Upcoming Events Safety is like a lock, but you are the key. Educate

March 2016
Volume 1 issue 4
Dear Parents,
It’s been a busy term! We have managed to fit in a lot
of events & activities, which I hope you will enjoy
reading about in this, and the Principal’s, newsletter.
There is plenty to look forward to in the Summer
Term, watch out for details.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your
continued support over the term and I’d like to wish
you all a happy and peaceful Easter holiday. See you
all in April!
Science week kicked off with a whole school
assembly with very encouraging pupil
participation.
Pupils made positive contributions to discussions
on areas of science and what makes science a
very interesting subject.
Mrs Lakanu led the whole school in carrying out
experiments on how to make an egg float in water
and making oil mix with water.
Teachers engaged pupils and further enriched
learning through a variety of science investigative
activities in lessons.
Upcoming Events
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Ski Trip - 26thMarch return 2nd April
Summer Term resumes – 19th April
Clubs start – 19th April
Year 6 DT Group to Nucleus Arts – 19th April
Mrs F. Lakanu
Assistant Principal
The positives of the digital world tremendously
outweigh the negatives, but, as parents, we need to
keep that watchful eye on our children regardless of
their age. We all know that online safety is very
important but it is sometimes difficult to know how to
ensure children remain safe when using the internet.
An e-safety workshop was held for Year 5&6 pupils
as well as parents on the 7thMarch. The School has
received lots of positive feedback from the parent
workshop delivered by PCSO Sue Kemsley.
Please find below, some tips on how to safeguard
your child on the internet:
 Keep computers in a central place. This
makes it easier to keep an eye on your
child’s activities.
 Know where your child goes online.
 Teach internet safety. It’s impossible to
monitor your child’s online activity all the
time.
 Use privacy settings and sharing controls.
 Protect passwords. Remind your child not to
give out their passwords.
 Beware of strangers. Teach your child not to
share personal information online.
 Teach your children to communicate
responsibly. Take the following as a good
rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t say it to
someone’s face, don’t text it, instant
message it, or post it as a comment on
someone’s page.
 View all content critically. Just because you
see it online, there’s no guarantee it’s true.
Safety is like a lock, but you are
the key. Educate your child to
stay safe online.
To link with our PSCHE topic about the Police and
their role in the community, Mrs Forrest arranged for
PCSO Chris McCann to visit 3F and 3P. He talked
about his job and how he works to prevent crime and
keep local people safe.
The focus of the lesson was to investigate which
materials make the best thermal insulators.
Year 5 tested bottles of warm water wrapped in
Cotton Wool, Newspaper and Cling Film to see
which kept the water hot the longest.
On the 16th March pupils from 3F and 3P represented
the Junior School at the Medway Music Association
KS2 Choral Festival which was held at the Central
Theatre. The children learnt 10 songs including folk
songs, rounds, songs from the stage and screen. The
children sang well and were excellent ambassadors
for the school.
On Tuesday 15th March Year 3 visited the Huguenot
Museum in Rochester for the day to learn about
materials.
Each class completed a workshop. First we had a go
at weaving using a cardboard loom.
We also tried our hand at felt-making. We layered
wool fibres into a pattern, and then we sprayed our
felt designs with warm soapy water, covered them
with a layer of bubble wrap and rubbed them for 10
minutes!
Year 5 dance workshop shared the same focus as
their class reader ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’. Pupils
enjoyed forming dance movements in relation to a
storm at sea.
It was enjoyable to watch all pupils engaged and
thoroughly having fun.
Pupils completed an activity booklet in the museum
and learnt all about the history of the Huguenots.
Year 5 spent the day at Rochester Cathedral. The
children participated in three exciting workshops...
In the Art workshop, the children found out about the
stories in the Lady Chapel stained glass windows.
They then tried to draw their own. The story of The
Good Samaritan was the theme of the drama
workshop. Everyone enjoyed participating in the
dramatic recreation of the parable. Tessellation was
explored in the Maths workshop. The cathedral is full
of tessellating shapes and the children rose to the
challenge of creating their own examples in teams.
Year 4 pupils have been creating and entertaining
themselves with shadow puppets. Pupils learnt that
light travels as a wave. When you put your shadow
puppet between the lamp and the wall, the puppet
blocks some of the light waves.
The closer you put your shadow puppet to the lamp,
the more light waves are blocked. This makes a bigger
shadow.
In February, Year 4 pupils visited the Learning Room
upstairs at the Huguenot Museum in Rochester High
Street (which opened in July 2015), for a literacythemed diary writing workshop, with Mrs Day and
Mrs Matthews.
First they learned a little about the French refugees
and imagined how it would feel to have to flee their
homes and move to another country.
Each group was given a suitcase and, before
opening it, they had to decide what essentials they
would choose to carry with them if they had to make
a new life in another country.
Finally, the children began to write diary entries
which some of them read aloud.
Year 4 used torches to change the size of a shadow.
The closer the light source to the object, the bigger
the shadow.
As you can see from the photos, everyone enjoyed
dressing up and imagining they were someone from
another place and time in history!
Pupils enjoyed using the mirror to reflect light, as well
as torches to test different materials.
The keywords focused on during this investigation
were transparent, translucent and opaque.
“Equipped with his five
senses, man explores the
universe around him and calls
the adventure Science”- Edwin
Powell Hubble
On Wednesday 9th March, Year 6 pupils set off for an
exciting trip to the ‘Observatory Science Centre’ in
East Sussex.
The year group was divided into four and were given
an itinerary on arrival.
During the day, pupils had the opportunity to explore
hands-on exhibits as well as trying bridge building!
They also took part in an amazing telescope tour.
Finally, pupils had the opportunity to visit the gift shop
where they bought a great range of science goodies!
On Wednesday 2nd March and Thursday 3rd March,
both 6N and 6B had the pleasure of participating in a
dance workshop linked to ‘The Railway Children.’
First we discussed the plot and characters from the
novel. We then considered actions and movement to
reflect how they might be feeling during various parts
of the story.
Finally we created a dance routine, in groups, to
show the changes of emotions throughout the text.
The workshop was thoroughly enjoyed by all!
“Education is not preparation for
life; Education is life itself”- John
Dewey
First of all, the children made a working circuit with a
battery, wires and a bulb. Then they put different
materials into the circuit to test if they conducted
electricity or not. If the material was a conductor
then the bulb would light up.
On Thursday 3rd March, Year 6 pupils read to Preschool and KS1.
The children worked in groups to choose a story
suitable for the age group they were going to read to.
They then had to practise their story and make props
relating to it.
At 9 o’clock, the pupils went to the classes they were
reading to, dressed up as a well-known character from
a book. They then read their exciting stories to the
younger pupils.
It looked like a great morning was had by all!
The whole class also did an experiment to see if
humans can conduct electricity. We made a circuit
by all holding hands and two people held onto the
Circuit Maker that contained a battery and a bulb.
Hey Presto! The bulb lit up!
On Saturday 12th March, pupils from Years 3, 4, 5 and
6 took part in the LCS Netball Competition at Fort Pitt
School along with Bryony and St. William of Perth. The
match finished all square, meaning the game would be
decided by penalties. Unfortunately for St Andrew's,
St. William of Perth managed to score one more
penalty to win the final.
The Year 5/ 6 team started in a similar way to the
younger St Andrew’s team, winning their first game
against St William of Perth 2-0. The two teams were
evenly matched, with the game finishing 2-2. The
teams could not be separated by penalties, with each
team scoring two of their five attempts. The final came
down to sudden death, with Jake Loft scoring the
winning penalty for St Andrew's.
A big well done to all the pupils!
On Sunday the 20th March Oliver Horne competed
in the British Schools Modern Biathlon
Championships at the Crystal Palace National
Sports Centre.
Oliver performed amazingly and finished in 2nd
place! There were 116 other boys competing in
the under 11 category, so this was a fantastic
achievement for Oliver - well done!
Over the course of Terms 1-4, members from Year
4, 5 & 6 have been representing St. Andrew’s
School in the Medway Junior Schools’ Cross
Country Championships. The competition, which
runs as a league format, consists of four races.
The final race was back to the start with the
dreaded hills of Kingfisher Primary School. With a
depleted and weary team, we managed to once
again, place very well within the race.
Overall, our boys’ team was announced as winners
and due to the fantastic effort of our girls’ team, we
also placed first overall for the combined trophy!
There was also individual success for Ethan
Calthorpe and Gabriella Horne, who each placed
3rd place in the Year 5 boys’ and girls’ league
respectively. Also a huge congratulations to Oliver
Horne who placed 2nd place in the, most hotly
contested, Year 6 boys’ league. St. Andrews’
Cross Country Team have demonstrated skill,
determination and dedication throughout the whole
competition and we are immensely proud of all of
their hard work! Go Team St. Andrews; we can’t
wait to defend our trophies next year.
On Sunday 28th February, a group of staff, pupils and
parents participated in the Race for Life, hosted by
Cobham Hall.
A 3km course was completed at a run, jog or walk and
supporters were there to cheer the participants as they
crossed the finish line.
Oliver Horne was the first child over the finish line,
closely followed by Mr. Paul, who was the first adult
over the finishing line.
Thank you to everyone who supported this event and
donated money to such a worthwhile cause.
“One man can be a crucial
ingredient on a team, but one man
cannot make a team.” – Kareem AbdulJabbar
Wow! World Book Day looked brilliant this year and the
children looked fantastic in their outfits. Well done to all
children and staff who took part.
At the end of the day, the children were given a £1
World Book day Token which can be used to get
money off any book at bookshops… a great excuse to
read something new!
During a cold week in March, the Year 5 Children
visited PGL Marchants Hill for a 3-day, 2-night
action-packed stay. They took part in a range of
activities, including: Jacobs Ladder, abseiling, zip
wire and Powerfan!
We made rafts and even got to test them out on the
lake. Needless to say, we had some very soggy
children at the end. And as all good holidays do, it
ended with a disco and the children had a great
time cutting shapes on the dancefloor.
The children displayed confidence, determination
and enthusiasm for all tasks.
On the 16th March 3F and 3P represented the Junior
School at the Medway Music Association KS2 Choral
Festival which was held at the Central Theatre. The
children learnt 10 songs including folk songs, rounds,
songs from the stage and screen. The children sang
well and were excellent ambassadors for the school.
The all boys singing group continue to increase in
number and continue to challenge themselves with the
different styles of music they delve into. You will agree
with me that their performance of “Joyful Joyful” at the
End of Term Service was one that added positively to
the mood and we continue to be proud of them.
Last week the auditions for the summer concert were
held and over 35 children took part, all doing their best
having worked hard to prepare a wide variety of
pieces.
Letters will be sent out at the beginning of the Summer
term.
Once again our pupils astounded us with their
creative ideas for decorating an egg as there were a
lot of ‘egg-ceptional’ ideas. We had an ‘eggxtremely’ difficult time in deciding which eggs were
the winners in each class. The eggs then went on
display for pupils to view during break.
Well done everyone who took part, the entries were
all very imaginative and colourful.
On Friday 18th March children and staff at St. Andrew’s dressed up in clothing with an animal theme to raise
money for Anim-Mates Animal Sanctuary – our chosen charity.
There were some really imaginative costumes on display and this event will help us achieve our £250 fundraising
target for the charity. Well done everyone and thank you for your support!
Can you guess who the fox is?