This week at St Faith's

12th November 2021

Remembrance Services

On Monday afternoon all pupils took part in our Remembrance services where we spent time reflecting upon the wars of past and present and those who made the ultimate sacrifice, including Old Fidelians and St Faith’s staff. In Pre Prep, Year 1 focused on Armistice day in their computing lesson and learnt how to print and save their own work after creating beautiful poppy field images using SPLOSH.

 

1BB Assembly

Earlier this week, on Wednesday morning, 1BB delivered a delightful assembly to their peers and families via Teams. The children cleverly inter-wove the story of Little Red Riding Hood, complete with mime and actions, with a detailed tutorial on how to prepare a sandwich, not forgetting to use healthy ingredients! We heard in the story that, whilst walking through the woods Little Red Riding Hood noticed all the autumn colours and continuing this theme, the children showed their beautiful autumn leaf pictures.  They also recited an autumnal poem they had been studying – ‘Misty’ by Shirley Hughes. Very well done indeed to 1BB for a beautifully presented and confidently delivered assembly.

current parents can view the whole assembly here

Firework Poetry

In their English lessons this term, children in Year 5 have been studying Phillip Pullman’s The Firework Maker’s Daughter. With the words and descriptions from the pages of the book reverberating in their minds and the backdrop of last week’s bonfire night events, the children have produced an evocative array of poems focused on the theme of ‘fire’. They have also been out and about around the school grounds looking at the striking colours of the autumn leaves and using them as inspiration for further poetry of their own.

Colour Theory

Staying with the theme of colour and nature, Year 3 have been working hard on understanding colour theory this term and they have been creating flower meadow paintings by mixing the three primary colours. This is very impressive and promising work by Year 3- well done indeed!

Royal Society Book Club

The Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize aims to promote literacy in young people and in particular to inspire them to read about Science. Each Thursday lunchtime, the St Faith’s judging panel for The Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize, meet to discuss their views on the latest titles which all have a scientific theme and are aimed at children aged 5-16 years. This year, more than 11,500 young judges, drawn from 537 schools, science centres, and community groups from across the UK, are reading the short list of books and providing their judgments, ahead of the winner being announced in February 2022. Our judging panel is made up of six Year 6 pupils, George, Harris, Molly, Juliette, Aashna and Patrick, who read the books in their own time and then meet over lunch to discuss their reflections. A final decision on which is their favourite book along with their review comments will be forwarded to The Royal Society.  Our Head of Science, Mrs Price, was keen to congratulate all the participants for their outstanding commitment and enthusiasm stating, ‘It is a pleasure to listen to their articulate, thoughtful and informed opinions.’ More details on the highly recommend books currently being assessed can be found here.

 

Sports Spotlight

It has been another busy week on the sports pitches with many year groups participating in some keenly contested matches. Year 4 pupils have experienced inter-school matches against Perse Prep and King’s College School this week. Meanwhile, the U-11 Girls’ Hockey team are competing in the East Regional Finals today at Gresham’s School and take with them our very best wishes for a successful event. Results of our multiple fixtures can be found in the side bar.

IAPS Engineering Course

Yesterday our Head of Engineering, Dr Hoyle, hosted an ‘Introduction to Engineering’ course in conjunction with the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS). In the past, these training events have allowed teachers from other IAPS schools to spend the day in our Engineering facilities, learning first-hand how to introduce Engineering to their curriculum, with a focus on developing problem solving skills alongside the types of hands-on work the pupils are able to enjoy. Necessarily, yesterday’s event had to specially adapted, as 32 delegates from 30 schools joined Dr Hoyle remotely via Teams. However, Dr Hoyle devised a number of inventive ‘desktop alternatives’ to the activities that had been demonstrated in the Hub in previous years, and the delegates enjoyed attempting these remotely. Feedback from the event was hugely positive and I am very grateful to Dr Hoyle and our colleagues at IAPS for organising and hosting this event.

Gymnastics

Our St Faith’s gymnasts are in action this weekend for the IAPS National Championships and ISGA Two-Piece Competitions at The Lady Eleanor Holles School, Hampton. This is their first in-person event for almost two years. Our competitors and coaches are equally excited to be taking part and I wish all those participating the very best of luck.

Anti-bullying Week 2021

Next week (15th to 19th November) is anti-bullying week, and we will be marking this with a range of special activities, including anti-bullying assemblies. This year’s theme is ‘One Kind Word’ and pupils will be exploring this thought throughout the week. This theme has been selected as one which offers hope and positivity, and we will be encouraging the children to think about the ways in which ‘One Kind Word’ can lead to another.

Finally

I would like to reiterate my thanks to all parents and pupils for their ongoing support of our Covid measures, including face coverings and twice-weekly lateral flow tests for staff and older pupils. Your efforts are having a significant impact in minimising case numbers in our community and are greatly appreciated.

Whether you will be taking an inspiring Autumn walk or attending a Remembrance Sunday event, I wish you a safe and peaceful weekend.

With all best wishes,

Dr Crispin Hyde-Dunn