A message from Mrs Cresswell

It has already been a busy start to the new school year and it has been wonderful to see new children (and families) settling into our school routines so smoothly and becoming part of our community so quickly. Thank you for all of your support of our events so far, in particular for your generous support of our charity events including the Macmillan coffee morning last week.

Trips are also back up and running for the new year and are a really important way for us to bring children’s learning to life and an added inspiration to what we can provide in the classroom.

The month of October brings Black History Month and, as ever, it is important to be clear that our intention is that the focus of Black History Month will not be confined to October. As a school, we continue to work hard to ensure that our curriculum is broad and diverse, and we are always looking at ideas of how to improve this.

Have a lovely weekend

Clare Cresswell

Harvest

It was very special to be able to celebrate our Harvest Festival as a whole school and community at St Paul’s church this week. The children sang beautifully and it was wonderful to have so many parents/carers join us to be part of the service.

Thank you for all of your donations to the North Enfield Food Bank. I am sure you will agree it is a very worthy cause, and so important for the children to have an awareness of current local issues. It is also an opportunity to promote the Christian ethos and values of our school, as well as preparing the children to be positive members of the community.

House and Sports captains

Congratulations to our new House and Sports captains who have now taken up their roles and responsibilities.

Parking

Further to my communication last week, please remember to park and drive with consideration. Please do not park on the double yellow lines at the intersection of Ringwood Way and Shrubbery Gardens. It makes it very difficult for cars turning and people crossing the road.

School lunches

Please make sure you are selecting your child’s lunch before they come into school each day. This helps the kitchen to have the correct amount of food available.

Jewellery

No jewellery other than stud earrings and a watch may be worn to school.

I have noticed a number of children wearing hooped earrings. For health and safety reasons, please can you make sure these are not worn to school.

School Volunteer Program

Please consider joining our parent volunteer program as the children can greatly benefit from your involvement.

We seek volunteers to help us with the following activities:

• Supporting in class school trips.
• Reading with children who need extra help
• School-wide events

To be a part of this program, please complete the volunteer application form which can be downloaded from the website (School Information/Job Vacancies) and send it to office@st-pauls.enfield.sch.uk for the attention of Mrs Hawting, who will arrange to meet with you. Please note that all volunteers will all need to be DBS checked.  

Collective Worship

This half term, we are following the London Diocesan Board of Schools cycle of Collective worship based around themes from the Bible readings in Church each week. Here are some suggested questions and prayers which you may wish to use with your children at home.

This week

Themes drawn from Genesis 2:18-24 and Psalm 8

• Humans as the pinnacle of God’s creation.
• The wonder of you.

Questions:

What’s the best thing about you?
What’s the best thing about being human?
Do you think a human life is worth more than an animal’s? Why or why not?

Challenge:
Give a genuine compliment to someone, not about their looks, but about their character or skills.

Prayer:
Almighty God, I thank you that you know everything about me and love me and care for me. Amen
 

Next week

Themes drawn from Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 and Mark 10:17-31

• The cost of following God.
• Justice for the poor.

Questions:

What or who are the most important things in your life?
What takes up most of your free time?
Have you ever done anything to help or be generous to others? What did you do?
Do you think that money or things can be a barrier to knowing God or caring about other people? Why or why not?

Challenge:
Be generous this week, with your time, attention, or your things. Could you donate something to charity or give up your time to help someone?

Prayer:
Lord God, thank you for all you have given me. Help me to be generous with all that I have. Amen.
 

Some religious festivals and holy days in October

3-4^th October - the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashannah. The ram’s horn (shofar) blown in the synagogue recalls Abraham’s sacrifice of a ram instead of his son, Isaac. Apples dipped in honey are eaten in the hope of a ‘sweet’ new year.

12^th October - the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur This ‘Sabbath of Sabbaths’ is the holiest day of the Jewish year. Jews spend the eve and most of the day in prayer, asking for forgiveness for past wrongs and resolving to improve in the future.

13^th October to 20^th October – week of prayer for World Peace. The Week of Prayer for World Peace was started as a Christian initiative in 1974. It soon became an inter faith activity, and now welcomes everyone, of all faiths and beliefs.

17^th October to 23^rd October – Sukkot- the Jewish harvest festival recalls the 40 years the Jews spent in the wilderness on the way from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.

17^th October - Pavarna Day – Buddhists monks who have completed the Retreat invite their fellows to admonish them for any failings. It is also known as ‘Sangha Day’.

20^th October - Conferring of Guruship on the Guru Granth Sahib. Sikhs remember that in 1708 Guru Gobind Singh declared that, instead of having another human Guru, from now on Sikhs would regard the scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, as their Guru.

24^th October Shemini Atzeret - A Jewish holiday at the conclusion of Sukkot. It is characterized by candle lighting, festive meals and joy which reaches its climax on 25^th October - Simchat Torah when the conclusion—and restart—of the annual Torah-reading cycle is celebrated.

Collective Worship Committee News

We have now formed our 2024-5 worship committee made up of pupils in Year 5 and 6. The quality of applications from Year 5 were so high this year that we have decided to split the group in two with one half forming the committee until February half term and the others from February to the end of the academic year. Congratulations to all the children.

The committee has been busy already, helping set up the Church and reading for our Harvest Festival as well as supporting the clergy during whole-school collective worships on Mondays. This week our worship in school was led by the Revd Canon Poppy Hughes on the theme of everyone’s uniqueness.

A Prayer on our school value – Love - written by Sebi Year 5, a member of the Collective Worship Committee.

Dear God,

We are thankful for our family and friends we love. We appreciate how much time we get to spend enjoying life with them. Let’s show others love, especially people who are alone or homeless and feeling sad. God loves everyone no matter who they are.

Amen

Sports News!

An excellent couple of weeks for the St Paul’s sports teams. The girls’ football team played well at a tournament at Raglan School, winning most of their matches.

The boys won one and lost one of their last league matches to finish 2nd overall.

The girls AND boys both won the borough cross country team events. What a fantastic achievement!

Reception - Space Week

Reception have been very busy during space week and have had lots of fun! They have been taking part in a range of role play activities, junk-modelling, learning facts and even did their first VR workshop as a class.

Year 1 - Spurs football training

This week in Year 1 it was 1T’s turn to have a training session with a coach from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The session started with games to develop the children’s reaction time, agility, problem-solving and teamwork. They did drills to work on ball control and how to keep possession of the ball. The snake taught them how to dribble the ball in and out of cones. The penguin taught them how to control the ball by tapping it from one foot to the other. They practised toe taps, alternating their big toe and little toe. 1T really enjoyed their training session.

Year 3 - D&T

This week Year 3 have been busy practising cutting and peeling skills for their D&T topic ‘Food and Nutrition’. The children had a great time working in pairs. Whilst one was cutting/peeling the other was making sure they were being safe with the equipment. We learnt about the ‘claw’ and ‘bridge’ cutting methods and had a go ourselves.

Have a look at how we got on...

Year 4 - Spurs football training

On Wednesday, 4L took part in football training with Spurs. We demonstrated excellent ball skills, concentration and determination. We were complimented on our sportspersonship and how well we listened, so we are very proud of ourselves!

 

Year 4 - Space Workshop

Year 5 - Friendship videos

Year 5 have been making videos about friendship in their computing lessons. They have planned their script, shot the film using different techniques and then edited the movie.

Year 6 - David Hockney Art Projects

We are very impressed by the incredible art projects produced by Year 6.