A Friday Round Up from Mr Schumm
Good afternoon,
A few important dates to start with.
Car Boot Sale – Saturday, 23rd March from 12 – 4pm in the playground
Easter Bonnet Parade – Tuesday, 26th March at 9am in the main school hall
Whole School Easter Service – Thursday, 28th March at 9am in St Stephen’s Church
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks – Never I hear you cry! Well we have certainly been dressing up, bidding, eating breakfast, running marathons, acting, checking out our children’s mental health and so much more! Just when you thought it was time to put away the costumes it’s now time to make a bonnet! Recycle, recycle, recycle and make those amazing hats. Think of a theme and create, create, create and make the Uxbridge Rd come alive with a cacophony of creativity – think big! And then one last parade before the Easter break.
And the Trusty Gavel slams down on a Wonderful Auction!
Last night’s Auction was an absolute triumph. The hall was packed and the bids were coming thick and fast. So if you donated a lot, put together the brochure, bid on a lot, made the most amazing chilli, tidied up or just generally had a marvellous evening – Thank you! A special thank you to Linda, mother of Freya in Year 5, for all her hard work in planning and delivering the auction to end all auctions. And the results are in, we raised well over £30,000 for the school! Worth losing your voice for I say! Any outstanding payments will be added to ParentMail such as school sleepover etc. and if anyone has any queries please contact Linda – lindajanepowell@hotmail.co.uk or 07805 954231.Thank you again, this money makes a huge difference to the children.
Parent’s Evening
- Year 1 will have two drop in mornings on 19th and 20th March from 9 – 9.30am.
- Year 2 – 6 will have two drop in mornings on 20th and 21st March from 9 – 9.30am.
These mornings are an opportunity to look at your children’s books in readiness for Parent’s Evening discussions.
Please wait in the Year1/2 playground or main school playground till the children have gone into assembly at 9am.
Year 1 take us Walking on the Moon
Mrs Hayes’s Year 1 class were in stunning form on Thursday with their wonderful class assembly all about space. They taught us all about the different planets with lovely clear voices, stupendous singing and terrific acting! A fantastic assembly from your outstanding children!
Curates in the School
Last week 4 curates from different London churches spent the week in our school as part of the Curate Church School Placement Scheme. They fully entered into school life at St Stephen’s – even dressing up for World Book Day
Mums and Chums
Last week Jessie and her team cooked up a delicious breakfast as a prelude to Mother’s Day and also in recognition of International Women’s Day. Mr S was on hand to lead a football session – just to let the sausages settle! The hall was filled with happy faces enjoying a hearty breakfast and a good catch up.
World Book Day
With final remnants of orange face paint nearly off my white shirt, now we look back on last week’s Book Character Parade with fond memories. The children looked superb and the hall was filled with such an array of creative and amazing characters it was hard to know where to look! Obviously, I love any opportunity to dress up and I don’t think I am the only one!
Bulb Competition
Thank you to all those families who grew a flower in our bulb competition. The Flower Society sent a judge to our school on Thursday 7th March to judge the displays. The children received certificates and stickers (bronze, silver or gold) to be given to every entrant, with the chance of receiving fabulous prizes for our school including a trophy ceremony at the London Guildhall. Blooming marvellous!
FOSS Outreach Talk- Let’s Talk Mental Health – a word from Carrie and Celine
If you came to the FOSS Outreach Talk – Let’s Talk Mental Health- last week, you would have heard our own school counsellor, Theresa Kyeyune (paid for by your kind donations to FOSS!), give us a down to earth and enlightening talk about how to help support our children’s mental health.
She did an amazing job covering tricky subjects with pragmatism and humour, peppering her talk with grounded examples from her own parenting experience. Even after we wrapped up the wide ranging Q&A covering sibling rivalry, repairing and resilience amongst other things, there was still a long line of people queuing up to speak to her privately.
We’re so lucky to have her on the team at St Stephen’s supporting the children that need it and grateful that she made time to share her words of wisdom with us.
Thank you Carrie, Celine for organising and Theresa for her delivery of such a thought provoking evening.
Bridge Building at Bute House
Both Y6 classes have spent a morning this week bridge building at Bute House. Through the Hammersmith Bridge Restoration Project led by H&F Council and partners Conway and MM, the children constructed a suspension bridge – you have to see the pictures to believe it! Huge thanks to all, for this inspiring and great fun STEM opportunity. We are hoping to arrange a visit to the real thing in the summer.
Neurodiversity Celebration Week and World Down Syndrome Day a word from Mrs Bouwman and Miss Bill
Next week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Neurodiversity is based on the idea that everyone has a differently-wired brain and their own unique way of thinking and experiencing the world. Some of the different ways of thinking, learning, interacting and perceiving the world have been given labels, such as:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC)
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- Dyscalculia
- Tourette’s Syndrome
Neurodiversity Celebration Week is about celebrating the strengths and talents of people with learning differences. Sadly, these pupils can be misunderstood.
We have organised some interesting library sessions with Mrs Pereira to explore some of these differences. We will be sharing resources and discussing this important aspect of our school community and society in our KS2 classes.
As part of this special week, on Thursday 21st March, we will also be focusing on World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD). St Stephen’s will be joining many schools and communities around the world by celebrating this occasion by wearing odd socks. They might be mismatched socks or your craziest and most colourful socks, whatever takes your fancy! The idea is to start a conversation, so when people ask you about your socks you can tell them, “I’m wearing them to raise awareness of Down Syndrome”.
The theme for this year’s World Down Syndrome Day is ‘End the Stereotypes’. The children will be watching a video about this in school to understand what this theme means and its importance.
There will be a bucket collection by the school gate next Thursday morning to raise money for Fair Shot Café and 21&Co, two charities that support young people with Down Syndrome and their families. If you wish to learn more about these charities, please see the links below:
We look forward to seeing your funkiest socks!
Aspiration Afternoon with Dishoom
As part of our Cracking Careers programme, Magic Breakfast offered us an ‘Aspirations Afternoon’ with the well-known restaurant, Dishoom, where different members of their workforce came in this afternoon for a Q&A session with the children.
Well done Gonzalo and a huge Thank You!
He did it! A massive thank you and well done to Gonzalo, father of Julia in Year 4, who ran the Barcelona Marathon and managed to break his 2:45 challenge with 2:44:16 secs.
So far he has raised £1200 for our school and there is still time to make a cheeky donation – here is the link
https://www.justgiving.com/page/bcn-marathon-4-foss
Some of you may be aware that Ms Bell will be leaving the school at the end of the term to spend more time with her family. Miss Bell has worked for 14 years at St Stephen’s School as a class teacher and in the last 9 years, as an Assistant Headteacher. As we begin to say our goodbyes over her remaining days, we wish her all the very best in her future ventures and the happiest of times with her family.
I told you it had been a quiet few weeks! Have a lovely restful weekend. And thank you for make our school community so special.
Mr Schumm
