This week, our school value was Determination. We hope you were able to enjoy some of the stories and tasks on Thursday's remote learning. In assembly this week, Year 6 pupils demonstrated what determination can achieve by performing The Circle of Life to the whole school! It was great for them to practise performing in front of an audience as they continue to work hard and prepare for their end of term show.

World Book Day

Children and adults celebrated World Book Day on Wednesday. KS2 started the day with a fabulous assembly led by the author and theatre-maker Tessa Bide, who read aloud part of her new thrilling story. Year 3 and 4 had the pleasure of meeting Tessa in person and taking part in creative writing workshops. EYFS and KS1 welcomed into their classes a local story-teller, Hannah Moore, who narrated fairy tales and folk tales in an interactive and engaging way. Thank you to all the teachers who made this day happen and thank you to all the children, parents and carers for putting their creative skills to work for some of the most innovative and creative costumes we’ve seen on a World Book Day! 

Ablaze Poetry Competition

We are pleased to offer the opportunity to take part in the Ablaze Poetry Competition again this year - in the past, pupils from VPPS have had their work selected and published in a special Ablaze poetry book and this year we could achieve the same! Some children wrote their poems in school on Wednesday but will need to type them up and email them in from home. Here are the full details:

Open Classrooms

We loved seeing parents and carers in school last term. Here are this term's "open classroom" dates when you can come in at the start of the day:

• Reception - every Tuesday
• Year 1 - every Thursday
• Year 2 - Tuesday 28th March
• Year 3 - Friday 31st March
• Year 4 - Wednesday 8th March
• Year 5 - Friday 17th March
• Year 6 - Thursday 16th March

Swimming

Twelve excited children from Year 6 competed in a closely fought swimming gala this week. Each child completed at least two races including front crawl, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, water polo, a range of relay races and a raft race. Well done to Oli and Calvin for their individual silver places and Beth for her individual bronze place. Overall the team came an impressive 5th place. Well done to all of our super swimmers!

Girls' Football

The VPPS girls’ football teams have enjoyed three weeks of matches, playing against other Bristol primary schools at the Ashton Park Sports Partnership tournament. Each child should be incredibly proud of how their dribbling, shooting, marking and creating space skills have developed over the weeks. Here are quotes from a few of our Year 5 & 6 footballers. Imogen reported "I enjoy girls’ football because you know you have a team to rely on." Megan said "I like it because it is really fun and is one of my favourite hobbies." Bea stated "I like girls’ football because we can change and try different positions." Flora noted "Girls football is nice because with mixed football boys don't always pass you the ball." Dottie commented "I like it because it gives girls the chance to play and enjoy football if they wouldn't usually." And Margot stated "I like girls’ football because it is fun and we play as a team." Thank you to the parent helpers for transporting the girls and supporting on the day. A huge thank you to our three Year 12 Sports leaders who helped train and support the team. We look forward to further squad training and local matches in the future.

CST Dodgeball

On Monday, some of our year 3 pupils visited St. Kathrine’s Academy to compete in a CST dodgeball tournament. We took two teams to the event, one from Eucalyptus class and a one from Cedar class. The year 3 pupils have been practising dodgeball in PE with Mr Kellow and Mrs Casling for a couple of weeks, and their hard work showed in this tournament. Our Eucalyptus team came in 1st place without losing a game and our Cedar team came in 2nd place losing just one game. It made us proud to see the level of determination and curiosity shown at this event. We had some children who were excited to see what it would be like to represent our school for the first time and we had some children who were very nervous about playing dodgeball against unknown teams. Fast forward to the end of the tournament, and no one wanted to go home! To say we are proud of these children would be a massive understatement. It’s moments like these that really remind us all why we love teaching our children at VPPS. We would like to extend a huge thank you to all adults who spectated and helped with transport. We really couldn’t do it without you!

Other Information

• Click below for a flyer about Wildcats! football for girls from Bristol Robins Foundation at St. Mary Redcliffe Secondary School.

• Here is information about the Avon Athletic Association Quadkids Competition for Year 4 and 5 Children coming up on Monday 27th March:

•  Action Tutoring is an educational charity that trains volunteers to tutor Maths and English to disadvantaged pupils in schools. They are currently looking for more volunteers. Click on this flyer for information:

• Here is information about the local Girls' Brigade group at Totterdown Baptist Church - a uniformed organisation, with the primary focus of providing a safe space for girls of all ages to socialise, learn and be themselves. They currently have spaces available.

• Did you know that Victoria Park Baptist Church is a designated ‘Warm Space’, offering respite for anyone wanting some company in a warm welcoming space. They open their doors from 10am-2pm on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, with free hot food, drinks and snacks, quiet areas, toys for children to play with, free internet and phone charging, signposting for debt relief, etc. More details below:

• Click below for the latest school nurse webinars:

Spring has sprung! Right on cue, the daffodils in school opened their heads just in time for St David's Day on 1st March. Have a lovely weekend!