Great schools are far more than places of education; they are communities that thrive on teamwork by parents, teachers, and children. I have made teamwork my theme for this week’s Newsletter piece.
I have been very impressed this past week with the efforts of the Parents’ Association to make our first Spring Fair in several years a great success. As ever, the St Christopher’s team spirit comes to the fore, and staff and our older pupils have been queuing up to volunteer their help running stalls and events. My thanks to all who have made this event possible; I will say more on the day itself – hopefully in glorious sunshine.
Yesterday, the school flag flew for our Captain of Netball, Jemima, who has been awarded a Sports Scholarship to Hurst. Jemima did a splendid job leading our U13 team at the IAPS National Finals in Ipswich on Monday. They reached the Quarter Finals, which is a huge achievement for a school of our size compared to some of those we played, and indeed defeated. Superb teamwork from all involved from players to coaches to some very vocal parent supporters!
As this edition is sent out, the curtain will just have fallen on Year 2’s production of Hansel and Gretel, which will feature in next week’s Newsletter. At tomorrow’s Spring Fair, you will be able to hear some of the performers from Tuesday’s Battle of the Bands. Drama and Music productions are a final great example of teamwork at its best, with performers, tech crew, and adults working together to entertain and delight an audience. We have Year 4’s production of The BFG and the live final of Battle of the Bands next week, and our Upper School end of year show, Bugsy Malone, is well into rehearsals.
Community events, sporting success, and the performing arts are at the very heart of St Christopher’s. The secret behind all of these, of course, is teamwork!
Finally, you may have read the sad news about Deepdene, which will be closing at the end of this month. A number of our children began their school careers at nursery there, and will have fond memories. There will be a number of worried parents in our local area without a school place for the Summer Term, and we would like to reach out to them. Please spread the word to friends, neighbours, and work colleagues that we welcome enquiries and visits.
Ms Elizabeth Lyle, Head