Reception take Pride in their Roaring Rex! · T O U R N A M E N T S Over the longer term, Rex will...
Transcript of Reception take Pride in their Roaring Rex! · T O U R N A M E N T S Over the longer term, Rex will...
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9
S K Y S W O O D P R I M A R Y & N U R S E Y
S C H O O L N E W S L E T T E R
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Y E A R 5 M A T H S
C H A L L E N G E 2
N E T B A L L U P D A T E S 2
B I G S C H O O L S ’
B I R D W A T C H 2
J O S H U A ’ S K A R T I N G
P R O G R E S S 3
G I R L S ’ F O O T B A L L
T O U R N A M E N T S
3
A C T I O N A G A I N S T
H U N G E R C A K E S A L E 3
K I D Z C O R N E R 4 & 5
C Y C L I N G P R O F I C I E N C Y 6
T R O U B L E ’ S A B R E W I N G 6
Y E A R 1 A T T H E A B B E Y 6
C H E S S U P D A T E S 7
S A R A C E N S T A G R U G B Y
F E S T I V A L 7
F O O T B A L L U P D A T E S 8
C I V I C S O C I E T Y
A R T C O M P E T I T I O N 8
W O R L D B O O K D A Y 8
G R A N D - D A D S O F T H E
A T L A N T I C 9
T A B L E T E N N I S
C H A M P I O N S H I P 9
S A N D R I N G H A M
C H E M I S T R Y S H O W 10
I N D O O R A T H L E T I C S 10
I N T E R N A T I O N A L W O R K
P L A C E M E N T
10
Reception take Pride in their Roaring Rex!
As part of their project on dinosaurs, our reception class have enjoyed the
opportunity to create their very own roaring Rex! The model, which Mr
Collenette kindly put together with chicken wire, was given a couple of
strong coats of papier-mâché by the children, who are now in the process of
painting their delightful dinosaur. An added feature has been to record
some raging roars using sound buttons, a novelty which the children have
clearly enjoyed. Once the dinosaur has been completed, he will be given a
coat of varnish and then take pride of place in the reception classroom.
Over the longer term, Rex will no doubt join Greg the Steg (stegosaurus) and
our terrifying pterodactyl in the school library. Well done to all of the
children, who took great care with their papier-mâché and showed excellent
control when giving Rex his makeover. The picture below shows Ana
painting some of the finer details of the head, with Sophie painting the
back.
Page 2
Year 5 Maths Challenge
On Wednesday 6th February , eight children from Year 5
went to Garden Fields to participate in the Primary Schools’
Year 5 Maths Challenge Competition. The children were
divided into two teams. In Team A there was James, Sebi,
Aidan and Leo, whilst Team B included Emily, Bella, Laura
and Charlie. The quiz included two general maths rounds,
one memory round, and an ‘estimation’ round. Out of 20
teams, the A team came a commendable eighth, whilst the
B team came joint second with the Garden Fields A team. It
was a great afternoon and, with a very impressive points
total, the Skyswood B team have qualified for the County
Final as‘ highest scoring runners-up.’ The final will be held at
Robertson House, Stevenage, in late March.
Big Schools’ Bird Watch
Thank you to all of the children who took
part in the Big Schools’ Bird Watch 2019.
Although there were no sightings of gold-
en eagle, albatross or dodo, over fifty chil-
dren took part and the data collected is of
great use to the RSPB. The pie chart
shows the most common birds that were
spotted in our Skyswood community. The
most commonly spotted bird was the
wood pigeon, with nearly 200 spotted al-
together. It has also been great to see
increasing numbers of red kites in recent
years.
Triple Success for School
Netball Team
The school netball team have enjoyed a
fantastic February. Firstly they secured a
4-3 victory in a nail-biting match against
Abbey , followed by an impressive 3-0
victory against St Bernadette in difficult,
windy conditions . The team then made it
three in a row with an excellent 7-2 victory
against Camp on the Thursday before we
broke up for half term. Mrs Lewis stated
that this was the probably the stand out
performance of the season due to the slick
passing and clinical finishing. Well done
girls, this fabulous form comes at just the
right time, with the Annual Netball Rally
taking place next month.
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Girls Star in National Tournaments
Our girls’ football team rose to the occasion when competing in
two prestigious national tournaments over the past month. The
Premier League regional finals were held at the Watford Training
Ground in the week before half term, and this was followed by
the National League Trust tournament at Borehamwood Football
Club. In both tournaments, the girls played six group matches
against strong opposition, and on both occasions they narrowly
missed out on a place in the semi-finals (by a single point). The
Borehamwood tournament was a South-East England regional
final of the highest standard, with our girls coming up against
champion teams from Leyton Orient, Boston United, Dagenham
& Redbridge, Hemel Hempstead, Braintree and Barnet.
Joshua Set for Documentary
It has been great to follow the progress of Joshua with his karting, which has clearly gone from strength to
strength in just a short period of time. Joshua has been selected to feature in a short documentary about
young sporting talent and is extremely excited about the prospect of being filmed. Well done Joshua, we’re re-
ally proud of you!
Action Against Hunger Cake Sale
A big thank you to all the children and parents who made,
donated or purchased cakes at our Action Against Hunger Cake
Sale on the final day of half-term. The sale raised an amazing
£203.74. Thank you also to the wonderful team of helpers, who
set up the sale and helped this busy event to run smoothly in a
packed Year 3 classroom at the end of the school day.
Page 4 S K Y S W O O D P R I M A R Y & N U R S E Y S C H O O L N E W S L E T T E R
How our body works
Year 6 have been finding out all about the body
in their science lessons, and have produced
some large scale collaborative diagrams to
locate, label and explain the main functions of
our organs. The diagrams have been used in
their excellent class display based on the
respiratory and circulatory systems.
Animaltastic Zoo
Over the half term break, Megan, Hannah and Daniel
produced the most amazing poster/map of their very
own Animaltastic Zoo! The effort that has gone into the
poster, alongside the beautifully designed fact-files for
every animal, was truly sensational. The poster itself is a
couple of square metres in size and superbly
illustrated. It certainly creates a visually impressive map
that would grace any zoo.
Page 5 S K Y S W O O D P R I M A R Y & N U R S E Y S C H O O L N E W S L E T T E R
Art Club Toucans
Our Art Club have created some wonderful watercolour toucans. Here are eight examples of their
paintings. Many thanks to Laura Allan for her inspiration!
Year One Growing Up Poems
Our Year 1 children have created some growing up poems inspired by the A.A. Milne poem entitled ‘Now
we are Six.” The children used the structure and style of the poem, making excellent use of rhyme. Here
are a couple of fine examples.
When I was one I was very young,
When I was two I got the flu,
When I was three I drank tea,
When I was four I fell on the floor,
When I was five I knew I was alive,
But now I am six I’m clever as clever,
So I think I’ll be six now and for ever.
Leila
When I was one I loved laying in the sun
When I was two I lost my shoe,
When I was three I drank tea,
When I was four I learnt to draw,
When I was five I knew I was alive,
But now I ‘m five I’m clever as clever,
So I think I’ll be five now
Now and for ever.
Jasmine
Trouble’s a Brewin’
On Sunday 17th February, Ruby, Hazel and Willow (all from Year 4)
performed in Trouble’s a Brewin’ at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The
three girls attend the Pauline Quirke Theatre Academy and were all
incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to perform in the
West End. The show follows the fortunes of a number of cowboys
and cowgirls in the town of Albuquerque. Fifty ‘big ones’ get stolen
from the Weathermoon’s safe, and the chief suspects are Billy the
Girl and the Not so Magnificent Three. The girls had fantastic fun
and we are all extremely proud of them making their western West
End debuts!
Page 6
Cycling Proficiency
Our Year 5 children enjoyed a beautiful February
week with plenty of sunshine when taking their
cycling proficiency course. The course tutors
commented on the polite manner, positive attitude
and excellent progress of all the children who took
part. The class showed a good awareness of road
safety and all received certificates at the end of the
week to mark their success. Well done Year 5!
Year 1 at St Alban’s Abbey
Year 1 had a fantastic time on their trip to St Albans Abbey. They
particularly enjoyed the opportunity to dress up and re-enact the
story of St Alban as part of their Alban Trail.
The children all behaved really well and they truly loved the day. At
the beginning, we split into two halves and did a St Alban trail, every
child dressed up as a character in the story. The characters includ-
ed Alban, Amphibalus, the Magistrate, the executioner, soldiers, a
spy, slave buyers, slave sellers and of course the slaves them-
selves.
In the afternoon, the children made some magnificent mosaics,
planning out their patterns on plain paper and creating some
colourful Roman-style designs. All of the children behaved
impeccably and were excellent ambassadors for the school.
Page 7 S K Y S W O O D P R I M A R Y & N U R S E Y S C H O O L N E W S L E T T E R
Saracens Tag Rugby Festival
Skyswood entered three teams for the Annual Saracens Tag Rugby Day at Smallford. Each team
played five matches in this ‘non-competitive’ event and the standard of rugby was excellent from
each of our three teams. Skyswood 1 won all five of their matches, whilst Skyswood 2 and 3 also
won many of the matches and scored sore tremendous tries. Well done to all of the children who
competed and thank you to the parents who were able to help us with transport on the day.
Chess Updates
Our chess team have now accumulated seven and a half league points after their second round of chess
matches on Friday 8th February. The team secured three points against Aldenham ‘A’ and one through their
jamboree pairings, to add to the two and a half points against St John Fisher and point against Windermere.
The team are improving with every match and will hope to break the ten point barrier when they compete in
the final round of league matches at Cunningham Hill Junior School on Friday 15th March. With a number of
our team members still in the lower juniors this promises much for the future. Wednesday Chess Club has
become increasingly popular over the past couple of years and we are delighted to see so many young chess
players coming through and representing the school.
Page 8 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9
Football Updates
Our ‘B’ team gave another impressive league
performance against St Alban & St Stephen ‘A’
earlier this month, despite losing out by six goals to
one. Aidan played particularly well in goal and Seb
capped a fine captain’s performance by scoring the
Skyswood goal.
The school ‘A’ team have also played extremely well
since the start of the new year, building on their
excellent league and cup runs in the autumn term.
The team played in the Premier League Tournament
(held at the Watford Training Ground) earlier this
week and narrowly missed out on a place in the
semi-finals after winning three, drawing two and just
losing one of their group matches.
Civic Society Art Competition
A group of Skyswood pupils from Key Stage 2 are looking to enter the
Civic Society’s Art Competition based on ‘the built environment from
where we live.’ The children will create mixed media pictures using
montage and paint. In order to fully utilise the ‘St Albans’ theme, we
would like to collect a range of papers (with a St Albans link) to use
in our montage. If any parents or children have any of the following
that we can add to our collection of local ‘paper products’ we would
really appreciate your help.
Local tickets (eg train/bus/parking tickets, performance tick-
ets from the Alban Arena/Sandpit Theatre/Abbey Theatre etc...
Take away menus from St Albans’ restaurants or information
flyers from local attractions.
Receipts that you no longer need from St Albans shops.
Local maps, timetables, neighbourhood news brochures
Any other paper products with an obvious ‘St Albans’ connec-
tion. Thank you!
World Book Day
A reminder that World Book Day will be celebrated
next Thursday. We’ll be having lots of fun and look
forward to seeing children and staff arriving to school
dressed as their favourite book characters.
Page 9 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9
Grand-dads of the Atlantic
On 13th February 2019, a former Skyswood pupil helped to set a new world record when he
completed an epic rowing challenge across the Atlantic.. 62 year old, Peter Ketley, alongside his
rowing partner Neil Young, became the oldest pair to row across any ocean! The pair were taking part
in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, and took 63 days and 22 minutes. The two grand-dads met
40 years ago when they trained in the parachute regiment. Peter, who grew up living on The Ridgeway,
attended Skyswood School with his brothers back in the sixties. Through their 3,000 mile challenge,
the pair aim to raise £250,000 for the Royal British Legion, Dreams Come True and Support our Pa-
ras. We sent out a message of congratulations to the pair on completing the challenge and have invit-
ed Peter to come and speak to our children about this amazing adventure when he returns to the UK.
It would be fantastic if we could make this possible.
School Table Tennis Championship
Our upper juniors contested the school’s annual table-tennis
championship earlier this week, with over forty children entering the
tournament. After several closely fought matches, the final was between
Tristan and Harry. Tristan had defeated Elizabeth and Harry won an
exciting semi-final against Aaron. The final itself could hardly have been
closer. Tristan won the first set before Harry fought back to level and
took the contest into a final set. Harry then rescued match point and
went on to win a nail-biting match by 12 points to 10 in the final set. Our
Dutch students, Femke and Leanne, helped us to organise the
tournament and kindly presented the trophy to Harry to end an excellent
afternoon of table tennis.
Sandringham Chemistry Show
The extremely popular Sandringham School Chemistry Show will be tak-
ing place on Tuesday 12th March between 6.00 p.m. And 7.00 p.m. If
you haven’t been before, we can highly recommend it. An evening
filled with loud noises, flashing lights and lots of mess! Hold onto your
hats and come and enjoy this explosive showcase of Science. A fun
and exciting evening for primary school children and parents. The
show lasts for approximately one hour.
Tickets cost £2 and can be purchased from the Sandpit Theatre box
office. This is always a very popular event so book early to avoid dis-
appointment. Visit the website at https://sandpittheatre.co.uk/
SandpitTheatre.dll/WhatsOn or call the Box Office on 01727 799565.
District Athletics and Cross Country
Our junior athletics teams did the school proud in the Herts County
Sportshall Indoor Athletics Finals, held at Herts University, Hatfield.
Both our boys and girls teams had qualified for the finals and
stand out performances include Hannah and Elizabeth’s individual
sprint victories, alongside Toby’s outstanding second place over a
longer distance. The whole team performed superbly and we
would like to thank Mr Oswin and Mr Jones for their excellent sup-
port, and for supervising our teams on the day.
Following the Sportshall Athletics, our school cross-country team
competed in the latest meet at St Columba’s. All of the team ran
well, with Toby achieving fourth place in the boys race. This is the
highest place that any Skyswood pupil has achieved in recent
years and is even more impressive given that Toby is still in Year 4
and was up against runners from years 5 and 6.
Thank You to Leanne and Femke
We have enjoyed having two young students from the
Netherlands on an International Work Experience placement
during the first week after half term. Leanne and Femke have
made a wonderful contribution throughout their week at
Skyswood and their friendly, helpful nature has shone through.
The girls have gained experience across the breadth of the school
and helped out with a number of sports events. Thank you
Leanne and Femke, have a safe journey back to the Netherlands
on Sunday.