In the Press

Prep and Pre-Prep enjoyed their fabulous Sports Days in the glorious sun this week.  Brilliant exampleas of showing off the athletic skills pupils have been learning this term, teamwork, competitive spirit, support for each other and a huge amount of fun.  Thanks to our parents for their support and picnics and to Mrs Woodward for all her hard work in putting together these well-organised events.  Congratulations to Yellow House for winning both the Pre-Prep and Prep events! 

We're celebrating National Thank a Teacher Day today, saying thank you to all of our fabulous staff.  Mrs Goldsworthy has sent every member of the team the following message - "A HUGE 'Thank You'' for all you do for our pupils at St Ives!  Our pupils are incredibly lucky to have brilliant teachers and support staff who care for them greatly and always go above and beyond to make sure their days are full of fun and to provide them with vast opportunities to enable them grow and reach their potential.  Thank you so much."

A brilliant Summer Fair with all its wonderful British traditions - bouncy castle, hook a duck, tin can alley, crazy golf, hot dogs, ice creams & lots of Pimms!  A huge thank you to our wonderful parent body (FOSI) who worked tirelessly to put on this wonderful event and to Youngs Butchers in Chiddingfold for providing us with the delicious meat for the BBQ, to Knight Frank for their generous sponsorship and to The Back Beat Collective for the wonderful live music.  

Well done to our Ducks in Nursery for doing so well in their Sports Day this week.  They have been practising in PE lessons for several weeks and were very excited to show what they could do.  Races included a 40m Sprint, Hurdles and classics such as the Bean Bag race, Bucket and Spade race and the Wheelbarrow Race.  We finished the morning with a team relay. With all of that hard work done, it was only right our Mummies and Daddies had a race as well as our young Ducklings.  All finished off with delicious strawberries and ice lollies.  Well done Ducks!  You were amazing!

Day two of our Performance Festival was all about fairy tales and story telling. The Prep children enjoyed learning all about characterisation from actor Jamie Golding, whilst Jamie taught Pre-Prep children about puppetry, helping them put together their own puppet shows.  The whole school came together in the afternoon to perform 'I'm a Believer' from the musical Shrek, which everyone really enjoyed.  What a brilliant school of stars!

The children are currently enjoying a 3-day Performance Festival which kicked off today with a visit from West End performer Charlotte Scott (Guys & Dolls) who led a Dance Workshop for every year group.   Each workshop was perfect tailored for the children and they loved learning from Charlotte.

Congratulations to these gutsy girls who've just come 3rd in the IAPS National Swimming Finals at the London Aquatic Centre in the U11s 8x25m Small Schools' Relay!

Such a massive achievement!  We're so proud of you all and can't wait to congratulate you when we're back at school!  Thank you to Mrs Woodward for preparing the team so well, the girls for their commitment to their training and to IAPS Sport for running such a brilliant event.  We bet it's a noisy train journey home

A wonderful start to our Reception Readiness sessions this morning.  These sessions run every Thursday until the end of term for the children starting in our Reception class in September, including those from other nurseries as well as our own.  They allow the children to get to know Miss Tapp, Mrs Hayden and each other and familiarise themselves with our fabulous classroom and dedicated outdoors area, so they're raring to go in September.  Bring on big school!

We started the second half of term with a fabulous update on the lambs we fostered last term when their mother couldn't look after them.  They are now back on their farm and doing so well.  Pom Pom is growing into a strong and sturdy young ram, almost like he's been munching on magic beans!  His owner is convinced that all those cuddles and treats from St Ives pupils have turned him into the biggest and bounciest lamb in the flock.  Meanwhile, Daisy has become the life of the meadow, prancing around with her pals and showing off her adorable round tummy. Her playful frolicking is a joy to watch and it's clear she's living her best ewe life, thanks to all St Ives' love and care.  What wonderful news for the first day back at school!

We finished off a busy first half of term with a mini Spanish Festival.  The festivities started with an assembly from Duende Flamenco, an external dance company, on the history and culture of flamenco dancing.  The children were then split into smaller groups and followed a carousel of activities, which included a flamenco workshop and a craft workshop, in which children learned about the history of the Guatemalan muñecas quitapenas (worry dolls) and then set about making their own.  We all then came back together again in the hall and the children put on a flamenco show for Years 1 and 2 and their teachers.  We were treated to some lovely sevillanas, a paso doble and lots of shouts of "¡Ole!  The festival concluded with a Spanish quiz, which saw Year 2 hunt for Spanish numbers in the hall, Year 3 mime weather conditions, Year 4 make the correct sound for the Spanish pets, Year 5 act out places in town and Year 6 do a rendition of "Simon says..." for parts of the body.  It was a busy but fun-filled morning and the children were all fantastic.  ¡Muy bien!  Happy half term everyone!