Well done to the boys who played in the tournament hosted by Broughton Primary School. The side performed well in some very exciting matches, eventually finishing as runners-up. It was a pleasure to coach the team who represented our school with great enthusiasm and sportsmanship.

Thank you to the staff at Pitsford School for organising the Science Olympics which involved pupils from our school. The children enjoyed taking part in a series of experiments and were announced as the winning team. Thank you to Mrs Riley, a school governor, for supporting the children at the event.

A group of year five pupils were fortunate to be invited to take part in a science master class event hosted by The Kibworth School. The children had a fascinating morning enjoying a range of experiments around the theme of energy while working alongside pupils from other local primary schools. Thank you to Mrs Byrne for accompanying the children and to all involved in organising the event.

We were lucky to have glorious sunshine for our annual sports day. All of the children took part with key stage two pupils going first. The children took part in a selection of different races finishing with Hanbury being crowned the winners. In the afternoon, key stage one enjoyed their own sports day with more great support from parents and grandparents. The year six sports ambassadors did a great job to help organise all of the events and Kendall were the winners.

Thank you to Mrs Sparkes for organising a great day of sports at Church Langton.

The children had a wonderful time at Condover Hall taking part in a wide range of events and activities. The rest of the school enjoyed hearing all about their adventures in their assembly and I know many are now looking forward to their chance to go on a residential trip. Thank you to Mr Baylis, Mrs Edwards, Mrs Manley and Miss Mortimer for accompanying the children.

All of the pupils enjoyed taking part in the maths challenge day organised by Mrs Manley. They had to try and solve various challenges involving a wide range of equipment and the excitement of each group was great to see.

Two teams of pupils from years five and six took part in the competition held at Leicester Grammar School and played some excellent matches. Both teams won their groups and then narrowly lost in the quarter finals. It was a pleasure to see the children enjoying the chance to compete and support each other in many exciting matches.

The children have enjoyed taking part in the activities on the Life Education Bus that has visited school this week. It is a great chance to explore different elements of the Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum, thank you to Mrs Manley for organising.

Pupils from debating club took part in the Global Conference held at County Hall as part of our global learning partnership. The pupils from years three, four, five and six did brilliantly debating against teams from five other schools. A big thank you to Mrs Edwards for organising the whole event.

It was very exciting to welcome the visitors from Leicestershire School Music Service, both past and present, for the presentation of the blue plaque as part of BBC Music Day. The Blue Plaque recognises the huge impact of Eric Pinkett, the founder of the Music Service. Our school was chosen as the location for the plaque as the first concert organised by Leicestershire Schools Music Service was held at our school.  The year five children did a brilliant job performing on the taiko drums and enjoyed the chance to be filmed by East Midlands Today (unfortunately they didn’t make much of the final edit) and to appear on Radio Leicester. The episode of Ben Jackson’s show can be listened to again on BBC iplayer, the children perform about 1 hour 45minutes into the episode.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p054dw2w

Photo gallery of the day

This is the full biography for Eric Pinkett.

Eric Pinkett (OBE) – (1911-1979)

Eric Pinkett founded the Leicestershire School of Music in 1948 with the help of the local education authority.   This was the first school music service in the UK and led the way for the rest of the county.  He was seen as a ‘world pioneer’ in musical education and known as ‘Mr Music’ in Leicestershire.

Eric believed that children from any background should be able to play musical instruments and it should be not be dependent on finances. Prior to his work only wealthy children played musical instruments.  He wanted all children to love music as a result of playing musical instruments. He set a team of peripatetic music teachers to go to all schools in the county and provide instruments free of charge.   He also set up the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra which became well known for its excellence and patrons included Sir Michael Tippett, Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Arnold.  Eric took the orchestra on tours abroad himself to further expand the children’s musical education.

Many of the children have gone onto perform with top orchestras across the world.  Today his legacy continues with the Leicestershire Schools Music Service and the schools symphony orchestra.

In the early pioneering days Eric had only his faith to keep him going. He was once advised to rehearse for five years before giving a concert and he ignored it. He knew that the children’s interest would have evaporated without the stimulus of playing in public.

Eric has been nominated by listeners to BBC Radio Leicester and through network programmes.

One said – ‘his influence on the people he taught an on musical education as a whole has impacted the way music is taught in schools and continues today.  His passion and enthusiasm should be remembered by siting of a blue plaque in his memory in the place in Leicester where is all started’.

He was awarded an OBE in recognition of his work to inspire young musicians.