St Paul’s C of E Primary School Parent Portal - Newsletter Issue 06/22, 25 November 2022

ISSUE No. 06/22

A Message from Mrs Cresswell

As this week draws to a close there is a real sense of excitement in the air as Christmas draws closer and we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ.

The children in Reception and KS1 are working very hard in preparation for their performances of The Nativity and Cinderella. Thank you for all your support in providing amazing costumes and helping the children learn their lines.

Design and Technology teaching and learning is in full swing as the children complete work for our Christmas hoops, which will be hung in the hall. A highlight of the year!

Wishing you a peaceful weekend,

Clare Cresswell.

Autumn term update

Please see below some of the work which has been taking place in school since September:

Behaviour:

We continue to focus on good behaviour and expectation of the whole school community to ensure all children feel safe and happy at St Paul’s. Some of the new initiatives put in place include:

A new behaviour policy has been put in place and continues to be embedded by all adults and children in the school.
Anti-bullying week has been a recent focus - further information can be found in this week’s newsletter
New lunchtime organisation has been put in place this week to help improve children’s safety and wellbeing, including senior leaders being present at key points around the school
Good choice tickets are awarded to children during lunchtime for making good choices in the hall and for being polite
Weekly kindness and good manners awards are given during whole school collective worship on a Friday
Class marble jars to celebrate positive behaviour and attitudes
Mini mentor and ambassador roles are currently being developed to form part of playtime friendship support.

Teaching and learning:

A no hands up policy has been put in place to enable all children the opportunity to engage in all lessons
New teaching and learning monitoring cycle in place
Phonics sessions for parents/carers of children in Reception and Year 1 have taken place

Pupil voice:

School council now meets once a month, children’s thoughts and ideas are shared with all classes and senior leaders
A pupil survey has recently been completed, and senior leaders are currently analysing the results to establish action points
Roles of responsibilities continue to be developed, these include children being part of a Worship Committee, Computer ambassadors and Playtime Ambassadors.

Anti-Bullying Week

Last week’s national anti-bullying week with the theme ‘Reach out’ saw the children take part in a range of engaging activities led by the outside agency Big Foot Arts Education. The KS2 assembly at the start allowed the children to explore the definition of bullying, that it is targeted, intended and ongoing. Within the individual class workshops the children looked at the difference between bullying and relational conflict. The title of the workshops ‘What would you do?’ for KS2 explored the question of the children’s possible responses to witnessing bullying as well as responses should they be targeted.

According to the Anti-Bullying Alliance:

Bullying is the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online.

More details can be found on their website here.

KS2 anti-bullying week assembly

In Year 5 the children worked hard when writing poems about bullying.

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In Year 1 we paired up with another class to make friendship bands and a friendship chain, learning about the importance of loving ourselves and celebrating that we are all different.

Oranges for Christingle

Please let the school office know if you are able to donate the oranges for our Christingles. We are all very much looking forward to these special services.

The Children’s Society

This is an amazing charity supporting and empowering children and young people and this year we have set up a special events page so that your Christingle donations can be made online at St Pauls CE Primary School, Winchmore Hill | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)

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Eucharist at St Peter’s

On Thursday 24 November Years 5 and 6 attended a Communion Service at St Peter’s church.

Thank you, Fr Stephen for such a lovely service.

Housepoints

Congratulations to the winners!

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‘En garde!’

This week each class got a chance to try their hand at fencing. The children learned how to lunge and parry and enjoyed shouting 'En garde!' as they got into their ready stance. The children listened well, joined in with enthusiasm and made great progress in their session.

Children learning how to fence on the school playground

Well played to our girls' football team who played in a cup match against Raglan this week. The team played brilliantly and battled through the wind and rain. The match resulted in a 3-1 win to Raglan.

Photograph of our girls' football team on our school field

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Christmas cards

The children may bring in Christmas cards to be posted in our school post-box from Monday 5 December. Please make sure your children’s full name and class are written on the envelope.

Christmas dates

Please look out for information regarding all our Christmas events which will be sent out to everyone next week.

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Free vector graphics of Note

Bank holiday – May 2023

The government has announced an extra bank holiday to mark the coronation of King Charles III. It will fall on Monday 8th May, two days after the coronation on Saturday 6th May. School will be shut to all pupils on this day. We are waiting to hear how this date will affect the Year 6 SATS during this week.

As always, please keep an eye on the website for upcoming events and dates of note.

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