Reception Singing

Today in Reception we were performing our songs we have learnt over the last few weeks. Please see the links to the videos below:

Video 1 

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

Rockets

In Year 5 today we are doing blast off science where children are building rocket designs and seeing how they can improve their rockets to go further.

RAG ratings, EADT report - statement by Ipswich Primary Academies Trust

Ipswich Primary Academies Trust recognises that the Local Authority needs to have a method of monitoring the performance of schools in Suffolk more frequently than noting the results of Ofsted inspections.  The RAG rating they use has been improved over recent years but still remains a crude measure which can never be as accurate or effective as the knowledge contained within schools.  An IPAT school is subject to an extremely robust internal and external QA assessment which gives the Trust an accurate and up-to-date picture of the school’s current performance as well as its capacity to improve.  This assessment also enables the Trust to focus on rapid improvement where and when it is needed.  Our vision is for the children in our schools to have an education which is equal to the best school provision in the country and we strive relentlessly to achieve this aim.  Early years and key stage one results in all of our schools improved considerably from 2014 to 2015 and we are building on this success in key stage 2.   The RAG ratings published in the EADT today are out of date.  In addition they were based on what the DfE terms "unvalidated data" (ie includes the KS2 results of children who have arrived in the UK in the last two years and have not yet learnt to speak English!)  As such they do not represent the current situation in our schools and have never been used by us as an accurate measure of our schools' performance.  

Margaret Lesuuda

Today we are looking forward to welcoming Margaret Lesuuda, the Kenyan High Commission Education Attaché to St Helen's Primary School. We also look forward to welcoming Howard Primary School, St Mary's RC Primary Lowestoft , St Mary's Catholic Primary Ipswich, St Gregory's Sudbury, Melton Primary School and Newmarket Academy

An evening of Music

Well done to all the children who performed at the St Helen's evening of Music. A great evening of music was enjoyed by all.

NO HOT SCHOOL MEALS AVAILABLE TOMORROW

Unfortunately, the school kitchen has a major electrical fault which means we are unable to cook hot
meals on Friday 27th November 2015.  However, the school will supply a packed lunch for all children who wish to have a school meal.

Each class teacher will take a dinner register in the morning (as normal) so that we can supply the correct number of packed lunches.

We thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Year 3 Share

Yesterday Year 3 enjoyed a share day relating to their rivers topic and Austin's butterfly. Parent's and children watched Austin's butterfly and then were able to draw it.  The session also covered the value of excellence. We hope all parents who attended enjoyed the afternoon and we thank them for their attendance.

School Gateway Routine Maintenance- Information for parents.

REMINDER - Routine Maintenance
Schoolcomms and School Gateway will be unavailable between 5pm tonight (20/11) and 5am tomorrow morning (21/11) for routine maintenance work.

Further photos from our Victorian Day

This is the final round up of photos from Victorian day which the children thoroughly enjoyed. There were a wide range of activities for the children to get a snapshot of what life would of been like had they of been a child in Victorian times.

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Recent tweet from our Twitter Victorian Day part 2 More Victorian day photos to come in another post... … https://t.co/eKrOHQA9yq

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 05:23PM
via IFTTT

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Recent tweet from our Twitter Recent tweet from our Twitter Victorian Day Today children in Phase 4 have been exp… https://t.co/BSXciNAYQW

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 05:23PM
via IFTTT

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Recent tweet from our Twitter Recent tweet from our Twitter Recent tweet from our Twitter Year 5 and 6 learning a… https://t.co/71GsOULxE8

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 05:23PM
via IFTTT

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Victorian Day part 2 More Victorian day photos to come in another post... https://t.co/SHmYQg2eCd

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 03:22PM
via IFTTT

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Recent tweet from our Twitter Victorian Day Today children in Phase 4 have been experiencing what it was like to … https://t.co/8FMjTgiJud

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 03:22PM
via IFTTT

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Recent tweet from our Twitter Recent tweet from our Twitter Year 5 and 6 learning about the Victorians with Histo… https://t.co/PvYUkF6yUO

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 03:22PM
via IFTTT

Victorian Day part 2

More Victorian day photos to come in another post...

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Victorian Day Today children in Phase 4 have been experiencing what it was like to be a child in Victorian times. … https://t.co/Tvfr9kdKz4

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 01:18PM
via IFTTT

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Recent tweet from our Twitter Year 5 and 6 learning about the Victorians with History Off the Page. … https://t.co/ypbd22PMiu

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 01:18PM
via IFTTT

Victorian Day

Today children in Phase 4 have been experiencing what it was like to be a child in Victorian times. We will be posting more photos throughout the day.

Recent tweet from our Twitter

Year 5 and 6 learning about the Victorians with History Off the Page. http://pic.twitter.com/e2H7NAJPfI

— St Helen's Primary (@sthelensipswich) November 19, 2015

from Twitter https://twitter.com/sthelensipswich

November 19, 2015 at 11:29AM
via IFTTT

Netball and Football Club cancelled this week.

Due to parent consultations netball club on Tuesday 17th November and football club on Wednesday 18th have been cancelled. However, gymnastics club for yrs 1 and 2 will go ahead on Tuesday and so will gymnastics club for year 3 and 4 on Thursday. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience. Mr Jamieson, P.E. Coordinator

Parent View- Survey for parents

We would like to encourage you to complete the Ofsted survey called "Parent View".  There is a link to this survey on the front page of our website.  It is really important for us to know what you think of the school so that we can respond and make improvements where necessary. Our Computer room will be available throughout the parent consultation evenings for this purpose should you require it.

Year 4 to grow seeds from space!

Year 4 to grow seeds from space!

The children in Year 4 are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space.

In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds have been sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Our school will be one of up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds from space, which they will grow alongside seeds that haven’t been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks. The children won’t know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.

The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the children to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates.

We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our children to think more scientifically and share their findings. It also ties in really well with our year-long Year 4 farming project.

Rocket Science is just one educational project from a programme developed by the UK Space Agency to celebrate British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission to the ISS and inspire young people to look into careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, including horticulture.

Applications to take part in Rocket Science are still open and will close in March next year or until all packs have been allocated. Schools and educational groups can apply at rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening.

Follow the project on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience

Aldeburgh Poetry Festival

5 poets had an inspirational time working with poet Joanne Limberg at The Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. Well done, writers!

Year 5 Houses of Parliament

The Houses of Parliament were an exciting opportunity for the children to experience where british rule of law and democracy is in practice. The experience not only allowed this but made clear links to their own school council; history in the form of Westminister Palace and art in the form of statues including one of Emmeline Pankhurst. The children loved it and were totally engrossed in the many landmarks we passed on our journey!