ST. CHRISTOPHER’S SCHOOL NEWSLETTER Issue 51 6th October 2017

Going Bonkers for Conkers!

Congratulations to St David, the clear winners of our Inter House Conker Championships! A brilliant way to spend a beautiful break time at school!

From the Headmistress

The weeks seem to be flying by - we have been back at school for a month now - and I am mindful that the term is gathering pace and significant events are looming. I have spoken to the children this week about Father Kakuba’s visit after half-term and the events that we organise to coincide with his time with us. For new parents, Father Kakuba visits us every 2 years from Uganda where he is responsible for the Kanyike Project. (www.kanyikeproject.org.uk) As a school, we have been supporting the project for nearly 20 years. As well as our Harvest Festival (which we delay until November so that we can share it with Father Kakuba), we will be encouraging the children to find as many sponsors as possible for the sponsored walk that we will be doing as a whole school on Tuesday 7th November from Totnes pool to Staverton Playing Fields. On Wednesday 8th November, all of the children from Prep Reception to Prep 6 will be involved in a school concert at which Father Kakuba will be our guest of honour. Further details of all the events will follow shortly. All the proceeds of our fundraising go to support the Kanyike project. These events for Father Kakuba’s visit will take place the week following our two week half-term. On the morning of Half-term (20th October), we will be holding Apple Day. The children will be involved in the whole process of preparing and making apple juice, participating in creative activities relating to the Apple Harvest. We will be holding Apply Olympics on that day! If any parents have a glut of apples from their own trees which they feel they could donate - we would be most grateful. We have been increasing our profile on social media since the beginning of term and as well as our twitter account, have set up a new Facebook page. We would be really grateful if you could visit our page and like and share it! I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Buckland Abbey with Prep 6 “On Thursday 28th September, Prep 6 were taken to Buckland Abbey with Mrs Ewings and Mrs Duncan. As soon as we arrived a lovely lady called Natalie showed us around the Abbey grounds after we had seen a video telling us about the history of the abbey first. I really enjoyed seeing the picture of a lady whose eyes appeared to follow us around. We went in to several cool rooms, one contained Drake’s drum, a model of the Golden Hind and several beautiful jewels. Another was a chapel where some monks had been buried and a hidden panel which led up to a spy hole. After our packed lunch we found out about Tudor clothes and we got dressed as a Tudor which was very funny. We did Tudor dancing and some brass rubbings. When we arrived back at school I felt sad that this was the end of our school trip. We had such a great time.” By Rosa Kempton-Chivers

Buckfast Abbey with Prep 5

“On Wednesday 4th prep 5 went to Buckfast Abbey as part of our study of monasteries in the Medieval times, linked to the Reformation of Henry VIII. First of all we went to see a video of the history of the Abbey. We were amazed to find out that only four men built the Abbey in the early 1900s without safety equipment and machines we have today. After we spoke to a monk, Brother Daniel whose main job was to look after guests, light the fires and welcome people who come to the Abbey. He was very friendly and told us how he became a monk and his daily life in the Abbey. We asked him lots of questions and we were surprised that he told us he went on holiday. Then we spent some time in the educational centre and met Anna who showed us around the various hands on activities and found out more about bee keeping, monks clothing called a habit and the organ and how it works. We had a short look inside the abbey but had to be very quiet. I enjoyed our morning at the abbey.” By Izzy Wills

Art from around the school

Year 5 - Art inspired by buildings and paintings by Georgia O'Keefe

Prep 3 are very proud of their Native Indian display, where they made tepees, totem poles and canoes.

Birds by Prep 5

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A glimpse into our brilliant lessons…

Design Technology This week Prep 4 have been busy making twisting puppets.

Music This week Prep 5 have been composing their own pieces

in the style of ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ by Edvard Grieg, from Henrik Ibson’s play, Peer Gynt.

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