A Friday Night Round Up from Mr Schumm

Good afternoon,

A quick round up before I pop on my walking shoes for a walk in the Cotswolds!

This week your children have been amazing! They have pulled out all the stops and delivered a top class performance. Their confidence was infectious and their dramatic skills astounding! It always makes me feel incredibly proud to watch them all working together, supporting each other and of course cheering each other on during the week of the school production.

A massive thank you to all the staff who give up their time so generously to make sure the children are cared for and on stage at the correct time. The band led by Mr Evans, an absolutely superb find (thank you to all those parents who recommended him), who kept the tunes thumping out and filling the night air! Thank you Simon, dad of Elliott and Beatrice, for running the sound desk so smoothly and of course the wonderful FOSS team for providing such delicious liquid and pizza refreshments!

And last, but never least, the marvellous Miss Whiting, my partner in everything musical theatre! I love working with Miss Whiting during the production – we keep each other sane, make each other laugh and dance our way through any minor blips! As we say – when in doubt throw in a bevel!

There is a massive group of parents, children and staff walking their way around the Cotswolds on Saturday – all for our amazing children. So, if you would like to sponsor us – go for it! Please sponsor them and all your classmates hitting the Cotswolds this weekend here: https://justgiving.com/campaign/cotswoldschallenge

Debating with Mrs Kruger

St Stephen’s won a huge victory in the national junior debating competition, the Cicero Cup 2025 organised by the charity Noisy Classrooms – crowning a year of training and triumphant tournaments.

Here we would battle with eight other teams including some prestigious private prep schools. Our prepared debate was ‘This House would ban nuclear power’ – not an easy topic! The team needed to be ready to go with either For and Against. So the children got to work and rigorously prepared for two weeks.

A 90 minute journey through the City of London escorted by Miss Bill brought us to Royal Greenwich. We started the morning in different rooms with judges watching the prepared debates. This was followed by various impromptu debates including ‘This house would pay parents to stay at home with their young children’.

Following feedback the judges announced the two teams for the Grand Final! We’d made it! Our opponent was the prep school Connaught House. We were opposing the motion ‘This house believes it is better to explore space than seas’. The teams had 20 minutes prep time, and then followed a wonderfully passionate debate. Our team was impressively articulate. Then for the results – nail biting wait as the judges conferred.. and the result was… St Stephen’s were victorious! Many congratulations to all the children and helpers on a well-deserved achievement, which has made everyone at St Stephen’s very proud.

Year 4 Athletics

A huge congratulations to our Y4 Athletics Team who competed at the recent QuadKids Competition down at Barn Elms. The children came out on top, performing brilliantly throughout.

Please note the children’s school reports will be going out on Tuesday.

Have an amazing weekend and if you are in the Cotswolds see you there.

Mr Schumm