We have enjoyed a fantastic week, celebrating the wonderful world of books! From  author workshops to book fairs to sharing our learning with children from Benhall— it’s been action packed!

One of the highlights of the week was having the pleasure of hosting St Mark's Speaking Out Competition, and what an incredible event it was!  We were absolutely blown away by the talent on display in both the individual poetry category and the class poem competition.

Each performance was delivered with confidence, clarity, and wonderful expression and intonation — not to mention the fabulous choreographed actions and dynamic presentation throughout. Our judges certainly had a very tough job choosing the winners!

And the individual winners are…
Year 3: Rufus, Year 4: Jesse, Year 5: Honey, Year 6: Elena and Lena (joint winners – it was simply too close to call!)

A huge well done to every child who bravely took to the stage in the individual poetry competition. It takes incredible courage to perform in front of an audience, and we could clearly see how much rehearsal time, dedication, and commitment went into perfecting each poem. You are all superstars!

Now onto the hotly contested class poem competition. It truly was a fantastic showcase of teamwork and creativity. Any one of the classes could have been crowned winners — they were all that good!

In the end, the judges had to make a decision and crowned Class 1 the Lower School winners, with their poem Sick by Shel Silverstein. The judges praised Class 1 for their fantastic pace, timing and delightful expression throughout the poem. Well done Class 1.

Class 6 won the Upper School with their poem, The Tin Can by Margaret Mahy. The judges commented that the children performed with great clarity and to a very high standard. They were particularly impressed that the class maintained a strong and lively beat throughout the performance.

Thank you to all the parents and families who supported the children in practising for the competition, as well as those who came along on the day to watch and cheer them on.

What a wonderful celebration of confidence, creativity, and performance. We are so proud of you all!

It was also a real pleasure for St Mark’s children to meet with children from Benhall yesterday. St Mark’s performed their Speaking Out Class poems to the children and then shared reading time together. It was a lovely collaboration, bringing our two schools together.

A huge thank you as well to Andy Seed for visiting St Mark’s today – you can read more about his visit on page 2!

Well done to the children who have been taking part in the St Mark’s readathon and collecting sponsorship.  Payments can still be made over the weekend via ParentPay, but will close on Monday, when we will calculate the winners to be announced on Friday. Please remember to hand in your sponsorship forms and Readathon tracker forms on Monday, in order to enter the competition.

Many thanks for your support in making this week such a success for the children and my thanks, too, to Miss Thornhill, our Reading Lead, who has co-ordinated the fantastic events.

Have a super weekend, 

Mrs A Fitch and the Staff Team