Author: foguz

Science Club made ‘elephant’s toothpaste’ today. 

If you are in Science Club please leave a comment telling everybody what you learnt and how you conducted your investigation.

Today we said farewell to Canon Bruce Saunders, Sub-Dean of Southwark Cathedral who is retiring on Sunday. Father Bruce has been a valued and very well respected part of the Cathedral School community for the last 19 years as a school governor and priest.  He is loved by all of the children and will be missed a great deal. 

There will be a special Eucharist at Southwark Cathedral on Sunday 8th June to mark his retirement.

Huge congratulations to all of the children, parents and staff who contributed to Cathedral Primary School’s International Evening on Thursday 22nd May. This sell-out evening was an opportunity to celebrate our wonderfully diverse school community through song, drama, dance, music, spoken word and gymnastics. The performances were extremely accomplished and included African drumming, Irish songs, two speeches , gymnastics, Azonto dancing as well as a variety of music played on the trumpet, piano, violin, clarinet and recorder and an excellent performance from the Cathedral School Choir.

This year we had a diverse range performances showcasing the talents of our school community including the very professional Cathedral School Parent’s Choir who sang songs from Cuba and America. The Cathedral School Staff Choir started the evening off with Lashoni’ Langa from Ghana while the talented singer songwriter AJ Kirby performed her composition, Tears and Raindrops.  One of our pupils invited friends from another London school to dance the South African waka waka together while one of the younger performers shared the stage with his dad.

In addition to the live performances  we were also treated to short film from each class showcasing the learning that had taken place during International Week. Please visit class blogs to view the films.

International Evening is also an opportunity to get together as a school community and taste a variety of foods from around the world, many thanks to all of the parents and staff who provided the food for the interval.

All the staff at Cathedral are incredibly proud of the children and believe that International Evening is an important way to showcase the quality of our arts provision. It is also a chance to demonstrate our commitment to developing International links and celebrate our own diverse community.

Finally we would once again like to thank all the performers, parents and staff who contributed to a superb evening.

We would love to read your reflections on International Evening 2014 – please feel free to comment on this post.

Congratulations to the governing body of Cathedral School who have been awarded The Bishop’s Certificate by The Southwark Diocesan Board of Education. In order to achieve the award our governors had to attend at least seven of the nine modules including The Curriculum, Effective Governance and Teaching, Learning and Achievement. This award is valid for 4 years and demonstrates a committment to training and self-evaluation in order to support the school in its drive for excellence.

Governors play a key role in developing and improving their schools; clarity about the role of governing bodies is crucial to an effective partnership between governors and the headteacher and staff. The Bishop of Southwark acknowledges this important role played by governors of Church of England schools in the Diocese of Southwark and endorses this modular course which aims to clarify the role of the governing body in a Church of England school.

We are so proud to annouce that two of our pupils who are choristers at Southwark Cathedral were given the opportunity to sing at a choral evensong that was recorded for BBC Radio 3. Well done Leo and Jeffrey.

Click here to listen to the broadcast.

Last week School Council led assembly, they each explained the importance of School Council and their own role within it.

Everybody has a responsibility. The Chair and Vice Chair take it in turns to lead the meetings. The secretaries take it in turns to write the meeting minutes. The registration officers take the register while the admin officers hand out paperwork at the meetings. The teacher liason reps keep Mrs Scott informed about what they have been doing.

Here are some of the things they said,

“It is our job as School Council to listen to any ideas and suggestions you have on how shape the future of Cathedral School. We then discuss these ideas at our meetings.”

“This year the School Council voted on what colour pen we think the teachers should use to mark our work and decided that orange would be best as it stands out on the page.”

“The teachers now also make their comments in Celebration Assembly shorter and easier read so all classes can understand them.”

“We also fed back your ideas to Mrs Scott about how we could improve our Key Stage 2 playground. There will now be benches, a reading area and more markings on the ground for everyone to enjoy.”

School Council also thanked the children who write comments in their class suggestion boxes. They are discussed with Mrs Scott and decisions are made according to how the suggestions could positively benefit our school.

One suggestion was to have some new celebrations during the weekly Celebration Assembly. School Council went on to teach the whole school the ‘High Five’ and ‘Jazz Hands’.

Finally School Council listened carefully to suggestion children had about how to improve the school. One person wanted a trampoline in the junior playground while somebody else suggested that we have music playing in the dinner hall at lunchtime.

We really value our School Council and the improvements they help to bring about.

Last week we were very lucky to have a visit from our local Police Community Support Officer.

PCSO Fiona talked to each class about how to stay safe outside school. Here are some of her suggestions:

• Find a safe adult (return to school, find a security guard in Tesco or the library)
• Assertively say ”no” or “I’ve been told not to talk to strangers” and walk/run away
• Never reveal personal information e.g.name, school, address
• Don’t go with someone you don’t know, even if they say they have sweets,  kittens etc.

Nursery and Reception had lots of fun trying on PCSO Fiona’s hat and special jacket, and looking at her radio.

Some of our Year 5 children attended some borough-wide training to enable them to lead games in the school playground. As well as learning new games they also had the opportunity to develop their leadership skills, working with children from schools across Southwark.

Please let us know which skills you developed?

Could you tell us about the games you learnt?

Today Class 2 hosted a menagerie of nocturnal animals courtesy of Rob and Jason at Reptile Life. The children spent the morning handling the animals and learning some incredible facts. Every class had the opportunity to view the animals including a skunk, fox cub, tarantula and a pair of hoglets. For more photos please visit Class 2’s blog.

Please share your animal facts or tell us which nocturnal animal was your favourite and why.

Remember to use ambitious vocabulary.