Nursery
Toddlers
This week in our Little Owls room has been full of excitement and seasonal fun! We've embraced autumn with sensory play in our tuff tray, exploring the textures of playdough, cloud dough, colourful rice, and cornflour mixed with water. At our creative table, the children have been busy making leaf butterflies, painting acorns, leaf printing, and creating autumn-themed self-portraits. On Wednesday, we danced our way through the day with Mrs Scott and had a fantastic time exploring new musical instruments with Mr Page. Tuesday's PE with Mr Bailey had us pretending to be tractors, racing cars, and aeroplanes, zooming around with lots of energy. We've also spent plenty of time settling into the new term, exploring both our classroom and garden, where we’ve even done a bit of gardening. It’s been a joyful, creative week of discovery!
Next week, we are looking forward to exploring autumnal woodland animals such as hedgehogs, squirrels, and of course, owls.
Pre-Reception Owls
The Pre-Reception Owls have been explorers this week! In Forest School, the children explored their environment to find feathers for their owl tuff tray. They used binoculars to birdwatch and climbed trees to get the best view!
While outside, the children collected leaves and twigs for their hedgehog houses, and they all wrote a welcome sign to display at the front. They had conversations about where hedgehogs live, their hibernation, and what they like to eat! The children then went on to make their own hedgehogs from clay and twigs.
The children greeted Madame Christie with a “Bonjour!” at the start of their French lesson. They had great fun with Madame Christie’s birds and enjoyed singing French nursery rhymes.
Ice cream, anyone? The children used the mud kitchen to open their ice cream shop, selling all the flavours your heart could desire! Our favourite was chocolate…
Finally, the Pre-Reception children went on a hunt around the castle grounds for sticks and leaves. From this, they made their own bird nests, sparking conversations about where birds live and what they eat.
Next week, our Book of the Week will be revealed! Watch this space…
Pre-Prep
Reception
We have had another busy week in Reception. We have learnt four new letter sounds and realised that when we put some of the letters we have learnt together, they make a word! The children were so excited to be able to read some simple words such as: sat, sit, pit, mad, and dad!
In our fun phonics sessions, we have also made muddy welly boot prints and dashing ducks with funky feather hair!
The children have been excellent at learning the story of The Little Red Hen with actions. This week, we discussed the problem in the story. We explored and answered questions such as: Who does the Little Red Hen ask for help? Why don't the animals want to help the Little Red Hen? And why doesn't the Little Red Hen share the bread with the animals?
In our maths session, we have been exploring the concepts of matching and sorting. The children enjoyed helping to sort out my smelly socks and finding the object to match the drawn outline. We also extended our maths vocabulary by using the word 'set'. This was challenging, but we managed to sort our wooden creatures into sets such as animals that can swim, African animals, woodland animals, and mythical creatures.
Prep 1
Prep 1 were so excited to be invited into Ariel's cave this afternoon as she had found lots of toys at the bottom of her cave! She told us she had "gadgets and gizmos a-plenty. Whosits and whatsits galore" but she didn't know what they were or any of the materials they were made from. First we sorted the materials depending on whether they were plastic or wood and discussed their properties, thinking about some of the scientific words we could use to describe them (hard, soft, material, weight). We then sorted them into groups of flexible or rigid, transparent or opaque and magnetic or not magnetic and tested their properties to sort the toys into a Venn diagram.
Sparks of Success: Prep 2 Perseveres at Forest School
This week in our Prep 2 Forest School after-school club, the children demonstrated remarkable perseverance as they learned to use a flint and steel to ignite a piece of cotton wool. The task required patience, focus, and determination, and the children showed an impressive level of resilience as they practiced striking the flint repeatedly until they saw sparks.
Our Forest School sessions are designed to foster independence, confidence, and problem-solving skills through hands-on outdoor activities. This week’s challenge was no exception, as the children embraced the opportunity to develop a practical skill while also learning about the importance of fire safety and responsibility in the natural environment.
It was a joy to see their faces light up with pride when the cotton wool finally caught a flame, illustrating the rewards of persistence and teamwork. This experience was not only about mastering a new skill but also about building resilience.
Middle School
Prep 3 Cumulus Gallery
Prep 3 spent Wednesday with the Cumulus team, experiencing an incredibly exciting day of outdoor adventures in brilliant sunshine! They started by learning the basics of camouflage – with charcoaled faces to help them blend seamlessly with their surroundings – before playing games in the Hatherop woods, learning to light a fire (and enjoying toasted marshmallows and popcorn!), participating in team activities on the lawn, and finally tackling a construction task: creating a fairy shelter that would repel water! Everyone was fully engaged and enthusiastic about every challenge... and rather tired by the end of the day!
Prep 4 Cumulus Gallery
Prep 4 were lucky enough to complete 2 fantastic days of forest school and bushcraft with Dorset based company Cumulus. The company arrived with tents, cooking stations and all the other equipment ready for an outdoor adventure. All the children were able to camp in the school grounds overnight as they do annually, as they made shelters, lit fires and cooked their lunch, and of course there was plenty of camo paint applied and outdoor games played – tag archery was definitely a highlight! How lucky they were to be able to continue their outdoor programme - one of the true benefits of going to school in such a beautiful place with expansive grounds and woodland on site!
Cumulus Adventures: Prep 3, 4 & 5 Go Wild!
Below is an article written by three of our Aspire pupils about what has been happening in the Prep School this week.
Hello and welcome to the Vegetable Gang’s news column, written by three anonymous pupils who call themselves Courgette, Broccoli, and Carrot. Our topic for this week is Cumulus! Prep 3, 4, and 5 have been busy – camping out, whether it’s in the Italian Gardens or a Westonbirt field! All of these adventures are excellent for helping your child become more confident and independent!
On the 11th, Prep 5 went off to Westonbirt for a two-night camping trip, where they had lots of fun! Rosie, a Prep 5 girl, said that she very much enjoyed it, but it was really cold at night. She loved learning how to use an air rifle and cooking (then eating) lamb kebabs. Addy and Charlotte enjoyed cooking food on the campfire (especially the cookies!). The girls said their favourite meal was the burgers! Addy and Charlotte also mentioned how much they loved playing games in the dark when they would normally be in bed. Finally, we asked Oliver about his Cumulus adventure. Oliver said he enjoyed using a bow and arrow and shooting arrows at the girls. He had a really fun time with his friends. He built a tarpaulin tent and opted to sleep in it but told us he got very wet and said that next time he would sleep in the big tent. One thing all of Prep 5 agreed on was how much they enjoyed the Silly Olympics. Prep 5 loved Cumulus – five stars from them!
On the 16th, Prep 4 went down to the Italian Gardens for their first overnight Cumulus. They had so much fun playing in the woods and doing many other activities. They learnt some new skills and found some things challenging, but by persevering, they managed to succeed. Hattie, a Prep 4 student, said she loved shelter building but found bracelet making boring because she finished early and didn’t have anything to do. Her favourite meal was breakfast, with bacon, fruit, and cereal, which she scoffed down. Caitlin, another Year 4 student, loved making and eating burgers. She wasn’t cold at night, thanks to the warm weather, and the next day she enjoyed celebrating her friend Sophia’s birthday. When her tent couldn’t sleep, they started going to the toilet in pairs to avoid queues, but eventually everyone was desperate, so they all went together! Jack, a Prep 4 boy, said he loved playing games like Camouflage and Sharky Sharky, but he didn’t like going to bed! His favourite meal was wraps, which he devoured enthusiastically. At night, the girls were the loudest, but the boys got their revenge by waking up at 5:00 in the morning and being the noisiest then! As you can tell, all of Prep 4 loved Cumulus and can’t wait to go again next year – five stars from them!
On the 18th, Prep 3 were super excited because it was their turn for Cumulus! Cumulus is slightly different for Prep 3, so instead of staying the night, they have a fun, jam-packed day of going wild! The reason for this is to build up your child's confidence so that one day they can enjoy their own overnight adventure! Bea, a Year 3 student, said her favourite part of Cumulus was toasting marshmallows, though she wasn’t so keen on hiding in the hedge! Ralph said that he also enjoyed toasting marshmallows, but he really liked the popcorn.
From the Vegetable Gang.
Upper School
Visit from ex pupils Noah & Beth
This week, we were delighted to welcome back ex-pupils Noah and Beth, both Heads of School in 2019 at Hatherop. They kindly gave up their time to come and talk to the whole school about their time at Hatherop and what they have achieved since leaving. Their talk was truly inspirational to the children, and they then joined us for our next podcast with our current Heads of School, Harry and Alexa. The podcast will be released next week, so keep an eye on our social media channels to listen to it.