April 2024
Newsletter St Philomena’s School
Headteacher's Half Term Round Up…
With a focus on learning combined with plenty of fun, this half term has literally flown by. My thanks to every single member of staff for going above and beyond every single day to ensure St Philomena’s is a school full of happy children and high achievers. Pupils and staff have had a busy half term, with educational visits, sports fixtures, class assemblies, a school production, World Book Day, a WWI Aviation Day and a Greek enrichment day.
The Easter Egg Hunts on the last day of term were a huge success. It was lovely to hear and see the excitement of each class as they searched for the eggs and met the Easter Bunny. My thanks to all the parents who helped plan and organise the event.
We have plenty planned for the Summer Term and much to look forward to. Please make sure you keep your eye on the ‘Diary of Events’ section at the end of the newsletter, and remember you can also access the school calendar via the school website http://stphilomenas.com/calendar/.
I look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday 22 April. With all pupils returning to school in their summer uniform I very much hope warm weather is on the way!
World Book Day 2024
The whole school enjoyed another fantastic World Book Day. Everyone looked amazing and enjoyed taking part in a whole school parade in the morning. In assembly Mrs Oxley reminded everyone that you can read anywhere - even in some pretty peculiar places! Our theme for the day was 'Reading Recommendations’. Every pupil picked a book they enjoyed reading, and each class created a class recommendation book for future use. In the afternoon Reception Class enjoyed visiting our local book shop in Frinton and Forms I and II walked to Frinton Library to choose a book to read at home. The day ended with pupils getting in to House groups to share their favourite books A lovely day was had by all
Form III to Pink Parrot Pottery
On Tuesday 5th March Form 3 visited Pink Parrot Pottery to create some Egyptian cartouches as part of their History topic on Ancient Egypt. Working with clay, pupils were taught how to create the correct shape and how to write their initials in hieroglyphics to put on to the cartouche. They had a brilliant morning.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
On Thursday 21st March, Form III put on an wonderful performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to conclude their learning in History on Ancient Egypt. They worked incredibly hard to learn the words to 14 songs and performed with great confidence. Thank you to our music specialist Mr Whitfield for teaching and accompanying them on the piano, Mrs Meikle for designing and making the costumes and Miss Venables for directing the performances. It is fair to say that we have some very talented pupils in Form III!
Dentist Visit
Thank you to Mr and Mrs Patel who visited pupils in Reception, Form I and Form II on Friday 15th March to talk about dental health, care and hygiene. They taught pupils how to look after their teeth, how to brush them properly for two minutes and why water is the best drink to make sure their teeth remain healthy. The pupils enjoyed identifying foods that make their teeth happy and which ones make them sad.
Reception Class Assembly
Form I Class Assembly
Form I took us on a cosmic journey back to 1969 in their class assembly. Using drama, quizzes and music, they entertained the whole school and their parents and retold the moment man first landed on the moon.
Pupils in Reception Class enjoyed sharing some of their recent learning in assembly this term. Performing in front of their parents and the whole school, they showed their amazing artwork, sang songs relating to the changing seasons and retold and acted out the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Their parents then joined them in the classroom to look at more of their work... and, of course, the tadpoles!
Form II Class Assembly
Form II have been learning about The Great Fire of London this term. In their class assembly they explained all about The Great Fire and sang London’s Burning independently in a round. They showed models of Tudor Houses they had made complete with wooden beams, wattle and daub and a jetty! Showcasing their work in Geography, they talked about their walk around Frinton looking at the different
types of houses that have been built and the materials used to build them. The whole school enjoyed listening to their stories based of The Three Little Pigs (but written using different animals) and their retelling of the story A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson.
Upper School Run Form IV Greek Day
To celebrate the end of their topic on Ancient Greece, Form IV dressed in traditional Greek togas and held a Greek Day. They made their own coil pots using the ‘score, slip, squeeze, smooth' technique, creating hoops of clay and stacking them on top of each other to build the sides and then joining each piece together. For lunch they sampled Fassolatha (a white bean soup) and Melomakarona (spiced honey cookies) accompanied by pitta bread, tzatziki, hummus, grapes and olives. After lunch, it was time for the Ancient Olympics. In line with the Olympic oath which they swore to uphold, the athletes competed in four of six events out of the 100m, 200m, long jump, shotput, discus, and tug of war.
World War I Simulator
Forms IV, V and VI enjoyed a fun-packed day immersing themselves in WWI aviation with Simon, Ant and Ed from the WWI Aviation Heritage Trust. Pupils flew on one of six missions in a WW1 flight simulator and wrote a poem about WW1 on seeded paper. Their poems will be flown to Northern France and dropped at suitable sites for our French counterparts to collect, read and plant. The feedback from pupils was great:
‘It made me feel like I was really flying a plane.’
‘The quiz was really interesting. I enjoyed seeing the planes as they became more advanced and the physics involved in developing the planes used in WWI.’
‘The idea that my poem will be dropped in Northern France and flowers will grow from it is just amazing!"
Easter Egg Hunts
On the last day of term, the sun shone for our annual Easter Egg Hunts. With thanks to our parent helpers and the Easter Bunny, each class hunted for eggs hidden around the school grounds and were rewarded with a bag of chocolate bunnies Thank you to Ms Dawson for providing chocolate bunnies for the whole school.
U11 Football v Frobisher
Congratulations to the Ull football team who played their best game of the season so far against Frobisher Primary School. Great communication and teamwork combined with plenty of skilled footwork resulted in a final score of 4:2 to St Philomena's, with Aksel scoring all four goals.
U11 Netball v Great Bentley and Rolph Primary Schools
The U11 netball team has gone from strength to strength this season, only losing one league game the whole season. Their last two games against Great Bentley and Rolph demonstrated their ability to work cohesively as a team and to adapt and use new techniques mid game.
The team displayed great attacking and defensive play, making lots of intercepts and producing some great shooting.
Under the expert guidance of Coach Maisey, the final scores were:
Great Bentley: 17:0 to St Philomena’s
Rolph: 7:0 to St Philomena's.
SPORT @ ST PHILOMENA'S
WHAT’S ON…DIARY OF EVENTS
April Event
Thursday 25th April
Friday 26th April
Monday 29th April
Parent Rep meeting
Open Morning, 9am to 11am
Quiz Night, 7pm (tbc)
Form VI Residential Information Meeting, 4pm
May Event
Monday 1st May
Friday 3rd May
Monday 6th May
Thursday 9th May
Thursday 16th May
Friday 17th May
Saturday 18th May
Friday 24th May
Forms I and II to Parkers Garden Centre
Philomini Stay and Play, 9am to 10.30am
Bank Holiday – school closed
Form I to the Naze
Bikeability, Day 1 – Form VI
Fish and chips
Bikeability Day 2 – Form VI
Pre-loved Sale 3pm to 4pm
First Holy Communion class at Harwich, 11am
Form VI First Aid Course
Break up for half term
June Event
Wednesday 5th June to Friday 7th June
Thursday 6th June
Form VI Residential
Form I on a Geography beach walk
D Day Afternoon Tea for the elder members of the local community
WHAT’S ON…DIARY OF EVENTS
June Event
Monday 10th June
Wednesday 12th June
Thursday 13th June
Friday 14th June
Saturday 15th June
Monday 17th June
Wednesday 19th June
Thursday 20th June
Friday 21st June
Thursday 27th June
Friday 28th June
Friday 29th June
LAMDA Exams Day I
Form II to Framlingham Castle
Form 1 Beach in a Jar
St Benedict's visit to meet Form VI
Fish and chips
First Holy Communion rehearsal with pupils and parents, 4pm
Form 1 Trip – Jimmy's Farm
First Holy Communion Service, 10am
LAMDA Exams Day 2
Swim Safe – Form VI
Swim Safe – Form V
Sports Day at Frinton Cricket Club, 10.30am to 3pm – ALL PARENTS INVITED
Garrison Athletics
Pre-loved sale, 3pm to 4pm
Sports Day Back Up
Whole school trip to the beach
Summer Fete, 11am to 2pm
July Event
Monday 1st July
Wednesday 3rd July
Reception and Form I enrichment afternoon at the Tennis Club
Forms II and III enrichment afternoon at the Tennis Club
WHAT’S ON…DIARY OF EVENTS
Fish and chips
Thursday 4th July
Friday 5th July
Thursday 9th July
Wednesday 10th July
Thursday 11th July
http://stphilomenas.com/calendar/ July Event
Forms IV and V enrichment afternoon at the Tennis Club
Form VI Leavers afternoon at the Tennis Club, 2pm to 5pm
Form VI Leavers Service at St Mary’s Church, 2pm – PARENTS INVITED
Speech Day at St Mary's Church, 2pm - ALL PARENTS INVITED
Last day of term
All dates are subject to change so please remember to check the school calendar for updates and future events that have been calendared for the rest of the academic year: