ST. CHRISTOPHER’S SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 58 9th March 2018

Nursery children enjoying the snow before it got too heavy and closed the school!

From the Headmistress

Thank you all for your patience during the snow episode last week. The children clearly had a wonderful time, but it is good to be back to normal this week. Despite all the sledging and snowman building- lots of the children found the time to write a snow poem- and I read out the winners in assembly this week. We have published the winning entries in this week’s newsletter, for your enjoyment. Unbelievably it will be soon be time to start planning for our Mayfair, which takes place next term on Saturday 19th May. We are aware that this is also the same day as the Royal wedding and therefore for those who don’t want to miss out- we shall be erecting a big screen at school, so that you can follow the day’s events. It takes a great deal of organisation and it would be fantastic at this early stage, if parents who feel that they can help out both in advance and on the day could let the office know. If there is someone who would be willing to assist in coordinating the event- even better! We look forward to seeing lots of you at Parents evenings over the next few weeks- Have a lovely weekend.

Boe Jones – Prep Reception

Fast sledging one snowy day, We went out to play. I went on the red sledge with Dad We went so fast that We crashed into the soft snow.

Freddie Young – Prep 1

School is closed for another day With more snow on the way. Lots of fun and time to play, Hip, hip hooray. The rain will come, and spoil the fun, It will please my Mum when the snow is done, As they have a pub to run!

Snow – Charlie Kidney Prep 5

I get up in the morning and rush to the window, I see snow and it’d as if someone has laid a big White blanket over the garden. I run down the stairs and outside to see There was a soft, crunching sound, As I walked out over the snow. It was freezing in bare feet, it stung my toes, The snow was very wet. I looked up and saw snowflakes dancing merrily to, The ground. I felt very excited as a warm feeling spread through me.

Seren Pearse- Prep 2

The Snow Jewels The snow is shining bright, Like a diamond in the night. I look out of my window And the moon is crystal white The emerald grass is lost in the night. The days sapphire sky is now the colour of onyx I gaze in wonder At the sky streaked with comets.

Matthew Dayment – Prep 3

Snow Acrostic Snow glides on the gently wind. Now the dry, grassy fields are covered with a blanket of white glistening snow. On the frozen ground outside, there are birds searching hungrily for seeds While hedgehogs hibernate.

Sophia Hannaford – Prep 4 I love snow It’s wintery Wednesday off to school I go, On the way, all I saw was a dusting of snow. As the morning past The snow fell very fast Mrs Kennington sent out an email All children must be collected without fail Yippee, I thought, lots of fun Getting out my sledge must be done. The snow was cold and was very white It crunched on my feet It was such a treat I built a snowman And dressed him up I called him “Chilly” As he looked so cold and silly Now the snow is melting And Chilly is no longer here Maybe I will have all this fun Again next year.

Luella Price - Prep 6

The snowman stared up at the lovely warm house. He wanted to be with the humans, cats, dogs and the little mouse. Instead he had to stay away from the human’s abode And stand out in the cold with the horrible old toad. The wind rushed past, knocking his twig arm Oh, how he wanted to be where everything’s calm. The snowman stared sorrowfully up at the sky As a tiny tear fell from his coal eye. Only sadness poor snowman had felt, As everything around him began to melt.

Prep 2 and 3 visits Totnes Library “First, we went on the minibus. It took 20 minutes. Then, we walked up some stairs and met Ann the librarian. Next, we went in to the library and made a decoder. Finally, we decoded some words like ggamae theat mers eefvcg. Then we had a story called Dr Xargle's Book of Earth Tiggers by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross and Not Now, Bernard by David McKee.” By Seren Pearse “First, we got on the minibus, it took about twenty minutes to get there. When we got there, we chose our partner. After that we walked through the street to the library. When we got in we met Ann the librarian, she was very nice. She told us how to make decoders. It was a bit confusing, but we got it in the end. After we made them we coloured them in - they looked beautiful. After we coloured it in we played with it after that. Then Ann read us a story. They were very funny. One was called Earth Tigers and the other one was called Not Now Bernard. Then we went back down the stairs, back to the bus to go back to school”. By

Indie-Rose Jones Other Faith Week

The children have been learning about Islam for the last few weeks. Prep Reception and Prep 1 made some colourful mosques while Prep 2 focused on the festival of Ramadan. Prep 3 learnt about The Qu’ran and had a go at some calligraphy. Prep 4 learnt about the prophet Mohammed and Prep 5 made some informative ‘Pillars’ of Islam. Prep 6 unfortunately missed many of their lessons (snow days)! however they managed to do some research on iPads to answer any questions they had. Mrs A Cottell

Prep 5 maths

This week,Miss Starr taught Prep 5 Chinese multiplication to times two digit numbers. The children drew different coloured lines to represent the tens and the units and

counted the dots where the lines cross over to reveal the answer. This visual method was a hit with Prep 5 and has

supported our use of long multiplication. Thank you Miss Starr!

Miss Harris

World Book Day

A week’s delay didn’t dampen our world book day; we decided

this year to do a book swap, an exciting way to discover new books. The Lower School were excited to get home and read

them! The children also brought in their favourite book which they shared at our assembly.

Don’t forget to look out for your Book Tokens!

Stover Cross Country At the Stover cross country on a freezing cold afternoon, we came up against some strong independent schools. Individually we had top ten places for Esmee Glue (6th), Sacha Edwards (9th) and Teddy Smither (10th). Well done to all involved. M Belham U9 Netball vs St John’s “The U9 girls were selected to play netball against St John’s. We played indoors in their sports hall. I was centre, Sarah was goal attack, Esmee was goal defence, Tula was wing defence, Sophia was wing attack, Phoebe was goal shoot, Annabel was goal keep and Rosie, Poppy and Indie were all subs. We played 4 quarters of 7 minutes and we played our best. On the second quarter their defence got better and so did our attack. In the end we won 16-2.” By Ava Collett

U9 Football vs St John The Under 9 football team went to St Johns school Sidmouth for a fixture. It was played over four 10 minute quarters. At the end of the first quarter we were winning two-nil we then experimented with playing people in different positions and were still leading 2-1 after three quarters. We went back to our stronger positions and ended up being more dominant and winning by six goals to one. The team were William Grogan, Joss Burden, Theo C-C, Sacha Edwards, Charlie Buzzo, Oliver Brown, Isaac B-M and Fabian Joyner.

Sailing Course at Royal Dart Yacht Club in Kingswear – applicants welcome from Year 4 upwards. Hugely fun and sociable for all the family. The course runs every Saturday from April to July. Youngsters are taught in different ability groups and can progress quickly or slowly to suit their needs. They are encouraged to test and stretch themselves under the watchful eye of the fully qualified RYA instructors. They gain confidence and self-reliance, learning lessons for life on the water, while gaining their RYA Qualifications. For further information please contact RDYC on 01803 752496 or admin@royaldart.co.uk

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Job Opportunity in Staverton

Staverton Parish Council seeks an organised, independent and adaptable individual to work from home and attend monthly Wednesday evening meetings as Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer to the Parish Council, serving this beautiful area of Devon. Staverton Parish Council is a pro-active and friendly Council covering Staverton and Landscove villages and the surrounding area. The role is busy, but varied and interesting. Good IT skills are important and minute taking is essential. Other skills such as writing funding bids, knowledge of the planning system and experience in dealing with correspondence would be a great advantage, although there will be training courses available to help with any skills gaps for the right applicant. The applicant should be prepared to study for the industry qualification, the CiLCA, or already hold this qualification. The post is for ten hours per week. Salary is paid at NALC SLCC rate and will depend on qualifications and experience, with an additional allowance to cover home working costs. IT equipment such as a new laptop and printer will be provided. For additional information about the Parish Council please visit staverton.org.uk. Or for more information, including a job description, please contact the outgoing Clerk via clerk.stavertonpc@gmail.com or 01752 873446. Interested applicants should send a CV and personal statement showing how they meet the requirements of the post to the outgoing Clerk by Wednesday 21 March. The provisional date for interview is the 26 or 27 March 2018.