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Today has been a day of mixed emotions: happiness and excitement as we celebrated the end of another busy school year and some sadness at waving goodbye to our 2016 leavers.

Our day began with our final Collective Worship of the school year with lots of awards for attendance, swimming and music. Almost half the children in school received a 100% Attendace award for the summer term and 20 were awarded a medal for 100% all year which is a fantastic achievement. I must give a very special mention to one of our Year 6 children who has managed 100% attendance every year since Reception - SEVEN YEARS!  This is a really remarkable achievement which only happens very rarely so we are incredibly proud of him. A photographer from the newspaper came to take a picture and write a report so do keep a look out for an article in The Comet shortly.

Also in our assembly we said our goodbyes to Mrs Wilson and Mrs Pepper who are retiring and looking forward to a well earned rest! They were presented with cards from every class and gifts from staff, parents and children.

We couldn't let them retire without a special 'St Ipps Send Off' though so both Mrs Pepper and Mrs Wilson had to complete tests and challenges designed by Year 6, it was a lot of fun! (well, it was fun for us watching!)

After a tasty picnic lunch enjoyed by all in the sunshine, the day ended with Mr Jefferies getting a good soaking in the stocks once again, lots of laughter to end the school year.

As I write this, I know that the Year 6 children are off having their leaving celebrations and I am sure that they will be having a fantastic time.  It is always sad to see the children leave us for secondary school, but I am so immensely proud of each and every one of them.  They have been outstanding ambassadors for St Ippolyts School and I know that they will all go on to be just as amazing in their next schools.  They are all honest, hardworking, caring young people with bright futures ahead of them and I look forward to hearing of their successes on their new journeys.

However, time doesn't stand still, and waiting in the wings is an equally fabulous Year 5 group ready to take their place at the top of the school in September and a whole new group of 4 year olds preparing to take their first steps into schooling in Class 1.  Life in school certainly never stands still!

I wish all of you a very happy and restful summer break and look forward to seeing you all in the autumn.  

Year 6 - good luck for your move to your new schools; have courage and you will be fine I just know it!   Most of all, always be yourself and trust your instincts; you will no doubt face challenges along the way, but stay true to yourself and your values. You are amazing, never forget that.  I will miss you all.

Mrs Peddie

PS: Photos of our end of term fun are in the gallery!

A summary of local summer holiday activities/clubs has been uploaded into the newsletters section.

http://stipps.herts.sch.uk/attachments/article/283/2016%20Summer%20Holiday%20Activities.pdf

We were once again blessed with glorious summer weather for this year's Camp Out weekend. A wonderful time was had by all - sports and games, ice cream, tasty BBQ, camp fire singing and a hearty breakfast.

Thank you to everyone who came along, took part or helped in whatever capacity - a fantastic success and a really lovely way to round off the school year.

Photos are now in the gallery.

Photographs from the dress rehearsal earlier this week are now in the gallery - enjoy!

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our Summer Fair today - for your generous donations, help setting up, running stalls, making packed teas, help with clearing away and of course coming along and taking part in all the fun.

We would like to extend our grateful thanks to Satchells who provided the bouncy castle and also subsidised the cost of the climbing wall through our sponsorship deal. 

Most of all thank you to Nicola and the PTA committee who have worked tirelessly for weeks to prepare for today, what a lucky school we are to have such a committed and dedicated group!

It was a lovely afternoon and weren't we lucky with the weather?!

Photos are now in the gallery.

Have a restful weekend everyone!

Mrs Peddie 

...are now uploaded. There are a LOT so you might want to grab a cuppa!

Children can print photos straight from the gallery for their journals if they would like to.

Sleep well children and we'll see you on Wednesday :o)

The website calendar has now been updated with all the dates currently set for the coming academic year 2015-2016.

Along with term and holiday dates, the calendar also includes all key events such as Parent Consultation Evenings, Open Sessions, Family Week, class assemblies, Church services and so on. We do hope that having the full year of dates well in advance will help all parents to be able to participate as fully as possible, especially those who have work schedules to arrange.

Additional dates for trips etc will be added as the year progresses; these will also be published in the newsletters as usual. 

What a fabulous end of term we have had today!

Our day started with our end of term Collective Worship. Year 6 were all expelled for coming dressed in the most dreadfully wrecked uniforms and lots of children received awards and certificates for 100% Attendance, Swimming, Young Inventors and Wider Opps Keyboard lessons.

Then we gave Miss Patston a good St Ippolyts send off for her forthcoming wedding day. We happen to know that Miss Patston doesn't like having her photograph taken and also is worrying about coping in a wedding dress all day in hot weather.....So we decided to help her along with that by giving her a beautiful wedding dress to wear (all day!) and letting her practise posing for wedding day shots with her lovely bridesmaids, Mrs Hoar and Miss Ingle. If you have a look in the photo gallery you will see lots of photographs that we think are just as beautiful as her real ones will be! All the classes made cards to give to Miss Patston and she was presented with a gift from the grown ups in school. 

After Collective Worship, Year 6 went to Church with Revd Ann to receive a blessing for their move to secondary schools and all the children enjoyed gathering signatures on their school shirts. It was picnic lunch day today so we enjoyed sitting out in the sunshine with our lunches and another opportunity for Year 6 to say their goodbyes.

Finally at 2pm as school closed for the summer and Year 6 left the building for the last time, we all gathered outside to see Mr Jefferies and Mr MacInnes 'in the stocks' and have a go at throwing wet sponges at them - lots of fun and well worth 50p!

It has been a lovely, memorable day for everyone and we hope everyone has a fantastic summer holiday. We wish Miss Patston lots of love for a wonderful wedding day and also Mrs Hoar who is finally able to jet off on honeymoon!

For Year 6 it is the final goodbye; they are a wonderful bunch of children, brimming with talent and character, ready to take on the world and we are so very proud of each and every one of them.  We send them on their way with our love and prayers and I just know they will go on to do great things. As Revd Ann said in Church yesterday - "go and change the world"!

Do take a look in the photo gallery for pictures of our end of term fun and I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Mrs Peddie 

What a fantastic end to a busy school year! We have had a wonderful weekend at the school field camping under the stars - wonderful weather, sports fun, parachute games, a delicious BBQ, ice cream, camp fire singing, laughter and friendship - what more could you ask for? All topped off with a yummy breakfast on Sunday.

Thank you so much to everyone who took part and helped - such a lovely way to round off the summer term.

Photos are now in the gallery!

What a fabulous show!

Every year they get better and better! A HUGE well done to all the children in Classes 3, 4 and 5 who entertained us all with this year’s production. I am sure you will agree, they did amazingly well to learn all those lines and songs in a short few weeks; we are so very proud of them all and hope that you all enjoyed it.

Thank you so much to parents for supplying such wonderful costumes and to all the staff involved for their hours of work and preparation, especially Mrs Stewart. Thank you also for your generous contributions to our drama collection at the end of each performance – we will have a total for you soon.

Photos now in the gallery!

The 2015 Summer Fair takes place

this Friday 26th June after school!

Here are some important reminders:

Monday 22nd June: Summer Fair donations day. This is NOT non-uniform, but there will be a prize for the class who brings the most!

Class 1 & Class 2 – Yellow, blue, green and white items for the children’s tombola

Class 3, 4 and 5 – a bottle for the bottle tombola

From Monday: all other donations - toys, books, raffle prizes, gift items etc can be brought in any time this week

Tuesday 23rd June: This is the deadline for ordering our new and improved picnic teas

Please remember to sell your raffle tickets to friends and family

Years 3, 4, 5 and 6: Get your booking forms in ASAP to secure a slot on the fantastic Climbing Wall!

Years 4, 5, 6: Don't forget the 'St Ippolyts Bake Off' competition, bring your decorated cupcakes on the day of the fair

Children's Competition for all Year groups: bring your entries in on Friday, don't forget to put your name and class on it

Donations for the Cake Stall can be brought in on Friday please

And finally, don't forget that Friday is 

NON-UNIFORM Day for all children

Let's make this the best fair ever!

Don't forget to book your place on the Bake-Off Cake Decorating Workshops! Spare booking forms are available from the carousel in the main entrance. 

Well, we are all safely home after a fantastic, action-packed weekend in Devon. To see for yourself what a great time everyone had, there are lots of photographs in the gallery. 

A reminder also that the children's journals need to be brought back in to Mrs Stewart on Wednesday and there is a special assembly for parents on Friday at 2.30pm, hope you can make it!

We have had a beautiful sunny day here at Barton Hall, perfect for all our activities.

Today we have done canoeing on the lake, archery, mountain biking and abseiling. The children have been fantastic, really trying their best at all the new challenges and in some cases facing their fears!

This evening we are at campfire singing some very interesting action songs and having lots of fun.

We have a lot of tired children tonight and I'm sure they will sleep well ready for the journey home tomorrow.

Our busy day has been topped off with fun in the swimming pool. Everyone is now in bed, and strangely, much quieter than last night!
Check in again tomorrow for further updates!

Our day started with the civilised 'get up' time of 7am, although quite a few children had woken well before that, excited to get on with the day. Everyone slept really well last night....eventually!

Today's activities are Zip Wire, Aeroball, Climbing Wall and Jacob's Ladder. Almost everyone was brave enough to try the zip wire, even Mrs Peddie! Aeroball was a very energetic team game on a trampoline which was lots of fun, and Jacobs Ladder and the Climbing Wall activities certainly tested the limits and strength of our legs!

So far everyone is eating really well; Barton Hall has a new chef apparently and the food is even better than before! There is a great selection and everyone is finding plenty to eat.

We have set up a folder in the photo gallery and will keep adding a few photos when possible.

Well, all is quiet (so far!) 

Everyone ate a hearty dinner this evening and had a lovely time playing 'Passport to the World'. The children are all tucked up in bed now and most are already asleep!

We are looking forward to a full, busy day tomorrow and we have a lovely weather forecast too. 

Check back tomorrow for further updates!

Goodnight

We have arrived!  Everyone is fine and the sun is shining!

Congratulations to Team Wembley who were

crowned the winners at this year's Sports Day!

Thank you to all the parents and families who came along to support the children's Sports Day this afternoon. We hope you could see that our new athletics style format meant that all the children were able to participate in a much wider range of activities, all earning valuable points towards their team total. 

Of course Sports Day wouldn't be complete without the popular track events of long distance, sprints and relays which are always very exciting! We're sorry that we ran out of time and couldn't do the toddler or parent races, but rest assured we will adjust the timings so you don't miss out next year! We were very grateful for your patience as we ran over-time; this was the first year of our new format so we will look at this closely for future events.

As you saw at the field today, a HUGE amount of effort has gone into the new Sports Day; thank you to everyone who helped - especially the staff and governors and the PTA for keeping everyone fuelled with refreshments.

Above all, an ENORMOUS thank you to the wonderful Mrs Hoar for planning, organising and leading the entire event, ably assisted by Mr Jefferies. They have put hours and hours of time into making sure the children had a fabulous afternoon and I am sure you will agree, it showed!

Finally, WELL DONE to all the children who were fantastic as ever, but especially to Team Wembley who were crowned the winners! They were presented with our brand new Sports Day trophy which is now decorated in blue ribbons for the coming year.

Photos are now in the gallery, take a look!

It was a beautiful morning for the PTA's first ever fun run today. 

After an energetic warm up session, the athletes set off for the 5K course along the beautiful countryside around Gosmore. It wasn't long before the first runners made it back to the finish line in a very impressive time!

There was a bouncy castle, skittle run and delicious refreshments to add to the family fun in the sun. A fantastic success!

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed by organising, helping, marshalling, baking and of course big congratulations to all the runners!

There is a selection of photographs on the photo gallery page. If you have any pictures that we could add to the gallery, please email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.