Enrichment
January 2026
Night Owls Visit
On the 20th January we had a visit from 'The Night Owls' team. They bought along a selection of Barn Owls, White Face Scops Owls and Asian Brown Wood Owls. The children learnt about their habitats, their diet and how we can help to protect them in the wild. The children then had a chance to have a photograph with the owls perched on their shoulder..
December 2025
The First Christmas and Knock Knock The Nativity
It has been fantastic to see our littlest children in Ash Class performing ‘The First Christmas’. They did amazingly well, spoke with confidence, remembered where they needed to go and sang beautifully! Beech and Elm classes also performed their brilliant version of ‘Knock Knock Nativity’ - again wonderful performances of acting, singing and dancing with confidence and enthusiasm. Watching the nativity performances is the favourite part of my job as headteacher, and this year it didn’t disappoint! A big well done to all of the children and the staff for the hard work they have put into these and thank you to the parents, grandparents and siblings that have come to support the children.
November 2025
Essex Multi-Skills Event
Our Key Stage 1 children took part in the West Essex Multi-skills event on Wednesday 12th November. It was a non-competitive sporting event where the children had various obstacles and races to take part and were able to showcase their athletics skills alongside other schools. A big well done to all the children that took part and tried their best! A group of our Key Stage 2 children took part in the West Essex Schools Cross-Country event at Ongar Primary School on Thursday 13th November. They competed alongside local schools. Despite the challenging course, every student gave their best effort and showed great determination, refusing to give up. Their sportsmanship and resilience were truly inspiring!
Kindness Celebrations
Our kindness points celebrations with a hot chocolate and cake treat!
Shoe Box Appeal
A big thank you to all the children who donated items to the Shoe box Appeal. Wendy Pike was blown away by the number of things donated and St Mary's church made up 106 boxes on Sunday which will now be sent overseas to needy families. A big thank you to Bonnie in Ash Class and Sam in Maple Class who went along to the church to help pack the boxes. Wonderful community spirit shown by the children of HOPS!
October 2025
Harvest Festival
Well done to our EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 children for their wonderful harvest assembly! They presented their autumnal art, harvest poems and songs beautifully with confidence and huge smiles.
September 2025
Rosh Hashanah Assemby
We were delighted to welcome our special guest Rabbi Yossi, who spoke to the children all about Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year. We were shown special items that are used during the festival including a shofar, prayer book, kiddish cup and a ?tallit which is a prayer shawl.?
Forest School
Years 1-6 enjoyed their first Forest Schools day of the year on Friday 26th September. It was wonderful to see the children exploring natural resources, hunting for bugs and identifying some very rare Stag beetles.
Residential trip to Stubbers
We took a group of Year 5s and 6s to Stubbers in Upminster in September, for their residential trip. The children were impeccably behaved, demonstrated excellent manners throughout and were a joy to take away! Myself, and the other staff, were so proud of their willingness to have a go at all activities, despite being nervous or unsure. The activities included camping, the high ropes, paddle boarding, banana boats, archery and laser tag. So many of the children experienced things for the first time and were so proud of what they achieved. It was also lovely to see the children forming new friendships and supporting each other to succeed. The children were an absolute pleasure to take and represented HOPS better than we have ever seen before!
July 2025
BAT Sports Day
We took 34 children to the Bridge Academy Trust Sports Day. It was an excellent event involving all schools from the Trust. The secondary school children led events and the primary children competed against each other. We came 2nd in the cheerleading competition and won multiple bronze, silver and gold medals throughout the day. Well done to all the children who came along and represented HOPS.
Adventure Island, Southend
Year 6 reward trip to Adventure Island at Southend.
Move It!
The Year 6s performed their show ?Move it? to their parents and family. It was a brilliant performance involving a variety of singing, dancing and acting. A special mention to Jonny who played ?Sam?- excellent acting and vocals!
