Friday 24^th November 2023

Dear Parents

Well what a quiet week it has been. What with last week having our assembly, parents evenings and a trip, this week we just put our feet up, put on our onesies and chilled out …Yeah right who am I kidding ?

Nope quiet and calm not usually a word associated with life in St Stephens. Indeed, all around us, evidence of what the few weeks ahead have in store for us is already starting to shape up! Parents are busy putting up decorations, emails are flying around about fete’s and Christmas events,, teachers are working on organising the carol concert, KS1 plays and other events and we are trying to get our heads around just how quickly another year comes around.

Next week, we also have a lot going on with our rescheduled year group football event, our science in residence (Mercedes) will be teaching year 5 about life cycles and we will be creating a decoration to sell at the fete. It never stops!

We have equally been busy in the classroom. Our topic in maths – that of fractions – is a perfect opportunity for me to use food as a muse for my teaching. So we have just been abounding in references to bars of chocolate being split equally or finding equal amounts of cake if one been chopped into 8 pieces and another 32. Still, after a year teaching this cohort maths, they must be used to me by now! Incidentally some of our mathletics homework will be around equivalent fractions. In science we have continued our work on reproduction in the natural world, focusing this week on the sexual and asexual reproduction of plants and flowers. We have also been looking at the difference between internal and external fertilisation and the development of young by looking at how it is different for animals that lay eggs to animals that give birth to live young.

RE wrapped up our topic of the vocational calling of Monks and Nuns to the start of our Christmas topic of ‘Art and Music at Christmas’. We looked at some paintings of the Christmas story and had a fascinating conversation about how characters – particularly Mary and Jesus – were depicted and reasons behind them. We had all sorts of facts and opinions mentioned including why they may have been dressed a certain way . We deduced painters in some eras would not have the same historical evidence we have now, so may paint their characters in their own style of clothing. Another great chat was around many paintings gave religious people a certain ‘Holy’ or ‘Severe’ look based on how seriously religion would have been taken in their times. Finally, our English continued to carry on our topic of poetry and we tapped into all sorts of skills including using onomatopoeia in ‘Nonsense Poems’ , similes and metaphors in riddles and personification in haikus and poems on nature.

Phew another week done!

Well, as per my parent mail, please look out for a new date from Miss Marchant for a re-scheduled trip to the Pantomime and as always homework will be found on both Google Classroom and on the right of this message.

Have a great and hopefully not too chilly weekend!

Kind Regards

Alex Perry

Friday 17^th November 2023

It has been a bit parky the last few days don’t you agree and the rain! I know Climate Change is not something to take lightly, but I am convinced that when I am in my dotage (not too far away I think) Britain will be rainforest, all hot weather and rapid downpours! All they will need to do is let a a few anacondas, howler monkeys and alligators into the wild and we would fit right in with The Amazon! Did not know just when to bring a big coat, umbrella, fleece top or all of the above. Still not complaining, I prefer the cold to rain and hot sun. I have a cricket club and for a sport that is known for stopping in even slightly cold or rainy conditions, it felt a bit odd! Still I had my big coat on and a cup of coffee so all was okay.  Oh dear I am starting to sound like someone at a get together with nothing to say and end up talking about the weather!

Our learning this week has continued as much as possible with all the changes and all that has been going on in the life and times of St Stephens. In geography we have been looking at the UK and how it is made up. This week we looked at how we are broken down into counties and how to identify them in an atlas to then label a blank map. Useful skills all around. Maths we wrapped up our work on multiplication and division and have really been focusing on the relationship between numbers and how we can use our times table knowledge to work out problems like 40 x 8000 using 4 x 8. We rounded our week off by completing an end of unit assessment before concentrating on our trip and assembly. Poetry was our topic in English (and will continue next week) and we have been looking at misconceptions (not all poems rhyme for example) and poetic skills including personification and alliteration. We have begun writing our own pieces and we look forward to more next week as we look at haikus and limericks. RR’s short focus like

Parents Evening

Firstly thank you for all who came to the parents’ evenings. It was a pleasure talking to you and I would like to reiterate that I have really enjoyed the first term teaching your lovely children. They are a talented, bright and lively that is for sure! It is interesting hearing some of the impressions the children feed back to you after getting to know me. Great titbits have included my coffee habit, my enthusiasm for history (where I have deduced I may talk too much), my drawer that will have the odd kitkat lurking and my sense of humour – or lack of!  It has been fun getting to know your children’s own unique characteristics too.

Class Trip

Well what a way to round off our week. The day was a fun one all around (with a little bit of stress too) but we definitely finished on a high! The children learned what it was like to have a typical lesson in a Victorian school with an old grumpy teacher – no not me – and had a session that involved humiliation, punishments , insults and no tolerance ….they loved it! To be fair I also took notes for my own development as a teacher and I may just implement a few of their rules and actionsJ. Seriously though the children continued their acting central day and really got into it. Please ask them about their experiences.

Class Collective Worship

Well we were just abounding in minotaur’s, dragons , medusas and cyclops today! Our assembly was a great success and I was very proud of your children who were all brilliant! With all the disruption these last few weeks with certain visitors, sports events, parents evenings, date changes and trips, I was really impressed with how the children adapted to what was going on and still had the strength and will to bring our assembly to life. They spoke so clearly and sang so beautifully, their enthusiasm created a wonderful energy and the Creation Dance simply brought a tear to my eye. A big pat-on-the-back to those with lots of lines to learn and to those who stepped out of their comfort zone. The costumes were excellent and thank you to all who provided them as well as our wonderful class saint – Mrs Connor. I can get a little carried away when writing the script and always add bits n bobs as I go and I hope you got all the in-jokes. Thank you for coming and I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed performing it.

Homework

As always I have put homework to your right on the webpage and on Google classroom.  

Well that is the lot I think for this week. I have decided it will be the new me. Less coffee, healthy walks (try the All Trails app) healthy eating and only a little Netflix. I am all set up to go.

Kind Regards

Mr Perry

Friday 10^th November 2023

Dear Parents

It has been another wet couple of days! Is it just me or has this Autumn’s weather been wetter than normal? I seem to be collecting wet and muddy trainers and walking shoes at my front door. My mop and bucket is also seeing more use than normal, but small problems I suppose. Saying that my Netflix shows or sports podcasts can somewhat distract me a little, but it is good to make you all think I am a domestic champion.

Anyway on with my next dazzling entry. Reminds me of the old James Herriot books (the show ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ are based on these) where each chapter is another incident in the life and times of a Yorkshire vet. So what would I call my memoirs?  How about ‘All Children Great and Small’, Or The life and times of a Shepherds Bush Primary School Teacher? Hmm have to think about this one.

Firstly as you are aware we had our visit from OFSTED this week, the fact we have not had one for twelve years or so before this is a testament to the hard work put in from all the staff, led by the vision and inspiration of Mr Schumm over the years. The children were wonderful and my friends and colleagues really showed the inspectors just what this school is all about. I look forward to reading the report over the next few weeks. Well done to everyone!

We have been working at our new topics for this half term and I will give you updates in the next few blogs with a few more details on studying the UK in Geography, Poetry in English, Monastic life and Music and Art at Christmas in RE, Life cycles in Science and Valuing Differences in RHE. The children have worked really hard and a few highlight for me this week were the children studying a performing the poem ‘Facing the Truth of Haikus’ by Malorie Blackman (our class namesake) and dissecting, labelling and describing the sexual parts of a flower (a lily) in science. Lots of hard work by all.

In light of all the disruption due to our inspection, I have been impressed with how hard they have been working on their class Collective Worship’ for this coming Thursday. Despite the fact we have not had as many chance to practice as I would have liked, We have been talking about keeping it ‘fresh’ (which can be hard after practising it many times) and keep working on putting character and power into their voices. I look forward to sharing our work with you all this Thursday. Thank you to all those who have provided costumes so far (do not worry if you have not been able to, we will try and work something out). Please can we have the last of any costumes due by this Monday at the latest? 

Parents Evening

It is that time of year again and if you have not done so already, please can you remember to book a slot for next week. If this is not possible then please get in contact so we can organise another time. I look forward to hearing from you next week.

I think that is my lot for today. As much as I would love to outline the amazing activity I have planned for the weekend to enrich and inspire my life…I won’t as it involves a walk, a T V show, a pie and probably a bit more mopping!

Homework is on the left and on Google Classroom.

Have a great weekend.

Kind Regards

Alex Perry

Friday 3rd November 2023

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to you all. I hope you had restful time and are ready for the madness that is the lead up to Christmas and the end of term.

We have been continuing our work on our information texts in English and have written our final piece with Dame Elizabeth Anionwu as our topic. Her leading research and work on the condition Sickle Cell made some real impact in the fight against it and we have learnt a lot from her story. The children have used a writing exemplar as an example of the how to lay out a text and I am looking forward to marking the final writing.

We have been working hard in maths looking at number and assorted number terms including factors, multiples and prime numbers. They have learnt how to find ‘factor pairs’ of a number and have looked for patterns within the multiples of assorted times tables. Mathletics will be set around this subject.

Well life in St Stephens this half term has set off again at a fast pace with many events already in the pipeline and this week has hardly been quiet! Yes there was walking across the mud spattered field as we took the children cross country running on Tuesday. Note the word ‘walking’ I certainly did none of the actual running and quite enjoyed my stewarding role as I shouted encouragement and ushered them in the right direction…at least I think I did! Then yesterday was our yearly quiz night organised by the FOSS team and as always it was another resounding success. Thank you again to FOSS for your hard work.

Parents Evening

It is that time of year again and if you have not done so already, please can you remember to book a slot for next week. If this is not possible then please get in contact so we can organise another time. I look forward to hearing from you next week.

Class Assembly

Finally our time is almost upon us…our class assembly. We have two weeks to go and as the children have had their scripts for a while I would encourage you please to help them learn their lines and how to express them with character and, as per my parentmail, they will talk to you about their costumes.

If you do go to a fireworks display this weekend (or host one) then I pray you enjoy yourself and that you all stay safe.

Homework as always is to the right of this screen.

Okay I am shattered and after being inspired today by the wind and the rain, I think a brilliant BBC nature show such as Planet Earth, Blue Planet or Frozen Planet awaits …then again I may just go for a good Viking show on Netflix instead, so I will sign off. Have a wonderful weekend.

Kind regards

Mr Perry

Dear Parents

With the first half of the term now over, we can all stop and take a breath.  What an eventful few weeks it’s been: Red Card to Racism day today, Hispanic Day, Black voices Week, and our DT day. To be fair did I expect anything different?

In black voices week the children have continued to look at the life of Dame Elizabeth Anionwu and her accomplishments in the field of science, in particular her work with the conditions Sickle Cell and Thalessema which particularly affect black and Asian communities. We have used these lessons in conjunction with our English topic of information texts – which they will wrap up after half-term. The children have learnt how to research, make notes and prepare sub heading categories for their writing on her. We have also had a visitor this week to talk to the children (and teach a few phrases) about the Creole language from the Caribbean. The week was wrapped up with a visit from a theatre and drama group to perform to the children at the end of our day.

We have also been slowly wrapping up our half term topics and have completed work in our Science (forces) RE (Judaism) and history (Victorians) .The children have worked very hard this term and I have seen some fine efforts in their tasks. They have enjoyed practical elements including investigations around how to put together a catapult (yes indeed watch the windows) as well as what happens when you throw a toy out the window…attached to a parachute I might add. Then the children have really honed their research skills in history and computing by using chrome books and ipads to find key facts about e-safety (computing) and about the Victorian way of life. They have understood the meaning (and beliefs) behind the worship of our world faith- Judaism- and have used very creative skills in retelling creation stories and myths (like Pandora’s Box). All in all a very productive half term!

Red Card to Racism Day

Although I am so glad to live in such a multicultural society, it saddens me that racism and discrimination still abounds in our society. The children today all wore red in support of the ‘Red C Card to Racism’ movement and we had a lesson on what prejudism is and ways in which it can occur and manifest itself. The children looked at scenarios in everyday life and discussed how to deal with such situations.

Homework is on your right of the screen for half term and is of course on Google Classroom. Please I would ask if you could support me in helping the children be organised in both completing homework as well as not losing it or not packing it into their school bags. We have been getting a few more cases of this lately than normal.

May I finish by saying that I hope you have a great break and I look forward to seeing all the children refreshed after half-term.

Kind Regards

Mr Perry

Dear Parents

Okay, Friday and 13 will not be mentioned in any way in this entry!

Hard to believe we only have a week to go until half term and as is the way in St Stephens it has been a truly busy one. This week was relatively quiet in comparisons but we have our Cultural Heritage Week next week and Red Card to Racism to look forward to.

In English we have moved on from our myths and legend topic (although we will revisit as we get closer to our class assembly) and started to look at information texts. We had looked at a variety of types of text including animals, history and archaeological based information. This will lead nicely on to our information next week on leading Black Women for Black Voices Week. I am looking forward to seeing where this leads. In RE we have been looking at Judaism and the importance of respecting other people’s religion, beliefs and way of life. We recognise that we can learn from others and do not have to be a Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh etc to take elements of their stories and elements and apply to our own lives. In the last few lessons we have looked at the ‘Sabbath’, The Torah and what happens within a synagogue.

Wednesday was Hispanic day and our class represented Cuba. We had a brief lesson on Cuban geography and culture. The children used their knowledge and growing research skills to prepare a fact file advertising the merits of Cuba, looking for key facts and explaining why it would be an excellent place to visit. Our school focus was Hispanic festivals and we looked at the Cuban Fire Festival. It was great to have Fernando join us, able assisted by his lovely daughter, who got the children to make their own Spanish biscuit snack and then answered some questions about life in his home country of Uruguay. Finally the children took part in a dance workshop which was great fun to see and experience.

I know I am always talking about how ‘busy we are’ but these couple of weeks really do highlight that. Wednesday was Hispanic Day and next week we have D & T day, Red Card to Racism day and Black Voices Week, where as a school we all look at a leading Black Woman in the science community. We are looking at the inspirational figure of Dame Elizabeth Anionwu A who was a green pioneer who, among many other accomplishments, led a movement to erect a statue of the icon – Mary Seacole -who became the first Black Woman to have a memorial raised in honour of her in England. She was a specialist who worked with the conditions of sickle cell and thalessema. We look forward to finding out more about her next week.

I loved the first assembly this term, that of Mr Gane’s Year 6 class. It was funny, informative and had a great message about what unites us as a school our vision. It has showed how we are a united community with everyone pulling in the right direction as encouraged and led by our Mr Schumm.  The whole ‘Schummy’ theme and of what Mr Schumm has done for our school was done in a tasteful way as well being very very funny! You can imagine what I was thinking…no pressure Mr P!

Homework is on your right of the screen and of course on google classroom.

Kind Regards

Mr Perry

Dear parents,

I think sometimes I should cut and paste for every blog ‘it has been a busy week in St Stephens’ but I must try and be more creative so in on with the blog…it has been a busy week in St Stephens!

We are well into the half-term now and it has been wonderful getting to know your children. They are getting to know me as much as I am getting to know them. Nowadays I am often greeted with comments such as, ‘How many coffee cups have you had today?’ The answer is usually followed by a stern frown. In a similar fashion if they win a small treat for a task such as the best presentation as a group in RHE or the winner of a times table game they really ensure I pay my debt!

I have been enjoying the teaching subjects this term and there has been some great work occurring through the class. In RE we have been looking at the Jewish faith and important elements of how they live their faith. We have looked at artefacts linked to their worship, such as a tallit, kippah, yad and The Torah. We have compared them to artefacts in our faith and what scriptures those who are of other world faiths study and learn from. It struck us how we can learn so much from other faiths, how we have special objects and ceremonies all across faiths in world religions and how holy words and teachings can teach us how to live morally across all faiths and that we do not have to be followers to take them on board.

This week we finished our creation myths and have worked hard on studying the importance of planning, drafting, editing and final piece writing. There were some excellent examples of creativity and use of our English grammar and sentencing targets – that of relative clauses and parenthesis – and the children will hopefully look to take these skills further in their writing. You may now be aware that we have decided upon a theme for our class assembly in a month or so and they have their scripts. This theme is indeed ‘Myths and Legends’ and although we will not be practising much until closer to the time, please chat with them about costumes (we will be doing what we can from this end) and help them to learn their lines.

Our Harvest Festival went well and it was wonderful to see us all together again in such a fashion. Thank you for so many of you coming and of course for all the Harvest donations that are quite simply stacked at the back off St Stephen’s church ready to go to those who need it through the ‘Upper Room’. I think the tears came to my eyes when we all sang ‘ I Give Thanks’. Just watching all the teachers, children and parents getting stuck into the actions as well as singing their hearts out was simply heart-warming. One teacher said they felt the hairs rise up on the backs of their arms and I have to agree with them. It was special indeed.

. We realised that Jesus used stories all the time to help put across his teachings as well. Our learning in Buddhism around not giving into greed or that we should show kindness to both animals as well as people around us is something we could all learn from no matter what our religious beliefs are.

Our Harvest Festival went well and it was wonderful to see us all together again in such a fashion. Thank you for so many of you coming and of course for all the Harvest donations that are quite simply stacked at the back off St Stephen’s church ready to go to those who need it through the ‘Upper Room’. I think the tears came to my eyes when we all sang ‘ I Give Thanks’. Just watching all the teachers, children and parents getting stuck into the actions as well as singing their hearts out was simply heart-warming. One teacher said they felt the hairs rise up on the backs of their arms and I have to agree with them. It was special indeed.

Homework, as always, is to the right of this entry and on google classroom. We have new grammar books for that element of the homework the children can write in (thank you FOSS), so we will be setting grammar fortnightly the week we do not have reading comprehension.

So I will say goodbye now and go get a fun size bag of maltesers to pay my growing debts!

Kind Regards

Mr Perry

Dear Parents

It feels like deja vu but…we are all exhausted after another busy week! In English, the children have continued their work on our myths – with a focus on creation myths and they have been really getting into it. They have been learning how to use interesting vocabulary, add details with relative clauses and to begin to use ‘parentheses. They finished the week looking at how these factors can add to writing as well as spotting them in myths and writing examples of their own. We will round this work off next week beginning with planning their own on Monday and then writing and editing it by Friday. I am very much looking forward to marking their final product!

In Maths, the children in my group have been consolidating their knowledge on place value looking at portioning numbers to 1,000,000 , using number lines to round off numbers and looking at strategies to order numbers over 100,000. The children did this by breaking numbers down through partitioning and then learning how to order them through our understanding of the value of the digits. We have looked as well at maths language such as ‘ascending’ and ‘descending’, which also lends toward our spellings this week, that of ‘Ous’ words.

Other subjects have included continuing our topic of forces in science, where the children have looked at, friction last week and air resistance this week.  We had fun planning how to test how the size of a parachute will affect how the air pushes against it and slows it down. As I was explaining in class and giving ideas around how they could carry on their learning at home, I think even I got excited! I mean what is not exciting about throwing a toy soldier, teddy, Barbie Doll or indeed Darth Vader off a height to test various parachute sizes or how the mass/size of the toy could equally effect the objects descent and the effects of air-resistance. I did off course express if they did do it home the importance of safety. Would love to hear about it if anyone does it! Next week we look at water –resistance. What fun!

Being the democratic school we are, we had our elections, speeches and presentations prepared by the Year 6s and voted for the house captains. As a prior Year 6 teacher I know how important these elections are and told my class just how the confidence of many house captains have risen as a result of being elected, the amazing fund raising they have been a part of and the pivotal role they have in school daily life. The children took the responsibility of voting very seriously and I am sure they have made excellent choices.

Speaking of special …A massive thank you to all the parents who came to the family supper – one of my favourite St Stephen’s events. I think I got to say hello to most of you and if not …well hello! Delicious food – I could not pass without taking at least one more lamb chop, scoop of rice or chicken wing!  Gives us real incentive to celebrate good bounty at our Harvest Festival next Wednesday. With all the wonderful events that FOSS put on, I know this one is always one of the favourites. The children love it because –as one child stated- we can run around in the dark! I am just thankful we pass over all responsibility to you at 3.30pm J . I mean what is not to love about children who have been stuffing their faces with doughnuts, cakes and other puddings (and of course a few savouries too) running around the playground on a sugar high! Seriously though it is a wonderful evening and I am always one of the first in line with my plate to sample the wonderful variety of food that is brought to the supper. It is a simple event – yet one that really shows our community spirit.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful food brought to the event! Your children MAY have been on a sugar high running around but I was too busy stuffing my face to notice. A wonderful event all around thank you.

IMPORTANT- Please take note of the email sent via parentmail about the trip next year. For your children to go, we need the important documents in by Christmas holidays and for the passports to have at least six months before expiring from our departure date.  

Homework as always is on Google Classroom and is also listed to the right of this entry.

Have a wonderful weekend and kind regards.

Mr Perry

Dear Parents,

Well if you are eager you may be reading this on Thursday! I am not in school tomorrow so I am posting this and homework etc a day early. So it is not me being over eager either!

Is it raining? Is it sunny? It does seem a bit of a lottery these days. I honestly am never sure what to wear in the mornings. Jacket? Fleece? Jumper? As I have said it is a bit of a lucky dip! To top it all off our air condition is still not working either! Sorry a bit of a first world problem there.

It is the end of another busy week at St Stephen’s. In Maths my group has been focusing on recognising the value of numbers up to 1,000,000 and how to use the Gattegno Chart – anther great link to ancient history. We have looked at how to split them, what happens when we times numbers by 10, 100 and 1000  placing them on number lines and we continued to look at solving problems eliminating clues. After all our work last year on our times tables, it is important the children continue to practice. As we discuss in class the old motto ‘practice makes perfect’ this is no truer than with times tables and the children should practice for ten minutes a day. We have mathletics homework based upon our work in class.

We have been enjoying our history topic on the Victorians, the children have been researching, illustrating and writing up theories on the industrial revolution and looked at the benefits and negatives it brought to our life and culture. We have looked at how a lot of our progress at this time was built on the horror of slavery and we have looked at how the speedy growth of our industry was also at the detriment of life for British citizens, especially the labourers and their families.  There have been some fantastic examples of work. When discussing how teachers and foreman would have been very harsh and strict I am sure there were a few looks in my direction! We have looked at how despite the horrific working conditions for many people and touched upon the horrors of slavery we have discussed that this age made huge leap forwards in ‘technology’ in the growth of machines, steam power and commerce for the United Kingdom. If only it was not at the cost of so many lives.

Speaking of fantastic …we are moving ahead with our English topic of Myths and Legends. As I have frequently said to my children, I just love these topics. My personal love of reading, which I strongly promote, began with fantasy such as Narnia and LOTR at their age (I would have just loved it if series like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter would have been around when I was their age) then moved onto historical fiction and non-fiction. I just love it when there is a blend of the two such as Ancient Greek myths, Norse legends and tales such as King Arthur and Robin Hood. I am looking forward to seeing their final written pieces. I may even be getting an inkling of an idea for our class assembly.

The children have been blessed yet again with lots of fun experiences. This week as well as continuing our weekly chess workshops they also took advantage of the Year 6 absence by having an extra PE lesson today and have been having drama this half term – the teacher making great links with our English topic- as I understand it last week it was Pandora’s Box…much as I feel at the moment about tins of biscuits in the staff room. to uphold. Fear not though they have been working hard at their other subjects as well.

Harvest Festival  – Wednesday 4^h October 9.00 AM

As I mentioned last week, It is wonderful that we are getting back to some semblance of normality at St Stephens and that we can all meet together to celebrate our church festivals. On that note, you are all invited Wednesday 4^th October 9 am to our Harvest Festival, where we come together to thank God for our harvest. This will be held in St Stephens Church. Every year we collect non-perishable goods to go towards feeding those in need at a local charity. Like last year, proceeds will go to the ‘Upper Room’. You would have all received a parentmail with the list of appropriate goods. We look forward to seeing you there.

Family  Supper – Thursday 28th^th September PM

With all the wonderful events that FOSS put on, I know this one is always one of the favourites and it was such as shame that we could not put it on last year. The children love it because –as one child stated- we can run around in the dark! I am just thankful we pass over all responsibility to you at 3.30pm J . I mean what is not to love about children who have been stuffing their faces with doughnuts, cakes and other puddings (and of course a few savouries too) running around the playground on a sugar high! Seriously though it is a wonderful evening and I am always one of the first in line with my plate to sample the wonderful variety of food that is brought to the supper. It is a simple event – yet one that really shows our community spirit.

Homework as always is on the right, with the spellings. Grammar should be completed on google classroom and maths as always is set on mathletics. Please ensure you stay up to date with Mathletics so you do not fall behind.

I am going to go home and try and procrastinate about the list of jobs I have to do. Maybe I should stay and do a bit more marking!

Kind regards

Alex Perry

Dear Parents

Did we have a summer holiday? When was it? It seems so far away…cue a bit of whinging and sobbing in a corner…followed by a large glass of wine!

This past week or so (and over the coming half term)  I am getting to know the children’s learning habits through classroom activities and getting a handle on how we can work together.. Don’t be alarmed if your child moves onto different class working groups and there may be movement in the maths classes in the coming weeks as Mrs Connor and I get to know the children. They are a great bunch and I have really enjoyed teaching them , even those in Crummel House…In class joke there !

We have started our maths and English topics in earnest. In maths, my group have looked at face value, understanding the value of parts of numbers up to 1,000,000 and how the importance of place holders. We also joined history and maths together by having lessons on Roman numerals and using them to work out dates of significance in history and the years of the reigns of assorted kings and queens of Britain, they really enjoyed it and it was fun trying to learn and understand the right sequences. They have been working hard on layout and presentation of maths problems and I have been really impressed with the effort put into this. Our homework for maths this week reflects all these points.

We are so blessed to have such generous parents in this school and we are lucky to have additional avenues of support for the children. Mrs Lowrey, as our KS2 Specialist Catch-up teacher, will be working with a number of children from Year 5 to give some support in their Maths and English learning. These sessions will take place on a weekly basis as on-to-one sessions and in small groups. More details on this will follow later on in the term.​

Homework – Please see opposite for the homework which will be spelling, comprehension and maths. A new process will be using Google Classroom a lot more for other homework such as comprehension or additional tasks. Spellings and sentences as always will be in the green books and mathletics will be set by class teachers.  

In RE we have begun our topic of Judaism as well as begun looking at our class spiritual word – Peace. Next week the children will write prayers and created a poster with their bible verse in their RE books based on their idea what ‘PEACE’ means for us as individuals. Not just wishing for PEACE in the world, but also what it means for Peace in our lives. We also have started our worldwide religious topic on understanding what it is like to live as a follower of Judaism and what items and artefacts are important to them -such as a Kippah’, Tallit and Seder dish.

It has been wonderfully democratic in school this week with class elections for school council and the children voted for who would take on that role. Well done to all those who went for it, as well as the two children nominated as our prayer group representatives.

So all in all it has been a very democratic week in class…although I still have my dictator moments J.

I am looking forward to going to France with your children next year – a trip I loved doing with Year 6 a few years ago and as emailed earlier in the week, I hope all our children can attend. On another note good luck to the Year 6 going to PGL next week and I am sure they will have a fantastic time. I will repeat this throughout the year to the children many times throughout the year, but I truly believe that they are blessed to have so many opportunities and experiences in this school, or have I said that already J

Just to round off I would like to say your children are certainly a group full of character and energy. I see myself having a long bath before sinking into my couch every Friday when the week ends with a glass of coke zero and a box set on Netflix/Disney Plus as I try to recover J . Seriously they are wonderful children and I am having great fun teaching them.   They are a credit to you!

Kind regards

Mr Perry

Welcome to Year 4 Backman!

I hope you had a wonderful summer holiday and are ready to start the new school year. I have been really looking forward to teaching Year 5 as I have not taught this Year 5 yet in St Stephens (I taught Year 6s for five years before going to year 5) and they are at a lovely age in their development and also they begin to get my humour (or lack of) J  as well. It is fantastic once again to meet new families, siblings of old students and get to know children from the year group who I did not teach Maths last year. We are all in this together as we start our year 5. I look forward to getting to know your children (and you of course) in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Mrs Connor has been wonderfully helpful over the last few days and we thank her. She has over twenty years’ experience as a TA and is a welcome member of the Year 5 team. Miss Kayleigh, Miss Bill and Mrs Conner have been wonderfully supportive of me as I begin my time in Year 5. As I am sure you are aware – Miss Bill and Miss Kayleigh are working with the other Year 5 class. The Children have been letting me know all about themselves by creating a coat of arms that represent them and have included with them topics such as family, interests and talents. They have learnt a bit more about me and my interests, hobbies and expectations. I look forward to hearing more about their own summer and what they love to do in their play time. We look forward to getting to know each other well in the coming months through assemblies, playtimes and looking at being back on track with school trips and sports events. Then of course next year we have our residential. Roll on France! I know this trip really well after taking five year 6 classes here before switching France with our Spanish trip and am looking forward to taking your children here.  We have looked at our expectations for the year and drawn up a charter for our class rules and the children have been listening and following the rules sensibly.

Our timetable has been put on the website and I will parent mail you as well. In Maths – as always- Year 5 will be split into two groups.  I will be teaching the independent group and Miss Bill will be teaching the other group supported by additional adults. Although the groups will start more or less the same there will be some adjustments based on Miss Bill’s and I’s judgment. We will want to support your children as best as possible. As per my parent mail Monday, PE kits will be needed for Tuesdays (PE) and Wednesdays (gymnastics). The children should come into school in their PE clothes which they will keep on for the rest of the day, unless we have sports days- I would want the children to have full school uniforms on Monday, Thursday and Friday.

Reading books will not be issued this week but will go out every Monday and should be returned by Friday when they will be changed, these books should be read with an adult and recorded in their reading log books. We will also have a school library slot on a Friday where the children make a more personal choice.  Children will visit the school library most weeks.  There will be options to go to the library some lunch times this year as well, a new initiative from Mr Schumm and will be headed by Mrs Connor. Homework will be issued every Friday and should be returned by Tuesday. Mathletics tasks are part of the weekly homework and should be completed by Tuesday as well.

I am looking to meeting you all properly over the course of the coming weeks and know we will have a successful year ahead.

My email is a.perry@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

Kind Regards

Mr Perry