Academic

Elstree Book Fair

The Elstree Book Fair was held in the Ward Library from Monday 13th June to Friday 17th June 2022. A selection of fabulous books, both fiction and information, were supplied from The Travelling Book Company. All week the library was full of excited children choosing and recommending books to each other.

The favourite book this year was Rock On! This was a book about minerals, rocks, gems and geodes and had the added attraction of four gemstones attached. Other popular titles were Allies, by Alan Gratz, The Dancing Bear and other Animal Stories, by Michael Morpurgo and The Football Handbook. This popular event is also planned to encourage our pupils to make a great start to their summer holiday reading. School Librarian Mrs Ruth Walker said, “We love the Book Fair at Elstree. It is a perfect way to get our pupils even more excited about books and reading. Children ask me every term when the next one will be!” “There was a wide range of books with many options, I chose ‘Nightshade’ by Anthony Horowitz. I liked the big blow-up dinosaurs and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ was clever.”

Alex Song, Year 8

“It was really cool to see the wide range of books that we wouldn’t usually see. My favourite book was ‘Our Castle by the Sea’ by Lucy Strange.”

Maisie Brown, Year 6 “It is a new opportunity to look for books and there was a big variety of books; not just focusing on one type of book. I picked, ‘Kids Who Dare to be Different’ by Ben Brooks.”

Fergus Hoar, Year 7

Canford School in Dorset launched an exciting competition for school pupils in Years 5 and 6. Following the launch of the global Earthshot Prize in 2020 by Prince William and David Attenborough, Canford decided they wanted to find out which of the shortlisted entries pupils would choose. So they created the Canford School Earthshot Competition. Our Year 5 pupils were among the competitors. First, they had to choose one of the five categories from the Earthshot website. The children then had to think about why it is such a big issue facing the world. Then, they looked up the three finalists in that group and decided which one they thought should win. Following their decision, they had to tell the judges about what the initiative does and how it is helping.

It was entirely up to the pupils to decide how to showcase their findings. They were encouraged to be as creative as they liked. Examples included sending a report of 500 words, drawing then annotating a diagram or logo, creating a poster or sending in a short video report. Canford gave some guidance about what to focus on, including why the pupil cared about that particular issue and most importantly, the reasons behind their choice of winner.

There were some wonderful entries and we were delighted that Alfie Burles was awarded the joint first prize for the Year 5 competition. Alfie selected Pristine Seas, which is involved in protecting the Ocean’s last wild places. He was joint winner with a boy from Eaton House in London. Alfie received some World Wildlife Fund vouchers and he and his class will be invited to a Plastics Workshop at Canford in 2022. Mrs Alex Boulton, Head of Geography at Canford said, “The thought that went into the presentation and content of the video was excellent and really impressed us all. Great work from him. Both entries were so good (and so different) that I couldn’t separate them!” “I am so happy to win. We made the film at half-term when we went to visit my Granny in Minehead. I’ve spent the voucher on adopting an elephant, and I’m going to share it with my class.”

Alfie Burles, Year 5

Bula! Privet! Konnichiwa! Hallo!

The Modern Foreign Languages department is bustling with activities and challenges. In the Autumn Term, Elstree enjoyed another brilliant Language Week celebration. We kick-started with a fabulous assembly on the importance of learning another language. House competitions included a language guessing game for Years 3 to 8; pupils had to guess the different languages that 21 teachers were speaking. We then placed European flags across the school and challenged pupils to find them and identify which country the flag belonged to. Finally, we had a food quiz, where pupils had to guess which country famous dishes and ingredients came from. Topping it off, our fantastic catering staff organised a pasta demonstration station, a street food party for boarders and a superb international lunch including curry wurst from Germany, a vegetarian moussaka, a Greek salad, French pomme frites and waffles. Well done East for your outstanding performance and winning the House competition! In the Spring term, we celebrated Chinese New Year in style with a memorable meal. Boards in the Language department displayed details about Chinese culture and traditions, as well as the story behind the Chinese zodiac. Pupils enjoyed practising Chinese words and phrases with each other both in and outside of lessons.

A brilliant French assembly transported us all to Paris. The boys and girls performed a custom-made bilingual script based on young students visiting different landmarks of the capital city. We also enjoyed a delicious French meal including du coq au vin, de la ratatouille, une purée de pommes de terre, des haricots verts, des carottes à la Vichy et un délicieux sablé breton. In the summer term, 6PAS delivered a very entertaining assembly on Spanish culture and traditions which was very well received with a Macarena dance move to finish - what a start to the day that was! Prayers were led by our Spanish pupils who also presented the menu in Spanish. The taste of tapas was fantastic, we loved la paella con pollo y chorizo, la paella vegetariana, los guisantes, la ensalada, el pan con aceitunas y sal marina, el tapas bufé, las rosquillas azucaradas de canela y salsa de chocolate.

The Modern Foreign Languages department thrives and aims to promote all languages; pupils are encouraged to experiment with their knowledge and to try something new. PAS

Elstree School’s Book Week

Cleopatra, Gandalf, Sherlock Holmes, Julius Caesar and of course Harry Potter were just some of the roles enacted for ‘Famous People and Characters Through Time’ as part of Elstree School’s Book Week.

The school grounds, library and classrooms were full of excited pupils transformed into a huge variety of characters from the past and featured in favourite books. A musical Carnival Parade of all pupils and staff took place in the Elstree School grounds accompanied by soundtracks to The Great Escape, Oliver Twist and The Dawn Patrol. Extra fun was added with The Conga and The Lambeth Walk. It was an exciting moment for the school to tune in to virtual talks from the Henley Literary Festival 2021 which included authors Michael Morpurgo, Liz Kessler, Jenny McLachan and Zanib Mian. Author Jenny McLachan told the children, “The amazing thing about writing books is that you can make magic happen”. From writing a simple alphabet poem to a Shakespearean Sonnet, performance poet and author, Joseph Coelho, gave valuable poetry writing ideas to children. A Readers’ Celebration Party with hot chocolate, marshmallows, hot dogs and brownies took place in Elstree School’s fabulous Library. The party celebrates the enthusiasm pupils put into reading books over the summer holidays. Entry to the event is for those that have made a special effort with their reading. Pupils and staff have the opportunity to explore their favourite reads and share recommendations on which books to read next.

All in all, it was a wonderful week of celebrating books and reading, thank you to everyone who helped to make it such a fantastic week for the children.

RYW

“It was amazing fun! It was great to see other people’s costumes.”

Phoebe McEwen, 4ELB

“I was Hermione Granger. You could show how much you like a book and what you feel about a character.”

Isobel Clark, 4ELB

“Book Week was amazing and it was great fun seeing the teachers dressed up!”

Fergus Hoar, 7AJP

“Michael Morpurgo had a fascinating way of writing books and ‘sewing’ books and ideas together.”

Josh Singleton, 5JRD

“I did feel it was a bit of an achievement and felt proud about my books. I wanted to share them with everyone.”

Ralph Weatherill, 4ELB

“I had so much fun at the library party tea. It was the best!”

George Mills, 4ELB

The school had such a wonderful morning watching the class Poetry Performance. This was an “in-the-round” performance with the audience sitting around the central stage, creating an intimate atmosphere in the McMullen Hall.

Pupils from Years 3 to 8 each performed a piece of their choice with all the students participating in bringing their class’s poem to life. We listened to literature from the 21st century and the Victorian period and we visited the squalid trenches of World War 1.

LJO Year 3

The Trouble with my Brother by Brian Patten performed by 3CMK The Lesson by Roger McGough performed by 3CMS

Year 4

Write a Rap Rap by Tony Mitton performed by 4PJL Two dead boys got up to fight by Chalsey Wilder performed by 4ELB

Year 5

The Snakes At School by Pamela J. Langdon performed by 5JRD Casabianca by Felicia Hemans performed by 5CLP

Year 6

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman performed by 6FAW The Listeners by Walter De La Mare performed by 6JCM The Lion and Albert by Marriot Edgar performed by 6PAS

Year 7

An ode to an Elstree day by 7AJP performed by 7AJP For the Fallen by Lauren Binyon performed by 7TDW

Year 8

Dis Poetry by Benjamin Zephaniah performed by EGG 59 by Harry Baker performed by 8AJB Two Years Ago by 8LJO performed by 8LJO

In December, Years 7 and 8 met in the McMullen Hall to contest the annual Senior Debate. Each Year 8 class put forward a motion to debate for and against. The motions were: this house believes: 8LJO: “Major political nations have the responsibility to intervene in other countries’ affairs” (motion passed); 8EGG: “Diesel vehicles should be banned by 2035” (not passed) and 8AJB: “Every 18 year old should complete military service after finishing school” (not passed).

The debate was an opportunity for the pupils to express their opinions, to practice speaking in front of an audience and to polish their debating skills; it was also a chance to learn about the topics that were discussed. Everyone arguing their points conducted in-depth research and entered into the debate well. Those who weren’t speaking were fantastic listeners and asked thoughtful questions which allowed the debate to go into depth on the topics. An academically stimulating evening for all involved.

LJO

Junior Debate

The Year 5 and 6 debate was very interesting to watch. It was wonderful to hear all the points that were made on the three following topics which were: 6JCM: “Should gasoline cars be banned by 2035?”; 6PAS: “Should men and women play sport together and get equal prize money?” and 6FAW “Should animal testing be banned?”

The debates were very close and, comments and questions from the audience showed lots of interest in the topics covered. There were valid arguments for both sides which led to some very close votes. Even afterwards pupils were still arguing their points. This is a brilliant opportunity as we have learnt so much about debating and about what matters to us.

Maisie Brown, Year 6

STEAM links elements of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. Children work collaboratively on projects that incorporate aspects from each subject. In turn, they learn about risk-taking, teamwork, resilience and communication in a great fun way. Year 4 had a fantastic morning creating ceramic table lights for their STEAM project. Pupils were put in groups and given a thrown ceramic form. The idea of the project was to create a lamp by cutting shapes out of the form without it collapsing. The most effective table lights would be the ones with more shapes cut out, allowing for more light to pass through. However, the more that is cut away the higher the risk of the form collapsing. Pupils also created their own circuit to bring their clay structures to life. Each group showed great resilience, teamwork and creativity. The final results were beautiful. The pupils felt confident talking about their designs and how Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths were used in the making. Each light created some mesmerising shadows with the shapes reflecting on the surfaces.

Well done to all involved.

JRD

Year 6 STEAM Project

Year 6 pupils worked in groups of three to design, resource, build, test and decorate a model wooden car (unpowered and unmanned), to be judged by an invited guest and then raced to see whose was fastest. As part of the research and design phase, pupils considered materials, friction and aerodynamics when weighing up their choice of wheels. Other important discussions between the groups were of a scientific nature: should the model car be lightweight or heavy to make it go faster? Should the model have gripped plastic wheels or smooth ones? Pupils were then given a range of pricing for different items for their model cars. If pupils bought all of the most expensive items they would have spent close to £18. If pupils spent very little it would have been close to £8. The pupils debated long and hard about which items were worth spending more money on. Whether an axle was needed caused huge debate! The wooden blocks of their aerodynamic designs were carefully penned before building the cars got underway. Mr Duarte guided the pupils through the cutting, sanding and gluing process. There was a great deal of banging hammers and excitement at this point! Finally, and just in time for the race, pupils painted their model cars. Mrs Syckelmoore came to add some finishing touches. Hair dryers enabled the pupils to paint and dry their cars ready to race in 40 minutes! With the finished cars ready to race, the pupils gathered outside the McMullen Hall. The racetrack made from guttering was put in place and angled to perfection. Rachel Pither, Head of HR, was the race starter and judge. Kitty Butler, Kate Oliver and Sophie Payne won the best design award. In 2nd place for the race came Jacob Gearing, Sebastian Fowler and Sebastian Black.

Winners were Isla Sanford, Tilly Lloyd and Maisie Brown.

All of the Year 6 pupils were winners at developing their creative and engineering skills. Well done everyone involved!

AWP

Year 5 STEAM Project

Year 5 enjoyed a fantastic STEAM project in the Art and Science department with Mrs Syckelmoore and Mr Brown.

The children began by experimenting with crystal paints and resist techniques. They looked at how different colours can be mixed to make others with crystal paints. They then spritzed water on to watercolour paper, creating bursts of vibrant colours, and watched excitedly as an amazing firework of colour lit up the pages.

It was important to learn how to separate mixtures to understand the different colours they are made from. The pupils did this in two ways. First, they used glass blocks (called prisms) to split white light into ‘rainbows’. Secondly they used filter paper and pipettes to find out that coloured felt tip pens contain a mixture of colours.

The group then had a go at marbling eggs with nail polish. They were intrigued by the way the nail polish floated on the water, due to it being less dense than water.

They also constructed a drafting machine, a pantograph, which we used to duplicate our drawings to larger and smaller scale than the original drawings.

Next on the agenda was creating ‘magic’ drawings using refraction of light. The children discovered that when light passes through transparent objects (in this case, the front of a glass, the water, and the back of the glass), it refracts or bends. However, when the glass was full of water, it acted as a cylindrical convex lens, and produced an inverted image. The inverted image appeared larger, smaller or the same size, depending on where they positioned the paper, the glass and their viewpoint.

Finally they looked at how different coloured fireworks can be made using a range of chemicals, this was naturally a popular activity with the group! JWS and AJB

“All of it was fun. I really liked doing the crystal art activity and also when the different colour flames came out of the Bunsen burner.”

Flora Napier, Year 5

“I liked making different coloured flames by heating it with a Bunsen burner. This explained why fireworks are different colours.”

Josh Singleton, Year 5 “One of the best bits was when we put a glass in front of our drawings, it looked like they were moving. Oh and the Bunsen burner and painting eggs was really fun.”

Alfie Burles, Year 5

“It was good fun to see different minerals burn and new colours appear.”

Eddie Law, Year 5

In January, Elstree held its annual Declamations final. It was a pleasure to have the finalists perform in person, in the McMullen Hall, following last year’s virtual event. The audience commented on the joy, vigour and enthusiasm on display from all the pupils. This was a real celebration of the spoken word.

Adjudicator Jo West, Head of English at Downe House, was very impressed and said after the performance, “It was an absolute pleasure to judge, although the standard was exceptional making it a very tough job!” Congratulations to the winners: Juniors: Isobel Clark, Middle School: Henry Pritchard and Seniors: Alexander Anderson. What wonderful feedback from Mrs Jo West. LJO and RYW

Isobel Clark, 4ELB who read ‘Matilda’ by Hilaire Belloc,

“Great pace and great drama. Super choice.”

Sophie Singh, 3CMK who read, ‘The Doves of Damascus’ by Ftoun Abou Kerech,

“That was beautiful Sophie. Very poignant. What a great choice of poem.”

Alex Anderson 8AJB, who read ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ by Lord Byron,

“Really captured the mood. Some lovely well-placed phrasing. Really mature and sophisticated in your presentation.”

Henry Pritchard, 5CLP who read, ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Caroll,

“Great humour and change of tone. Very well practised. Superb.”

Portals to the Past – WWII

Elstree Year 3s were treated to half a term’s history lessons in one day, delivered by Carl from the company Portals to the Past. The pupils were dressed in World War II evacuee costumes and their imaginations were gripped by the activities and information about the war. It was like travelling back in time and that’s got to be the best way to learn about the past. Many thanks to Carl who entertained the boys and girls for the entire day. Huge thanks must also go to our parents who kitted their children out in such amazing costumes. This will be a day that will be remembered for many years to come. What did the children think of it?

CMS

“I enjoyed the activity sheets and breaking the codes.”

Iris Yao, 3CMS

“I loved the guns, I loved the speeches, I loved everything.”

George Grodnev, 3CMS

“I loved dressing up as evacuees and all the activities.”

Reuben Ruddick, 3CMS

“It was a really good day and cool seeing all those weapons. I wished it could go on forever.”

Jonty Ridley-Day, 3CMK

“I liked breaking the code and the buzzthe-wire game, a bomb disposal exercise.”

Charlie Pannell, 3CMK

“I liked my gas mask box and the Adolf Hitler picture quiz.”

Alfie Steward, 3CMK

“I liked the material of my costume. It was great seeing a real soldier that had fought in Kosovo.”

Sara di Rienzo, 3CMK

“What I really liked was the World War II history he taught us and dressing up. I love history.”

Sophie Singh, 3CMK

Years 4, 5 and 6 Maths and Science Challenge

Logical thinking, flowing creative juices and innovative ideas shone through as Years 4, 5 and 6 competed in this year’s Maths and Science Challenge. This is an inter-house event where pupils are put into small groups within their house. All three year groups are mixed together in an effort to help their house win!

For those who have watched Taskmaster you will instantly be able to imagine the types of challenges and entertainment that filled the morning:

• Draw the largest and most perfect circle without using stationery • Make a graph from nature • Climb your team through the smallest thing possible • Make the numbers from 1 to 10 only using shadows • Rotate a strange object of the team’s creation • Hang as many items as possible from a piece of string. All of these activities had to be completed whilst only communicating in animal noises OR only being allowed to use the words ‘fractions’, ‘decimals’ or ‘percentage’ OR having to turn over a sand timer every 30 seconds.

With groups scattered around the school grounds and classrooms I’m sure you can imagine the chaos, energy and laughter that followed!

Our Year 7s ran all of the tasks and were the judges for the competition. They were suitably impressed with all four houses but had to settle on East as the overall winners. Well done to all involved.

IDH

All the Year 8 pupils were accepted into their first choice of Senior School. We are incredibly proud of all their academic success both at Common Entrance and Scholarship level. We wish them every future success and happiness for the next chapter in their lives. ACTI

Akintunji Akinola Marlborough Alexander Anderson Harrow William Anderson Eton Ben Baxter Bradfield Edward Betts Bradfield Adam Bond Bradfield, Dr Gray All Rounder Scholarship Alexander Brown Reading Blue Coat

Joshua Chan Wellington Thomas Clothier Radley Kitt Dorich St Edward’s Jack Duffield Abingdon Inigo Egusquiza Returns to Spain Jack George St Edward’s, Academic Exhibition Monty Greatrix Monkton Coombe, Art & DT Award

Kit Harris Bradfield Mason Hill Pangbourne James Holden Sherborne, All-Rounder Award Lucas Lee Charterhouse Jerry Liu St Paul’s Stanley Pearey Bloxham Alexander Price Eton

Aaron Roberts Abingdon Taro Sakamoto Eton Alex Song Harrow Finley Stubbs St Edward’s Johnson Sun Stowe Sergey Teliatnik Uppingham William Utley Radley

Toby van den Bergh Eton Sam Wang Radley Hugh Walker Radley Eddie Warman Sherborne Tommy Welchman St Edward’s