4-7 Years
This Week at St Faith’s
Whole School Assembly: Fairness, Justice and Peace
This week’s whole school assembly explored the themes of fairness, justice and peace, both within our school community and the wider world. The assembly also marked Holocaust Memorial Day, reflecting on the importance of remembrance, exactly 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The inspiring stories shared by Mr Davenport helped the children to think about true fairness, as well as the injustice of living within war zones.
The first example was the powerful story of two Jewish brothers who worked together to grow and harvest grain. One brother had a large family and the other brother was a single man without dependents. Both of the brothers kept their sacks of grain in a barn and unbeknown to one another, each brother decided that his sibling deserved to have some of his grain. The brothers unknowingly exchanged grain under cover of darkness, each believing the other was more in need. Their eventual discovery of one another’s kindness and generosity serves as a powerful reminder of the true spirit of fairness.
Bentley House Brownie Sale
This week, Bentley House launched their annual fundraising efforts in support of Ronald McDonald House Charities. This incredible organisation provides free ‘home away from home’ accommodation for families with a seriously ill child receiving treatment far from home. The support of this charity is invaluable to families at a critical time in their lives.
As part of our school vision, our ambition is for every pupil to be empowered and enabled to lead a fulfilling life and to contribute positively to society. Fundraising initiatives like these reflect that commitment, and we also extend our gratitude to all families who continue to support the many good causes for which pupils raise funds throughout the year.
Pre Prep Toy Sale
Our Pre Prep School Council has been working hard to engage with the children in Year 1 and Year 2, and they have been excited to share their plans for their first project. After gathering ideas, the Pre Prep School Council have decided to make improvements to the KS1 playground. One of the key requests from the children is to create a relaxing undercover area where they can unwind, chat, read, and colour. To support this initiative, the Pre Prep community organized a toy sale, offering a perfect opportunity for a post-Christmas clear-out of small inexpensive items. Thank you to everyone who contributed by donating or purchasing toys—your generosity brings us one step closer to making this vision a reality.
Year 1 Talk and 1CAH Class assembly
As part of their transport topic, Year 1 enjoyed a fascinating talk from one of our parents, Mrs Diggle about her job as a pilot. Mrs Diggle explained how much she enjoyed the training needed to become a pilot. Mrs Diggle talked about flight simulators and how pilots learn to fly simulators before flying real aircraft. The children saw photos from inside the cockpit and were amazed at how many buttons there were! The children also heard how working on many of our St Faith’s learning habits could help the children in future careers.
Following this talk, in their class assembly on Friday, 1CAH brought the transport topic to life by performing Mr Gumpy’s Motorcar by John Burningham, delighting their audience with an engaging and imaginative retelling of this classic story.
Swimming Gala v Bedford
Mrs Critchley writes,
“A closely contested swimming meet against Bedford School on Tuesday resulted in a narrow victory for St Faith’s. The forty children between Years 5 and 8 who represented the school put on a fabulous display of competitive swimming. Many new personal best performances were achieved, and the relay teams did particularly well, winning almost every race across the four year groups. The final score was Bedford 188, St Faith’s 200. Well done everyone, this was our second victory of the year.”
Year 2 Art: Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe
This week Year 2 has been creating some beautiful artwork inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s ‘Ladder to the Moon’. Their beautiful and imaginative interpretations of this famous piece of art demonstrate both their developing artistic skills and a real engagement with image.
After exploring and discussing Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ladder to the Moon, Year 2 were inspired to create their own interpretations. The children also had a conversation about what it might feel like to climb their own ladder all the way to the moon.
‘Pop-in & Play’ and Reception 2025 Breakfast
On Wednesday, we welcomed a number of prospective families for 2025 and 2026 entry to our Foundation classrooms for a relaxed playtime experience. Despite the chilly weather, everyone enjoyed exploring the wonderful resources in the classroom – which was particularly warm and inviting on such a chilly day.
On Friday morning, we also hosted some of the families from our new 2025 Reception cohort at our breakfast club. We look forward to welcoming more new families over the coming weeks and helping them settle into our school community ahead of starting at St Faith’s later this year.
Year 4 Netball
Mrs Shaw writes,
“Year 4 girls had a delightful time on Thursday afternoon in our fixture vs Stephen Perse with lots of fun and competitive games and great enthusiasm when cheering each other on! Thank you to everyone that came and supported us!”
Weekend Sport
On Saturday, our Year 5 & 6 boys will host our annual hockey matches against Kent College, Canterbury, at Latham Road. I look forward to seeing many of you there supporting our teams.
On Sunday, our gymnasts will compete at the Chelmsford Gymnastics Club in the U11 & U13 Boys’, Girls’, and Mixed BSGA ‘Milano Team Trio’ and ‘Floor & Vault’ Gymnastics Regional Round. We wish all our teams the very best of luck and eagerly anticipate hearing about their performances next week.
And Finally…
A real highlight for the children this week was the delicious Chinese-themed lunch prepared by our catering team celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year. Whether you are continuing to celebrate the Year of the Snake, or simply planning some rest after a busy week, I wish you an enjoyable and relaxing weekend.
With all best wishes,
Crispin Hyde-Dunn