We have some amazing news!  

Today, we received notification that we have been awarded the  PLATINUM SCHOOL GAMES AWARD for the 2023/24 academic year! 👏👏👏

The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.

We couldn’t have done this without the commitment  from our very own Mrs Davies -PE lead, she plans, leads, organises and co ordinates clubs, attends countless sporting fixtures every Thursday at The Purbeck School and inspires all our children to ‘have a go’ and take part and be the best they can. 
 
Our sporting achievements this year include:

Running a total of 4️⃣5️⃣ clubs FREE of charge. 🤩

97% of children and 100% of parents said that their child enjoyed PE at St Mark's 🤩

Participation in 3️⃣0️⃣sports competitions/festivals.🤩

Excellent links with the local community sports clubs. 🤩

84% of our KS2 pupils competed in local inter-school competitions this year! 🌟🌟🌟

We are extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible. 👏👏👏👏

It’s an absolute honour to finally share our Eco-Schools Green Flag Award with Distinction flag and certificate with you😊

 👏This award is the highest level of award given to schools that go above and beyond the requirements for a Green Flag. 

We are so proud of all the hard work that has been done and continues to be done, within our Eco Club, Forest School, Gardening clubs and throughout our school. 

Thank you to Ms Le Roux, Mr Johnson for leading this and of course thank you to all the staff, pupils and your support!

Happy 10th anniversary St Marks! 🎉🎂🎈👏

Today, we celebrate ten years since our doors opened on the High Street. 

Over those years, so many children have made  their remarkable Primary School journey in this building and we couldn’t be prouder. ❤️

Have a look at how the building and the grounds have  changed with the love of the staff and children, past and present.

We are delighted to let you know that we have achieved our Eco-Schools Green Flag Award again this year with the extra accolade of receiving it with Distinction. 

This is the highest level you can receive and is only given to those schools which the Eco-Schools judges believe have gone ‘above and beyond’ the requirements for a Green Flag.

The judges responded to our submission with a wonderful report outlining everything they loved about our environmental efforts over the last year.  I have summarised it below:

We love your Eco-School journey but also your school ethos and values and the additional display board to celebrate it is phenomenal! It has been an absolute joy assessing your application and learning about the impact you’ve had not only on our planet but the young people you work with daily. We cannot empathise this enough- take pride in your achievements and congratulations on your Eco Schools Green Flag with Distinction 2024! 
🏆👏🏆👏🏆👏🏆👏🏆👏🏆🏆

Environmental learning is something we feel as passionate about as wellbeing, as both are going to be so important in our children’s lives and the earlier they adopt the skills and foresight needed, the better.  Perhaps our beautiful forest school site makes it easy for us to have nature at the forefront of our minds - appreciation for the natural world lies at the heart of St Mark’s. 

Whilst this is clearly a whole school effort, we would like to especially Mr Johnson, Miss Le- Roux  and Ms Stephens, who all puts a great deal of thought and energy into our environmental work every year.  They  lead our Eco Team, Gardening Clubs, Forest School with such commitment, so we would like to thank them all and all of the Eco Team for leading us all so brilliantly last year and helping us gain our Green Flag with Distinction.

What a week! We just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in Swanage Carnival, as this year’s theme literally came to life and you all made “Jurassic Rock!”
As one of your nominated charities, we are feeling so blessed to be a part of the biggest celebrations in the south ❤️
Also, a big thank you to all our bucketeers and donators, literally every penny counts and our community and all the charities nominated will benefit from your kindness, whether it was giving up your time to go around with a bucket, or dropping a few pennies into a bucket. 
Finally, thank you to Woodyhyde Campsite as we noticed one of our  staff members driving a very cool car in the parade 😂 and encouraging lots of stone age bucket collectors walk the whole parade in the heat follow! 👏👏

Now, time for a little rest..enjoy the rest of your summer. ☀️😎

Today, we competed in the Year 3 & 4 Quad Kids event, held at The Purbeck School. 
This event consisted of running 400m, a sprint, standing long jump and over arm throwing. 
We showed strength in many areas and above all, our children loved the experience, represented St Mark’s amazingly and showed true sportsmanship. Well done 👏👏

As part of our Reception class R.E lessons we’ve been looking at ‘Special Places’. 

We were excited to visit St Marks Church, because we know that a church is a special place for Christians. During our visit, we learnt why Christians go to church and what they do there.

We sung songs, listened to the story of ‘The Lost  Sheep’, did some colouring and listened to Rev Dave play the organ. 
Everyone got to light a special prayer candle and say “good afternoon” or “welcome to St Marks Church” standing in the pulpit. 
We saw the holy water in the font and learnt what it’s used for…some of us got to put some on Rev Dave’s head!
Finally, we all got to ring the church bell 🔔 how exciting, we had a fab afternoon!

Our Year 6 children had a wonderful time at the Cathedral last week, which included workshop activities and tour with hundreds of other children from the Diocese.  
The  service included drama,singing and time to reflect. 
It was a lovely day of hope and joy, as children transition to their secondary schools. 
This is the first of our “Leaving” celebrations that the Year 6 children will have this term, as they prepare to move into secondary school and we prepare to say farewell to them.😔

The sun shone for our KS2 sports day! 
We were delighted with the support from parents and families who came along. 
After so much fun in the sun, we can announce the results:
1st LOVE
2nd INSPIRE
3rd RESPECT
4th TRUST

Well done to everyone involved, and a huge thank you to our PTA for their drink stall and giving every child an ice pop to cool down with. 💕
Finally, a big thank you to Mr Butler and pupils from The Swanage School, who have supported both our Sports Days, you were amazing!