SG MESSENGER: 6th September 2019, No. 1 www.springgroveschool.co.uk

WELCOME BACK

A very big welcome to all our newcomers to the school as well as a welcome back to the old-timers! New staff include Kerry Scrivener (School Secretary), Rachel Hussell (EY TA) and Grace Stone (KS2 teacher) but sadly we shall be saying farewell at the end of term to Mr Dankert who has been at Spring Grove since 2008. More will be said in his honour later on this term but this morning’s Big Number assembly was delivered partly in tribute to him. I can also assure parents that we are working on finding his replacement over the coming weeks. Please note that Mark Curtis, our Facilities Manager, has moved to Wellesley House, taking up the role of Catering Man-ager. News of his replacement will be confirmed next week.

SPRING GROVE NURSERY

There were two new characters waiting to greet the Teddies and Gi-raffes children to the Nursery this

week!

The Head’s September Sonnet to inspire….

As we return to school this happy morn - A day on which the sun will shine, no doubt, On us, the dried up pond and parchèd lawn - And sit inside, we’ll look with envy out And back on weeks of rest and fun with folks, And time well-spent with treasured family, Recalling epic batting from Ben Stokes, Restoking Ashes’ dreams at Headingley. Now turn our minds to work that lies ahead

This Autumn Term, anticipating all That thrills our eager children who, well-read, Will keenly learn and make the most of school.

Revitalised, replenished by our rest, We’re ready now to always do our best!

RECYCLING AT SG After a fantastic runners up award in the Better Energy School Awards last year SG are looking to build on their success and are aiming for bigger and better in 2020. With Evie Lisle as our inaugural Eco Prefect and many imagi-native initiatives to come it is going to be an exciting year. As the holidays end our first eco-initiative of the year has a distinctly summery feel - please donate your unwanted wetsuits and inflatables. In Britain, over 380 tonnes of wetsuits end up in landfill each year. Neoprene is a highly polluting artificial rubber that doesn't have a specific recycling process and takes over 100 years to bio-degrade. Lorna Doyle is a local textile designer and champion of the Circular Economy. The Circular Economy is a vision of a world where both making and the using of products wastes nothing. She rescues old wetsuits and upcycles them into all manner of useful products. If we collect enough re-sources, Lorna has promised to come into school to talk about her work and the Circular Economy movement. #reducereuserecyle http://www.lorna-doyle.com We also continue to collect the following items at the Recycling Centre by Giraffes. Crisp Bags Bottle Tops Bread Bags Baby Pouches Batteries Thank you.

BLUE NOTEBOOKS

As we await the arrival of our Spring Grove Planners your child has been provided with a small blue note-book to record their homework, stars and reading in. These blue notebooks can also be used for parents to communicate with form teachers should they need to.

SPORTS KIT

The sports staff were delighted to receive their new kit for the start of term. Meanwhile the new sports top for pupils, designed by Alice R, is in production and will be available soon from our uniform suppli-ers, Simmonds.

LAMDA SUCCESS We celebrated the success of all of our LAMDA exam candidates in the Friday assembly. Congratulations to the following for their excellent results—all of the pupils who took exams received Distinctions or high Merits. Well done to: Alfie A Amelia D Evie D Andrew D Celina D-R Edward C-S Faith B Evie L Flossie A Sophia B

Annabelle W Isla K Hetty M Isabella S Jack E James D

ADVERTISE IN THE MESSENGER

If you would like to place an advert in Autumn 2019 Messenger, please email chair@sgpta.co.uk for costs and terms & conditions.

LAMDA Speech and Drama Individual Graded Qualifications for: Clarity of Speech - Expressing meaning, vocally and physically - Listening, interpreting, creating. Benefits include: Vocabulary development - Communication confidence - Examination experience Price for 12 lessons this Autumn: £180 per child Autumn Taster day: Monday 9th 2019 Autumn dates: 16th Sept to 14th Oct and 28th Oct to 9th Dec Coaching for individual graded Speech and Drama qualifications takes place on Mondays and children will be taught in pairs for 30 minutes. Students prepare for individual LAMDA Communication and Performance qualifications, benefiting from co-working with peers. Children are taken out of different lessons each week to minimise disruption to school study. My intention is to focus on Speaking in Public this term and move to Performance in the Spring if students wish: this is not set in stone! I am aiming for exams in December/January and the early summer of 2020. After-school Club Group Classes, leading to group certificates These classes are designed to offer children and parents the opportunity to prepare for LAMDA examinations in groups after school, leading to group LAMDA examinations: Year 2: Mondays 4pm to 4:30pm £80 Years 3 - 6: Mondays 4:30 to 5:30pm £110 Autumn Taster day: Monday 9th 2019 Autumn dates: 16th Sept to 14th Oct and 28th Oct to 9th Dec (12 weeks)

Classes run by Laura Field of Spoken Words

laura@spokenwords.net 077793 812364 www.spokenwords.net

Pranav B Kirtan P Sophie B-S Pia N Scarlett W-J Daniel B

SETTLING INTO RECEPTION Report from Mrs Lucy and Miss Terry in the Reception classes: “They have all settled in brilliantly and we have been having lots of fun getting to know each other!”

DISPLAY OF THE WEEK

Display of the Week this week is our Prep 6 leavers 2019 updated with some lovely photos of their first days at their new schools. Don’t they look smart in their new uniforms! We wish all the very best to all of our leavers

and look forward to seeing them back at Spring Grove, and hearing how they are getting on .

MATHS ASSEMBLY Big numbers and concepts about space can fascinate us all and a presentation on big numbers and even bigger space will, I hope, provoke discussion at home. We considered the make-up of millions, billions and trillions and considered how long it would take to count up to such numbers. A Googol (10 to the power of 100), we learnt, would be truly impossible to count up to and, even more so, a Googolplex (10 to the power of a Googol)! Moving on to the size of space we saw the famous picture of the Earth taken from a distance of 40 billion miles, in which our planet, a mere dot, appears. On this tiny speck has occurred the en-

tire history of humanity. It makes us feel small… and yet there is the possibility of belief in a God who knows and loves us personally. Psalm 8 O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! When I consider your heavens, The work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, which you have set in place, What is man that you are mindful of him? You made him a little lower that the heavenly beings And crowned him with glory and honour. O Lord, how majestic is your name in all earth!

SPORTS OPEN TRAINING On Friday afternoon the SG Sports Department held a special open sports training event. Everyone was able to

enjoy all the exercises which focused on catching, passing and control. When asked, I received a variety of replies as to which was their favourite activity and I am sure that the coaches will be able to use what they saw today as evidence of the pupils’ fantastic progress. We have some exciting sporting events to which we can look forward. “It’s great to see the boys and girls train together,” said one parent.

PTA GENERAL MEETING

The SG PTA met on 25 June. Please > click here to view the full minutes of this meeting.

This year’s committee and class reps are:

Committee:

Chair - Suzie Boyd (chair@sgpta.co.uk) Secretary - Treasurer - Vicky Jones (treasurer@sgpta.co.uk) 2nd Hand Uniform - Carine Borg Class Reps: TBC for 2019-20

Dates for your diary

Pre-AGM meeting on Thursday 12 September

8.45am in the SG50 Library All welcome—come along to find

out more about the SG PTA

SG PTA AGM Friday 20 September

9.30am in the SG50 Library (after the French Breakfast)

All welcome!

PTA NEWS

www.romneymarshwools.co.uk 01233 721800

CROSS COUN-TRY RUNNING

SPIKES SALE

As the Cross-Country

season is fast approach-ing there will be a sale of

running spikes next Wednesday (11 Septem-

ber) after school.

All enquiries to Mrs Lang-ford

HAPPY BIRTH-HAPPY BIRTH-DAY…DAY…

Felix C Lily E Isobel B Willa L Anya O Sanjay P Edward G

Lucas M Sebastian W

DIARY Monday 9 September - Friday 13 September

Wednesday 11

U11 Girls’ Hockey Training with Lor (BL) U11 Boys’ Football v Ashford & Lor (H)

Thursday 12

Kent Test Day for Prep 6 SG PTA Pre-AGM meeting 8.45am in the SG50 Library—all welcome U9 Boys’ Football triangular APS & Lor (Lor)

Friday 13 Prep 4D Assembly Prep 6 Treat Day

CONGRATULATIONSCONGRATULATIONSCONGRATULATIONS Alfie A – Summer Cricket Camp 2019 – Achievement Cer-tificate for Best Batsman Award; East Kent Pony Club 4th Tetrathlon; Footloose the Musical All Day Workshop Sophia B – Distinction in Dance Primary Imperial Classi-cal Ballet Sebastian S – achieved British Gymnastics Proficiency Award Level 7 Andrew D – Entry Level Award (Entry 3) in Initial Trom-bone Thomas and Samuel M – Per-formed in 5 Day Musical Thea-tre production of ‘Footloose’ at Radlett Centre & both took part in Ashford Hockey Sum-mer School Isabella S – British Gymnastics Proficiency Award Level 5 Evie D – Stage 3 Windsurfing

Isabelle L – Grade 2 Musical Theatre with Distinction and Grade 3 Flute with Distinction Angel N – best player for Ashford Angels Alfie A and Thomas B – Football medals for Wye FC Issah KG – Chess half colours Scarlett WJ – Pauline Quirke Academy certificate and lots of awards for a very busy summer!

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