ST. PETER'S SCHOOL

17^th January 2008

• It was back to the crucial business of teaching and learning last week, with pupils returning to School refreshed after a good long break from routine.  With no gradual easing in, it was straight into class work and homework! 
   
• It is always a favourite part of my job to visit classrooms, and at the start of Lent Term it was evident from what I saw that a good rest, plenty of sleep, the chance to recover from coughs and colds (before the next lot kick in) as well as the enjoyment of new toys, games and books received as festive gifts has served to sharpen up our students.  Good! Lent Term is a most important term.  Pupils are no longer new to a year group.  The style of teaching and learning within the classroom is more familiar.  It is therefore THE TERM where we expect the boys and girls to make significant progress, because the road towards formal assessments that take place during Summer Term is an ever decreasing one!
   
• I have asked each class teacher to give brief details of a classroom ‘moment’ that took place in the early days of Lent Term:

Nursery children returned to School with renewed enthusiasm…and plenty of vigour!  Just before falling asleep at home…. in her tea, one little girl told her mum “It’s fun, but hard work!”  The recent mild and wet weather was not particularly reflective of this week’s Nursery theme: Ice and Snow, so instead children have made their own snowflakes in Art, and used ice in the water tray to investigate melting, cold and floating.

In Reception Class pupils came back ready for more hard work.  Mrs Bull was delighted to note a distinct progression in pupils’ listening and thinking skills.  During a group discussion session last week, one four year old commented “Oh Mrs Bull! I know everything now!”

1KS worked together to make a word web, using it then to individually plan out their own work, resulting in a super piece of independent writing about Winter.

Encyclopaedia experts have been at work in 2SW, with children applying their literacy skills during a Science lesson, when they researched the appearance of different animals, their diet, movement and how their young are born and fed.  The animals were also categorised into mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects.

One of the areas of study in literacy for 3CVR last week was collective nouns.  Mrs Van Rensburg was most impressed with pupils’ ability to recall some of these, favourites being ‘a down of hares’ and ‘a barren of mules’!  I think that the forthcoming work on similes will be both enjoyable but also vital in the next steps towards further improvement in creative writing.

In PE Mr Holmes recounted the wonderful moment when a Year 4 boy adjusted the position of his hands and was amazed at how easily he could then perform a tucked headstand. Later during that first week back, 4AH showed great interest in the voyage of Sir Francis Drake, and they exhibited universal disbelief at the fact that it took nearly two years to complete his journey!

In their new Science topic Gases Around Us, there were surprised looks from 5GM pupils when they discovered that air has weight.  Meanwhile in PSHE, the same pupils have been examining personal qualities, and have taken part in some very honest self-appraisals……

Year 6 are getting to grips with more complex multiplication and division of decimals, and they are now delving into percentages.  There were a few contortionists evident when pupils tried to read their school jumper labels to find out the percentages of fibres used. Meanwhile in Science 6LD and 6PP have been investigating how the curve of a surface influences an object’s reflection.

• A great deal of work has been completed in the ICT suite during the Christmas break and over the last few weekends.  The school has purchased a new server which has kindly been set up by Mr Roger Payne, who has also had the task of installing flat screens to all of the work stations.  Such an update means that the school’s network of 20 computers works highly efficiently, even when an entire class presses the print button at the same time!
   
• Parents of pupils in 4AH are invited to join School Assembly on Thursday 24^th January.  Please come to the School Office at 10.20, from where I will walk up to Sunnylands Hall with you once we are told the class is ready for us.
   
• It has been observed by Mr Fountain that many pupils in Key Stage Two are bringing mid morning snacks of crisps and chocolate to School.  I join him in concluding that this is really not an example of healthy eating!  I would suggest that pieces of fruit might be a more fitting mid-morning snack to sweeten the long distance to school lunch.  Most teachers are of the mind that artificial sugar does nothing to enhance children’s levels of concentration…..so please, please support us! 
   
• A county chess championship takes place on Saturday 26^th January at Latimer Arts College, Barton Seagrave. It is being organised by Northamptonshire Schools’ Chess Association. Entry to the tournament is £5 per player and entry forms can be collected from the School Office.  Closing date for the organisers to be in receipt of entry fee and form is Thursday 24^th January.
   
• Minutes of the first PTAFA meeting of 2008 were circulated earlier this week.  The next PTAFA meeting takes place on Wednesday 5^th March.
   
• Arrangements are well in hand for the forthcoming Family Bingo Night at which the PTAFA will launch their next appeal.  The Bingo Night takes place on Friday 1^st February and the PTAFA have chosen a time that would hopefully mean that parents could bring along even their younger children. Tickets are available direct from the School Office, or simply complete the tear off slip to the PTAFA Bingo Night letter recently distributed and return it to the School Office with payment.
   
• There is still plenty of time to enter the PTAFA’s ‘Design a Mini Bus’ Competition. The winning design will win the child and their WHOLE class a school trip to the cinema.  The closing date for this competition is Friday 25^th January and there is an entry fee of £3….I think the prize will be much coveted, so this is certainly a competition worthy of pupil’s efforts over this weekend.
   
• The next bulletin will be distributed on 31^st January, when there will be a report about Food Week and details of the Dance Workshops taking place for Key Stage One.