2^nd October 2008

• Next week is Assessment Week. Pupils in Year One through to Year Six will take part in activities that will enable the School to determine the level of progress made through from last October to this point of the academic year.  With the information gained from the assessment tasks, teachers will be able to review and refine the teaching targets that should be set in order to promote good progress.  I would ask parents to support a calm approach at home to Assessment Week because children of this age work better at school without anxiety surrounding them. Insisting upon early bedtimes on school nights and good breakfasts before embarking upon the school day are ways in which parents are already contributing to pupils’ academic wellbeing.  At School the teachers will aim to put children at their ease rather than create unnecessary tension about the tests.  As a result of this home-school partnership we find each year that pupils on the whole actually enjoy taking part in assessments!
   
• The Parent-Teacher consultations will provide a forum in which information gained from Assessment Week can be shared.  A letter regarding booking of appointments will be distributed on Monday. Please ease it out of your child’s school bag and get the return slip back to school quickly so that we can slot in appointments and inform you equally quickly.
   
• Harvest Festival was celebrated last week with the aim of including the whole school community.  The Chapel in Sunnylands Hall was filled with donations of produce following the PTAFA’s request and provided a colourful backcloth to the School’s Harvest Assembly.   Father Dominic led the proceedings, talking to our pupils about how the idea of harvest has expanded to include not only local produce but items that have travelled significant miles before reaching the consumer.  At the start of our assembly pupils brought up the enveloped collections that were kindly donated by families in support of the Goodwill Village in India.  The final amount collected came to just under £200. It was good to see such generosity during this present economic climate.
   
• The Nursery celebrated Harvest with ‘scarecrow day’ when an assortment of battered, dishevelled characters arrived in the classroom, and that was just the staff! The children’s costumes were lovely and one little boy insisted that he would only answer to the name of Wurzel for the day. In addition to numeracy and literacy activities based upon the day’s theme, traditional songs were sung.  The top favourites were reported to be 'Dingle dangle scarecrow' and 'Oats and beans and barley grow'.
   
• St Peter’s School Harvest Festival continued in the evening with the PTAFA Harvest Supper.  Tickets for this event sold out very quickly as predicted, so the message for next year is to get your ticket early on!  Mr Fountain surpassed himself with a comforting harvest casserole and the warmth of the evening continued when pupils shared some of their work with the audience.
   
• Children at St Peter’s School love getting ready for the Harvest Festival.  A wealth of work is covered across the subject range.  Sunnylands Hall boasts a marvellous display of pupils’ art work. Pupils have also been engaged in a range of literacy activities, and some of these were highlighted during the Harvest Supper.  Poems were recited by younger children whilst older pupils read poems on the theme of Autumn or Harvest which they had written with their teachers, aimed at painting word images with carefully chosen descriptive vocabulary.  Throughout the evening we were presented with important messages held within the words of poems and songs that provided food for thought.     Mr Conway’s encouraging words lifted the volume of the grown-ups’ hymn-singing to new heights.  Thanks to all parents, pupils and staff for making the evening so special.
   
• The PTAFA hosted a MacMillan Coffee morning last Friday.  Thanks to parents who attended the Coffee Morning and also to those that so kindly gave up their time to pack up the donated Harvest Festival food items and transport them to The Four Seasons Day Centre and The Grange Over 60’s Club in Kettering. A total of £79 was raised at the Coffee Morning, with a further £52.42 being raised after an impromptu Cake Stall run by Mr Fountain to sell the cakes remaining after the Coffee Morning.  Added to this Mrs Bowers and her office team at Latimer Community College passed a collection from a MacMillan event they also ran, which made the total sent off to the charity as £175.70. 
  
• Please note from the clubs details sent out earlier this term that no clubs are scheduled for Monday 13^th October because staff training is taking place.
   
• We have had something of a muddle as far as school uniform is concerned this term.  Pupils should have returned to School after the summer break in summer uniform, with the exception of children in Nursery or pupils new to the School who are advised to just purchase winter uniform for a September start (with an eye for economics and rate of growth amongst younger pupils!) Such information was communicated in the last bulletin of last year and the first bulletin of this year. Nevertheless there have been a lot of boys coming to School wearing long trousers when they should have been in shorts. I would ask parents to note the uniform information carefully. I am gratified that most parents at the School are supportive of keeping up the standard of school uniform.  To clarify, at St Peter’s School the children usually go into winter uniform just before the individual school photographs are due and the date is formally given in the bulletin to avoid a school that is in two uniforms! Photographs will be taken on Tuesday 21^st October.  Winter Uniform should be worn from Monday 13^th October.  Details of Uniform Shop opening times were given at the start of term.
   
• St Peter's School had their first football friendly match of the new academic year on Tuesday, away at Loatlands School. We played an Under 9s team, who were all excited and displayed great enthusiasm throughout the game. Mr Holmes reports that the first half was a bit of an experimental line up and Loatlands were clinical in their finishing but with a few changes in formation at half time, St Peter's boys played really well in the second half. The match enabled Mr Holmes to assess the areas which most need addressing with regard to skills and tactics. Over the coming weeks in Football Club pupils will be concentrating on: ball control when receiving passes and when moving with the ball, accurate passing with the correct part of the foot, passing and moving, running into space and shooting. There is a return match next Tuesday in our School grounds.
   
• High Fives netball training has been going well so far this term. It has been particularly pleasing to have boys join us from Years 4, 5 and 6. The focus of our Thursday sessions has been improving the speed and accuracy of catching and passing, the travelling rule and awareness of space on the court, the latter having been taught through game situations. Mrs Marshall reports that on Wednesdays the Year 3 girls have been demonstrating good catching and passing skills. Each week the accuracy has improved and they are able to exceed their previous week's one minute total. As with the Thursday group, the younger girls have begun to look at footwork.
   
• At the end of Trinity Term last year the children finished school on Tuesday 15^th July, however our Kwik Cricket team had not yet completed their commitments and turned up on the first day of their school holidays at Loddington Cricket Club to take part in Loddington's annual competition. Our team were already in holiday mood but once on the field they maintained the focus, commitment and application that had gained them their other successes throughout the season. They won each group match, their semi-final and the final to finish unbeaten champions and we now have another trophy in our cabinet for a year! Once again thanks to the parents who came to support and especially to our players and Mr Holmes for all their hard sporting work last year.
   
• The first class assembly of the year will be given by pupils in 6LD.  Parents of children in that class are invited to join us.  Please report at the School Office at 10.20am.
   
• The next bulletin will be issued on 16^th October.