Newsletter Friday 3rd May 2024

Saint Nicholas School

Newsletter

From the Headmaster's desk

'May, more than any other month of the year, wants us to feel more alive.' - Fennel Hudson

Dear Parents and Pupils,

Another week has flown by and we find ourselves at the beginning of May and looking forward to a long weekend, courtesy of the May Day bank holiday. May Day is one of the few bank holidays not associated with religion and has its roots in rural Britain, where festivities were held to celebrate spring's fertility and the summer's start. Farm labourers, who had worked tirelessly to plant the seeds of new crops, were given the day off and they very much made the most of it by 'making merry' and enjoying themselves! In 1978, the May Day Bank Holiday was instituted by Michael Foot, then the Labour Employment Secretary, and in Britain today, May Day is still celebrated with Morris and Maypole dancing, and, famously, cheese rolling at Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire.

Friday 3rd May, 2024

7th May

Year 11 study leave begins at the end of the day

Year 10 geography trip

8th May

GCSE French and GCSE

Spanish speaking exams

Year 5 and Reception road safety sessions

9th May

Spanish GCSE speaking exams

Years 9/10 Harlow Schools Athletics League

10th May

Year 3/4 Netball Festival

13th - 17th May

Year 6 residential trip

13th May

National Share a Story Day

Year 8 day trip

Year 9/10 Tender workshops (Acting for healthy relationships)

14th -15th May

Year 10 DofE practice expedition

The highlight of my week has been visiting our Year 5 pupils at Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Centre in the New Forest. In last week's bulletin, I wrote about the benefits of participating in outdoor, adventurous activities and it was wonderful to join our Year 5 pupils as we trailed the treetops, abseiled and canoed together. Bear Grylls is quoted as saying, 'Being brave isn't the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear and finding a way through it.' On my two-day visit, it was fantastic to see our pupils meet all the challenges head-on and overcome any fears they might have had; well done all!

As we move into the weekend, it is worth noting that Saturday is Star Wars Day, an informal, commemorative day observed annually to celebrate the Star Wars franchise. The Star Wars movies have had a significant impact on cinema and popular culture, and Star Wars Day is a chance for fans to show their love for the franchise by dressing up in costumes, participating in themed activities and re-watching their favourite moments or movies. With a long weekend to look forward to, you and yours might want to indulge in some Star Wars themed activities to pass the time by clicking on the link below:

https://www.starwars.com/activities

May the 4th be with you this weekend!

14th May

Senior ISA Athletics at Cambridge

15th May

Year 8 HPV vaccinations

17th May

Year 5 day trip

Year 6 full reports issued

20th May

Year 7 day trip

20th May

Year 7 day trip

Reception Class assembly

21st and 22nd May

Year 9 DofE final expedition

24th May

Key Steps Gymnastics Competition

To keep up to date with events on the school calendar CLICK HERE

Pre-School

The Pre-school children have been learning about life cycles this week. The Caterpillar children have enjoyed taking part in lots of Hungry Caterpillar activities, while the Butterfly class had a visit from some tadpoles.

Reception

A few weeks ago, the Reception children enjoyed a special visit from Charlotte in Year 10, who talked to them about British birds and how we can help them. They particularly enjoyed getting messy making fat balls for our estates team to hide in trees around the school.

Year 1

This week in French, Year 1 delved into the magical world of toys! Engaging in games and lively conversations with puppet Gaston, they have been absorbing new French vocabulary, while honing pronunciation. What a fun way to learn collaboratively and start building communication skills. Bravo to our enthusiastic young linguists!

Year 4

This week Year 4 have been using the new library for their English lesson. They were storytellers reading their character descriptions from the class novel, How to train your dragon. They had to edit and improve their big write before reading their masterpieces to the class.

This week in Mrs Peckham's mathematics group, pupils were learning about the Bus Stop method in division. Pupils had to work out problem solving questions, using the formal division method.

Mathletics

Congratulations to Laurie, who has achieved a gold mathletics certificate. Keep up the great work!

Eco Club

This week, Eco Club pupils have been pond dipping and exploring for different wildlife living around the eco garden. The pupils were identifying and classifying the different insects and animals found. They started making new bird baths and animal feeders from recycled materials to place around the school grounds.

Lower school eco club went to Harlow Garden Centre to make a wish list of items for the school. We have a voucher worth £150 to spend, money awarded to us for achieving the School Gardening Award Level 5. Pupils narrowed their selection down to new growing trays to start our seeds in before transferring them to a new greenhouse. They also spotted some wall planters to hang around the playground. Keep an eye out to spot the new purchases as they arrive!

S a i n t N i c

As our Year 11s approach exam season, we are determined to help them to manage their mental health and wellbeing, and so we have stocked up on some fantastic books to help them manage their emotions. Good luck, Year 11!

Puzzle Day

On Thursday 25th April, pupils from Reception up to Year 9 had an exciting opportunity during their mathematics lessons, to take part in Puzzle Day. They worked individually, in pairs, and in small groups to complete a range of different puzzles. The puzzles required pupils to use a range of different mathematical skills they’ve learnt throughout the year, having fun while also challenging themselves.

Pupils in the lower school had practical activities to work on. The children in Miss Perez's Year 5 maths enrichment group took part in some extra sessions, so that they could support the younger years with their puzzles. They were a credit to themselves with the confidence they showed in supporting their younger peers.

Pupils in Years 6, 7 and 8 worked in small teams to solve some perplexing puzzles involving parcels, polling and primes. They used lots of different thinking skills, plus communication and collaboration skills, to work together and find the solutions.

All of the pupils that took part had a fun, challenging time. Well done!

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

Reception parents and pupils

Road Safety Workshop

S a i n t N i c

Make Your Mark

Make Your Mark is an opportunity for 11-18 year olds across the UK to have their say and begin their democratic journey, by voting on the issues they want to change. This year, ten issues were presented to young people across the UK. On a ballot paper, they voted in schools, colleges, and youth groups between 29 January and 8 March 2024. The results of Make Your Mark will influence hundreds of projects and campaigns, led by young people, for young people across the UK. Members of the UK Youth Parliament will campaign and research the leading topics, to influence the UK Parliament and their local representatives, ensuring that the views of young people are listened to by decision makers.

We are thrilled to share with you the fantastic results from this year's MYM initiative. A remarkable 35,231 young people in Essex actively participated in the MYM ballot, making their voices heard on issues that matter most to them. Health and wellbeing emerged as the top issue among Essex young people.

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

Sun Awareness Week

Sun Awareness Week takes place every year in the first week of May, and this year it will be from 6th to 12th May. It signals the start of the national summer-long sun awareness campaign, which originated in the United Kingdom and centres around teaching people about skin cancer, as well as informing them about how to increase their protection when they step out into the sun. This week the middle school had an assembly on how to stay safe in the sun. Lots of fun was had, dressing up and dancing! This campaign is so important especially as the weather is forecast to be bright and sunny next week.

s

Year 7-10 PGL Netball weekend

Last weekend saw our netball season close with the annual PGL trip to Windmill Hill. We arrived on Friday evening and after a wonderful hot meal we were straight into the evening games activities, followed by a relatively early night in preparation for 7am breakfast and game day.

Year 7 and 8 were first to play their group matches while the Year 9 and 10 squad were on the PGL activities. Year 7 finished the morning with 1 loss and 3 wins in a group of seven teams, Year 8 with 4 wins in a group of eleven teams, this set the teams up in a strong position for the final group games on Sunday morning. In the afternoon, the teams swapped over and the seniors felt the pressure after seeing how successful Year 7 and 8 were in the morning. Our competitive edge pushed through and the Year 9 team finished the day with 1 loss and 3 wins in a group of eight teams. Year 10 finished in the rain with 4 wins in a group of six teams. The teams showed great determination during their games and the team spirit shown to each other was wonderful. We had our own chant and by the afternoon our squads had a reputation for their high level netball and support shown to each other.

Sunday was an early start with lots of achy bodies, but the girls turned up to breakfast fully ready in kit and plaits, meaning business. The squads were aware that only the top four teams from each group would qualify for the semi finals. Year 8s had the biggest fight with five teams out of eleven on similar points pushing to qualify.

All of our teams finished their group stages and waited nervously to confirm their places in the semi-finals, we were the only school to have all four teams into the semi-finals. This in itself was a fantastic achievement, as we were competing against schools that have over 100 girls in a year group to select from.

As the semi-finals started, our cheering from the sidelines erupted and the umpires struggled to be heard over our girls cheering each other for a place in the finals. Year 7 were up first and after a tense 10 minute game the scores were equal, it went into added time of 2 minutes each way, unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be this time. The girls played some fantastic netball and came away with a superb bronze medal.

Year 8 were up against their rivals from last year's finals and going into the second half they were 2 goals down. After a strong half-time talk, they raised their game, fought for the ball and when the final whistle went we had just been awarded a penalty shot, a deep breath and we scored, securing the win, taking us into the finals. We were met by fantastic opposition in the finals, we played some outstanding netball throughout the court but had too much possession overturned resulting in a very well earnt silver medal.

s By now the nerves had got to Year 9 and 10, and they used this energy on the court. Year 9 were loud and controlled the court in their semi-final comfortably, securing a place in the final. In the final they faced the team they had lost to the previous day and so had some nerves as the game started. We had some good possession and it was close at half time. Unfortunately, they crept ahead in the second half and we were beaten by the better team but proudly we played some of our best netball to secure a silver medal.

Year 10 went confidently into their semi-finals having beaten the same team the day before to secure their place in the finals. Knowing this was their last game and PGL tournament, the girls’ emotions were high as they were up against the school that they had lost to earlier that morning by only 2 goals. It was an intense game and they had the support and noise of our three other squads cheering them on with every interception and goal. The game ended with a 2-goal difference again and we hadn't quite done it this time. The girls won their silver medal with such a wonderful passion and enthusiasm for the sport. They supported each other on the court and presented themselves as wonderful role models for all our other players.

We left PGL with each player having received a medal and a strong netball bond formed amongst the four year groups. We will carry this into the next season and the next trip when we welcome our younger players coming up. Our Year 10s leave their final PGL trip with wonderful memories, and next season they go on to be the U16 team which will be a combination of Yr10 and 11 to form the squad for the season matches.

We finished the weekend awarding each team with Players Player and Coaches Player, as follows;

Year 7 Players Player

Clementine

Coaches Player

Dorothy

Year 8 Players Player

Scarlett

Coaches Player

Holly

Year 9 Players Player

Fleur

Coaches Player

Eve

Year 10 Players Player

Polly

Coaches Player

Becky

With thanks to Mrs Sanders, Mr Tucker and Mrs Branford-Jackson for their support and hard work on the weekend, it was much appreciated.

Mrs Oakley

Active Essex KS1 Award

On Friday, Mr Tucker and Mrs Sanders proudly picked up the key Stage1 PE award in recognition of the fantastic PE curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities offered at Saint Nicholas school. Active Essex put on wonderful day of activities for six of our key Stage 1 pupils. We are really proud to have received the award and look forward to continuing to build on all the fantastic work that takes place within the PE department

Active Essex KS1 Award

Sports leaders from Mark Hall Academy and the Harlow Primary Schools collaborated for a superb day, as more than 320 pupils descended upon Mark Hall athletics track for the annual Quad Kids athletics event.

Both events (morning for the Years 3 and 4 and the afternoon for the Years 5 and 6) were really well attended. The athletes produced some amazing performances given the fluctuating but warm conditions, as they took part in a sprint (50m or 75m), standing long jump, a howler throw and a long distance run (400m or 600m).

Scores have been sent to all the participating schools with the top three individuals (boys and girls) and team scores from each event below:

Years 3 and 4 – Team Scores

1. Saint Nicholas – 1,183

2. Church Langley Black – 1,162

3. Newhall Primary – 1,062

4. Purford Green – 1,044

5. Church Langley Gold – 1,017

Years 3 and 4 – Top 3 Individual Athletes Girls

1. Nola – Saint Nicholas

2. Betty – Church Langley Black

3. Rosie – Purford Green

Years 5 and 6 – Team Scores

Little Parndon White - 1385

Church Langley Black - 1327

Saint Nicholas – 1245

Hare Street – 1198

Little Parndon Red – 1185

Girls

1. Amelia – Saint Nicholas

2. Elizabeth – Little Parndon White

3. Skyla – Little Parndon Red

Gold Medals

Year 6 Boys

Freestyle Relay

Angus, Ralph, Teddy and Harrison

Silver Medals

Year 6 Girls

Medley Relay

Barbara, Evie, Emily and Willow

Silver Medals

Year 6 Girls

Freestyle Relay

Willow, Barbara, Evie and Emily

Year 7 and 8 Athletics

Last Thursday saw the first of the Year 7 and 8 Harlow Schools athletics meets at Mark Hall Academy, with boys on track events and girls on field events. Those in the top three included Amelie with 1st place in long jump, Kayla with 2nd in long jump, Holly with 2nd in shot putt, Zac 3rd in the 1500m, Alys with 1st in shot putt, Dotty 2nd in Javelin and Clem 3rd in Javelin.