7th April 2005 - Pupils returned to school on Monday looking ready for a long and hopefully sunny Summer Term, filled with further academic challenges, assessments and a wealth of extras too. Year 5 and 6 will be embarking upon their ‘residential’ in Norfolk. Everyone will be preparing for Summer Games Day and Sports Day. There are summer concerts to look forward to, as well as Founders’ Day and the all important Disco that follows!
- Curriculum projections for Summer Term accompany this letter. Hopefully this information will be of use to you when determining the topics of books your children may like to borrow from your local library, or when they are making book purchases.
- Clubs will continue next week and enclosed with this form are details of those on offer. After being oversubscribed in the previous two terms, you will see on the form that certain clubs have been ‘blocked’ out, as they are running on the waiting lists generated from previous terms. If your Key Stage One child is interested in becoming involved in art or skipping and fitness then you should write to the teachers running these clubs so that they are aware that you have given your child permission to attend. This will need to be done by Monday.
- Last term ended with a well received Science Week, culminating with a visit from representatives of the Birmingham Science Museum, who presented an ‘Electrifying Science Show’ to pupils in Key Stage One and then to Key Stage Two. They were given the opportunity to experience electricity as Thomas Edison did. St Peter’s continues to be well supported by our local press, with an article about Science week appearing during the Easter break. A copy of it has been displayed in the School notice boards.
- Pupils are looking forward to next week’s Maths Week. Parents are aware that numeracy is taught each day at school, but Maths Week is an opportunity for something ‘extra’! Key Stage One pupils will have a ‘problem of the day’ to solve. They will also be creating a number booklet to share with children in Nursery and Reception. Board games will be incorporated into numeracy activities, and pupils will join with pupils from Key Stage Two to take part in a Maths Trail. In Key Stage Two there will be daily estimation challenges, a ‘number of the day’ upon which a range of activities will be based, number facts displayed about the building as well as visits from outside speakers describing how numbers form an important part of the work they do. On Wednesday pupils will take part in a ‘round robin’ where they will have the opportunity to take part in activities involving tangrams, data bases, puzzles, measuring and number games. A hundred square will be painted on the Key Stage Two grassed area, which will be used for some number activities outside too. Maths Week will end with the St Peter’s Maths Masters Quiz on Friday afternoon, where Key Stage Two pupils represent their houses and compete in this challenge.
- During this time of year pupils should still bring their coats to school in addition to their blazers. Coats can naturally be left in the cloakroom should it end up being warm, and then taken home at the end of the day.
- St Peter’s School has been one of a number of local schools approached by Kettering and District Theatrical Society in their search for youngsters to be involved in their forthcoming production of Oliver. They are looking for chorus children as well as for individual children suitable for the parts of Oliver and the Artful Dodger. The auditions take place at the Masque Performing Arts Theatre in Barton Seagrave on Monday 18th April at 7.30pm. Performances will take place during October 2005 half term week. If you are interested in finding out more about auditions then the School Office will provide you with a contact telephone number. After the successes of Kettering Eisteddfod, I am sure that some pupils would welcome the challenge of preparing for such an audition. Whilst there will be stiff competition from all quarters, I feel that something valuable can be gained from such an experience, whether it results in a child being ‘cast’ or not.
- Thanks are conveyed to all those who supported the Cake Stall at the end of last term. A total of £65 was raised which has been donated towards Comic Relief. The next Cake Stall will take place on Friday 29th April. Empty cake containers are in the School Office awaiting collection by their owners.
- This leads conveniently to a reminder of the next PTAFA function, which is on Saturday April 16th at 7.30pm. The Murder Mystery night needs your support so please, please try to fit it into your diary. Tickets are priced at £7.50, and include a hot supper. There is no need to ‘dress up’ in 50’s style if you do not have the time to search for suitable clothes. There will be many of us in ‘plain clothes’ I suspect! An early ticket purchase would be appreciated if you intend to come. As we need to determine catering for this event, the closing date for ticket purchase is Tuesday 12th April.
- We are also in need of your offers of ‘promises’ for our Auction of Promises which will be held on Saturday 21st May at 7.30pm. A catalogue of promises needs to be produced prior to this event, and there is therefore the need to set a deadline of 4th May for submission of promises. We are particularly on the look-out for some ‘big’ promises, so if you have links with local business it would be wonderful if these generated some promises for our event.
- You will have recently received a letter regarding the sale of summer bedding plants, the proceeds of which will go to the PTAFA. Please note that the deadline for orders is tomorrow. If you would still like to place an order then drop into the School office to arrange this.
- Following Tuesday’s PTAFA meeting it has been agreed that part of this year’s money raised will be used to provide Sunnylands Hall with blackout blinds, so that an atmosphere appropriate to performance is set for our children when they use this space for concerts and productions. The art work created collaboratively by Key Stage Two pupils will be framed using PTAFA raised funds. There is no doubt that the dedicated work of our PTAFA enhances St Peter’s School and the experience it is able to offer its pupils. Thanks go to those that lead the fundraising initiatives as well as to the huge number of parents that assist our fundraising by attending functions.
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