Newsletter 22nd March 2024

Saint Nicholas School

Newsletter

From the Headmaster's desk

'The great gift of Easter is hope.' - Basil

C. Hume

Dear Parents and Pupils,

My final bulletin of the term and I feel certain that, like me, you find yourself questioning the speed at which the time has raced by. This spring term has seemed particularly fastpaced, and I am sure we will all be grateful for the Easter holiday when we break up on Wednesday. As is tradition, the school will end at lunch on our final day, please see the published end-of-day times in the diary dates section of this newsletter, but in a break from tradition, all pupils will be expected to wear school uniform, due to the senior Easter Service taking place in the morning.

Friday 22nd March, 2024

Dates for your Diary

25th March

Easter bonnet parade

Pre-school - Year 2

Easter Service at St Mary's Church (parents invited)

Reception - Year 2

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

16th April

Summer term begins

16th to 19th April

Year 6 and 7 examination week

18th April

Whole School photo

Today, our Easter celebrations began in earnest, and I was delighted to see the return of a Saint Nicholas School tradition in the form of the House Easter Egg Hunt, for pupils in the lower school. Our Year 11 House Captains beavered, or should I say 'bunnied', away at hiding eggs and Easter chicks at the start of the day, and it was a pleasure to see the unbridled joy of our lower school pupils, as they eagerly discovered the hidden treasures that earned them points for their House. A big well done to our Year 11 pupils for organising such an engaging and enjoyable event!

My senior assembly today was on the importance of forgiveness, one of Easter's key messages. I introduced three of the main reasons why people don't forgive, before explaining the benefits that genuinely forgiving others has on our emotional wellbeing, health and mindset. Using clips from Disney's Encanto, I demonstrated how arguments and holding a grudge can splinter a family and community, and how the power of forgiveness can heal and restore. To quote Leo Tolstoy, 'Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace.'

As we move into the weekend, it is worth noting that on Monday we celebrate Tolkien Reading Day. As I am certain I have mentioned previously, The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings have long been amongst my favourite novels and, in my opinion, are the most influential novels of the fantasy genre. With a predicted weekend of wet and windy weather, why not take the opportunity to start your journey into Middle-earth and discover the magic of Tolkien?

My very best wishes for a magical weekend.

Dates for your Diary

22nd April

Prefect appointments announced

Year 10 Morrisby interview week

23rd to 24th April

Year 9 DofE practice expedition

25th April

Reception to Year 9 Puzzle Day

Year 10 International Space Challenge (by invitation)

26th to 28th April

Year 7 to 10 Netball Tour

29th April to 3rd May

Year 9 examination week

Lower School assessment week

Year 5 residential trip

1st May

U11 girls national football qualifiers

2nd May

Year 2 day trip

To keep up to date with events on the school calendar

CLICK HERE

Pre-School

This week pupils have been learning all about Easter.

Film Night

Lower school pupils had a fabulous evening at this week’s fims night. Thank you to The Friends for putting on another great event.

Year 1

Year 1 pupils were delighted this week, when Mrs Curtis came in for a visit with baby Otis.

L o w e r S c h o o l N e w

Year 2 Assembly

The children have been transported back to 1666 in history this term, and have been learning about the impact of the Great Fire of London. The children held an assembly for their parents to showcase their wonderful knowledge of the important events, and their fantastic drama and singing skills!

s Senior Library

Meet the senior library team!

As well as our six, dedicated, Year 10 Librarians, we also have a wonderful Library Club team who all work incredibly hard to keep our senior library well stocked and organised.

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

Science Week

Last week in Chemistry, pupils 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 pans 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.

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

PSHE

Year 7 pupils made the most of the outdoor classroom by completing a PSHE task to create a PowerPoint about International Women's Day. It was a beautiful day with some of our future International Women at Saint Nicholas.

Year 10

This week in English, Year 10 pupils have been celebrating the arrival of spring, exploring the work of Romantic Poet, John Clare.

s Lego Club

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

Lego Club takes place on Friday evenings after school, with Mrs Burchfield. I love Lego Club, it lets us use our imagination and creativity which I thoroughly enjoy. After a busy week of school work, it is the perfect way to relax and have fun with my friends.

Last Friday we took part in a Lego competition. This was a challenge as to who could make the most stable Lego bridge, to hold as many items as possible. Everyone took to the challenge really well with Raees and Teddy winning the competition. Their Lego bridge managed to hold the most items without crumbling, which was a great team effort. Well done to everyone involved! See you at Lego Club for more fun and a big thank you to Mrs Burchfield for such a great after school club.

Jake, Year 6

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

Pi Day

Thursday 14th March was International Pi Day, and pupils across the school learned more about circles.

Maths lessons dealt with this eternal constant, whilst other subjects incorporated circles as much as possible!

On Friday, Mr Russell delivered an assembly about pi, and why Pi Day is on the 14th March each year. There was a big example of pi with pies on film, but unfortunately no actual pies were eaten.

Pi Day will “come around” the same time next year…

Rotary Club Young Chef cook off

On Friday 15th March, we held our first day of cook offs with eighteen teams of three pupils over the day. We had some superb results.The second cook off is today, when we decide the teams who will go to the final in June.

One way system

When dropping of your children in the morning please use the one way system. Once through the barrier parents should follow the one way system to exit the grounds. Please be mindful that there are children walking across the crossing in this area.

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

Netball - Year 4/5

The U10 netball team played a tournament this week at Ursuline Prep school in Brentwood. There were 12 schools who took part. The team comprised Tilly, Scarlett, Emma, Aggy, Safia and me from Year 5, with Maddie and Laurie joining the team from Year 4. We had five first round games, winning three of them, which was enough to get us into the semi-finals. We won our games 1-0 versus Oakfield Prep, 3-1 versus St Anne’s Prep and 3-0 versus St John’s.

In the semi-final we faced Little Garth, narrowly losing 6-7 in a tight match after extra time. Although we missed out on the final we did get to play in the third and fourth play off against Ursuline Prep. After extra time the score was 4-4 and it went to a golden goal! We managed to score the deciding goal and finished third! All the team were presented with medals, so we were all very happy. Thanks to Mrs Sanders for arranging everything and for coaching us so well!

Rosie, Year 5

Netball - Year 8

On Thursday, the Year 8 (and Kayla and Amelie from year 7) netball team, played in the Harlow District Netball tournament. Our first game was against Mark Hall. We settled into the game well and we had a really strong start. The ball flowed down through the court to our shooters who made some great shots. The score was an 11-1 win. Our second game was against Burnt Mill, and despite playing against some taller players, we were able to work well together, and we showed some great play.

The final score was 7-1 to us. The third game was against Passmores, and again we played well and we were able to secure a 7-0 win. Our fourth and final match was against St Mark’s, which was definitely our hardest game, but we played really well and made some crucial turnovers and also some great shots to make the final score 3-2 to us. Well done to everyone who played and to the two Year 7s who stepped up to play with us. We are Harlow District Netball champions.

Holly, Year 8

Netball - Year 9

U14 Netball V Felsted B.

We started off strong with some great movement down the court with lots of turn over from our incredible defensive team of Fleur, Holly and Emily. Moving up the court to the mid court with Frankie, Alana and I who performed some lovely drives and dodges to help bring the ball up the court. In our attacking D we had some brilliant shots from Scarlett and Annabel who hardly missed a shot. Well done to Annabel for getting player of the match due to her amazing shooting and movement around the circle. The final score was 30-6 to Saint Nicholas.

Eve, Year 9

U14 Bishop’s Stortford District Netball tournament

This was our first tournament in the Bishop’s Stortford league. With 16 teams participating we decided to push our talented team and enter them into the cup competition.

The first game against Hockerill A team was a convincing 7-3 win. We then played a very strong SWCHS whose height advantage proved too much in defence. The girls played some great netball, with strong interceptions but at times we struggled to convert the turnovers.

The girls finished 4th overall, a fantastic result and lots to take away for next time.

Netball - Year 10

On Monday 18th March the Year 10s along with Annabel and Eve from Year 9, went to the Herts And Essex Sports Centre in Bishop Stortford for the district U15 netball tournament. The first game was very challenging against Bishop’s Stortford College, as we played at the same level. Having great communication and team work we managed to pull through and win 11-7. On our second game we played against Hockerill which was an easy win for the girls. The game ended 9-1, taking our second win of the day. Our penultimate game of the day was against Saint Mary’s, and we managed to grab a win out the bag with a win of 11-0. By securing all three wins we secured our place in the finals! Our final was against Bishop’s Stortford College which was definitely our toughest game. With determination and grit we won 15-6 and we were all so pleased! Thanks to Mrs Sanders for taking us there and supporting us, along with Mrs Oakley on the side. Well done to the team: Polly, Eden, Delilah, Becky, Gisel, Annabel, Eve and Mia

Mia, Year 10

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:

Cross Country

Last Friday, Saint Nicholas took part in the annual district cross country competition. Pupils from Year 2–6 competed against teams from local primary schools, with over 100 competitors in some of the races. Congratulations to the year 3 boys and girls team who finished in 3rd place overall, with Nola qualifying for the Essex Cross Country finals next week at Garrons Park.