St Alfege with St Peter’s CE

Primary School

Christmas Newsletter, Friday, 21 December 2018

A message from the Headteacher……

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the

government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be

called “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting

Father, Prince of Peace.”

As we conclude another term and another year, during our

collective worship we have been reminded how we are in the

period of Advent and prepare for Christmas. The staff and

children have, as always, worked hard and enjoyed

discovering new learning and skills. So over the next two

weeks let us remember that we are celebrating Jesus’s birth

and He shall be known as “Prince of Peace”. Can I repeat

Curate Caroline’s words from the service and let us take

this time to stop our busyness and enjoy time resting with

our families. May I also suggest that we are strict in

limiting the amount of “screen time” that our children might

want over the holidays, and enjoy the Peace and blessing of

Jesus with our families and each other this Christmas

holiday.

We look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday, 7

January 2019.

Have a blessed and restful Christmas

Matthew Bulpitt Emily Harris

Executive Headteacher Head of School

Christian Value

The Christian value for next term will be: Love

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding

gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all

knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am

nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may

boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Dates for your diary…..

January 2019

7– FS2-Y6 back to school

8– FS1 back to school

15– Closing date for FS1 to

make an application to FS2

February 2019

1– Inset day

4– Parent consultations

3.45pm-6.30pm

5- Parent consultations

3.45pm-6.30pm

14– FS2 family service 4pm

18-22 Half term

25– Back to school

FS1

It's been a super half term with all our learning based around celebrations.

We began the term looking at the celebration of Bonfire Night. We explored different media to create some

super firework pictures. Then we moved on to the Hindu festival of Diwali. The children loved having their

hands decorated with mehendi patterns. After Diwali, our learning was based around birthdays. There were

lots of children and adults who had birthdays at this time. The children loved making birthday cakes! Lego

cakes, mud cakes and playdough cakes!

When December arrived we all worked together to make a class calendar and began the count down to Jesus'

birthday. The children decorated the home corner with Christmas decorations and were often busy in the

writing area writing Christmas cards. The children loved telling the story of Jesus' birth as part of their class

assembly.

This term we have developed the Prayer Area in the classroom. It is a space when children can go and be quiet,

pray, and reflect on their own thoughts and beliefs. The children are really enjoying using it.

FS2

We started the half term with our topic on Superheroes. We learnt about Superheroes with super-powers who

save the world – some children even experimented with ways they could learn to fly! We also talked about

real-life heroes who dedicate their lives to helping others. In our class assembly, we talked about people who

are heroes to us in our own lives.

In our next topic, we looked at the stories of Julia Donaldson. We read lots of them. We especially liked The

Gruffalo, Zog and Stick Man. We took a trip to Stratford Circus to see The Gruffalo performed live. It was

fantastic!

We were so lucky to be joined by so many parents for our Stay and Play. Our theme this term was

Communication and Language. We played different games in the hall with our parents and enjoyed showing

them around our learning environment.

We have really enjoyed getting ready for Christmas.

We have been writing letters to Santa and sending

cards and letters to one another in our very own

classroom postbox. We have had lots of fun dressing up

as the Christmas Postman. As a Christmas treat, we

made yummy mince pies!

Year 1

Year 1 have had a very busy half term - the progress the children have made since the start of the year is

incredible!

In English we have studied ‘Handa’s Surprise’ and ‘Kassim and the Ferocious Dragon.’ The children have

particularly enjoyed our dragon topic and have written some excellent pieces of writing based upon this. We

even had a visit from a friendly dragon who left behind some dragon eggs for us to look after!

In Maths, we have been working on addition and subtraction, in particular using concrete resources to

represent number sentences. The children have also been learning their number bonds to ten and this is paying

off on their weekly test. (Thanks parents for helping at home!).

We finished last half term’s Science topic with a lesson where we dissected (fake!) animal poo, in order to learn

the difference between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. The children thoroughly enjoyed this, particularly

since they got to wear white gloves like real scientists!

Since then, our topics has been ‘Growing Plants’ and the children have been learning all about what plants

need to grow.

Year 1 had their class assembly this half term which was about the impact of palm oil on orangutans due to

deforestation. The children spoke confidently and clearly, educating the rest of the school and the parents on

this important issue. The children also thought about how orangutans might feel when their homes were

destroyed and recorded themselves speaking as the ‘voice’ of an orangutan, which was very effective!

Well done Year 1 for a very successful and productive term – you have made Miss Grace and Miss Page proud!

Year 2

Firstly, a very Merry Christmas from all in Year 2!

This half term has been such a great half term in Year 2; each child has made fantastic progress in

their listening, instructional and participation skills meaning that in everything else they are

producing great work.

One of the highlights this half term has been to see individual children become more confident using

Mathematical language (for example, part + part = whole and whole – part = part). We’ve really

focussed on our addition and subtraction skills using Base 10 to secure our understanding and then

moving onto methods completed using drawings.

Our English topics have ranged from Facts about Wolves to Poetry and the children are becoming

more confident writers beginning to use commas in lists. We’ve enjoyed learning about the World in

Geography and using Microsoft PowerPoint to make presentations on each continent.

Two highlights this half term have been our Class Assembly and (of course) the Nativity. Through

both of these performances Year 2 learned vital skills of team work and effort to have an outcome to

be really proud of.

As we head into 2019, I’m very excited to see the children continue to develop their listening skills

further and continue to put maximum effort into all their learning therefore making even more

progress.

Have a great Christmas and thanks for all the Reading Record signing!

Daniel Chadwick, Cheryl Buckingham and Betina Andersen.

Our Trip to St Alfege Church

Maths Investigation Week!

Visit from Mr Chadwick’s wife, Doctor Hannah, and children to

teach us about child development

Drama time!

Year 3

Year 3 have had an excellent half term. In English, we completed our learning about sloths by writing

informative non-chronological reports. We have just enjoyed reading ‘The Polar Express’ and creating some

excellent pieces of writing based on this story. In CCL, we have been learning about the United Kingdom. The

children are now experts on the countries, rivers, mountains and counties of the UK. We are also experts in

healthy eating. Our Science topic was Healthy Living and we became personal trainers giving advice on how to

eat and live healthily. The children have worked extremely hard in Maths, especially focussing on their

reasoning skills.

Year 4

This half term, we have been working on the text I was a Rat by Philip Pullman.

It’s a story about a young boy who believes he used to be a rat!

This book has two titles. It is also called The Scarlett Slippers.

Here is some of our writing.

In science we have been learning about sound.

We carried out our own investigations.

Can sound travel through string?

Year 5

English

We had the pleasure of learning about William Shakespeare! We watched a performance of Twelfth Night and

then did lots of amazing work on the book. We wrote and acted in character, translated some Shakespearean

sentences and ended the half term writing our own Twelfth Night Narrative. This half term we have really

focused on ensuring that our grammar and punctuation is the best that it can be.

Maths

We began the half term with a Mathematical Investigation called Polyominoes. We worked in small groups to

solve a section of the investigation and then put all of our results together to find the final answer to the

question posed. We used cubes to build the patterns that we needed. One group managed to find 108 patterns

and successfully build them all using the resources provided! We spent the rest of the half term learning new

skills and improving our existing skills with regards to multiplication and division. We solved real life

problems and talked about how our Maths skills will help us in our real life.

Religious Education

We have really enjoyed FRE this half term as it has been based on Christmas and the music and art that we

usually associate with it. During this topic we listened to traditional carols and modern songs and discussed

the differences and similarities. We also had a good sing along! We also had the opportunity to look at a range

of Christmas cards to see how they have changed since the first cards were sent in the 1800s.

Year 6

Literacy

We began the term with a brilliant visit from the Young Shakespeare Company where we watched the Twelfth

Night. This inspired us to complete a Literacy project beginning with a focus on Shakespeare himself, even

creating social media profiles for him! We read Shakespearian excerpts to adjust our ears to how different

language sounded all those years ago. We finished our project by planning and writing our own sequel to the

play.

In the run up to Christmas we have been exploring Christmas narrative poems and using new and interesting

vocabulary to bring our writing to life.

Maths

Investigations week saw Year 6 going back in time to find out about how the Ancient Egyptians expressed

fractions. We tried to use ancient methods for writing our own fraction calculations which was really tricky. We

also learn about how the Egyptians used rope to make equilateral triangles and we investigated what other

types of triangles could be made with various lengths of rope.

FRE

It was our Family Service this term which gave us a great opportunity to focus on the true meaning of

Christmas alongside our Christian value of courage. We have all seen lots of Christmas adverts on TV and we

discussed whether we think it is right to advertise all the presents and indulgence of Christmas when, for

Christians, it is a celebration of the birth of Christ.

Other

To celebrate the festive season, we went Ice Skating at the Tower of London which was great fun.

Christmas service

Hall Outside Classroom Classroom Classroom

Monday Football

(Yr 1-3)

Animation

(Scratch)

(Yr 3-6)

Tuesday Construction

(Yr 3-6)

Construction

(Yr 1-2)

Wednesday Games & puzzles

(Yr1-3)

Thursday Football

(Yr 4-6)

Arts & Crafts

(Yr 1-3)

Friday Craft Club

(Yr 3-6)

Reading and

story telling

(Yr 1-2)

Chess

(Yr 3-6)

Dinner Money …

As was stated in the letter sent to all parents on 16/7/18, dinner money will increase to £2.50 per

lunch as of 1/9/18.

Dinner money should be paid in advance as per the policy.

Please contact the office if you have any queries or difficulties relating to school dinners, or if you

would like a form to claim free school meals. Please see the office if you require your parent pay

details as we are now cashless.

Monday, 7 January 2019– Friday, 15 February 2019= £72.50

Monday, 7 January 2019– Friday, 5 April 2019= £147.50

Extended School Clubs…

Whilst we do our best to ensure all clubs run every week, there are occasions where they may have to

be cancelled at short notice. We hope you understand that we cannot refund when these exceptional

circumstances occur.

Twitter: @stalfegeschool

We will continue to send out any other important information to you during the half-term

by letter, email or text.

Contact Info...

School Tel: 020 8858 3613

Website: www.stalfegeschool.org.uk