 | Occold School Term dates are in the Village Diary |  |
| Apr 10 - Update | |
In September 2010 I will be returning to Occold in a fulltime role, as the partnership between Occold and Worlingworth has been terminated by the governors after very serious consideration. It has been a challenging few months for the school and I would like to publicly thank everybody for their continued support of the school and staff. We fully intend to make our community school as good as the children deserve it to be - which is fantastic! We now have 60 children on roll which is the highest number since 2002 and looks set to increase further in the next year. The success of Occold Primary school is down to the children, staff, parents, governors and community and it is important that we continue to work together. It is also true to say that the children from the Pre-school are also well prepared for the move to our setting and we are grateful to the staff in the Village Hall for all the hard work they do with the children. We have a new teacher, Miss Pearse, in Class One as Miss Ridd decided that teaching may not have been the right path for her. Mrs Batley and Mrs Crame continue to provide a great learning environment within their two classrooms, while also looking after the school while I am at Worlingworth. The children have had a great deal of fun with their learning since the New Year and made good progress. All the children had a parent, or parents who attended the Parent Consultations. | The children all took part in the Science Week in March and had a tremendous time just focussing on one subject -but lots of different aspects of it. The decision of the government to drop Science from the Tests at the end of Primary School, will not have any effect on how much time we spend focussing on the subject. Science is a very important subject within our timetable and will remain so in the future. The annual Celebration of Suffolk School’s Music, also took place during March and we took 32 children along to perform two songs, written by Mrs Knights especially for Snape, and an instrumental piece which the children composed themselves. The theme was around the environment and the applause the performance received was reward for all the hard work that went into the 12 minute show! Many other schools performed during the week and we were pleased to have been selected. Next term looks like another busy one for everybody at school and we look forward to seeing as many of you as we can at coffee mornings, other events, or within the village. Happy Easter to everybody in our community Kevin Knights |
| 20 Feb 10 - Give your heart to Haiti | ||
 TARGET ACHIEVED!!As previously reported, Friends of Occold School raised £365.15 towards the Haiti Disaster Fund from their 'Nearly New Sale'. Following an appeal on this web site, generous Occoldians donated a further £90 and the £490 required for a Rotary Club ShelterBox was topped up with a very generous donation from Rackham's Funeral Service.
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| 10 Dec 09 - 'Star Attraction' | |
| Just as surely as Ralph Readers style of musical became the mould for the Scout Gang Shows, the style of Rice & Weber’s Technicolor Dreamcoat & Jesus Christ Superstar has set the mould for children’s performances celebrating Christian festivals such as the nativity. There is a lot to be said for the pre-recorded backing tracks and the scripted stage direction contained in a production like The Star Attraction put on by Occold Primary School on 10th December. Compared to the old DIY nativity it ensures that all children have a meaningful part rather than a few ‘prima donnas’ hogging the show. All children can achieve a level of competence in front of an audience which many wouldn’t otherwise be able do. The division of acting roles to the younger children and narration to the older ones works well. It gives all children clear, manageable goals to work towards and a finished article in which they and their families can take pride without the ‘dumbing down’ which such developments can sometimes cause. | It was particularly good to observe the rising Yr 6 boys, in many Primary Schools the most problematic group, acting in a helpful adult way towards the younger children. The angels really did look angelic in their costumes. Herod was a mild mannered guy; he didn’t look like he would hurt a fly let alone slaughter the first born. Thanks to the school the new hall now has a stage & stage lighting available. The Star Attraction was the first use of these but I can see that we will be able to put these to good effect for the whole village from 2010. The show contained everything: upbeat poppy numbers, more gentle melodic numbers, instrumental pieces for ukulele, recorder and for kazoo, a bit of rap and even a few Blues Brothers look–a-likes but the traditional nativity story wasn’t lost in all this. An all round good show. Well done Occold All Stars! Andy Andrews |
| Sep 09 - News | |
Another school year begins...according to the village website it’s the 130th anniversary of the opening of this school building on its current site. So happy birthday! | Having had a chance to look around this fabulous space I wish to offer congratulations, and thanks, to all those who have been so heavily involved in the immense amount of work that has culminated in this terrific village resource. We have a busy term ahead with each class studying all the usual subjects and having a particular topic to follow. Class One have ‘Marvellous Me’, Class Two are looking at ‘Castles’ while Class Three are off on ‘Exploration and Encounters’. There will be the Community Coffee mornings on a regular basis, please note especially the MacMillan Coffee Morning on Friday September 25th. We will be taking part in British Food Fortnight-with the Big Breakfast on 1st October, having our Christmas Fair, putting on a Christmas Performance on December 10th and repeating Carols in the Playground, as last year was such a fabulous community affair. All are welcome to any, or all those events. Another chapter for the school opens and everybody at school is really looking forward to another year where we can rise to the challenges put before us. Last year although not winning any sports trophies, the children competed well and were often runners-up. All our Year Six and Year Two children achieved, or in many cases exceeded, what the government expects in their SATs and the school had its most successful Ofsted inspection. More importantly perhaps the school community of parents, teachers, other staff and governors know that our children are well-behaved, hard working, caring and thoughtful young people, who we are proud to acknowledge as Occold Scholars. Kevin Knights |
| The Origins of Occold School | |
| A Parish School was built in 1849 by the rector. A SCHOOL BOARD for the united district of Occold and Rishangles was established in 1879, and consists of Edward Deek (Chairman), George Harris (vice-chairman), Rev. H. L. Todd, | Hy Wells, and James Breeze. Mr W. Cook, of Rishangles, is the clerk. The school was built in 1879 at a cost of £700, to accommodate 120 children. White’s Directory of Suffolk 1885. |