Sally Atkins 23/07/2021 Sally Atkins 23/07/2021

Last week at Stanmore Primary School

KS1 Sports Day

On Monday KS! took part in their sports day. Despite the hot weather the children were cheerful all day and everyone had a great time - especially in the water race. Well done everyone.

Making flapjacks in Yr 3 and 4

In year 3 and 4 we were thinking about the design and packaging of products. Our task was to design and make a snack, that contains fair trade chocolate.

We decided on flapjacks, with chocolate chips and a drizzle of chocolate on top. They looked great (if slightly sticky, as we did it on the hottest day of the year so far!)

Year 3 and 4 became ROCKSTARS

This week, Year 3 and 4 became rockstar performers!

Neil Valentine and Hannah Williams came in to perform with us and record an amazing song that is helping to raise money for the charity Shelter.

The children had worked hard to rehearse for this and were brilliant at performing like rockstars, especially with the props!

Farewell Year 6

Year 6 celebrated all their hard work over their time in Stanmore this week with a leavers service filmed for parents to watch. The children thanked adults that have had an impact over the past few years and were all given a ‘child most likely too’ certificate voted by their peers.

6 BEST award were also given as were an Elm and Juniper children’s champion award.

Thank you so much to Jess Hancock for the delicious cupcakes. the children were thrilled to receive them. Well done to all the winners and also to the rest of the class who made our decisions very difficult. We will miss you all lots xx

Special visitor

As part of our final week, Juniper invited Bonnie the dog into school. The children made dog biscuits, designed their own crufts circuit and tried to persuade Bonnie to take part in an obstacle course. The children looked after Bonnie beautifully and found her obstacle avoidance very amusing.

Chris Lindsay 17/07/2021 Chris Lindsay 17/07/2021

Stanmore Post - 16 July 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

This week we have had two fantastic Sports Days. I am very proud of the way in which the children participated. All of the keys for success were evident: cooperation, persistence, resilience, respect, organisation and confidence. For some children, Sports Day is a day where they are at their BEST. We have some really talented young athletes in our school. All of the children who took part were able to encourage each other to achieve their personal best and I am proud of all of them. We noticed that some children were quite anxious about Sports Day which is surprising considering the lack of audience. I realised that this is their first 'event' in a long time. We may need to remind them in the future that it is perfectly normal to experience nerves or 'butterflies' and that this is natural adrenalin that can be used positively in performance. We are looking forward to our KS1 and EYFS Sports Day on Monday.

Year 5 and 6 sports day

Year 3 and 4 sports day

Children will be bringing their books home next week so that you can enjoy sharing their work from this year. Please can you send them to school with an extra bag. On Friday they will celebrate the end of term in their classes. They are allowed to bring in a snack to eat during the afternoon. Please don't send in any products containing nuts as we are a nut free school.

As you will be aware, the Government is expecting that we will move to Step 4 of the COVID-19 Roadmap from 19 July. With cases rising again, particularly amongst younger people we will need to remain cautious as restrictions are eased. Children will stay in their bubbles until the end of term and we will continue with the one way system until September. You may prefer to continue to wear a face covering for now but we will follow the national guidance on this. Next term one of the most significant changes to expect will be that pupils will no longer be required to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case. From the 16th August, contacts of positive cases will instead be advised to undertake a daily COVID-19 test.

It has been lovely to return to enrichment activities this term. Yesterday Children in Year 2 and Year 3 were all matched to an instrument that they will begin to play in an exciting Hampshire Music Service opportunity for the Autumn Term 'Beyond the Beat.' Throughout the summer term, children have enjoyed: Listen to Me, Empty Classroom Day, Empathy Day, Young Shakespeare Company production of 'A Mid-Summer Night's Dream,' Stanmore Reading Festival, Sports Day, Hawaiian Disco, Winchester College River Trip and St Catherine's Hill trip, Year 6 activities week and Leavers' Service, Year 6 and Year R summer productions, and some transition activities. You can see more photos of our work here.

We are looking forward to returning to more whole school events in the Autumn Term.

Best wishes,

Sharon Taylor

Sally Atkins 16/07/2021 Sally Atkins 16/07/2021

Yr 1 and 2 Gargoyles and Cathedrals

Year 1 and 2

This week in Year 1 and 2, we have been exploring gargoyles and their role at Winchester Cathedral! The children were surprised to find out that gargoyles were used as a draining system to help keep cathedrals dry and prevent cracks in the stone. The water travels through the gargoyles mouth and away from the building! Gargoyles were also important due to their stoic and threatening demeanour: they were perfect for warding off spirits and anyone who would do harm to the cathedral. We began by sketching from images of gargoyles and then delved deeper by looking at the mythical creatures that gargoyles were modelled from. The children then sculpted their own gargoyles from clay, using many techniques such as modelling and carving to create exaggerated features and frightful detail!

Sally Atkins 16/07/2021 Sally Atkins 16/07/2021

Champion Readers

Huge congratulations to Isabella Lockwood-Mansfield and Jayden Sumner from Birch Class and Bella Barton from Willow, for being the first recipients of the reading pin award badges for completing part of the Stanmore Reading Challenge. They have enjoyed reading the fabulous books that we have as part of the Reading Challenge and have completed the required tasks for each one. A superb effort - well done!

How many books from our Reading Challenge list have you read? Ask your teacher for more information!

Sally Atkins 16/07/2021 Sally Atkins 16/07/2021

Year 3 and 4 Sports Day

Our day started with some fun races; a hockey slalom, a fancy dress race and a water race. We needed to work together as a team to earn as many points as possible. We could also earn bonus points for cheering and supporting our team mates!

Just before we went in for lunch, the sun came out and anyone who wanted to could compete in a long distance race - twice around the field! It was hard work and sometimes the adults had to be our pace makers.

After lunch, we came back out to compete in the races on the track. There were sprint races, skipping races, hurdles races and we finished with the relay races!

It was a really fun day and we were very relieved that the sun was shining!

Total house points from Yr34 sports day:

Lark = 180 (1st)

Kingfisher = 164 (2nd)

Buzzard = 138 (3rd)

Heron = 124 (4th)

Sally Atkins 16/07/2021 Sally Atkins 16/07/2021

Year 5 and 6 Sports Day

Year 5 and 6 Sports Day and trip

Year 5 and 6 had a fantastic time showing off their sporting skills during Sports Day. All the children participated really well and the team work was excellent.

The competition was high and it was great to see the children really pushing themselves, especially as it was really hot outside. Lots of fun was had and there were stickers for first, second, third and best runner up.

Well done everyone

House points scores were:

Heron = 56

Lark = 43

Buzzard = 41

Kingfisher = 38

Year 6 also went on a very, very long walk this week all the way to St Catherine’s Hill. Everyone managed the climb and loved running around in the sun and rolling down hills! There were some very tired faces at the end of the day.

Chris Lindsay 11/07/2021 Chris Lindsay 11/07/2021

Music project with the University of Winchester Music Centre

We are delighted to welcome Stanmore Primary School to be involved in a summer music project with us at the University of Winchester Music Centre and The Voice UK finalist and Winchester resident Hannah Williams!
Together we will be teaching Year 3 /4 voice parts from the Primal Scream Summer Anthem "Movin' On Up", recording them and filming them in school. These recordings will then be added to others from other schools, amateurs, families (as well as other The Voice UK singers Grace Holden, Nathan Smoker and Okulaja) to make an incredible video celebrating music, community and each other.
You can see previous video projects on YouTube with #TeamHannah by clicking here.
The recording will be happening next week on Wednesday 14th July with other submissions open until end of July. The final video will be released at the start of September, and we look forward to sending it on to you!
The project is raising money for the homeless charity Shelter. And we hope you will use this link to donate and support the charity. Please click the link and give whatever you can. You can also copy the link and send it to friends, family, grandparents who may like to support Shelter. To donate please click here: https://bit.ly/TeamHannahMovinOnUp
Previous projects have raised £1400 for Trinity Winchester.
This project is open to everyone! So if you children are not involved in the school project why not get involved at home? Or if they are why not get involved too! Making music is lots of fun and everyone can take part! To find out how you can join the private Facebook Group which will help you find the learning videos, tracks, how to use your phone to record a video and how to submit it to be included in the final product. To get involved at home click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/teamhannahbandandsingers/.
Many thanks!
Neil Valentine (University of Winchester Music Centre)

Chris Lindsay 11/07/2021 Chris Lindsay 11/07/2021

Stanmore Post - 9 July 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

On Monday we held the first Stanmore Reading Festival. This was a truly memorable event. Thank you for supporting us by sending the children to school in festival clothing. They looked brilliant. The Reading Festival focused on the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the children were introduced to different versions of the story. Each child was given a festival wristband and a VIP lanyard pass to the different stages. After visiting each stage, the children collected a 'stamp' on the back of their festival pass. There were a variety of outdoor activities including storytelling, drama, and 'silent' stories puppet making and building the story in the woodland area.

Two parents, Mr Thomas and Mr Valentine kindly supported this event by sharing their talents as a story teller and musician. It was lovely to hear some live music and a lively, positive atmosphere was enjoyed by everyone as a result.

We are planning to keep the love of reading alive by encouraging children to join in the Summer Reading Challenge with Hampshire County Libraries. Your child has brought home a flyer but you can find out using the link.

We will celebrate your child's completed reading challenge back in school in September if they bring in their certificate and collectors card.

We are now looking forward to Sports Day next week. The weather, again, looks very unsettled. However, we are hoping to go with EYFS/KS1 on Monday, Year 3 /4 on Tuesday and Year 5/6 on Wednesday. Please send the children in their PE kits and their House colour t-shirts, unless we notify you of any changes by text on the morning of the event. Hopefully the sun will shine so please send your child to school wearing sun cream. If they have a cap or hat it would be a good idea to wear it. On Thursday Year 6 have a leavers' BBQ and rounders match.

I hope that you have a very enjoyable weekend of sports finals. We will be open as usual on Monday morning win, lose or draw!

Year 3 and 4 are really excited to be involved in a music project with the University of Winchester. Other children and families may also be inspired to join in at home.

Best wishes,

Sharon Taylor

Sally Atkins 09/07/2021 Sally Atkins 09/07/2021

Reading Festival

On Monday we held the first Stanmore Reading Festival. This was a truly memorable event. Thank you to all the parents / carers for supporting this event by sending the children to school in festival clothing. They looked brilliant. The event focused on the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the children were introduced to different versions of the story. Each child was given a festival wristband and a lanyard pass to the different stages. After visiting each stage, the children collected a ‘stamp’ on the back of their festival pass. There were a variety of outdoor activities including storytelling, drama, and ‘silent’ stories puppet making and building the story in the woodland area. Two parents, Mr Thomas and Mr Valentine kindly supported this event sharing their talents as a story teller and musician. It was lovely to hear some live music and a lively, positive atmosphere was enjoyed by everyone as a result.

Year 5 and 6

Cooking up a storm!

In year 5/6, we spent an afternoon creating a Greek inspired dish. We cut up the ingredients we needed for a salad or tzatziki and added extra spices for more flavour! We were then able to taste our creations and mark flavour and presentation out of 10.

Chris Lindsay 03/07/2021 Chris Lindsay 03/07/2021

Stanmore Post - 2 July 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

It was lovely to see the children arriving for the Hawaiian Disco on Wednesday. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and I was reminded how few opportunities many of them will have had to attend this type of event. The Friends of Stanmore ensured that the evening ran smoothly and they were well supported by the staff team. I would like to pass on my appreciation to all involved. It was one of the best school discos I have attended and the behaviour of all of the children was excellent. The Hoodies presented to the Year 6 children were worn proudly today, thank you to the Friends and parents for organising this.

Yesterday the children found out about their new classes. Each year this is a challenge to piece together. We aim to create an even balance of children in each class while accommodating friendship choices. The children will be naturally excited and anxious about the change. It is worth giving them time to settle into the new situation, but if there are genuine problems, then please let me know by contacting the office on adminoffice@stanmore.hants.sch.uk . Next Thursday the teachers will be outside the classroom doors and so the challenge is for your child to take you past their new class teacher so you can say hello. There will be more formal opportunities to meet the teacher in September but it will be good to be able to put a face to a name.

Children in Catkins have been writing and delivering letters to people around the school. I loved the one I received from Harriet. The children in Year 1 and 2 have been investigating materials to make a blanket for a teddy and this afternoon a mysterious blue metal box arrived from a famous person. There were lots of objects inside that the children will investigate to find out more about the past. Children in Year 3 / 4 have been finishing their chocolate stories as well as planning the journey of a cocoa bean. In Year 5 / 6 it has been a week of appreciating Greek food, participating in a tasting session and innovating by creating new recipes from more traditional Greek ones.

See more of our work this week.

The forecast doesn't look much better on Monday but we will go ahead with the Reading Festival. This promises to be an amazing event. Please send children to school in Festival Clothing fit for the weather and we will have a wonderful day.

Best wishes,

Sharon Taylor