Term 4

The Big Plastic Count

We joined thousands of schools across the UK to take part in The Big Plastic Count. We counted our plastic waste for one week and recorded it on a tally chart. After a week we submitted our data online at school. This data will help to persuade government that we need to be using more sustainable  materials. We are helping to look after our amazing planet. 

Term 4

Today is come as an adjective day. As you can see the staff and children have enjoyed dressing up as an adjective and getting involved in the different activities the staff have created for the children. 

Term 4

The school has been running a book swap shop this week giving people the chance to swap any book they have finished with for a completely different title. 

Term 4

As part of World Book Day, we have been holding a week of celebrations, events and competitions to highlight the importance of reading. The child have been enjoying a Book Cafe where they get the chance to discover new titles and complete different activities.

Term 3

This term saw the school involved in Safer Internet Day. Every class was involved in learning about how to be safe online which supported their regular learning about I.C.T and how to be safe when using the internet. After that week many children created their own posters and pieces of work at home. One piece in particular really stood out. The homework had been carefully researched grading many of the apps we know for their content and how inappropriate it could be.  

Term 2 - STEM - RAF Glider Challenge

Year 5 and Year 6 were invited to soar into a world of innovation and creativity during a full day virtual workshop that brought the excitement of aerospace engineering right into the classroom.

During the day the children designed, built and then tested three unique gliders.

Term 2 Christmas STEM Quiz 

Year 5 and 6 participated in an online live STEM quiz with a Christmas theme run by a female engineer. There were 10 questions which covered all areas of biology, physics and chemistry from the KS2 curriculum. Our favourite questions were one about which parachute would be best for Father Christmas, what happened to Advent calendar chocolate of you leave it next to the radiator, and which part of the Christmas dinner contains the most protein.

Term 2 2023-2023

Science Ambassadors

Mrs Martin proudly presents this years science ambassadors.

Reuben, Harlem and Brody have always asked deep thinking, curious questions and shown a true love for science. They will help to promote science across the school. 

Science Photograph Competition

We had an overwhelming response to this year's photograph competition. Photos included a wide range of subjects from our beautiful natural world and living organisms, to engineering accomplishments and marvellous materials. It has created a real buzz with lots of curious science talk between both staff and children. !

Winner: Lily-Rose ‘Waving Bear’

Runners-up: Verity ‘White Tiger’ and Theo ‘Red Arrows’

Term 1 2023-2024

This September, the whole school started off the year looking at some beautiful poetry from a book called 'The Lost Words'. The poems in this book are all about the amazing, natural world around us. It is a joyful celebration - in art and words - of  nature and its wonders. All the poems in the book are acrostics - so it gave us all a chance to learn lots of new vocabulary and experiment with language. 

Take a look at our beautiful work below:

Term 6

Science Jamboree

Year 6 pupils were invited to take part in this years Science Jamboree at Discovery Park. It was particularly exciting as it was the first Jamboree to take place face-to-face since 2019! The event was an inspiring Science Extravaganza. The children met many STEM Professionals through interactive workshops and a Space Show. 

Term 6 

Year 5 and Year 6 were visited by a Marine Engineer sponsored by the Sea Cadets. The children had lots of fun taking part is practical activities which increased their knowledge and understanding of buoyancy, as well as their practical understanding of the skills used by engineers. It was an inspiring lesson which linked learning in the classroom to the real world. 

Term 6 

Year 6 visited APS Group nurseries in Ash today. The leading supplier of British tomatoes. This trip embedded the children's existing science knowledge, as well as providing links between what we learn in the classroom and the real world. The children greatly increased their science capital and now have a better understanding of the many STEM roles and careers within the business. 

Term 5 - How do we keep a happy healthy smile? How do we look after our teeth?

Castle Class were visited by two experts to help answer our science questions - a dental therapist and a dental nurse from Castle Street Dental Practice. We now know how to look after our teeth to make sure we have a healthy happy smile. 

Term 4 - Stargazing Evening

Children and parents attended a stargazing evening led by Tom Holloway from the Primary Science Teaching Trust (PSTT). Unfortunately, cloudy skies and rain prevented us from exploring the nights sky. However, the weather did not dampen our sprits and the evening was a huge success. We took a journey through space and met all the planets in our solar system, tested gravitational fields by jumping, laughed at astronauts falling over on the moon, as well as launching rockets! It was a great evening. Thank you Tom, children and parents for making it such a wonderful evening of science!

Term 4 - British Science Week

The whole school took part in a KCSP Science Day. All Primary schools across the Trust took part. After an exciting day of working scientifically and completing investigations, classes reported their findings to other schools across Kent. It was a wonderful day that created a real buzz about science across the school.

Reception Class, Year 1 and Year 2 used secondary sources to learn about animals that lay eggs and build nests. The children built nests and tested them against strong winds with a hairdryer!

Year 3 and Year 4 explored sound and vibrations. The children made a seismometer to measure the vibrations and completed comparative tests to find where and when was the nosiest place at St Richard's. 

Year 5 and Year 6 braved the elements and completed their learning outdoors - Worm Hunting. The children made careful observations,  classified the worms and used scientific equipment to test the soil pH. 

Term 4

On Friday 3rd March, the school had some special visitors from the Royal British Legion. The school is now firmly affiliated with the RBL and together we have agreed to support each other to benefit and help our local communities.

It was a special moment to receive this certificate on behalf of the school.

We are currently making a focus area in the school to celebrate our new links with the Royal British Legion which can be added to year on year.

Term 3

The pictures of Year R celebrating Chinese New Year.

Term 3

This term has seen yet another successful cultural week across the school. Flags from across the world covered the school and in Reception there was a celebration of Chinese New Year. Each class has created an amazing display in the hall which has been shared here so everyone can see all of the different cultures and countries we have celebrated. 

Term 3

STEM Live Lesson

Mission: Space Cadets! Following in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong.

Year 1 took part in an inspiring live lesson. We learnt all about what it takes to become an astronaut. Including how to fasten seats belts, how to brush our teeth and how to exercises to keep our muscles strong in Space.

Term 2 - Science Photograph Competition 

The amazing Science Photographs have made an impressive display in the hall. 

Many congratulations to the winner Aksara for her stunning photograph 'Bubble on a Windscreen' and runners up Noah 'Hamster - Peanut Butter' and Khloe 'Kissing Penguins'.  

Term 2 - Year 6 Live Lesson - 'Factory of the Future'. 

Year 6 took part in an interactive live science lesson hosted by a qualified engineer and his robot.

We had to create a net zero carbon emissions 'Factory of the Future'.

Term 1

Science Ambassadors

Mrs Martin proudly presents the new Science Ambassadors for this academic year.

The Science Ambassadors play an important part in promoting and developing science in the school, ensuring science continues to have a high profile. 

Term 1 2022

Have a sneak peak at our new look. The school has had a facelift, new gym equipment and after a very clear instruction through pupil voice we have re-vamped the library to look like a jungle. 

Term 6 - Safari Pete

The whole school enjoyed a visit from Safari Pete during the final week of term. Safari Pete is an animal expert and a conservationist, and he brought a few friends to help support our learning. It was a fantastic engaging experience, allowing the children to get close and pet some of the animals. The children amazed Safari Pete with their knowledge !

Orla took great care of her sunflower. She planted it in a sunny place and made sure it had plenty of water. Orla took lots of photos to show how well it grew overtime. Great Job Orla! Enjoy your prize over the summer holidays. 

Term 6 - Year 6 Dover Technical College

Year 6 spent a motivational morning at the local college increasing their understanding of the world beyond primary school, increasing their science capital and developing future career aspirations. It was a fabulous morning which included time in the mechanics and engineering departments.  Children worked in teams to build a go-kart and build a bridge. 

Term 6 - Nurse Visit

As part of transition and career week, Year 6 were visited by a local nurse.  

Term 6

Year 3 have been using their art skills mixing colours carefully to such amazing effect. 

Term 6 Giraffes Can't Dance

Our school had a real treat on Thursday 16th June when we had some students join us from Canterbury Academy. The students performed parts of Giraffes can't dance which held our children in awe of what they saw. The hall was filled with gasps as the children watched lifts, dances and listened to the songs. By the time it was over all the children danced out of the hall truly inspired by what they saw. 

A big thank to the teachers and students who came to visit. 

Term 6

In June we were visited by some lovely people from Nationwide. They ran a session with Year 6 and Year 4 all about money lessons for now and the future. They covered topics such as keeping money safe online, how to save for the future, bank accounts as well as did the children know how much money was needed to buy items. These amazing sessions really helped support the children's understanding of finances for now and in the future which is part of our PHSE curriculum.

We would like to say a big thank you for those sessions. 

#buildingbetterbeginnings

Term 5 2022

This term Year 4 have been learning about rivers. They combined their amazing art skills with geography to produce these maps of how a river is formed. During the session they carefully chose different textiles and materials as a means of extending their work. To create the design the class analysed different pieces of  evidence to draw their own conclusions on how best to highlight this information. 

Mr Baldwin, a horticulturist from APS Group - the UK's leading supplier of British tomatoes - visited Year 5 and Year 6 to explain how science is used to ensure maximum crops of tomatoes are harvested. It was fascinating to learn about the needs of the plants and how these are monitored and regulated to ensure lots of fruit are produced. The children were excited to see the magnified bugs that are used to keep the plants healthy and to hear the buzz from the bumble bees needed for pollination. 

Mr Baldwin emailed to praise our science focused Year 5 & 6's. He was impressed by their enthusiasm and quality of questions asked. Great job St Richard's Super Scientists! 

Term 5 Year 3

Year 3 have been working hard in art working with clay. Here are some wonderful examples of their dragon eyes. To achieve this the children have been really focused on their art skills in order to join clay adequately and work independently. As you can see they did some excellent work to construct a simple clay base for extending and modelling other shapes.

Term 5 2022

On Monday 25th April, we had the Police come to school to run a special assembly. The Police have been running a special mini cadet scheme for children in KS2. The scheme has had an amazing impact with the children who have enjoyed the different sessions, role playing and a visit to the Police station and prison cells. The children received certificates and were allowed to keep their mini cadet hats and pocket note books to remember the scheme by.

The Police Sergeant commented about the excellent behaviour of the children in the assembly hall, how amazingly reflective they were and how he would follow their example.

We would like to thank the Police from Dover Police station for their support and encouragement of the children here at St Richard's.

Term 4 KCSP Green Initiative Competition - Gardening Project - Highly Commended!

Last month Year 6 and KS2 Gardening Club entered a KCSP Green Initiative Competition.

The children had to design and plan a green initiative which would support their long-term sustainable future and that would involve and engage the whole of the school community.

The children completed a submission to renovate the area around the outdoor classroom which would improve gardening opportunities for everyone. 

Fantastic News! The submission was awarded 'Highly Commended' with a cash prize to implement their initiatives and provide more gardening opportunities for everyone at St Richard's. 

The children's entry hard work was praised for its high quality. The judges were particularly impressed by how passionately and knowledgably the children spoke about their ideas and plans for our school. 

Term 4

British Science Week 

The whole school took part in a KCSP Science Day. All Primary schools across the Trust took part. After an exciting day of working scientifically and completing investigations, classes reported their findings to other schools across Kent. It was a wonderful day that created a real buzz about science across the school.

Reception Class/ Year 1 and Year 4 made 'Rocket Mice' and tested how far they could make them fly. Year 3 and Year 4 investigated how far they could make a bottle roll. Year 5 & Year 6 completed an investigation to find out how to make a bottle successfully flip and land on its base. 

Term 4 2022

This week, children from Year 6 enjoyed a great morning visiting St Edmund's Science labs to aid their transition to secondary school. The Science Department at St Edmund's provided the opportunity for Year 6 children to dissect a chicken wing and to make a model to help understand how muscles work together in pairs. It was a fantastic morning !

Term 3 2022 Cultural week

This week the school has been celebrating many different cultures from across the world. The children have produced art work inspired by the Aboriginal people of Australia, Chinese dragons are being prepared, sushi has been tried and created, a variety of stories have been shared across the school, children have researched different counties, used maps and atlases to find where these countries are and Inuksuk statues have been created in clay. 

The children have loved this style of learning and they have enjoyed learning about all of these different cultures. The week started off with the corridors being decorated by Mr Kinnear and the creativity didn't stop there. 

Term 3 2022

Stella Maris were amazingly lucky to be able to “Borrow the Moon”. The priceless lunar samples were collected in the late 1960s and early 1970s during some of NASA’s first manned space missions to the Moon. Plans had been made for our children to join them, but unfortunately due to covid this was no longer possible. Our Science Ambassadors were invited to represent the school. They were given the unique opportunity to actually touch a piece of space rock and hold the moon in their hands! In their words it wa​s a ‘memorable’ and ‘inspiring’ morning. 

On Friday the whole school enjoyed a trip to Cineworld. The children were fantastic as they walked from the school to Cineworld. Their good behaviour was commented upon by members of the public and each class crossed the roads very safely. The children loved the film and many commented it was the first time they had been to the cinema, a fantastic experience. 

I.C.T. Term 2 Wednesday 24th November 2021

On Thursday 25th November, Mrs Ciantar ran an excellent parent workshop on e-safety and Purple Mash. She explained how Purple Mash can offer games to children which are advert free, no chat rooms and content appropriate. Mrs Ciantar highlighted how the school is using social media to spread the e-safety message as well as the school webpage. The CEOP button and function was shared with the parents. Many commented upon how useful the talk was to keep their children safe. 

At the end of last academic school year, Year 5 children were invited to taken part in a Great Science Share. The children completed a ‘Balancing Can Investigation’ and thought carefully about how to share their findings.

Neil, Santosh and Gavin completed a Balancing Can Investigation to find out the minimum and maximum volumes of water needed to balance the can. Their detailed presentation included a PowerPoint with video inserts. Mr Langley, Academy Principal and Science Lead from Stella Maris, commented on how professional their presentation was – one of the best he had ever seen!

Many Congratulations Nail, Santhosh and Gavin! Amazing St Richard’s Super Scientists!

Term 2 17th November 2021 PHSE.

The Year 4 children were asked as part of their PHSE lesson what they loved and here are some of their lovely responses. 

Term 2 2021 Remembrance Day 11th November 2021

Today has been very special at school. All of the children took time to pay their respects to those who have given their lives in past conflicts. Each class took time to reflect on this and create their own poppies. 

Year R created poppy collages using tissue paper.
Year 1 created poppies using ribbon and weaving
Year 2 created tie dye poppies.
Year 3 printed poppies on to a white sheet using potatoes.
Year 4 created collage poppies using fabric scraps.
Year 5 took the time to stitch felt poppies.
Year 6  were stitching felt poppies but they also stitched them altogether to create one large poppy!

The mood of the day was quiet, reflective and thoughtful. The work the children produced was amazing and they should be proud of themselves. Please go to our facebook page to see the video they watched during the assembly. 

Term 2 2021 Tuesday 9th November 2021

Today was lovely and we invited parents into the school to visit Reception, talk to children and staff. The atmosphere was fantastic and positive whilst the children quickly settled into Reception and seemed quite at home. The Year 6 children who gave families a tour to the Reception class were amazing and many parents commented on what fantastic role models they were. 

Term 2 2021

Our journey through Maths.

This week the new Math's display added to the downstairs corridor. This work shows each class's work within the topic of Place Value from Year R to Year 6 and how each class covers the curriculum. 

Term 2 5th November 2021

As you walk through the corridor remember to look up! Year 3 have an excellent display on the ceiling! After a wonderful lesson on how to be safe on Firework's Night, Year 3 created an great piece of artwork to reflect they things they had observed and experienced, using chalk.

Term 2 2021

Mr Kinnear has created an excellent display which shows the journey of French through the school. The different work highlights what the children have covered in each year group, building on the previous year's skills. The children have talked about how much they enjoy this subject and the subjects they have learnt about. In January, Mr Kinnear has a special week planned which will have a huge focus on Modern Foreign Languages, different cultures from across the world as well as Chinese New Year. We are all looking forward to this. 

This term Year 2 studied Superheroes. In the style of Van Gogh's Starry Night the children created their own superhero skylines. The children used blue and yellow, just like Van Gogh, for important features and they created white swirls with thick paint. The aim was to use that thick paint to create visible brushstrokes. An excellent job.

Term 1

Friday 22nd October 2021

A Dover Museum trip. A big thank you to parents who came with the Year 1 class so everyone could enjoy this trip. The children absolutely loved the experience and they were full of information when they returned. 

Term 1 2021 PE

Bikeability 

This term, some of our year 5 and 6 pupils competed their bikeability course about riding their bikes safely and using them on the road. We had everyone pass Level 1 and most complete Level 2. We'll done to all the children who took part. 

Football girls 

Thursday 14th October 2021 

The girls showed just how amazing they are in their character and enjoyment of playing football for the school. They played every game with huge smiles and they all enjoyed every minute of it. 

There were moments of magic from all the players: 

Ava led well from the front covering lots of ground to make tackles and play the ball. She also scored our only goal. 

Maya put in some amazing volleys and tracked back well to make some covering tackles. 

Chloe made some accurate passes and took some large goal kicks. 

Hettie grew with confidence as she gained more experience in goal which led to an amazing 0-0 draw with a very strong opposition. 

Honey ran her heart out, chasing down her clearing kicks, made some goal saving tackles and had the largest smile the whole time. 

Vanessa used her strength to push the opposition off the ball. 

Maria's defensive work was excellent, making huge clearance kicks off both feet. 

Nicola was everywhere, chasing the ball all around the pitch and giving the opposition a hard time. 

Tatum marked the opposition strikers well by preventing them from making clear passes. 

Emma was a rock on the pitch, knocking the ball out of play, taking good throw ins and defending with all her might. 

The whole team should be proud of themselves as their first tournament playing together.

Tag rugby 

Our first sports competition of 2021! After 2 years of no competitions outside of school our Tag Rugby team did amazing, each of our players showed their skills off on the pitch! 

Emma led the team well with strong running and huge effort as she played almost every minute. Keldon continued to show his skills with passing the ball accurately to team mates and not giving up. Nicholas built his confidence in running at and around the other teams and made some excellent steals of the tags. Arul was able to show his speed and excellent ability to avoid getting his tags taken and made some very long, windy runs. Oliver demonstrated his excellent teamwork with his support playing running hard to support his teammates and worked hard to chance down the other team. Finally, Karina used her injection of pace to get the team close to the oppositions goal line on many occasions. 

The whole team should be immensely proud of themselves as they represented the school brilliantly and the other schools were commenting on their skills and their ability to work really well as a team. 

Term 1

Walking with Amal. Wednesday 20th October 2021

Today, many of the children, staff and families of St Richard's came together to take part in the 'walk with Amal.' The children and families were given a lantern which had been equipped with bulb to light the way. With many other local groups and schools we followed Amal through the streets of Dover, then we made our way to Dover Castle. Outside the main gates to the Castle everyone was able to come together and see this amazing creation. Everyone's spirits were really high and there was a lovely atmosphere which even the rain couldn't dampen at the end. A wonderful evening.

Term 1 Hello Yellow day - https://www.youngminds.org.uk/support-us/fundraising/helloyellow/

It was lovely to see the school as a sea of yellow as the children brightened up the school wearing yellow to support young people's mental health. Everyone experienced activities to help their mental health and learn activities to support that in the future independently. There were mindful activities using lemons, trips to the park and grounding activities!

Term 1

National poetry day. 

Today, we had a very special assembly. All week the children have been learning different poems for our poetry reading competition. It has been wonderful to see so many children walking around the school especially at playtime learning different poems to recite in assembly. By the end of the week, we had the final few children recite their poems to the rest of the school. They were absolutely amazing! We were grateful to St Edmund's School (https://www.st-edmunds.com/) for producing a video where staff and children read their favourite poems in English as well as other languages from around the world. The standard was fantastic, well done to everyone involved.

Term 1 

Library visit. Wednesday 6th October 2021

Today we enjoyed a visit from the Dover librarian, she came in to read to the whole school as part of an assembly. Why? It is national libraries week! 

The assembly was 20 minutes long and a huge amount of information was shared. Did you know you can borrow up to 30 books from the library? That is a lot of reading. The story telling was wonderful and the whole school sat enthralled listening to her every word. Make sure you go on down to Dover Library and get you Library card today. It is all free. 

Term 1 - Walk with Amal.

Year 5 and 6 were able to enjoy working with a charity group which is currently organising the ‘walk with Amal' campaign.  Amal is a large puppet built by the same people who created Warhorse! The puppet of Amal is touring the country and St Richard’s was chosen as a venue to make special lanterns which could be used in a walk around Dover. The children had a great time, learning how to construct this challenging D.T. project. They tied together the frame and then covered each lantern using Latex to harden the project ready for the walk. A very tricky piece of work but as you can see the build is fantastic.  The group aims to walk Amal around Dover on Wednesday 20th October 2021 6.15pm - 8.30pm and everyone is invited to join them. Please visit their website for more details https://www.walkwithamal.org/

Term 1 2021

This week, despite the fuel crisis we have managed to jet the children up, up and away to the outer edges of the Solar System. Years 4 and 5 enjoyed the visit by the Planetarium where they were able to gaze at the stars and see the different planets. The current topic in Year 5 ' is there anybody out there?' and this visit really assisted their learning and inspired the class to research more.

KS1 and KS2 took part in 'Spaceship Earth Show'. A live lesson where we joined Mission Control on an exciting Earth observation mission, viewing our beautiful planet from space and visiting orbiting satellites that are helping us to combat climate change.

Term 1 2021

It has been a busy start to the term. Year 6 started the term with a wonderful workshop from Portals to the Past. 

https://www.portalstothepast.co.uk/ Year 6 were transported through time to Ancient South America where they discovered facts about the Maya. 

Children had the chance to participate in a fascinating and immersive range of activities in Maya society, ranging from Mesoamerica ballgames, ancient rituals and so much more such as explaining the process of a human sacrifice! No one was safe!