HSE inspector says St Stephen's standards are 'gold plated'

The Healthy and Safety Executive paid us a visit this week and were impressed by our efforts and systems to keep our children and staff as safe as possible in these unusual times, indeed we were dubbed 'gold-plated.'

"We had a fantastic inspection from the Health and Safety Executive this week. This is the result of huge effort and commitment from our staff, under very difficult circumstances. My over arching aim is to protect our children, staff and the community. I am so proud of our staff - they are doing a fantastic job," says Mrs Bachour.

Please wrap up warm when you come into school

In order to keep our community as safe as possible we are keeping windows and doors open, so that rooms are fully ventilated. As the weather becomes cooler, we would highly recommend that everyone in school has layers of clothes under their uniform. During this period, we will allow children to wear polo neck jumpers/similar under their shirts .

As the rates of infection are rising, please may we also ask if, at drop off and pick up, adults and children try to stay as socially distanced as possible and continue to wear a mask.

Thank you again for your co-operation and patience during this difficult period.

Year Three has been taking a trip back to the Stone Age each week in their History lessons. Whether it is the Paleolithic, the Mesolithic or the new age Neolithic era, our young paleontologists are very taken with their studies of all things stone. They have studied the evolution of early man, from homo erectus (our first ancestor to walk on two legs), through to his Neanderthal neighbour and right up to homo sapiens. Tools, weapons, living accommodation, diet and cave paintings, they have left no stone unturned in their bid to get to the rock bottom of this most interesting of historical periods. Skills learned in the course of their studies came in handy when they moved on a little to the shinier Bronze Age for a fun workshop last week.

Year Three teacher, Sian MacKenzie gives us the backbone of the session, "Year Three had a wonderful time becoming archaeologists - and they were great at it too! We investigated a ‘Bronze Age murder mystery’ and used our historical inquiry skills to determine just who our skeletal guest was. The children examined different artefacts to help with their task and had some fantastic hypothesises to what each one was. We discovered through our artefacts that our skeleton was likely a very important person who was also an adept fisherman! There were really interesting links to our learning in science around the skeleton and, of course, our learning in history around the Stone Age."