Michaelmas Term in the Middle Department

And so another Michaelmas Term at Beechwood has drawn to a busy, festive and celebratory end. It has been truly wonderful to see all the children enjoying our traditional Christmas events from the poignant Year 3 Christingle Service, to the fantastic BPSPA Festive Fayre, the fun-filled, yet reflective Year 3 and 4 Christmas production (see page 27), the Carol Service, House Orienteering and our Middle Department Christmas-themed day - all this, plus the snow as the 'icing' on the cake, to create some extra magic and sparkle! Thank you for all your support at these events. We were all very sad to say farewell to three valued members of the Middle Department teaching team on the last day of term: Mrs Lane is retiring after 17 years of teaching so many of our Year 3 and 4 pupils, and she will be enjoying the snow in Austria for the new year ski season; Mrs Mann retires after 6 years of teaching in Year 3 where she has helped pave the way for a seamless transition for successive cohorts of children joining the Middle Department; and Mr Ip has moved to Cambridge with his family where he will take up the reins in a Year 4 class in January. We wish them all every happiness and success in the next stage of their lives, and thank them for everything they have brought to the Middle Department; I know I speak on behalf of current and former Middle Department pupils, parents and staff when I say that we will miss them hugely.

The start of Lent Term 2023 therefore brings some changes to the Middle Department Teaching team. We are excited to be welcoming Mrs Sabina Doyle as 3M/3D's new teacher, Mrs Sam Routledge as Head of Year 4 and 4L/4R's new teacher, and Miss Lizette Bailey who many of your will already know as a Music teacher and stalwart of many a brass ensemble, whose role at Beechwood is changing as she becomes 4I/4B's new teacher. We look forward to welcoming all three to the Middle Department in January. It was lovely to read the children's end of term reports as the term drew to a close and to reflect on their progress and engagement in every area of their learning, and also to marvel at how they embrace so many of the opportunities which come their way - they are truly inspirational - and each and every one of them should feel immensely proud of all they have achieved already in this academic year; I am certainly very proud of them. It only remains for me to wish you all a wonderful holiday, a peaceful and happy Christmas, and a healthy, happy and fulfilling new year, with so much for us all to look forward to. With very best wishes, Nicola Greenwood Head of Middle Department

Future Skills

Year 5 have been focusing on Communication Skills in their Future Skills lessons this term. They had a fantastic time learning about how motions are debated in Parliament. It was UK Parliament Week last week, and the pupils were very keen to understand more about how decisions that affect our country are made. Their knowledge of current affairs was highly impressive and their assessment of the relative skills of our three most recent Prime Ministers was incisive, if not scathing at times! Here you can see some of the debate motions that the pupils came up with themselves. Even learning how to phrase a motion in order to be contentious was a learning curve! The debates that followed were fascinating. We heard well-considered arguments from the proposers and opposers (who spoke with no notes at all), and lots of ker-ching questions from the floor…. Ask your child to explain!

Year 3 Christingle Service

What a wonderful start to our Christmas celebrations! The Christingle service was a beautiful way to remind ourselves of the importance of thinking of others in this busy time. The Year 3 children performed with confidence and evident enjoyment. An enormous thank you to Mr Bullock for his excellent Chaplaincy duties and to Edna for making a surprise appearance. Thank you, too, to Mr Fox for coming to our rescue when Mrs Oatham’s large Christingle imploded on her. He quickly stepped in and created a very striking and modern looking 3D orange with red LED lights! Thank you to Mrs Jarvis for preparing the children and giving them the confidence to sing so beautifully and to Mr Balfour and to Mrs Greenwood for their support with the service. You can view more photos here

Outdoor Learning - Year 5 Forest School Day

Whilst Year 3 and 4 have regular timetabled Forest School sessions, Year 5 have less frequent but longer sessions, enabling them to engage with a whole host of different activities. With the rain kindly holding off, each activity group got stuck into the carousel of fun learning activities that were on offer. In one session the children displayed their creative sides by making their own mud masks, inspired by Mrs KB’s amazing gargoyle pictures, using the items they found during the scavenger hunt. Following on from the skills they had developed in Year 4, the pupils also had the chance to use palm drilling skills with Mrs Le Bas – and designed and then created some eye-catching pieces! Finally, they were set the challenge of protecting the precious cargo of an egg. Using the materials from the forest, they had to design the ‘protective’ landing zone which would allow our egg to be dropped from height and (fingers crossed!) still be in one piece when it landed. As you can probably guess, not all the eggs made it! A big thank you to Mrs le Bas for her organisation and inspiration and to all of the teachers who came out to help as well. We can’t wait for next term’s Forest School session! Have a look at our photos here