Year 6 re-lived the memories of their time at Stanley and performed a number of songs for their parents at their final assembly on the last day of term. The pupils also received certificates, a pen and their Year Book. It was an emotional time and lots of tears were shed … by pupils, parents and teachers!

The pupils were congratulated on their achievements during their time at Stanley by both Mr Dickinson (Headteacher) and Jo Merritt (Chair of Governors) before they enjoyed a party on the field with bouncy castles, foam machines, sumo wrestling and the opportunity to soak their friends and teachers in the stocks.

We wish them all well at their future schools. Mr Dickinson was confident they had all got an excellent foundation for their future education and life from their time at Stanley and encouraged them to hold true to the values of the school.

In the last week of term we had a ‘Children run the school day’ … and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Here are some of the Teachers comments on the day:

They learnt how tough it is to get people to listen.

The children benefitted from using their initiative, being given responsibility; having their organisational skills and understanding what it is like to be a teacher. Hopefully having empathy as a result.

The children really appreciated the opportunity to plan and deliver own lessons.

Really good for organisation and planning. Taking responsibility. The children also really enjoyed it.

The children enjoyed the whole day and were able to reflect on what went well and how their lessons could be improved if they taught them again.

A very valuable day indeed. The children learnt they really needed to think about instructions to make the learning clear. All remembered their WALT and assessments at the end of the lesson using their thumbs.

It gave the class a chance to see what it would be like to be a teacher.

It was a lot of fun, we learnt new things.

It gave the opportunity for children who normally don't like speaking out in front of the class

A lovely experience for the class

The children definitely enjoyed it. It is tricky to keep Y6 focus send at this time of year but they managed it!!

Super!!

We said goodbye to some good friends at the end of Summer term and a Farewell Tea Party was arranged to give pupils and parents the opportunity to say farewell. Mrs Griffiths was by some distance the longest serving of the leavers with a very impressive 36 years at Stanley!

This is what Mr Dickinson said about Mrs Griffiths in our Newsletter: “Elaine Griffiths who will be well known to many of you will be leaving at the end of this academic year after 36 years teaching at the school. We are delighted that she will return in September on a voluntary basis to continue her work with the orchestra and the library. It is hard to put into words the huge contribution she has made to hundreds of children who have passed through Stanley since 1981 and her wonderfully supportive role for colleagues. In recognition of her work with all children and her commitment to the school’s charity work over the years, she was awarded an MBE in 2013 and I was proud to accompany her to Buckingham Palace to see her presented with her award by Her Majesty the Queen.”

Elaine asked us to pass on this message: “Thank you so much for all the good wishes I have received, and for the wonderful gift of Promenade tickets. I am thrilled to be going to the last night of the Proms.”

We are also saying goodbye to:

Asha Sangha who is moving on after 9 years looking after some of our youngest pupils to be closer to her extended family.

Nicky Parr who has a number of years working at the other end of the school in Year 6 instilling in those children her passion for maths!

Thomas Smith is leaving from Year 6. Thomas has been at Stanley for 3 years and is is returning to university to take a master’s degree in illustration.

We would like to thank them all for being part of Stanley and wish them every success for the future.

Stanley pupils donated a staggering 728 pairs of shoes to local not-for-profit charity, Sal’s Shoes.

Sal’s Shoes was set up to ensure that every pair of shoes donated finds their way to new feet on a child in need, across London, the UK and Worldwide. For 300 million children in the world walking with shoes is a rarity. This makes them extremely vulnerable to infection by parasites, such as hookworm; while injuries to the feet and ankles can lead to ulcers and other conditions, which are almost always left untreated. Without shoes, many children are not permitted to attend school.

Pupils brought their shoes onto the school’s sports courts where they were laid out in rows for boys and girls and school or casual/sport shoes.

The initiative to collect shoes pupils had grown out of was championed by Stanley parent, Laura Gates, who works as a physiotherapist and is very aware of how important shoes are for young children. Laura, who was helped by other Stanley parents, said: “We are so delighted to see the children of Stanley Primary join together to support this great charity. We’re astounded by the generosity of Stanley pupils and parents … thank you!”

Click here learn more about Sal’s Shoes

Year 6 parents were lucky enough to see their children's "stunning performance" of 'Darwin Rocks' over two nights ... other pupils also had an opportunity to see the dress rehearsal of the all singing all dancing final performance by Year 6.

The performance illustrated what an excellent year group this is and several people described the show as "the best ever!"

Congratulations to all the pupils and well done to everyone involved in the show.

Stanley pupil’s work was showcased at a private viewing at Orleans Gallery on Thursday 6 July.

In a recent Art competition, Eve from Maple Class was the overall winner and Woody had his work “Highly Commended” and their work was on display as was an animated version of Eve’s work. This film was created in a workshop organised by Orleans House Gallery. The workshop was Eve’s prize for winning the competition and was great fun for Maple class.

The resulting animated film is very impressive – click here to view

There was a presentation at the Private View where Woody and Eve were presented with a certificate and Eve also got a large art box.

The exhibition is on until the 20th August at the Orleans House Gallery and is well worth a visit.

The Tropical Zoo brought a great variety of animals along to meet Year 5.

The pupils learnt about the different animals habits, diets and where they lived. They were also able to hold and stroke some of them ... not surprisingly the chinchilla was more popular that the scorpion!

Thank you Tropical Zoo for a great day!

We were delighted to welcome the fire brigade, hear about their work, explore the fire engine and have a go on the hoses!

Thank you London Fire Brigade and the team from our local fire station.

Sports Days were a casualty of the hot weather with some days being postponed but all years eventually had fun and produced some impressive performances.

The pupils ran, jumped, threw and tackled obstacle courses with great enthusiasm. We clearly have some very talented athletes and competition was fierce in many events however, the support and encouragement that pupils gave to everyone, primarily their fellow house team members but also to all competitors was really pleasing to see.

Thank you to all the parents and friends who turned up to cheer on the pupils and a particular thank you to all the “Bring a man to school” men who were a great help as “officials” as well as doing some great work in classrooms too. Thank you also to the Waldegrave School girls who came along to be additional officials.

The final result of the Year 2 to 6 events saw Sydney win:

Congratulations to Sydney and very appropriate that our green house were the winners on a day that saw many members of staff wearing “Green for Grenfell”. The payments made by staff for wearing green together with the monies collected in the donation buckets at Sports Days and throughout the week have resulted in £1130.38 being raised to support Grenfell families. Thank you to everyone who helped raise this impressive amount.