Another assembly, another flurry of snow outside and loads of parents! Year 2’s assembly was obviously very popular. Mr Spink and Mrs Linsley classes put on a great performance.

Today’s assembly was a sad occasion because it was the last visit by Rev Nigel Beer who is moving up to Carlisle. He has been a governor and a great supporter of the school for so many years dating back to the previous school. He was presented with a fantastic cake and loads and loads of cards, some plants and a few bottles of wine as well! Mr Moore also put together some videos for Nigel to remember the school by. Nigel then received a deafening BRAVO from the school.

A list of pirate names introduced us to the theme that Year 2 have been looking at over the last week. One of the things that the classes have made were scary pirate flags designed to frighten people into giving up their treasure. We were then shown the fantastic class treasure map – but not long enough for us to spot where the treasure is!

Pirates speak funny words like “ahoy”, “avast”, “booty”, “landlubbers” – we were given a translation to these strange words.

The two classes have been finding out about two pirate captains – Blackbeard and Henry Morgan. We looked at the appearance of Blackbeard who apparently used to set his beard on fire to scare his enemies. He had a huge scar on his face from a fight, he carried six pistols for his own protection, he was a terrifying man! Blackbeard was one of the most famous pirates on the seven seas and in a very few years captured many ships. He was a ruthless man who often shot his own men to show that he was the boss. In 1780 Blackbeard was captured and beheaded, his head was put on a mast as a warning to other people. Fortunately, Oliver, who had been dressed up as Blackbeard wasn’t beheaded or have his beard set on fire!

We then heard about Henry Morgan, another pirate captain who became very rich attacking Spanish towns and ships. Unfortunately one of his ships blew up and he was marooned on a rock at sea. He was rescued and built up a big fleet of pirate ships that he used to attack Spain. Eventually he was arrested by England but he was later released. He retired to Jamaica where he enjoyed a life of leisure.

Everyone then voted as to who was the most fearsome pirate of them all – it looks like the audience thought it was Blackbeard but it was declared a draw!

Year 2 then sang a pirate song about jumping aboard a pirate ship and drinking rum to warm our tums!

After the worst pirate joke ever (aaaargh!!!) Mr Spink asked everyone what they had learnt. Year 2 did a fantastic job of teaching us about pirates. To finish everyone joined in with singing the pirate song again.