29th April 2016

Dear Parents

Read on to find out our latest news from Sunnylands Nursery and St Peter’s School.

Key Stage Two Summer Concert

This year was the first time our Summer Concert had taken place against a distinctly wintry background

but the unseasonable coldness was thawed by the warmth exuded from our very talented pupils! In

some schools, this talent refers to that possessed by a few children. Here at St Ps we are keen to

recognise the musical talent of each and every one of the children in our care. Yesterday evening’s

concert gave every child a platform upon which to sing and perform in a class band. The range of

musical skill on display was impressive. Each class performed two pieces on their recorder or ocarina. It

is notable to see that the transferable skills learned from playing these instruments have allowed some

older pupils to start playing the oboe and flute and make such rapid progress.

Year Six pupils drew upon the principles of improvisation for their class performance, with pupils

playing ‘free’ solo passages as well as reading musical notation. This is very high level work and our

older pupils are to be congratulated on a very skillful performance.

Year Three played a piece a composition ‘Everybody’s Holiday’ with the melody played in a round on

ocarina and violins and accompaniments on percussion instruments and euphonium. The children

played in eight different parts, which is a complex musical activity for children so young. Year Four’s

class orchestra played ‘Wagons Rolling’ with the melody played on violins and glockenspiel, with guitar

and xylophone accompaniments. Year Five played two up-beat pieces with parts for recorder, tuned

percussion, guitar and accompanied on drums.

The class items were interspersed with vocal and instrumental solos from children in each year group.

Some performers had competed in the Eisteddfod whilst others had recently taken music exams.

The concert’s Finale was a medley of songs from Mary Poppins, featuring a range of soloists. Well done

children, on a fantastic and memorable concert. Making music is all about sharing music and you

certainly did that with great control, accuracy and confidence. Be proud! All that hard work with Mrs

Cruickshank really paid off!

Trinity Term begins with fun at Sunnylands Nursery

Sunnylanders are still recovering from the fun of their Easter Peg Hunt which rounded off last term.

Lots of brightly coloured clothes pegs were put out for the children to collect and return to staff, who

craftily redistribute them in different areas so that plenty of fun was had by all! When the hunt finished,

small chocolate eggs were given to all the participants. This activity and swopping pegs for eggs

obviously made an impression, as one Nursery child came back to Sunnylands on the first day of Trinity

Term with lots of clothes pegs in her coat pocket hoping she could exchange them for more chocolate.

Sunnylands parents who like a clean and tidy house, please

take note. The staff use ABBA’s Dancing Queen as the ‘tidy

up’ music in Nursery. As soon as the first notes sound, the

children spring into action, pick up toys off the floor, sweep

up the sand and tuck chairs under the tables. Imagine what

clean bedrooms can be had at home with just a little help from

ABBA! Our Sunnylanders are very clever cleaners too, having

changed the song’s lyrics to Dancing Clean.

Art Club in KS2

A group of very enthusiastic and creative Year Three and Year Four pupils are attended this club in the

first half of Trinity Term. During our first session the children enjoyed making crowns out of paper

plates to commemorate the Queen's 90th birthday. Each crown had an individual interpretation. It was

wonderful to observe the children making choices about design and decoration. The end results were

impressively varied!

Gardening Club

We launched Mini Gardening club this term and what an enthusiastic group started! They planted

potatoes in bags and nasturtiums in pots. Meanwhile, Key Stage One’s well established Gardening Club

looked after the new greenhouse by checking the plants and watering them. They sowed two rows of

radishes and lettuces. Runner beans were also potted individually.

Year Two Geography and Art Fusion

Pupils in Year Two are visiting China in their Geography lessons

during Trinity Term. They will be using atlases to locate China

and they will be making their own maps too. They will also be

finding out about Chinese culture and life in China. To kick start

this topic all of the children listened with great interest to The

Willow Pattern story and designed their own willow pattern

plates, with some really beautiful art work to show for their

efforts, as you can see!

Year One investigate History on the Headlands

Year One are studying Homes in the Past in their history lessons this

term. A walk in the local area resulted in lots of discussion about the

Victorian terraced houses. The children were fascinated by the variety

and number of chimneys on the houses. They found it puzzling at first

that there were no driveways or garages but then realised that when the

houses were built cars were extremely rare.

The launderette on the corner of the street led to a discussion of washing

clothes before houses all had a washing machine of their own. One child

was quite surprised that when asked how the hand washing was dried,

his answer ‚in the tumble drier ‚wasn’t accurate! This walk was an

informative introduction to our new topic and a simple way to help

young children appreciate the differences between past and present

lifestyles.

Summer Fun Club

The sun shone brightly on Summer Fun Club for their

first session, which at the time of writing seems a

very distant reality bearing in mind our current

plummeting temperatures! The children worked

together in threes to collect natural materials from

around the garden before designing and building a

shelter for a soft toy. Once time was up, the children

voted for their favourite design and the one voted

‘winner’ this time was built by Oscar, Ezekiel and

Isabelle.

Inspired by African Art

Year Six pupils have been exploring a variety of African-based art – from sunset and silhouette images to

abstract art by Twins Seven Seven. The vibrant animal paintings of Tinga Tinga have been used to

illustrate African tales, and these have since been adapted in to a television cartoon.

Our class collated to

create their own African

Savannah of Tinga

Tinga, whilst

individuals worked on

interpreting their own

hobbies and moods, to

form abstract art using

a variety of techniques

and textures.

Mystery, Maths, Viking Ships and more in Year Three

Year Three have worked very hard since returning to school after the Easter break. They have written

some fantastic mystery stories about two children who are skilled at spotting clues and suspects and

helping solve crimes. In numeracy they have worked hard at times tables and can now use the grid

method to multiply a two-digit number. Art lessons have been fun too as they have all constructed a 3D

Viking long ship for a classroom display of Viking shields and Kenning poetry.

Sports Clubs

Clubs are in full swing now and as usual, rounders club is proving very popular with the children.

Nearly forty of them are involved on Wednesday afternoons, participating in two games with enormous

enthusiasm. Over the last two Thursdays we have seen cricket skills in practice too, with children

attending Cricket Club hosted by Loddington Cricket Club staff. This week’s inclement weather meant

that both football and hockey club joined together in Sunnylands Hall to engage in some traversing

exercises, utilising our gymnastic apparatus with some innovative ideas provided by Mr Burrows.

Maypole Club

A new maypole has arrived at St P’s and with it, a new after-school club! Mrs Haynes and Miss Perkins

are reviving the tradition of maypole dancing with a delightful group of children from Year One , Year

Two and Year Three. So far they have learnt a little about the history of maypole dancing and how to

skip in time to a drumbeat. Mrs Haynes reports that the challenge is to move in clockwise and

anticlockwise directions, whilst working hard to stay equidistant from each other. Club members have

learnt how to hold the braids and are looking forward to learning a dance!

Year Two Assembly Celebrates Discovery

Last week 2MW presented an assembly to the whole school and to the class members’ families too. The

theme was ‘Talents and Gifts’ and the assembly showcased pupils’ work completed over the last few

weeks. This included a mental maths rhyme, singing a catchy rap about working together as a team and

explaining historical facts about brave explorers Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. 2MW

pupils also provided an excellent ocarina accompaniment for the hymn ‘All things Bright and Beautiful’.

Most impressive of all was the acting, improvisation and memory shown during their play about the

Wemmicks. These were characters that quickly learnt about being the best for themselves and having

confidence in their abilities. As it was also the Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, a special mention in

the prayer was included to remind us all about using our talents to spread peace and goodwill to those

we meet. This was a fabulous assembly. Well done 2MW!

Reminder

The whole school photograph takes place on Tuesday, so don’t let the glorious relaxation of a Bank

Holiday get in the way of remembering that it is summer uniform for pupils on Tuesday. We need

super smart pupils on Tuesday. Everyone needs to wear blazers. Long hair should be tied and clipped

back. Girls wear summer dresses and boys will need to be in grey regulation shorts. Shoes should be

black and polished. LONG white socks for girls and LONG grey socks for boys are also required. You

have a lovely boater to wear instead of your winter hat, girls! I think there is little likelihood of summer

suddenly arriving in full force on Tuesday, so I recommend layering up under the summer dresses and

shorts with lovely warm short sleeved vests! Just make sure the vest can’t be seen over the dress or shirt

though. It is absolutely fine to wear a school regulation winter coat over the school blazer for extra

warmth at playtime. Just remember, it is the blazer that is the essential item….and it looks so smart!

The next bulletin will be out on 12th May which is Assessment Week for pupils in 3JC, 4AH, 5JL and 6TB.

Our Year Six pupils will be completing SAT papers. I know that the entire school family would want to

join me in wishing pupils good luck in their SATs. They have all worked so hard and we are already

very proud of their achievements.

Yours sincerely

Maria Chapman MA(Ed) Headmistress