Newsletter 15th March 2024

Saint Nicholas School

Newsletter

For

From the Headmaster's desk

'That which makes us different, will make a difference in the world someday. Be yourself!' - Tom

Krause

Dear Parents and Pupils,

This week was dedicated to neurodiversity at Saint Nicholas, in advance of Neurodiversity Celebration Week next week. Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. It aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported by providing schools, universities, and organisations with the opportunity to recognise the many talents and advantages of being neurodivergent, while creating more inclusive and equitable cultures that celebrate differences and empower every individual. Our week started with Kierran Pearce, from the Multi-schools Council, leading lower school assemblies and workshops for Years 5 to 9, all of which provided our pupils with a greater understanding of what life is like for people with ADHD and autism. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Martin, Assistant Head Pastoral with responsibility for the lower school, for organising this and numerous other activities to raise awareness throughout the week.

If you would like to find out more about neurodiversity, THIS LINK has a schedule of free panel discussions run by the Neurodiversity Celebration Week website.

Friday 15th March, 2024

Dates for your Diary

18th March and 19th March

GCSE Set-Task exam for Art 3D group 1

19th March

U10 ISA Regional Netball Finals at Ursuline Prep

20th March

Friends' lower school Easter film night

Year 8 ISA National Netball tournament at King’s High School, Warwick

Year 9-11 drama pupils trip to Everybody's talking about Jamie

Year 7 Parents' Evening

21st and 22nd March

GCSE Set-Task exam for Art

GCSE Set-Task exam for Art 3D group 2

21st March

Year 5 trip to Greenwich Observatory

Alongside marking neurodiversity, we have had another busy week in school, with our usual rich tapestry of sporting fixtures and trips. Today was a perfect example of how our excellent provision enriches our pupils' lives on a daily and weekly basis, with a Year 1 trip to Paradise Park, the Rotary Young Chef cook-offs in the senior part of the school, a Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 cross-country competition, and an afternoon of self-defense for our Year 11 pupils, all taking place. As I am sure you will appreciate, this is all made possible by the school's team of dedicated staff, who work tirelessly to provide our pupils with the very best educational and enrichment opportunities available, my thanks to all!

As I have no doubt you have seen in the calendar, tomorrow is Open Morning, and I would like to thank in advance of tomorrow all those pupils and parents for giving up their Saturday to support the event. I would also like to thank all those parents who regularly recommend Saint Nicholas to friends and family. The effectiveness of word of mouth in influencing consumer choice is well-documented, with 88% of consumers stating that they trust recommendations from people they know, above all other forms of marketing messaging. To quote Mark Zuckerberg, 'Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend.'

As we move into the weekend, I would take this opportunity to wish all those celebrating Saint Patrick's Day on Sunday, bíodh lá maith agat!

My very best wishes for a restful and enjoyable weekend,

Dates for your Diary

22nd March

Prefect application deadline

Rotary Club Young Chef cook offs

Year 2 History off the Page Great Fire of London day

25th March

Easter bonnet parade

Reception-Year 2 Easter Service at St Mary's Church (parents invited)

26th March

Year 3-5 Easter Service at St Mary's Church (pupils only)

27th March

Middle and Upper School Easter Service at St Mary's Church (pupils only)

Spring term ends

Pre-school ends at 11.30am; Reception-Year 2 at 11.45am; Year 3-5 at midday; Year 6-11 at 12.15pm. Buses depart at 12.30pm

To keep up to date with events on the school calendar

CLICK HERE

Pre-School

It has been a busy and exciting week in Pre-School. The Caterpillar children have been learning about spring, and children in Butterfly have enjoyed decorating gingerbread, as part of their traditional tales topic.

Story Club

This week in story club, the children wrote about The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and discussed what each character says in the story. Pupils used their excellent acting skills to take on the role of a character to perform the story to the rest of the group.

Reception Art Club

This week in art club, pupils looked at the artist Andy Warhol. The children made a background using different coloured squares and leaves. They threaded different coloured wool through holes in the leaves and stuck them down onto one of the squares. The children really enjoyed threading and were very proud of their work, as you can see from the pictures!

Reception Class

This week Reception Class have enjoyed tasting some delicious exotic fruits from the story, Handa's Surprise. The children had to use their five senses to describe the sweet-smelling guava, the spikey pineapple, the tangy passion fruit, the creamy avocado and the soft ripe mango. The also wrote some fabulous descriptive sentences based on their experience.

Mathletics

Congratulations to Maya, Sophie, Roman and Jessica who have all achieved a mathletics certificate this week. Keep up the great work!

s Senior Library

M i d d l e a n d U p p e r S c h o

Our senior school library team work incredibly hard keeping our senior library organised and well stocked. Here are a few action shots of some of the jobs they do on a weekly basis. If your child is in Years 6 - Year 11 and would like to get involved, Library Club runs each Friday, from 4-5pm.

Science Week

This week in Chemistry, we have been learning about polymers and how their structure links to properties, hence the different uses of a variety of plastics we have in our everyday lives. Pupils learnt about coatings on nonstick frying pan and how their school blazers were actually made from the polymer polyester! The lesson content was linked to the theme for British Science Week which was Time. Pupils focused on how long it takes for plastic to decompose. Most pupils were surprised that it can take approximately 450 years for a standard High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) water bottle to break down, which led to great discussion regarding recycling, reusing, reducing and ultimately rethinking our use of plastic and what alternatives might be available including, my favourite, pasta straws.

w s Neurodiversity Week

Kierran Pearce from the Multi-Schools Council, (pictured on the front page), visited Saint Nicholas on Monday to introduce neurodiversity to the pupils from Reception to Year 9. Through a range of differentiated assemblies and workshops Kierran engaged the pupils in discussion about difference and how all our brains work in different ways. Some sessions focussed on specific needs such as Autism and ADHD. Kierran addressed misconceptions around neurodiversity and discussed the importance of kindness. The pupils have provided fantastic feedback about their sessions with Kierran and engaged extremely well in the sessions.

International Women’s Day 2024

Last Friday across the school we celebrated International Women’s day and were delighted to welcome inspiring women from our school community, some of whom were former pupils taught by Mr Ayres. A range of activities took place throughout the day and here are just a few highlights:

Lower school pupils celebrated with a range of different activities. They gathered together in the sports hall to paint inspirational women, made purple and white flowers with the names of inspirational women on them and made a huge patchwork quilt with their inspirational women sewn into the fabric.

Middle and upper school pupils spent the morning listening to our inspirational guest speakers about their careers to date, followed by workshops, where they undertook many activities including a fantastic broadcasting session.

Thank you to all involved, it was an uplifting and inspiring experience for all.

S a i n t N i c h o l a s S c h o o l N e w s

S a i n t N i c h o l a s S c h o o l N e w s

s Lower School Movie Night

S a i n t N i c h o l a s S c h o o

Football - Year 7

On Friday, 1st March, the Year 7 football squad travelled to Saffron Waldon to participate in the Hertfordshire Football Tournament. The team played in a large pool and managed to finish 4th overall, after playing 6 games in total.

Noah, who played in goal, set an excellent example during the intense matches, while Lucas demonstrated impressive control and understanding by creating opportunities. Clayton attacked at every opportunity, which helped keep the team competitive.

Basketball - Year 9

On Tuesday, 12th March, the U14 basketball team took part in a tough game against Joyce Frankland Academy. We were off to a slow start and were down 82 in the first quarter. As the quarters went on, the opposition were gaining more points and and built a lead of 12-7, however, in the last quarter the boys, thanks to Mr Tucker's advice to ensure they marked aggressively, managed to bring the game back to a 1417 win for Saint Nicholas. We were very happy with the win.

Gray, Year 9

Basketball - Year 7

On Wednesday, March 6th, the Year 7 basketball team travelled to Leventhorpe School. The team comprised Mason, Jack C, James, Jensen, Austin, and Alastair. The final score was 18-7 to Leventhorpe. Although everyone played well, we were only able to hold our own for the first half. Unfortunately, in the second half, we couldn't recover and get the score back, and we missed out but improved our shooting in the second half of the game.

Alastair, Year 7

Rugby - Year 5

Congratulations to the Year 5 rugby team who played on Wednesday against Heath Mount school. There were great tackles and amazing tries and all of the players did an outstanding job. Moyo and Jay were sharing the role of scrum half and did an amazing job, whilst Taylan did some spectacular tackling and Cohen some great try scores. Once again, well done to all of the pupils that made it such a fantastic match.

Sam, Year 5

Rugby - Year 7

The Essex 7s tournament took place at New Hall School this year, with 39 teams participating. The Year 7 team played nine matches during the day in conditions that were wet underfoot, making the fast-paced games challenging. Despite this, the team put on an impressive performance, scoring some fantastic tries by distributing the ball quickly and efficiently, and embracing the freedom that 7s rugby offers. Defensively, the boys had to adapt quickly, focusing on making their one-on-one tackles and not over-committing.

The team played against schools from both around Essex and the Independent Schools Association (ISA), and finished fourth in their pool of seven teams. On this occasion, they did not advance to the finals on this occasion.

Tri-Golf

The Tri-Golf Festival was held on the 3G pitch at Church Langley Primary School. The event began with the 15 teams practising each of the 8 different holes. The children enjoyed chipping, putting, and trying to score as few points as possible - the motto being 'Scoring Low, Makes You Glow!'. Overall, the scoring was good, with many players improving greatly throughout the event.

Badminton

The boys' badminton tournament will be held at 4 pm on Monday 25th March. Please use the form below to register your interest.

Monday 25th March 4pm-5pm - The middle Badminton

Tournaments enter HERE:

Women’s Day at Spurs Academy

On Friday 8th March the Year 10 girls visited the Spurs Academy as part of International Women’s Day. The team comprised Sophia, Gisel, Mia, Delilah, Polly, Eden, Beth and Sophie. For part of the day we were split into different teams, and mixed with other girls from other schools. Throughout the morning, we played in a tournament against the different teams, made up of different abilities. We played small matches against each team, and it was really fun to play with people we haven’t played football with before. At the end we were rewarded with a Spurs water bottle and goodie bag. We are very thankful for being able to take part, it was a really fun experience, and I would like to thank Mrs Sanders, Mr Tucker and everyone from the Academy for an amazing trip.

Sophie, Year 10

Football - Year 9

On Monday 11th March, the Year 9 boys played Saffron Walden County High School in an 11 aside football match. Some great goals were scored along with some great team play. We unfortunately lost 5-3, but the score did not reflect the match. Well done to all the boys involved.

Oli, Year 9

Netball - Year 7

On Thursday 7th March, Year 7 girls played a great netball match against Westcliff County High School for Girls. The score was 14/7 to Westcliff, and it was a very exciting match. We were able to keep them within 4 goals for each quarter but unfortunately by the last quarter the opposition had got into their stride and finished on top. Westcliff were a very strong team with some exceptional shooters. The team: Casta, Kayla, Dotty, Isabelle, Amelie, Alys, Clementine and Tia. I won player of the match and it was such a great effort by everyone.

Casta, Year 7