Quest Primary School

Years 5, 2 and 6 had the exciting opportunity to visit Fairfield Halls to meet the inspiring authors and illustrators Neil Cameron, Joseph Coelho and Hannah Gold at the London Schools Literature Festival. They shared fascinating insights into their journeys to becoming authors and spoke about the wonderful books they have written. Year 5 and Year 2 even had the chance to draw along with the illustrators, bringing stories to life through their own creativity. It was a truly memorable experience for our children, who also got to have their books signed by the authors. We hope this inspiring visit has sparked a love of reading and writing—and perhaps inspired some budding authors to follow their dreams!

Nursery enjoyed a wonderful trip to Deen City Farm as part of their understanding of their learning 'The World Around Me.' The children were able to get up close to lots of the animals and had lots of fun at the farm. They also did a wonderful job at travelling back to school safely when the trams were cancelled and they had to instead use several buses, after a busy day! Well done to all of the Nursery class and a big thank you to all of the adults and parents who supported the trip.

We were delighted to host our MP for Croydon East, Natasha Irons, here at Quest Primary last week. Natasha spent time with Miss Stawman finding out about our school and then had the pleasure of meeting with two of our groups of pupil leaders - our Reading Ambassadors and then our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors. The children spoke brilliantly about the Reading for Pleasure culture at Quest Primary, and why reading matters to them, and how it is celebrated here. The Anti-Bullying Ambassadors shared the work they have undertaken to raise the awareness of bullying at QPS and ensure all children feel safe and like they have someone they can speak to if they are worried about anything. A big thank you to Natasha for taking the time to come and see QPS in action.

A number of our Year 6 pupils were able to visit East Surrey College to see what a college site looks like and find out about some of the courses offered. Our visit had a focus on creative courses including those in arts, music performance and production, media, film, photography, TV production and 3D modelling. Our pupils were also able to see the LRC, and visited the Health & Social Care and Aviation, Travel & Tourism departments. We hope the visits will have inspired some of them to continue learning about the options for their future careers and pathways, once they leave us at QPS. Thank you to Becky and Sue for hosting our visit.

Over the next few weeks a number of our Y6 pupils will be visiting local colleges. Today a group of children who have expressed an interest in Health & Beauty careers were able to visit the facilities at John Ruskin College and find out more about the courses offered, and the requirements to access them. Thank you to Becky for hosting the visit and the members of staff who spent time with the pupils answering questions.

Pupils from Y5 & Y6 at QPS had a wonderful trip to Gothenberg in Sweden, with pupils from Greenvale Primary, as part of the Turing Scheme.

Titled 'Nordic Notebooks', the aim was to give pupils real life experiences which would prompt and stimulate writing. Prior to the trip the children took place in Forest School sessions and completed a short piece of writing each week for 6 weeks. They also communicated with their pen pal in our Swedish partner school.

During the 6 days, pupils spent a day at the Swedish school meeting their pen pals and other Swdish friends, taking part in lessons, sports activities, and experiencing Swedish lunchtimes and playtimes. They were also given a guided tour of the school by their pen pal. The following day, the children all met together again when they attended the Universeum and explored zones based on the human body, the mathtrix, under the sea, a rainforest and space. They also got to taste authentic Swedish meatballs!

A trip to the Gothenberg archipelago was an opportunity for many to experience their first ferry trip and everyone then had fun exploring Vrango island, climbing to the viewpoint and making notes in their Nordic Notebooks, before paddling at the beach.

Liseberg theme park proved a highlight for many, with some conquering fears and others demonstrating their thrill seeker credentials! A cultural train tour of the city centre ensured all the famous sites were seen and the children learned lots about the history of Gothenberg.

International travel was a new experience for some of our pupils, as was having to make their own beds and pack their own cases, so we know that several life skills have been gained across the duration of the trip! It was a pleasure to spend time with the children as they experienced new places and opportunities, and we hope many of them will keep in touch with the friends they made from Greenvale. As always, the children's kindness towards others stood out - with one of our children packing a small gift for her pen pal who she had noted had her birthday during our visit, and with other children supporting their peers to try new things such as paddling in the sea, rollerblading in the playground or comforting others when homesick feelings crept in at the end of long days.

Thank you to all who made the trip possible.

We are incredibly proud of our Year 6 class who sat their SATS at the end of last term. While these could be nerve-wracking, the children were calm, methodical and measured in their approach, getting the job done each morning and then enjoying different activities in the afternoons. A huge thank you to the Year 6 team and other staff who have helped prepare the children so well academically and emotionally for the tests - we know all of the children have tried their best and that is all we can ever ask for. A huge well done to Jemison class who can now begin to enjoy all of the planned activities that contribute to their final half term as pupils at QPS!

Our Quest Primary Governors were treated to a presentation by our Pupil Principals at the recent meeting of the committee. The Pupil Principals discussed what a typical day looks like for them at school, how they had found SATs week, shared something they were proud of having achieved at QPS and made suggestions for what they would do if they were Head for the week! The Governors were pleased to hear from pupils directly and were able to ask some questions and thank the pupil Principals for sharing their views and attending the meeting

Our summer term 1 newsletter is here! Read about just some of the learning and activities our classes have been up to

spent two days with us helping our classes plant up the beds in the Edible Playground. Across the 15 beds we have planted calendulas, sweetcorn, sugar snaps, sunflowers, chives, courgettes, cornflowers, cosmos, zinnias, cucumber, carrots, violets, basil, lettuce, radish, tomatoes, coriander, nasturtiums and beetroot so are looking forward to a bumper crop come the summer! The children loved finding out about the different plants and vegetables, naming their seeds, digging them in and then watering them. A huge thank you to Lucie and the team for all of their help and support to get our garden growing!