PREP NEWS

Year 4 Victorian Day

To round off their Historical study of Victorian times, the Year 4 boys and girls came to school dressed up as Victorian children. We had chimney sweeps, maids, pickpockets, street urchins and even bird scarers and rat catchers among the many outfits on show – in those days, children were not able to just go to school, they had to earn their keep!

The Long Room at Elstree was transformed into a “ragged school” style classroom where various rather ‘strict’ teachers took lessons in the three Rs – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. The children had to follow Victorian rules which meant keeping their hands still, bowing and curtsying and working in absolute silence. Girls and boys were not allowed to play together and each child had to pay a penny at the door to attend class. There was even a singing of “God Save the Queen” in honour of Queen Victoria’s birthday.

At the end of the day the children were delighted to be able to “return to modern times” and go outside and play rugby and football. However, there were lots of comments about how much fun it was and how much they had learnt – but we think they like school much more as it is today!

Year 3 Hawk Conservancy

Year 3s were treated to an unforgettable day at the beautiful Hawk Conservancy in Andover. Because of the calm, clean and orderly surroundings, one felt as if one was on a spiritual journey into the magical world of birds. There were tiny, cute owls, Peregrine falcons - the world’s fastest birds, the hilarious Secretary bird whose stamping on the head of the snake looked more like a ritual dance, the very majestic Egyptian vultures and Bald Eagles and the poor old vultures that get such a bad press but are so essential for the clearing up of dead animals. The highlight of the day was, perhaps, the Wings of Africa Show, set against the backdrop of the African Savannah. All of this and more on a beautiful summer’s day with wall-towall sunshine. The pupils had a wonderful day and each one came home with a clear favourite from the bird world!

Year 5 STEAM Morning

Year 5 began their STEAM morning in the Art Department by a creating a selection of gorgeous, marbled patterns. First, they created a gel-like substance called carrageenan which thickened the water to enable the paint to float on top of it. They then had fun creating a wide variety of patterns and designs.

The pupils experimented with herbs, plants and vegetables to produce a variety of natural pigments/paints. They had fun chopping and grinding the ingredients and then had a go at painting a selection of impressive images inspired by the outdoors.

The morning was completed by creating a design on rainbow transparent paper inspired by the Chinese New Year. They added cut-out card and used outliner paint to finish their designs. They were turned into a Chinese lantern in their Art lessons later that week.

Year 6 Geography Trip to Dorset

Year 6 have been studying ‘Coasts’ this term, so a Geography Trip to the Jurassic Coastline in Dorset was a brilliant way to bring the learning alive. The group trekked up the steep cliff out of Lulworth Cove along the magnificent coastline to Durdle Door. They learnt about how important rock type is and saw that while the Purbeck Limestone still sticks out to sea, the chalk and Wealden clays have been eroded.

They learnt about the four processes of erosion and Longshore Drift. After a packed lunch in the glorious sunshine, the pupils visited Stair Hole before returning to Lulworth Cove for a welldeserved ice cream on the beach.

What a day of wonderful geographical learning – hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, biological weathering, chemical weathering, caves, arches and stacks were all covered in one day! Having enjoyed the stunning scenery, sunshine and ice creams, the pupils returned to school tired but happy.

Year 7 Trip to the V&A

The Year 7 Art Trip to the V&A in London was a truly fun-filled day. The children had researched this worldleading museum before the visit, and excitedly discovered a wide variety of archives spanning over 5,000 years of human creativity. They learnt that the V&A holds many of the UK’s national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of painting, architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design as well as theatre and performance.

The children especially enjoyed the Painting collection with highlights being the Raphael Cartoons and major works by J. M. W. Turner and John Constable. Looking at the Theatre & Performance collections, the children got to dress up as some of

Year 8 Joseph

Elstree Drama Department celebrated a week of musical exuberance when the Year 8s put on an all-time family favourite, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

The lead-up to opening night was electric as well-known songs like, “Any dream will do”, “Go, go, go Joseph” and “Canaan Days” filled both school and dorm corridors throughout the week. An outstanding and tearjerking portrayal of Joseph was given by Leonardo as he was surrounded by a talented band of 11 brothers –complete in sheepskin and bell bottoms to fit the 70’s vibe. Petra wowed the audience with her crystal clear narrator voice whilst a special mention has to go to Koichi, Hamish and our Spanish Ishmaelites for their comedic characterisation.

Well done to the band, including Nicky & Kitty, to everyone that helped with the set, costumes and make-up and a huge thank you to Miss Andrews for her patience and dedication to put on such an ambitious musical.

their favourite characters and also created set designs on computers within the exhibition.

Exploring the comprehensive collection of over 3,000 jewels, the boys and girls saw how jewellery in Europe has changed from ancient times to the present day. The trip concluded with a tour of a temporary exhibition of African Fashion, which spanned iconic mid20th Century to contemporary creatives. The exhibition captured the vitality and global impact of a fashion scene as dynamic and varied as the continent itself.

We all felt very inspired after visiting the many areas of the seven miles of stunning galleries and will continue to research individual pieces back within the Art Department.

Declamations

In late January we hosted our annual Declamations final. It was a pleasure to have the finalists perform to a packedout McMullen Hall. The audience commented on the joy that was to be found in the vigour and enthusiasm on display from all the pupils.

Several members of the audience, along with Mr Inglis, commented on the particularly high standard with a real variety of literature on display. Though a competition, this was a real celebration of the spoken word.

The school were lucky enough to have Mr John Carroll from Marlborough College to adjudicate – he had a tough job on his hands! Huge thanks goes to him, and also all the pupils and teachers of English who made such a fantastic effort for this occasion.

Rugby and Hockey Tour to Dublin

A superb Tour to Dublin saw the boys’ Rugby team and girls’ Hockey teams display their brand of the respective games to some seriously strong Irish opponents.

Coming away with 2 wins and 2 losses shows how hotly the games were contested and, considering both sports are played differently in Ireland, the great ability both teams can produce.

All the Elstree pupils were fantastic tourists and great ambassadors. Soaking in as much of the culture of Ireland, a Gaelic games experience gave them a taste of Hurling, Gaelic Football and Handball. Getting to know and understand a slice of the importance of these strange games to the country and getting to know plenty about the history of Dublin was an important part of the Tour.

Well played and toured everyone!

House Cross-Country

After a couple of weeks of biting Arctic conditions, the weather relented and the temperature rose to a much more pleasant 8 degrees for the annual House Cross-Country competition.

This year’s race was typified by good sportsmanship, good efforts all-round and, as one teacher put it, everyone coming over the finish line with a smile on their face. What more could you ask for? As is the custom at Elstree, slower runners are given lots of encouragement by their fellow teammates and are then given a cheery greeting or even a hug as they reach the finish line.

Individually, Ollie (North), our captain of cross-country, won the senior event with a very commanding run. Hamish (North) was second and Wilf (North) came in Third. Tristan (East) won the intermediate race, way ahead of anybody else. Leonardo (East) was second and James (South) third. The juniors’ race was won by William “Deadly”(North) with Akinniran (North) in second place and George (West) in third place. The fact that William was only five seconds off the school record and in such muddy conditions speaks volumes for his sporting prowess. Special mention must be made of the following girls who made it into the Top 10 in their respective age categories: Sophie (West), Honour (South), Aggie (North) and Bella (East).

World Book Day

Every pupil chose a free World Book Day book during their Library lessons throughout the week. In the Art Department, Mrs Syckelmoore also ran a popular activity where pupils created their own designs and words for a card to enter the National Book Token Competition. The children loved making bookmarks using a variety of different media.

Free copies of The i-Newspaper were distributed amongst pupils and staff on World Book Day. These were used in lessons where relevant, and children were encouraged to read them at any other opportunity; taking them home afterwards to share with their families. As well as the news and sport, children loved the quizzes and crosswords. It was a great way of raising interest in newspapers and what is happening in the world.

What a fun and inspiring week, and above all, a great celebration of books and reading!