CoMPasS
Registered Charity No: 1141329
Yesterday, 5th October was National Poetry Day and the theme of the day this year was Refuge. A number of poems were curated into a collection for the day, including this striking and evocative poem by Joseph Coelho, the Children’s Laureate. You might like to share this poem with your child.
Take A Deep Breath
Close your eyes, imagine the sea.
Take a deep breath... and let it out.
Close your eyes imagine the waves splashing your feet.
Take a deep breath … and let it out.
Close your eyes, imagine your toes in the sand.
Take a deep breath... and let it out.
Close your eyes, imagine the sun on your face.
Take a deep breath... and let it out.
Poetry is often overlooked, but a research project run by The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) in 2017 evidenced the power of poetry and the many benefits listening to, engaging with and writing poetry can have for children’s learning and personal development. The first report followed up this year by a further CLPE survey about poetry in primary schools shows that children value poetry as demonstrated in the responses from the children who were part of the research.
• 88% say that children enjoy engaging with poetry
• 89% reported that children enjoyed listening to it being read or performed
• 72% reported that they enjoyed performing it themselves
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Literacy is not merely about the mechanics of reading and writing, important as they are, and at St Peter’s 2-8, we also want our children to enjoy and delight in reading, including poetry, for the pure pleasure of listening to and reading poems without always needing a response. When I was a child, I had a copy of The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse and I remember vividly loving listening to my parents read the poems over and over again using different voices for the characters. Many of those poems are rather old fashioned now, but my favourite poem was a gory cautionary tale by Hilaire Belloc ‘Jim, who ran away from his nurse and was eaten by a lion’. Often the rhythm and song like quality of poems makes them easy for children to read and practice fluency and expression. In addition to listening for pleasure poetry provides a freedom for expressing a whole range of feelings, identities and senses and enables children to find their voice, all of which are beneficial for children’s mental health and wellbeing. I have often used poetry in PSHE lessons as an effective tool for expression and as a stimulus for discussion and I was given a beautiful book for this purpose by a pupil who is now in J2 called ‘Everyone Sang – A Poem for Every Feeling’ by William Seighart. Poems give children a sense of adventure to play with language, develop and understand new vocabulary, experiment and have fun with humour. They also provide excellent opportunities for children to perform and develop the confidence and the courage to speak in front of an audience.
Year 3 have written some superb poems as part of their Iron Man theme. It was wonderful to see them working collaboratively to explore ambitious language and descriptive phrases whilst composing their acrostic poems. We have included one for you to enjoy on the next page. This week we welcomed another Mrs Clark (but with no e) to the school office
team. She will be working with Mrs McCurrie and Mrs Nicholson to make sure our incredibly busy school runs smoothly. I’m sure that you’ll all join me in welcoming her to our school community.
Next week we are holding Parents Evenings so that you will have the opportunity to talk with your child’s teacher and discuss your child’s progress in the new classes. Hopefully you have been able to sign up without issue, but if you encounter any problems, please do contact the school office who will be able to help. We also hope that you are enjoying our Open Classrooms that take place each Friday from 8:25-8:40 when your child can teach and show you their learning from the week.
Fridays are always a special day as we hold our Celebration Assembly where we hear about the Learning Superheroes and Value Champions from each class as well as Music and PE award winners and reflect on the golden moments from the past week. Don’t forget to stop by the boards in the atrium which have the posters for the Learning Superheroes and Value Champions displayed weekly.
On Saturday we will be holding an Open Morning for prospective families to visit St Peter’s 2-8. It is always lovely to share our ethos and aims, show visitors our learning spaces and to receive such positive feedback which is often ‘I wish my school had been like this’.
I hope that you all have a very happy weekend.
The Power of Poetry Research Summary
2017.pdf (clpe.org.uk)
With best wishes,
Newsletter
5
Friday 6th October 2023
DIARY FOR WEEK COMMENCING
9th October 2023
School Council
Year 1 Cricket*
Year 1 Animals & The Environment
Year 2 IT
Year 2 & 3 Football*
Year 3 Cookery
Year 1 Lets Get Moving
Year 2 STEM
Year 2 Cricket*
Year 3 Swimming
Year 3 Tennis*
Year 2 & 3 Dance Club*
Year 1 Yoga*
Year 2 & 3 Choir
Year 1 Board Games
Year 1 Ball Skills
Year 2 Tennis 2 Art
Yeat 2 & 3 European Cultures
Year 3 Hockey
Year 3 STEM
Year 1 Lexia
Year 1 Street Dance*
Year 2 & 3 Lioness Football*
Year 2 & 3 Running Club
Year 2 & 3 Board Games
Year 3 Cricket*
Musical Notes:- The tickets and t-shirts are booked and we're well on our way to learning the songs for Young Voices 2024! We are really excited about our concert on Wednesday 21st February at the Sheffield Arena! If your child would like to practise the songs at home, please follow this link https:// yvmusicroom.com/parentRegisterReferral?
code=MTA0MS8xNjk1MDQ3NTE4 which will take you to the Young Voices Music Room and all the song lyric videos, Andy's dance videos and the BSL video. The link to the Spotify playlist is here if you would like to have the songs in your car! Young Voices Uk Music Pack 2024 - Album by The Young Voices Choir | Spotify
