Meet our classes!
We would like to introduce you to all the members of staff who work in our school. Some of the pupils have drawn the various members of staff as they are a bit shy about having their photographs taken!!
The Reception Class called Wren Class, is lucky to have Mrs Terry Bishop as their teacher. She recently won the BT Award for Teacher of the Year in a Primary School for the West of England.
One of her special achievements has been her work within the school as global citizenship cordinator and the links she has built with Mufulira Basic School in Zambia. You can read more about this on the Zambia page. Mrs Bishop has curriculum responsibility for Geography. She runs a lunchtime Global Citizenship club for year 6. Reception have Mrs Bridgette Spiller as both their LSA and lunchtime supervisor.
Mrs Bishop is also helped in the afternoon, by Mrs. Jane Raymond, who helps Mrs Sears to run an after-school netball club. Mrs Raymond has also helped some of the year 5's and 6's to complete cycle training and is an active member of the PTA.
The Year 1/2 Class, called Robin Class, is taught by the musical Mrs. Jennie Maybury . Mrs. Maybury has visited Zambia several times, with Mrs Bishop as part of our Zambia link. Mrs. Maybury is the coordinator for PSHE and Music; she takes a lunchtime choir club. She sometimes plays the piano in assemblies. Mrs Sam Hooper is the children's classroom assistant and lunchtime supervisor from Monday to Thursday. Miss Georgie Case also helps in Robin Class every day.
The Year 2/3 class, called Nightingale Class is taught by have Mrs. Angela Sears. She runs a netball after-school club with Mrs Raymond. Mrs. Sears is responsible for English and R.E.
Mrs. Sears has Mrs. Jane Raymond as her classroom assistant, every morning Monday to Thursday and Mrs Nicki Collins helps her on Friday mornings. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Mrs Julie Crowe works with groups of children doing Quest and Springboard.
The Year 3/4 Class, called Kingfisher Class, have Miss Jenny Hutchings as their teacher. She had her final PGCE placement at our school in the Summer Term and we were delighted to appoint her from September 2007 as our newest member of staff. She runs a 'Wake and Shake' class in the hall every Tuesday and Thursday from 8.50 until 9 - children and adults welcome, so come along and join the fun! In the Summer Term she will lead an after school athletics club. Kingfisher Class have Mrs.Shameena Latheef as their classroom assistant and she also looks after them at lunchtime.
The Year 4/5 Class, called Kestrel Class is very lucky because they are taught by two teachers;
Mrs. Helen Trusson on a Monday and Mrs. Caroline Holbrook for the rest of the week.
Mrs. Trusson shares the Maths Cordinator role with Mrs Holbrook. Mrs. Holbrook is also responsible for ICT, History and is the External Visit Co-ordinator. Mrs. Holbrook runs an after-school ICT club in the Autumn Term, a cookery club in the Spring Term with Mrs. Dower and a Creative Crafts club in the Summer Term. She also helps organise the annual cycle training with Mrs Dower and Mrs Raymond. Kestrel Class have Mrs. Jacque Feierabend as their classroom assistant and lunchtime supervisor.
They also have Mrs Nicki Collins to help them.
Year 6, called Falcon Class, are taught by Miss Roberts. Miss Roberts sometimes plays piano in assemblies. She is a very keen swimmer and teaches our pupils to swim. Miss Roberts is the P.E. coordinator and runs lots of sporty clubs during the year including dance and football.
Mrs. Jackie Usher is the year 6 classroom assistant.
PPA time is covered partly by Mrs Mills in Wren, Robin, Nightingale and Kingfisher classes and by Mrs. Alecia Spike who has curriculum responsibility for Art and DT. She teaches Art/DT all day Thursday and Friday morning, for a half-day each to Kingfisher, Kestrel and Falcon Class. Mrs Spike is on Maternity Leave at present so Mrs Helen Trusson (all day Thursday) and Mrs Jenny Allison (Friday morning) are teaching Art/DT to the three oldest classes.
All classes are taught P.E. or swimming for one hour a week by our SASP coach Miss Gemma Poole.
Mrs Nicki Collins works on Monday and Wednesday mornings as an HLTA in all classes to give teachers time to coordinate their curriculum area through the school.
Since September 2006 children in Nightingale, Kingfisher, Kestrel and Falcon Classes have been able to take home exciting Curiosity Kits to share with their families. The Kits were put together by a group of teachers and parents and Mrs Nicki Collins works hard each week to make sure that everyone has a turn to have a kit and she checks that everything has been returned. One of our parents Mrs Helen Warren also helps to run this.
Mrs Helen Tracey comes into school every Wednesday to help with Guided Reading and Comprehension groups in Robins, Kingfishers and Kestrels.
Madame Eve Terry teaches French to Kestrel and Falcon Classes every Tuesday.
The pupils really enjoy being at Countess Gytha County Primary School;
here are some of their comments -
I remember when . . .
I remember when we were supposed to make bubbles but we swallowed the paint because we sucked it!
I remember when I did the Victorian day. It was a truly happy moment - with the strict teachers and the girls on one side of the classroom and the boys on the other.
I remember when I was in Reception and a helper called Mrs Hooper brought her tortoise in called George. We all sat on the carpet in a circle while he wandered around. When it came near me I was petrified and started crying.
I remember when I saw the lions at Bristol zoo with Mrs Bishop and all my friends. I felt very scared but when I saw my friends I felt very happy.
I enjoy going to school every day and I love learning new things and playing with my friends. I really loved cycle to school week; it was brilliant. I also really enjoyed doing country dancing at school and Wells Cathedral.
I remember when I dressed up as a hippy for our Christmas play and everybody called me Ozzy Osborne!
I remember when I made a sign saying, "Super Duper Mrs Holbrook's here!" and we sang it in the informal register!
Sport
We do a lot of sport in our school, which we all enjoy. We have a heated swimming pool, which we share with other schools. There is a big playground to play on with patterns painted on it, a map of the world and hop scotches. We are involved in other sports out of school, which we are invited to. We also go up to a close playing field supervised by two or three adults. I enjoy all the sports clubs at school. Sport is my favourite subject.
Health
Health is very important to our school. We have to eat fruit for break and we have to put our fruit skins and apple cores in the little bins and then the Year sixes put them in to a bigger compost bin. Miss Lawrence the Year 3 teacher helped us to get the Healthy Schools Award. Also, we have a wooden boat and train so children don't get bored. We also run around the playground and play football. The Year sixes get playground equipment out like hula-hoops, balls, and plastic hands used as sort of tennis rackets.
I.C.T.
When I started this school we did not have an I.C.T. suite and I didn't know how to work a computer until the year 2000, when I was in Year 3. We are very lucky to have an I.C.T. suite because it teaches us how to type, to use the Intranet and Internet. We do an I.C.T. club that is run by Mrs. Holbrook, the Year 4 teacher. We have two digital cameras and use them to take pictures of things in school.