Dear parents,

We were pleased to see everyone looking well rested and happy to be back at school when they returned from the holiday for the new term. Younger children are sometimes puzzled by the fact that the autumn term is followed by the spring term; personally I am always rather pleased that the three term academic year neatly sidesteps winter! That said, we are currently in the season of short days and cold weather so we have been reminding our pupils to be extremely careful when walking to and from school, particularly when it is dark, and of having sufficient layers to wrap up warmly for outdoor activities. We would greatly appreciate your support with both these important reminders.

Whilst on driveway duty after school on Wednesday, I was struck by how much lighter it was than at the same time towards the end of last term - daylight is creeping back in the afternoons and it won’t be long before the mornings are also lighter. The first signs of spring are also cheering and I was delighted to see snowdrops in a border at the Senior School yesterday morning. Bulbs of a rather more flamboyant style have appeared in Junior School reception and we are grateful to Eco-Committee members and Eco Warriors for planting these amaryllis bulbs and several other varieties of bulbs, back in November. 

The transformation of these amaryllis bulbs into healthy plants has led to several conversations with pupils about the importance of providing the optimum conditions for successful growth. This, of course, is what schools strive to do and, as we rapidly approach the halfway point of the academic year, it is exciting to see how much our pupils have grown as learners and as members of the school community since September. We look forward to their future progress and development as they continue to grow in confidence and belief in themselves, as thinkers, challengers, creators and leaders. It is wonderful to see them grasp new opportunities with real positivity; a great example being the Year 6 students who have just embarked on German and Mandarin lessons, for half a term each, in preparation for choosing which languages they wish to study in Year 7.

Birthdays have also been under discussion this week and we have reflected on how these enable us to celebrate with each individual, in turn, throughout the year. There have been several birthdays already this term and we look forward to marking the Foundation’s 138th birthday on 17 January. This can be found on the school calendar along with most events for the term. Year 5 pupils are excited at the prospect of meeting up with their counterparts from Dame Bradbury’s next Wednesday for the first collaboration day of 2019; this will be held at the Senior School and effective teamwork will certainly be a priority. Years 4 & 6 also have collaborative projects with Dame Bradbury’s this term and a few more expeditions involving both schools are beginning to appear in the calendar, which is fantastic.

Many events are open to parents and we look forward to seeing you at these in due course. Please be reminded that you have been invited by David Hewlett, Head of Digital Learning 3-11, to an informative e-safety and digital awareness talk in the Senior School Hall on Tuesday 22 January from 18:30-20:00.

In our celebration assembly this morning we congratulated pupils who have been elected as Form Leaders for the term and there were also a number of individual awards. Well done to all those who have been successful in pursuit of their goals. Click here to read about one pupil’s remarkable achievement as a cross country runner. 

Best wishes,

Katie Milne

Head of Junior School

Read more Junior School news here.

Notices

PFA Christmas term update

Many thanks to all who supported the Stephen Perse PFA in 2018.

We had a great Christmas Fair, hosted by the Junior School in December, which raised just over £1,000, making a really good surplus for us to invest in 2019 activities - thanks go to all staff and parents who helped with arrangements. The Panto sold out exceptionally quickly this year, but while we sold a fair number of Christmas puddings, supplier issues mean we may not repeat this again.

Parents signing up to Classlist have put Stephen Perse in the top 10 of schools using Classlist - a total of 71% of parents in our community have now signed up, so do join us so you don’t miss out! Please sign up to communicate with other parents and year groups, and to get notices about the PFA and our events to support students across the school. You will have been sent an email (over the summer holidays last year) to the email address that you have indicated to use for school communications, so please check your email for the link and sign up asap, or look out for a reminder from the Classlist app.

PFA - Looking forward in 2019

The PFA is always keen to engage with parents as committee members, as Class Reps, or for one-off events and activities. We are specifically looking for a parent volunteers to help organise the Valentine's bake sale and the Summer Fair as well as to manage second-hand uniform sales.

Activities planning for 2019 will kick off at the PFA meeting in FMR1 at the Senior School on Monday, 14th January (7pm arrival for 7.30pm start).  We'll be discussing a PFA-funded, student-led competition to invest in new equipment or new activity(ies) across the SPF schools - so we'd welcome volunteers who'd like to get involved!

If you want to bring more to the table, we would very much welcome your input about what else we can do to support the parent community and get the most out of parents joining in for the students! Please do get involved by attending the PFA meeting on Monday, 14th January, by getting in contact by email (stephenperse.pfa@gmail.com) or via Classlist.