Mr Conway's Blog 2022-2023

Friday 21^st July

As we approach the very end of our 190 day academic year we have still been going full steam ahead all around school!

The week began with our postponed EYFS Sports Day, the weather tried to put us off again however our hardy parents and families stuck out the 5 minute downpour just as Nursery and Reception entered the sporting arena!

Once the rain had passed, there were lots of happy smiles, excited cheers and athletic talent on show in our multi-skills format activities. We finished them off with some sprint and egg and spoon races, with the best part being that we all received a special medal for excellent effort for all of our Shephalbury learners.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support!

On Thursday this week our Year 1 & 2 learners finished the year in style with a trip to Airbus UK, participating in lots of science and craft activities. Lots of fun was had by all, especially the coach experience going across town!

We also saw Phil’s Golden moment this week, with our golden ticket winners each attending the ice cream party held by Mrs Dean and Mrs McKenzie. This was a great way to recognise the thoughtful and considerate answers given by our Shephalbury learners to Phil’s questions throughout this half term.

Our annual Year 6 vs Staff football and netball matches drew huge crowd from Years 3, 4 & 5 this week.

A determined and expectant Year 6 team lined up at the start of the football match, however their hopes were swiftly dashed as the staff team took an early lead and never really looked back. The result, a well deserved 7-1 victory for the staff team and good sportspersonship all round.

Our local championship winning Y6 netballers were also in buoyant mood when lining up against a depleted and slightly injured staff team. They played incredibly well, catching up after conceding an early lead. The staff team, however, pressed ahead in the third and fourth quarters eventually emerging 13-4 victors. Once again, some fantastic determination and commitment shown by everyone!

The week was rounded off with a couple of assemblies, celebrating our Year 6 leavers and those staff members moving on to pastures new. We all wish everyone who is a leaving the best of luck in the next stage of their journey, whether it be educational, for work or in retirement. We look forward to hearing how you are all getting on.

You can read a bit more about those who are leaving and some more reflections on the last year at Shephalbury Park in my end of year letter, which was circulated today and is available below:

Our bumper inclusion newsletter from Mrs Dean and Mrs McKenzie is available via the link below. You will find lots of useful information and ideas to support you and your families.

As a parent, I know that the 6 week holiday can sometimes be hard to fill with activities and ideas that don’t cost a fortune all of the time to keep our children occupied. With this in mind you may want to have a quick look on the BBC website for some ideas of how to inspire everyone throughout the holidays:

I hope that you all have a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday 4^th September.

Ben Conway

Friday 14^th July

I think that we can all agree that last Friday was a fantastic event, thanks to the very hard work, planning and dedication of those volunteers who provided us with our first FOSP Summer Fete. It really was a wonderful community event that provided fun and excitement for everyone, it is events like this that pull our community together and enrich the wider life of the school.

I attended the FOSP meeting this week, where they reviewed the successes and areas to consider for their next event, and there was some rich discussion relating to this. The total amount raised last week is magnificent, considering that the outlay was very minimal…you will see the total below!

Raffle prizes winners - Please collect from the school office before 20^th July 

Penalty Shootout non-uniform winners - Phoenix- who won a non-uniform on Tuesday 18^th July

Our Year 6 cohort wowed the school and their parents this week with their incredible end of year performance of ‘I’m an 11 Year Old, Get Me Out Of Here!’. It really was a brilliant show, with lots of laughs and audience participation opportunities. The individual performances of the roles, the singing and the delivery of the lines were all spot on, what a wonderful memory we will all be left with of the class.

A production like this takes a lot of effort, co-ordination and input from those staff members working with the class, a big thank you to Miss Cordner and Mrs Spiller for their hard work on this…and of course an enormous well done to our Year 6 performers!

Today you will receive your child’s annual report which summarises their achievement and application throughout the academic year. Please ensure that you focus on the many positive elements within the report and celebrate these at home together with your children.

On Thursday we all took part in our annual transition day, with our Year 6 learners off visiting their new schools, we welcomed new Reception learners and all spent the morning in our new classes with our new teachers. It was a great way to get a bit more used to our new surroundings and find out a bit more about the expectations for the next academic year.

We were all treated to some wonderful music in assembly this afternoon, as Viktor wowed us by playing us in and out of assembly. He has recently achieved a merit in his Grade 2 piano examination and did a fantastic job at sharing his piano skills with us. A brilliant achievement and some brilliant playing…well done Viktor and thank you for sharing with us!

Having completed their production earlier this week, our Year 6 learners have some exciting opportunities lying ahead of them. This morning they were treated to a rowing workshop (on machines, in the dry in the school hall) and this afternoon they are heading off across town to go bowling at the Leisure Park. Their activity day will culminate tonight with activities, a movie, fish and chips and a sleepover at school. We hope that they thoroughly enjoy their day (and long night!!).

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to a delicious selection of cakes and treats! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

I have handed out 2 Headteacher’s awards this week, both to Year 2 writers. Both Imogen and Daniel have been working incredibly hard in developing their skills in suspense writing. They independently used the features that they have learnt and practiced to write a brilliant piece each…well done to them both for keeping us all in suspense!

And finally this week, some lovely news to share with you all, Mrs Levy gave birth to her second child Marlo in June. He is at home with mum, dad and brother Chester growing bigger by the day. I am sure that you will join me in sending our congratulations to Mrs Levy and her family.

I hope that that weather brightens up for us all over the weekend!

Ben Conway

Friday 7^th July

Well it certainly has been a week of contrasts at Shephalbury Park, we started off the week relatively quietly, with our Year 4 & 5 residential at Grafham Water, and have ended it with a bang with the FOSP Summer Fete.

This was our first trip to the residential centre at Grafham Water, and what a place it turned out to be for our learners. Raft building, bushcraft, cycling, stand up paddle boarding and team building activities galore were on offer during a jam packed 3 day trip. Needless to say our learners all represented the school brilliantly throughout and were a credit to themselves…taking risks and trying out new experiences.

If you want to see some of the fun that they had follow the link below. As always, any residential trip takes an enormous amount of organising, preparation and commitment from staff who give up their time to go. A huge thank you to Mrs Cropley for leading the trip, and to Mr Klein, Mrs Spiller, Mrs Grizzell and Mrs Smith for accompanying the trip and supporting our learners throughout.

Whilst they were gone, it was definitely a lot quieter around school. The Year 5 learners that stayed at school did a fabulous job in making and preparing sandwiches and cakes for our ‘Let’s Connect Teddy Bears’ Picnic’. Our EYFS learners welcomed our friends from the St Peter’s Church group to join them with their favourite teddies, play games and have an afternoon picnic. It really was a lovely event and wonderful to see how engaged our learners were with our guests.

We have continued our transition programme this week for our new Nursery and Reception learners, welcoming them and some of their parents into school for some stay and play sessions. It has been great to meet them all, and we are looking forward to them joining us in September.

You will have been emailed a letter today with the staffing allocations for September. All classes will spend the morning with their new teacher and members of support staff on Thursday 13^th July, in their new classrooms. This is a great chance for them to become more familiar with their new surroundings and the staff that they will be working with from September.

This afternoon sees the FOSP hosting their first Summer Fete since their re-formation. Despite the event not having taken place at the time of writing this blog, I do know how much effort has gone into the planning and preparation of this event. Those that have put it together have worked incredibly hard, and on a very tight budget, put together what I know will be a fantastic event. A huge than you to the FOSP committee and everyone else who has supported the event in any way…I look forward to sharing some pictures on my next blog!

Some more sporting achievements to report this week for Florence (Y2), who competed in an elite tumbling competition last weekend. Along with her team mates she achieved a combined bronze medal, something to be really proud of…well done Florence!

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to something delicious provided by Mr Klein, thank you very much! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

I have handed out 2 Headteacher’s awards this week, both to learners in Reception, and both for the same reason…some amazing independent writing. First was Emily who came straight into Busy Fingers on Thursday this week and completed her writing in no time whatsoever. Not only did she work on her own, but she used her phonic knowledge to sound out and spell the words. The second award went to Isla D who, in drawing club, drew a picture of her naughty teddy and wrote about it on her own. Some super drawing and writing girls…well done!

I hope that you all enjoyed the fete and look forward to seeing you all after the weekend!

Ben Conway

Friday 30^th June

As we approach July there has been an incredible amount of learning, enrichment and sport taking place all around school this week!

At the start of the week we welcomed our new cohort of Reception Shephalbury learners for September and met their families. We pride ourselves on the strong relationships that we build with our community, and we look forward to getting to know them all more over the coming weeks, months and years.

We have also been welcoming our new Nursery learners to begin their transition visits. It has been lovely to see them all so comfortable in the environment already, exploring and making new friends.

Over the course of this academic year, we have been participating in the Stevenage Early Years programme, a chance to learn, develop and share good practice across the town. All of our Early Years staff team has played a part in their own way throughout the course of the year, which culminated last week with a presentation session which was attended by Miss Martin. A big thank you to her and the rest of the team for their commitment to the programme and for continually providing our learners with the amazing opportunities that they get.

One of the amazing experiences was had this week, as our current Early Years learners were visited by ‘Little City’, an interactive role play workshop. There were vets, hairdressers, builders and postal workers wandering around the hall, experiencing some of the activities that they would take on in their role. It was brilliant to see how engaged everyone was and how much fun they were having.

This time next week we will be enjoying our first summer fete since the re-formation of The Friends of Shephalbury Park. I know how much hard work and effort the core committee and wider contributors have put into planning and setting it all up – thank you in advance to them all. Please support the event, as all money raised goes directly towards improving the experiences that we offer learners across the school.

Our annual sports day last week was a great event, with some excellent competitiveness, good sportspersonship and wonderful support. But it also highlighted a couple of elements that we are aiming to overcome. Firstly, one of the teams was considerably larger than the others and those in Griffin (wearing the yellow t-shirts) are constantly annoyed by the bugs and flies that their tops attract.

Working with our School Council, we have discussed ways to overcome this, and we have come to the decision that we will be re-branding our House Teams from September, with new names, different teams and a new colour. School Council unanimously voted purple to be the new team colour replacing yellow. We will therefore have red, blue, green and purple teams.

School Council also did a great job of collating new ideas from their peers for the themes and names of the new teams, which they shortlisted and which has now been put to a vote amongst the councillors and adults around the school. The successful idea was:

Local Birds of Prey

Blue Buzzards            Green Kestrels           Purple Sparrowhawks           Red Kites

The new teams will mean that everyone will receive a new coloured bottle lid for September and we will be making a change to our PE kit. Instead of a white t-shirt, we would like learners to wear a PE shirt in the colour of their house team. We will be providing the first t-shirt for everyone for free, embroidered with the school logo, you will then be able to purchase any subsequent ones from our school uniform supplier Smarty Schoolwear.

We will send out a link so that you can let us know what size t-shirt you would like for your children and get them ordered ready for September. We look forward to the big launch of our new teams in the new academic year!

Stevenage Primary Netball Festival Report:

We were all very excited to attend and represent our school at a Netball Festival on Tuesday.  We were going to have presentations for the years League results, and also compete in a competition for that day.  We arrived feeling excited and nervous, but determined to try our best.

Year 5 played our matches and fought well to maintain possession of the ball. It was hard playing but we tried our best.

During the presentation we were thrilled to learn that we came 3^rd overall in the League, and 3^rd for the Festival.   Another award was then announced, that we had also won a Teamwork certificate recognising that we treat everyone equally and work together to have fun and achieve.

"I was so happy with Year 5 getting the awards because we communicated well during our matches."

"We got 2 medals because we worked together."

Year 6 had a nervous start, but our confidence soon started to grow and our support for each other was steadfast.  We were excited to learn that we were to compete in the Semi-Finals, and there we got another win.  We were now facing the final and anxious but drew on our prior experience, training and tactics, really focused on our challenge ahead.  We were cheered on by a large crowd, dug deep and played hard for each other.  Final whistle and we had a win, a gold medal and tournament champions (2 years running).

Another added bonus was that we also came 3^rd in the League, so gained another treasured medal.

"I have never felt so proud as I did then, that final made me stronger as a person."

"It was a fun experience as we all connected together."

"So pleased for you and the girls yesterday…..THE BEST FINAL EVER!!" Stevenage Sporting Futures.

An amazing achievement from everyone who has represented our school at netball this year…we are all so proud of you!

A huge thank you to Mrs McKenzie and Mrs Dean for their support, coaching and umpiring throughout the year!

Someone else excelling in sport outside of school is Elijah (Y5), who won the players player of the year award for his club, and is currently trialling for the Stevenage district U11s team for next year. A huge well done and the best of luck in the next round of trials Elijah!

Over the past couple of years at Shephalbury Park, we have worked incredibly hard at refining our inclusion offer, ensuring that we are able to support all learners to have equitable access into an education that meets their individual needs. We have invested in lots of resources that are used on a daily basis throughout our school. We have identified a piece of equipment that will offer incredible benefits to all learners, especially those with special educational needs that attend our school. A parent from our community has heard of the benefits that this equipment would provide to support their children, and everyone else in our school community, and has started a Go Fund Me page to try and raise funds to support us in purchasing an isandBOX – an augmented reality sand box.

If you would like to support the fund any money that you are able to donate will be greatly appreciated by all:

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to something delicious provided by Mrs Cropley, thank you very much! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was set by our new anti-bullying ambassadors, along with Mrs McKenzie, they asked ‘What do you think bullying is? Explain…’

There were lots of brilliant responses, but only a few could be chosen:

Sereny Y4- ‘It is when somebody is horrible to you but they do it all the time. If you ever see someone bullying or being mean, tell a responsible adult!’

Leanna Y5- ‘Bullying is when people hurt each other mentally or physically. It is also when you don’t apologise and just leave it. Or you should say that this is something like you don’t want to be treated.’

Alfie YR- ‘Being not nice to someone.’

Noorisha Y5- ‘Bullying is when someone is being rude to you and makes fun of you. It is someone who makes you feel uncomfortable and the goal is to make your life a misery because their life might be bad. If someone is bullying you just know they’re not happy with their life and tell a trusted adult.’

The first was to Alfie (Y1) for his model of a rhino and his fabulous explanation of the current issues that they face. We talked about why they were endangered and what causes people to poach them for their horns. Alfie showed a deep knowledge of this and it really demonstrated his caring and thoughtful nature. Well done Alfie!

Secondly was Joe (Y6) for some exceptional writing this week. Through his love of reading and books, Joe has built up an incredible bank of ideas, language and phraseology which has contributed towards his latest task. The class were challenged to rewrite their own versions of their favourite book/story, Joe chose Hamlet, and what a fantastic job he did. His new version was full of description, detail and depth and carried a real authorial voice throughout. Incredible work Joe…well done!

Finally I hope that those members of our community, and beyond, had a happy Eid this week!

I hope that you enjoy the weekend and fingers crossed for a positive result for England against Australia in the Ashes.

Ben Conway

Friday 23^rd June

Another busy and very active week here at Shephalbury Park, where we have celebrated Sports Week with lots of fun, active activities and tested our competitiveness against each other.

We kicked the week off with an inspirational visit from Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray:

‘Samantha Murray (born 25 September 1989) is an English modern pentathlete. She won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships. In 2014, she won individual gold and team silver medals at the 2014 World Championships. In 2015, Murray reached world number #1 in the Modern Pentathlon World Rankings after taking Gold at the USA World Cup followed by a 5th place at the Berlin World Championships. Murray finished in 8th Place at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil.’

She spoke in assembly about her journey and the importance of applying yourself to maximise your potential. She shared information about the history of her multi-discipline event and led each class in a set of exercises to get their hearts pumping!

Unfortunately the luck of the weather was not with us on Tuesday morning for our EYFS sports day, however we have already shared a new date for parents and carers to come and join the fun.

Fortunately our fencing workshops for KS2 were unaffected by the rain. We all had lots of fun learning about the equipment, skills and techniques involved in the sport. It was great for many of us to have an experience of a new sport! We are hoping to have a fencing club set up in the Autumn term.

Wednesday was the Summer Solstice- the longest day of the year- and this signals World Yoga Day. We celebrated this event with a day full of calming yoga workshops for everyone, where we stretched, relaxed and manoeuvred our bodies into all sorts of shapes and positions.

Also on Wednesday we all got into the competitive spirit with our field events. Everyone took part in a wide range of throws and jumps, hoping to earn maximum points for their house teams. It was very tightly contested, and our score averaging system ensured fairness across the houses and year groups. You will be able to see a full breakdown of the scores further down the page!

Thursday was a very ‘hip hop’ day at Shephalbury Park, with street dance workshops inspiring and enthusing us all. Alisha, our dance teacher, was full of energy and taught us all (adults included) some fabulous new dance moves and routines!

The week was rounded off with our annual sports day event for Key stages 1 & 2. There was lots of positive encouragement from the crowd, and everyone demonstrated a great attitude. As always, it was a very competitive event with the goal of winning the sports day cup. Thank you to those parents, carers and families who came to support, and those who stayed for a lovely picnic on the field afterwards, and thank you to FOSP for providing us all with ice poles to cool us down once we were back inside!

Throughout the week, school staff have been keeping a close eye on our Shephalbury Learners, looking for positive sportspersonship and high achievement in the workshops and activities that we have been taking part in. Each learner nominated won a medal and a bonus 25 house points for their team to add to their Sports Day totals!

The final results of our sports day activities can be seen below. A huge well done to everyone for your application this week, especially our award winners and Sports Day Champions Unicorns!

A small group of children attended a DFE funded event yesterday to learn the skills to become “Anti-Bullying Ambassadors”.  The training was run by staff from the Diana Awards whose key message is “Everyone needs to be valued.  Everyone has the potential to give something back – Diana”

Our children learnt to understand the different types of bullying, whether verbal, indirect or physical and how to recognise signs and symptoms of bullying behaviour.  They were given the skills to intervene safely.

Our Ambassadors, along with the Pastoral Support Team, are now going to plan a fun, effective and long-term campaign that will help to prevent and tackle bullying behaviour. 

“I really enjoyed the day because we learnt a lot about anti-bullying and how to help bullies and those being bullied.”  Freddie

“I enjoyed learning how it feels for people who have been bullied and how we can support them to feel better.”  Roma

“I feel proud to be an Anti-Bullying Ambassador as I can help people feel better and feel happy again.” Emilia

Over the past couple of years at Shephalbury Park, we have worked incredibly hard at refining our inclusion offer, ensuring that we are able to support all learners to have equitable access into an education that meets their individual needs. We have invested in lots of resources that are used on a daily basis throughout our school. We have identified a piece of equipment that will offer incredible benefits to all learners, especially those with special educational needs that attend our school. A parent from our community has heard of the benefits that this equipment would provide to support their children, and everyone else in our school community, and has started a Go Fund Me page to try and raise funds to support us in purchasing an isandBOX – an augmented reality sand box.

If you would like to support the fund any money that you are able to donate will be greatly appreciated by all:

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to something delicious provided by Mrs Lee, thank you very much! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week supported our Sports Week, as he asked ‘What does being involved in sports teach us? Explain…’

There were some brilliant responses, but only a few could be chosen:

Freddie Y4- ‘It teaches us that we won’t always win and what perseverance is.’

Olivia Y5- ‘It teaches us that if you lose and do bad, then always try again and don’t give up. Don’t get upset about it, appreciate that you tried and shake hands and say well done. It is a good job to show respect.’

Lacey Y5- ‘It teaches us fitness can be fun if you give it a chance and you can learn a lot.’

I have handed out 3 Headteacher’s awards this week, a couple of which were to two of our youngest Shephalbury learners.

Charlotte and Ernie (YN) have both been working incredibly hard to secure their phonic knowledge in class recently. Not only this, they are using their phonics to independently write and read CVC words. This is fantastic for our learners right at the start of their educational journey, and will certainly stand them in good stead as they transition in Reception in September. An enormous well done to them both!

My other award went to Ronnie (Y2) for his incredible improvement in writing this year. Not only has his handwriting vastly improved during his time in Year 2, the content of his work is now making it interesting and exciting to read. He purposely chose words for effect and explained them to me when he was reading. Brilliant work Ronnie…keep it up!

Fingers crossed for some lovely weather over the weekend, see you all on Monday.

Ben Conway

Friday 16^th June

The end of a hot and sunny week at Shephalbury Park, and what a busy week we have had!

To kick it all off, years 3 and 4 visited the Verulamium Museum in St Albans to supplement their learning about Romans. It was a fantastic trip and some brilliant workshops took place for our learners. It provided a wonderful chance to put some more context to the learning that has taken place in school, and see it all in a relatively local environment. Thank you to Mrs Cropley, Ms Prendergast the other staff that supported the trip for our learners.

On Tuesday we welcomed our Hertfordshire improvement partner Carole Hinstridge back to school for our termly review. We spent time discussing and sharing some of our school improvement priorities around the school and then looking for the evidence of the impact of our work. As always our Shephalbury learners and staff clearly demonstrated many of the positive attributes that are so well ingrained throughout our school. It is a pleasure to show visitors around our school as the learning focus, excitement and positive learning behaviours are clear and evident everywhere.

Year 6 have been taking part in a careers focused week facilitated by Hertfordshire Careers Hub. On Wednesday scientists from Unilever visited to conduct a science workshop with the class. They shared and discussed different science based careers and then wowed everyone with some experiments with dry ice...the favourite definitely bring the creation of ice cream! A huge thank you to Miss Cordner for coordinating such an informative and exciting week for Year 6.

Thursday saw Team Shephalbury competing at the Stevenage Primary Athletics championships, a big event pitting the town's best athletic talent against each other. With individual and team events taking place throughout a boiling day, all of our competitors epitomised team spirit and sportspersonship. The competition was tough but there were some really stand out performances on the day with Maya winning bronze in the Y5&6 100metres, Jenson winning bronze in the Y5&6 boys cricket ball throw and our mixed relay team (Phoebe, Maya, George B & Kian T) also winning bronze. A huge well done to everyone!

If you and your children are interested in taking up some running, whether it be for fun, fitness or to be competitive, have a look below for information of the Stevenage Junior Parkrun.

With father's day coming up this weekend, our EYFS classes invited in family members to share breakfast with. Whilst we recognise that this is a lovely event and day for fathers everywhere, we also recognise that this can be a difficult time for many. For those in this position we offer our support and positive thoughts over the weekend.

Next week is Sports Week, with a whole load of events and activities taking place. We are inviting everyone to wear their PE kit for the week, and are looking forward to welcoming parents for sports days, family picnic and our awards ceremony on Friday. We have a British Olympic silver medallist visiting on Monday and activities taking place every day. I look forward to sharing some of the highlights with you next week.

There have been a range of assessments taking place for learners this week, with our Year 1 learners completing their phonics screening check, Year 4 learners completing the multiplication check and our Year 2 cohort's learning being moderated. Through all of these it is clear how well all of our learners apply themselves, as well as really highlighting the fantastic job that our teaching and support staff do in facilitating learning in every year group. A big well done to all of our Shephalbury learners and thank you to the staff involved.

Today our School Council held a bake sale in line with the discussions and plans from the Stevenage Pupil Parliament. Thank you to everyone who donated money and cakes in support of Feed Up, Warm Up and Herts Young Homeless. Needless to say everyone enjoyed themselves in eating their cakes this morning!

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to something slightly different today due to the cake sale…everyone selected their favourite flavour of crisps! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was centred on the international celebration of Pride Month ‘Why is it good to celebrate each other’s differences?’

There were so many fantastic ideas that I assisted Mrs Dean in selecting this week’s winners. Please see below for the winning entries:

Mina Y4- ‘Because if we were all the same the whole world would be 100 times more boring.’

Steffen Y3- ‘Because we should all be happy to be unique and our own person. Wouldn’t everything be boring if we were all the same?’

Lenny B Y3- ‘Because everyone is different and that’s special, so we should celebrate it.’

Leanna Y5- ‘It is a good thing to celebrate each other’s differences so that they don’t feel bad for being different or so that the can feel respected for it.’

Henry G Y2- ‘It doesn’t matter what you look like, what matters is who you are.’

I have handed out 3 Headteacher’s awards this week, to some of our youngest Shephalbury learners. Both Isla, Louie and Alfie (YR) have really impressed Miss Martin, and myself, with their independent work at home and in school. Isla and Louie used their phonics in drawing club, to draw and label the animals that we saw whilst at Shepreth Wildlife Park last week and Isla has been using her knowledge in her independent writing. Alfie has been keeping a short diary and practicing his spellings weekly in his own notebook.

Well done to you all for some fantastic learning behaviours both in and out of the classroom!

I look forward to seeing you all for Sports Week next week, see you all on Monday!

Ben Conway

Friday 9^th June

Good afternoon and welcome back to the final half term of this academic year! With the warm, sunny weather upon us we shared some reminders with all of our Shephalbury learners about how to keep themselves healthy and well in the heat and sun. Please ensure that if the weather is warm your children have sun cream on, have a sun hat and bring their school water bottle with them with fresh water every day.

There is a lot coming up during the course of this half term and the list of dates to be aware of has been re-circulated to our mailing list this afternoon. There are trips, residentials, performances, sports events and much more…please have a look at the dates and check your emails regularly for any updates or adaptations that occur.

One trip that has taken place this week, was the EYFS trip to Shepreth Wildlife Park, which I was lucky enough to attend. It was a fantastic day out, learning about some of the different animals that live there. Our Shephalbury learners did us proud and represented the school in a magnificent way. There was much fun had by all and many weary travellers on the coach on the way home. A huge thank you to Miss Martin, Mrs Mutch and all of the adults who supported the running of the trip.

Some more of our Shephalbury learner representatives doing us proud this week, were our Year 6 school councillors, Jayden and Ava, who attended the Stevenage Pupil Parliament. The termly meeting is held in the council chambers and gives school representatives the opportunity to discuss issues effecting the town and the people that live here. Our councillors presented their views well and contributed to the group discussion. Thank you to Mrs Spiller for accompanying them.

We have ended the week with crazy hair everywhere! A great event and, hopefully, lots of donations for FOSP to use whilst setting up the upcoming summer fete. I know that they are working incredibly hard to plan a great event, and that all offers of support and help are warmly welcomed. To get in touch with the team send them an email on fosp@shephalburypark.herts.sch.uk

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to some delicious muffins from Mrs Mutch…thank you very much! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was ‘What can we do to tackle plastic pollution?’

There were lots of fantastic ideas that could help, and it was difficult to select a winner. Please see below for the winning entries:

Teddy Y1- ‘Write a poster and put it around town that says “Stop littering because it is bad for the World.”’

Phoebe Y1- ‘I would dive in with bags and get some rubbish and put it in the bag.’

Kian T Y6- ‘Re-use plastic and if you own a shop, try and make everything with less plastic and ship things in cardboard.’

One Headteacher’s award this week and it was for some incredible suspense writing by Emily (Y3). Her used of language and variety of sentences had me on the edge of my seat throughout. It really shows the progress that she has made during the year and was wonderful to listen to. Incredible work Emily…well done!

Let’s hope that the warm sunny weather sees us through the weekend and the predicted storms leave us well alone.

See you all on Monday!

Ben Conway

Friday 26^th May

As we make it to the end of this half term, the sun is out and we are all looking forward to the week ahead. In what has been – on paper at least – a short half term, it has certainly been a busy one, where many of our learners (and staff) have succumbed to chicken pox and conjunctivitis, but we have as ever seen a strong commitment and engagement in all year groups.

Today we had a brilliant learning day organised by Mrs Spiller where we learnt about the Buddhist festival of Wesak. It was a great day, filled with treasure hunts, food tasting, crafts and story telling.

Wesak celebrates the Buddha's birthday and, for some Buddhists, also marks his enlightenment and death. It is also called Buddha Day.

When is Wesak?

Wesak is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May. In 2023 Wesak takes place on Friday 5 May.

How is Wesak celebrated?

Wesak is a very colourful and happy celebration. Homes may be cleaned and decorated.

In many countries, Buddhists will visit their local temple for services and teaching. They will give offerings to the monks of food, candles and flowers. Chanting and praying are an important part of Wesak.

The 'Bathing the Buddha' ceremony is also often included. Water is poured over the shoulders of the Buddha as a reminder to purify their own minds from greed, hatred and ignorance.

Gifts are taken to an altar to be offered to the Buddha statues. This shows respect and gratitude to the Buddha for his life and teachings.

Giving to others is an important Buddhist tradition. Buddhists make a special effort to give to people in need at Wesak.

Celebrations vary from one country to another. In Thailand and Indonesia, for example, special Wesak lanterns are made of paper and wood. In China, dancing dragons are incorporated into the celebrations.

Another popular custom in some countries is to release caged birds. This represents letting go of troubles and wishing that all beings are well and happy.

We are proud of how our Year 6 and Year 2 learners applied themselves to their SATs, and like always have been impressed with the attitude and commitment from those who have represented our school outside of our boundary – in sports fixtures, in the HMS Gala and on trips. The many additional and exciting elements that we build into our curriculum and provide within our extra-curricular opportunities provide our learners with the chance to build their ‘cultural capital’ and broaden their horizons.

I know that many of you will continue to do this over half term, and I look forward to hearing about the many adventures that our learners have!

I recently came across a really interesting TED Talk linked to child development, and the importance of developing good communication with our children. Whilst we know how useful and important technology has become in our lives, effective communication from an early age really supports brain development and supports child development. Please have a watch below:

I have some staffing updates to share with you all. Many of you will have noticed that Mrs Levy is expecting her second child, she has left us now to begin her maternity leave. We wish her the best of luck and much love as her family grows with her new addition. I look forward to being able to share news of her new arrival in the coming weeks.

Mrs Adamson has also left us for a while as she undergoes some surgery on her foot. We also wish her the best of luck and a speedy recovery from her procedure and look forward to welcoming her back at some point in the future. For the remainder of this academic year we will be welcoming back a familiar face to our EYFS team, Mrs McCullagh will be rejoining us until the summer to work with our nursery class.

My final piece of staffing news is that at the end of this academic year, having given 24 years of service to our school community, Mrs Chandler will be entering a very well deserved retirement. She has been a constant support and champion for our school, learners and staff over a few generations of the Shephalbury Park community. I am sure that you will all be very generous with your thanks and appreciation for the role that she has played in the lives of many Shephalbury Park families over the years.

You will have seen that The Friends of Shephalbury Park are working hard behind the scenes to plan their first summer fete. They are really keen to continue to drum up support from our school community:

Please support the FOSP Summer Fete!

The Crazy Hair day on 9th June has been organised in order to collect donations for the Summer Fete after school on 7th July.

Have you got any unwanted items collecting dust & taking up space that you can donate towards the Summer Fete?

We are particularly looking for items including toys, teddies, pre-loved goods, individually wrapped snacks, drinks, shop bought cakes, books, tombola items, raffle prizes, etc.

The Summer Fete is being held to raise funds to help the school provide experiences for our children and also for our community to get together and have some fun! 

If you wish to volunteer to help at the Summer Fete please email the FOSP team (fosp@shephalburypark.herts.sch.uk)

Thank you for your support.

The Friends of Shephalbury Park

I would like to share some sad news regarding a former longstanding member of the Shephalbury Park community, whom some of you may know and remember. John Gardner, ex chair of governors and local councillor, passed away recently. I know from speaking to people who knew him, and what has been written about him, that John was a committed servant to others, supporting causes and championing many communities within the town. Our thoughts are with his family and we are grateful for the role that he played in our school community.

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to some delicious vanilla cupcakes from Mrs Ashby…thank you very much! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was ‘What does a confident person look like and sound like?’

As always the answers were thought provoking and it was difficult to select a winner. Please see below for the winning entries:

This week has seen me hand out 2 Headteacher’s Award.

The first went to William (Y1) who produced some incredible writing for his home learning. Year 1 were tasked with writing about their heroes and William wrote fantastically about his mum and dad. Amazing home learning William…well done!

The next was also for a learner in Year 1, Lillee has wowed Mrs Cargill and Mrs Gregory with her writing and PSHE work over the last couple of weeks. Great work Lillee!

We have also just published our monthly inclusion newsletter, with loads of information, links and signposting to other really valuable resources. To have a look please follow the link below:

I really hope that the bright, sunny weather holds out for us all next week. Enjoy the break and I look forward to seeing everyone back to school on Tuesday 6^th June.

Ben Conway

Friday 19^th May

Our first 5 day week in a while and it has been nice to have some sunshine throughout the week. It has meant that we have seen learners out and about in and around school extending their learning experiences in our setting and within the local area.

Nursery have been spending a lot of time recently learning about our local area and some of the different facilities that are available to them. They have recently visited the Co-Op with their shopping lists to buy fruit, and this week they have all visited Millie’s Café for some toast and juice. They all had a great time, represented our school brilliantly and a fantastic chat with the staff when visiting!

More Shephalbury learners representing the school really well recently have been our netball and football teams. Last week our netballers in both Years 5 & 6 played out some tight matches against St Nicholas, with our Y6 team drawing and our Y5 team losing out. Our footballers in Y5&6 had a match against Longmeadow and our Y3&4 team are involved in the annual tournament this afternoon. Win, lose or draw, we are always proud of the teams that represent us, as they do so in the right spirit and with positive sportspersonship.

Someone else who has excelled in their physical activity recently is Sofia (Y6) who performed incredibly well to achieve her a yellow belt in her Tai kwon do grading. Amazing work Sofia…well done!

This week in assembly, Mrs Dean spoke to our learners about understanding our mental health and how we can support ourselves and each other of we are not feeling ok. At school we have many strategies and ways in which we support our learners, but the first step always understanding that we all have mental health and we need to look after it. Please see the video below which was shared with learners in KS1 & 2:

We also all know how important it is to maintain good physical health and to build good habits from a young age - one element of this is maintaining good oral health. There is a free pop-up clinic for U5’s taking place in half term, so take up the opportunity if you can! For more details see below.

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to a variety of cupcakes from Mrs Cargill…thank you very much! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was ‘What does it feel like inside your body when things are not ok, and what can you do to feel better? Explain…’

This is a really important question to consider, as we all have a variety of feelings that make us feel different inside. There has been some interesting discussion and some great answers. Well done to the following learners for their winning responses:

Kian Y6- ‘It would make me feel even more sad and I will feel sick, then it might burst out and I would cry. I would talk to Mrs McKenzie or a family member.’

Rae Y2- ‘You might have a headache and you could get something from the Feel Good Bag.’

Leanna Y5- ‘It feels like something is trapped inside of you. You can do something that you like and tell someone that you trust.’

This week has seen me hand out 2 Headteacher Awards both to learners in EYFS.

First was Liam (YN) for his fabulous map of how to get to the café. All of our Nursery learners were very excited to go and order their toast and juice at the café, and Liam planned and described the route perfectly. Great work Liam…well done!

Secondly was Stefan for some brilliant writing. Reception have be engrossed in Jack and the Beanstalk this week, with giant cutlery, giant food and beanstalk activities popping up in their classroom. Stefan created a wonderful missing poster for the Giant’s hen. It was clear how he had independently utilised his phonic knowledge to write the text, which he also read very well. Awesome work Stefan!

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Ben Conway

Friday 12^th May

It is that time of the week again, and it has come round very quickly thanks to another 4 day week. Despite it being shortened, there has been a lot crammed in for many of our learners.

Firstly I want to say a huge well done to our Year 6 Shephalbury Learners, who over the course of this week have applied themselves incredibly well to completing their SATs. We know that this can be an unsettling time for our oldest cohort with these tests taking place and secondary transition on the horizon, it is a lot for a 10 & 11 year old to navigate, and we are really proud of all of them!

Like many of you, I am sure, I spent much of last Saturday sheltering from the rain and watching the historic event of the King’s coronation with my children. It was a fantastic opportunity to see and experience living history, with many traditions and artefacts dating back many hundreds of years merged with some of the more modern introductions; like the drone show as a part of Sunday’s concert.

We were grateful to FOSP for their commemorative donations to each of our learners last week. I know from having attended some of the meetings, and through speaking to the committee, that they are developing some great ideas that will help to support our school financially (this benefitting all learners) and provide some exciting opportunities for our community to come together.

They are currently in the process of planning their first Summer Fair on Friday 7^th July and are looking for volunteers to support on the day. If you are able to offer some time to support, please contact them directly at fosp@shephalburypark.herts.sch.uk

I haven’t provided much in the way of a squirrel update over the last few weeks, and our white squirrel friend hasn’t been spotted at school. However I have seen photos of it in and around Shephalbury Park in recent weeks…keep an eye out if you are in the park!

We have seen plenty of our grey and black squirrels scampering around our grounds, along with a rather new addition of a fox cub who was spotted in the space behind school. We will hopefully catch more of a glimpse of them in the coming weeks.

If you are a regular visitor to Shephalbury Park you will have noticed the fantastic improvements that have been made to the tennis courts near the football academy. These are a brilliant facility to have on our doorstep, and one which I hope our community are able to take advantage of. Please see the information below for some great opportunities for some tennis action:

Mini Tennis Age 4-10

ENJOY 6 WEEKS OF COACHING, RACKET, T-SHIRT, BALLS AND MORE ALL FOR £34.99!

Developed in partnership with the LTA, the programmes are designed to accelerate the learning and development of players of all ages. Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your skills to the next level, their complete after-school and weekend coaching schedule is perfect for players aged four and up.

Their coaching programme runs year-round so that you can enjoy consistent, high-quality coaching and player development throughout the year.

All of the dates and times can be found at the following link and there are several to choose from: https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/ShephalburyPark/Coaching/Junior

Open Day – Sunday 21^st May 2023

Between 10:00am-3:00pm, Come along to the Shephalbury Park Tennis Open Day where everyone is welcome to try the “best sport in the world!” All equipment will be provided and every taster session is 100% FREE!

Register for the open day here: https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/ShephalburyPark/Events/Event/3dbe0a6f-0034-4196-b8ac-4c06f442052f

If you have any questions on any of the above, please email: tony@nationaltennis.org.uk

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to a variety of cupcakes…delicious! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s had a another royal related question this week ‘What would you do if you were the King of the UK and why?’

This prompted some interesting discussion and some great answers. Well done to the following learners for their winning responses:

Joe Y6- ‘I would like to make world peace and give a pay rise to teachers.’

Freddie Y4- ‘I would make sure all homeless people have a home and stop the price increase of electricity.’

Jake Y3- ‘I would give 20p to the poor every week and people who retired 10p a week.’

This week we also unmasked our Masked Scientist in assembly, this week is was the very familiar face, the naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough:

David Attenborough is an English broadcaster, writer, and naturalist. He is best known for his work on educational television programs. Attenborough spent more than six decades developing, directing, and producing shows for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and on his own.

Attenborough was knighted in 1985. He won Emmy Awards for his narration of Blue Planet II (2017) and Our Planet (2019). He has won many other awards for his work, including dozens of honorary degrees from universities.

Another honour for Attenborough has been in the naming of some extinct and living animal species. His name can be found in scientific names, including a sea animal that lived millions of years ago (Attenborosaurus) and a long-beaked echidna that lives in New Guinea (Zaglossus attenboroughi). Attenborough’s love of butterflies was honored with Euptychia attenboroughi, a rare butterfly from the tropical forests of Colombia and Brazil.

Well done to the following Shephalbury learners who correctly identified him: Ethan M (Y6), Sereny (Y4) and Leo (Y3).

This week has seen me hand out 3 Headteacher Awards to learners lower down in our school.

Both Sonny and Phoebe have been working really hard at school and at home. They were set the task of writing about their favourite book at home, and they both made some brilliant recommendations. Phoebe’s favourite is a joke book for 6 year olds, which I am sure would make us all laugh. While Sonny wrote about Harry and the Bucket Full of Robots, another favourite in my house as well. Great work both of you for carrying on your learning at home…we are proud of you!

Someone else inspired to write this week was Harry (R) who has really enjoyed the class focus on the Pirate Pete story. He has been enjoying it so much that he wrote and illustrated his own version of a pirate story, utilising his phonological skills. It was quite a read, and a super effort in writing a whole book. Well done Harry, keep it up!

It has been a while since I said this, but…have a nice weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Ben Conway

Friday 5^th May

A very royal end to our short week this week as coronation excitement has filled the classrooms and corridors of Shephalbury Park today. It was great to see everyone adorned in red, white and blue and having the opportunity to have a go at some of the fun activities that were available throughout the day. Unfortunately the rain arrived at the wrong time for us to enjoy our family picnic, but we look forward to welcoming families on sports day for our picnic then.

Each Shephalbury learner will today bring home with them a commemorative bookmark and pencil donated to them by FOSP. Thank you to them for their generosity in marking this occasion.

I hope that those of you who watch the coronation, take in the historical significance of the event in experiencing something that hasn’t happened in this country in the last seven decades.

I mentioned in my previous blog that I was looking forward to attending The Royal Albert Hall last weekend…and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. This incredible venue is such a pleasure to visit, made even better by the fact that our Shephalbury Park choir were a part of the massed schools’ choir contributing to the Hertfordshire Music Service Gala. It was a wonderful event with a wide range of performances including singing, music and dance.

From the view in my vantage point, and from speaking with the accompanying adults, it was clear to see and hear our Shephalbury learners all relish in performing on the big stage. This was a wonderful experience for them all, one which I am sure they will always remember!

A huge thank you to Mrs Oustayiannis for leading the experience and preparing our choir for their performance. Also thanks to Mrs Cropley and Mrs Spiller for giving up their time at the weekend to accompany the trip.

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to some coronation themed goodies from Mrs Spiller…thank you very much! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was ‘What advice would you give to the King to help him not be nervous on Coronation Day?’

A thought provoking question for us all in our everyday lives, as there are barriers for us all to overcome on a daily basis. As always there have been some brilliant answers…the winners are below!

Summer Y6- ‘Just act like no one else is there.’

Rae Y2- ‘Give him something from the feel good bag.’

Unknown- ‘The advice I would give the king is- it’s ok to be nervous but seem confident and proud on the outside.’

This week has seen me hand out 3 very deserved Headteacher Awards.

First this week was Dylan (Y6) who has really impressed his teachers with his greatly improved attitude to learning and his application, in particular in RE. We sat and discussed his learning from this this term so far, focusing on world views and linking/comparing different religions. A brilliant start to your last term as a Shephalbury learner Dylan…keep it up!

And secondly was a Shephalbury learner at the start of their journey with us, Sofia (YR) has been independently applying her phonics skills in her writing this week. Sofia wrote about and illustrated her list of things that she would do is she were to become Queen. I particularly liked the fact that she wouldn’t walk anywhere and would like to be carried around by her loyal subjects. Super writing Sofia…well done!

My final award was for a very persuasive Lenny B (Y3) who has been developing his skills in persuasive writing. We discussed the issue that Lenny wished to address within his music lessons, something he enjoys very much! He wanted to persuade everyone to make the most of the learning time for both himself and his peers. He wrote a very powerful letter which I am sure will do the trick! Great work Lenny.

We are, of course, entering into another 3 day weekend, and when we return next week our Y6 learners will be sitting their end of key stage 2 SATs papers. Whilst I recognise that these tests are seen by many as a rite of passage through primary school, I am also keen to point out the many other ways in which we see and measure the success of our learners here at Shephalbury Park. Whether it is standing up in front of a room full of people presenting something or getting to grips with something that we have found difficult to master, we recognise, celebrate and congratulate everyone on their progress and achievements across the board, not just academically.

I know how much effort has gone into their preparations for next week, and I, along with the wider staff team, have been really impressed by their attitudes to learning recently. We believe in all of them and are proud of their achievements up to this point and beyond!

Have a great weekend!

Ben Conway

Friday 28^th April

As we reach the end of our last full day week for a while there is much to be positive about around Shephalbury Park. Mrs Cropley kicked off our week with an assembly about King Charles III, developing our understanding of the many ‘hats’ he wears within the many roles he holds in his life. As you will have seen, we are excited to welcome families to join us on Friday 5^th May for our Coronation Picnic and family fun. We are also welcoming our learners to come to school in red, white and blue for the day…we look forward to seeing you there!

I would like to open up this week to mention one of our Shephalbury learners who has been incredibly brave recently. Across our school we work with learners and families who have a range of needs whether they be educational, physical, emotional or medical. We work tirelessly to ensure that everything that we offer is inclusive and aim to continue educating our school and wider community about the things that make us different and unique. We value individuality and actively celebrate, and we also have provision to support as individuals develop their own understanding of needs and differences.

Olivia (Y5) has been chosen to represent the charity Young Epilepsy as an ambassador, and has recently shared her experiences through a short video for them. This is an incredibly brave thing for her to do, as we all know that it not always easy to share things that we find difficult to talk about. Olivia will be representing the charity at Car-Fest in August of this year and we will be welcoming Young Epilepsy into school later this term to lead an assembly with our learners to educate them further on the condition and impact that it can have on individuals.

We are all incredibly proud of you Olivia, well done!

Please read the piece about Olivia and see her video below.

Olivia’s story

Olivia was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 8 years old. She experiences ‘absence seizures’ which are momentary blackouts that can often be mistaken for daydreaming.

A person having an absence seizure may appear conscious, but they could be unresponsive and unable to control their body. This can be very dangerous and a diagnosis like this can leave young people and their families feeling frightened, lonely, and overwhelmed.

Olivia has been receiving help via our Youth Support Service and has met other children and young people living with epilepsy.

"Young Epilepsy has really helped me. They have supported me by setting up family meetings. They have loads of activities to chose from and we've discussed the different types of epilepsy."  (Olivia)

Olivia now knows she is not alone and has access to a community that can understand her and her life.

Olivia will be representing Young Epilepsy at Car Fest!

We are delighted to be involved in Car Fest this year, a family festival created by Chris Evans to raise funds for UK’s children’s charities.

Young Epilepsy has been chosen to receive support alongside other charities and we are so proud to have Olivia representing us as charity ambassador.

I wrote last week about Miss Martin taking on the challenge of completing the 26.2 miles course around London’s streets last Sunday. The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted her crossing the line with a victorious, if slightly pained, smile on her face. An amazing achievement and something to be incredibly proud of. Congratulations to her and our other Shephalbury Park community members who completed this challenge.

There have been more Shephalbury learners achieving things to be proud of outside of school. Last weekend saw St George’s Day parades across the country, and T-J (Y1) was fortunate enough to carry the flag for his Beavers colony. He looks very proud to be doing so! This was followed up with a campfire with Mayor of Stevenage…a wonderful experience and something to remember.

Someone else who has been taking risks and growing in their abilities recently is Florence (Y2), having recently moved to a new gymnastics club. We were all aware of her tumbling abilities given the medals she has already won this year, however this new training is resulting in some fantastic improvements!

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

We unmasked our ‘Masked Scientist’ this week who was identified from the clues below…it was Percy Julian. Well done to Richard (Y4) and Paddy (Y6).

‘Percy Lavon Julian (April 11, 1899 – April 19, 1975) was an American research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine and was a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and birth control pills.’

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to a choice of either lemon cake or swiss roll, which were both delicious! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was ‘What are your skills and how did you achieve them?’

A fantastic opportunity for some self reflection and appreciation for the work that we all put into developing the skills and interests that we have in different areas. As always there have been some brilliant answers…the winners are below!

Sofia (R) - ‘I am good at drawing because I practice every day.’

Max (Y6) – My skill is fencing as I have practiced and practiced.’

Skylar (Y2) – ‘Riding my bike, I use a positive attitude.’

Emilia (Y4) – ‘My skill is writing. Not just neatly, I can also make up stories from just sitting there and staring at thin air. What helped me achieve this was reading lots of books, practicing in class and having a love of writing.

After a quiet week on the Headteacher awards front last week, we have 4 Shephalbury learners who have earnt them this week.

First was Mia (Y4) for her opening piece of writing in her new unit. All learners begin their writing​​​​​​​ sequences completing a ‘cold task’ as a baseline to enable us to build on these within their learning. Mia’s writing showed a good level of understanding already, and a great improvement in the presentation of her work. Well done Mia!

Another writer who has excelled themselves this week is Darcey (Y2), who wrote a great extended piece of writing. Not only that, she included all of the core expectations set for her and retold it to me brilliantly. Awesome work Darcey!

Next up was one of our youngest Shephalbury learners, Kane (YN) used his creative skills independently to create a jellyfish. Not only is it fabulously creative, he had to use his problem solving skills in making brown paper for the tentacles. When showing me, we had a great discussion about the jellyfish’s tentacles and was clearly informed that octopi also have tentacles. Amazing Kane…keep it up!

Finally was Tommy (Y3) for his learning in history this week. Year 3 have moved their learning on to The Celts, and Tommy was able to share with me the distribution of different groups of people across Europe and how they were invaded and built new empires. Super work Tommy!

I am very much looking forward to attending the Hertfordshire Music Gala and seeing our choir performing at the Royal Albert Hall this Sunday. I hope that you enjoy the long weekend and look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday morning.

Ben Conway

Friday 21^st April

Welcome back to the summer term here at Shephalbury Park…and as you will have seen on our school site, a busy and slightly unexpected start for us!

Thankfully, after a long weekend and many additional hours, the work to replace some of the pipes that supply gas to the school is now complete and things will revert back to normal from next Monday. A huge than you to those who have worked hard on getting us back up and running, especially Mr Haslett!

Everything will be back to usual from Monday with regards to lunches, side gate usage and drop off and collection from Porridge and Tea Pot.

The Summer Term is always one that I look forward to, the promise of some brighter and warmer weather, longer days and more time spent outside. There is a lot coming up in the time between now and July and you can find out all about the planned curriculum for each year group, along with key dates in the curriculum letters and whole school dates that were sent home as paper copies today. You will also find electronic copies on your child’s class page on the website.

My assembly at the start of this week recognised the importance to accept the individuality of our friends. When coming to Shephalbury Park we expect everyone to embody the Shephalbury LEARNER attributes and behave in a way that reflects our Bucket Filler approach. But within this we also encourage, accept and celebrate individuality and recognise how important it is for our learners to do the same.

Our assembly was opened up by Ethan (Y5), who has recently taken up learning the saxophone through the Get Playing Project through the Hertfordshire music service. He has been highly committed since starting his learning journey last term and he blew us all away with his rendition of Paint, It Black by the Rolling Stones. An amazing achievement already, we look forward to seeing your continued progress on the saxophone!

Another musician within our ranks has demonstrated their skills recently and achieved a merit in their Grade 1 piano examination. Eric (Y2) has done amazingly well to achieve this, and looked very smart whilst doing so! We look forward to hopefully getting to hear Eric play for us all soon.

Someone else within our learning community who has made fabulous progress over the last few months is Miss Martin. This weekend she will be one of the 45,000+ people tackling the 26.2miles of The London Marathon. The commitment, determination and desire that it takes to complete a run of this length is immense, and we know how much Miss Martin has put into her training block. I am sure that you will all join me in wishing her the best of luck on Sunday and keep an eye out on the TV to see if we can spot her!

At the end of last term we shared an email and information in my blog from The Friends of Shephalbury Park (FOSP) requesting that parents and carers sign up for a new app called Classlist. Whilst we have had a good initial uptake, they would really like to get as many families as possible signed up on the system as it will provide them with an easy way to communicate effectively with our community, providing information and enabling you to book your children onto events that they are running. You can find out more via the link below, or download the app on your mobile of tablet.

Before we enter our regular celebrations I would like to wish our Muslim families and those in our wider community Eid Mubarak! Eid ul-fitr is a celebration for Muslims around the world which signals the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting between dawn and dusk each day.

Eid ul-Fitr

The end of Ramadan is marked by a big celebration called 'Eid ul-Fitr' (the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast).

Muslims are not only celebrating the end of fasting, but thanking Allah for the strength he gave them throughout the previous month.

Mosques hold special services and a special meal is eaten during daytime (the first daytime meal for a month).

During Eid ul-Fitr Muslims dress in their finest clothes, give gifts to children and spend time with their friends and family. Muslims will also give money to charity at Eid.

Now onto our celebrations for the week.

This week’s Tea Party guests were treated to a double chocolate mini roll, which we all agreed was delicious! A huge well done to the following children for being nominated by their teachers this week:

As well as Bucket Fillers, we have handed our Shephalbury LEARNER certificates, shared the attendance data and had a look at the house point totals.

As always our staff have seen pupils from around the school working hard to demonstrate the 7 attributes that make up a Shephalbury LEARNER, reflect, solve, create, grow, risk, think and stretch through the lessons and activities that they have participated in. The children listed below have been nominated by their teachers for being Shephalbury LEARNERS this week, a huge well done to each and every one of them:

Phil’s question this week was ‘What would you do if you were Headteacher for a day?’

It was me that got to choose from the many interesting answers that were provided, many of which I’m not sure we can implement! It was, however, fascinating to see and hear the range of ideas and opinions from learners across the school.

Alys Y2- ‘Nothing!’

Seth Y5- ‘I would make school dinners free so that parents don’t need to worry about the cost of them.’

Lola YR- ‘Me and Mr Conway would walk around every classroom and see all the good work that everyone is doing.’

Jenson Y6- ‘Ice cream sundaes for dessert and chicken pie every day. Fun week where children can do whatever they want.’

I hope that you enjoy the weekend and look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday morning.

Ben Conway

Friday 31^st March

And in the blink of an eye we have made it to the Easter holidays! Despite the amount of rain that we have had this week, the sun has brightened our days and the lighter evenings are giving us a taste of the spring and summer.

This term has, as always, been a busy one…with visitors for assemblies, trips out, workshops in and an awful lot of learning across the school. Our learners have continued to make progress in all areas and I’m sure that many of you will have heard much of this in our learning review meetings this week. Thank you to those families who took the time to attend, we really value your support and the opportunity to work together.

Yesterday we were lucky to visit Reverend Kate at St Peter’s Church for an Easter service, which included some fantastic singing and story telling. As always it was great to all be together in a place other than our hall and the opportunity to sing together is one of the joys of working in a primary school.

This week has also seen our second Let’s Connect event held here at Shephalbury Park. These events are a brilliant way for our Shephalbury Learners to meet and interact with other members of our community. A group from St Peter’s church were treated to cakes, songs and Easter crafts during the afternoon, making it another memorable occasion. We are already looking forward to our summer event!