On Saturday 17th December, Roebuck Choir performed at St. Martin's Church in Knebworth. The children were special guest performers, singing alongside the Stevenage Choral Society. Performing two songs on their own and then three songs with the adult choir, the children captured the hearts of the audience with their angelic yet professional performance. Many people made a special point of congratulating the children on their singing with a secondary school head of music stating that the choir was the best junior choir she had ever heard! Wow! What a huge yet thoroughly deserved compliment.

One of the songs in particular was very challenging to learn. But, as always, our amazing children gave it 110% and Mrs Thomas and Miss Whitfield are incredibly proud of them all. We are looking forward to see what lies ahead of us in 2017 and for more outstanding performances. Well done everyone!

Lexi in Year 6 has become the first pupil at Roebuck School to achieve her Learning Ambassador badge. This is the highest award a child can receive. It is only given out for someone who continually demonstrates amazing learning behaviour both in class and in all aspects of school life. There are three levels of learner at Roebuck that Key Stage 1 and 2 children can aspire to. Many children have their 'Good Learner' badge (level 1) and some have their 'Outstanding Learner' badge (level 2). Lexi has reached the top tier which is 'Learning Ambassador' (level 3). She is a real role model to all other children.

All children who have got a badge for meeting their Learning Behaviour targets were lucky enough to receive free time in July on a huge bouncy castle that the school bought in. Hopefully, lots of children will now follow in Lexi's footsteps.

Our school netball team played St Nicholas School today and won 10-2 with a very impressive performance. There was some excellent passing and movement in the first half, leading to a 7-1 half-time lead. St Nicholas put up a good fight and made the game difficult at times but our girls' marking was tremendous throughout and they all played with real spirit and determination. The second half was tough as the light started to disappear and the cold air numbed everyone's hands! With 7 goals scored by Ella and 3 by Millie, it was a really good team effort. Well done to all of the girls. That's now two out of two wins.

Team: Eleanor, Kasey, Lexi (c), Lois, Isabelle, Tia, Ella, Millie

On Saturday, the Choir was invited to attend a 'Singing Playgrounds' event which involved learning five songs with actions in the morning and then performing these during a concert in the afternoon. The children were a credit to the school with many people commenting on their good behaviour and enthusiastic and dynamic performances.

We are hoping that the children will now be able to teach other children the songs they have learned adding a different dimension to playtimes. Miss Whitfield and Mrs Thomas are incredibly proud of all of our children.

Our school netball team have got the season off to a winning start. The girls beat Ashtree School 9-0 today, putting on a very impressive performance for their first game. For many of the girls, it was actually their first ever game of competetive netball. Millie scored 4 of the goals and Ella scored 5 and there was some excellent build up play by the attacking players. We defended strongly too, leaving Ashtree without a single shot at goal until only the last second of the match. It was tough in the cold conditions and we are incredibly proud of all nine girls - well done!

Team: Eleanor, Kasey, Lexi (c), Amelia, Lois, Isabelle, Tia, Ella, Millie

Thursday started with rain dampening the ground but not our spirits.  With both groups being very active outside during the day, energy was flowing from the children. After another cooked breakfast and a flying visit to the gift shop the groups went their separate way, with group M dangling from the abseiling tower whilst group N braved a very wet and muddy nightline course. Taking turns to be leaders the children battled their way through the rain and the obstacles - and managed to emerge with very muddy clothes but a great sense of achievement.

With the weather improving slightly the groups swapped activities. Miss Carter seemed to get into the spirit of Nightline without too much prompting - after mentioning how she had remembered what it was like when she visited Kingswood many years ago. At the same time Group N were showing what they were made of on the abseiling tower with every member of the group managing to visit the top, even if some just looked at the amazing view.

Zip Wire saw Roebuck pupils soaring through the Norfolk skies at a rate of knots although no one managed to achieve the target of touching the tyre at the end.