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St Nicholas’ Newsletter 7. 21/05/2021

We recently welcomed Mr David Tidmarsh to the school to take part in Governor’s Day. You may have seen this entry into the school calendar and wondered what it involved.

Mr Tidmarsh is Head of the Advisory Board for ILG, having accumulated a long career working in preparatory schools. He visits the school for the day, taking time in each class to observe lessons, speak with teachers, but most importantly, spend time with the children. During this time he speak to them about different topics, from academic content to playground equipment.

These Governor’s Days take place termly, and allow Mr Tidmarsh to recognise the fantastic work that the children produce, as well as offer insight on how we can improve our provision.

This term, the focus was on our Inquiry Project lessons specifically - this new style of learning has been a great success this year, and so it was lovely to share how the curriculum is delivered in practice. We received some useful insights into how to tweak and improve, but mot of all, Mr Tidmarsh was very impressed with ho the children were ll so positively engaged in their learning. Developing resilient and responsible learners is a high priority for us at St Nicholas’, and so it was lovely to see that to someone visiting the school, this was apparent in our children.

Mr Donaldson

The Core Values iSpy Box

For the last week before half term, we’re looking for pupils who have been particularly INDEPENDENT - children are able to nominate their peers in class, but as always, we welcome any examples from home please.

Year 5 has had a great start to the Summer Term. The quality and expectations of their work have been lifted in the classroom and it has been great to see the students are up for the challenge. As they prepare for Year 6 and their upcoming assessments, the class have shown the ability to focus, work hard and have an understanding of the importance of this Term and the year ahead which is great to see.

For Inquiry Project, we have focused on the Ages of Man (Stone, Bronze and Iron). The students have taken a keen interest and have enjoyed learning about our prehistory life. They have realised the importance of how technology and innovations have changed over time to support us and where we have come from. We have now moved onto, Myths and Legends from around the world. The class have focused on the difference between a myth and legend. This has given them insight into other cultures from around the world which they enjoy.

Beatrice and Victor both produced fantastic fact files on Achilles.

In Maths, the students have been focusing on Geometry. They all enjoyed creating a quadrilateral monster to further their understanding of quadrilateral shapes. We have also been developing their geometrical vocabulary and understanding of angles, sides and lengths.

In English, the students have been developing the skill of writing a narrative in first person. Within that, they have been continuing to develop their understating of literacy features and to make sure they include them in their writing. We have also covered a wide range of short stories in class to develop their inferring and P.E.E (Point, Evidence and Elaborate) skills to further develop their deeper comprehension of texts.

The class have also been writing code to guide a drone around the class.

And Year 1 & 2 have been doing some amazing things on Aboriginal Art, recycling and have visiting the Grand Canyon using the Exhibitions App. Take a look at this video they made!!

Reception Assembly

Reception were in charge of assembly this week, and did a brilliant job telling us all about the signs of Spring. Everyone spoke with lovely clear voices, and did a brilliant job of learning their lines.

Year 6 Assembly

Year 6 have been developing their debating skills in recent weeks, and shared with us a discussion over whether all religious holidays should result in days off of school. There were some brilliant points made, delivered in a really well constructed arguments, and each class had a chance to consider the arguments put forward and vote with their peers. A really interesting question with some excellent techniques used.

Upcoming Events

Friday 28th May: ILG Athletics

Monday 31st - Friday 4th June: Half Term

Week commencing 7th June: Examination Week

Friday 11th June: LAMDA Examinations

From Mrs Almeida...

We will be using SIMSPay to take payments for events at the end of the year such as CIPS Week. We recognise that there have been some teething issues in implementing this new system, but believe it should make life significantly easier for parents to make payments in the future once initial gremlins have been resolved. If you continue to have problems accessing your account, please speak with Mrs Almeida.

Similarly, we continue to ask that parents pay in advance for After School Care provision so that we can plan accordingly. Booking sessions in advance offers parents a cheaper price for this provision, and so again, if there are any difficulties in making these bookings, please contact the school.

Don’t forget that as well as this newsletter, we’re often posting other examples of the children’s work on our social media pages, so follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more.