From the Primary School

I hope that you all enjoyed the mid-term break on Monday and that the girls were able to spend time away from their screens, perhaps outside engaged in some quality play. We talk so often about how important it is that children of all ages are able to be creative and be engaged in imaginative play. However, studies do tell us that over the years, children are engaging less and less in this type of play and the impact on children is being felt across the globe.

While the lockdown situation is being felt by us all, one thing I have been heartened by is the amount of play I am seeing in our children. My own daughter is out in our street after school climbing in the trees, and we’ve spent hours playing board games together as a family. Kids are out riding bikes before and after school and the delivery boxes arriving in homes from online shopping are being used as shops, rockets, cubby houses and pizza restaurant signs! Active play should be a part of all children’s daily lives and let’s hope that post-lockdown and when busy schedules resume, we can still find time in our lives to remember how important it is that children should play.

This week, our Primary teachers made a video for the Primary girls to remind them just how important it was to get away from their computer screens and to spend time outside playing. We thought you might enjoy watching it too! https://vimeo.com/583279032/bb9268220e

As At Home Learning will continue for at least another 4 weeks, we organised another resource pick up for Primary parents of Friday of last week. It was lovely to see so many smiling faces drive down St Peters Street and to connect momentarily in a socially distanced way with some of our families and girls. The packs contained resources that will help to balance the on screen and off-screen time for the girls as well as a few special gifts to help keep them active over the coming weeks. The girls were thrilled to receive a skipping rope from the PDHPE team and a Hula Hoop ready for the SCEGGS Primary Hula Hoop Challenge! Over the next few weeks, we are challenging the girls to see who can Hula Hoop for the longest and who can also Hula Hoop in the most unusual (but safe!) location or doing the most unusual task. We look forward to seeing what the Primary girls have to offer.

Finally, as the Olympics come to a close, I thought I would share some of the wonderful writing that the Year 1 girls completed in their English lesson last week. They were tasked with using their imagination to consider which of the Olympic sports they would participate in if they could and why.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading their writing and was inspired to see how much they had learnt about the strength, passion and determination needed to become an Olympian. Well done Year 1!

Helen Dempsey
Head of Primary