In the Press

Ted broke his wrist last weekend and is gutted to be missing out on all the things he’s enjoyed during lockdown… especially bike rides...

But in true St Ives spirit, he’s tried to turn this mishap into a positive - by raising money for the Royal Surrey Hospital to say thank you to the doctors and nurses who patched him up. A kind neighbour lent him some ‘rollers’ so he can get back on his beloved bike in the safety of the living room, and he’s challenged himself to ride one-handed ‘to the seaside’ by the time his cast comes off (the equivalent distance from Godalming to Bognor Regis, about 35 miles). He’s already ridden 5 miles and raised over £200 for the hospital - and only started today!

Here is his fundraising page: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CycleTed

Please do support Ted as he cycles his way to the coast in the coming days!

This week, we have welcomed back many of our Nursery children, our Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 classes and it has been so lovely to see them all - their excitement at being back is clearly evident! It feels very strange here at St Ives though with over half the school still missing and we just hope that we will be able to welcome back other year groups before the end of term. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone - parents and children alike - for following the safety guidelines so closely this week, it has made the transition back to school and nursery so much easier to manage. Thank you to all parents who continue to oversee home schooling, we really do appreciate the time and effort you are putting in to ensure the children stay up-to-date with their work, which is so important in this current climate.

This week’s challenge from Mrs Goldsworthy has been to use chalk to create a picture.  Pupils have been so creative with the ways they have interpreted this simple brief and Mrs Goldsworthy has been thrilled with the results.

Anya has been writing to the elderly in care homes around the country.  She has now sent packs of rainbows she’s drawn or painted to 50 care homes all around the UK - well over 200 rainbows in total.  She’s been especially excited to have received some replies (and even a gift from one of them!).

Here’s a photo of Anya with her replies including some photos of ladies she's now calling her ‘new grandmas’. Well done Anya, you should be so proud of yourself, for helping to brighten the lives of so many people confined to their care homes during lock down.

Last week Annabel received some brilliant post – her first Blue Peter Badge arrived.  She created a new concept, a Cushion Diary.  This was made for the Blue Peter dog Henry.   Henry was new to the show in the Summer and Annabel thought it would be great for him to have a diary to document his adventures in his new life as a Blue Peter dog.  She also thought that dogs like to sleep a lot, so her idea was to package the diary as a cushion, so that Henry could have a snooze whenever writing his diary became too much.

This week Mrs Maxwell arranged for some of her flute and piano pupils to get together on Zoom to play 'Over the Rainbow', as they have been learning it this term during lock down. Mrs Maxwell was thrilled to see everyone together and all the girls have worked very hard to give a fantastic performance, well done!

In Art, the seniors have been tasked with symmetry portraits! Here are some great examples from Year 6, well done girls!

Wednesday 20th May was National Thank a Teacher Day and we were flooded with photos and videos of thanks.  They made our term!  

Reception have been very busy over the last week thinking about jungle animals, learning how to use technology safely and respectfully, making magic wands and even learning to tell the time! The girls have coped brilliantly with all of the home-schooling tasks they have been set and we are all so proud of them (and their parents!).

The 'Wild Things' eco-festival has been a roaring success this week, and we have been delighted by all the work and photos you have sent in. The festival centred around biodiversity, and children were invited to explore three main themes: Gardens and bees, Hedgehogs, and Rainforests. They even received a virtual talk from a bee expert! Children across all year groups learned the importance of celebrating and caring for our planet's biodiversity, and took wonderful, practical steps to do this. Well done to everybody who took part.