It has been a very busy week at Cypress with lots of visitors and events taking place.
At the Lower School, we began the week with a Road Safety Assembly. As we no longer have a school crossing patrol on Auckland Road, we looked at how to cross the road safely, different types of crossing and where the safest place is for us to cross if we walk along Auckland Road on our way to and from school. We now know how to keep ourselves safe on our journey to and from school. This week at the Upper School, we welcomed Elaine Baldry, Project Manager at the Greenwich Maritime Museum, who also leads initiatives for the new Windrush Museum within its walls. Elaine joined us to introduce Black History Month, speaking about the wealth of resources available in our own library and highlighting the importance of sharing family histories.She explained that Black history has not always been fully represented in textbooks, which means we may not always see the whole picture of the past. Black History Month gives us the chance to learn more, highlight untold stories, and celebrate the contributions that might otherwise be missed. Elaine also generously gifted the school signed copies of 10 Children Who Changed by Joseph Paterson the World and Brilliant Black British History by Atinuke, which will be treasured additions to our library. A huge thank you to Elaine for taking the time to inspire us with her knowledge and passion.
KS2 Cross Country Event
We are so proud of all the children who took part in the Croydon School Cross Country event this week! Children from Years 3 and 4 ran 1300m, while Years 5 and 6 tackled 1600m, such a fantastic effort from everyone. A special shout-out to James in Rowan Class, who came an incredible third place out of around 200 runners! What brilliant stamina; well done, James! A big thank you as well to Miss Ahmed and Miss Hassan for organising the event and supporting the children on the day. We’re so grateful for your time and dedication.
Year 1 Visit South Norwood Lakes
As part of their learning in geography, Year 1 have been finding out about our local area. They visited South Norwood Lakes and looked at the landmarks along the way. Year 1 have used this knowledge to help them draw maps of the route from school. The teachers were also very impressed with how sensible the children were on their walk. Thank you also to the parents and carers who gave up their time to come along and help.
Diwali Workshop for Year 2
As part of their leaning in RE, Year 2 were visited by Nabhi from the London Institute for Vedic Education. The children really enjoyed learning about Diwali. To see photos and find out more, read our article here
Y5 Sycamore Class Assembly
Sycamore Class kicked off our first assembly of the year with an inspiring message all about resilience. The children shared their personal goals for the year and explored how to stay resilient, even when things feel tough. They introduced us to the idea of “eating the frog” – tackling the hardest task first to make everything else feel easier! To top it off, they performed a fantastic song about perseverance that had everyone smiling and nodding along. A huge thank you to Ms Pumphrey, Miss Lorraine, and Miss Barker for supporting the children in creating such a brilliant assembly. Well done, Sycamore Class. You’ve set the bar high for the year ahead!
National Poetry Day
To mark National Poetry Day, the classes at Cypress Lower took part in workshops with Steve Sobolewski from Story Matters. Steve, who is one of our parents, ran engaging workshops for Years 1 and 2 focusing on the national theme this year which is play. The children had a great time playing a new version of rock, paper, scissors where they had to choose to be something and decide who would be the best. We had dinosaurs versus robots, ballerinas versus princesses and lasers versus trees. The children then used these objects to write their own mask poems in role. Reception also enjoyed some performance poetry from Steve and shared their own performance of ‘Humpty Dumpty’. We are now going to select some of the children’s poems to do into an anthology. Copies of this will be available in our class book corners and the school library. Thank you Steve for once again making the workshops so engaging and inclusive. The children and staff had a wonderful day. What a fantastic way for us to mark National Poetry Day. At Cypress Upper, we celebrated National Poetry Day 2025 with a special online workshop led by the Young Poet Laureate programme. This year’s theme was play, and our children were inspired by the National Literacy Trust and West Yorkshire Young Poet Laureates to think about what play means to them and how it can shape poetry. Pupils took part in a lively poetry challenge, experimenting with words, rhythm, and ideas through a range of fun tasks. The day ended with children proudly sharing and performing their poems for each other, bringing energy, creativity, and plenty of joy to our celebrations.
Cypress Superstars
Well done to Chloe and Una in Indigo Class who came to share their amazing home learning about our local area. Chloe had created a fantastic 3D model of her street and house and Una a wonderful map of the local area. What wonderful work! Well done to Mason in Beech Class, who wrote a fun poem about this love for Lego. He performed it beautifully for Ms Wayman and I this morning! We have also been visited by Frankie in Beech Class, who independently wrote a poem about Roblox – it was heartfelt and funny at the same time – well done, Frankie!
We wish all our children and families an enjoyable weekend.
Ms Binks, Mrs Carpenter and the Cypress Team
