News and Gallery

Despite the weather being very wintery, we have enjoyed our Easter celebrations this year.  We had 10 chicks hatch through The Living Egg project funded by the PTA and children enjoyed watching the eggs hatch and then the chicks grow very quickly! Years 1 & 2 took part in an Easter Journey at Holy Trinity Church led by Rev Simon.  On the last day of the Spring Term our Reception, Year 1 and 2 year groups made and brought in some beautiful Easter baskets for our annual Easter parade.  Parents came into school to watch and everyone sang Easter songs.

On Friday 22nd March, Year 3 enjoyed a Romans and Celts Day in school.  Children and staff dressed as Romans or Celts and enjoyed activities such as dancing, mosaic making and collating their museum pieces that they had made at home.

On Tuesday 12th March 50 children from the Junior Choir travelled up to London by train to take part in Prom Praise for Schools (PP4S) at the Royal Albert Hall. This is a wonderful Christian musical event organised by All Souls Music for London Diocesan Board Schools. Archdeacon Junior Choir has sung in many PP4S concerts in the past and last took part in 2019.  PP4S 2024 was based around the story of King David, with actors, singers and dancers telling the story, the All Souls Orchestra and the Royal Albert Hall organ playing the music, and a massed choir of children from primary schools across London singing related songs and backing vocals. We arrived at the Royal Albert Hall early in the afternoon for a rehearsal with the orchestra. It was an amazing sight to see the hall from the outside as we walked up the steps opposite the Royal College of Music, and even more amazing to see it from the inside, with its red plush upholstery, gold fittings, and of course the iconic dome rising above us. After the rehearsal we had a break to eat a packed supper, then the Hall gradually filled up with an audience of parents and friends. The concert itself was wonderful, with a focus on the idea that it's not what you look like from the outside that's important - it's the kindness and love inside every one of us that really counts. We were really proud of all of our choir children for their exemplary behaviour and gorgeous singing. It was a long and exciting day, and we were very happy to climb onto the coach to take us back to school when it was all over. 

Last week we celebrated Book Week in school.  We were delighted to welcome back poet Rachel Piercey to Archdeacon who lead workshops for all children in Reception to Year 6.  Rachel also signed copies of her books for children and has inspired them all in their poetry writing.  During the week all year groups studied the book 'Our Tower' by Joseph Coelho and illustrated by Richard Johnson.  This book is about 3 children who go in search of adventure only to find that the magic of the ancient forest is not so different from the magic right at home in their Tower Block.  During our Book Week Assembly, children presented their thoughts and writing about 'Our Tower' to the school and on Friday 8th March, children were invited to come into school dressed in something linked to the theme 'Creating Magic'.  Children and staff dressed in some fabulous costumes and the whole school felt 'magical'!

(Pictures credit: Nicola Tree Photography  www.nicolatree.com)

On Friday 8th March, we welcomed Munira Wilson to Archdeacon Cambridge's School.  As well as holding our annual Book Week Costume Day, we were taking part in the Football Association's #LetGirlsPlay.  Munira met with our Girls Football Team who have made it through to the Last 16 of the Borough Tournament and she also joined in with the various football activities that our staff and Girls Football Team had organised for Archdeacon Girls.  Munira then held an assembly for our Years 4-6 who were able to ask her questions about her life and work as an MP.

Before half term, our School Council arranged a 'Heartbeat' Fundraising day to raise funds towards the new defibrillator at Holy Trinity Church.  Children were invited to come to school in their own clothes with a red/pink or heart theme if they wished and classes created collages of what hearts mean to them. The day raised over £600! The defibrillator is now in place and Year 5 & 6 councillors, Mrs Jones (School Council Lead) and Miss Lambe are pictured with Rev Simon from Holy Trinity Church.

Before half term, our Year 5 children enjoyed some action packed days during their residential School Journey.  During their stay, children and staff took part in caving, orienteering, low ropes, a night walk and pond dipping and also enjoyed the disco!  Some comments from the children's activity reports include 'We had a brilliant few days and time whizzed by.  From caving to the Night Walk, I'll never forget it!'  'The low ropes was the activity that scared me the most but by the end it was my favourite activity!'  'Year 5 all enjoyed doing our orienteering with maps and compasses to find our way around the site' 'I loved caving - it was one of my favourite activities'.

Congratulations to our team of 11 pupils from Years 4, 5 & 6 who took part in the Richmond Borough Swimming Gala Heats on Thursday 8th February.  We are really proud of the team who came back with many medals including gold for the 3 x 1 Girls Medley and gold in the 4 x 1 Mixed Relay Final.  We are delighted that our girls have won the Medium Schools Swimming Trophy.

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, the amazing Twickenham Conservation Volunteers worked hard in our Wildlife Area laying a hedge and clearing and tidying up the area for Spring and Summer.  We are so grateful to them for their time and expertise and staff and children will all benefit in this beautiful space.

On Monday 18^th December we held a whole school RE Day to explore the core Christian concepts of: God, Creation, The Fall, People of God, Incarnation, Gospel, Salvation and the Kingdom of God to help us with our understanding of the ‘Bible’s Big Story’ for Christians.

Each year group were given a Christian concept to investigate and then each child produced a piece of artwork to represent their given concept and a written explanation.

In the New Year, we will choose different pieces of the children’s artwork to represent each core Christian concept, which will then be used throughout the school to support RE learning.

Last week our Years 5 & 6 groups performed their Christmas Production 'Olivia' to parents.

Our Years 3 & 4 performed their Lessons and Carols at Holy Trinity Church last week.

Nursery and Reception and Years 1 & 2 performed their nativities to parents in the Large Hall in school last week.

On the evening of Wednesday 6th December, a number of our amazing Archdeacon staff walked 5K from the Star Pub in Hampton via The Three Kings in Twickenham and finally onto the Vic Inn in Richmond dressed as characters from the Nativity.  The walk was in aid of Shelter who support people at risk of homelessness and Archdeacon families and friends helped them raise over £2100!  They were met at the Vic Inn by our friendly Inn Keeper, Miss Lambe for a well deserved warming drink as it was very cold! 

Congratulations to our Girls Football Team who reached the Quarter Finals of the Borough Football Tournament in November after being placed 2nd in their Group.  Our team played brilliant showing a great positive attitude and togetherness as a team. Our Boys Football Team also played well in their Borough Football Tournament but unfortunately lost out in the knock out stages.  Both the girls and boys teams have played league matches against other local schools and have had  number of matches postponed to next term due to the heavy rain we have experienced.

Last week we held our second Wildlife Area Dig Day for the term and we completed the refurbishment of our Outdoor Learning Classroom.  Although the day started with torrential rain, we welcomed back former parents, friends and current parents, children and staff who worked hard all day and our Wildlife Area is looking fantastic!  We would also like to thank Les West, Tree Surgeon, who kindly donated the woodchip which we have spread on the pathways and Outdoor Learning Classroom

We had a fantastic turn out of families for our first Wildlife Dig Day of the year.  Everyone worked really hard for an hour or more on Saturday tidying up the Wildlife Area at the back of the school, moving woodchip and cutting back overgrowth.  We are looking forward to using our outdoor classroom again and classes will soon be pond dipping.  Our Dig Days are a great way to meet other families and enjoy the wonderful outdoor space together.  Many thanks to all our families and especially Ms van den Broek for all their hard work; our next Dig Day will be held in November when we will be preparing our outdoor space for the winter months.

On Tuesday 26th September, we held our famous Archdeacon Airport Day which is only held once every seven years! Each year group chose a country to fly to and children brought in a small suitcase which they had packed with five items they would need.  Passports had been made in class and the Small Hall was turned into a check in, security and departure lounge and the Large Hall was the plane and passport control.  We had two BA pilots and two BA cabin crew who are parents or friends of the school who 'flew' the children to their destination.  Children even enjoyed a biscuit and drink from the refreshment trolley.  Many thanks to Mrs Capon for organising such a fabulous day and thank you also to our wonderful pilots, cabin crew and our four ex pupils now at Orleans School who acted as baggage handlers.  We are also very grateful to  Archdeacon parents who volunteered as security and passport control throughout the day.

Year 5, have been reading 'The Story of the Windrush' by K.N, Chimbiri, as their core text this Summer Term.  The children learnt about the historical and social factors of the 'Windrush Generation' and planned an art installation with a view to convey their feelings and emotions. The installation was inspired by 'Dance' by Henri Matisse and the idea of a procession.

The children used photo images from original Windrush passengers along with flags from the countries that the Windrush and other vessels docked at to pick up passengers.  Children also thought about what skills, culture and flavours they bought to Britain.

Year 6 have enjoyed their residential trip to PGL Liddington this month.  They stopped off at Stonehenge on the way there and during their visit, they took part in climbing, orienteering, zip wire and team games.  It was a fantastic way to spend time together as a year group after their SATS and as they come to the end of their Primary School years.

As part of our celebrations for the Coronation of King Charles III, each Year Group has been learning about a different King or Queen for the United Kingdom.  The Year Groups have together a wall display in school about their King or Queen they studies.

Our Year 5 children have been busy in DT designing and sewing cushions based on the artist Sonia Delauney (1885 - 1889). Using geometric shapes and bold use of colour to design their cushion, children then used a variety of stitches including running stitch and blanket stitch and the sewing machine to put their cushion together.  Year 5 have also been studying The Egyptians as part of the history curriculum and have created wonderful masks.  We are all enjoying the displays of artwork in the school.

We were very relieved that the rain stayed away for our annual Infant Easter Parade in the Junior Playground.  This year Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children made colourful Easter Bonnets at home and sang their favourite Easter songs to watching parents.  Children were able to wear spring colours instead of school uniform for the day!

We have been enjoying watching our chicks hatch and grow during the past week.  All 10 eggs hatched between Tuesday and Wednesday last week and we have 6 girls and 4 boys.  Nursery and Reception children have been coming up in groups to see the chicks and later this week the chicks will be visiting some of the classrooms.  At the end of the week, the chicks will be returning to the farm.

Last week we had an invasion of Celt and Romans in school!  Year 3 celebrated the end of their history topic 'Invaders and Settlers' with a Celt and Roman Costume day.  Children had also made different objects including, coins, jewellery, shields, helmets and pots for the Year 3 Class Museums and during the day, our Celts and Romans made mosiac tiles and they also enjoyed listening to the Year 4 Brass Instrument concert! Before the end of term, Year 3 will be visiting the Roman Museum, Verulamium at St Albans.

Last week we celebrated the annual Book Week in school.  This year we had a focus on poetry and throughout the week every class had poetry based activities including writing their own poetry and learning a famous poem as a class.  The week culminated with a visit from local poet Rachel Piercey who led a whole school assembly and then hosted workshops for our Years 1-3 based on her woodland poetry.  Children found these workshops really inspirational and thoroughly enjoyed writing class woodland and animal poetry with her.  We also held a poetry themed costume day and children and staff came to school dressed up with a link to a poem of their choice. 

Our Year 6 children have been continuing their Greek DT topic and have made and painted some beautiful ancient Greek inspired pots.

Spring Term Sporting Fixtures - February 2023

We have had a very busy few weeks of sporting fixtures this Spring Term and it has been very pleasing to see so many pupils representing Archdeacon in football and netball matches, an Indoor local LDBS Athletics Tournament and Borough swimming heats at Pools on the Park in Richmond.  Both the girls and boys football teams have played in round robin league matches again other schools and we have had some good wins and draws.  Archdeacon were placed in Bronze position at the local LDBS Athletics Tournament at St Richard Reynolds School where we scored highest in four of the field events.  We had a very good win in our netball match against another Twickenham primary school where we won 7-4 and are looking forward to the Borough Netball Tournament after half term.  We are awaiting the results of the swimming heats but we know that we will have a number of finalists taking part in the Borough swimming finals in March.  We are very proud of all our children who have shown great attitude, behaviour and sportsmanship in these recent fixtures.  Please see the Sporting Events section in the Wider Curriculum section of the website for more detailed information about these fixtures.

Year 6 have been studying the Ancient Greeks and their DT project has been to create pull-along toys inspired by 'Athrymata'.  This is the ancient greek word for toys and archaeologists in Athens have uncovered wheeled pull-along toys dating back to 4000BC.  Year 6 have made their pull-along toys out of newspaper, masking tap and Mod-Roc.

Last week, parents enjoyed watching the Nursery and Reception and Years 1 & 2 Nativity plays, the Year 3 & 4 Lessons and Carols at Holy Trinity Church and the Years 5 & 6 Christmas Production 'Archie's Christmas'.  All the children acted, danced and sang beautifully and everyone is very proud of them.

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The children have been enjoying some wonderful Christmas activities in school provided by our PTA.  Together as a class, they visited the beautiful Santa's Grotto where they were given a class gift to unwrap.  They also visited our annual Family Present Stall where they were able to choose a gift for a family member or friend which was then wrapped for them to take home, ready to give at Christmas.  Many thanks to our fabulous PTA elves who put together the Grotto and Stall and made today such a wonderful experience for the school.

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Shortly before Half Term, our Years 5 & 6 Basketball Team took part in the Knights Basketball Tournament at Twickenham School. They won all their heats to reach the final where they played against St James School.  The final was a very close match which our team won with a golden basket in the last few seconds of the game.  Congratulations to our team who were fantastic ambassadors for the school and were able to wear their gold medals with pride for the rest of the day in school.  This win will guarantee the team a place in the Borough Champions Finals in May next year.

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On Thursday 6th October we celebrated Harvest Festival with a service for Years 2-6 at Holy Trinity Church and a service for Reception and Year 1 in the Small Hall.  Children have brought in a wonderful array of food and toiletries which will be combined with donations from the Church and given to our local foodbank.  Cash donations will also be combined with Holy Trinity Church and this year will be divided between the Twickenham Spear Homeless Charity as well as A Rocha and Tear Fund who are charities supporting people threatened by climate Change.

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On Saturday 24th September, ten members of Archdeacon Cambridge's Staff who called themselves 'The Archie Marchers', took part in the annual Shine Night Walk through London in aid of Cancer Relief.  They walked 13 miles starting at 8.45pm at night and finishing shortly before 2am!  It was a beautiful clear night and the London Landmarks looked fabulous as they were all lit up.  Collectively with friends, family and Archdeacon Families, they have raised over £5000.  Many congratulations to them! 

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Archdeacon Cambridge's School is now 180 years old which we celebrated at our Autumn Start of Term and Founder's Day Service at Holy Trinity Church last week.  Archdeacon Cambridge's School was founded in 1842, only thirteen years after Robert Peel founded the police force, nine years after the abolition of slave-owning in this country and two years after the introduction of the Penny Post with the Penny Black stamp.  The American Civil War took place twenty years later.

We also welcomed the start of the school year and mourned the death of Queen Elizabeth II.  During the service we sang the 'Life Lived with Grace' song that we had prepared for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the summer and we also sang the new National Anthem for King Charles III.

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We enjoyed wonderful summer weather for our annual Sports Week and Sports Days for Infants and Juniors last week.  During the week, we welcomed outsider sports providers who held workshops in a variety of different sports including karate, archery, rugby, dance, skipping, dodgeball, tri golf and volleyball.  Our children also enjoyed taking part in different team building and confidence games and we held a workshop on general health and well being.  Our Years 3-6 children also took part in swimming galas in the school pool.  On Friday 24th June we were able to hold our annual Sports Days on Twickenham Green and it was lovely that parents were able to watch this year.  Children competed in their house colours in running, throwing and jumping events and points were collected for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.  This year was the first time children were competing in the new house names and overall for Infants and Juniors, 'David Attenborough' was the winning Sports Day House.  'David Attenborough' House also won the Years 3-6 Swimming Galas. The week finished with the annual Staff vs Year 6 netball competition 'Golden Child' cheered on by the rest of the school in the Junior Playground and was won this year by Year 6.  Mr Bowie then presented the London 2012 Olympics Swimming Cup and the Diamond Jubilee Sports Day Plate to Year 6 children in 'David Attenborough' House.

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On the evening of Thursday 2nd June, in the middle of the half-term holiday, thirty-one Archdeacon choir children from Years 3 to 6 put their school uniform back on and made a trip to the Terrace at the top of Richmond Hill at the invitation of the new Mayor of Richmond, Julia Cambridge. The Mayor was due to light a beacon as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and our choir had been invited to sing as part of the ceremony.

There were speeches from Gareth Roberts, who is the Leader of Richmond Council, and from the Mayor herself. Our choir children sang two songs, a bugler played a fanfare, and then, while we waited for it to get completely dark, Gareth Roberts and Twickenham MP Munira Wilson came over to chat to our children.

More and more people arrived to watch the ceremony, then, at exactly 9.45pm, we all counted down from ten to one, and the Mayor lit the beacon. The moment the flames leapt into the air our choir children immediately sang "A Life Lived with Grace", which is the song that was especially commissioned for the lighting of Platinum Jubilee Beacons across the UK and the Commonwealth. And then, at the very end of the ceremony, we were able to look across from our high vantage point at the top of Richmond Hill to see the Windsor Castle fireworks exploding in the far distance.

We are really proud of our choir children: this was a really prestigious, unique occasion and our singers rose to it magnificently. They looked immaculate, behaved perfectly, and sounded fantastic. I have heard some lovely feedback from choir parents and members of the public, and Munira Wilson even tweeted about our choir! Many thanks to all the choir children and parents who came along to the event. It was a huge accolade to have been invited to perform, and it was a splendid occasion which I'm sure all those who attended will remember for a very long time.

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The culmination of our Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations was our whole school tea party in the Junior Playground on Friday afternoon.  Nursery to Reception, including teachers, had dressed up in red, white and blue colours or in the fashion or as a celebrity from the decade that they had been allocated.  It was a beautiful hot sunny day and PTA parent volunteers helped us set up the playground with tables and benches and bunting.  We had special invited guests including past and present governors, Bishop Graham (Bishop of Kensington) and Mark Newton from the LDBS. Each year group had put together a dance from their decade which they performed starting with Year 6 who performed Jail House Rock from the 1950's and finishing with Year 1 who performed the Cha Cha Slide from the 2000's.  Afternoon tea was then served to all the guests.  Many thanks to Mrs Capon, Mrs Buncher and Mr Hawkes for the organisation of our tea party and  Mrs Watts, Mrs Smith and the PTA for sponsoring and supporting the day. It was a very special and memorable occasion.

Each Year Group have been learning about a different decade during the Queen's reign and as part of this, we have put together a magnificent Art Exhibition with portraits of famous or influential people during these decades as well as portraits of the Queen herself.  We are very proud of our '70 Years of Famous Faces' Art Exhibition and delighted that parents have been able to come into school and view the exhibition with their children.  

On Monday we started our Queen's Platinum Jubilee Week celebrations with a visit from Cllr Geoff Acton, Mayor of Richmond.  The Mayor was invited to plant a Rowan tree at the front of the school as the Queen has particularly asked for trees to be planted to mark the occasion.  Our school choirs sang the Queen's Jubilee song and the Mayor and his wife were given a tour of the school by members of the School Council and Miss Lambe.  During the tour, the Mayor had the opportunity to view the Jubilee activities that children were enjoying in classrooms as well as to sit on the magnificent throne and view the beautiful crown that our Art Department have made.  We then held a tea party for the Mayor, his wife, guests from the PTA, Governing Board and School Council.  It really was a very special way to start our week of celebrations!

At the end of March, our Year 5 and 6 Basketball team took part in their first tournament since lockdown. The was extremely excited and determined to get into the finals from the outset! There was 6 teams from various schools in the local area and the children went to their first game full of energy. They worked well as a team and astonishingly won their first game 22-8. 

Sadly, after this extraordinary victory, the children did not win any more games in the round robin; but children stayed positive, congratulated their team mates and celebrated the small victories during the games. After the initial matches, we were thought we were to go home, but we were shocked to discover we had made it into the semi-finals as our goal difference was so great from the first game. 

We did not win our semi-final, however the team we played went on to win the whole tournament.  Whilst it was disappointing not to come away with any trophies, our team was well-mannered, happy and gracious are even in defeat.  We were then very pleased to be offered a wildcard to take part in the Basketball Finals in April.

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Our Year 5 children have been learning about the Egyptians this term and at home have created some fabulous pyramids.  We are enjoying their displays in school which contain pyramids made using lego, cereal, marshmallows and biscuits, card and even kitchen sponges!  Some of the pyramids open to show jelly tombs inside.  

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Earlier in January, our Years 3 & 6 classes took part in a science workshop about Mary Anning who was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector born in 1799.  She became known for incredible finds she made in the cliffs at Lyme Regis in Dorset including the ichthyosaurus (fish lizard) and a complete skeleton of a plesiosaurus .  During the workshop, children learnt about her life, how she discovered the fossils and even had the opportunity to make some fossils of their own.  Children were amazed to learn that as a woman at that time, she was not recognised or rewarded for her scientific discoveries.

We have had a busy December in school with Year Groups rehearsing, performing and filming their Christmas Nativities and Production and our Large Hall has been a wonderful theatre for them.  Children also enjoyed visiting the magical Santa's Grotto with our own PTA Elves.  They listened to a special message from Santa and were given a special medal for making it onto his 'Nice' list.  Our Year 3 and 4 year groups attended the End of Term Service at Holy Trinity which was live streamed into the classrooms for other year groups and our Year 3 readers delivered their pieces beautifully.  On the final day of term, everyone has enjoyed wearing festive colours or Christmas jumpers instead of uniform.

Archdeacon Cambridge's School was pleased to contribute to the Field of Poppies as part of Remembrance Day Commemorations 2022 at Holy Trinity Church.  For half term homework, families made poppies using recycled plastic bottles for the Poppy Field and knitted poppies for a display inside the church.