Newsletter 31 -
w/c 16th May
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SCROLL DOWN FOR A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNORS
DATES AND REMINDERS
Friday 20th May - FOSS Bounceathon
W/C Monday 23rd May - Year Six - Cycling proficiency
Monday 30th May - Friday 3rd June - Half Term holiday
Monday 6th June - Extra Jubilee Holiday
Tuesday 7th June - Children return to school
Wednesday 8th June - Class/Group photographs
Wednesday 8th June - World Environment Day
W/C Monday 20th June - Diversity Week
Tuesday 28th June - Year Six Performance - Jungle Book 7pm
Wednesday 29th June - Year Six Performance - Jungle Book 2.30pm (subject to ticket demand)
Wednesday 29th June - Year Six Performance - Jungle Book 7pm
Saturday 2nd July - St Margaret's Fair
Monday 4th July - Transition Day
Monday 11th - Thursday 14th July - Year Six School Journey to Hooke Court
Wednesday 13th July - Ruby class - final swimming session
Monday 18th/Tuesday 19th July/Wednesday 20th - Year Three - Pedestrian training
Wednesday 20th July - Leavers' Service - St Stephen's Church 10am
KS1 - Open Afternoon - 3.15 - 4.15pm
KS2 - Open Afternoon - 3.30 - 4.30pm
FOSS BBQ
Thursday 21st July - KS1 and KS2 Sports Day at Orleans Park School
Friday 22nd July - End of term - school closes at 2.15pm
Reception throw a street party
With the Queen's Jubilee just around the corner, our Reception children got in the party spirit this week with their very own street party. They set up the tables themselves, made the jam sandwiches (which were, by all accounts, truly delicious), decked the outdoor classroom with some colourful homemade bunting and sat back and enjoyed a right royal knees up. And, when on the festivities were at an end, they did the decent thing and helped with the clear up operation. They were the ideal party guests. Hurrah for Reception. Well done to Opal class for a fantastic class assembly. Check out their paintings of the Queen and their bunting in our masthead.
Cricketers bowl their maiden overs
We fielded two great teams at last week's local cricket tournament. Accompanied by Miss Cooper and Miss Taylor, the young cricketers bowled us over with their sportsmanship. Here is Miss Taylor's match report ...
It was a wonderful day. I was so impressed with the support every child gave to each other and the opposing teams. So respectful and kind. They really did build every one up. The boys won three of their four matches. The first three were the pool matches. They won against Hampton Hill and St Richard Reynolds, but unfortunately were beaten by East Sheen. Sadly, this meant they did not make the semi-finals. In the next match against Trafalgar the children displayed wonderful batting and bowling skills - enough to score another victory.
When it came to the girls' team, they won all their pool matches but were beaten in the semi finals by Hampton Hill. Again they showed wonderful support for each other and great respect for both opponents and umpires. It was a lovely day.
If you have any stories and pictures about out of school sporting achievements and activities, do share them with us.
Grecian urn appreciation with Year Three
COVID put paid to school trips for a while, but now we are up and running again and Year Three displayed some exemplary behaviour on their first off-site expedition since Reception when they went to the British Museum. Over to Year Three teacher, Sonia Chahil: "We were so impressed and proud of the bahaviour of our Year Three children on this trip. It is amazing to think that they have not managed an off-site trip since Reception. All the staf are so proud of them and look forward to more trips with this wonderfully behaved bunch of children. They really enjoyed seeing some real Greek vases which brought their classroom learning to life."
The youngsters are immersing themselves in Ancient Greece at the moment, so an examination of the museum's Grecian vase cabinets was essential research.
The children got to view a selection of Greek vessels, which come in four main types: Geometric, Corinthian, Athenian black-figure and Athenian red-figure. The latter being the style we usually associate with Grecian pottery. Our children are learning that these vases are invaluable primary resources for finding out about the day-to-day lives of Ancient Greeks and their belief systems, as depicted on their pottery.
More than 5,000 batteries charge in for the Big Battery Hunt. Many, many thanks and keep them coming ... we are still collecting
Message from The Governors:
We have spent time recently looking at how to best ensure the governing body has the skills and flexibility to meet the changing and complex needs of the school as we strive to deliver an ambitious and comprehensive offering to the children in times of greater financial constraint. As such we have restructured the governing body, within the Constitution Regulations, to enable the governors to recruit a governor based on skills required at the appointment of office. To enable this, we have reduced the number of parent governor positions from three to two (this brings St Stephen’s in line with what is standard in other CE primary schools in the London Diocese) and have moved the allocation of one parent governor to create a new co-opted governor role with the aim that they are able to focus on school infrastructure developments to help with fundraising.
The Governing Body has the following structure:
· 2 parent governors
· 1 LA governor
· 2 staff governors (including headteacher)
· 1 co-opted governor
· 8 foundation governors
Total number of governors: 14
The appointment for the co-opted role comes from the governing body and, unlike other positions, is without any criteria apart from the skills identified. If you feel you have the skills and are interested in finding out more about the role and time commitment, please email clerktogovernors@st-stephens.richmond.sch.uk or by registering as a potential volunteer with Inspiring Governance (https://www.inspiringgovernance.org) to view our advert along with further information on the role of a governor.