Hatherop Summer Party
Book your tickets now to the annual HCS PA Summer Party on Saturday 22nd June 2024. Tickets are selling fast but there is still time to book your tickets. Catch up with friends, meet new ones and kick off your shoes to dance the night away to our live band on the back lawn.
Our Spotlight Winners!
Congratulations to all our spotlight winners this half-term who because of their hard work and perseverance, have made their way on to the Spotlight Board. Huge well done to you all and keep up the good work!
Learning This Week
Kindergarten
This week, we continued learning about 'In the Garden.' The children enjoyed a Forest School trip, identifying various flowers along the way. Puddle jumping on Wednesday was a big hit for everyone!
In the classroom, we explored which animals we might find in our gardens. The children painted and crafted ladybirds, bumblebees, and birds, which we placed on our tree.
Here is our play dough recipe to try over the half-term break:
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of salt
- 1 teaspoon of oil
- 1 cup of water
- 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
- Food colouring of your choice
Cook in a pan and keep stirring!
If your child is attending the Holiday Club, please remember to send them with a packed lunch. For any questions, contact Miss Baldwin.
Transition
This week in Transition, we focused on numbers and maths, and everyone is developing well in this area. Maths is incorporated daily in the Nursery, whether it's counting the children present, creating pictures with 2D shapes, discussing different shapes, measuring items, or playing dice games with peers.
The children made 'Numbersaurus' dinosaurs, counting and adding spikes, then writing the numbers in order. We also used unifix cubes to measure our footprints and compare them to a T-Rex's.
Have a lovely half term! If your child is attending Holiday Club, please remember to send them with a packed lunch. We look forward to seeing you on 3rd June for our last half term in Transition!
Reception
This week, Reception has been busy practising for our House Dance competition! We are excited to wear our house t-shirts and have fun dancing; what a brilliant way to end the half term! In English, we discussed our time in Reception and our move to Prep 1. We decided to help Transition by writing about special areas of the school, like the Archway, Boot Room, and Art Studio, to help them feel settled. We will compile these into a book to share and reflect on. In Maths, we enjoyed composing and decomposing shapes, learning about Tangrams, and creating pictures with clever sticks, cubes, Magnatiles, and Numicon. At Forest School, we loved the swing, slack rope, and exploring the Italian Gardens and Adventure Playground. The children were thrilled to find a 'snake' (a stick) and make up stories about it.
After half term, we'll explore our new topic, 'Under the Sea,' and visit Bristol Aquarium on Thursday, 6th May. Please could you ensure permission forms are filled out. Every child needs a sun hat and sun cream in their drawer. Swimming lessons resume every Thursday from 13th June. Have a lovely half term break!
Prep 1
This week in Prep 1 has flown by, and we can't believe we've reached the end of our Space topic. Both children and staff have loved it and learned so much. In English, the children were set a mission to write a recount of a day in the life aboard the International Space Station. Their high-calibre accounts, applying knowledge from the past six weeks, left us flabbergasted.
In Maths, we focused on place value to 100. The children enjoyed partitioning numbers into tens and ones using base ten, comparing amounts with symbols, and the competitive 'Dice Wars' game.
In Topic, the children learned about the inspirational Libby Jackson OBE, a British space expert, and explored space food, making fruit rockets and trying astronaut ice cream. We also finished our class text, 'The Dark,' finally discovering its secret in the basement.
On Friday 17th May, we were very lucky to have Corporal Rutter join us from RAF Coningsby for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) afternoon. Corporal Rutter shared his knowledge of Typhoons with us and explained that our mission was to build a new rocket for the RAF to launch into space! We worked collaboratively in small groups to design, build and launch our own rockets. After we’d launched them for the first time, we adapted and improved our designs to see if they would launch better for a second time. After counting down from 5 and pressing the big red button, most of them did!
Prep 2
Prep Two began the week as history detectives at the 1000-year-old Oxford Castle. They enjoyed a workshop where they built resilient towers from various bricks and designed catapults to launch paper balls over a castle tower. There were gasps of anticipation as each group had three attempts. Later, the children climbed the original Motte and 101 steps to see views over Oxford from the castle tower. In English, the children recounted their day at Oxford Castle and wrote independently on Rapunzel, inspired by a book Jessica brought in. In Maths, they completed their topic on graphs and started learning the language of position and direction, including left from right and ¼ or ½ turns. They followed sequences to locate new positions on a graph. The children have shown resilience and hard work despite being tired. We wish you all a restful half-term break.
Pre-Prep Food Committee
This week, the Pre-Prep Food Committee met with Head Chef Brad to discuss food. The children shared their favourite meals, including his fabulous roasts, delicious pizza, and the best-ever banoffee pie. They also mentioned some meals they didn't enjoy as much and suggested new menu items like filled baguettes, sorbet, and sticky toffee pudding. Chef Brad explained how he would use their feedback for future menu plans and discussed their roles as ambassadors for the Pre-Prep.
Thank you to Kit, Samuel, Lochie, Anaya, Mia, and Harry for their feedback on behalf of the Pre-Prep. We look forward to the next meeting!
Pre-Prep Book Recommendation
Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish by Michel Foreman is a highly engaging book for children that has an important underlying message about the environment. Despite the fact it has celebrated its 50th year, it still feels very current and children will love the fantastic illustrations and the storyline too.
Prep 3
In English, Prep 3 continued reading their class text, 'I Was a Rat.' The children engaged in drama and group performances, including an enactment of a courtroom drama, to deepen their understanding of the characters' feelings and actions. They also learned persuasive techniques, which they will use in a letter-writing activity. The children will bring home a book bingo activity to encourage reading various genres over Half-Term.
In Maths, we have been learning to tell the time on analogue and digital clocks. Practising these skills over the holidays in everyday scenarios will be beneficial.
Suggestions for Half-Term:
- Write a letter to persuade your parents to go on a day trip.
- Visit a Roman attraction, such as the Corinium Museum in Cirencester or the Roman Baths in Bath.
- Design a poster explaining how to stay safe in the sun.
- Make a pinhole camera: follow this National Geographic guide.
Thank you for your support and have a lovely Half-Term!
Prep 4
Another busy few weeks in Prep 4 bring us to half term! In maths we have been mastering decimals, recognising fractions as decimals, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100, 1000 and partitioning decimals to consolidate our understanding of place value. Measuring (cm, mm) and Money are both great ways to use decimals in real life situations, any practice of these over half term would be useful! In English we continue to enjoy The Boy at the Back of the Class and have been exploring what makes a happy and harmonious school. Taking this into our drama lessons we are creating infomercials on the subject…watch this space to view them when they are finished! To link with our Science work, if the children would like to chose habitat and create a diorama over half term we would love to see what they come up with. They should try to show the plants and animals that live in the habitat and any other interesting facts and information they can find. Wishing you all a happy half term!
There was a great buzz in Prep 4 this week as they all spent time sharing their homework projects. The homework was based on the book they are reading, "The Boy at the Back of the Class" and included clay pomegranates, space themed clay pencil stationery sets, dioramas, posters and PowerPoints and much more! To end the afternoon they proudly shared their work with their parents. Another great afternoon in Prep 4!
Prep 5
In Mrs Thomasin-Foster’s maths group, we finished investigating properties of shapes and coordinates. The children enjoyed identifying, reflecting, and translating coordinates, often muttering "along the corridor and up the stairs." Playing Battleships can reinforce reading coordinates, and map adventures during half term can be educational. We are now focusing on understanding decimals, adding and subtracting numbers with different decimal places. The importance of placing the decimal point correctly was highlighted by the difference between £12.65 and £1265. Involve your child in budgeting or adding up shopping costs to reinforce this topic.
In English, we continue exploring Tom's Midnight Garden, both as a graphic novel and the original book. We discussed how Tom’s feelings towards Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan have softened and pondered the significance of old Mrs Bartholomew's clock. The children made imaginative predictions about the story. Over half term, visiting gardens like Hidcote, Kiftsgate, Miserden, or Painswick Rococo Garden, or watching the Chelsea Flower Show on iPlayer would be wonderful experiences.
More Fencing Success!
Last weekend, 180 children gathered at Millfield to compete in foil, epee, and sabre for the IAPS Schools National Championships. Two girls from Hatherop attended in the U11 foil and U13 epee categories.
Margaux (U13 epee) was seeded second after the pool round, winning four bouts and narrowly losing two. This gave her a bye in her first round and an easy 10-2 victory in the second. Her quarterfinal was closely contested, but Margaux used her timing and distance to win 10-7. The semi-final was easier, with Margaux quickly finding her range to win 10-4. The final was epic, against a more experienced opponent. Margaux forced her to fight at a much quicker pace, tying the scores at 6-6 after six minutes of intense fencing. Sadly, there can't be a draw, so they fenced for an additional minute with priority decided randomly. Unfortunately, her opponent won the priority, and Margaux had one minute to score a winning hit. She patiently waited for 27 seconds, gradually pushing her opponent back, but missed by millimetres, and her opponent scored with a counter-attack. Despite the loss, it was a fantastic result for a highly talented fencer.
Zara Wellman won bronze in the U11 girls' foil. Seeded fourth after the pool round, Zara had a bye and a comfortable first victory. She won her quarterfinal 10-7 with devastating parry ripostes and quick attacks. In the semi-finals, she faced the overall winner but scored more hits against her than anyone else did all day. As the youngest competitor in the entire event, she should be rightly pleased with her bronze medal.
Fencers of the week
Pre-Prep
Jessica won P2 fencer of the week for her brilliant demonstration of a double attack, going around the blade twice to hit your opponent. Go Jessica!
Junior
Isabella is our last junior fencer of the week this term for her consistently good listening and sparring skills. She learns quickly and immediately wants to put a new skill into practice.
Advanced
Freddie won fencer of the week for his excellent skills with the glove pass-flick game which helps reactions and accuracy. He then had an impressive sparring session with his friends. Brilliant stuff Freddie
House Competitions Gallery
Online Safety
Nintendo Switch Parental Controls
All tech devices come with parental controls, but they're not always easy to find or understand and they can differ quite significantly from device to device. The Nintendo Switch, which is a very popular device, has a range of parental controls such as browser access, restricting games based on age, chat settings and more and more. Internet Matters have a great guide which you may find useful. Click HERE for more information.
Talking About Online Harassment and Abuse
Sadly, many children and young people believe that online harassment and abuse are just a part of being online, in other words - normalised. This should never be the case, but it can be difficult to strike up a conversation. Internet Matters have a really good guide for parents which you can use for conversation starters. You can download the guide HERE.
Managing Screen Time
With half-term almost upon us some parents will be looking for guidance about helping their children to develop a healthy relationship with technology. Internet Matters have a series of tips and guides to help with this including setting up parental controls, finding other activities to do, agreeing on boundaries and more. You can view the guidance HERE.