Beechwood Lion Michaelmas 2017

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Beechwood Lion Michaelmas 2017

Ahoy, the Good Ship Balfour! See page 3 for more

From The Headmaster Dear Parents, As the first round of the Christmas season draws to a close the School is still reverberating with the festive chocolate box of surprises that we have enjoyed over the last few days. Only 17 weeks ago, your children came back to School looking forward to the challenges of this term and how they have risen to them!

They have sung with pop stars, rock and rolled in our new recording studio, supported Saracens at the Allianz Stadium, roared as readers, welcomed owls into the School, seen Curious Incidents, attended two hockey master-classes, been to Provence in search of French and Classical treasures, explored the Beechwood forests, skied, team built in Cornwall, celebrated Harvest, chosen charities, rehearsed a musical,

practised and performed music of all types, visited historical sites and Hazard Alley, played futsal and football and rugby and swimming, sailing, table tennis, fencing, badminton, netball, hockey. They have ‘led through service’ and held a School forum, competed in Maths, dressed as Egyptians, hosted Open Morning, spoken verse, participated in Rugby Camp, Mr Owen’s Pocket Book and B!z’art, heard Gothic tales, watched bonfires and fireworks and remembered. Our youngest Woodlanders have told the Nativity story through the medium of sharks (sponsored

by Coca-Cola?!), Hula Mermaids, superheroes and Robbie Williams-inspired Angels….(and through it AAAAALLLLL etc). They have hosted Christingles, been young and entrepreneurial, worn jolly festive jumpers, and feasted.

Your children are amazing! They are so full of life and so stimulating in their excited chatter about their lives in and out of School.

What better blueprint could there be for the future than young children who explore and adventure, create and exude such joy? We are now replete! Your children’s cups o’erflow with

Markyate Today, Nashville Tomorrow Whilst they sing of grey skies in Nashville, the sun came out in Markyate as Beechwood Park School welcomed internationally-acclaimed British Country duo, The Shires.

Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes, back in the UK for a short break from recording their next album, dropped into Beechwood Park School to perform for parents, staff and pupils before going on to cut the ribbon, officially opening the School’s Music School extension.

They wowed their audience with two of their most renowned tracks; ‘Nashville Grey Skies’ and ‘A Thousand Hallelujahs’, at which point a ninety-strong School Choir gathered to join in the chorus.

The new extension to the Music School will provide the School with additional music

facilities including a recording studio and ensemble room, large music practice room, and a Music Technology suite.

JULIA ROUSE

scholarship (we have managed to squeeze in a little bit of that too) and it is time for a lie down and some family time.

Thank you for your wonderful children.

Thank you and particularly to the BPSPA for your amazingness in providing so much support for all that we offer, thank you to our governors, who are SO generous with their time in support of the School’s developments, and thank you to the staff, who inspire such extraordinary achievement in each and every one of your pupils.

It only rests for me to wish you all a very happy and restful Christmas with your friends and families. We look forward to the start of term on 10th January!

With best wishes, Yours,

EDWARD BALFOUR HEADMASTER

Collaborative Christingle Year 3 hosted our first collaborative Christingle Service when year 3 children from Markyate Village School joined our preparations for the Christmas season.

Everyone was able to get to know each other a little and the children made their Christingles together. With the help of Father Tom, Vicar of Flamstead and Markyate, the children celebrated with hymns, readings and prayers, lighting their Christingles during the service. The children then had an indoor picnic together and played outside. It was a pleasure to host Markyate Village School and to make some new friends!

YEAR 3 TEACHERS

The newsletter of Beechwood Park School, Markyate, Hertfordshire AL3 8AW

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Superheroes and Other Stories Pantastic Storytelling!

Years 1 and 2 enjoyed a wonderful, creative story telling session with storyteller Hilary Greatorex.

Using a large basket of ‘Storyland’ underwear(!) Hilary took us through a range of familiar stories - but from a very different angle! We saw Red Riding Hood’s red pants, Goldilocks’ sparkly pants, Jack’s smart green pants (great for climbing beanstalks) and possibly most exciting of all, a GIANT pair that belonged to the chap who lived at the top of that beanstalk!

The experience really was…….PANTASTIC!

WENDY RODEN

Year 2 at the Castle!

The coach buzzed with anticipation as Year 2 approached Windsor. The magnificence of the castle in the sunshine didn’t disappoint. The children marvelled at the State Apartments and Knighting Room, were impressed with the flags inside the chapel and some were even lucky enough to sit in the Queen’s seat in the chapel!

The children were inspired by Queen Mary’s Doll’s house and Queen Elizabeth’s toys and the excitement of spotting Guardsmen and the Union flag flying was palpable!

YEAR 2 TEACHERS

Calling All Superheroes!

Our Reception classes had a fantastic time this term when they came to School dressed up as their favourite superhero for Super Hero Day! The children busied themselves making 'potions of power', thinking and writing about their

character and generally flying around the school!

After replenishing their superpowers at lunchtime, there was time for some superhero-themed child initiated activities across the classrooms.

PIPPA ROXAN

Fathers’ Phonics Fun We were excited this term to welcome 18 fathers to Woodlands Nursery for ‘Fathers’ Friday Phonics Fun’. The dedicated dads joined their effervescent offspring for a fun Phonics session. French and Music were also thrown in for good measure, although the icing on the cake(!) was the delicious homemade cakes provided by Angie in the kitchen.

The dads had a chance to use up their last bit of energy playing in the inspirational outdoor play area, before going back home to relax! Thank you to all the daddies who joined us for a morning of fun and creative learning!

SHIRLEY HAYMAN

Shoe Box Appeal In the first half of this term, the Junior Department children filled a staggering 170 shoe boxes as part of the Rotary Club Christmas Shoe Box Appeal.

The shoe box scheme aims to bring a little Christmas joy to disadvantaged children in Moldova, Albania and Montenegro by asking school children in the UK to fill a shoe box with items that they think a child might like to receive such as small toys, stationery, books, clothing etc. A huge thank you to everyone who donated to this extremely worthy cause.

ZOE CANTLE

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Flamstead Church As part of their studies into Christianity, Year 2 enjoyed a visit to St Leonard’s Church in Flamstead.

After a very warm welcome from Father Tom and a tour, they had time to explore and complete a picture I-Spy. The highlight of our visit was when Father Tom allowed Year 2 to ring the bell before leaving the church!

St Leonard’s was the Parish Church for the Saunders Sebright family who once lived at Beechwood Park, therefore the link with our School goes back hundreds of years.

Enthused by their visit, Year 2 will be leading the School’s fundraising this year to help repair the church roof.

YEAR 2 TEACHERS

Mummies in the Mix 25 Woodlands mummies and 1 intrepid Woodlands grandma spent a morning getting ‘mixed up’ with us in the Nursery.

They joined in with both PE and music lessons and then rolled up their sleeves to ‘mix up’ flour and other ingredients to make delicious tray bakes for the children to take home.

A happy and busy morning; and lots of the mummies remarked that they would actually like to be pupils in Woodlands Nursery themselves!

SHIRLEY HAYMAN

Library News Kristy and Nathan are our Top Form librarians this year and have already proved themselves invaluable, helping with all manner of jobs in the library.

The senior department Roaring Readers book group has got off to a flying start – so popular, in fact, that the group has subdivided into Roaring Tuesday Readers and Roaring Thursday Readers. So far we have read Dreaming the Bear by Mimi Thebo, Bubble Wrap Boy

by Phil Earle, The Kites are Flying by Michael Morpurgo, Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine, Smart by Kim Slater, Wonder by R J Palacio, Into that Forest by Louis Nowra and Phoenix by S F Said.

The books have provoked some incredible discussions on many diverse topics, including bullying, what makes people different, Asperger’s syndrome and homelessness, as well as exploring how authors have used different voices in their books to encourage readers to empathise with the main characters.

I look forward to reading more books with the two groups next term, and enjoying many more stimulating break-times!

LIZ GREEN

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Nativity

Junior Christmas Productions As always, at the end of this term we were lucky enough to watch every child in the Junior Department and Woodlands Nursery (a grand total of 220 children) taking an active part in one of four Christmas productions.

At the heart of each performance is the Christmas message, retold beautifully by the children through narrative, song and action.

As always the Reception classes presented a beautiful retelling of the traditional story, using some of the clearest speaking voices I have ever heard from 4 and 5 year olds. Year 1 had a slightly more sophisticated and upbeat take on the story as they performed Hey Ewe! Whilst Year 2 delighted their audience with a 45 minute tale entitled; Lights, Camel, Action. A twist on a Saturday night favourite! Woodlands Nursery meanwhile, were very creative and used pirates and mermaids to tell their unique Christmas story, A Good Night for the Whole World. Witnessing these four different presentations, one could identify just how much the children mature and grow in confidence year on year. My thanks to the children and staff who have worked tirelessly during the second half of term to master these productions; I am sure that every audience felt touched in some way by the innocence of these young children who performed with such pride for their parents and grandparents. Keep dancing!

HELEN DALKIN

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Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter

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Hands-on Learning & Forest School News What a Hoot!

Egyptian Day

The owl expert, Kyle, from the English School of Falconry, brought several owls with him, including Eagle Owls, a Barn Owl and Banded Owls. All of the children had the opportunity to hold them on their arms and have these amazing birds fly between them.

We all learnt a lot about the variety of birds in the owl family and ‘heard’ how silently they could fly, as the Barn Owl swooped over our heads.

YEAR 3 TEACHERS

Hazard Alley

The ‘Hazard Alley’ Safety Centre is a purpose-built education centre, designed to look like a village, complete with a variety of ‘hazards’ that children might encounter, both at home as well as out and about. The visit gave Year 3 vital information and strategies for keeping themselves safe.

They were presented with a series of scenarios involving moving safely - in a car, by bike, on foot or near railway lines. This coincided well with what the children have been learning in Light in Science and how reflective materials help to keep us safe, especially at night.

In a session on safety near water, Year 3 learnt what to do if they see someone in

difficulty and they watched a demonstration of what to do if they thought there might be a fire, including how and when to dial 999. Finally, the children discovered how to put someone into the Recovery Position and to keep checking to see if they are breathing.

We are continuing to have some excellent discussion surrounding safety in class.

The Year 3 corridor was filled with Pharaohs, Cleopatras and Mummies! It was wonderful to see such a dazzling display of gold and jewels.

We went into the Great Hall for a workshop provided by Portals to the Past. We listened to a short history of the Ancient Egyptians, which included enough wars and murders to excite and entertain everyone. The afternoon was spent meeting Pharaoh Adam: All Hail Adam Ankh Ra! and learning about his life.

Unfortunately for the Pharaoh, he died and had to be mummified! And we learnt how…!

YEAR 3 TEACHERS

YEAR 3 TEACHERS

Forest School News the tyre, found fairies hiding, painted and collaged with leaves, decorated sticks, read books, played drums and relaxed in the hammock. Phew, we needed a biscuit and a drink after all of that fun! The event was a great success and we look forward to running another session when the weather warms up just a little bit.

Inaugural Parent & Preschooler Forest Fun Parents have often asked if they can bring along their preschoolers to the parent sessions and so the idea was born! Thirty three families signed up for this event – an exciting but slightly scary prospect for organisation – would we be able to seat 66 people around the fire circle? It turned out to be the most gloriously sunny early autumn morning and everyone was very excited as we met at the edge of the woods. We collected treasures in our little pots as we walked towards the entrance, found some slug eggs, balanced on stepping stones and swung on

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Packer’s Pond Restoration A hardy team of parents literally got stuck in when we dug out the pond earlier this term.

Mr Packer had created a pond with the help

of pupils some years ago and it was in need of restoration. Our current Top Form began the job last June; they did a wonderful job of getting a lot of mud out of the pond (and all over themselves!). But there was still a lot of work to do and I am hugely grateful to those parents who offered to come along and help.

It was a very successful morning; we managed to finish clearing the pond ready for it to be brought back to life again. Keep your eyes posted for news of new life in the pond in the spring.

BECKY LE BAS

‘Out And About’ Year 7 in Cornwall

Classics Beyond the Curriculum

Our Year 7 pupils returned from their Team Building and Geography Field Trip, exhausted but so excited about their weekend. They were a true credit to the School and are really grasping the concept of TEAM.

Mr Ali McWhirter, Head of Classics at Haileybury, once again gave his inspirational talk ‘Classical Influences in The Hunger Games’ to Top Form. We were delighted this year to welcome the Year 8 Latin pupils from Priory Academy who joined us here at Beechwood Park for this highly thoughtprovoking presentation.

JAIME PACKER

MICHELE ANDERSON

Provence 2017 Pupils from Year 7 and Top Form had the opportunity to travel to France for the biennial French and Classics trip to Provence. Here is a selection of ‘soundbites’ from the trip.

Tuesday was really interesting because we went to Nîmes to a roman temple which was a gift to the people from the Emperor. Jasper Nous avons écouté des audioguides à l’amphithéâtre à Nîmes, c’était utile. Nous avons visité le quartier des gladiateurs, c’était passionnant. Eddie Nous sommes allés au Pont du Gard. À mon avis c’était chouette parce que c’est joli et majestueux! It is awe-inspiring to think that the Romans created it over two thousand years ago without any technology and it still stands today in perfect condition. Mrs Anderson was very happy. Harry M In the market, it was really fun just to walk around it and catch bits of people’s conversations and to smell everything that was swirling around from the food stalls. Gregor Nous sommes allés à St. Paul de Moussole où Van Gogh était malade. Alasdair Mr Miller talked with us about medieval weaponry and sieges.

At the fort they had three main methods of attacking – trébuchets, a smaller catapult and a battering ram. Fergus Jeudi matin nous sommes allés à la chocolaterie à Châteauneufdu-Pape. Nous avons décoré des citrouilles de chocolat et il y’avait beaucoup de couleurs. Hugo C & Antony

Hampton Court Palace At the Roman Baths we learnt all about the caldarium and the tepidarium. Nous avons appris les noms comme par exemple: Hypocaust, Frigidarium et Palaestra. Daniel et Zack Le dernier jour nous avons visité le Mas de l’Ange – la fermes d’oliviers à Fontvieille . J’ai mangé une olive pour la première fois. Nous avons appris comment on produit les olives.

Nous avons pu essayer l’huile d’olives, la tapenade et de la confiture. Harry M et Alex M J’adore la Provence. Joshua B

Year 7 travelled to Hampton Court Palace to explore one of the finest royal residences of the Tudor era and to investigate the religious changes that took place between King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. Students participated in a religious rollercoaster workshop, which saw them decide whether to follow the religious ideas of each monarch or whether to be a die-hard supporter of one side and risk possible execution! We toured the Tudor section of the palace, viewed the replica of Henry VIII’s crown in the Royal pew of the chapel, and explored what the Tudors ate in the magnificent palace kitchens.

Finally, no trip to Hampton Court would be complete without an opportunity to try to master the famous maze – which has the reputation of being the oldest hedge maze in Britain!

ANGHARAD GRIFFITHS

Emmaus Backpack Challenge 7BM took up the Emmaus challenge to provide a back-pack full of practical items for a homeless person this Christmas. Everyone brought in good quality hats and gloves and toiletries; we had more than enough for one bag. Everything was gratefully received by Emmaus in Harpenden. Special recognition to Henry for coordinating the collection (and making sure we didn’t just have eight pairs of gloves!) Thank you to all students and parents for your support.

BRIDGET MANTON

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Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter

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What a Performance!

Whodunit?!

A spooky night in itself, Halloween was made even more mysterious thanks to an intriguing murder that needed to be solved.

‘Melanie Smythe’ had been poisoned on her 21st birthday and the whole of the boarding house competed to solve the mystery. Many of the teachers gave up their time to participate in the peculiar enigma - they were so convincing, immersing themselves in their character and acting out their part!

As it turns out, the murderer was a doctor (played by Mr Ross-Nelson), and Melanie’s secret husband, who stood to inherit her large estate and money when she died. The competition was won by Noah and Kristy.

The spectacular evening was and will continue to be one of the highlights of the boarders’ year!

Thank you to all the staff who gave up their time to make the evening so realistic and fun.

NOAH (TOP CLH)

Movember Challenge This November, members of the Beechwood Park boarding house team rose to the challenge of raising money for the Movember charity by growing moustaches.

The month included many strange looks from friends and family, lots of questions from the children, and slightly amused glances from parents. However, thanks to the amazing generosity of all these people we were able to smash our initial target of £600, finishing with a grand total in excess of £1600. A huge thank you.

JAMES MOULDER, ANDY EDWARDS, JAY LANE, FREDDIE EGGLETON, AND JOE ROSS-NELSON

Verse Speaking The Verse Speaking Competition is an absolute highlight of the Beechwood calendar and once more, students excelled. There were poems about Frankenstein, golf, and dictionaries.

War poetry featured along with the joys of the outdoors. A troubled caretaker appeared along with the Harry Potter Sorting Song. Year 7 and Top Form presented poems with the Freedom theme to coincide with National Poetry Day. It was certainly an eclectic selection!

Miss. Routledge (our guest judge this year) from St Albans School provided valuable feedback for all the students; appreciating their confidence and their commitment.

Well done to every child – for all those participating in class heats, the year group semifinals and the finals. Special congratulations go to our winners. Year 3: William 3O, Year 4: Alexandra 4H, Year 5: Tabitha 5B, Year 6: Arthur 6AH, Overall Middle Department winner: Quinlan 5B, Year 7: Daniel 7TM, Top Form: Zack Top AE, Overall Senior Department winner: George 6AB

BRIDGET MANTON

Music Tring Percussionists It was lovely to welcome percussionists from Tring School to Beechwood Park. They gave an inspiring performance to the Middle and Senior Departments in assembly and then led an hour long workshop with our percussion pupils. All pupils enjoyed the experience and were certainly inspired by the wonderful playing.

Duo B!zar’t This unusual duo entertained Years 3 and 4 in a wonderful hour long workshop, bringing musical stories to life with their piano duet playing.

Come and Sing There was a lovely turn out of parents, friends and staff for an informal sing of songs from West Side story.

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Woodwind Concert We held an extremely successful concert for all pupils who learn a woodwind instrument. Even those who had only had a few lessons took part in a small group with wonderful confidence.

Good Companions Our Chamber Choir visited ‘The Good Companions Club’ in Tring for the 3rd year running, singing an array of songs and entertaining the pensioners. The children then helped with the raffle and chatted animatedly with them – they were amazing and both ‘old’ and ‘young’ were stimulated by the experience.

Senior Citizens A variety of choirs (including the whole of Year 3) and ensembles, from the Middle Department, entertained the Grandparents with a wonderful array of different pieces, all delivered with great confidence and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

JANE LODGE

Literary Performances Actor Rupert Mason captivated both our Year 7 and Top Form with his performances of Mr Owen’s Pocket Book and a Halloween offering of Victorian Gothic Tales. Our Top Form pupils were challenged to use literary devices to enhance what could be somewhat tedious factual reviews. Here is an extract from one.

Yesterday, Mr Mason transported me into his world of Victorian horror. As my brain froze, I ached to know what caused the fire-lit candles to die without explaining themselves.

My stomach threw itself back from the seat, shocked by the petrifying ‘jumpscare’ exploding on me.

As if performing a magician’s trick, Mr Mason’s timing was perfect with lights and sounds. It was as if there were hundreds of technicians operating the effects, not just one actor.

JOSHUA (TOP JRB)

Mr Kerslake Sings at ENO We are delighted to report that Ben Kerslake, one of our amazing BPS Singing teachers, has made his debut with the English National Opera and is currently appearing (out of school hours!) in Aida at the London Colosseum.

Sport

PAGE X ESSA Championships

Following the success of a BPS team in the regional qualifiers, Kieran B, Jack B, Alasdair W and Fergus R attended the ESSA Secondary School Relay Championships in November.

The event was held at the London Aquatics Centre, previous home to the London Olympics, and was a phenomenal location for this exciting event. The boys took part in the medley relay against 30 other schools and finished in 21st position, with a few personal bests for the boys. A great day and fantastic opportunity to swim in world class facilities.

Well done boys!

CLARE LECKIE-HARBORD

Herts Hockey This term we entered the Herts County Championships for the first time! Held at Oaklands College, the home of St Albans HC, some of our players were really excited to play on their home turf.

Up first was Heath Mount School.

Beechwood Park defended well with Lana making several good saves in goal and Bibi and Mary several clearances from defence, but conceded one in the second half. Our next opponents were familiar rivals, Kingshott School. Despite loads of pressure and some fantastic attacking, especially by Adeola, our girls struggled to score and Kingshott broke to score twice. Olivia came on up front, winning the ball and slotting into the corner to get one back for Beechwood but unfortunately, we ran out of time. The next match was against Bishops Stortford College, a strong and skilful team with many club players. The BPS girls did well to hold, before Stortford broke scoring two, but a great breakaway with some accurate passing enabled Adeola to score and get one back.

A day for great performances, gaining experience and lots of competitive hockey.

ALEXIS HAMILTON

County Table Tennis In December, Beechwood Park hosted the U13 and U16 Herts School Games’ County Table Tennis Championships. The morning U13 competition saw 19 teams representing 16 different schools, including one boys’ team from Beechwood Park. Archie (Top AE), Sam (Top CLH), Daniel (7TM) and Henry (7GW) made up our U13 team and represented the school brilliantly. It was a tough day with lots of strong table tennis players; however the boys did their best to get results. Beechwood finished 5th out of the 12 boy’s teams and should be proud of their efforts.

ADRIENNE HORN

Hockey Masterclasses This term, our hockey players have been lucky enough benefit from masterclasses from Queenswood School’s, Mr Menear (Head of Hockey) and Mr Burkin (specialist hockey coach), and from Amie Hone (St Albans HC Ladies’ Club Captain and 1st Team player) and Teresa Figallo (St Albans HC Junior Coach and 1st Team player – from Argentina).

ALEXIS HAMILTON

ISGA Cup Eddie W and George S represented Beechwood in this annual golf tournament held at Sunningdale Heath Golf Club. It was a team event with the combined scores added together producing an overall score.

All the drives went sailing down the fairway and that set the tone for the rest of the round. There were a few tricky moments when the ball found the tough heather areas fringing the fairways, but both boys managed to stay focused and calm despite a few wayward drives, mostly from Mr Ridley!

Our combined score of 105 points left us 6th in the team standings, with Millfield Prep winning the event. This was a fantastic performance bearing in mind that both boys are still in year 6. Well done boys.

Ski Racing Championships

MARK RIDLEY

Orienteering Success Well done to everyone on their fantastic performance in the Herts Orienteering Competition, which was held at Stanborough Park, where once again we beat off strong competition from St Albans High School and Habs.

Particular congratulations go to Holly G, who came first in the Year 5 girls' race, Dan H who won the boys' Year 6 section, and Gregor W who won both boys' year 7 and 8 races! Gregor was only 19 seconds in front of Zack G who finished 2nd, with James B 3rd.

Fabulous results!

ROB HUMPHREYS

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House Matches A cold and clear morning and some fantastic matches! The Overall Michaelmas House Matches Results were: 1st equal: Tudor/Stewart 3rd: Saunders 4th: Sebright

The Beechwood Park Ski Team took part in the BISS National Indoor Championships 2017 at The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead in September.

There were 180 entries to the event, across the various age groups. Special mentions go to Ben W-S who finished 6th in the U10 boys, Jack D who finished 8th in the U12 boys and Annabel W who came 12th in the U12 girls.

The Beechwood Park A team (Jack D, Ben W-S, Arthuro S & Aston) finished 6th out of 16 in the Boys’ Competition and the B team (Annabel W, Kate P, Charlie M and George B) finished 8th out of 16 in the Mixed Competition.

Well done!

Beechwood Park School’s Newsletter

ALEXIS HAMILTON

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Sport & BPSPA

BPSPA, Alumni and House News

Saracens

BPSPA

This term we have further strengthened our links with Saracens. Year 5 to Top Form benefitted from a Strength and Conditioning workshop run by 3 of the Saracens Rugby Development team. Over half-term, we hosted a 2 day Saracens Rugby Coaching Camp for some 90 players (of which over 60 were BPS pupils) and at the end of November, our Year 4 pupils provided the guard of Honour at a match at Allianz Park:

I can’t believe the speed with which the end of another year is approaching! 2017 is nearly over and as we lurch towards Christmas it is time to look back over a hugely successful Michaelmas term for the BPSPA and to look forward to what 2018 holds for us.

After our return from the long summer holidays, we kicked off the academic year with our Quiz and Curry night – thank you to last year’s winners ‘Quizzy Rascals’ for hosting the evening. We hosted our first outdoors family photo shoot with Ian Scott Photography this autumn and were lucky enough to have glorious weather enabling Beechwood families to take full advantage of our school’s beautiful grounds.

Half term was rapidly followed by Bonfire Night – thank you Jeroen Hasenbos for organising and my committee for helping to support him.

We had a great afternoon being the Guards of Honour at the Saracens vs Exeter rugby match. It was bitterly cold at the Saracens match and we all wore our thermals to keep us warm. We were lucky enough to have some of the rugby players sign our Saracens flag before we waved them onto the pitch. The players were all nearly as tall as giraffes and as wide as hippos! A fantastic afternoon!

JACK 4K

Football First We were delighted to host an inaugural Football Festival with Markyate Village School. It was a great opportunity to be able to share our facilities and a love of football at the same time.

Pupils were involved in a 45 minute session where they moved around a carousel of activities which developed their shooting, passing, ball mastery and communication skills. This was followed by a series of small sided games. The Markyate boys were a delight to coach, they were a real credit to their school.

KYLIE-PAUL LE BAS

Training with Tim Sherwood Our senior boys were thrilled to have ex England international, premiership winner and former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood visit one of their training sessions. They benefited hugely from his expert guidance and he finished off a Q&A session where there was an opportunity to find out a little bit about life in the elite echelons of the football world. Quite a few of the boys, not to mention several of the staff members, were somewhat awestruck to have this legend amongst us.

KYLIE-PAUL LE BAS

And most recently we have hosted our magical Christmas Fayre with an incredible array of stalls from our junior classes, young entrepreneurs and local businesses. Thank you to ‘Super Elves’ Carly Jacques and Sarah Woodruff for all your hard work and making the magic happen.

As we turn and look towards next year, we have our junior and middle school discos to look forward to next term for which planning is already under way. The summer term will bring the delights of Fun Night and maybe a summer event – we don’t have a ball this year but are exploring options for another event to celebrate the summer. If you have any great ideas or would like to help organise a summer event please do get in touch!

January will also mark the end of my first year as Chair – I couldn’t have got through this last year without my wonderful committee. Thank you so much to Pippa Ridout (secretary), Louise Lynes (treasurer), Nadia Davis (communicatons) and Em Southcombe (events liaison). Sadly only Pippa and I are carrying on next year but we’ve received nominations for some great people to join us on the team! If you are interested in joining us do come and have a chat with me – the more the merrier!

The BPSPA AGM is held at the end of January – everyone is very welcome to come and join us as we review our performance over the year and look forward to our next challenges.

All that remains for me is to thank everyone who has given so generously of their time to support us during 2017 – we rely entirely upon our school community to be able to run the events that create the vibrant social life we are so lucky to have here at Beechwood.

On behalf of the committee and myself we would like to wish you all a peaceful and blessed time this Christmas and our best wishes for a very happy New Year! See you all in 2018!

HANNAH GRAY, BPSPA CHAIR

Please check the School’s website for more information: www.beechwoodpark.com

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