Busy Bee Autumn Term 2020

Autumn Term 2020

In the Autumn Term 2020, Fettes Prep School witnessed a huge, shared commitment ensuring all our children experienced an energetic, original and stimulating return to our beautiful campus.

Face-to-face once more, our staff, parents, and children worked tirelessly together for the benefit of the entire school community.

Whatever the future may hold, we should all cherish this record of a term of creativity and kindness.

Adam Edwards Headmaster, Fettes Prep School

A Note from the Editor This edition of the Busy Bee is dedicated to the term that saw us bounce back from the long lockdown. It was pure joy to have our pupils back in school and the delight on their faces when they met friends, old and new, was heartwarming for us all.

It was a term of hard work and huge achievement and we were immensely proud of the way our community rose to the challenges of the restrictions to deliver the curriculum, utilise all of our wonderful indoor and outdoor spaces and give the best education possible.

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Autumn Term

Community

Awesome Activities After the first few weeks of settling back into school, we were delighted to get an activity programme up and running.

Devised around year group bubbles, it gave the pupils opportunities to have some after-school fun with their friends on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Online Assemblies

Despite the fact that our assemblies continued online, they followed their usual format of happy birthday wishes, key messages covering topical issues and plenty of advice about staying fit and healthy.

Brilliant Bubbles Everyone was so pleased to be back in school although our routines were a little different. We had to get used to staying in our year group bubbles and looking out for each other by following all the guidelines.

Autumn Term

School Life

First Day Back

We were back at school, where life looked both the same and a little different. Plans for the 150th Celebrations were altered, trips, events and visits postponed, but every member of our community stepped up to make the most of the changed circumstances.

These pictures tell a thousand words! We were absolutely overjoyed to be back together again. For some of us, joining the school for the first time, the beginning of term was all about finding our feet and getting to know each other.

Face Coverings For our staff and older pupils, face coverings were the order of the day. Together with keeping within our year group bubbles, wiping down desks and chairs and sanitising hands, we all did our bit to keep the bugs at bay.

150th Celebrations

We pinned on our commemorative badges to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the foundation of Fettes College.

We ate the delicious cakes provided by our wonderful catering staff, enjoyed Miss Mair’s virtual assembly about the history of Fettes and spent the afternoon recreating the cricket match that the very first College pupils took part in on their inaugural day.

We all love an opportunity to dress up and were excited for Roald Dahl Day which came with its usual bright colours and inspiring messages.

Roald Dahl Day

Remembrance We paid tribute to the Fettes fallen with our Act of Remembrance.

This is an occasion that never fails to bring perspective to our lives and this year was no different.

Outdoor Learning Day The variety of activities ranged from tree identification; toy den building; natural phonic recognition; magic number square construction to making art and writing some beautiful poetry. We found learning outside provided us with so much inspiration.

Christmas Once the term’s work was done, we threw ourselves into Christmas celebrations with great gusto! We took pleasure in everything from decorating our Christmas trees, to watching the M and P Form virtual plays and listening to the virtual Carol Concert. We wore our favourite jumpers with pride and raised money for Save the Children in the process. The last big event of term, Christmas lunch, was the icing on the cake!

Boarding

Arran

In House There was endless fun to be had in house this term from table tennis in the games room to baking and cooking in the kitchen.

We were delighted to announce the appointment of James as Head of House and Lennan as Deputy Head.

John and Ethan became prefects.

Bubble Games Even more bubbles! The boys thoroughly enjoyed this unique activity.

Creepy Craft In theme with the Halloween season, we chose spooky clay models to paint.

Karting

There is nothing like racing around the go kart track to let off a bit of steam and everyone enjoyed testing themselves on the superspeedy track.

Outside Fun

We got a great deal of use from our beautiful campus this term. The new putting green was a hit and we played outdoor games and ran for fitness on a regular basis too.

Ninja Warrior Our visit here was a great success with some of us showing some awesome skills.

Boarding

Iona

In House Alexandra was promoted to Head of House and Emily and Kush to joint Deputy Heads. Amy, Isla and Sope make a super prefect team.

There was plenty of time to relax and play in house, whether it was cosying up in front of a good film or chatting in the kitchen.

Crafty An in-house crafting session involving making sock creatures was such good fun – we loved the super cute results!

Go Karting We always enjoy a bit of competition.

The gloves were off when we hit the track and sped around as fast as we could go.

Laser Tag Our afternoon playing Laser Tag was an action-packed adventure that was perfect for an overcast Sunday afternoon

Ceramics Honeypot Ceramics is a great place to relax and be creative. We chose ceramic cups, plates, and cats to decorate.

Boarding

Both Houses Silent Disco Bonfire Night Mr Hall produced the most fantastic bonfire party, just for us! The sound and sight of the crackling bonfire and colourful fireworks were uplifting and a delicious barbeque and campfire singing followed.

We all love to dance and used the entire campus for our brilliant Silent Disco.

Outside Fun Term started in a blaze of sunshine, so our water fun activity was perfect for the first weekend.

We went on to enjoy wide games, treasure hunts, balloon tying and so much more.

Beach Walk

A visit to the beach blew away the cobwebs and the rainbow reflected our enjoyment in each other’s company.

Sunday Lunch This term some of us remained in house for the Recommended Leave weekends. We were treated to lie ins; a visit to the zoo; film nights; shopping; homemade sundaes and toasted marshmallows! We all joined in preparations for Sunday Lunch and were very proud of the results.

Zoo Visit

We had a sunny day for our visit to Edinburgh Zoo where we were delighted to meet some of the residents.

Christmas Dinner

Getting together for a delicious Christmas dinner was the perfect end to a long term of hard work and fantastic fun.

Learning

For all of us, getting back to classroom learning was a wonderful experience. We had to make a number of adaptations; classroom layout, the ever-present sanitiser and new routines.

Learning and laughing together again has been very special. Here are just a few examples of the topics we have covered…

M Form For National Poetry Day we worked on nature poems, using Liz Brownlees’ poem Who Knows? as our inspiration.

This year, the Fettes family celebrated the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Fettes College so a perfect opportunity for M Form to learn all about Fettes’ history.

P Form We all enjoyed a virtual visit by author, Sarah Lean, who gave us some top tips for story writing. Her latest book is about a bear, so we talked about famous bear stories that we have enjoyed including Paddington and Winnie the Pooh!

We had to concentrate and use all our senses when in science we were given a tray of items and had to work our which were solids, liquids or maybe both!

S Form In November we wrote some fantastically detailed autobiographies and learnt that although we have an array of different interests, we work and play together really well.

We have been studying the history of the Second World War and we worked in pairs to construct model airplanes of the famous Spitfire Mk 1 and Messerschmitt 109.

T Form We made the most of our outdoor learning experiences. For our Geography topic of ‘the weather’ we headed into the Fettes grounds to learn how to use some weather measuring instruments.

Our bug hunting science lesson took place in the woods on campus and we turned over fallen logs and checked out the long grass for signs of life.

1st Form Life was tough in the Middle Ages and we studied the hierarchical feudal system to gain a better understanding of its social inequalities.

Place value can sometimes be confusing, so we got up out of our seats in Maths to consolidate our understanding that it is the digits that move, not the decimal point!

2nd Form Who knew that forming equations could be such fun? We enjoyed this lively session and brushed up our skills in the process.

We were out and about for National Poetry Day, gathering objects from around the campus to provide us with inspiration for our own poetry.

Autumn Term

Music

Despite the restrictions, Fettes Prep’s musical heart continued to beat strongly.

Our string players rehearsed each week, learning two exciting new pieces which were showcased in our virtual concerts and Chamber Choir singers and music classes sang outdoors in their bubbles, observing two metre distance rules. It was wonderful to hear the joyful sound of young voices again.

In the classroom, pupils in every year group enjoyed rhythm games and composed their own music using specialist notation software. We clearly have some talented young composers in our midst and they will be sharing their musical talents soon.

Our Remembrance Service included some beautiful, moving performances and we worked hard to prepare our online Carol Service, which included outdoor singing and instrumental playing, as well as an appearance from our Staff and Parent Choir.

And finally, we were delighted that Henry was invited to join the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. He made fantastic progress on the trumpet over lockdown and into the Autumn Term so this accolade is well deserved.

Autumn Term

Arts

It was wonderful to be up and running and making art together again. We used a wide variety of media and the kiln was fired up too!

Our youngest pupils experimented with paper cutting and sticking, inspired by the work of illustrator Ashley Brian and his book, Beautiful Blackbird, whilst P Form enjoyed creating their own paintings in the style of Nigerian artist, Twins Seven Seven.

S Form produced some beautiful ‘looking close’ pictures using mixed media and also made clay gargoyles inspired by the Bryce building while T Form created their own Hundertwasser houses; they even made miniature gardens to go with them.

1st Form looked at the contrast between Van Gogh’s sunflowers and Anselm Kiefer’s black and white sunflowers to create their own print composition. They used lino tools to carefully cut out the blocks for a strong black and white finish.

2nd Form worked on various styles of portraiture including a piece inspired by Faith Ringgold‘s Street Story quilt.

Autumn Term

Drama

Despite the pandemic denying Fettes Prep the traditional Christmas treat of watching the M & P Form play in the Chapel this year, the show had to go on! Staff and pupils worked tirelessly to produce the first ever M & P Form virtual play as part of the Drama department’s Christmas hamper of filmed treats.

The three plays were filmed in-house

by Mr Martin-Nye and Mr Bywater, ably supported by our talented actors and budding filmmakers. The squash courts became dramatic film sets complete with green screen and professional lighting and we scouted out areas of the Fettes campus for our outdoor shoots. Mrs Weatherby’s fabulously bold costumes and Ms Barancova’s wonderful artwork provided pizzazz and glorious backdrops to our endeavours.

M Form’s film was a joyous dramatization of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, a dreamlike imagining of Santa’s arrival at a house full of wide-eyed children. A jolly old elf and some squeaky mice also featured! PF Form’s production told the quirky story of a strange, four-headed cuckoo that invited itself to stay at the house of two poor siblings and then proceeded to eat all their food. PY’s film transported us to the North Pole, where Santa was interviewing for the role of Cookie Supervisor. Each tale reflected the skills of the pupils who were really proud of their hard work, patience and creativity in bringing these stories to life.

Autumn Term

Sport

Cricket During the first weeks of the Autumn Term, all of our pupils played cricket as one of their sports options; plenty of new talent was unearthed and enthusiasm and energy levels were high. 150 years ago, the first ever Fettes pupils played some recreational matches in the afternoon and the Prep School marked the anniversary of that occasion with every pupil enjoying their small-sided games.

Cross Country We were extremely lucky to be able to run our House Cross Country event this term. It is an incredibly special occasion with the whole school taking part to gain valuable points for their House. We know that not everyone has a passion for long distance running, but this outing proved how determined and resilient our pupils are. Every single runner completed the course and strove to do their best!

Congratulations to Dashka who was awarded the Under 13 best overall performance in cross country 2019-20 by the Edinburgh Athletics Club.

Hockey We adapted positively to this term’s sporting restrictions by focussing on developing our pupils’ skills. It was wonderful to see everyone across the year groups become increasingly confident with challenges which included 3D skills, carrying the ball, taking on and beating other players and getting shots away. Intra year, tournament and House hockey were played with great spirit and were hugely competitive.

Rugby Despite the disappointment of a season without fixtures, rugby thrived this term. We focussed on improving our basic skills, fitness and understanding of the game. Super Rugby Fettesia was a highlight and provided an element of competition throughout the term.

Our bounce-back term was characterised by kindness, helpfulness and thought for others.

www.fettes.com www.fettes.com/FettesPrep www.twitter.com/Fettes_College www.flickr.com/Fettes_College www.facebook.com/FettesCollegeFettesPrep www.instagram.com/fettes.college