Prep for the Week Issue 1848

Prep for the Week Issue Number 1848 – 20 January 2017

In this week’s issue…

Headmaster's Blog and Commendations Wednesday Wonder: Tinkling the Ivories A View from the English Department Kingfishers and Lower School News Girls' and Boys' Sports Calendar Notices

the f o f f sta e h t o t dral e h t a Thanks C ster e c u o l G 4s r a e Y historic our g n i m o c ion t a r o for wel l p g ex n i g a g n on an e nk! o m a as of life

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Headmaster's Blog Dear Parents I believe that there is one area of independent schooling which is not keeping pace with modern trends and that is the prevalence of girls playing sports which were traditionally associated with boys, such as football, cricket and rugby. We are working on it, but it is difficult for individual schools to ‘blaze a trail’ as one needs the cooperation of one’s circuit in order to create fixtures, and to not be dropped for daring to try something new. Therefore, I enjoy the Spring Term immensely as it is when the boys pick up their hockey sticks and both genders have a shared interest; the girls having just completed their season with many continuing to play at clubs. It allows me to draw parallels with their behaviour in school and, with hockey, all can hopefully understand what I am driving at. Monday’s assembly will be about the benefits of the team and the role of the individual within that unit. The team demands co-operation, esprit de corps, resilience and, done well, can be really enjoyable. Everybody likes to feel included!

As I have said, there are parallels with how they behave in school. Pass to someone and you include them, run hard when you don’t have the ball to benefit the team, be part of the team but also develop one’s skills as an individual, be determined, play hard and fair, encourage don't criticise, win and lose magnanimously and always host well at tea, whatever the result.

Although I focus on a sport in this case, the benefits of other team activities cannot be underestimated. Membership of a music ensemble and/or being part of the Bugsy Malone company also teaches the co-operation required to be part of a successful team, without losing one’s identity as an individual. I know that for some, teams are an occupational hazard as they work their way through school, but at some time or other everyone is likely to be a member of a team, even if it is only their own family. Your support of the many teams fielded by the school is an essential aspect of our success and I thank you in advance for the time that you will spend on the touchline as well as at concerts and plays.

Jon Whybrow Prep for The Week Issue Number 1848 20 January 2017

A notice about parking As we seek to improve the flow of traffic through the site, especially in the morning, please can I encourage the parents of children in Years 5-8 to “kiss and go”. This would be especially helpful if this could happen at either the drop off zone outside ‘Day End’ or, better still, at the Sports Hall.

ABRMS Exam Results Congratulations to all the pupils who took their ABRSM Exams at the end of the Autumn Term. There were some winderful performances and everyone should be proud of their marks.

Name Subject Grade Mark Cat Jemima Bailey Bassoon 02 132 Dist Javier Berrow Piano 01 132 Dist Alice Bradley Singing 03 132 Dist Thomas Bridge Singing 01 128 Merit Annie Carter Singing 03 130 Dist Sydney Fairs Singing 01 108 Pass Annie Finan Horn 05 117 Pass Harry Garbutt Cello 05 117 Pass Aleki Jeveons Singing 02 125 Merit Martha L-P Oboe 02 110 Pass Isabella M-T Singing 01 131 Dist Flora Mudie Singing 01 122 Merit Luke Richardson Violin 04 125 Merit Tulliah Shaw Singing 01 124 Merit Felix Warr Piano 02 123 Merit Henry Watkinson Cello 01 125 Merit Nastya Zinoveva Violin 01 128 Merit 2

Prep Life: Parking at Cheltenham Prep A Message for Parents From my point of view, the trial period has been successful in that it has demonstrated to me that there is a way of getting parents and children in and out of the site without bringing Thirlestaine Road to a halt.

The only issue that has arisen, inevitably, is congestion at the Sports Hall. Therefore, there will be a slight amendment to the parking arrangements at the Prep and a further trial period will run until Half Term.

Please use the annotated diagram below so that you are aware of what we are trying to achieve: • A, B, C, D - staff should not park in these areas until after 09.15 • E - staff can park in these slots at any time, respecting those areas which are allocated to Health Centre and Boarding House staff • F - staff can park in these slots, respecting the two areas reserved for visitors to the Prep. Parents are also asked to observe this restriction One of the possibilities that I will be considering is whether B and C are areas which would serve more usefully as “Kiss and Go” slots. Therefore, over the next three weeks, can I ask that parents use A and D if they intend to park and B and C as “Kiss and Go” areas, especially if they use the Thirlestaine Road exit.

Jon Whybrow

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Headmaster's Commendations Tabitha Thomson for such methodical workings in Maths when investigating the different possible combinations of Braille dots Zak O’Sullivan, Alice Bradley, Isobelle Mace, William Dutton, Verity Rudin and Luke Richardson for a creative cell model Annie Finan for excellent holiday practice achieving outstanding progress in French Horn Sofia Games for showing extra commitment to her French by practising on Linguascope during the holidays

Teddy Bennett, Eva Colbourne, Noah CampbellBlack, Alice Wheatley, Sky Jamieson, Aleki Jeveons, Autumn Conner, Julia Lazaro, Vasco Palmer and Finn Keatinge for a creative and innovative sports bag design Jasper Brumpton, Thomas Bridge, Lumai Hickey, Ben Barltrop, Isaac Tagg, Willoughby Cooke, James Futers, Luke Richardson, Maxim Murashov, Zak O’Sullivan and Finn Merheim-Kealy for the excellent construction of a biplane Matthew Albutt and Imogen Friessner-Day for the excellent manufacture of juggling balls

Wednesday Wonder Tinkling the Ivories: a recital to celebrate the piano, by the Cheltenham Prep Music Department

Thank you to Mr Kit Perona-Wright and Miss Georgina Jones who peformed a 30 minute piano recital this week, made up of a selection of pieces and styles. The recital, which was designed to showcase the piano as an instrument, took place partly to celebrate the fact that The Prep has an improved fleet of instruments (all-Yahama) since College upgraded their fleet to become an 'All-Steinway' school.

In December, the College celebrated officially becoming an 'All-Steinway' school. The partnership between Steinway and Cheltenham College enables pupils to study, practise and perform on world premium pianos.

Furthermore, the move cements Cheltenham College’s enviable position of being the only school in the UK to take ownership of two Steinway concert grand pianos.

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A view from: The English Department “Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog.”

(Matilda, Roald Dahl). Not wanting to disappoint one of the most popular children’s authors, this has been exactly our intention in the English department! Week two of the Autumn Term saw the children launch into celebrations of the man himself for Roald Dahl Day 2017 – pupils in Kingfishers and Lower School were treated to a plethora of phizz-whizzing activities and readings by Mrs Carson and our very own BFG, Mr Dawson.

Fiona Ross’s Shakespeare workshop was such a big hit with some of Year 6 that she will hopefully be coming to visit us in the Summer Term to bring The Bard to life once again.

empower, to be slippery, to both hide and speak the truth.

Eager to give pupils every opportunity to improve their speaking and listening skills at The Prep, the launch Should you happen to pass the Library, of Debating Club has so far proved you will be greeted by our new, hugely successful, so much so that we wonderfully dynamic Librarian, Pippa have doubled in size for the Spring Carson (who will no doubt be actively Term! Thursday nights in the Debating ensuring that the library continues to Chamber have seen fierce verbal be a colourful, inviting hub of reading battles on hotly contested topics such and learning). Challenge Mrs Carson as 'All Technology is Good for You,’ and to a game of chess or Scrabble, ask ‘The Olympics are a Waste of Money.’ her for guidance on the latest releases, Club members have put their speaking where to find books by authors from skills to the test with games and minithe Literature Festival, what text is debates, including Debating Tennis, being tackled by Book Club or which If I Ruled the World, and The Um/Err are the most popular books for boys Contest. Plans are afoot for an Upper and girls in particular year groups.

School Debating Club and the chance Whatever your question, it is sure to to compete against other local prep be greeted with a sunny, South African schools. Watch this space… smile and the effort to go that “whole hog” to help you.

So, what is still to come for 2017 in the English Department? Plenty! Hugely Bonds with the Chatfeild-Roberts popular poet, Brian Moses, returns Library at the senior school are to us in February to entertain and stronger than ever and our Year 8 inspire each section of the school pupils have all had the chance to with performances and workshops; indulge in sessions there, immersing we can’t wait to hear his latest work With bookish appetites whetted, themselves in the vast array of and some old favourites. World Book pupils and staff hungrily embarked fiction and non-fiction, challenging Day in March is sure to bring another on two week's worth of wonderful themselves to texts that the Third round of exciting activities. Short visits to the Cheltenham Literature Formers are enjoying and branching story writing challenges, individual Festival. Each year provides us with out even further with their choices of and group competitions, arts and the delightful dilemma of who to see genre and author. Despite such a busy crafts, Twitter tasks and (of course) and what events to attend and, once academic and co-curricular timetable, dressing up, will all be on offer - and again, we were not disappointed with the English Department are intent on that doesn’t even include what will our final choices. Philip Ardagh and encouraging each and every child at be going on in our “normal” English Elissa Elwick charmed Kingfishers with The Prep to develop a true love (or lessons! their new picture book series, Phil at the very least, warm feelings) for Earle inspired Lower School to become reading: to enjoy the simple pleasure It’s going to be another busy year for heroic writers, Abi Elphinstone to of immersing oneself in a book; to Team English and we hope that the be adventurers, Jack Malvern to be develop a better understanding of “view” this year is as equally good as fearless journalists and wordsmiths, themselves and of the world around the last, allowing for a little blurring and Marcus Sedgewick to create the them; and a sensitivity to how words from the flurry of activities! extraordinary out of the ordinary. may be used to mollify, to provoke, to Prep for The Week Issue Number 1848 20 January 2017

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Kingfishers Year 2 visited the The Wilson to learn about the Cheltenham-born explorer, Dr Edward Wilson. The children heard stories of his childhood and found out what sort of man he became and why. They then got the opportunity to explore his Antarctic equipment and sketch some animals just like he would have in the 1900s. Edward Wilson lived during Victorian times so the children tried on Victorian clothes and played with Victorian toys. We are very proud of our local hero and all the things he achieved.

Tobias learnt that Dr Edward Wilson discovered the Emperor Penguin. Ollie found out that the Norwegians beat Wilson and Scott to the South Pole. Jocasta learnt that Edward Wilson was born very near to our school!

A note for parents of childen in Kingfishers: In light of the chilly weather, please ensure that your child has a school hat, gloves and a warm coat with them every day.

Dear Parents

alendar Spring Term C e th in r o rr e n 6 March. that there is a n Thursday 1 o is ly b I'm very sorry m e , being ss the Year 2 A ugsy Malone B , n o ti c u d ro advising that ol p to take t for our scho the Assembly r fo le ib Due to the se ss o . p t Summer Term t date it is no e a th th r n o fo d tu e si g in arran embly will be rror. place. An Ass gies for the e lo o p a r u o t p Please acce

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A warm welcome from the Lower School team to all pupils and parents, we wish you all a happy and productive new year and term. Our Spring Term is always a busy one with much to look forward to.

Before Half Term, Year 3 will have conducted a field trip to Bath Road as part of their Geography work in order to develop mapping and survey skills. A warm invitation is extended to all parents to discuss your child’s progress at our Parents’ Meetings in week 6.

Lower School

After Half Term, as part of our English curriculum, we move on to speaking and listening. Once again, we will be working hard to prepare Years 3 and 4 to be able to recite poetry, read and present to an audience. Our pupils always find this great fun as they love to be able to talk with passion about a topic that truly engages them. More information will follow in due course about this. Finally, before the end of term there will be a Year 4 Viking Day, an opportunity for everyone to immerse themselves in Viking life for a day.

Please also watch out for the talk to parents of year 4 pupils towards the end of term. This will be an opportunity to find out what we are doing to help prepare your children for the transition to Middle School and ways in which you can help.

During the first week of the Spring Term, Year 4 went off to visit Gloucester Cathedral to kick-start their Vikings topic.

It was important to find out what happened after the Anglo-Saxon period and the focus started with religion.

The pupils now know what life was life for a monk and will move on to learn about the attack on Lindisfarne and how the Vikings began their reign of Britain.

Everybody got into dress and set about visiting the main cathedral. Each pupil was given the role of a monk and had to act this out throughout the morning. The pupils found out a lot of information and will be using this in class over the next couple of weeks. Overall, everyone had a great time, has learnt a lot and are now ready to take the topic further.

Already this week we have started business as we mean to go on. In no time at all on Wednesday morning, every class was busily engaged. Clearly everyone had come in committed to work hard. New Year’s Resolutions were discussed. What a fantastic mix of promises: working hard; trying to contribute more; tidy desks and tidy bedrooms; as well as promises to look after each other, play with little brothers and so on. With all these positive thoughts, I know we will have another great term in Lower School.

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Girls' Sports Girls' Netball Results TEAM OPPOSITION DATE SCORE 1st VII Beaudesert Wed 18 January 9 – 21 2nd VII Beaudesert Wed 18 January 9 – 14 3rd VII Beaudesert Wed 18 January 7 – 16 4th VII Beaudesert Wed 18 January 17 – 7 s and 5th VII Beaudesert Wed 18 January 0 – 26 s, fixture witter! w e n r o F U11 A Beaudesert Wed 18 January 8–9 s on T follow u , s e t a d up U11 B Beaudesert Wed 18 January 1–8 pgirls cheltpre @ U10 A Beaudesert Wed 18 January 7 – 20 U10 B Beaudesert Wed 18 January 2 – 17 U10/U11 C Beaudesert Wed 18 January 1–5 U9 A Wycliffe Festival Wed 18 January No scores kept U9 B Wycliffe Festival Wed 18 January No scores kept Team of the Week – 4th VII Brimming with excitement, the Fourths kicked off their netball season against Beaudesert on Wednesday. The first quarter was a closely fought battle with even possession on both sides and crisp passing from both teams. Accurate shooting brought the score to 4-4, a good reflection of the equal ability on display. A much pacier second quarter saw some wilder passing from our girls but greater determination to intercept passes and to get the ball to our shooters; these two should be highly commended for their skill, impressively getting in shots from very difficult distances away from the post and securing this as the highest scoring quarter.

The Fourths continued to impress in the third and fourth quarters, showing excellent communication skills, solid footwork and slick passing down the court. Finishing the match with a 17-7 win, the girls showed excellent sportsmanship and were keen to pass on their thanks to Beaudesert and their coach for a “clean” game that challenged both sides and produced some great netball. Well done for an excellent first match, Fourths. Keep it up!

U9A at Wycliffe Festival On Wednesday, the girls played at Wycliffe in an early season festival.

The aim of the festival was to promote the enjoyment of netball so no scores were taken and there were no winners at the end of all the matches. Considering it was their first experience of match play as U9s, the girls played well, taking the game to their opponents and scoring goals when in possession. The team played as a squad and as such played a variety of different positions during the afternoon.

This did not affect their performance and they finished all their matches as winners. It was very pleasing to see the accuracy of passing and shooting on display as well as great interceptions, particularly on opposition centre passes. It was a great way to start the netball season and the girls should be very proud of their hard work and determination on what was a very cold afternoon.

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Boys' Sports For n update ews, fixtures a s, follo w us o nd n Twitt @chelt er! prep_b oys

Boys' Hockey Results TEAM OPPONENT RESULT SCORE 1st VII Bromsgrove Won 5-3 2nd VII Bromsgrove Won 3-1 3rd VII Bromsgrove Won 7-0 4th VII Bromsgrove Won 4-0 5th VII Bromsgrove Won 6-1 6th VII Bromsgrove Won 3-1 7th VII Bromsgrove Lost 1-10 U11A Bromsgrove Won 6-2 U11B Bromsgrove Lost 1-4 U11C Bromsgrove Won 3-0 U10A Bromsgrove Won 4-0 U10B Bromsgrove Won 7-1 1st VII The Down’s Wraxall Won 2-1 2nd VII The Down’s Wraxall Won 6-2 3rd VII The Down’s Wraxall Won 9-0 4th VII The Down’s Wraxall Won 4-0 U11A The Down’s Wraxall Won 6-0 The Down’s Wraxall U11A/B Lost 1-3 U11B U11C The Down’s Wraxall U11B/C Lost 0-4 U10A The Down’s Wraxall Won 1-0 U10A Dean Close Drew 2-2 U10B The Down’s Wraxall Won 3-0 U10B Dean Close Won 5-0 U10C Dean Close Won 6-0 Turning of the Tide!

A new year, a new term and a renewed U11A side. Last Saturday they played their first hockey match against Downs Wraxall, which they won 6 – 0. The work ethic of every individual made for a great team performance, enabling them to control the game. Our open play was particularly strong and the boys' finishing in front of goal was very good. Moving forward, we have many areas which need work, however, we have a strong base to go from and, more importantly, this win brings confidence and cohesion amongst the players. Well done, boys.

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All changes and additions to the School Calendar appear in pink.

Calendar

Sunday 22 January 2017 11:00 Athens House Trip to Cadbury World. Pick up 16:00 13:00 Boarders' Cinema Trip (Full and Regular Flexi-Boarders Only) Monday 23 January 2017, Week 3, 23 - 29 January 12:00 Kingfishers Parents' Lunch 18:00 Upper School Music Award Holders’ Recital (Big Classical) 18:15 Parents' Evening for parents of children in Year 5 (Surnames A-Ma) Tuesday 24 January 2017

Cheltenham College 13+ (Year 8) Music Scholarship Examinations 09:30 Freshwater Drama Company Geography/Drama Workshop for Year 6 (Assembly Hall) 12:00 Kingfishers Parents' Lunch 16:30 Finance, Risk & Development Committee 18:15 Parents' Evening for parents of children in Year 5 (Surnames Mc-Y) Wednesday 25 January 2017 09:30 The Prep at Work Open Morning for prospective parents 12:30 Departure for Severnside Netball Tournament at Clifton (A): U13A. Start 14:00. Pick up 17:45 12:45 Departure for Severnside Netball Tournament at Wycliffe (A): U13B. Start 14:00. Pick up 17:30 13:00 Departure for Netball v King's Hawford (A): U10A, U10B, U11B. Start 14:30. Pick up 17:00 Departure for Netball v The Downs Wraxall (A): U9A, U9B. Start 14:30. Pick up 17:00 13:00 13:15 Departure for Dean Close Hockey Festival (A): U11A VII, U11B VII, U11C VII. Start 14:00. Pick up 16:45 13:15 Departure for Dean Close Hockey Festival (A):5th VII. Start 14:00. Pick up 17:00 14:00 Severnside Netball Tournament (H): U11A. Pick up 16:30 14:00 Cheltenham Hockey Festival (H): U10A VII, U10B VII, U10C VII. Pick up 16:15 14:00 Hockey and Football Training for Upper School. Pick up 16:15 Thursday 26 January 2017 Departure for IAPS Swimming at Millfield. Start 13:00. Pick up 18:00 10:30 11:00 Year 3 Geography Field Trip to Bath Road Kingfishers Parents' Lunch 12:00 15:15 Nominations Committee Friday 27 January 2017

House Maths Challenge Departure for Warwick School Cross Country Relays (A): Years 4-6 Girls. Start 10:30.

08:30

Finish 12:30. Return 14:00 Kingfishers Parents' Lunch 12:00 Upper School Music Award Holders' Recital at Care Home 14:00 Chapel (parents welcome) 14:15 Exeat begins for children in Kingfishers: no after school care, activities or tea 15:30 Music & Cultural Tour Information Meeting for parents (Assembly Hall) 16:00 Exeat begins for children in Lower School: no after school care, activities or tea 16:00 Exeat begins for children in Middle and Upper School: no after school care, activities or tea 16:30 Guernsey Tour Information Meeting for parents (Library) 16:30 Sunday 29 January 2017 Boarders return, please arrive no later than 19:30 19:00

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NOTICES Happy Birthday to the following pupils this week!

Finn Cooper

5

Oliver Weale

8

Max Walker

Noah Holder Honor Hardie

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Don't forget you can stay on top of news and events on our Twitter and Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/ cheltenhamprep

www.twitter.com/ cheltprep

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Monday 10th - Thursday 13th April 2017 ACTIVITY CAMPS

AT CHELTENHAM COLLEGE SPORTS CENTRE

Easter Camp Over 20 exciting games and sports, including arts, crafts and swimming for boys and girls aged 4½ - 14 years

www.cheltenhamactivitycamps.co.uk

01242 705 551

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