Prep School Weekly Round Up

November 27th 2020

This week has seen decorations going up in preparation for our recordings of various Christmas productions and Carol Service next week. Our friendly PFA have been enthusiastically preparing Christmas hampers for our usual raffle and a couple of surprises for children during the last week of term. Around the school there is a lovely feeling that the festive season is approaching. I had the pleasure of taking the Early Years bubble and the Year 6 bubble to decorate the tree in the chapel at separate times. They all did an amazing job of decorating the tree.

It is always a pleasure when pupils share some special work that they have done with me. This week I was impressed with Fiona’s (1MS) book review book. Not only did she write beautifully about the books she had read but also illustrated every page. Her drawings were amazing. I particularly liked the review and picture about Barn Owls. Fiona will be receiving a commendation for her hard work.

In Pre-School, the baby yoga sessions that Mrs Dutta runs, have been completely relaxing our youngest pupils. When I went to see them earlier in the week, it looked as though most were so relaxed, they had fallen asleep. They have also been busy working, continuing on the theme of the Gingerbread man. All have had a fun week in Gingerbread Land. With continued learning using the traditional tale of The Gingerbread Man many activities have been explored using all areas of the curriculum, even a life sized Gingerbread Man named Gingy has been made, designed and created!

In Reception, pupils have continued to rehearse for their Christmas production and are singing beautifully. I was impressed with their speaking skills and they are doing a wonderful job of remembering their lines. In the classroom they have practised their sewing skills by making gingerbread puppets and been making some surprise Christmas craft boxes.

In Year 1, pupils have been learning about floods and droughts in Geography. They incorporated this into a Maths lesson by learning about Venn diagrams. As we get closer to December, Year 1 have been getting in the festive spirit and making some beautiful festive surprises.

Year 2 have been learning about inventing and scientists this week. I was lucky enough to have a very interesting discussion with Luv about Neil Armstrong being the first man on the moon and Mrs Raymond-Jones showed me some wonderful work that he did at home about inventors. Well done, Luv! You will receive a commendation next week. Children have also written letters to NASA about wanting to become astronauts!

Year 3 enjoyed the girls against boys rugby match this week. Although it was tag rugby, the girls certainly threw themselves into the sport and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

This week it is the turn of Year 4 to show off their fantastic DT skills. Mrs Spence has made some beautifully bright and creative maracas with them. I know many have gone home and it was good to see so many children leaving school with their work earlier in the week looking very proud of themselves!

Year 5 have been working hard in the classroom, learning new concepts and ideas. They were very excited about the Christmassy posters they were creating in Science and Art and DT also featured as favourites as they worked with, and painted, clay tea lights and letters. As with all junior year groups, they all enjoyed their rugby afternoon on Wednesday.

Year 6 have been enjoying extra-curricular clubs this term. I have had an enthusiastic group of 14 children willing to stay after school on a Friday to produce a magazine for children that we are hoping to display in the reception area next week. They discussed ideas and then completed some research before working together to produce pages that they edited to make the magazine. There has been some really excellent teamwork displayed and it was encouraging to see such mature debating skills. They have also been involved in a library club after school, helping Mrs de Jager with the mammoth task of taking care of our junior library. Mrs de Jager has been impressed with the commitment and dedication and we will be awarding library council badges to Struan, Saffron, Brooke, Phoebe and Harry. In the classroom, Science has been a big hit again with both groups being able to make their own periscopes under Mrs Burnman’s expert guidance.