Head's Update - St Christopher's School Hampstead
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Head’s Update Dear parent, This week’s newsletter is bursting, as you will see – there is so much going on. It feels as though we are trying to pack into one term all the outdoor and fun activities which couldn’t happen so easily during lockdown. The girls and teachers’ energy is bedazzling. I want here to thank all the teachers for their positivity and infectious enthusiasm. No two days are the same at St Christopher’s. Ark Mobile Farm visited us yesterday, and the girls learnt about the different species and how to care for living creatures. Year 6 were particularly captivated by the softness of the rabbits’ fur, whilst Year 2 seemed more puzzled by the miniature donkey! Thank you to Miss McKerchar for organising this brilliant day! We also celebrated The Great Science Share, and have been encouraging the girls to share their own scientific investigations and questions. They were very keen to tell me about their own experiments, involving rockets and trees! Miss Wallington, our new Head of Science and DT, has been a real champion, and we are looking forward to further Science events this term, including our very own STEAM Week. Next week is our third Wellbeing Week, ‘Challenging Yourself’. A Yale study published in 2018 confirmed that uncertainty was healthy for learning, hence the importance for our pupils to go out of their comfort zone now and again. I asked our staff how they have embraced challenge in their lives, and their responses were wonderful: Mrs Haydon is terrified of heights. On a boat trip in Greece a couple of years ago, she had the ‘opportunity’ to jump off a cliff (which was a safe spot), which was about 20 metres high. I can only imagine how Mrs Haydon must have felt, standing on the edge of that cliff, staring into the open water! Yet – she jumped into the sea. As she put it: ‘nothing happened, she didn’t hurt herself’ and had the most fun, feeling more alive. Mrs Ghosh also jumped off a cliff, although she is not sure it is a good thing with her Health and Safety hat on! One of Mr Golding’s most challenging moments, was his final recital at university, in front of lots of friends and members of staff on the course. He learnt that people are on your side and want to support you. Miss Schierenberg’s challenge was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for charity. Halfway up, she decided she didn’t want to carry on, that she would give all the money back to charity and would simply return to the basecamp, at the foot of the mountain. Luckily, she was accompanied by her best friend, who talked her through it. Miss Schierenberg climbed all the way to the top. The lesson she learnt? ‘With support, you can do anything’. Mr McKenzie’s decision to choose a career in teaching stemmed from a challenge: when he was 18, he left home, for the depths of North Yorkshire. Travelling across the world, as a teenager, is a bold move. Mr McKenzie never regretted it: he stayed, and learnt a lot about himself. And me…? I lived in the jungle for a month with a group of teenagers in Costa Rica a few years ago. We were working on an environmental project with Raleigh International. The daily, torrential rain, and the soaked basha beds at night were most definitely challenges – but I learnt so much about forest conservation, resilience… and how to keep my wellies safe from spiders at night! We hope you will share joyful discussions of your challenges with your daughter over the next few days. I look forward to hearing their challenge stories! As ever, Sandrine Paillasse Head
In Other News Swawou School Partnership Update! We just received the wonderful news that the letters that Y4-6 girls wrote to their new pen pals have arrived and are being enjoyed at Swawou School in Sierra Leone. Hopefully we will hear back from them soon. Lizzie Elvidge Mr Motivator Record Breaking Challenge and Charity Event As part of next week's Wellbeing Week, the girls will be taking part in national charity event, Ready to Get Motivated. As our week's theme is "Challenge Ourselves," this fits perfectly with our record-breaking activity. We will be joining up with Mr Motivator and The Children’s Society to create a special fitness routine that will lift us all mentally and physically and raise funds for young people’s mental health. From Monday 10-13 May, we will have fun learning an 8-minute dance routine. On Friday 14 May, we will all join Mr Motivator in one, simultaneous country-wide record attempt. Participation for the girls is free, but if you can, we’d love it if you could make a donation to The Children's Society. https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/how-you-can-help/donate Many thanks for all your support! Hannah Comber Director of Sport & Extra-Curricular Coordinator
Royal Mail Stamp Competition Today in assembly, our House Captains introduced a wonderful national competition that St C's will be taking part in; to design a new stamp to commemorate Covid Heroes. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, there have been many people who have done great things. Many of them are not famous, but they have done extraordinary work. These are the people who have helped us all through a really difficult time. Some are frontline workers in healthcare, others look after elderly or vulnerable people. Millions of key workers have kept the country going when most of us were told to stay home for our own safety. The Royal Mail wants to honour them by producing a set of eight stamps created by young people. A special panel of judges will pick the winning designs and the final stamps will be sent to Her Majesty, The Queen before they can be printed and issued. Each entry we send in will have the name of each child, plus their age and our school’s name and postcode. If you would not like your daughter to be entered into the competition, please email Ms King. If you would like any more information please see: https://www.stampcompetition.ichild.co.uk/?dm_i=40SI,1A4ZJ,7D3LZP,4MISI,1 Thank you Lizzie Elvidge A message from FOSC (Friends of St Christopher’s) Dear Parents, In continued support of the Little Village and St Mungo's charities, FOSC would like to hold a collection of personal care items next Thursday 13th May. Donations to the school gates please. The two charities have been thankfully inundated with food and clothing donations, but are very short on the following essential items: Toothpaste Toothbrushes Shampoo Soap Shaving Foam Body lotion Tampons & Sanitary pads Deodorant For Little Village in particular: Baby toiletries - soap, lotion, shampoo, bepanthen, sudocrem, Maternity pads If you'd like to support, we'll collect the items at the school gates next Thursday 13th May. Thank you so much! FOSC Team
STEM Today in STEM form time, 5E learned about the biggest living butterfly in the world - the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly ( Orinthoptera alexandrae). Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly has a much larger than average wingspan for a butterfly. We calculated our wingspan and relative to our height to see how it compared to the butterfly. Carla Wallington Head of Science and DT FOSC Ark Farm Visit The sun finally came out for us on Thursday – just in time for St Christopher’s to welcome back our favourite furry friends from Ark Farm. It was difficult at times to work out whether squawks of glee came from visiting chickens or our girls, but it is safe to say that all involved had a joyful day! Girls from Reception to Year 6 spent time learning about donkeys, sheep, pygmy goats, chickens, ducks, dogs and even giant rabbits. They did, of course, also make sure to get some quality time and strokes in too, and luckily we had some teachers on hand to overhear some of these gems: “Do you think I can take a lamb home?” “Bunnies don’t like carrots, that’s only in stories.” “Shall we be farmers together when we’re older?” and of course: “The chicken has laid an egg! …The dog has eaten the egg!” A huge thank you to FOSC for organising such a wonderful event. Katie McKerchar
Weekly Reminder
Monday 10 May Wellbeing Week—Challenge Yourself (all week)
Year 6 Art Therapy day
Tuesday 11 May Year 5 Afternoon Concert (via Zoom) 4:00-5:00pm
(please see previous letter with details and link)
Wednesday 12 May Rec—Year 3 Circus skills workshop
Years 4—6 Go Ape trip
Thursday 13 May FOSC charity collection for Little Village & St Mungo’s
(morning drop off at gates only please)
Friday 14 May Year 1 Roman Day
Coffee morning with the Head 9:30 am
Please use the link here
(https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Fj%2F5704835765%3Fpwd%
3DRGVGUXZJcVRPSk92ME95bXMwTzNNdz09&data=04%7C01%7CHeadsPA%40stchristophers.london%7C23267a7167ad4327131008d8dd740292%
7C0206b2c0cc80497a85c1ed3862f7f83) Meeting ID: 570 483 5765, Passcode: py3LZQ
FORWARD NOTICE
Monday 10 — 17 May Years 4—6 Residential trip
Wednesday 19 May Years 1 & 2 Heath Day
Thursday 20 May FOSC Playball workshops Rec—Year 3
New girl’s hearing tests
Friday 21 May FOSC Playball workshops Rec—Year 3
Coffee mornings with the Head:
Friday 14 May 9:30—10:30
Friday 28 May 9:30—10:30
Friday 4 June 9:30—10:30
Thursday 10 June 9:30—10:30
Friday 18 June 9:30—10:30
Friday 25 June 9:30—10:30
Menu next week
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Spaghetti with Roast Turkey Cannelloni Baked chicken Crispy cod fish
fresh tomato breast with filled with beef with honey and fingers or Ve-
and basil sauce gravy bolognaise lime gie fingers
and cheese
Fresh Egg fried rice Vegetable Omelette with
Vegetable vegetable and and Korma with cheese, potato
Frittata cheese pasty vegetables spinach and and spring on-
lentil dhal ion
Parsley Cucumber and Mashed
potatoes carrot pot potatoes
Garlic bread Indian chopped
Red cabbage salad Baked beans
Mixed salad Mixed carrots, Basmati rice Fresh broccoli
turnips and
peas
Creamy rice
Fresh pudding
Apple crumble Fresh fruit pot Raspberry Fresh fruit pot topped with
with custard muffin forest fruits
Fruit salad pots and a selection of seasonal fresh fruit served in peak condition,
ripened and ready to eat.
Daily selection of homemade yoghurt
Communication: Letters and Newsletters
We endeavour to keep you informed with relevant information and details. Please do check emails
carefully for details. The newsletter is a good source of information, not only of what has been happening
in school during the week but also of upcoming events.
Please make a note of dates and details relevant to you.
When contacting the school office, please always include your daughter’s full name and year group.
Absences
Please could we remind parents to contact the school office to report absences before 8:30am on
Tel 020 7435 1521 option 1, or email secretary@stchristophers.london
When emailing, please use your daughter’s full name and year group.
Afternoon collection arrangements, where possible, should be notified by 2:30pm please.
Requests for absences within term time should be avoided but if essential will need to be approved by the
Head. Please email the Head’s PA, Mrs Haydon with your request:
HeadsPA@stchristophers.london
Birthday celebrations in school
We regret, we cannot take birthday cakes from parents but we are continuing to help the girls celebrate
their birthdays in school. On the last Friday of each month, Michael, our wonderful chef, bakes cupcakes
for every girl in school. The form teachers take the time to celebrate any birthdays that have occurred that
month, allowing the girls to mark their special day.
The school office is open from 8:00am to 5:00pm during term time.
If you email the office after 4:30pm, please be aware that your message may not be seen
until the following morning.
If you have an urgent query or message, please telephone the office.
Tel. 020 7435 1521 option 1
SUMMER TERM 2021
Half-term Monday 31 May - Friday 4 June (inclusive)
Term ends Thursday 8 July
The last day of every term ends at midday Term dates are published in advance for
parents to plan holidays outside school term
time. It is school policy that girls are expected
to be in school for the entire term.
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