This week at St Faith's

01 February 2019

On Monday, I received this message from a parent:

‘I thought you would find it amusing to know that I not only had three cellos in my car on the way to school but also a trombone, two hockey sticks, five sports bags and backpacks as well as five children. Another good example of a balanced school life at St Faith’s!’

Indeed, an all-round education does require a fair amount of equipment so I take my hat off to the many families who ferry musical instruments, sports kit, books and the many Art, Engineering and Humanities projects to and from school each day. I particularly admire the many brave cyclists who arrive in the morning, laden with enough luggage to fill a small family car, often with the family dog in tow to keep them company. It’s all part of a full and varied school life, of course, but I never underestimate the commitment required by parents to ensure their children make the most of the many opportunities on offer.

General Knowledge Quiz

Our General Knowledge teams certainly made the most of their opportunity this week, by performing very well in the area heat of the National Quiz Club Championship, hosted here at St Faith’s.  The well-designed questions and engaging format involved pupils answering questions using remote devices and parents and teachers monitoring the progress of each team on the big screen. This created a most entertaining hour or so on Tuesday afternoon. Both our teams scored well with the St Faith’s 1st team finishing third overall (out of 11). Many thanks to Miss Dow, Head of Humanities for arranging this super event.

2JC Assembly

2JC’s assembly on Wednesday morning, on the theme of dinosaurs (this term’s topic), was a real treat. The Trumpington News reporters announced with authority their breaking news of a dinosaur egg being found in the school grounds, the children presented clearly their dinosaur facts and there was an impressive display of dinosaur art work completed in the past few weeks. The assembly proved to be a thoroughly entertaining start to the day.

The Use of Chemicals in Food

This was the topic of a talk given by our Chartwells catering team to the Year 3 children yesterday afternoon. When I called in, the chefs were explaining how food is preserved using such techniques as smoking, curing, drying and sousing. We learnt that tins were invented by the French in 1810 to preserve food when transporting it to the front lines of Napoleon’s army and that it took another fifty years before someone invented a tin opener!  We also learnt about the different effects of green and red cabbage and quite shockingly, how much sugar it takes to make glacé cherries.  It was a fascinating presentation and not surprisingly the children were fully engaged throughout.

Finally…

I thought you might like to see this film that Dr Hoyle put together, to prepare for the Year 8 STEM Fair next term.  As with the Science Fairs in previous years, all Year 8 pupils will take part in this challenge, which will run over several weeks in lesson and homework time.  All the projects will be presented to parents, staff and guests at the STEM Fair on 30th April, when the winners will be announced. Good luck to our Year 8s!

Have a lovely weekend,

Nigel Helliwell