A Friday Night Round Up from Mr Schumm
Good afternoon,
We had the most wonderful Easter Service this morning. Mr Perry and the children spoke about the meaning of Easter when Jesus died and rose again. He even managed to include a few Easter Eggs! Miss Ruth and the choir performed brilliantly. A truly joyful service filled with reflection, beautiful singing and even a spot of dancing!
This week, we were joined by five curates from local churches. As part of their training, they have to spend time in a primary school. It was fantastic to have them here! They really embraced the St Stephen’s ethos and soon found themselves running around the scrubs and enjoying a spot of Cross Country. They were highly complementary about our school and your wonderful children.
The Easter Bonnets were on display on Tuesday morning. The Uxbridge Road came to a standstill as spectators stopped to admire the cacophony of eggs, flowers and bunnies adorning the children’s heads! Thank you for all your crafting – it was worth it!
Year 1 Donaldson Class Assembly
Well done Donaldson for a magnificent assembly that took us well and truly under the sea! Their assembly was jam-packed with fascinating facts – not to mention great singing, dancing and super loud voices! Way to go Donaldson!
Mums and Chums
Last Friday, we celebrated Mother’s Day with a very special Mums and Chums’ breakfast! Jessie and the team rustled up the most scrumptious breakfast for us all. A lovely opportunity to celebrate the wonderful women in our lives.
Across the Scrubs
Thank you Mr Blair for organising a great cross country event for Years 4, 5 and 6. A brisk walk to the scrubs and then they were off on a 1.5km run! The children ran like the wind, cheered each other on and some even won a medal!
Eid Lunch
Thank you Jessie and the team for putting on such a special Eid lunch and to the parents who made samosas to tickle our taste buds! The food was delicious and the hall was packed with parents and beautiful music. In the classroom, we learnt about how different countries and cultures celebrate Eid. A special thank you to Wafaa for all her culinary skills and Sanne for her superb organisation.
Arts Café
Thank you to all those parents who joined us for our Arts Café to peruse the fabulous artwork produced by the children. With London as our theme, the hall was filled with drawings of some of London’s most famous landmarks. Brilliant! Thank you Miss Quartermaine for organising such a great Arts Day and such a wonderful Arts Café!
Science Week
If you missed our Science Week newsletter, here it is! Filled with lots of details on an amazing week – https://twk-media-offload.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Science-Week-newsletter-2025.pdf
As part of Science Week, a group of children and Philip (from Year 5)’s dad, built our very own electric car! It wasn’t easy. It took a while. But, we did it! In the summer term, we will put a racing team together and hit the race track taking on other local schools. Amazing – check out our Instagram to see the car in action – ststephensce_w12
Plastic Clever Schools
And to top off the children’s hard work during Science Week, we have just found out that our school has been selected as a recipient of the Plastic Clever Schools Action Fund! This funding will enable us to purchase refillable whiteboard pens and glue sticks to help reduce our plastic usage. Well done us!
If you’re looking for some more (and free) local Science fun over the holidays, we can recommend Imperial’s family workshops. More info here – https://www.imperial.ac.uk/white-city-campus/community/events/
Year 1 at Hyde Park
Year 1 really enjoyed their trip to the Learning Centre in Hyde Park on Thursday. They took part in the Dirty Hands, Green Thumbs workshop where they learnt all about plants and what they need to grow. They used magnifying glasses to inspect the park, planted their own flowers in plant pots which they made themselves with newspaper, and made beautiful artwork with the flowers and leaves they found in the park! To top it all off, they enjoyed a glorious picnic in the warm spring sun!
A Spot of Debating!
Yesterday, 12 Year 5 children headed to South Hampstead High School to take part in the Year 5 State School Debating Championships. All four teams won their first two rounds, leading to Stephen’s going head to head against each other. This resulted in two Stephen’s teams taking home a trophy as the winners!
Staff Big Mudder
There’s no going back now that our staff team (Mr Blair, Miss Marchant, Miss Kelly, Miss Bill, Mrs Hayes, Mrs Allen, Miss Williams and Mrs Walsh) has registered for the Big Mudder. They have several months to prepare for the event in September which will see them completing a series of challenges over a 5km course. As well as the personal satisfaction they will no doubt get from taking part, they will also be raising money for PE equipment, important resources and other valuable things for the school. So, if you would like to donate, then please use the link below – any amount really helps and will be hugely appreciated!
https://edge.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/toughmudderststephens?utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL
Funding Appeal
A massive thank you to all those parents who have made a recent donation – it is going to make a massive difference. Please see below for details on how you can make a contribution.
A number of parents have asked about the best way to donate in order to include Gift Aid. This needs to be done via FOSS which is our school charity. I have spoken to the Chairs of FOSS today and if you would prefer to make a donation this way, with gift aid, these are the options:
* Annual amount of £475 via JustGiving: justgiving.com/campaign/schoolfund
Please complete the GiftAid declaration within the site. Donations can be made anonymously and fee-free.
* Weekly (£9.15), Monthly (£40) or Annual (£475) amount into the FOSS Bank Account:
Name: Friends of St Stephen’s School
Sort code: 60-02-64
Account number: 10070990
Reference: School Fund
Please also complete this gift aid form if you are a UK taxpayer: https://bene364y.paperform.co/
Please be assured that these amounts will be ring-fenced and passed on to the school for their intended purpose.
Thank you to all the staff and children for their hard work this term. Goodbye to Mr Christos as he leaves to train to be a teacher and Miss Habiba as she starts her maternity leave.
Do all make the most of a well-earned Easter break.
Happy Easter!
Mr Schumm
