St Nicholas School Friday 22nd September

Saint Nicholas School

From the Headmaster's desk

Friday 22nd September, 2023

Dates for your Diary

25th September

Year 2 Parents’ Coffee Morning

25th September

ISA National Skiing Competition

27th September

Year 11 Geography Field Study Day

28th September

Year 3 Parents’ Coffee Morning

29th September

EYFS Open Morning

29th September

Dear all,

Another week has flown past and for many of our pupils, the summer seems a distant memory! The second, full week of term, always embeds the school's routines into the pupils' 'muscle memory' and I have been delighted to see them working hard, on my daily tours of the school. One of the things that has really stood out, is that the large majority of pupils take pride in their uniform, they are wearing the correct shoes, not the black trainers that have begun to creep into classrooms, and are adhering to the guidelines on length of hair, jewellery and make-up. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents who continue to support the traditions of the school, by adhering to our uniform guidance; please can I encourage all parents to revisit our guidelines on uniform, especially guidance on shoes, over the weekend. The rule is that the shoes should be polishable, and polished. To quote American fashion designer Tom Ford, 'Dressing well is a form of good manners.'

Year 10 MacBeth at the Globe theatre trip

2nd October

Year 4 Parents’ Coffee Morning

3rd October

Year 4-6 ISA Regional Swimming Competition, Ipswich

5th October

Year 5 Parents’ Coffee Morning

6th October

Year 4 trip to Paradise Park

9th October Harvest Festival

14th October

Open Morning

'It is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary people, that keeps the darkness at bay.' - Gandalf the Grey

F r o m t h e H e a d m a s t e r ’ s d e s k

Our week started with the return of our Year 7 residential trip on Sunday, and it was my great pleasure to spend some quality time with our Year 7 pupils over the weekend. Outdoor, adventurous activities are hugely beneficial for young people and a crucial part of their developing qualities like grit, resilience, teamwork and courage, and I was so proud of our pupils as they faced numerous challenges head-on; well done all! On Monday, our Year 3 pupils were transported back to Ancient Greece as they immersed themselves in a range of exciting activities. I enjoyed spending time with our Year 3 pupils, who had a fantastic time making jewellery, sculpting soap, creating mosaics and reenacting moments from Ancient Greek history. Wednesday brought the highly anticipated Year 6 Legoland Trip, and Mr Russell and Mrs Howe were incredibly proud of the Year 6 pupils, as they braved the wet weather and enjoyed a fantastic experience. As you would expect, our pupils were commended for their excellent behaviour; made even more impressive in the face of adverse weather. Well done all!

As we look forward to the last, full weekend of September, it is worth noting that today is National Hobbit Day, which celebrates J.R.R. Tolkein's most lovable and heroic creatures, and his novels which have been an inspiration for authors such as Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Christopher Paolini and J.K.Rowling. One of the most quoted lines from The Hobbit, is when Bilbo exclaims, 'I am going on an adventure!' With a weekend of predicted, warm weather ahead, it may be the perfect time to embark on one of your own!

My very best wishes for a relaxing and adventurous weekend.

Dates for your Diary

17th October

Pre School Dough Disco

17th October

Friends Halloween Disco

18th October

Year 11 Parents’ Evening

18th October

Reception Class trip to Hatters Farm

7th November

Lower School Parents’ Evening

8th November

Further Education Evening

9th November

Year 7-11 ISA Regional Swimming Competition, Ipswich

10th November

Bonfire Night

15th November

2 Johns E-Safety Workshop

20th November

Year 3 & 4 trip to the Barbican Centre, London Symphony Orchestra Concert

21st November

Year 5 trip to Harry Potter Studios

22nd November

Year 6 Parents’ Evening

23rd November

Year 5 trip to Duxford

29th November

Year 10 Parents’ Evening

Rocking Horse Nursery

Wiggle Waddle Toddle

Our nursery pupils took part in a Wiggle Waddle Toddle fundraising event to raise money for St Clare’s Hospice.

All of the pupils who were able to walk ventured around the school grounds in search of animals and balloons. After a refreshment break, they completed the event at the Wellbeing Garden where every pupil who participated received a certificate. Those who could not WIGGLE, WADDLE or TODDLE were pushed in buggies. The event raised a total of £1058.00. Well done everyone!

Little Saints

It has been a busy week in Little Saints. We had our first visit to the new Lower School library, where we enjoyed exploring the books and trying out the comfy seating. We have spent lots of time in the muddy area, and really enjoyed getting very muddy after all the rain we have had this week! We learnt the story of the snail and the whale on Tuesday, and used dough and pasta to create our own.

The pupils have been having daily visits to the new playground too, and the musical instruments are very popular!

Reception Class

This week RN have read the story 'The Colour Monster'. We have talked about emotions as well, and have thought about how we can make people feel better when they are feeling sad or scared. The pupils then chose a monster and had a go at showing that emotion themselves. Here are some photos of them with their chosen colour monster.

Year 1

Year 1 had a visit from History off the Page last Friday to bring their 'Toys from the Past' topic to life. In the morning, pupils investigated and explored a wide variety of toys from different eras. Pupils’s favourites were the bagatelle, stick and hoops, metal trains and puppets. Next, we became archeologists and pupils dug for different toy artefacts and put these into material groups. In the afternoon, pupils became toy makers and created their own versions of spinning tops, clay animals, peg dolls and cup and ball games. To finish off our brilliant day, the pupils listened to a fun toy story. A big thank you to the Friends, Mrs Cummings and Mrs Perkes, for supporting our day

Year 2

Year 2 have been busy in Forest School this week.....

.... and really enjoyed the activities during National Fitness Day

Year 3

This week, Year 3 had a fantastic day with History off the page. They immersed themselves into life in Ancient Greece and spent the morning in the Agora creating wonderful Greek objects. This included making mosaics, offering their characteristics to the gods in the form of a special token, carving soap into Greek patterns, making a necklace and painting an Ancient Greek tile. The afternoon was spent with entertainment from the pupils performing Greek stories, and finished with a buffet. Well done Year 3, you behaved exceptionally and I hope you enjoyed your day. A big thank you to all of the adults who supported the day too.

4

Year 4 have visited the new Lower School library. They loved the new room and all of the different reading areas. They are very excited to come back next week.

Key Stage 1 Eco Club

This week Eco Club set out to refresh the flower beds in the Lower School playground, with a selection of different bulbs for spring. We have planted daffodils, crocuses and snowdrop bulbs and started to fill the beds with winter flowering plants. The club designed their own flower beds then set to work. Great job, Eco Club.

s Junior Eco Club

This week, Junior Eco Club pupils presented their PowerPoint presentations. The pupils delivered a speech in the outdoor classroom, sharing their views and ideas for improving Eco Club. The pupils have now voted for their new Eco Committee. We celebrated all their hard work and achievements by making magical fairy and wizard crowns in the eco garden.

Eco Committee members

The Eco Committee members were mentioned in a letter from the Houses of Parliament, and were handed their letters of recognition for achieving the Green Flag with distinction. The following pupils had their scrolls handed to them during assembly time:

Ayden, Bethany, Raees, Martha, Uma, Emily G, Ilysha in Year 6 and Dylan, Joe B, Samuel, Tallulah and Georgia in Year 5. A huge thank you and congratulations for all their hard work.

6

6S started their morning with some yoga for National Fitness Day

Year 7

Norfolk Lakes Residential Trip

Norfolk Lakes was such fun. We left at break-time on Friday and arrived a few hours later. We put our bags in our rooms and went straight off to our activities. I was in group 7, and we went off to our first activity which was shooting. It was really exciting doing this with my friends. That evening we all went to dinner and the food was amazing. We then got sent off to our final task for the day which was fencing for group 7. The instructors were amazing and such fun to be around. There were many activities which were all excellent, from climbing up high to jumping in a lake with friends. The rooms were a nice size with balconies for the teachers so they could watch over us in our free time which we spent mainly playing with tennis balls.

By Tom Year 7

Road Safety

The Riot Act came to our school this week, to deliver a road safety assembly. The names of the characters were Jo (who was sensible and always had to look after her little brother), Tom (the whiny little brother of Jo who was always trying to be cool), and Fran (Jo’s friend who was always doing dangerous things). A few times, there were arguments and distractions that caused them to walk into the road and sometimes nearly get hit by a car. At the end of the act, Jo went into the road to grab Tom’s fallen bag without looking at the oncoming traffic, which was a bad choice.

I liked how they explained more about why we should stop and think about decisions we make - the part of our brain that helps us to make choices won’t be fully developed for a few years, so we sometimes make bad decisions, just like poor Jo did in the play.

By Annaliesse Year 7

Change 4 Life

Pupils from a range of primary schools arrived at Church Langley, to participate in a range of fun activities designed to get them active and have fun. Junior Sports Leaders worked hard to demonstrate the activities to all the teams; they worked so well, and our pupils thrived under their support. Well done to all the pupils participating, who started off this academic year in such a positive manner.

On Tuesday we went to Harlow Rugby Club to play against Stewards and St Marks. We played well, and made good passes, but our tackles let us down. George M, Rhys W and Zac played extremely well, Zac was very good at taking the ball up and going into contact, Rhys W was very confident and scored an excellent try from an interception and ran down the wing. George M was very strong with his tackles and in the ruck. Rupert, Zac, George M, Freddie and Ben were a very strong scrum.

I would also like to point out how good George M and Rupert were at rucking. They were perfect at forcing the opposition back. Alex and Freddie ran with the ball well. Archie, Rhys and I were a good trio as scrum half and fly half. I thought I played well at getting the ball out and following the man with the ball to make sure I was there to get it out to either Rhys or Archie. Both boys played very well as fly halves. They made sure they were always ready to receive either first or second man in the line. It’s was very unlucky that we lost both matches but a decent performance from the boys. Well done everyone, we go again in two weeks.

By Wilf Year 8

The Year 10/11 had their first game in the Harlow Schools Tournament on Tuesday at the Harlow Rugby Club. Our first game was against St Marks, the team we had narrowly lost to last year. We started the game off strong, with Tom scoring the first try of the match, extending our lead to 5-0. St Marks fought hard but we kept them off of our line with great defence by the team. We then scored a second try in the corner by Suraj, this gave us a two try lead, and ended the game 10-0.

Our next match was against Passmores. To start off the match Jack S and Terry made some amazing runs to give us the upper hand and get closer to their line and our first try was scored by Jack Seymour, which started off the game in our favour. We kept possession for most the game, and didn’t let Passmores anywhere near our try line, ending the score at 30-0. Well done to the squad on our first game as a team, thank you Mr Brown and Mr Tucker for giving us the opportunity to play.

By Thomas Year 11

e r N e w s

Open Mornings

We are holding an Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Open Morning on Friday 29th September, 9.3011.30am. This event is specifically for parents considering their child’s preschool and early years education, and will include tours of Little Saints PreSchool, the infant department of the school and our beautiful grounds and excellent facilities.

Additionally, we are holding a whole school Open Morning on Saturday 14th October, 10am-midday, which is an opportunity for parents to view the school all the way through to seniors.

If you would like to attend either event, please contact Admissions Secretary, Julia Bradley, by phone or email on 01279 429910 ext 1, or at admissions@saintnicholasschool.net, and please do extend the invitation to family and friends who would like to learn more about Saint Nicholas School.

t h e r N e w s