Good afternoon,
Christmas Dates
Year 1 and 2 Nativity- Thursday, 14th December at 9.30am and 2.00 pm in the main school hall
Christmas Lunch (with a Christmas Jumper) – Wednesday, 13th December
The Great St Stephen’s Parent/Carer Drinks Party – 14th December 7.30pm onwards (see below)
Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 Carols by Candlelight- Wednesday, 20th December at 6pm in St Stephen’s Church
Whole School Christmas Service- Thursday, 21st December at St Stephen’s Church
And so the Christmas frenzy begins!
What an absolutely amazing Christmas Fair! We love a snow machine. It may have been slightly chilly but the sun shone down on us, which made it a fair to remember! Thank you to all the FOSS team for working together and filling the school with festive cheer. Special mention to Emily who coordinated the fair and did an astounding job – thank you!
Last night was our now annual FOSSils evening, which is an opportunity for parents of children who have left the school to meet us and enjoy a glass of festive cheer. The atrium was packed with lots of old, familiar faces sharing lots of memories of their time at St Stephen’s and life beyond – a great evening!
The Great St Stephen’s Drinks Party – 14th December
Next week on Thursday what are you doing? Nothing? Then please come along to The Great St Stephen’s Drinks Party (Parents/ carers only) on Thursday 14thth December from 7.30pm onwards. This event is organised by the school and is an opportunity for us to say thank you for being such amazing parents. This is the perfect community event where you won’t have to be in charge of a stall, answer numerous questions, buy a ticket or buy a raffle ticket! It’s all about the festive cheer, Christmas music and delicious nibbles! There will be a cash bar to get the festive banter flowing.
The School Choir at Westfield
The school choir travelled to the depths of Westfield for their annual Carol singing competition and sang their hearts out. They had a massive audience and did us proud! We were the runners up and we received £600 Westfield voucher. Well done Miss Rachel and our fantastic choir!
Donkeys
Last week the donkeys, Sid and Rocky came to St Stephen’s and enchanted Early Years and KS1. The children learnt lots of facts about donkeys, they even had the chance to groom and stroke them. Thank you to all those parents who made a donation, which enables us to have our donkey visit and a real, very large, Christmas tree in the hall.
Wriggly Nativity
Our Reception Classes delighted us with their Wriggly Nativity yesterday, which was marvellous. The singing was glorious, their acting superb and their faces filled with smiles as they told us all about the birth of Jesus. Not a dry eye in the house!
Year 4 at the Science Museum
Last Friday, Year 4 went to a brilliant event at the Science Museum called Power Up. The children couldn’t believe their luck when they were asked to immerse themselves in video games for an hour and a half. Power Up is an interactive gaming experience with consoles and video games from the last 50 years affording a trip down memory lane for the adults, whilst making links with the Year 4 computing curriculum for the children, who were asked to focus on input and output as well as thinking about how sprites and backgrounds are used to create make-believe worlds.
Panathlon Fun
A group of children took part in the annual Hammersmith and Fulham Panathlon. They had the most amazing time, learnt lots of new skills and loved working as part of a team. The children had great fun competing in eight different events throughout the morning, including basketball, football and boccia, and were very happy with their runner-up medals.
Author Day
On Wednesday, Daniel Dockery, author of newly published ‘Wendington Jones and The Missing Tree’ delivered an interactive writing workshop assembly to Y4, Y5 & Y6. Using ideas pulled from a bag by pupils in the hall, he showed how the skeleton of an ‘Adventure’ story and a ‘Mystery’ story can be put together using different plots. Afterwards, he went to Y6 to share his top tips, explaining in more detail the idea that a ‘story’ involves the development of the main character in some way, whereas the ‘plot’ is a series of things that happen to the character. The ‘plot’ is what drives the ‘story’.
Daniel set the children a challenge to write a story, which he has very kindly said he will read and give them feedback in the New Year!
Years 1, 2 and 3 enjoyed an assembly with David Macintosh, author and illustrator, who spoke about his books and led a ‘draw along’ session for the children.
Thank you to all those parents who bought a book from the Daunt book sale as the school receives 20% of any profits, which go on more books for our amazing library.
Admissions
CONSULTATION ON PROPOSAL TO CHANGE ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS FOR ST STEPHENS CE PRIMARY SCHOOL, UXBRIDGE ROAD, LONDON W12 8LH
We are consulting on our arrangements for admissions in the 2025-26 academic year and would welcome your feedback.
Please find attached the proposed Admissions Policy for 2025/26 for St Stephen’s CE Primary School, Uxbridge Road, London W12 8LH. We encourage applications from all local families, including those of other faiths or no faith.
The draft admission arrangements will also be available on the School’s website: Admissions – St Stephens (ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk). The Governing Body would be pleased to receive any comments you may have by Friday, 19th January 2024 – governors@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk
Please note that the following changes are proposed:
- After Looked After Children and Previously Looked After Children, priority will be given to children who have a sibling attending the main school at point of entry (we have removed siblings under the foundation and open places).
- Remaining places will then be allocated in proportion, 67% Foundation places and 33% Open places (where there is a need to round numbers, we will favour Foundation places).
- Children of staff will be prioritised within the Foundation and Open place allocations, after children deemed by the governors to have social or medical needs.
A Word from the House Captains
After a discussion, this morning, we have decided that instead of the Christmas Quiz we will be holding a Family Games Night, in school, in the New Year! More information but there will be food and lots of running around!
Have a jolly festive weekend.
Mr Schumm
