Boarding News
The boarders love the summer term, making the most of the fantastic Hatherop site. We've been building dens in the woods, playing cricket in the nets, and enjoying wide games like 'round the garden'. Although our seniors are gearing up for exams, there remains a disassociation from the school day and a sense of fun in the evenings. We've tried to make the most of the good weather with our weekend program, including activities such as mountain boarding, zorbing, and visiting the Cotswold Wildlife Park.
Our boarder of the week is Camilla, who consistently puts others in the boarding community first. This attitude of consideration is what we want all our boarders to aspire to. Well done, Camilla!
We'd also like to invite you into the boarding house to experience what boarding is all about. Please join us on Thursday, 23rd May, for canapés and wine, followed by a short talk by Mr Nish on the benefits of boarding and a question and answer session.
This week's Sport
Please click on the link below to read this week's match reports.
Learning This Week
Kindergarten
This week, we welcomed India into Kindergarten and focused on 'In the Garden'. The children helped dig the garden and plant seeds, made lion masks with Mrs Lawson using garden flowers, enjoyed the slide, and balanced on logs. We took advantage of the lovely weather with trips to the Walled Garden and Forest School, where they had fun hunting for bugs. In the classroom, we collaged flowers, painted butterflies, and coloured pictures. The children also built snail/bug houses at Nursery; why not try at home this weekend? Please ensure children have sun cream on before Nursery and bring a named sun hat and sun cream bottle.
Transition
We’ve had a lovely, busy week in Transition. We started reading "A First Book of Dinosaurs" by Simon Mole, which the children are enjoying. In Music with Mr Page, we practised a new dinosaur song and played the Metallophone. In our session with Miss Scott, we practised our dance for Arts week, which we’re excited to perform after half term. We met Miss Crane, who shared a story about a pet star, and we each took a pet star home. This week’s rhyme was "The Grand Old Duke of York" and our sound was "Vv". Next week’s sound is "Ww" and the rhyme is "Hickory, Dickory, Dock".
Reception
Reception have been learning about rhyming this week, reading poems and stories, continuing rhyming strings, playing rhyming games, making rhyming soup, and creating rhyming paper chains. The children enjoyed playing ‘What’s the rhyme, Mr Wolf’ outside in the sunshine. On Thursday, we added green elements to our uniform for Mental Health Awareness Week. We discussed keeping our minds healthy and made green crowns and wristbands. In Maths, we practised adding and subtracting using ten frames, counting objects, and dice games, and recorded our work with mathematical symbols. Next week, we will try independent writing and start learning about 2D shapes. Please don’t forget to get in touch if you would like to come into school and read a story to the children next week, we would love to see you!
Prep 1
This week in English, Prep 1 learned about diary writing. They enjoyed identifying diary entries styled after Yuri Gagarin, Buzz Aldrin, Helen Sharman, Tim Peake, and Mae Jemison. They then wrote their own entries as Lazlo from our class text ‘The Dark’. Their progress has been incredible!
Here are some extracts:
- "It is a very dark and grim night and I can hear the rain pitter pattering on my window." - Niall
- "I stomped to my bed but the dark tiptoed behind me." - Esme
- "The clock has just turned to midnight and I am in my bed tucked under my duvet." - Lochie
- "I have turned on my green camo torch because the night is jet black." - Jamie
- "All I have to see is the moonlight reflecting on the mirrors." - Henry
In maths, they focused on place value to 100, using number lines and 100 squares. In Topic, they learned about Mae Jemison, writing questions for her and discussing fears they’ve overcome. They also enjoyed a STEM day with Corporal Rutter, building and launching rockets!
Prep 2
Prep 2 became authors this week! After finishing our Rapunzel story, the children wrote their own versions called “The Great Escape.” They created storyboards detailing where Rapunzel went, who she met, her adventures, and if she got revenge on the witch. They linked ideas to create exciting stories, using varied vocabulary, and are now near completion. Their ideas included a mysterious forest, a magical beach, and an alien land! In topic lessons, we finished our castle models, adding mechanisms for drawbridges. We explored castle jobs and are excited for our Oxford Castle trip on Monday. In Maths, we learned to present data using tallies and pictograms. We surveyed popular sports in Prep 2, with swimming and fencing as favourites. To challenge the children, we created pictograms with keys. Encourage your child to collect data on a topic of interest and create tables, charts, and graphs. Ideas include information about planets, favourite book characters, or football goals.
Pre-Prep Book Recommendation
Henri and the Machine by Isabelle Marinov
I absolutely loved this book which begins with the big question ‘What’s the point of art?’ Without wanting to spoil the story, I’m just going to say that this book would be a fantastic read before visiting an art gallery, to spark a discussion about art (and what it is or isn’t) or just to enjoy before bed. You might also be inspired to look into the art works featured in the book which include works by Dali, Warhol, Picasso and Mondrian.
Prep 4
Prep 4 have had an amazing day as Vikings working in the woods. They had great fun creating clay charms, inventing rules and writing Viking riddles. after a Viking lunch of chicken, bread, corn on the cob, apples & apricots, the afternoon was spent cooking bread over the fire, creating Viking characters and sagas. A truly immersive experience that helped to bring Viking life alive for Prep 4.
Prep 5
A select number of year 5 pupils were invited to take part in a leadership challenge day at Cheltenham College. The HCS team pitted their wits against 13 other schools from across the south of England. All pupils took part in a range of activities including ‘Mr Bucket Head’, Treasure Hunt, Tyre Tower, Noahs Ark, MAPS and 4 in a row were just a few of the 14 challenges faced on the day. After the scores were added up the HCS missed out on the podium by just a few points finishing 4th overall. Well done team HCS.
Prep 6
On Tuesday 14th May, following weeks of focused rehearsals, Hamish and William set off to compete in the Cheltenham Performing Arts Festival. They performed a dynamic acting duologue about two boys involving bullying. With some fantastic feedback from the judge, including highlighting the ‘slow-motion’ sequence, the boys were announced winners of their class.
Clubs this week
This week at Prep 2's science club, we attempted to make un-rippable paper! Last week we learned that a glue can be made using equal parts flour and water and so the first step was to make the adhesive. We had various ideas for how to approach this part of the challenge, but settled on using the balance scales for accuracy. We then ripped paper and laid it first horizontally and then vertically across the page, putting glue between the layers and repeating several times. The children demonstrated great logic, teamwork and scientific knowledge. The (very heavy) paper is now drying, ready to be tested next week... will it really stand the test of 18 strong Prep 2 children?!
Online Safety
Jessie and Friends (4-7 Year Olds)
Lots of schools know about this resource from CEOP, but it is also a good place for parents who want to address online safety at home.
Jessie and Friends is a great resource that parents can use to engage with their younger children about worrying or frightening situations online. When questions answer a question correctly they earn a star and can download a certificate to colour in.
Jessie and Friends can be found HERE.
Wellbeing Apps for Kids
With wellbeing increasingly hot on the agenda, helping children manage their health and wellbeing is a top priority. Nothing can beat getting out in the fresh air, meeting friends and having fun, but some children may find apps useful for things such as learning about emotions, managing anxiety etc. There are thousands of these types of apps, but to cut through the fog Internet Matters have put together a list which gives details such as: suitable ages, purpose, how the app works and (where applicable) the cost.
You can find the list of apps HERE.