News and Gallery

Last week Archdeacon Richard Frank visited the school and led Vicar's Collective Worship along with Rev Simon.  He told children what is involved in his job, including being Rev Simon's boss and held a 'Questions and Answers' session with the children. Archdeacon Richard is photographed with Rev Simon and our School Council members in Years 2-6. 

Congratulations to our Kindness Day Ambassadors who were awarded certificates by Miss Lambe on Kindness Day last week.  One representative was chosen from each Year Group by staff for showing exceptional kindness so far this school year.

Archdeacon Girls' football team kicked off the new season just before half term with a barnstorming display against Twickenham Primary Academy. The players showed very promising team work and were especially hard-working and determined in defence. After four quarters, the final score was a thumping 11-0 win away from home. There were some stand-out performance from girls playing in their first ever football game. This week, the full girls' football squad played against Trafalgar School, on the neutral turf of Waldegrave. Expectation and confidence was high among the group—and they delivered. Playing two games side by side, the first game score line was 5-1 and the second was 5-0. In both games, the players showed excellent passing and build up play in attack and more determined defending to limit Trafalgar to only one goal. These games have been excellent warm up for the girls' first tournament next week.

On Thursday 10th July, 9 Year 5 boys from Archdeacon Cambridge's participated in the annual Year 5 Borough Cricket Tournament.  The sun was on on full show and shade was hard to come by!  The boys started off the tournament with comprehensive victories over Borough Sports champions East Sheen, Hampton Hill and Trafalgar.  After topping the group, the team were placed into the final against a strong Barnes Primary side.  After a cautious but effective inning with the bat, the boys had a challenge on their hands.  After excellent catches by James and Alfie, alongside some excellent bowling from Daniel and Ollie, the boys came out victorious!  An excellent achievement from all involved.  They all showed wonderful dedication, team work and resilience throughout.  After a brief inspection of the trophy, this is the first time Archdeacon Cambridge's will be named on it.  History Makers!  Well done to James M, Daniel H, Alfie Le, Thomas M, Zidan W, Ollie S Finn O, Larry C and Alex S.

Congratulations to our Borough Sports Athletics Team who after taking part in Borough Heats St Mary's Running Track at the beginning of June, qualified to take part in the Finals last week.  This event was not only for primary schools but they were sharing the track with secondary schools and adult elite runners.  Our mixed relay team qualified for the finals and they came 4th in the Borough!  A special mention to also Ciara who  competed in both the spring and long-distance final.  We are very proud of them!

Many thanks to our amazing PTA who organised a wonderful Summer Fair last week.  We enjoyed beautiful, sunny weather and families came along to enjoy traditional games, face painting, the tombola's, the BBQ and refreshments.  We also had an outside silent disco and a bouncy castle in the Small Hall.  Thank you to the Staff who ran the Snack Stall and all the parents who helped set up, run stalls and clear away at the end of the day.

We had beautiful weather for our May Dig Day in the Wildlife Area and lots of families came along to help tidy up, build notice boards, spread wood chip on pathways and enjoy the wonderful cake selection!  

On Wednesday 2nd April, the Junior Choir took part in the annual Richmond Music Trust Singing Festival at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.  This is a really popular event organised as four concerts over two days, and it's an opportunity for primary schools in the Borough to gather together to sing different group songs in harmony across the auditorium and to perform their own solo songs on the stage to an audience of parents and friends.  This year's theme was 'Wonderful World' and we were treated to a wide range and variety of songs chosen and performed by the schools in our concert.  Our children rose to the occasion and behaved impeccably as well as singing beautifully on their own and in the group songs.  Our Junior Choir also song beautifully at our end-of-term service as did the Year 3 Training Choir.  We also have a new Year 2 choir who are learning the basics of being in a choir.

Our Easter celebrations began with our annual chick hatching over the past 2 weeks. Our 5 girl chicks and 2 boy chicks have been very entertaining and visited classrooms and children enjoyed watching them in the School Foyer area.  Years 5 & 6 went to St Michael's Church to learn about the Stations of the Cross and the Easter Experience and on Thursday celebrated our End of Term Service at Holy Trinity Church with Rev Simon.  On the last day of term, Infant children wore Spring Colours and wore their wonderful Easter Bonnets that they had made at home.  The weather was beautiful and sunny for our parade and the parents enjoyed their singing of 'Spring Chicken'.

Staff and children enjoyed Science Week at Archdeacon Cambridge's. On Monday, all children in Reception - Year 6 took part in science workshops on the theme of 'Adapt & Change'.  All year groups also measured the height of every child and worked out the average height within the year group.  They then drew around the child who was the average height and made paper cut outs which were painted in school uniform colours.  We now have a wonderful visual display in the Large Hall of how children adapt, change and grow taller throughout their time at Primary School!  Many thanks to Mrs Taylor for organising a fun and interesting Science Week.

Staff and children have enjoyed celebrating Book Week with various book activities throughout the week.  Reception - Year 6 have been using the book 'You Belong Here' by M.H.Clark to explore the theme of belonging and on Friday children and staff are able to dress up as their favourite book character.  We have also been running our own 'Masked Reader' throughout the week and children watched recorded segments of mystery staff members reading a book and guessed as a class who each of the Staff Masked Readers might be.  Our Masked Readers were unmasked during our Book Week Assembly on Friday and  'Stick Man' was revealed to be Mrs Rigby, 'The Gigantic Turnip' was Ms van den Broek, 'The Iron Man' was Mrs Buncher and 'Oliver and the Seawigs' was Mr Dawson.

On Valentines Day before Half Term (February 14th), the School Council organised a 'Kindness Day'.  Children and staff dressed in red, pink or purple colours and children surprised teachers or class mates with acts of kindness through out the day.  In the Office Reception area, we now have our Kindness Tree and children have written kind messages on hanging hearts.  They also painted kind words and thoughts on rocks and stones which have been dotted around the school for everyone to find.

Before half term, Year 4 visited Hampton Court Palace for the day.  During the day, they enjoyed looking around the palace and gardens and learnt about the Tudors with a guide wearing Tudor dress.

Boys Football Team Success - January 2025

Congratulations to our Boys Year 5 & 6 Football Team who played in 3 matches against local schools last week.  They drew 2-2 with Orleans Primary,  won 4-2 versus TPA and 6-0 versus SRR.  These are great results and our team showed great sportsmanship and skill.

Archdeacon Cambridge's is a Music Mark School - January 2025

We are delighted to be designated a Music Mark School in recognition of our commitment to providing  high-quality music education for all children.

We have had a busy half term of singing for our Junior Choir Children.  Not only have children been rehearsing and singing in their Christmas shows, but there have also been seven Junior Choir performances! The first performance was singing at the Mayor's Thanksgiving Service at St Mary's Church, Twickenham on Sunday 17th November.  Year 5 & 6 members of the choir also sang an assortment of Christmas carols at the Squires Garden Centre Shopping Evening to a large and enthusiastic audience of parents, friends and shoppers.  Year 6 Junior Choir children sang in the local community at the Gifford Lodge Christmas Coffee Morning and the whole choir sang at the Holy Trinity Pop Up Coffee Morning.

The Junior choir performed at Holy Trinity Church, joining the Trinity Singers at the hugely popular candle-lit Carol Service on Sunday 15th December where together they sang a beautiful rendition of Away in a Manger.  Our Junior Choir also showed off their beautiful harmonies and singing at our annual End of Term and Christmas Service during the carols.

The absolute highlight of the Junior Choir's activities was on the evening of Sunday 8th December where they had been invited to perform a Christmas Concert jointly with the prestigious West London Chamber Choir at St James' Church, Hampton Hill.  We have sung with this choir before but this time were asked to perform two longer challenging Christmas vocal works 'Christus Natus Est' by Cecilia McDowall and the song cycle 'On Christmas Night' by Bob Chilcott.  Not only did the children sing alongside the adults (in Latin) but they also sang six carols by themselves and the results were spectacular.  We received hearty cheers from the audience and many compliments, including from award-winning conductor Hilary Campbell who was very impressed with the standard of the choir as well as their behaviour and organisation. 

Many thanks to children and especially Ms Dallosso for all the wonderful singing that we have been enjoying from the Junior Choir this Christmas.  Thank you too, to all the Junior Choir parents for supporting the children in their rehearsals and performances.

The PTA hosted a fabulous day of Christmas Activities for Nursery - Year 6 including Father Christmas in his Grotto and the annual Family Present Stall (Elfridges!).  Classes visited Father Christmas and were given a class present and at the Family Present Stall, children were able to choose a present for a family member which was then wrapped for them to take home and save for Christmas Day.  The PTA also provided the classes with a Christmas craft to make in their classrooms.  Our PTA Christmas Activities Day is a wonderful way for the school to start the Festive Season.

On Wednesday 20th November, we welcomed Bishop Emma to Archdeacon Cambridge's school.  Bishop Emma started the morning by leading our Wednesday Collective Worship with Reverend Simon from Holy Trinity Church during which the children had the opportunity to ask some questions in 'Grill a Bishop' and came up with some challenging questions!  Children were also able to to try on her mitre and construct and hold her crosier.  After Collective Worship, Bishop Emma and Reverend Simon toured the school and met with children and staff in their classrooms. 

Last Saturday, we had our final Wildlife Area Dig Day for the year and after a very wet start to the day the sun came out.  Children, Parents and staff worked hard making bug hotels with stones, wood, broken pots, pipe and hay and enjoyed spending time at the pond watching Theresa prepare the pond for winter.

Reception, Infant and Year 3 children are really enjoying the new Infant Play Tower in the Infant Playground which has been fully funded by our PTA.  Construction of the tower began in the last week of the Summer Term and children were able to watch the builders work and put the tower together.  Work was finished in the Summer holidays with the laying of the new green surface.  This really is a great addition to our Infant Playground and we are very grateful to parents and the PTA who raised the money for the Play Tower.

In our School Foyer Area, we have a fantastic Windrush art installation made by our Year 6 year group when they were in Year 5 in the Summer Term.  The installation is inspired by the Empire Windrush Event that began on 22nd June 1948.  Children were studying the core text 'The Story of the Windrush' by K.N.Chimbiri, watching videos, reading diary entries and were immersed in the thoughts and feelings of the passengers.  During art lessons, children made wire figures to represent people who made the journey to the UK and in conjunction with their art, they also wrote poems based on this significant time in British History.  The art installation will remain in the foyer until the Autumn Half Term and throughout October's Black History Month.  Please do come in and take a look.

Mrs Buncher and our Year 6's have made a wonderful Cycle Wheel Dome for the Junior Playground.  We are very grateful for the donation of cycle wheels from parents, Richmond Cycles, Dan the Bike Man and Halfords.  

Congratulation to David Attenborough House who won the Sports Day Plate and the Swimming Gala Cup this year.  Last week we enjoyed lovely weather for our Health, Fitness and Sports Week where children took part in different activities including dance and dodgeball and learnt about how to keep healthy and fit.  Year 1 made and ate their own fruit salad.  Years 3-6 took part in their Swimming Galas in the school pool which was won overall by David Attenborough House. On Friday, Infants and Juniors took part in Sports Day on Twickenham Green and collected house points for the events.  Mo Farah House won the Infants Sports Day and David Attenborough won the Junior Sports Day and was the winning house overall.  On Friday afternoon, our annual Year 6 vs Staff Golden Child Netball competition took place which the whole school watched and was a draw this year!

On Friday 7th June, the School Council Team and the new AC Ambassadors launched 'The Big Help Out' by giving up some of their lunchtime to help tidy up the playground and collect any litter debris or recyclable items (most of which blows into our school grounds).  On Saturday 8th June we then welcomed families who took part in the litter pick in the areas around the school.  We had a helping hand from Richmond Council who generously lend the school sets of litter pickers and bags.  We were amazed by how much was collected by everyone.  Many thanks to Mrs Jones for organising our litter collections.

We also held an extended Wildlife Area Dig Day on Saturday 8th June and were delighted that so many Archdeacon Families came along to volunteer an hour or more working in our wonderful outdoor space.  Thank you especially to Theresa and Jill, Ms van den Broek and everyone who came along to the Dig Day!

On Saturday 11th May, 29 children from the Junior Choir sang at St Mary Magdalene's Church in central Richmond as part of the annual Richmond May Fair celebrations and in aid of the Richmond Soup Kitchen Charity.  It's a really historic church with a wonderful historic church with wonderful acoustics and our children sounded gorgeous.  The church was filled with sunlight streaming through the windows and beautiful singing from our children.  It is a lovely event to be part of as the choir has the opportunity to sing a whole programme of songs by ourselves.  We are very proud of our choir children for working so hard on the songs and very grateful to their families and friends for giving up their Saturday morning to come and support them.  The church ministry have been in touch to say thank you and told us that we helped them raise a total of £3500 for the charity.  They are absolutely delighted and have already invited us back next year!