On Friday 8^th October, we were delighted to welcome Munira Wilson MP to our school. During her visit, Munira undertook a tour of the school provided by four of our Y6 pupils (in full WWII Costume due to the Y6 WWII day). Munira met with our Headteacher and then hosted a question and answer session with members of the School Council.

Munira also joined some of us for a photograph of our new community use defibrillator, which had been purchased as a result of a fundraising campaign.

Munira was hugely impressed with the facilities and premises of our school. She visited all of the year groups and saw the children (and teachers) working hard. She complimented us on how engaged the children were and how hard everybody was working on their lessons.

The school council members had prepared some questions for Munira by visiting her website and understanding some of the things that she had been campaigning about. Questions ranged from local to national issues and included asking Munira about her campaign against the third runway at Heathrow, her role as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Health, and what qualifications you needed to become an MP!  

Munira was hugely complimentary of our pupils and particularly how engaging they were and how they communicated and spoke so maturely. It was a wonderful morning and we are hugely grateful that Munira was able to share some of her valuable time to visit our school.

On Friday 1st October it was 'World Smile Day'. Children across the school worked on writing or drawing something that makes them feel happy. Each year group put together their thoughts and made a giant smile emoji. 

Here are some pictures and quotes from the day! 

' Lottie in Chestnut class' – I am happy because I love to respect and help'

Younes in Chestnut class – 'I am happy when people play with me'

Zachary in Walnut Class  – 'I made my friends smile because I cheered for them in a game.' 

Markus in Walnut Class – I made someone happy because I helped my friend when he couldn’t write something and I said it’s okay.

We are sad to be saying goodbye to a number of staff and details of this year’s “leavers” have been sent out to parents. Presentations have been made and staff have said their goodbyes to the “leavers”. They have all left their mark on Stanley and have created so many happy memories for pupils, parents and colleagues.

One "leaver" who deserves a very special mention is Mrs Salter who has given an amazing 37 years of dedicated service to Stanley. She leaves us as Year 4 Leader and she has taught over 1,100 children in Years 3, 4 and 5 during these 37 years … she even taught parents of several children who she has had in her care more recently.

The comments from pupils, parents and colleagues show just what an inspirational, caring and popular teacher Val is … she will be missed and always remembered by so many in the Stanley community.

From over 1,100 children, their parents and hundreds of colleagues THANK YOU Mrs Salter and all best wishes for the future!

It was ‘Children Run the School Day’ and Mr Hawley became a pupil for the day. He was involved in a paper aeroplane making competition in Year 2, cookery in Year 3, making some rice krispie cakes and making a Viking helmet out of salt dough in Year 4.

Here are some comments from Oak Class (Year 2)

“Freddie in Oak Class showed us he’s a budding Richard Branson, teaching us all how to make the perfect paper aeroplane. Mr Hawley’s attempt unfortunately was subject to ‘pilot error’….”

“Tarah from Oak gave us a science lesson in which we created some colourful slime!”

Well done to the impressive teachers … the children! ... and to Ms Leney for organising this popular day.

Years 2 to 6 held their Sports Day on 15 July - each year group had their own events and competition was fierce with friends cheering on their houses in a variety of running, throwing and jumping events.

There were some impressive achievements as well as great support!

The final event of the day was a relay where a boy and girl from each year group took part ... it was fast!

Click here to view a video of the relay: https://www.stanley.richmond.sch.uk/school-news-videos/ 

At the end of the day the house points were added up and the top three houses were:

Beijing - 1939 points

Atlanta - 1911 points

Sydney - 1837 points

Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to Beijing!

It's a month of sport and Year 1 took over from the Euros and Wimbledon in delivering some real excitement and impressive sporting achievements.

The Olympics are next for us to watch and who knows in a few years' time it could be some of our Stanley athletes we are watching!

Well done Year 1

We now have a fantastic new outdoor learning garden for the children with a log seating area, canopy, planting beds and new steps and fencing.

This impressive new garden is the result of a lot of hard work by a wonderful group of volunteers who worked tirelessly on Saturday 18^th June to turn a piece of “overgrown waste land” into a great new addition to the learning spaces at Stanley.

The project, which was Stanley’s version of The Big Build or Groundforce, was project managed by Tim Jones (one of our Year 1 parents) using his vast knowledge, skill and contacts to source the things that we needed.

Simon Hawley (Headteacher), who was a labourer for the day, said: “The volume of support that we achieved through parents was fantastic and I think everyone involved had a real sense of achievement. I’m sure that there were a few achy muscles on Sunday morning. Seriously though, this sort of project and achievement shows what a wonderful community we have at our school and also what can be achieved if we pull together with a bit of specialist direction!”

Thank you so much Tim and all the volunteers!

Year 2 have had some scooter training and made some seriously scary gargoyles.

Year 6 have been practising Spanish and German in preparation for secondary school.

We said “Hola”,  ¿Cómo te llamas? , and “ Wie heists du? “. We also did a survey of pets and favourite colours! Azul, (blue), blau, blue was most popular!  We compared which languages would help us read in Spanish too! 

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We were tempted to do “We’ll beat you on penalties” in German and “We’ll see you in the final” in Spanish!

Year 6 are having great fun in their last term at Stanley!

Although the usual week away could not go ahead due to Covid the range of events organised are more than making up for this.

A sleepover with a BBQ, silent disco and an outdoor film on the field, on a lovely warm evening, followed by a few hours sleep and a breakfast was great fun.  

Thames Young Mariners at Ham have had regular visits from groups of Year 6 pupils who went out in canoes and tackled obstacle courses and climbing walls on dry land!

More exciting activities are planned before the end of term to say goodbye to a brilliant year group who are off to “Big School” in September