Simba - Summer 2018

Summer 2018

News from Bablake Junior and Pre Prep School

Year 6 ready for the next challenge!

O

ur Year 6 pupils this year have been a sparky bunch. Full of life and colour, their character and bubbly personalities will live long in the memory.

Fortunately, they are not going far!

When I watched the rehearsals for their Shakespearean production I was immensely impressed. It was as if the framework of the play was allowing them to express themselves. I think that is one of the things that makes our school special. People can express themselves, and because they are not too shackled into a one sized ‘Bablake Boy/Girl’, they make for interesting company. Being good company - and being a good friend for that matter, will take you far in life.

Some of our Year 6 pupils have been with us since Cheshunt School became Bablake Pre Prep and this afternoon I was at the Pre Prep to welcome the next intake of pupils into that cosy, happy part of our school.Those new pupils will benefit from the continuity that Bablake offers.This allows great habits to be reinforced and great friends to be made forever.

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We hope to inspire our pupils to work hard and to do their best.

That is what our Year 6 pupils have been doing for the last few years and I am sure what they will continue to do.Their futures are therefore that bit more assured; useful skills and attitudes that bit more engrained. Our Year 6 pupils are ready for their next challenge – the Bablake community has helped them build upon the positives they bring from home.Thanks to everyone for being part of that.

Sitting in the middle of the picture above is Mrs Francis. She has been at the heart of our school for twenty-five years and she has helped many hundreds of Bablake pupils realise that they had great potential and then facilitated their success. Now she has a wellearned retirement to look forward to.Thank you Mrs Francis for all your dedication and hard work.

Enjoy the summer!

Mr Neil Price Headmaster

Pre Prep News

Year 2’s

‘Great Bread Bake Off’ Year 2 have been busy taking part in ‘The Great Bread Bake Off ’ as part of their DT topic this term.

First the children practised making and moulding salt dough before completing some market research by tasting breads from around the world. With their skills ready they took to the kitchen measuring, mixing and kneading their way to the final, where the results speak for themselves - delicious!

Spring Sunshine at the Pre Prep After the Easter break it was wonderful to finally enjoy PE outside in the glorious sunshine.

Impressive Still Life Paintings in Reception We were extremely impressed by the children’s still life paintings earlier this term.The fantastic pieces of artwork were proudly displayed on the Pre Prep Early Years Display Board.

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Reception Learn about Lifecycles Reception children have been learning about life cycles at the Pre Prep.

They have created their own 3D butterflies and have even welcomed some tadpoles and caterpillars into the classroom.

Location, Location,

Location!

Year 1 spent a fabulous afternoon launching their new topic ‘Location, Location, Location’.The children started off the topic by exploring the area around the Pre Prep where they discovered a wide variety of buildings and businesses.

A ‘Buzzing’ Assembly Earlier this term Pre Prep pupils Lyla and Ernie brought their beekeeping Grandad into school with them. He came into assembly and showed the children his beehive and beekeeping equipment. It was a very hands-on assembly, with everyone getting the opportunity to explore the wax that is put inside a beehive to start it off, some honeycomb produced by the bees and a wax product made by the beeswax.We even got to try some of Grandad Brown’s very own honey - it was delicious!

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Pre Prep

Pirate Adventures Reception children had an amazing pirate week as part of their Pirate topic.

From pirate dancing, ship building, cannon making and treasure hunts to role plays and even walking the plank – it was a busy fun filled week for them all.

“My, what great stories you have!’’cried Mr Wolf

Pre Prep parent Mr Barrs very kindly visited the Kindergarten in his tractor as part of their Farm topic.The children got to sit in the cab and have a look at all the attachments, lights and the massive tyres.They were very excited!

The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood: Gangster Granny and Sneaky Scarlet by 2B

Learning How to Save Water

Pre Prep pupils were treated to a fantastic Assembly from Severn Trent Water who taught them about ways they can save water.

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Once upon a time in a far off land there was a young boy called Jack who lived in a poor village with his kind hearted mother and one lonely cow. Unfortunately, his mother sometimes had outbursts of bad temper because she longed to be rich and found it a struggle being so poor. Everyone in their village felt the same way. They all dressed in rags and nobody had a single penny to spare.

Their farmhouse had become run down and dilapidated making it unsightly and unhomely.

During their English lessons this term Year 2 have worked as classes to create a traditional tale with a twist, focusing on their extended vocabulary.

As the sun streamed down upon the crowded city and into Gangster Granny’s flat, she knew today was going to be a splendid day. She rubbed her hands with glee as she busily dashed around her living room frantically gathering up her latest loot. Sneakily, she opened her secret compartment to conceal her latest treasures which was behind a dusty, antique painting which hung on the wall.While she bundled everything inside, she cackled and sniggered to herself. A huge smirk spread across her face as her eyes lit up in delight at the thought of her latest cunning master plan. Without warning, the alarm on her watch began to bleep disturbing her day dreaming.

She quickly checked the time, grabbed her motorbike helmet along with her rucksack then sped out of the flat, slamming the door securely behind her. Once outside, she hurried as a matter of urgency towards her motorbike, hopping on swiftly before revving her engine aggressively and racing off at top speed to meet with her granddaughter Scarlet who lived in the nearby countryside.

Kindergarten Farm Topic

Jack and the Giants by 2S

A stormy cloud lurked up ahead as Granny approached the edge of the woodlands. In the distance she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure as she glanced up. She wasn’t too sure if it was a coincidence but in the distance she caught sight of Agent Wolf patrolling the neighbourhood.Within seconds her smirk soon changed to a frown.

Granny needed Scarlet’s advice immediately on how to outwit Agent Wolf as he was their biggest hurdle in their next cunning scheme to rob the neighbourhood of their precious belongings.

Cautiously, Gangster Granny approached Scarlet’s house and discovered a rather irate, flustered Scarlet pacing back and forth.

A moment later, Scarlet sprinted towards her secret hide out in her tree house so that nobody could ruin their latest mission by overhearing their secret conversations. As quick as a flash, Granny leapt off her rusty motorbike before zip wiring urgently into the tree house at rapid speed. Unbeknown to Gangster Granny and Sneaky Scarlet, Agent Wolf knew that something unusual was occurring close by; he couldn’t resist a sneaky peek. Silently, Agent Wolf edged forward for a closer inspection and hid lurking behind a prickly rose bush. As Agent Wolf strained desperately to overhear their secret conversation and spy on what they were actually doing in the treehouse he grabbed his binoculars.To his astonishment, a map caught his attention immediately as he recognised that it was a map of the local neighbourhood with houses marked out. Agent Wolf knew that they were up to no good but he couldn’t decipher what it was but he knew one thing for sure, he certainly wasn’t going to stop until he had found exactly what it was.

Jack did not like to see his mother so worried so he asked her if there was something he could do to help. Sadly, his mother shook her head and replied,“No, nothing at all.’’

Although Jack was usually a well behaved and respectful boy he was also brave and adventurous so he decided to take their only cow to the market and see if he could get a good price for her. A moment later he sneaked out of the house and set off down the lane with a determined spring in his step. However, once he arrived at the market he was saddened to see it had been abandoned and there was no one there. Miserably, Jack turned around and headed back home along the rocky, dusty and twisty road. All of a sudden he came face to face with a stooped but friendly looking old man. The man pleaded with Jack to give him the cow in exchange for some magic beans. Jack accepted the trade despite feeling concerned about what his mother would say. He rushed back to the farmhouse to be greeted by his mother who was furious that not only had he disappeared for hours but he had sold the cow for some measly magic beans. She snatched the beans from Jack and scattered them out of the window whilst Jack was sent straight to bed without any dinner.

Early the next morning Jack awoke and stared out of the window in horror as right before his eyes was a massive beanstalk. It was as tall as the London Eye! Jack shot across the landing and into his mother’s room.“Mum, Mum, there’s an enormous beanstalk in the garden.’’

“I’ve heard enough Jack, you’re just dreaming, go back to sleep’’ complained his Mum grumpily.

Being an adventurous boy, Jack raced downstairs and into the garden to investigate. Daringly, Jack swung up onto the beanstalk and began to clamber his way to the top. To his amazement at the top of the beanstalk was a colossal castle.

Jack was desperate to have a look around inside the castle but unfortunately he was far too tiny to even reach the door handle. Luckily, he managed to find a piece of rope dangling down from the side of the building and began to shin his way up the door. As he was climbing, the door began to swing open and Jack tumbled to the ground just inside. Looming above him was the largest, tallest living creature he had ever seen. She was lumbering about cleaning the kitchen whilst singing to herself. She was a GIANT but to Jack’s relief she seemed quite friendly.

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Everyone at the Pre Prep wishes them all the very best for their future at the Junior School and look forward to seeing them progress.

Here are just a few of the things the children had to say about their time at the Pre Prep:

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It’s been a jam packed year, a year full of fun and many memories we will always treasure.

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I have made some amazing friends whilst at school, they always make me laugh and we have so much fun! We will be friends for life.

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As the time comes for our Year 2 children to make the exciting move into Year 3 we have been reminiscing over the happy times they have shared at the Pre Prep together.

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Year 2 Leavers

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The trips have been amazing.

So much to see and do.

We had a blast!

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Celebrations

The teachers inspire me to be the best I can be.

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Royal Wedding

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Junior School News

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Year 6 Creativity Sparked from Guided Reading Year 6 were set a creative guided reading homework during the holidays.They could do anything they liked as long as it linked to the book they were reading. Several groups chose to make cakes linked to their story, Rhys and Otty worked together to make a sword from scratch (linked to the book Gladiator), Krista made a shield (also linked to Gladiator) and Aaliyah made a Latin themed tombstone cake linked to The Graveyard Book.

A Visit from

Medical Mavericks Team Inspire Year 5 and 6 Earlier in the term the fantastic Medical Mavericks team came into school.

Year 3 Explore The Ocean On Friday 4th May,Year 3 visited the Sea Life Centre to kick start their Humanities topic on ‘The Ocean’.They saw lots of different sea creatures and learnt about where they live and how they survive.The children have learnt about the water cycle, used atlases to locate and name rivers, seas and oceans, looked at and explored the different ocean layers, researched and produced information posters on the computers, designed their own fish and written acrostic poems.

During the topic they have also read Rainbow Fish, Commotion in the Ocean and Think of an Eel to help inspire their studies.

They very kindly let Year 5 and 6 explore their equipment and taught them all about careers in the NHS. The children had a go at extracting blood from a vein (using a dummy arm), found their internal organs using the ultrasound scanner, tested their heart rate and blood pressure and had a go at key hole surgery.

An Out of this World Workshop for Year 5

The Vikings

A group of Vikings came in to tell the children about their roles as reenactors at historical re-enactments.They talked about how most of the ‘weapons’ people think Vikings used to kill people were actually tools they used for farming and they only used them as weapons when they had to protect their land.They even let the children handle some of the blunt tools they use during re-enactments!

Grade Success for BJS Musicians

Year 5 were visited by an astronomer who taught them all about space travel.Through a very hands-on and interactive workshop, the children found out how we get rockets off the ground, how an orbit works and how astronauts aren’t burnt up on re-entry to the atmosphere.

2017-18 has been a fantastic year for BJS musically. Over thirty children gained outstanding results for their ABRSM practical exams as well as performing in many concerts throughout the year. Several pupils achieved distinctions on their instruments ranging from strings to brass.Well done to every musician.

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House General Knowledge Quiz The House General Knowledge Quiz was a tense affair with pupils under pressure to answer some difficult questions from Mr Holder against the clock.

A pupil from each year group represented their house and it was a race to see which house got to their buzzer first to answer the questions posed to them.

To make things even more interesting if no one on the panel could answer the question it was passed to the audience – with a mixture of success! Throughout the quiz it was a close battle between Nelson and Eliot – with Churchill suffering from losing points for incorrect answers – but with a late surge Nelson pipped Eliot to the post to be crowned the House General Knowledge Quiz winner 2018.

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To make things even more interesting if no one on the panel could answer the question it was passed to the audience – with a mixture of success!

Discover Arts Award Congratulations to all pupils who received their Discover Arts Award this term.There have been some beautiful creations and lots of hard work

has gone into the

award – well done.

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Year 6 Create Inspirational Growth Mindset Quotes

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A Close Competition in the

SOCHIMA EMESIH

ELLA MAINWARING

SAANVI REDDY

MAYA BEGRAJ

ROSEMARY JACKSON

ZAARA LOCKHAT-CLEGG

ABBYSHANA THAYAPARAN

SERENA SAHOTA

PHOEBE STAVELEY

KEISHA MANGOVE

Year 4 Trip to Brandon Marsh Year 4 had a great day pond dipping, bird watching, mini-beast hunting and learning about food chains at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve.

ANYA SELOPAL

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Charity

BJS Swimathon Year 6 End of Year Performance As part of their farewell to BJS Year 6 treated us to a trio of fantastic Shakespeare plays.

BJS pupils swam a staggering 34,686m in their Swimathon to raise money for WaterAid UK. Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 classes swam 1927 lengths in total with 6N completing a huge 234 lengths on their own! Thank you to everyone who sponsored our Swimathon.

Lunch with the Lord Mayor

One Million Steps

for Sports Relief

We did it! Junior and Pre Prep School staff, pupils and parents completed 1,165,000 steps to add to the sports relief grand total, with parents adding an amazing 175,700 of their own! Thank you to everyone who took part in our One Million Step challenge.

Ten Bablake Junior School pupils were invited to have lunch with the Lord Mayor in recognition of their superb fundraising for local charity, Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice.

Miss Shorter, Bablake Junior Charity Co-ordinator, said; “We had a lovely time meeting the Lord Mayor at Coventry Council House. Zoe’s Place is a charity close to our hearts at Bablake and we are very proud to have raised so much for such a fantastic cause.The children had an unforgettable time meeting the Lord Mayor, who not only provided us with a delicious lunch but also gave us a tour of the Guild Hall and The Council House!”

Well done to everyone at the Junior School and Pre Prep for their fantastic fundraising efforts.

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Out & About!

Year 5 Bushcraft Experience

Year 4 Trip to Culmington Manor

Year 5 had a brilliant (yet slightly damp!) time on their Bushcraft residential.They learnt knife skills, trapped and prepared a salmon, slept outside and some brave pupils even tried fish eyes... though we’re not sure how much they enjoyed them!

Year 4 had a fantastic residential trip to Culmington Manor earlier this half term. For many it was their first time staying away from home - an achievement in itself! They enjoyed activities including fencing and rock climbing, and learnt lots of team building skills.

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Out & About!

Year 6 Take on Calshot Challenges Year 6 were blessed with beautiful sunshine as they embarked on their final BJS residential trip to Calshot Activity Centre in Hampshire. During the trip Year 6 got to grips with kayaking, skiing, cycling, rock climbing and spent a lot of time on the Solent! It was a wonderful trip where life long memories were created.

BJS Ski Trip 2018 The trip to Myrkdalen was certainly one for the memory books. By the time the day had finally arrived the anticipation and excitement amongst the pupils and staff seemed to buzz around the school. Despite the extensive distance travelled, including a six hour transfer from Oslo Airport, it was all worth the wait. From the very beginning, every aspect of our experience in Myrkdalen seemed to merge together into a synergy of winter adventure.The accommodation, scrumptious meals, personal care by the hotel staff, instruction and outstanding snow conditions satisfied all expectations. I can honestly say that I had never seen so much snow in all the years that I had skied.

It snowed all of Tuesday evening and most of Wednesday and although the conditions were at times challenging, it was such a thrill to be floating on the fresh mass of flakes.

As predicted the combination of expert instruction, enthusiasm and determination resulted in each child flourishing in their skiing ability. I was particularly impressed with the resilience of those that found the first day a little intimidating; each of them came into their own by the middle of the week. I was equally proud of the continuous stream of compliments that seemed to flow from the instructors and staff about the children’s polite and respectful manners. Sarah Lane, our e3 Rep, could not stop emphasising that Bablake Junior School had been the best group of children she had ever worked with in her career.The ski party must be commended; you were an absolute pleasure to be with!

Written by Mr Holder

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I can honestly say that I had never seen so much snow in all the years that I had skied.

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A special thanks must go to Mr Benfield, Mrs McElligott, Miss Young and Mrs Danes for all their effort to make the trip such a special one.

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Sport

Girls’ Sport

BABLAKE JUNIOR SCHOOL

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Athletics and Cross Country It was another successful term in athletics and cross country events for our pupils.

3rd individually and Krista, Imogen, Antonia and Lucy won the first four individual places in the girls’ race.

A talented group of U11 boys and U11 and U10 girls competed in the Solihull School sprint events –performing tremendously well with excellent sprinting and slick baton changes.

Coventry Girls and Boys Cross Country Relay Championships also took place this term. All of our runners performed with grit and determination, and achieved some fantastic results – as we won the girls’ team race, came 4th in the boys’ team race and 5th in the mixed team race.

The 36th annual running of the PC Joe O’Brien Memorial Cross Country race took place at Coventry’s Ernesford Grange School in bright sunshine on Saturday morning, 19th May…. the main event of the day ahead of the Royal Wedding and F.A. Cup Final! Bablake pupils shone as they took home both the Boys and Girls team guest trophies. Sebastian came a super

This year we welcomed local schools to take part in a Biathlon at BJS. All the visiting schools and our Bablake teams ran and swam with great enthusiasm and effort.We won the girls competition and came 3rd in the boys.

Rounders has continued to thrive at Bablake Junior School with all teams showing excellent enthusiasm in lessons, commitment to lunchtime practices and attendance at matches.

Our U11, U10 and U9 teams have scored over 300 rounders this season with the U9 A team scoring over 100 on their own!

The U11 A team remain unbeaten for a third season beating Warwick and Crackley Hall in regular fixtures and taking home the Croft Tournament title for the third year in a row.The tournament was a real showcase of their talent and after winning their group they beat Warwick in the

final 9 – 4.5.The B team have also had a successful term and having narrowly lost to Warwick in a nail biting match, 17-19.5, found their winning ways against Crackley Hall and Bilton Grange.

The U10 A team remain unbeaten this season, having won their matches against Crackley Hall, by a staggering 22-7, King Henry VIII, Croft, Solihull and Kingsley.

The U10 B team also played brilliantly beating both A and B teams! They beat Croft B 15.5 – 9, King Henry VIII B 20.5 – 18, Croft A 8 – 6.5 and Eversfield A 9 – 7.

The U9s finish off the trio of unbeaten A team seasons, playing with great determination and strength of character

achieving fantastic wins against Warwick 24 – 14, Eversfield 19 – 18 and King Henry VIII 19 – 17.They topped off the season by taking home the U9 Croft Tournament title beating Crackley Hall 4 – 2 in the final.

Well done to everyone competing in our teams this term for your hard work. A special thank you to parents for transporting the girls to away matches and offering such great support to the teams.

Thank you also to Mrs Hargreaves, Miss Shorter, Miss Young, Mrs Dawson and Mrs Dodd for their invaluable help during lessons and matches.

Mrs Haywood

#TheseGirlsCan Well done to Year 5 pupil Imogen who was crowned Warwickashire U11 Quadrathalon champion this May and huge congratulations to Year 5 pupil Maisie who came 3rd in the National IAPS Golf Championships - an amazing achievement.Well done girls!

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Boys’ Sport

BABLAKE JUNIOR SCHOOL

The British Summer has been kind to Bablake cricket fixtures this term with 40 cricket matches taking place in the Junior School.

Cricket proves to be a very popular sport with many boys and girls taking up the sport outside of school.The standard of cricket has risen dramatically over the last few years and every match is keenly contested against local, regional and national opposition.

The U8 and U9 teams are some of the best young players that have represented the school.There are swing bowlers in Year 3, spinners in Year 4 and power hitters in both year groups! This has led to great statistics with nine wins out of twelve matches across A and B teams in both year groups. Highlights were U8 and U9 victories against King Henry VIII, further U8 victories against Warwick and Bilton Grange and U9 victories against Eversfield and Crackley Hall.

The U10 teams have performed well this year and the A team were rewarded with wins against The Croft and King Henry VIII.With more match practice and application, they will be a good strong team next year.The U11 teams have struggled to find any consistency with their cricket and have found putting two innings together difficult.

Playing proper hard ball cricket at this level takes a lot of self-belief and putting this into a game situation can be very daunting. I am sure with the experiences they have had this year they will all become good cricketers as they move into secondary school. U11 highlights were wins against Kings St Albans, Eversfield and Crackley Hall.

There was also a thrilling tie against King Henry VIII!

Mr Benfield

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We must thank all of our coaches and teachers this year for all the help they have put into training, matches and lessons. Particular mention must go to Mr Kilroy who has been coaching in the Junior School all year as well as preparing excellent cricket pitches for everyone to play on.Thank you.

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Cricket proves to be a very popular sport with many boys and girls taking up the sport outside of school.

Bablake Junior School

Bablake Pre Prep School

t 024 7627 1260 e jhmsec@bablakejs.co.uk

t 024 7622 1677 e bablakepreprep@bablakejs.co.uk

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8 Park Road, Coventry

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