Waving goodbye to 2009

The beginning of the new year and the time to make New Year resolutions.

At the start of the new term, may we extend our warmest best wishes for 2010, along with our gratitude for your continuing interest and support for your children's school.


May we also wish you a very happy and prosperous new year!

Best wishes from all the staff, and pupils, at John Perry Primary School.

Dream over for Stacey

The X Factor dream is over for Stacey Solomon.

She Made it through to the final but was voted off in last nights show.


She should be very proud that she came third because she was amazing.

I'm sure she will still have a successful singing career.

We all wish her well!

Fascinating festive facts to make you go "wow!"

Here are some 'fascinating festive facts' (a little alliteration there for Yr 6)

The three wise men were called Bathazar, Caspar (not Casper the friendly ghost) and Melchior.

Christmas carols were introduced into church services by St Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.

The word "carol" comes from the Greek choraulein, which was a dance accompanied by flute music, and the French caroller, meaning "to dance round in a circle".

The names of Santa's reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and of course we can't forget Rudolph!

Reindeer are the only type of deer where both sexes grow antlers.

Did you know that there is a little farming village in Carmarthenshire, Wales called Bethlehem?

Christmas Day was officially fixed as 25th December by Pope Julius 1 in the 4th century AD. Before that it was celebrated on various dates throughout the year.

The royal Christmas Day message was broadcast on television for the first time in 1957.

William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on December 25th, 1066. The year of The Battle of Hastings.

The first commercially printed Christmas cards were designed by London artist John Calcott Horsley, in 1843.

The largest ever advent calendar, which was over 1100 sq.m, was created to mark the refurbishment of St Pancras station, London in 2007.

Stacey Solomon

We were digging through the archives....and here she is Stacey in year six busy making her umbrella in Mrs Johnson's class. Mrs J wonders if she kept it?!! She is also hoping to meet Mr Cowell! When are you popping in to John Perry, Stacey?

Mr Bowen also remembers teaching Stacey in 1997 in his Yr 2 class. Also Mrs Lane, who is now our Nursery teacher, was Stacey's teacher in Yr 3 in 1998.

Do you recognise any of the other pupils in the class photos? Send us a message if you do.

We hope everyone has done well, even if they haven't achieved national stardom on X-factor.

Good luck, Stacey, from all the staff and pupils at John Perry.

December is nearly here.

Here are some interesting facts about December.

December used to be the tenth month of the Roman year, and it gets its name from the word 'Decem', which means ten.

The Anglo-Saxons called it 'Winter monath', or 'Yule monath' because of the custom of burning the yule log around this time. After many Anglo-Saxons became Christians they called it 'Heligh monath' or holy month, because Christmas, the birth of Jesus, is celebrated in December.

At the beginning of December, the season of Advent starts. The word advent means 'coming', and as its name suggests it is a time of preparation for the coming feast of Christmas.

Most chidren, in Britain, begin December by opening the first door of their Advent calendar. This will continue daily until the 24th December, Christmas Eve.

Can you answer the 10 questions correctly?

All children in KS1 can enter the quiz, the first pupil to answer all the questions correctly will win a prize.

Good luck!

1. How many little pigs were there?

2. What was Charlotte, in the Charlotte's Web story?

3. What is the capital of England?

4. Who lived under the bridge in the three billy goats gruff story?

5. Complete the sentence, 'run, run as fast as you can you can't ----- me i'm
the gingerbread man'.

6. Old King Cole called for his pipe his bowl and his fiddlers -----?

7. What is a shape with four equal sides?

8. Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet eating her curds and ----?

9. In the rhyme 'Hey diddle diddle', what did the cow jump over?

10. What is the name of the teacher in 1SC, Mrs -----?

The Quantum Theatre Group

John Perry Primary were very lucky to have a visit from The Quantum Theatre Group.

All the children thoroughly enjoyed the science production of 'Octopushy'.

It was a fun way to learn about forces, pushes and pulls, twists and turns, magnetic forces for KS1 and onto gravity and friction for KS2.

Thank you Quantum Theatre.

Pumpkin Soup

Class 2CJ made some lovely pumpkin soup last week.

In Yr1 they planted some pumpkin seeds and last week the pumpkin was ready for eating!

They had great fun preparing, chopping and cooking the pumpkin. After all the hard work, they all got to eat it with bread and pumpkin seeds! Yum!

What a great way to celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving.
Perhaps you could even put it on your Christmas menu, so lovely and warming.

November Quiz

Can you answer the 15 questions correctly?

All pupils, at John Perry Primary, can enter. The first child with all the correct answers, will win a prize!

Bonus
If you answer all of the questions correctly, and you solve the anagram too, then there is a special prize to be won.
The first letter of each answer will give you the letters that you need to form the mystery words!
Good luck!

1. What is the capital of Wales?

2. What is the capital of Greece?

3. What is the schools postcode?

4. Where does Mr Beukes come from?

5. Name the most famous disney character.

6. Which country has the capital, New Delhi?

7. Name the river that flows through London?

8. In which country were fireworks invented?

9. Where are the 2012 olympics being held?

10. What is used by children to count down the days until Christmas?

11. Which company are the makers of Ipod?

12. Name the red nose reindeer.

13. What is half of a Sphere?

14. Which Charles Dickens character said, "Please Sir, I want some more"?

15. What is the most prominent feature in our Solar System?