Paternoster School News
Parent voice contributes to a thriving school support is much valued
Well, what a year! As I look back and reflect on the past year, I am amazed at what another challenging year it has been. Between March and April, we saw our highest numbers of Covid-19 in school but I am proud that our pupils have continued to attend school and achieve their best. I would like to thank you, our families, who have continued to support us throughout the year. I would like to share some good news from our school improvement partner, Deirdre Fitzpatrick, who last visited the school in May. We really value Deirdre’s judgement on our progress and recognise that it is a whole school effort. She reports: ‘The school has clearly developed the curriculum since the last visit. The pupil progress meetings are particularly impressive and allow leaders to quickly gain an understanding of the effectiveness of what is being taught.’ This academic year we introduced our new Key Stage 4 curriculum, Moving On, Moving Up, which aims to prepare our young people for adulthood. This has been very successful, and pupils attended practise interviews, made links with the local community for enterprise and leisure, completed work experience and took exams.
Two of our pupils this year joined an interview panel of students across the MAT schools and successfully helped to appoint the new CEO, Martin Hughes (who joins SANDMAT in November 2022).
Last week three of our pupils helped prepare food for the Pied Piper thank you event supervised by the head chef of The Ivy. The Pied Piper charity has supported us by donating the people carrier and funding the roundabout in the playground. It was a fabulous evening and I was extremely proud of our pupils’ contribution.
We have also continued to improve our school learning environment. Earlier this year, two additional outside areas were revamped, one outside the sports hall with a fully accessible outdoor learning environment, and the other a colourful seating area with planters between the pool and the new build. A new lighting system was also installed in the hydro pool, and changing areas will be refurbished over the holiday.
The establishment of a Parent Voice Group this year has been extremely positive. Each class has at least one representative who attends meetings and cascades information back to other parents. The group focuses on social and academic issues and allows the school to seek parental response to any developments. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact the Admin Team at school.
We have been delighted by the high number of parents attending school events this year. In April 2019 we hosted an Easter event and just two parents came. This year we have seen more than 50 at each event including Harvest, the Jubilee party and Sports Day. Thank you all for supporting your child and the school.
We will be recruiting a new parent governor for our Local Advisory Board next term. If you are interested, please do watch out for a communication from our Chair, Mary Saunders.
Finally, we say a very sad goodbye to our two School Presidents who are leaving us to go to college. We wish them every success.
I would like to end by thanking all our fantastic staff, who have continued to work tirelessly.
I wish you all a happy, relaxing, and restorative break.
Annette A
News from Elm Class
Elm Class have enjoyed a wide variety of activities this term. The children love exploring at Forest School. Penny (left) enjoys climbing around the ‘castle’. During singing, the children choose songs from a menu on the smart board. Finley is getting very skilled at this (right).
News from Pine Class
Pine Class have been very busy this term. We have been looking at measurements and Alyssa was able to build towers that were different heights and knows which is biggest (right). We have also been building on our teamwork, and are learning how we can be good friends to each other. Sports Day was very exciting for us we had lots of fun taking part and supporting our friends.
News from Beech Class
This term Beech Class had a fantastic day out at Butts Farm with Chestnut Class. The children handled small animals, including rabbits and tortoises. They also had the opportunity to bottle feed goats and take part in pony grooming. The children went on an amazing tractor ride, where they were able to explore the whole farm. We had Roxy the PAT dog with her owner Daniella in for a visit. The children learned commands to give Roxy and showed her around the classroom. The class had fun playing catch, fetch and seeking games with her.
News from Chestnut Class
In Chestnut, we have had an exciting time. We have enjoyed exploring the creatures and minibeasts we found at Forest School – George found these whilst pond dipping (far right)! We’ve also had a river walk and a visit to Butts Farm where we got to see around the whole farm and feed some of the animals who were out in the fields. We have also been learning how to play softball to get ready for a tournament against other schools in July. Caden was really enthusiastic about learning how to bat most effectively (right).
News from Ash Class
With summer bringing the good weather, Ash Class have been enjoying getting out and about. We have loved our sessions at Forest School where we have been exploring the woods, creating stories and singing. Jodie loves directing the rainbow song (right). We have also enjoyed a morning out to the park and valued having the opportunity to do something all together and share a picnic.
News from Willow Class
The pupils in Willow class have really enjoyed our seaside themed topic for the Summer term. We have been developing new skills through Play Champions sessions and are all growing in confidence moving in the water independently during hydrotherapy. The team have been joined by Ali and Laura, who are doing an amazing job and are warmly welcomed by all the pupils (and staff) in the class. All pupils in Willow have made great progress in following routines in school and during our Forest School sessions (far left). We also have had lots of new experiences, including the chance to try race runners (left).
News from Maple Class
This term, Maple Class have enjoyed experiencing many sporting opportunities including rugby, softball and swimming. We have also enjoyed our RE topic relating to caring for our world; we have been helping our caretaker Andre to tidy the sensory garden for onsite work experience (far right), have made bird feeders (right) and have explored other ways we can help the environment and wildlife. We have also made the most of the weather and have benefitted from trips around the local area.
News from Oak Class
We have had a very busy summer term in Oak Class, with careers experience interviews at Oxstalls college, Year 10 and 11 exams at Milestone school and a successful enterprise bake sale at St James’s Place that raised more than £50 (right). We have had trips to Quenington open air sculpture show to view work created by our pupils and taken part in an art workshop led by the artist in residence and of course we had our trip to Harry Potter World. We have also had many sports opportunities including coaching in softball, table cricket and rugby.
Stay and Play Summer activities available
We look forward to opening our gate for four more stay and play sessions in the summer holidays. They will take place on August 5th, 9th , 15th and 19th. The sessions start at 10.30 and finish at 1.30 and lunch is included. The sessions are free. Darren and Cam from DLK inclusion sports will be joining us for two of the sessions. They were a massive hit on sports day, so I asked them if they would like to join in with a couple of our holiday sessions. They are really looking forward to it and the activities should be great fun for all. Please remember to use the back gate. More detail can be found on Parentmail and Facebook. In addition to this we are working on a timetable for parents to open the playground for two hours a day for our families to access a safe place to play.
If you are not a member of our Facebook parent community search for Paternoster School Parent Group and request access to join us. We share ideas, achievements, information etc. Have a great summer, see you in the playground! Sheryl (Parent Support Worker)
School Prom 2022 putting on the Ritz to wish leavers good luck!
Outgoing joint School President, Claire Bridgeman (left) is one of two leavers from the Class of ’22 who celebrated their time at Paternoster School with their friends in our school prom. The prom took place on Thursday July 14th and students from years 9, 10 and 11 were invited to celebrate. The students all looked amazing and really loved having the chance to dress up and walk the red carpet into our sports hall which had been transformed into a magical party venue. The disco was provided by one of our expupils, Aiden Spencer, who got staff and students up on the dancefloor throwing some impressive shapes. When the students needed a breather from dancing, the buffet table was a hit with a chocolate fountain at its centre. We are so proud of our young people who made this a night to remember. And thanks to everyone who made the prom happen.
Friends of Paternoster School welcomes our new members
Friends Of Paternoster School would like to welcome Kyla Dean and Lynette Frances Fuchs to the Committee. It’s great to have you join the Team. We are always looking for new members, and if you would like to find out more about what we do please speak to Sheryl Suzanne,Parent Support Worker or Google Paternoster School Friends. Please look out for details of 2022/2023 Meetings at the start of September. The FOPS Committee would like to wish you all a lovely Summer.