Prep for the Week - Autumn Term week 15

Prep for the Week

Issue Number 1941 – 13 December 2019

That was the week that was...

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1941 13 December 2019

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Prep for the Week

Issue Number 1941 – 13 December 2019

Cheltenham Prep has joined the world of Instagram! Make sure you are following us (instagram.com/cheltprep) to keep up to date with all of the fun things going on...

Included in this week’s issue…

• Kingfishers Update • Lower School News • Boarding House Update • Christmas Reading Challenge • Scooby Awards • Birthdays

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1941 13 December 2019

And finally...

Don’t miss Mr O’Sullivan’s take on this week. His Week 15 blog can be found at the back of this week’s edition.

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Kingfishers Update Nativity - The Midwife Crisis Everybody and everything shone last week in our production of the The Midwife Crisis. The children acted and sang beautifully and they showed us all the true meaning of Christmas so well. On behalf of everybody in Kingfishers we wish you a joyful Christmas and look forward to seeing you all again in the New Year.

Reception News We have had a great time this week at the end of a brilliant term. Happy Christmas from everyone in Reception, we hope you have a wonderful break.

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Kingfishers Update

Outdoor Fun The Nursery enjoyed some festive fun in the outdoor learning area with warming hot chocolate and some Christmas songs. We even attempted to sing the ‘Christmas pudding’ song in a round.

Year 1 Christmas Party We all had a great time at the party. Happy Christmas from Year 1!

Year 2 Fixtures It was wonderful to welcome our Year 2 friends from Dean Close on Saturday for some Tag Rugby and Netball. The children played with an excellent mix of fun and enjoyment, whilst trying their best to win. We were impressed to see how the children invited their visitors to match tea and were super home team hosts. Well done to all, and after such a busy week too!

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Yummy Christmas Lunch Pupils and staff at The Prep have been very lucky this week to enjoy some delicious Christmas lunches thanks to our excellent catering staff. With sing-alongs and Mr O’Sullivan’s raffle, there was fun for all ages!

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Christmas Fun Time!

Come and join in the Christmas fun in the Kingfishers Nursery Monday 16 - Friday 20 December 10am - 4pm each day

Open

to chil 41/2 an dren aged d unde r

There will be lots of fun activities to take part in and games to play with the Nursery staff To book your place email Mrs Davis via: r.davis@cheltenhamcollege.org

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Lower School News Lower School are fully embracing the festive spirit this week and have been very busy putting on performances and singing their hearts out. These are some candid behind the scenes shots of children waiting to go on stage and appearing in the Christmas Concert. It is lovely to see so many parents and family members coming along to support the children and even to join in the fun!

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Boarding House Update The Boarders have enjoyed the final two festive weekends in the House, but we are looking forward to a rest over the holidays! The first weekend saw a trip to the Pantomime to watch Cinderella, which was much enjoyed by all, especially the ice creams at the interval! On Sunday afternoon Mrs Simpson and Mrs Parsley led the annual ice skating trip, which really helped put everyone in the Christmas spirit; many thanks for your help and skating expertise!

This last Saturday night we all enjoyed a brilliant evening at the Boarders’ Christmas Feast, and a big thanks must go out to both the catering staff for the fantastic meal, and the Year 8 Christmas Feast Committee who put in a huge amount of work to make the event such a success. We were able to watch the results of the Taskmaster activity and the final live task did make some changes in the final rankings. Many congratulations to Isla-Rose and her Boarding House Family for their well deserved victory.

We also enjoyed watching a hilarious video that the Gaps had put together answering some of the more common questions that they get asked by the Boarders. We are very sad to be saying goodbye to Mr LaCava, Miss Poole and Miss Udvardi at the end of term and thank them for their immense contributions to the Boarding House and the positive impact they have all had on the lives of all the Boarders over their time here. We will miss you!

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2019 - Our Year of Reading

Congratulations to Jasper S who has been named this week’s reader of the week.

Great work Jasper!

Congratulations to Archie H who wins this week’s Caught You Reading award!

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As we come to the end of 2019 Our Year of Reading at The Prep, statistics prove just what a successful year this has been. Since September alone, pupils in Years 3-8 have collectively read over 60

million words and successfully passed nearly 2,000 book

quizzes between them. We now have eight members of the prestigious ‘Millionaires Club’, for those pupils who have

individually read over a million words since the start of this term, as well as one talented individual in Year 5 who has become our first

Triple Word Millionaire this year, having already reached two

million words several weeks ago!

The contest to see which House is meeting the most Accelerated Reader targets is also well underway, and as we approach the half term break, Athens House holds a slender lead over Corinth, closely followed by Troy House.

For our readers, it has been a fantastic Autumn Term, ably supported by the efforts of the English department, the Lower School team and, of course, Miss Richardson our Librarian, in engaging and supporting our young readers.

As we enter 2020, reading will continue to play a pivotal role in the life of The Prep, and hopefully at home, as well as in the Boarding House.

Please can I ask all parents to check and sign their child’s Reading

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Record on a regular basis. Next year, the target for every pupil in the school is to read for at least 20 minutes per day, or the equivalent amount per week. I would like to count on the consistent support of ALL parents in helping us to achieve this, especially given the proven benefits of reading for pupils’ all-round academic development.

The Christmas Holiday Reading Challenge We simply ask you to encourage your child to read as much as possible over the holiday period. With so many wonderful books available, there has never been a better time to be a young reader, and Christmas provides the perfect opportunity to engage pupils in reading and promote a lifelong love of books. It need not be expensive either. Whilst we have a wonderful Library here in school, please do support your local libraries too. Many charity shops have excellent stocks of books too, such as the Red Cross Bookshop on the Bath Road.

How Can Parents Help?

1. Firstly, do please continue to support your children with their reading whenever possible. The more they read, the better!

2. Secondly, please do ask to see your children’s Reading Record on a regular basis. Talk to them about the reading, and even better, read with them, or allow them to read aloud to you.

3. Lastly, please sign your children’s Reading Record before they return to school in the New Year.

4. Choosing appropriate books for your child to read can be a challenge. We highly recommend the Accelerated Reader Bookfind website (www.arbookfind.co.uk), as well as www.schoolreadinglist.co.uk These websites allow you to conduct detailed searches for books by level of difficulty as well as areas/genres of interest. They are well worth a browse.

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In Other News Movember Boys Update - final total raised is £3,000!

Many thanks for all the support and your contributions.

The staff team finished 8th in the country for school teams, but all are relieved to now be enjoying a less hirsute festive season!

The Prep ‘Mo Bros’

Congratulations to Magdalen A who performed brilliantly in the County Cross-Country Championships this week. In a really competitive field she ran very well over an undulating 3.1km course and finished 11th. This means she has qualified for the National Championships in Leicestershire on March 21 next year.

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Scooby Awards Congratulations to Archie W who has earned 25 pluses and his first Scooby Award of term.

Congratulations to the following pupils who have now reached the 50 plus mark and have earned their second Scooby Award of the term.

• Dameli A • Bethany C

• Bertram C • Sean D

• Diana M • Bella O

• Cindy P • Harry R

• Nikita V

Congratulations to the following pupils who have now reached the 75 plus mark and have earned their third Scooby Award of the term.

• Toby C • Morgan D • Herbie E

• Finlay M-K • Jasmine R • Flo W

• Kevin Y

Congratulations to the following pupils who have now reached the 100 plus mark and have earned their fourth Scooby Award of the term.

• Seren A • Poppy C

• Makari D • Tobias E

• Buse K • Olivia L

• William M • Sam P

• Oscar P • Mikhail S

Congratulations to the following pupils who have now reached the 125 plus mark and have earned their fifth Scooby Award of the term.

• Jocasta A

• Thomas C

• Max D

Congratulations to Star J and Jerome Y who have now reached 150 pluses, great work!

A big well done to William B who has now earned his 200th plus of the term, a fantastic effort!

And finally, well done to Jasper S who became the first pupil in the history of the Scooby Awards to reach 250 pluses in a term, an incredible achievement!

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Birthdays and Notices Happy birthday to all of our pupils who have had their birthday in the last week: • Ted M (10) • Octavia D (11) • Herbie H (9) • Matilda C (13) • James S (11) • Seraphina D • Valentine M (8) (9)

Tennis - Two courts have been booked from 0815-1100 on a Friday for Prep parents to play tennis. Please visit the Sports Hall Reception for the code to enter the courts. Availability will be on a first come first served (pardon the pun!) basis.

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And finally...

Dear Parents As the term draws to a close and you start thinking through the calendar for 2020 I would like to draw your attention to the visit of Gakushuin School in late April.

Gakushuin is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Japan and they will be bringing around 20 children over to the UK. They will spend three days with us at The Prep as part of their wider tour programme. Enclosed on the next page is a notice giving an opportunity to host some of the Gakushuin children. This is open to any families, although the children will all be of Year 5 to 7 (10-12) age.

All that remains is for me to thank you for your continued support of The Prep and, from all of us here, to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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Would you like to become a host family?

Next April, Gakushuin Prep School from Japan will be visiting Cheltenham College Prep school for 9 days. The pupils will be joining in on lessons and sharing Japanese culture with the Cheltenham College Prep pupils. As part of the experience, Gakushuin Prep would like their pupils to stay at the homes of Cheltenham College Prep pupils.

We are currently looking for host families for these Japanese pupils (aged 11 to 12, Boys and girls). The new Japanese Emperor and other members of the Imperial Family were all educated at Gakushuin school.

If you are interested in Japanese culture, would like the opportunity to participate in this cultural exchange, and help the Gakushuin pupils make the most of their stay in the beautiful Cotswolds, please do not hesitate to contact us. It will be an educational, fun and rewarding experience for the whole family! 【Details】 Monday to Friday the students will be attending Cheltenham College Prep School or partaking on excursions. At the weekend the pupils are free to spend time with their host families.

Sat 25th April – Sun 3rd May 2020 (2 students per family) 8 nights To compensate for hosting the pupils we will pay £512 per family

【Organizer: Cotswolds Wind Academy】 We are a specialist Japanese travel agency that has over 40 years of experience running homestay programs in the Cotswolds. We are working with both schools to organize this cultural exchange.

For more information and details , please get in touch: MIDORI ENDICOTT Mob: 07760 222676 E-mail: midoriendicott@googlemail.com

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JOIN THE FUN CALL OR GO ONLINE FOR DATES & BOOKING

01242 705 551 Thursday 2 - Friday 3 January 2020

AT CHELTENHAM COLLEGE SPORTS CENTRE

Over 20 exciting games and sports, including arts, crafts and swimming for boys and girls aged 4½ - 14 years CHILDCARE VOUCHERS ACCEPTED Discounts available for Cheltenham Swim School

www.cheltenhamactivitycamps.co.uk

01242 705 551 CAC-054 New Year Flyer V1.indd 1

20/11/2019 10:36

10% discount for staff off crash course 1-2-1’s this February Swimming@ Cheltenham Activity Camps would like to inform you of their new exciting crash course 1-2-1 lessons. Members of staff have expressed an interested in 1-2-1 lessons for their children and this is a great way to get your little ones improving their swimming ability and stamina during half terms.

Price: Prices are £81 for 5 x 30 minute lessons (10% included for staff)) Dates: Monday 17 – 21 Friday 2020 Times: 10.00, 10.30, 11.00 and 11.30 If you would like to book your child onto the crash course 1-2-1’s please visit www.cheltenhamactivitycamps.co.uk and book onto the 1-2-1 courses, or alternatively, contact us @ cheltenhamactivitycamps@cheltenhamcollege.org for more details.

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