School Bell St Philips Catholic
Published Winter 2021, by Lucy Horne Headteacher
St Philip's Catholic Primary School
IT has been both a positive and eventful return to school this term. We welcomed the children back from the Summer break as a whole school rather than the ‘bubble’ system. It has been lovely to allow children to see friends in other year groups now they no longer need to ‘bubble’ at break times and assembly times. Whilst we still continue with ventilation, hand washing and cleaning routines, it feels far more of a school community without the extra restrictions.
Curriculum indoor and outdoor learning:
The Autumn Term topics have been exciting and diverse. We have had Space Day in Year 2, a trip to Butser Farm as part of the Stone Age topic in Year 3 and Chichester Festival Theatre workshops in Year 6. All classes have had the chance to spend time in our Forest School and the Art Club has been busy making all sorts of artifacts and paintings including clay creatures/gargoyles in the school woods.
Year 6 are lucky enough to be taking part in this year’s Chichester Theatre’s School Fest project. This is a project that will run for several months and will involve both staff and children participating in a number of practical workshops led by practitioners from Chichester Theatre.
The children have experienced their first couple of workshops, which involved learning how to use their voices in a large space, analysing a section of script and expressing a character’s thoughts and feelings through creative movements and actions.
They hope to learn lots of new skills in the coming months along with a visit to Chichester Theatre in March 2022.
Our Year 6 children spent a few days at a PGL adventure camp in Hindhead this term. It is a chance for children to participate in activities that they enjoy but may also find challenging. The aim is to allow them to push themselves to do activities that they may not usually do and to build team work and camaraderie for the rest of their time in year 6. They had a fantastic few days and the weather was extremely kind. They arrived back tired but happy.
The school allotment was in need of a post Summer tidy up. One Saturday afternoon, a few families came to the allotment and weeded, chopped and poured new top soil into the planting beds. Year 5 have now planted the beds with vegetable seeds as part of their Viking topic. It is a wonderful resource to have in our school grounds.
One windy evening in September, we took over 30 children to a Locality Cross Country event. Our children ran incredibly well and we had a winner in the Year 3/4 boys race and a second place in the Year 5/6 boys race. Out of 4 races, we came 2nd overall in 2 races and 3rd in one. The children were resilient and each one of them ran without any stopping.
Our Sports Leaders have been able to host lunchtime clubs this term now that we are mixing across year groups. Years 5 and 6 Sports Leaders led assemblies for the younger classes and designed posters to promote the lunchtime activities. They made their own presentations to deliver the information and had special badges made so they could be easily identified
The wider community:
We were delighted to be invited to take part in the Mayors Service this term. Many of our children took part either in the choir, by reading a poem, being part of the Cathedral choristers or in the Brownie, Cub, Rainbow and Beaver parade. The children performed well and enjoyed being part of such a large and important community event.
Our Year 5 children, along with some children from Arundel C of E school, presented a petition to Arun District councilors regarding the cycle path running from Arundel Ford Road to Ford station. The Mayor and Town Council had created the petition and received 1601 signatures to support the proposal. The two councilors were very keen to push the motion forward and agreed it was a necessity for safe travelling by bike and on foot. They now need to look into funding. It was a great opportunity for our children to see democracy in action. Well done to all who instigated the proposal and galvanized so much support.
We were once again able to join in with the Arundel Clean Up Day just before half term. Our classes went out with litter pickers loaned to us from the Town Hall to clean up in Arundel Park and along London Road.
Charity work:
This year we were contacted by many charities asking for Food Bank donations for our harvest collection. We chose, this year, to support HarvestUK. The charity, who support hundreds of families in surrounding areas, came into school and delivered an assembly explaining what will happen to the food once it is taken away from school in the big yellow harvest van. The families who donated non perishable food items have been extremely generous and the charity commented on how much we had collected. It is a wonderful way for children to see how one small act of kindness and Christianity can have a huge impact on other people.
It has been lovely to welcome visitors into our school assemblies to talk about the work of God and charities that carry out God’s work across the world. We had a visit from CAFOD who are working with countries across the world to create a greener planet. They suggested ways our children can help. We have also welcomed back into school Canon David and Father Charles who visit classes regularly and help teach the RE curriculum. It is a unique way for children to ask questions about the Church and their faith in a safe and secure environment.
And finally…
We are hosting our Open Day on 10th November. This is an opportunity for any prospective parents to attend who have children who are eligible to start school in September 2022. Parents will be given a tour of the school from our Year 6 children and there will be a chance to see the school in action, meet teachers and governors and to hear about what the school has to offer. Go to the school website for more information https://www.stphilipsarundel.org.uk/. We look forward to seeing you there.