We have had the most exciting week in Prep School. It started with the wonderful author, Gareth Jones, sharing his stories, poems and creative ideas for writing. Year 4 travelled back to the Stone Age (via the Maidstone Museum of Life!), and we welcomed Princesses, Knights, Tigers, mystical creators and most of Hogwarts to name but a few on World Book Day. Twisted Tales have been a theme for writing this week and we cannot wait to read them all once they have been displayed along the corridors.
Happy World Book Day
Here's a fun family competition for the weekend. Find the 28 book titles hidden in the picture. I will send the answers next week!" Mrs Waller, School Librarian
Prep School Notice
- Please take note that the Reception Arts and Crafts Club is cancelled for Thursday 14 March. We will happily look after your little ones in After School Club until collection time.
What happened in school this week?
World Book Day 2024
Assemblies
What a fabulous week for celebrations! Miss Handford joined us with her RECIPE for success and had fun working with us on 'initiative'. Isobel shared her wonderful achievements in dance and was celebrated for qualifying for the National Dance Finals. Archie has been kicking up a storm on the football field and the U9 gymnastics came 2nd in Nationals over the weekend with Alivia being crowned National U9 ISGA champion. Congratulations everyone!
We ended the week with the ever popular Buddy Assembly. The children simply love this time with their buddies and had much to discuss after a very exciting week.
Forest Explorers
Forest Explorers have had a lovely week. We were so excited to dress up as different characters for World Book Day. We have enjoyed listening to lots of different stories this week especially “ The Lion on the Bus” read by the visiting author Gareth Jones.
Reception
In Maths this week, the children have been thinking about the composition of numbers. They have played lots of games where they have been given a number and they have had to find pairs of number that make that total. In some of the games they have worked individually and in others they have worked in a pair or group. These games have generated lots of discussion about how numbers can be made in different ways.
Year 1
The children in Year 1 have had a wonderful week exploring many different books genres. They started the week with a super visit by author Gareth P Jones where they asked interesting questions and loved his storytelling. It inspired them to write their own collaborative “twisted fairytale” with a surprise ending to Jack and the Beanstalk. They were astonished when a beanstalk appeared in the classroom and enjoyed adding their own characters to it as it climbed through the ceiling! Watch out for the giant! We had a wonderful array of book characters for World Book Day and shared lots of lovely stories.
Year 2
This half term, Year 2 have been diving into the captivating world of Africa. Through their Art lessons, they've explored the significance of African patterns, crafting their own interpretations with vibrant colours and designs. They also explored the importance of African jewellery by creating unique necklaces that celebrate cultural heritage. This has allowed Year 2 to foster their creativity and cultivate respect and understanding for other cultures.
Year 3
This week Year 3 have enjoyed working together to write a fairy story based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Their challenge was to weave in a new character from another fairy story, Little Red Riding Hood! Wolfy, a wolf pretending to be a dwarf is both good and bad……..
Snow White woke up, opened her eyes and saw eight faces staring back at her. Each of them introduced themselves; Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Doc, Sneezy, Dopey and Wolfy! The dwarfs immediately fell in love with her as she was as kind as she was beautiful. But Wolfy wasn’t content to share her so one day he hatched a plan. He took the dwarfs into the forest to pick berries and ………………”
Year 4
Year 4 had a wonderful trip to the museum of Kent Life this week. They took part in a number of workshops that taught them how to make weapons, how to grind flour and how to survive as a Stone Age Warrior. They now have lots of information to share in their assembly on Friday 22nd March. We look forward to seeing you there!
Year 5
The legacy of Ancient Greece has continued this week with a focus on Greek architecture. Doris, Ionic or Corinthian? After learning about the features of each Greek column, Year Five had to identify the building, city and country hosting this famous Greek design feature. This was a challenging task but with the help of clues and their excellent research skills, the children were successful. Construction was next, so armed with suitable materials and enthusiasm, the 'building site' was opened. Pupils commented they were glad not to be using marble and extended their learning by researching Greek pediments and friezes.
Other lesson have included persuasive writing, decimals, visiting author talks and World Book Day antics.
Year 6
What an exciting week! Year 6 have been busy preparing for World Book Day as well as flying through all their other studies. In English, the children were faced with writing the final chapter of a whole school story. This story – soon to be seen on the walls of the downstairs corridor – involves every year group in retelling a famous fairy tale…. with a difference! Our section involved Hansel and Gretel, and on Tuesday we were "talking for writing" before producing the final draft on Wednesday (we think that everyone will love it!). We have continued learning about algebra in maths, electricity in science and in German we have been devising our own menus. Everyone played brilliantly in our home football match against Rose Hill, whilst we have carried on with making our cushions during art and enjoyed drumming in music. We had a fantastic time with Gareth P. Jones during his visit to the Prep School and spent part of World Book Day creating amazing doors for a competition to be judged by Chaplain Katie and Miss Handford. Now we are looking forward to our outing to Horton Kirby on Monday!
Year 6 have been looking at algebra. Using cuisenaire rods, they made a key of each of the rods and used these to write algebraic expressions to show which rods are = to other rods. How many can you make?
Halo Lecture
This week some of Year 6 attended a fascinating Halo lecture given by Chaplain Katie about ‘Obscure women of the bible’. Explaining the historical reasons behind why the names of so few women of the bible are familiar to us today, Chaplain Katie introduced us to some fascinating women and stories.
Year 6 using our new BBC Micro:bits
Year 6 enjoyed experimenting with the built in program to work out what the device could do. They went about coding their own programs to make the microbit show messages, play songs and even measure the temperature.
They are very much looking forward to more programming opportunities.
Sport News
Gymnastic
Our U9 Gymnasts competed at Haberdasher Boys School Elstree on Saturday against 16 other schools. Alivia was crowned the U9 ISGA National Champion and the Team, consisting of Nuran, Gwen, Alivia, Cara, and Olivia, were placed Second overall. These are superb results - congratulations!
Upcoming Workshops for Parents
Please join us for our next Parents' Workshop. Booking for the next workshop, 'How to support your children and young people's emotional understanding, regulation and literacy' on Tuesday March 19th, is now open.