ST. MARY’S R.C. PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 19/07/2018

Tel: 020 7622 5460 Fax: 020 7622 4922 Email: admin@st-marys-pri.wandsworth.sch.uk Executive Headteacher: Mr Brading BA Associate Headteacher: Mrs Mitchell BA

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic School 7 St Joseph’s Street London SW8 4EN

Dear Parents/Carers,

Thank you from the St Mary’s team for all your kind words, smiles, presents, cards and good wishes as we break up for the summer holidays. We wish you all a safe and happy rest and may the lovely weather continue!

We look forward to seeing you all return on Tuesday 4th September.

Each teacher has written about their highlights of the year below-enjoy!

It has been a wonderful year in Nursery class with lots of wonderful memories made and new things learnt. The children have all happily settled in, made lovely friends and learnt the structures and routines of school life.

They have enjoyed learning about lots of different topics including transport, people who help us, traditional tales and animals, they are now able to talk about the different things that they have learnt and observed. The chil-dren have been working so hard all year to learn their single letter sounds in phonics and they are beginning to be able to read and write simple words and even sentences. They are becoming confident when writing and read-

ing their own names and are expressing their ideas through a various range of media. Additionally, their knowledge and comprehension of stories is becoming excellent. It has been particularly wonderful watching the

children’s imaginations grow and prosper through role play and storytelling activities. It has also been great to see the children becoming experts in number and to watch their interest in shape grow. Our trips to London Zoo

and to the park for a mini-beast hunt have been great experiences for the children and something that they will remember for years to come. I am so proud of each and every one of the children and all that they have learnt

this year. They continue to grow into kind, caring individuals and I have no doubt that this will continue next year in Nursery class.

- Miss Mathers

Reception Class Highlights

This year in Reception has been a fantastic year. The children have grown and progressed so much. Over the year we have covered different topics such a poetry, under the sea and mini-beasts, one of the more memora-ble however being light and dark, during which we made a spooky cave in our role play area and had lots

of fun using torches to find each other and experimenting with our shadows. We recently took a trip to London zoo (which a few of our parents will happily remember!), we saw lots of different animals we had been learning about in class such as lions, tigers, penguins, camels and many, many mini-beasts (Miss Tasnim loved the but-terfly tent!). It was a brilliant day out in the sunshine and we had so much fun we all fell asleep on the coach home! Reception class have also taken two trips to Battersea Park Library this year where the children got to explore new books and listen to wonderful books read by Rachel the librarian. We look forward to continuing these visits next year in Year 1! The children in reception have grown and progressed so much in every aspect, from our manners to our phonics. Every child has been a pleasure to teach and we all wish them all the best

going into Year 1. Miss Parsons, Miss Molly, Miss Tasnim and Miss Mary– Ann

Year 1 Highlights

What a year! There are too many highlights to even begin. From the first day this class entered year 1, I thought the jump would be too much for the fresh out of reception children, but they amazed me with their resilience, their drive to learn and their progress every day! We have had so many memories shared together: The ‘fun’

Santa boat party where we had a seasick Miss Liu and many seasick children... the awesome nativity that you all participated in , but my favourite is Year 1’s recent class assembly as it showed just how much they have grown, from their first assembly of just sitting in a line and passing the microphone down to becoming potential Oscar

winning actors!

There is such a wonderful array of characters in this class and I am so sad to let them go and grow up, yet so excited for what they have yet to achieve.

Year 1 thank you for all the laughs you have given me, all the kindness you have shown me, all the progress you have made with me and most importantly all the

times you have made me smile! - Miss Liu

Year 2 Highlights

Year 2 have made me laugh every single day since I started with them at St Mary’s. There are

too many memories to squeeze into a few lines but some main highlights would include our trip to

see the three wise men, baby Jesus and Santa at London Zoo; seeing Year 2 shine in the

nativity and their class assemblies; watching a play written and directed by the children at the

Omnibus Theatre about a shark adventure in Candy Land; welcoming Mickey Mouse into our

classroom; our church retreat with Father Gerry; seeing all of London’s sights on the open top

bus tour; learning all about recycling at the WRWA; winning the recycling project with our How to be a Rubbish Artist; and so many others!

It only feels like yesterday when you first sat down in front of me as Year 2 children but now

you are all a little bit older, quite a lot taller and a whole lot smarter! It has been a pleasure and

a privilege to watch your personality and intellect develop day by day as we have learnt new

things together.

Thank you Year 2 for making my year so special, I will miss you and your cheeky smiles lots and

I wish you all the best in Year 3! - Miss Loh

Year 3 Highlights

Year 3 has been a spectacular year. We designed and wrote leaflets about

our own chocolate factories and created our own fables. In addition, we

enjoyed studying Charlotte's Web with debates and even wrote persuasive

letters. Our highlights of the year have been the strawberry picking, our

trip to Kidzania, our historic visit to Hampton Court and our informative

trip to the Recycling centre. We feel that this year has been a learning

curve for our confidence in a variety of subjects and we have all fallen in

love with reading. - Miss Oak

Year 4 Highlights

Year 4 have had a wonderful school year. We have been on an amazing

trip ice skating. That was cool because some of us experienced something to-

tally new! A couple of days after, we were super fortunate and went to King

Henry V11’s palace. We also went to the British Museum as we were learn-

ing about Egyptian Mummies. Year 4 have accomplished learning times

tables up to their 4 -12’s. We have produced many assemblies, some favour-

ites have been ‘Kindness in our world’ with Miss Burke and one with Miss

Crowley about harvesting. We love being designers and enjoyed creating

models of dragons and models of Egyptian tombs with Miss Crowley. We

loved learning about many amazing topics in Year 4 and look forward to

Year 5!

- Mia, Elijah and Raniah

Year 5 Highlights

What an action packed year we have had in year 5!

Sayer’s Croft in the Autumn Term is a stand-out memory. It was a fantastic opportunity to leave

iPads, phones and Xboxes at home and enjoy the more simple things in life. The smiles on the

children’s faces as we reached the peak of Pitch Hill was a particular highlight.

Later in the year, we were lucky enough to be involved in some lovely projects as a class. This in-

cluded a trip to see Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall and a celebration of the 70th

anniversary of our beloved NHS. We have also taken advantage of this lovely weather with some

picnics in the park. Lucky us!

Thank you, as always, to parents for all of your support. We have had a great year in year 5

and I am confident the children will rise to all challenges in year 6! - Miss Duffy

Debating Club Highlights

'Discover Debating has taught me to respect other people's opinions and to solve arguments without a lot of drama and problems.' Shiphrah, Discover Debating participant

I would like to speak out about the government not fund-ing libraries. Libraries are important. They are places for children to go and not get into trouble. They're like a club

for children and adults. Isaiah. Discover Debating participant

One of my most memorable moments was when our Discover Debating Club, attended by Years 5 and 6, was filmed by the English Speaking Union, in December. They were also featured heavily in Dialogue, the

English Speaking Union’s magazine. Miss Duffy and I were very proud of all these children who represented St Mary’s so brilliantly!

Shiphrah, Devron, Sophia and Ekiri-Louise from Year 5.

Year 6 Highlights

The two highlights of Year 6 for us were our trip to Chislehurst Caves and our spectacular performance, “A Knight’s Tale”.

When we visited Chislehurst Caves, we didn’t think it would be as scary as it happened to be…

We learnt about WW2 and the history behind the caves. We were shocked by the way people used to live, but above all we had fun!

Our favourite part of the trip was when Peter (our tour guide) scared the living daylights out of us when he showed us how loud the bombs really were. The whole atmosphere was wild like we were a bunch of animals: everyone was screaming and running due to the sound of Peter banging his foot on a rusty, metal board.

Performing the “Knight’s Tale” was AMAZING: everyone had a role and everyone got involved. “A Knight’s Tale” is about a peasant squire (William) becoming a knight with lots of obstacles along the way, including a jealous rival knight, a convincing lady of the court, the fact that William is not of noble birth and lots more.

But above all, we have enjoyed our time here at St. Mary’s RC Primary School and playing with our friends. We will miss all those who have taught us and encouraged us for our new life in secondary school. We thank you deeply.

Written by: Mary Koffi and Ronaya Gayle