Zoe Bear

Zoe is our LIFE bear. Her name means ‘life’ in Greek.

Zoe bear has many great adventures with each of our LIFE schools. You can enjoy keeping up with them month by month here.

What is Zoe up to at your school?

September 2023

Zoe cannot wait to welcome all pupils back to school this week! She hopes you all had a wonderful summer break. What did you get up to? Can you guess where Zoe went on holiday?

June 2023 – Life Leadership Conference

The Life Leadership Conference that took place this June saw the meeting of the Trust Leaders to discuss the next academic year. This conference also included the meeting of Zoe bears from each school!

November 2022 – The month when Zoe remembered

For Remembrance Day Zoe joined all the schools in stopping at 11am and remembering all those who fought bravely so that we could have freedom.

Royal Albert Hall concert

October 2022 – The month when Zoe celebrated Harvest festival and World Mental Health Day

Zoe loves being creative and making things. This month she helped pupils at Roxwell launch their business along with the help of Peter Jones Foundation. Everything they make is available to buy at Sonia@48 Writtle.

At Margaretting Zoe enjoyed having lunch with lots of parents who came in to eat with their children. Zoe enjoys meeting people. Zoe would also like to introduce us to her Margaretting friend – Maggie Bear.

In October it is Harvest Festival and lots of us, including Zoe, donated food to say thank you for all we have. At Ford End Zoe and our LIFE Ambassadors launched a Tin Tower Tournament. Each class donated tins, then we built them into towers and saw which class built the biggest tower. Lots of fun! Zoe is really proud of how much food was donated to support foodbanks and people who are struggling to eat at the moment.

For World Mental Health Day some of our Wellbeing Champions enjoyed leading part of our assembly. Lots of us also wore yellow for #HelloYellow. Zoe knows how important it is to look after our mental health.

Zoe loves languages. Our Language of the Month for October was Turkish.

Margaretting was sad to say goodbye to Mrs Marks – thank you for letting us use your tennis courts! Zoe is worried her serve may get worse without the practice.

September 2022 – The month when Zoe welcomed everyone back to school and we were really busy straight away

Zoe was thrilled to welcome everyone back to school. A new school year means new Head Boys and Head Girls and other responsibility positions.

Sadly not long after we returned to school Queen Elizabeth died.

At Margaretting Zoe supported a cake sale as part of the Macmillan Coffee morning. We managed to raise £190

Zoe has been practicing lots of different sports after we launched our Million Miles challenge. Walk, run, dance, skip, play sport… all the miles add up and make a difference.

All of the LIFE Ambassadors day joined Zoe for a day at FBA. They came up with lots of great ideas for how to support Trussell Trust foodbanks during the term ahead. They also enjoyed riding on the FBA train and visiting all the animals at the FBA farm.

The Great Waltham School House Trust gave a generous donation to Ford End which Zoe is planning to spend on history books for the school.

Project ME visited several of our LIFE schools and Zoe enjoyed learning more about mental and emotional wellbeing to enable her and the pupils to live more balanced, happier lives.

August 2022 – The month when Zoe missed everyone but had some summer adventures of her own

Zoe travelled to the Isle of Man on the Steam Packet Ferry from Liverpool. Zoe enjoyed travelling on a ferry and was very proud to not get sea sick on it.

With all the sunshine in August Zoe enjoyed some fun in the park. She climbed trees and even got to fly a plane! She topped off that adventure with a trip to IKEA to enjoy some Swedish meatballs. Yum!

Zoe took a trip to the Wimbledon tennis grounds. She enjoyed a visit to the centre court (though there was no tennis playing that day). She felt like a champion posing with the women’s Wimbledon trophy which is called the Venus Rosewater Dish.

During a trip to the city of Bath Zoe discovered that she had to do a lot of walking. Having walked up a hill with a handrail she really really wanted to slide down it even if that did mean having to walk up there again. While there Zoe visited the big Abbey church and the Royal Crescent. She also got to fly with butterflies in a street decoration, but didn’t jump in and swim in the weir.

Did you take part in the reading challenge this summer? How many did you read and which was your favourite? Zoe enjoyed reading a whole stack of different books.

Zoe enjoyed her summer but is looking forward to seeing everyone again in September! Make sure to tell Zoe what fun adventures you had this summer.

July 2022 – The month where another school year ends with fun and also goodbyes

The end of the school year means the LIFE celebration event where Zoe has the joy and honour to celebrate so many amazing students from across the trust and their achievements. Great job! Zoe is proud of all our LIFE pupils! The big question is whether Mr Dutnall can really dance!

Sports Day is another end of school year highlight. Zoe may not be the fastest runner or the best jumper but she always enjoys the fun of the day.

Zoe really enjoyed a school residential trip with Y5 and Y6 pupils from Margaretting school… Trails, climbing, team building, zip wires, wacky races, obstacle course and so much more! Fun and adventure and so proud of all the courage and resilience shown.

Ford End organised a Summer Fayre. Zoe would like to say thank you to the fabulous PTA. It was a great day.

Zoe made lots of new friends at the Dame Tipping Teddy Bear’s picnic. They had a beach to enjoy at Dame Tipping that day too. Super summer fun!

With July comes Y6 leavers and Leaver’s assembly. Zoe always feels both proud of her friends and sad to be saying goodbye.

June 2022 – The Month where Zoe showed off dance moves, made some beautiful art and spent a day in the life of an entrepreneur

Zoe was impressed at the entrepreneurial skills of the young business people from the Trust schools. It takes Courageous Optimism to be successful in such a challenging environment. Zoe had a lot of fun being entrepreneurs with the students at PJ Foundation. What a fantastic day!

Over at Margaretting, the Yr6 children learned some vital life lessons at Crucial Crew. Zoe enjoyed the day and believes that it allowed everyone to develop some important skills for life.

Meanwhile at Roxwell, Zoe got together with the young students from all over the Trust for a very special dance event. Everyone showed their Boundless Creativity in their very lovely dance moves. Zoe knows that these young students will be the next dance stars!

Zoe also had a chance to take a sneak peak at the wonderful artistic creations of the year 1 and 2 students who were busy making beautiful pieces of art to decorate their local church with. Well done for that display of boundless creativity! Keep it up!

May 2022 – The month where Zoe participated in celebrating Her Royal Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.

Zoe had a busy month helping the student’s prepare for their SATs. She believes that the most important thing on the big day of the test is to have a delicious breakfast because a healthy meal nurtures a healthy mind. Zoe knows that the SATs can be a challenge so she is very proud of the Courageous Optimism the students have demonstrated this month.

Meanwhile, news of a royal celebration has travelled across England – a special event that many people have been looking forward to. All the Trust schools participated in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee during the last week of term, commemorating 70 years on the throne, and Zoe had a lot of fun celebrating with the children. Many different events took place; from tree planting to marches and from picnics to parties, there was so much for Zoe and the students to enjoy!

Later in the month, the children presented their spectacular mathematical thinking in the math challenge. Well done to all the primary schools who participated!

Zoe is impressed with everyone for working hard at Shenfield High for the gifted musical orchestra and showing the Boundless Creativity of a true musical professional! Working hard and learning fast is great fun when we do it together.

April 2022 – The month where Zoe became a cover model, enjoyed the Easter break and celebrated St. George’s Day.

This month was a whirlwind for Zoe and the students at Margaretting as they prepared for the St. George’s Day celebrations. With the help of the staff, Zoe organised the Year 5 and 6 St. George’s Day party and had lots of fun setting up the St. George’s Day cake sale with the PTFA at Margaretting. She believes that both were a smashing success!

April is also the month where the Easter bunny hops in, only this time, it was Zoe who took the spotlight. She made a fantastic model for the front cover of the LIFE ‘Happy Easter’ card as she posed while sitting on a bed of lovely flowers. We think that Zoe could be well on her way to becoming a professional.

Zoe believes that Roxwell has its very own professional students adapt in Heartfelt Compassion. The support that the students have shown Ukraine is rewarded when they receive a Thank You letter from UK Aid. Zoe would like to say a massive well done and to keep up the honourable work!

Well done to Ford End for the endless support they have been showing the Trussell Trust food banks. Miss Spinks visited them with Zoe to pick up the items that the students and their families had donated. They would both like to say thank you and to continue donating because all items go to helping the families and children who need it most.

March 2022 – The month where Zoe celebrated World Book Day, participated in the 2022 LIFE Bake-Off and had fun at Jump Street

Zoe took part in World Book Day this year. All the students were dressed up as fantastic book characters and Zoe was especially impressed with the staff. She loved guessing what everyone was dressed up as.

At Barleylands, Zoe got a little messy but had a lot of fun! She loved petting the woolly sheep and meeting all the animals with the students. Zoe later helped Margaretting in decorating St Margaret’s Church as part of the community project – everyone worked together in making the Church look beautiful. Zoe believes giving gifts is very important, so she wants to say a big well done to the PTFA at Margaretting for selling Mother’s Day plants to families and wishing them all a lovely day.

The annual LIFE Bake-Off was hosted this year by Roxwell with an Irish twist to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Pupils from all 7 LIFE schools competed in making Irish potato cakes and Zoe said they were all delicious! The competition was tight, so well done to Frances Bardsley for coming first place!

Meanwhile, the Head Boys and Head Girls of the schools met at Jump Street to discuss future ideas for the schools. And then… Everyone went a little crazy! Zoe had lots of fun with all the students! Following this meeting, Margaretting, Dame Tipping, Roxwell and Ford End all collected as many donations for Ukraine as possible. Zoe and the students helped deliver the goods safely to Roxwell where the parents and children packed them into boxes for transportation. Zoe would like to say a massive Thank You to all the LIFE Trust schools!

February 2022 – The month where Zoe wrote to Her Majesty, learnt about SMART and helped with fundraising

Benhurst Primary School invited the other primary schools to learn all about SMART and take part in some exciting filming for SMART_Tech. Zoe loved learning with the other children, she believes that the students at Benhurst did an excellent job at showing the other pupils their favourite ways to use their Smart boards. Zoe made lots of new friends at this IT enrichment programme.

Zoe celebrated World Thinking Day on February 22^nd with the scouts and guide at Roxwell who all looked dashing in their uniforms. Zoe loved connecting with the students and speaking up about what is important to them. Over at Margaretting, Zoe helped the PTFA sell sweets to raise funds. She is very happy with the Heartfelt Compassion on Twosday where the students, parents and teachers donated as many 2ps to the school.

Well done to Ford End and Roxwell football teams for another brilliant match that concluded in a 5-5 draw! Zoe is very impressed with all of you!

Meanwhile, Zoe and the students at Margaretting welcomed a very special visitor. Thank you MP John Whittingdale for coming to teach us about democracy! The session was full of Courageous Optimism and Zoe loved learning new things about our world. Zoe is very proud of the LIFE Ambassadors at Margaretting who discussed with Mr Whittingdale what is being done to support the local Chelmsford Food bank.

At Margaretting, Zoe also had a chance to help Mrs Barlow with a very important task. Mrs Barlow and Zoe posted a letter to the Queen! Her Majesty replied very quickly – Zoe is sorry that she cannot come to the party but she knows that Her Majesty will be thinking of us on 27^th May.

January 2022 – The month where Zoe helped us mark the start of the New Year

Zoe loved helping the LIFE Ambassadors with the Trussel Trust Food Bank. She enjoyed playing her part in feeding those in our community who need it most. After an important meeting with the Head Boys and Girls of the primary schools, Zoe helped collect donations for Ukraine. She was very impressed by everyone’s Heartfelt Compassion!

This month, there were many STEM projects that Zoe took part in. The excellent science work completed by the students at Margaretting was brilliant. Well done! Zoe was also very impressed by the fantastic art work and coin collections of the students.

Well done to Roxwell and Margaretting for representing the schools in football matches. Zoe joined the pupils in their match and despite the draw, she is very proud of the teams.

Zoe wants to give a big well done to Benhurst’s Y5/6 tag rugby team for winning the League Tournament run by Havering Sports Collective & Saracen’s; to Roxwell and Margaretting who finished with a 0-0 draw and to Roxwell and Dame Tipping for the incredible match on Tuesday with a 7:2 win to Roxwell. Zoe is very proud of you all!

At the FBA Farm, Zoe made friends with Casper, Smog and Bagel. They all enjoyed cuddling together very much.

December 2021 – The month where Zoe helped us get ready for Christmas with songs, nativity’s, gifts and even a card of her own

Zoe loves Christmas and especially the build up to Christmas in school! She enjoyed helping to decorate the trees in the community of Margaretting. The Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust visitied to teach our Y5/6 all about Christmas. And so much fun was also had at Christmas fairs – Zoe loved helping girls and boys enjoy food drink and buy toys in time for Christmas gifting. Zoe gave out some gifts herself including to Mr Bowling for being such a great caretaker – she gave him a chocolate toolkit which we think has probably been eaten by now! Zoe also enjoyed lots of Christmas parties and Christmas dinners!

It was wonderful to have a visit to Margaretting from Goldilocks to celebrate her birthday. It helped to bring our book ‘The Jolly Postman’ to life.

Well done to Bluebelle from Margaretting – winner of the LIFE Christmas Card competition. Zoe loves it!

Even in the fun and build up to Christmas we found time to think of others. Zoe joined pupils who went out to clean up their local area. Zoe and friends at Margaretting also raised £165.76 by selling poppies! What a fantastic achievement to raise money for such a worthy cause!

November 2021 – The month where Zoe met with all the head boys and girls, the LIFE Ambassadors, and performed at Chelmsford Cathedral

Zoe really enjoyed a trip to McDonalds with all head boys and head girls from our 4 rural primary schools, as well as biscuits during our first Ambassadors meeting of the year.

At Margaretting we enjoyed a visit from the Jolly Postman with a special delivery for us. Goldilocks replied to our letter. She is going to come and celebrate her birthday with us and gave us all an invitation . Zoe was also sad to say goodbye to our Ford End postman.

Zoe helped us learn songs, practice our instruments, work on our smiles, and get up our confidence ahead of our big Christmas celebration at Chelmsford Cathedral with all the rural primary schools.

October 2021 – The month where Zoe relaxed but also ran for Roxwell and lunched with parents.

This month was Hello Yellow day for Mental health awareness and Zoe helped show us how to relax well to look after ourselves. After a month of collecting we celebrated Harvest Festival Day and Zoe took all that lovely donated food to the Food bank.

It was fun to meet lots of very nice parents at a wonderful parent lunch. Zoe enjoyed all eating together.

Zoe only has short legs but she had such an amazing time at Run for Roxwell. Together with everyone over £400 was raised for our Roxwell Primary School. Well done everyone.

Lots more learning happened in October with Zoe learning how to say jambo, sawubona, bonjour, oi and hello in many different African languages, and a very special RE lesson with Mrs Tate. Zoe enjoyed meeting Mrs Gee from Anglo European and thinking about secondary schools.

September 2021 – The month where Zoe welcomed everyone back to school with awards and responsibilities, and enjoyed lots of charity giving and learning.

Zoe loved welcoming everyone back to school in September after the summer break. She loved hearing about everyone’s holiday adventures.

In September Zoe was very proud to see Head boys and Head girls presented with their blazers and the new LIFE Ambassadors presented with their hoodies. She was proud to give out new responsibility badges as well.

This month Zoe thought of others as she got ready for Harvest Festival and began collecting food to donate to the local Food banks. She also enjoyed hosting some Macmillan coffee mornings to raise money for cancer research.

Zoe loves learning and she learned so much this month – learning about European languages, how to make bird feeders, lots of science including waterproof covers for her, and so much more!

August 2021 – The month where Zoe celebrated two weddings.

During the summer school break both Miss Bryan and Miss Cotton got married. Zoe got dressed up for the occasion and was excited to celebrate with them as they have now become Mrs Taylor and Mrs Tate.

July 2021 – The month where Zoe said goodbye to loved Y6 pupils and to school for a well earned summer holiday.

In July Zoe gave out certificates and awards for passports and pupil achievements across all of the schools. she also shed a tear or two at the leavers assemblies.

A big excitement for Zoe was a visit to Colchester Zoo. She discovered that she is really quite a small bear (but with a big heart) and got to see lots of animals, including riding on the back of a goat!

Zoe was also excited to meet a gentleman who visited Roxwell Primary on his 90th birthday and brought an old school photo from when he was at school there.

We had lots of rain and so it was good news that we had celebrated the roof being completed at Roxwell. Of course Zoe celebrated with cake when Mrs Broom came to make the roof official.

June 2021 – The month where Zoe made pinatas, learned about Food Banks, celebrated fathers, and recognised the great Mrs O!

Zoe made pinatas with @Sweetpapercrea1 and then we hit them to release the sweets. Very good if you want to let go of some emotions! We had great fun!

We learned about Food Banks and the types of foods that go into a food parcel. Zoe helped us make our own food parcel. She even had her own branding of Beary Good Rice!

Mrs O may not have won the official Headteacher of the Year with @TeachingAwards but we all know she is the best! So Zoe threw her a surprise party to say thank you!

Thank you to Zoe (and the PTFA) for providing the children with a lovely gift to take home for Father’s Day!

Congratulations! Zoe awarded a prize to the winner of the Multilink Madness Challenge. Our fundraiser made £46. Well done everyone!!

May 2021 – The month where Zoe was all about organising fun and encouraging things, and keeping fit.

Zoe helped Aoife (Year 6) at Roxwell organise ‘Multi link Madness’ (guess the multi links in the jar). Well done Aoife for the lovely fundraising idea. At Margaretting Primary School Zoe helped the pupils to organise an afternoon tea as a thank you to the LSAs.

Zoe appreciates the communities around our schools. Zoe welcomed in Mr Fletcher (a local historian) to teach the Margaretting Year 5/6 children about the Second World War. Zoe went with the Margaretting Year 3/4 children to say thank you to our lovely neighbour who lets us use her tennis courts.

It’s important to keep fit. Zoe enjoyed joining in a PE lesson at Roxwell. She went for a walk together with Paddy. Loving our one mile walk for @_thedailymile which is keeping us healthy. Roxwell pupils walked in the local woods. Zoe loved all the bluebells. Zoe enjoyed being taught by Mike Mullen how to BMX!

Eating a good breakfast is important for staying healthy. Zoe served Y6 at Margaretting who loved their breakfasts at D’Arcy’s Diner. The Bryan Bacon Bap was a particular favourite.

Beautiful ‘Kindness Jars’ made in PHSE. You decorate the jar and put in lots of lovely thoughts about that person. Zoe enjoyed joining in.

April 2021 – The month where Zoe was discovering a world of possibilities and Saint days

Zoe loves languages and is looking forward to trying some Irish… Thank you to our lovely neighbours and their dog Norman for donating to our St Patrick’s Day fundraising. We bought books and one of the books is in Irish and English.

For St. George’s Day Zoe prepared a wonderful afternoon tea for the Y6 at Margaretting.

March 2021 – The month where Zoe celebrated Easter and welcomed pupils back

Zoe delivered easter eggs with the pupils around the Roxwell and Margaretting villages, and took part in an easter egg hunt. To celebrate Palm Sunday we walked to Roxwell Church and heard the Easter story from our wonderful Worship Group. It was rather wet and windy. We couldn’t find a donkey to act the part in our Palm Sunday walk but Paddy stepped in and came to Roxwell Church with us for an outdoor story telling of the Easter Story. It was a bit wet so Zoe needed protective clothing!

We had an Ambassador’s meeting and Zoe joined the Margaretting pupils for a hot chocolate with Miss Bryan too.

Zoe celebrated Red Nose Day with costumes, fun and jokes galore at Benhurst.

February 2021 – The month where Zoe ate and got fit with Fatima

Zoe helped the teachers to enjoy the lovely cream tea given to them by LIFE Trust.

In the month of February Zoe joined with Fatima Whitbread encouraging our LIFE schools to take part in #take5withfatima to keep our children active during lockdown.

January 2021 – The month where Zoe did online assemblies, online lessons and was a photo competition model.

During January lockdown Zoe learned how to do assembly and lessons online. She missed all the children being in school but it was nice to see their faces.

LIFE ran a photography competition and Zoe helped Keira (Roxwell) with some photos for that.