Following last year’s success on the rugby field, two teams from Fressingfield set off with high hopes for similar results in this years High Suffolk Schools Sports Partnership Tag Rugby Competition at Thomas Mills this afternoon. Unfortunately, despite some fantastic teamwork, and a whole heap of passion and determination, the teams found results hard to come by this time around.

Despite this, both teams remained really upbeat and high-spirited throughout the afternoon and absolutely determined in each match. As a result, all the players had positively enjoyable afternoons.

The ‘Compete’ team, comprising Harriet, James, Imogen, Eden, Jayden, Rory, Sophia, Archie, Stanley, Ella, Isaac and Edward lost four matches before winning their final match against Debenham. I was so impressed with the teamwork: Harriet was a fantastic block, brilliant at last-minute, try-saving tags; Isaac was brilliant at getting himself into space right on the line; James, Imogen, Jayden and Rory scored following some epic teamwork moments; Archie and Edward were great at nipping in and out of the opposition and heading for the line; and Ella, Sophia, Stanley and Eden each contributed with their tagging and passing skills. Together, they worked extremely well as a team and every game was competitive throughout.

The ’Develop’ team – Luke, Bonnie, Emily, Harry, Caleb, Emily, India, Daniel, Dexter, Oliver, Lenny and Sol – also came up against tough opposition and, as India and Daniel seemed delighted to tell me, they, “lost every one of our matches, and the last one was 15-2!” Despite the whitewash, Mrs Hall and the supporting parents were really impressed by the team’s energy, commitment and teamwork. Well, these are the qualities we value at Fressingfield, so I would like to say a huge well done and thank you to every player for representing our school so well this afternoon.

Many thanks to Caleb, Jayden, James and Emily who organised a fantastic, high-energy assembly on the theme of Choosing Respect.  It included sorting odd socks, making the word RESPECT from different letters and thinking about respecting those who may struggle with friendships.  Well done, Red Caps!

Well done Eden, Jayden and Jasmine who represented the school on Sunday’s Remembrance Service at St Peter and St Paul’s Church and afterwards at the War Memorial. The children comported themselves with the dignity befitting the solemnity of the occasion as they each fulfilled their different roles: Jasmine lit a candle of hope midway through the service at the church, whilst Eden and Jayden laid a wreath at the War Memorial. The children at school also paused on Monday at 11am to mark the moment the guns fell silent on the Western Front and to remember and give thanks to all those who fought and, especially, those who lost their lives during that and subsequent wars. Well done, children, and thank you.

The children of Zambezi and Amazon Classes joined hundreds of other children from schools across the area for the first round of this year’s Cross Country competition. The afternoon started with an enormous warm-up with stretches and jogging on the spot, before the Fun Runners set off on a slightly shorter route across the common. However, don’t be fooled, even the shorter route disappears out of sight of the onlookers as the children head out across the Common. Following this, the competitive races began, with children split by gender and year group.

We were immensely proud of all our children for taking part – simply completing the course is an enormous achievement, as was evident from the red faces and total exhaustion of all those crossing the finish line. Special mention must be made of five children who finished in the top 5 in their heat, thereby qualifying for the next round later in the year. So, well done Ernie and Daniel, who finished fifth, Isaac, who finished fourth, Archie, who finished third, and Amy who won the Year 5 girls’ race. Epic!