Archived News from St James' School

February 2008

It was good to see the work of the pupils in church, with the Advent Doors and the nativity scene.

We have started the New Year in classes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 with new tables and chairs and this has made a dramatic difference to the classroom environments.

In addition to the very regular visits of Father Peter and Father John to school, it is good that we now have 3 members of the congregation coming in to school to help on a regular basis.  If you can give a morning or afternoon on a regular basis to help out, please do contact the school.

Tania Morton, one of our Learning Support Assistants, is running the London Marathon this year and is seeking sponsorship for a small charity called ‘Life Education Centres’ and these help pupils to make the right choices in life.  You can help by popping in to the school and making a donation and/or guessing the time that Mrs Morton will take to complete the marathon – at £1 a guess.  Please do support this worthwhile cause if you can.

The school has been canvassing parents, pupils and staff as part of its work for a School Travel Plan Grant.  In common with many schools, inappropriate parking outside the school grounds, lack of cycling facilities, no crossing patrol officers are some of the major issues.  There is a big demand from pupils to cycle to school and we are exploring this possibility.  I shall update you in later issues on the outcome of our bid.  The aim is to reduce the amount of car journeys to and from school and to make journeys safer.

It is good to have a new library computer has been installed to help make our lending more efficient and all classes now have scanner/printer/copiers linked to laptops and interactive whiteboards.

In January I attended a recent computer education exhibition and was able to purchase some really exciting maths software, which will help our teachers to teach more effectively and keep our pupils motivated. 
We live in a visual age and need to use the latest technology creatively to help ensure that our pupils have a good grasp of the ‘basics’ and can use technology in a variety of situations.  We are fortunate in school in having a group of staff who are enthusiastic to use computers to aid learning.

December 2007 / January 2008

RE & Worship Inspection News Special!

The school received a Section 48 Religious Education and Worship Inspection in September 2007 and the results are now published.

Its main findings were:

Established Strengths
The shared vision of the Headteacher and the Rector for the future Christian development of the school. Strengthening links between the school and the parish church The centrality of collective worship to school life.

The school has a clear capacity to develop as a school with a distinctive Christian character. There is a clearly understood whole school vision in place for this to be achieved.             

The school, through its distinctive Christian character, is satisfactory at meeting the needs of all learners.
Learners from all groups feel valued and special in this inclusive school environment. The school achieves its aim to promote Christian values through the experience it offers to all members of the St James’ school community. The school also achieves its aim for its pupils to take responsibility and are responsible in school and in the wider community                                                                                   

The impact of collective worship on the school community is good.
School worship is good. It is central to all aspects of school life. It is very well planned and reflects Christian celebrations and the school year. Pupils experience a good variety of worship over the course of the school week, with each assembly having a different focus.  Parish mass takes place each week in school. Each class, on a rota basis attends and contributes fully. This act of worship brings together the community in a highly effective way. The Eucharist is celebrated both in the school and at the parish church. This greatly enriches collective worship accessed by all pupils. The Worship Committee meet regularly and their work gives great impetus to school and church worship. The parish church is used in a highly effective way to support school worship and as a resource to support learning.     

The effectiveness of the Religious Education is satisfactory.
Religious Education is important within the school. It makes a significant contribution to the distinctive character of the school. There is a clear policy and a scheme of work in place that is understood by all and which support teaching and learning.

The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the school as a church school is satisfactory.
The Headteacher provides good leadership, which is recognised and commented upon by all members of the school community. Building on current strengths, and with the support of the school community, the Christian ethos of the school can continue to be developed.

Focus for Development
To continue to develop the Religious Education curriculum
To consider more fully the views of pupils, parents and members of the parish church in the making of future decisions
To continue to develop the Christian ethos of the school
I am pleased with the content of this report as it recognised the very significant changes made in the last 20 months since the last section 48 report.  We are not complacent and have initiated a Religious Education and Worship Action Plan to help us develop further.  My particular thanks go to Father Peter and Father John and the Churchwardens for their support and hard work for the school – it really is much appreciated.

Other School News in Brief

A new multimedia sound and vision system has been installed in our school hall and this has significantly improved our learning facilities and provided a significant means of aiding our worship in school.
The school has started to consult with parents about ways of encouraging more working and cycling to school.
A very successful Book Week in November has encouraged all pupils to write books and to see themselves as authors.
New tables and chairs are being provided for learners in Classes 1-4 and this will significantly improve the learning environment for our pupils

November 2007

Classes 5, 6, 7 and 8 have recently enjoyed a visit to the Duxford Air Museum, as part of their studies on what life was like for people during World War 2. To help make the history study as relevant as possible, pupils have experienced going into the school’s air raid shelter, and have also visited an Anderton Shelter in a nearby house.

I attended the Diocesan Church Schools Conference in October, which was held in Chelmsford Cathedral, on the theme of the challenge of church schools to be both distinctive and inclusive. It was good that it re-affirmed for me the strong sense that our church school very much exists to serve the local community and welcomes pupils and families from all backgrounds. The central message was that the message of the love of God for all is the distinctive feature of church schools, and that this should be evident in what schools articulate e.g. vision statement, ethos statement, prospectus etc, through the physical building and resources, and in the way that people conduct their relationships and care for each others. The Church of England has a very proud and long history of providing education and it is humbling to be part of that long tradition of service to the local community in central Colchester.

The school has been extending its practical resources for our youngest learners in the Foundation Stage, to enable us to provide even more opportunities for pupils to learn through first hand experience.

During November we are planning to introduce a multimedia system in our school hall, to include a ceiling mounted projector, remote control projector screen, DVD/CD player, speakers, amplifier, TV Tuner and 2 wireless microphones. We live in a multimedia visual age and this system will significantly enhance our resources for worship, school productions, major school events, teaching activities, social functions etc. The school is very happy to make this available for parish events too, as it is your church school.

After our Harvest celebration in school, our Year 6 pupils collected together all the produce donated by pupils and parents, and distributed them to local senior citizens.  From the thank-you letters and comments, it is clear that the harvest boxes were much appreciated and it was good for our youngsters to be having contact with some of the older members in our community.

October 2007

We started the school year in September with a section 48 church school inspection.  These inspections follow approximately 6 weeks after a section 5 Ofsted inspection.  One inspector spent a day looking at the school’s worship, provision for religious education and how effective our school is as a church school.  It was a very positive day.  At the time of writing, the draft report has not been sent to the school, so I shall provide a summary in the November magazine.

We have been listening to the pupils and at the end of last term, they asked for 2 hymns in our act of worship each day.  We have been very happy to accommodate this, and the pupils are enjoying the singing of a wide variety of hymns.  We have also started a book of prayers that the children can refer to and use in our acts of worship.

Father John, on his trip to Rome, brought back 10 crucifixes for us to put up in each of the 10 class bases.  They have caused a great deal of discussion and interest in the classes.  A future visit is planned to purchase a variety of Christian symbols to use around the school.

The Friends of Saint James' have kindly agreed to fund a pantomime for the pupils at the end of the term.  Live theatre can be very expensive, and it will be good to have a theatre company entertaining the pupils in the hall.

Class visits have been planned for the year and the first of these for Key Stage 2 will be a visit to the museum at Duxford as part of the school’s work on what life was like in World War 2.  We are going to try and grow vegetables in our own mini allotment and it was good to have seeds donated by local companies.

September 2007

School Progress - What a year it has been!  Most of you will now have heard that the school is no longer in need of Special Measures, and was taken out of this category at the end of June 2007, following a monitoring visit and inspection by a team of three inspectors.

In the opening paragraph of the report, the inspector writes, “St. James Primary School is improving quickly…. Many positive changes have been introduced…. and the school is well placed to make and sustain further improvements….”

A great deal has been achieved in the last year and it is good to see that this has now been officially recognised.  I must pay tribute to the hard work of governors and staff in responding so positively to the many necessary changes that have taken place.

I would also like to thank the parents and church community for the many ways in which they have supported the school.  I must say a particular thank you to Father Peter and Father John for all their hard work for the school this year and for their support – it really has made a difference.  Pupils have responded magnificently to the new ways of working and learning and I am very proud of them.  The last year has been the busiest of my teaching career, but it has also been the most rewarding. 

The main inspection findings are:

• Pupils enjoy school because what they do is interesting,they feel safe and behaviour is now good
• Now all teaching is at least satisfactory and a significant proportion is good
• Action has been taken to strengthen teaching to ensure pupils make consistently good progress
• The very strong leadership provided by the new Headteacher has brought much needed direction. Weaknesses have been tackled and expectations raised among staff and pupils of what can be achieved
• Care, support and guidance for pupils is good
• The relationships between staff and pupils was friendly
• Governance, marking, homework and the use of ICT have all improved
• All new pupils are welcomed into the strong, inclusive community
• The curriculum for the Foundation Stage is now good

To improve further, Ofsted has asked the school to strengthen subject leadership, improve standards, particularly in writing and involve parents more formally in reviewing how the school is doing.  An action plan is being developed to address these issues.

Our  Key Stage 2 performance of Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat at the end of term was  a big success and was enjoyed by over 300 people.  We opened on the same night as the London production, but without any of the technical difficulties that plagued the opening in the capital!

Celebration - The end of term was celebrated by an end of term Leavers’ Mass in school and with a picnic in the grounds for all pupils and staff.

Staffing Changes – We said goodbye to a number of staff who left the school at the end of the summer term. Louise Seaman, one of our Learning Support Assistants left to start a teacher training course in September and Kirsty Houghton, who worked in the office has left to work in a school office in Hampshire, where her husband is to work as a church youth worker.  In September we welcome on to our teaching staff Blaire Careford, Rachel Burrows and Estelle Fuggle.  They replace Hannah Smith, Katrina Robertson and Yvonne Dilley, who joined us on a temporary basis for a term. 

School Improvements – Our caretaker has done wonderful work in the summer holidays on refurbishing one of the classrooms that was in urgent need of updating.  We have received news that a recent bid was successful and this will mean that over the next year we shall be able to refurbish parts of our school kitchen and some of the outdated electrics in the school. We have recently altered the layout of our library to help make it more user-friendly to use and are now displaying books by particular significant authors to help promote more in-depth reading by our learners.

The school will be having a Religious Education and Worship inspection in early September and I shall let you know the outcome of this in due course.

Thank you to all those who have supported the school in so many ways in my first year of headship at Saint James'.  Your prayers, support and interest really do make a positive difference.

July / August 2007

Key Stage 2 pupils have been working hard on an art project, which has helped to transform the very ugly air raid shelter that we have on our site. The children thought of natural things that they could find in our site and then devised some large scale paper drafts. These were then transferred onto marine ply, cut out and then painted. A number of coats of varnish were then added to help protect them from the elements. Our caretaker then did a marvellous job on attaching them to the brick wall.

Pupils in school are now learning the traditional version of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, as this is the version used in our church.

There is a nautical theme in our Foundation Stage at the moment with a ‘Pirate’ theme. The pupils have been writing their own Pirate rules, have been exploring for treasure, and have been creating their own pirate ship role play area. The pupils have painted themselves as pirates and created a Pirate School Rule Book, which makes for very interesting reading.

For our summer production, pupils in Key Stage 2 will be putting on a performance of Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat. Year 6 will be taking the leading parts and Year 4 will be providing the dancers. Props and scenery will be provided by Years 3 and 5.

During this time of the year pupils have been undertaking a variety of school journeys to help make learning more real. Year 6 have enjoyed learning about the siege of Colchester and ‘Humpty Dumpty’!

Another group of pupils are currently undertaking a cycling proficiency course, run by our Learning Support Assistants in school, as part of our commitment to help pupils stay safe.

June 2007

Years 3 and 4 enjoyed a visit to the museum recently at Ipswich to learn more about Egyptian life. Our work on Egyptians has inspired some to think about going to the major Egyptian exhibition at the ‘Dome’ later on in the year.

Our new picture frames are being put to good use across the school, to display the quality art work of some of our pupils – the art work inspired by investigating aspects of Aboriginal Art, hung in the school hall is particularly attractive.

Years 5 and 6 enjoyed a visit to the First Site Minories Art Gallery, using mobile phones with cameras to create exciting digital images for use in school and on a website. We have very good links with the galleries and museums services in Colchester.

In our after-school Key Stage 2 computer club the pupils have been exploring the use of animation to create many interesting ‘stick figure’ animations and are now moving on to using more complex programs. I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all the staff who stay behind after school to run our after-school clubs. Presently we are offering Art,
Computer, Orchestra, Cycling Proficiency, Year 3 / 4 football and Year 5 / 6 football. We also run a Homework Club on Tuesdays after school, staffed by teachers. It is a sign of their commitment to the school and pupils and is very much appreciated. We have even been known to rope in Father John at times to utilize his computer skills.

Year 6 pupils are looking forward to going to Ringsfield later on in the term where the pupils will be involved in environmental fieldwork. We shall let you know later in the year how they got on. “I never win competitions,” is a cry often said by many. For one talented pupil in school that was not the case recently, when he won a bicycle for a picture he created, in a competition sponsored by a local company, while attending our award-winning Breakfast Club. The pupil and school were thrilled at his achievement.

May 2007

Just before the Easter holidays we welcomed the Bishop of Colchester to School. Bishop Christopher lead assembly and was impressed that the children knew all about the vestments which he had brought with him.

The whole school pcame up to St James’ Church for a Palm Sunday Mass. The children had made palms and waved them enthusiastically throughout and their singing was very good.

The children and staff enjoyed their Easter break and we are very pleased to welcome some new faces to our school community. Three new teachers and three Learning Support Assistants. Yvonne Dilley is the new teacher for Class 8, Hannah Smith is with Class 7 and Amy Gurney with Class 5. The new LSAs are Sharon Cairney, Shirley Coppin and Louise Seaman.

Classes 1 and 2 recently had a trip to Jimmy’s Farm in Wherstead, near Ipswich, where they enjoyed meeting the pigs. Classes 5,6 & 7 are looking forward to their trip to the Ipswich museum later this month.

Class 2 recently visited St James’ Church to look at the Stained Glass windows as they are designing making stained glass using acetates and glass paint.

April 2007

Can you help?  If you happen to shop at Sainsbury’s or Tesco then we would welcome the school vouchers that they are presently giving out to help enhance our school resources.

Year 2 pupils recently enjoyed a visit to the Fire Station, and particularly enjoyed using the fire hose!  As you will be aware, the school is very committed to using the many local community resources to aid pupil learning, and by the time of this newsletter, pupils in Years 5 and 6 will have taken part in an interactive day on the building site of the new Visual Arts Facility (V.A.F.), which is on the church’s doorstep.

It was good to see members of the school choir recently participating in the Colchester Schools Music Festival. My thanks go to Miss Banks and Mrs Utting for working with the pupils on this.

The school has recently taken delivery of new books by significant authors such as Roald Dahl, Eric Carle, Allan Ahlberg, Dick King-Smith.  These books will enable pupils to study the style of particular authors in depth.

Over the Easter Break the school will be challenging pupils and staff and parents to come up with realistic ways for the school to reduce its carbon footprint.  We already recycle some of our paper, have some double-glazing and recycle print cartridges, but I am sure that there is much more that we can do, as we work as a Christian school community to be good stewards for future generations. We shall let you know in future articles what we are doing.

We shall have had a visit to the school from the Bishop of Colchester by the time of this newsletter.  It was good to see in one of our worship time sessions that the pupils were able to recall the 4 distinctive signs of a bishop’s office - can you recall what they are? 

May I take this opportunity to wish you a happy and holy Easter!

March 2007

During this time of Lent the school community is thinking of others.

Boxes have been sent out for parents and pupils and staff to put in their change and money that they may have otherwise have spent on items that they have given up for Lent.  Money raised will be used to help fund a baby care centre in Ghana.

We are also encouraging pupils to use their God-given talents and abilities to come up with ways of ‘growing’ money that has been given to them, to help benefit the school and for charitable work.  Details of some of the activities undertaken will appear in a later edition.

I enjoyed my first school Disco recently, and it was good to see so many pupils and adult helpers and staff keeping fit AND having a good time. Pupils in classes 3 and 6 enjoyed making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, and I can testify personally for the quality of their culinary skills – they were delicious!  Father John’s attempt at pancake making in front of the whole school was very entertaining, but not entirely successful!

We can learn so much from our youngest learners.  Yesterday I saw a group of them in the school grounds, collecting soil to take back to their class to put in containers for growing plants.  They were so excited and enthusiastic and motivated and were marvelling at the properties of soil on a damp and dreary February afternoon.  We work to provide a practical and stimulating environment for the pupils and it was good to see ‘real’ learning taking place for a ‘real’ purpose.

The latest monitoring report from the H.M.I. visit in January 2007 shows that the school had made overall good progress since the last visit in October, and this is very encouraging.  It was good to see some positive coverage of this in the local press.

My thanks must go to the staff and the Governing Body for working so hard to make the progress that we have made.

February 2007

We welcome Pauline Batley, the school’s new Deputy Headteacher this term. She comes with a wealth of experience and we look forward to her contribution to all aspects of school life.

We now have in school a dedicated Religious Education display board in the main hall, on which we shall be placing quality work from across the school.

Years 3 and 4 compared a Methodist church building and St. James’ church building as part of their Religious Education work, and enjoyed the experience in both buildings, particularly the stained glass windows.

During Lent we shall be encouraging pupils to use their talents and abilities, with ‘The Friends of Saint James' School’ giving each class a sum of money, and asking them to come up with ideas to ‘grow’ the money. Any profits made will be used by the pupils to improve the school environment, with a donation to a charity nominated by the pupils.

GOOD NEWS – Our school has recently received the prestigious Sports ‘Activemark’ award, which is national recognition for our quality Physical Education provision. This can be added to our ‘Investors in People’ award and our ‘Breakfast Club’ award. Over the coming 2 years the school will be working for the national Healthy Schools standard.

In each class we have a ‘Wonder Wall’ where pupils jot down on post-it notes questions that puzzle them. I share with you a number of some very thoughtful questions, “Was God lonely before He created the world?”, “Where does the wind come from?”, “What is there at the end of the rainbow?”, and one final thought from me, “Do fish get thirsty?”

We shall be celebrating ‘Candlemass’ in school on Friday 2nd February at 10.00am with a whole school Eucharist, to which all parishoners are invited.

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