Newsletters

Junior School newsletter, 11 January 2019

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. 

Junior School pupils with amaryllis bulbs

Junior School pupils with amaryllis bulbs

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. 

Year 3 Form

Verity with cross country medal

Best wishes,

Katie Milne

Head of Junior School


Latest news

  • 10 Jan 2019
    Verity qualifies for Inter Counties Cross Country Championships
    Stephen Perse Junior School pupil Verity qualifies for the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships.
    Read more
  • 10 Jan 2019
    World Food Wednesday introduces new cuisines
    World Food Wednesdays brings the Stephen Perse Foundation an opportunity to try new and exciting global foods and cuisines.
    Read more
  • 10 Jan 2019
    Meat Free Mondays return to the Foundation
    Meat Free Monday returns to the Stephen Perse Foundation throughout the Spring Term
    Read more

Read more Junior School news here.


Upcoming events

  • 14
    January
    Y6 Victorian literature and culture (in class)
    14:00 – 15:20
    A visiting speaker, who lectures in Victorian literature and culture, has offered to do a handling session with Victorian objects for JS Year 6 pupils.
  • 16
    January
    Y5 collaboration with Dame Bradbury's - Tudor life
    09:30 – 14:30
    Year 5 pupils from across the Foundation will come together for a day of collaborative learning, based on their study of Tudor life and drawing on their thinking skills.
  • 17
    January
    Foundation’s 138th Birthday
    All Day
  • 18
    January
    Digital workshop for parents of pupils in Kennett House, followed by House Assembly
    08:00 – 09:00
    Location: Stephen Perse Foundation Junior School, St Eligius St, Cambridge CB2 1HX, UK
    Every member of the House will be involved and the Captains will have an important role in leading rehearsals and supporting the presentation of the Assembly. This Assembly will be held in the Junior School Hall from 08:40. Prior to Assembly we will be holding an informal Digital Workshop for parents in the Library. The aim of this workshop is to share with parents how we use G Suite and Evergreen Apps with Junior School pupils. E-safety will be covered in a meeting for parents at a later date. Each workshop will be led by Mr Hewlett, Mrs Long or Mrs Saeb-Parsy, depending on their availability on the various dates. Refreshments will be available in the Library from 08:00 and you are most welcome to join us from then.
  • 22
    January
    JS and SS Y3 - 7 E-safety student workshops
    09:00 – 16:00
  • 22
    January
    Entrance Assessments for places in Years 5 & 6
    10:15 – 14:45
    SGU booked to help
  • 22
    January
    Kindergarden to Y6 Digital parenting event
    18:30 – 20:00
    Taking place at the Senior School, this event is for all parents in the Foundation who have children in years K - 7.
  • 25
    January
    Digital workshop for parents of pupils in Pollock House, followed by House Assembly
    08:00 – 09:00
    Location: Stephen Perse Foundation Junior School, St Eligius St, Cambridge CB2 1HX, UK
    Every member of the House will be involved and the Captains will have an important role in leading rehearsals and supporting the presentation of the Assembly. This Assembly will be held in the Junior School Hall from 08:40. Prior to Assembly we will be holding an informal Digital Workshop for parents in the Library. The aim of this workshop is to share with parents how we use G Suite and Evergreen Apps with Junior School pupils. E-safety will be covered in a meeting for parents at a later date. Each workshop will be led by Mr Hewlett, Mrs Long or Mrs Saeb-Parsy, depending on their availability on the various dates. Refreshments will be available in the Library from 08:00 and you are most welcome to join us from then.
  • 28
    January
    Y5 Residential trip information meeting for parents
    08:30 – 09:00
    Parents are invited to an information meeting about the JS Year 5 residential trip in May 2019. Venue: Junior School Hall.
  • 01
    February
    SATIPS General Knowledge Challenge for Year 6 (optional)
    08:40 – 09:40
  • 05
    February
    Safer Internet Day 2019
    All Day
  • 08
    February
    Y4 Residential trip information meeting for parents
    08:30 – 09:00
    Parents are invited to an information meeting about the JS Year 4 residential trip in June 2019. Venue: Junior School Hall.
  • 08
    February
    Foundation Chess Tournament
    14:30 – 16:20

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.


  • StephenPerse Juniors Follow
    Happy New Year from all at the Junior School. We are excited to be welcoming our pupils back tomorrow morning and hearing all about their holiday. https://t.co/YtEj8gqnDC
    2 days ago
  • StephenPerse Juniors Follow
    Happy holidays everyone, see you in January 2019. https://t.co/e6nIWdF3KW
    3 weeks ago
  • StephenPerse Juniors Follow
    Y4 pupils used their learning habits when working on this fascinating Design Engineering project. #futureengineers https://t.co/xeawU3ywC3
    3 weeks ago