A very warm welcome back to the summer term at St Faith’s and I hope that all of our families have enjoyed some rest and refreshment. As I am sure you will appreciate, our hard-working support staff have been working diligently throughout the Easter break to prepare the school for the summer term, including readying the sports fields for athletics and cricket.
Holiday Activities
A number of our staff were also hard at work in the holidays running a range of activities on the school site, which were greatly enjoyed by the children. I am most grateful to those staff who ran the Multi-activity, Art and Design, Cookery School, Little Wyverns, Code Camp Computing, Bikeability and Trampolining courses for our pupils – with children from Foundation to Year 8 enjoying these wider curricular opportunities.
Start of Term Assembly
We began the summer term on Tuesday with an assembly on the theme of ‘being prepared’ and we considered the ways in which preparation can help us to be successful and resilient. We heard the famous quote from Louis Pasteur that “fortune favours the prepared mind” and we also thought about important events this term which would benefit from some time invested in careful preparation.
Modern Languages Carousel
Our Year 8s have begun the summer term speaking a variety of languages. If you were to step into the Edenfield building during the week, you would hear the usual Latin, French and Spanish being spoken, but now too elements of German, Greek, Mandarin, Arabic and Russian. The building is buzzing with excitement at this unique opportunity to explore new alphabets and languages!
New World Board Games
Over the last half of the Lent term, Year 6 had a homework project to make New World Board Games. Their games told the story of Christopher Columbus and his voyages to the New World. The pupils very much enjoyed showcasing and playing their games with one other and we hope that you enjoy this gallery of photos.
Future Schools Meeting and Fair
On Wednesday evening we were very pleased to host more than 20 different day and boarding senior schools as they set up their stalls in Ashburton Hall for the biennial Future Schools Fair. Parents of children in Years 4-7 were invited to attend, and there was an excellent turnout. This was a useful opportunity for families to explore a range of senior school options, and to talk with representatives from senior schools.
Just prior to the senior school fair in Ashburton Hall, Year 5 parents attended a talk about future schools and how we work in partnership between home and school, to support senior applications. We were delighted to welcome Mr Martin Priestley, Headmaster of The Leys, who outlined the process for applications to The Leys, including an explanation about The Leys Preliminary Assessment (PA) and the different categories of places that are available at the school. As part of the presentation, we heard from St Faith’s teachers, Mrs Greaves and Mrs Rainsford, in their capacity as Head of English and Maths respectively, about how we prepare St Faith’s pupils for senior school assessments.
St Faith’s Invitational Golf Years 3-8
On Monday 18 boys and girls played in the St Faith’s 9-hole team golf competition at The Gog Magog golf club. We were grateful to them for hosting us this year and the event was a great success. The conditions were perfect, the sun shone and there was a gentle breeze to test the players. There were certainly plenty of great shots, but most importantly there was great enjoyment to be had from taking part. Many thanks to all the parents who walked round, encouraged the children and helped with the scoring.
As anticipated, there was an exceptionally high standard of golf being played. St Faith’s golf programme started ten years ago and since then the school has introduced many novices to the sport and encouraged the more experienced players to keep improving. Golf is offered as a PE option to children in Year 6, 7 and 8. There is also a summer Enrichment Week taster session for Year 5. Many pupils have joined local clubs, enjoyed group coaching, played team golf and gone on to represent their counties.
This year’s team competition was won by a single point! The next event is planned for Saturday May 13th at Kingsway Cambridge Lakes. This will be a 9-hole individual competition and competitors from Year 4-8 are encouraged to play with friends, siblings, parents or grandparents. Please just turn up, pay the green fee and return the scorecard to Mr Rusted. As Kingsway Cambridge Lakes is a public golf facility, please can we remind parents that they must be prepared to stay with their child for the duration of the event.
Old Fidelian Golf
Continuing with the golfing theme, St Faith’s staff will be playing a social match against some of the OF golfing talent from the recent past at The Gog Magog Golf Club on Friday 26th May at 4.30pm. If anyone would like to play, they should contact Mr Rusted (wrusted@stfaiths.co.uk).
IAPS National Swimming Competition
On Tuesday we received the results of the IAPS National Swimming Competition qualifying round. We learnt that 13 of our pupils have qualified for the National Finals taking place at the Aquatics Centre on 3rd June, including 7 individuals across Years 5 to 8, and the boys’ and girls’ relay teams in Year 7. This is a fantastic achievement and we wish all involved the very best of luck in a few weeks’ time. As a school, we performed extremely well with several rankings in the top 50. Well done also to the Year 7 Girls’ Freestyle relay team who finished in a highly creditable 23rd place. Another Year 7 pupil finished 25th individually, which is an outstanding achievement in a national competition. Congratulations to everyone who took part, it really was a super afternoon’s swimming when we competed back in March.
IAPS National Table Tennis Championships
Tomorrow, Saturday, a record number of pupils will be travelling to Edge Grove School to compete in the IAPS National Table Tennis Championships. Our 14 competitors will be battling it out against pupils from 22 other schools, split across Under-11 and Under-13 age groups. We are very much looking forward to seeing our pupils embrace the challenge of competing on the National stage, and you will be able to read a report of the tournament in next week’s newsletter. Good luck to the St Faith’s team!
Foundation 2023 Breakfast
This morning, it was our great pleasure to welcome more of the new St Faith’s families who will be joining Foundation in September 2023. A delicious breakfast was the perfect opportunity to sample St Faith’s catering and hospitality, as well as for parents to meet one another. Members of the SFPA were also in attendance to introduce themselves and welcome new members into our community. Thank you to everyone for making our new families feel so welcome at St Faith’s.
Pre Prep Open Morning – Wednesday 7th June
We will be holding an Open Morning on the morning of 7th June with a particular focus on the Pre Prep, and especially entry to Foundation 2024. Do please encourage friends and colleagues who may be interested in joining St Faith’s to register for this event on our website. The morning will include a presentation about Pre Prep and an opportunity for small group tours around the school with some excellent ambassadors – our Year 8 pupils.
St Faith’s Parents’ Association (SFPA) Coffee Mornings
The warmer weather and lighter mornings of the summer term give us the opportunity to welcome parents to our SFPA coffee mornings once again. Today it was the turn of Foundation parents to enjoy a coffee and pastry together, immediately after drop-off. I am most grateful to the SFPA for arranging these valuable opportunities for parents within Year groups to meet informally with one another. Next Monday, we invite parents from Years 7 & 8 to join us for an early morning coffee.
And Finally…
This week it has been excellent to welcome the return of the children to St Faith’s and there has been a real sense of excitement to be back at school. It promises to be a happy, productive and exciting Summer term and I look forward to sharing it with you.
With all best wishes,
Dr Crispin Hyde-Dunn
