January 2012

By this time the school had completed a number of projects to the school site.  These included the many playground improvements kindly funded by PSA, a new extended kitchen to facilitate onsite cooking from fresh, and an additional classroom to enable us to take our three-form reception year in 2010.  There were also plans in place for a permanent shade structure over the outdoor KS2 table/lunch area and after planning permission was granted this was installed during the Easter holidays.  It provided a large area of much-needed shade/rain protection in the KS2 playground.  Plans were also in place to convert the two group rooms at the end of the ground floor corridor into one large area which was completed during the Easter holidays.

May 2012

On 15 May thirty excited Year 5 children walked to Richmond Park to enjoy the celebration of ‘Wild London’, part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.  They were part of the celebrations held locally welcoming Her Majesty to Richmond Park.  It wasn’t a dry day though; everyone was caught in a torrential downpour of rain.  However, this did not stop the children from cheering and waving their flags. 

At school the children took part in a range of celebrations, including a royal performance in the KS2 Drama area, and learned about the sorts of games the children played in the 1950's.

June and August 2012

The children took part in some fantastic projects and activities culminating in an Olympics Enrichment week at the end of June.  Each year group represented a country at the opening ceremony on Monday 25th June, standing to hear their adopted national anthem and passing Marshgate’s Olympic torch from hand to hand until the week was declared officially open by Ms Jackson.  The children then spent the week learning about the Olympics, their class’s chosen country and indulging in activities ranging from Samba drumming to designing their own Olympic sports.

Other activities included some of the children in the choir attending an Olympic cultural extravaganza at St. Mary’s University celebrating dance, singing and poetry with children from over thirty other schools in Richmond. Other pupils took part in an Olympic poetry competition at the Russell School.  Some lucky children were taken to the Riverbank Arena in the Olympic Park to see the Women’s hockey; GB vs. the Netherlands.

November 2012

Marshgate was awarded Gold Science Award, a national science award for excellent science teaching and learning.  Mr Farrelly, pictured here with Miss McClenning, went to collect the Primary Science Quality Mark Gold award at the Royal Institute. The national award recognises that the science teaching and learning at Marshgate is of the highest quality and children all participate, enjoy and achieve outstanding results in science.

July 2013
We celebrated our ten-year anniversary this month with a range of guests, parents, governors, former pupils and staff from Marshgate at a very special event.  It was a lovely afternoon with performances, speeches and songs.  We also unveiled the new mosaic mural by the Queen’s Road entrance.  The day culminated with a picnic in the school grounds.  Thank you to everyone involved for organising such a wonderful afternoon and to Vicki Sharp for the lovely photos.

 

International links – Spring and Summer 2014

Working together with Holy Trinity Church in Richmond, Marshgate became involved with a charity called Karis Kids, an organisation which brings hope to children orphaned by AIDS in Uganda, by placing the children within adoptive local families and strengthening the capacity of those families to look after them.  Marshgate sponsored one of these families living in Kampala, Uganda.  In May 2014 two members of staff Mrs Brooks and Miss Crampton travelled to Uganda with a delegation from Holy Trinity Church to meet the families.

At this time, we also fostered international links with a school in Pondicherry, India.  Three of our teachers, Mr Farrelly, Mrs Flavin and Mr Aylett, were lucky enough to visit our Indian partner school, Achariya Siksha Mandir, for a week at the end of February 2014.  They were welcomed very warmly by all staff and students.  They said it was a joy to see children on the other side of the world learning in a similarly nurturing environment to Marshgate.  The teachers shared their journey with the whole school in assemblies and introduced a few new ideas such as children wearing their own clothes instead of school uniform on their birthday.  A tradition that is very popular and continues to this day. 

At the start of July Marshgate was delighted to welcome the principal, primary Headteacher and international co-ordinator from Achariya Siksha Mandir, our Indian link school.  They were welcomed by fabulous assemblies involving our string ensemble, recorder group and school choir and spent the week visiting every year group to learn from the work we do at Marshgate.        

January 2015

The school choirs over the years have attended many events at exciting venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the Rose Theatre in Kingston for the Richmond Music Trust singing festival and Young Voices event at the O2 Arena.

Pictured here are children at the Young Voices event in January 2015.  The Young Voices concerts bring together thousands of children from around the country to perform as one huge choir.  The children and parents are also treated to performances by professional musicians and dancers for a spectacular show. 

January 2015

Following a review by the Governing Body in conjunction with the Governor Support team at the Local Authority the Governing Body model changed.  The Reconstitution of the Governing Body took place as the Government encouraged a move away from the stakeholder model of governance to a skills-based model.  Therefore, the composition of the Governing Board changed from three Local Authority Governors, six Parent Governors, four community Governors and four staff Governors.  The new structure now comprises one Local Authority Governor, two staff Governors, nine Co-opted Governors and with the potential to have Associate Members too.  This new structure was confirmed in January 2015.  For further information about the Full Governing Board please see the Meet our Governors page on this website.

February 2015

In response to the Ebola epidemic in Africa the children on the School Council came up with ideas to raise funds.  The Bring and Buy Sale for the children raised a total of £547.30.  Children were asked to bring in a toy they no longer wanted and £1.  In return, they could go to the school hall and buy a new toy.  As the photos show the children really enjoyed this.  The combined efforts from the Crazy Hair day, donations raised after the Christmas performances and the Bring and Buy sale was an amazing £1,553.30.  Thank you to everyone involved.

July 2015

A group of enthusiastic parents and children climbed Snowdon this month.  The Marshgate Mountaineers 2015 raised £6,419.50 which was split between Momentum charity and Marshgate Primary School.  This parent led trip took place over a weekend in July and despite it being the summer the photos here look like they had quite a chilly weekend.  This expedition has taken place over several years and is always a very enjoyable experience for children and parents alike.

September 2015

In response to the Syrian refugee crisis an amazing group of people from Richmond organised a collection working with Samara's Aid Appeal for practical donations of winter clothing, blankets, linen and nappies to be delivered to refugee camps in the Middle East.

Marshgate proudly co-ordinated the project with special thanks to Emma Wilson, Flick Barkus, Lindsay Given, Suzie Faulkner and Ana Porfirio. The idea grew into a project and involved the co-ordination of nine schools and four churches in Richmond. This was a fantastic community effort and we were all very proud to see the truck being loaded up with donations at Marshgate to go to those in desperate need.

June 2016

On a warm summer’s day the whole school had their photo taken in the back playground by Tempest Photography with Ms Jackson sitting at the front.  It was great fun assembling all the children and staff together.  This picture here represents the pupils who joined in 2009 and who left in July 2016.  The youngest children in this photo are the Reception cohort who joined in September 2015.  The photo was made available for parents and carers to buy and was also on display in the office reception area alongside the last whole school photo taken in 2009.  The next whole school photo is due to be taken in the summer of 2023.

June 2017

At Marshgate Primary School we have always enjoyed our annual Summer Fair which is organised by our wonderful PSA.  In 2017 the PSA organised a “Splendid Seaside Summer Fair”.  As with all Fairs, the event required lots of support from the Marshgate community taking many shapes and forms such as meetings of the Fair team, working with the class reps and the staff and liaising with local businesses.  Thanks to everyone involved.

March 2018

We started a project working with the local community which involved spending time with the older residents of Hickey’s Almshouses.  These are situated opposite Marshgate.  A group of children from Year 1 regularly visited the residents until they left in Year 6.  They spent time with them reading, playing games, exploring photos and talking to them about what it was like at school when they were children.  In turn the residents visited Marshgate to watch assemblies and so on. The children and adults really embraced this project.  In the summer term, the choir performed at the Almshouses at a special 1940’s themed event.

July 2018

In July this year we welcomed our wonderful parents and carers at our annual thank you event.  It was held in the Dell and Ecology Area and was a lovely way to say thank you to the many parents and carers who come to help at the school in many different capacities.