Dear Parents

It has been an amazing — and very busy — first full term for me here at Colfe’s and I have thoroughly

enjoyed every moment of it, even the Inspection! Getting to know the children, staff and parents is really

important to me and to help with this I have spent time in all the classrooms to really get a feel for the

school and our children.

It has been a particularly exciting time at school in the countdown to the Christmas Holidays with so

much to report on, particularly in Music and Drama.

We had the fantastic achievement of our young choristers in Years 1 and 2 winning Best Infant Choir and

the Margaret Cooper Cup at the prestigious Beckenham Festival and over 75 Junior School pupils taking

part in the Carol Service at St Mary’s on Tuesday evening.

The Christmas productions this year — Away in a Manager, Christmas with the Aliens and Strictly Aladdin —

were a triumph. A big thank you to everyone involved, especially the children. Their enthusiasm was

infectious and each production brought down the house. Thanks to the special visitors from our

governing board, Master Leatherseller Ian Russell and Chairman of Governors Matthew Pellereau, who

each enjoyed the performances immensely. More on this in the newsletter.

Finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a relaxing festive break and look forward to seeing you

on 5 January.

Best wishes

Catriona Macleod

Head of the Junior School

Note From The Head

Issue 4 Thursday 15th December 2016

Christmas with the Aliens and

Away in a Manger

A huge WELL DONE to our Key Stage 1 and EYFS children for their fantastic performances in Christmas

with the Aliens and Away In A Manger. All the children worked so hard to learn their lines, the songs and all

the moves which were very slickly performed! It was lovely that the children could perform to such a

big, appreciative audience in all of the shows, so thanks very much to the parents for your support as

always. We were very lucky to have Master Leatherseller Ian Russell at the KS1 show and he

thoroughly enjoyed the story of aliens learning about Christmas. Chairman of Governors, Matthew

Pellereau also came to watch the EYFS show and he said “Fantastic! I was delighted to attend the

wonderful performance of Away in a Manger – everybody present thoroughly enjoyed the play especially

the performance by Douglas the Donkey: Eli Whiting - a star in the making.”

Strictly sensational performance from

Years 3 & 4

Strictly Aladdin, our glitteringly fabulous Christmas pantomime was held on Tuesday

6th December in the Senior School Hall. The main characters of Aladdin played by Felix Tynan, Widow Twankey

played by Chloe Khair, Abanaza, played by Joseph Santry and of course the Genie played by Syrus Mayne gave

amazing performances and all of the children and staff had great fun learning the songs and dances.

Having watched the dress rehearsal Rupinder Mudan from Year 6 said “The songs made everyone feel excited to

dance and sing along… there were smiles on all of the dancers’ faces”. Gracie Harvey from Year 5 wrote “It was

an absolutely outstanding show. I just didn’t want it to stop…I want to see it all over again!” As script writer and

director I was thrilled with the final show and so proud of all of the Year 3 and 4 children. I would like to say a

huge thank you to everyone who helped to make this such a success and a special thank you to all of the staff who

put in extra time choreographing some wonderful dance moves! Mrs Higgs

Maths Week in KS2

Quantum Theatre Show

Maths Week kicked off with an exciting show from Quantum Theatre

who performed three versions of the play Shape, Space and Desperate

Measure. Luke Spacewalker leaves his home planet Isosceles to measure

the length and breadth of the galaxy. Aided by his trusty robot companion,

2D3D, he aims to calculate the shape and size of everything. Little does he know though, that his every move is

being tracked by the evil Daft Apeth and that this seemingly harmless mathematical exercise will turn into a battle

that could ‘shape’ the course of the Universe itself! Years 1 – 6 watched three different versions of the same play

with easier and harder maths problems to solve depending on the year groups. The acting from Quantum Theatre

group was as usual, outstanding. The children were fully involved throughout, joining in with rhymes or solving

problems. A lovely way to learn while laughing!

Magic Lantern

Magic Lantern visited the school during the week and provided work-

shops for all children in Years 3-6 using works of art to help observe and

explore different aspects of measure. The children learned how artists

used measure to please the eye and balance a picture using works from

artists from Caravaggio to Anthony Gormley. Mathematics ranged from

the size of a painting to perspective and from the distance shown in Richard Long pictures to the Golden Ratio in

a Caravaggio painting. The workshops were delivered in an interesting and interactive way and showed just how

much mathematics is all around us.

Weighing Sweets Competition

Across KS2 excitement grew in every class as a large bag of sweets was passed around. This was not so that each

child could take a sweet to eat. No! Each child had to guess the mass of the bag of sweets. Not as easy as you

would think. Congratulations to the following winners who won a game or a geometry set, in particular Jamie

Whiffen who guessed the exact amount and Freddie Oliver who was one out:

Year 3: Nicolas Jarvis (Guess: 781g Actual: 788g)

Year 4: Shrey Arora (Guess: 810g Actual: 818g)

Year 5: Jamie Whiffen (Guess: 715g Actual: 715g)

Year 6: Freddie Oliver (Guess: 760g Actual: 759g)

Maths Week in Key Stage 1

The children had a fantastic time during Maths Week. Many took part in the 20cm challenge and contributed a

piece of work to the exhibition which was put on display in the Key Stage1 hall. We had a homemade candle, a

superhero die, an egg box holly wreath and a kaleidoscope. A lot of creativity and effort had been employed.

Lots of the maths work carried out took place outside the classrooms and EYFS children even had a visit from

Dave, a Mathemagician! The children had lots of fun learning about Shape, Space and Measure.

In Key Stage 1 the children were involved in measuring large and small objects using a variety of equipment:

trundle wheels, metre sticks and tape measures. They measured the playground, the hall, a tree and their cuddly

toys amongst other things. Investigative challenges were central to the week and the children were exposed to

maths in a number of surprising ways. We sorted our cuddly toys - by height, weight

and age! And we sucked jelly babies to measure time - who could suck their sweet

the longest? Well done, Charlie Bertin with an unbelievable record breaking time of

over 10 minutes.

We went on a shape hunt around the playground, recorded our findings using tally

marks and then constructed a bar graph to present the information. Lots of

educational and fun opportunities were presented to the children throughout the week and they worked hard to

solve real life maths problems, reinforcing its importance and value.

Your Junior School Needs

You!

In Key Stage 2 we run a reading programme for pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5. This is designed to increase

fluency and enjoyment of reading by building confidence in vocabulary, technical skills and

comprehension.

We are looking for parent volunteers to lead one of the small supportive reading groups. After delivering

an introduction to the programme, we will then be on hand to monitor and offer any guidance needed.

For reasons of confidentiality, we ensure that each volunteer does not listen to pupils from the same

year group as their own child.

Reading sessions will be held during assembly/registration time on Tuesday and Thursday mornings

(8.25am - 8.50am) and usually run from the second week of term.

If you are able to offer your time on one or both mornings, or if you have any questions, please contact

me at gfisher@colfes.com

Mrs Fisher

THANK YOU! A heartfelt thank you goes to each one of our amazing band of volunteer

parent and grandparent readers. You do such sterling work around our

EYFS and Key Stage 1 classrooms and the children look forward to reading with you every week. We

wish you a Merry Christmas and look forward to welcoming you back in the New Year.

Mrs Gurr

The Key Stage 2 reading programme would not be possible without the support of a group of mums plus

a dad! They volunteer their time generously, and so on behalf of all the staff and pupils we would like to

say a huge thank you. May they all have a relaxing and peaceful Christmas holiday.

Mrs Fisher

Nursery and Reception

Over the Christmas period Tapestry will be updated. Please update the relevant app on your phone or tablet in

order to login to the new version.

To access your child’s online Tapestry account please use the following website: https://tapestryjournal.com.

Uniform

Please ensure that your child is always wearing appropriate school uniform which is clearly labelled. In the event

that anything is mislaid or lost you will find the lost property bin in the Junior School Office Reception.

Coats

Coats….Given the variable nature of the weather, please could children have their coats in school at all times.

Important Notices

Congratulations to Tulsi Patel in 5B who won several trophies for singing, playing the

harmonium, being an expert in Indian culture and heritage, as well as for public speaking.

This was organised by Neasden Temple which is where Tulsi attends.

Bright Stars! Are you a bright star waiting to be noticed? Have you

done something that you are really proud of recently and

would like to share with the rest of the Colfe’s

community? Perhaps you belong to a club outside of

school and would like to share your achievements? If you

would like to feature in our Bright Stars Section in the

Junior School Newsletter then please forward your news

to Miss Boxall at sboxall@colfes.com.

Date Event Location Time

Wed 4 Jan Staff Training Day—School Closed

Thur 5 Jan Term Begins

Breakfast Club Begins

Late School (ASCF) begins

Sat 7 Jan 11+ Senior School Entrance Exams

Mon 9 Jan 11 + slip date for Entrance Exam

11+ interviews

After-School Activity Clubs start

EYFS & KS1 swimming lessons start

Year 3-6 Water Aid swim squad sponsored 15 swim

15:30-16:30

Thur 12 Jan 11+ 1st round Sports Scholarship

KS2 string scheme starts

Fri 13 Jan Stay and Play - Nursery and Reception classes

15:00 PAFA Used Uniform Sale

Sat 14 Jan 7+, 8+, 9+, 10+ Entrance Assessments

Mon 16 Jan 11+ Music Scholarship Auditions

Tue 17 Jan 11+ Art Scholarship Auditions

11+ Music Scholarship Auditions

7+ Entrance Assessment slip date

Wed 18 Jan Year 3 Geography field trip

Fri 20 Jan 11+ Sports Scholarship Round 2

Stay and Play - Nursery and Reception classes

Mon 23 Jan Year 6 Freshwater Theatre Geography workshops KS2 Hall

Tue 24 Jan 11+ Drama Scholarship Assessment

Wed 25 Jan PAFA Committee meeting 19:00

Dates for your Diary

Upcoming Sports Fixtures

Date Sport/Team Opposition Time & Away/

Home

Teacher

Fri 13 Jan Netball

U11A & B

Blackheath Prep 14:00/Away

Thur 19 Jan Swimming

House Gala Y3-6

Home SEM

Fri 20 Jan Swimming

Eltham College Gala-Boys

Eltham College Gala 15:00/Away SEM

Fri 20 Jan Hockey U11 Babington 14:00/Home CK

Mon 23 Jan Netball

U8A, B & C

Braeside 15:00/Home

Wed 25 Jan Netball Blackheath Prep 15:00

Wed 25 Jan Swimming League Final @ JAGS 15:00/Away SEM

Thur 26 Jan Swimming Gala 15:00/Home SEM

Thur 26 Jan Football Bickley 15:30/Home GNL

Fri 27 Jan Hockey St Dunstan’s 13:30/Away CK