In the Press

This week during Forest School, Y3 went on a Christmas Scavenger Hunt to search for various Christmassy items, such as something red to remind us of a jolly robin’s breast, fallen pine cones, glossy holly leaves, a tree shaped like Rudolph’s antlers, something soft and fluffy like Santa’s beard, a trailing garland of ivy and so on.  The children brought their findings together to create a Christmas collage.  They also inspected the wildlife shelters they made last week.  All were intact, if a little damp!

Congratulations to all the children who took part in the Speech & Drama Showcase Evening last night.  It was really wonderful evening demonstrating the talent of each and every child - they performed brilliantly, with so much confidence and should all be so proud of themselves. We had boys taking part for the first time this year, which was lovely to see, group pieces were acted out by Y2-Y5 classes and our Year 6 girls perfomed monolgues and duologues with incredible poise and confidence. We would like to extend special thanks to Katie Nicholls for her wonderful coaching and for making the lessons so much fun for the children. 

This week, we all came to school dressed in green to mark the start of National Tree Week.  National Tree Week is the UK’s largest tree celebration, marking the start of the winter tree planting season.  We all paid £1 to wear our green clothes, with all the money raised going to Just One Tree who will plant a tree for every £1 donated!

Year 2 spent time last Friday on World Kindness Day offering treats and help around the school - delicious brownies were made and shared, they read stories to the younger children in the school/nursery, returned lost property items and even emptied the recycling bins - well done and thank you to our very kind Year 2 children!

Yesterday our U10 team took part in a Netball Versatility Tournament at Churchers College.  Twelve schools took part, split into two groups.  Bring versatility, all teams had to follow a set rotation throughout the afternoon, with all girls swapping positions after each game.  This really was a test of fundamental skills with teams having to show great passing, movement, defending and shooting regardless of the combination on court.  St Ives played incredibly well throughout the group stage, winning three, losing one and holding on for a draw in the last game.  After a nervous wait, they progressed through to the Semi-Final where they dominated play.  Unfortunately the goals would just not go in until the last few minutes, when Daisy scored the winning goal securing a place in the final.  The final was bound to be tough having already played and lost to Amesbury; however, anything can happen with versatility and St Ives gave it their best.  Although initially disappointed, St Ives girls finished 2nd overall and gradually realised what an incredible achievement this was.  
To finish the afternoon, St Ives received their medals from Surrey Storm and England Roses' player Yasmin Parsons who had watched them play the final.  Congratulations to the U10 team who all had to rise to a challenge at some point during the afternoon, whether that was playing an unfamiliar position or dealing with the nerves and inevitable pressure in the latter stages.
Many thanks go to all parents and grandparents who supported the team.

Year 6 led a very thought-provoking and moving Remembrance Assembly on Monday this week, followed by a whole-school two minute silence.  Thank you girls.

A huge thank you to our wonderful FOSI team and everyone who came along last Thursday to our Fireworks event - it was a fantastic evening and there was great turnout. The weather was kind to us cold but no rain!) and we made a profit of £784, so thank you to everyone for supporting another FOSI fund raiser - we really do appreciate it!
Special thanks go to all the FOSI reps and parent helpers, Mr Rowden and Ms Viner for driving the mini buses and the Tallyeux-Rowden family for setting up all the lighting before the event..  

As part of our Big Green Master Plan, we are learning to recycle as much as possible, so we were thrilled when Eden and Holly in Year 4 decided to organise a Halloween costume swap at school this week. It was a great success - with 36 outfits donated altogether, and only 4 items left at the end... so 32 plastic costumes recycled and saved potentially from landfill!  Well done girls!

As part of their topic 'My Kinder World', the children from Year 2 carried out a litter pick around the school grounds on Friday. They understood that every piece of litter collected made our grounds cleaner and safer; and the children all felt very proud of themselves. Well done Year 2!

Thank you to all the children for performing so well at our Harvest Festival celebration this week. Year 6 children led the service with confidence and there was a huge variety of music and drama sketches from all year groups to portray the message of harvest. The Junior Choir, Senior Choir, Chamber Choir and the entire school sang beautifully - well done to everyone and thank you to all the parents for their support and for giving so generously.