lockington - Jimmy M and Bonnie H

Howard - Charlie M and Abbie A

Foxall: - Isobel G and Connor W

Sports Captains

Mann - Grace E and Alex K

Lockington - Joshua R and Abigail W

Howard - Cleo C and Ferrell D

Foxall: - Jenna C and Kelvin A

Did you know?

Ashford is called Ashford because of the River Ash and ford because it has shallow rivers.

Back in the Viking and Anglo Saxon times they named places with ford at the end because

they had shallow river crossings e.g. Ashford, Bradford and Oxford.

During their theme of The Invaders Year Five dyed some wool using ingredients that the

Anglo Saxons would have used. Isabelle and Rosie from Buffalo Class explain how they

did it.

How we made Anglo Saxon clothes out of

wool.

First we unwound the ball of wool and wrapped it around a chair.

Then we slipped it off the chair and wrapped it over string and tied

a loop around it to hold it together.

Next we put the wool in a bowl and added water, salt, and

vinegar and let it soak in.

Then we cut up our ingredients into small pieces and put

them into a saucepan and added some water.

We boiled it in a saucepan and stirred it for about fifteen

minutes.

We had to squeeze all the excess water out and tip the

dye over the wool.

The wool soaked up the dye from the vegetables and produced some wonderful col-

ours.

We took the wool out of the saucepan and

hung it to dry.

When it was dry we used it to weave pat-

terns.

By Isabelle and Rosie in Buffaloes

P A G E 7

Reception Class

2014

‘I love this school,

it’s awesome.’

Daisy

‘The Nativity

play was the

best!’

Shannon

‘I love the

work.’

Michael

That is very long.

Did you make it?

“I can see you”

Eye! Eye! Captain! Tough puzzles

Little Red Riding Hood

Counting Dinosaurs Story time!

That’s a big shell!

I love that painting

P A G E 9

Reception Class

2014

‘I think

painting is

the best.’

Freddie

‘Counting in

maths is

awesome.’

Leah

‘The Nativity

play was the

best!’

Shannon

‘I love the

school because

I can see all my

friends.’ Riley

“I can see you”

That’s very nice!

That’s fun!

See saw!

Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!

Harry the hedgehog Everybody loves making

sandcastles

Tough puzzles

Making funny shadows

Arrangement and captions by

Loren in Leopards