Autumn Term 2021
Kindness, honesty, courtesy, and tolerance are all vitally important in the life of our community. To ensure that these qualities are enhanced and developed, we endeavour to offer a range of fun-filled and stimulating challenges that all the children can access. This is embraced in our classrooms, but also throughout our campus and beyond. This Busy Bee is a beautiful record of an aspirational environment in which commitment, friendship and creativity are celebrated. Adam Edwards Headmaster, Fettes Prep School
A Note from the Editor After the summer break, we were thrilled to welcome so many new pupils to our Prep community and delighted to see familiar faces back with us too. This was a purposeful, vibrant term with children and staff alike quickly adapting to the routines of school which included mitigations to help keep our community safe from Covid. The mantra of masks, handwashing and distancing was re-enforced with the aim of keeping everyone well whilst we delivered a busy curriculum of learning, sport and activities. We finished term with the traditional flourish of Christmas celebrations, decorations, and fun. Please see below all the ways to stay connected with us: 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
School Life
Autumn Term
Back in School
For many, the Autumn Term is the start of their journey with us at the Prep School and by the end of it they have become familiar with their surroundings, found their feet and made new friends. For others, it’s the first opportunity to see each other again, swap summer holiday news and meet new classmates. It’s a term that is filled with plenty of hard work and play, and whilst some of our routines were, by necessity, adapted and formats of events altered, we packed in a lot of fun and learning during these autumn months.
Field Day
Field Day is a special event in our Prep calendar, giving us the opportunity to come together in our year groups and take on new challenges. 1st Form remained on-site and enjoyed a day led by specialists, Wild Outdoors, who came to show them how to light a fire, improve their archery skills and construct bird boxes. They also took each other on in a Zorbing competition. M and P Form spent the morning engaging in two virtual workshops with Edinburgh Zoo, finding out about endangered species and gaining a behind-the-scenes view of life at the zoo before jumping on to a coach for an afternoon there.
S Form went to Inchcolm Island and their adventure started at South Queensferry where they boarded the ferry for the beautiful 40-minute trip to the island. Once they disembarked, they had time to explore Inchcolm Abbey, visit the Hermit’s Cell and discover the numerous wartime fortifications. T Form used the local bus service to get to Portobello Beach where they took part in sponsored activities to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Care. Their litter pick was just one initiative that the pupils engaged in. 2nd Form walked from school to Edinburgh Old Town on a history tour that included some of Edinburgh’s colourful history and a visit to Mary King’s Close where they could see for themselves how the residents of the close lived in the 17th century!
Act of Remembrance
The Prep School Act of Remembrance took place on a beautiful sunlit morning on the Fettes campus. We each laid a poppy and thought about those who gave their lives in conflict, before walking past the War Memorial and paying our respects. This year, the name of 40 Old Fettesians and eight school staff whose lives were lost through war between 1896 and 2004 have been added to new plaques on the War Memorial. To commemorate this, we each decorated a stone to create a large poppy installation in the Prep School grounds. We also used our art lessons to draw, paint and sculpt a beautiful display of poppies.
Roald Dahl Day
Roald Dahl Day is a muchanticipated date in the diary and even though we couldn’t dress up this time around, we still had a wonderful time reading his books, making specially designed headbands, and testing our Dahl knowledge with some tricky word searches.
The Book Fair
The Book Fair was back in school, and every class visited the William House library to look at the fabulous selection on offer and place their orders. There wasn’t a spare seat to be had as pupils settled down to leaf through their choices and chat about their favourite authors.
Boarding Life
In House and On Campus There is always plenty for us to do on campus, whether that’s early morning running, using the amazing art room facilities for crafting and filming, playing games at the end of the day, or gathering around the fire pit and tucking into homemade pizzas. This term’s highlights included a fireworks display up on the Youngs playing fields, courtesy of Mr Hall. We were thrilled to see such a colourful collection which made this November 5th incredibly special.
Straight after Half Term we dressed up and went out for some belated trick-or-treating. Dressed in suitably spooky outfits, we had a fantastic evening visiting the College boarding houses. We played a few tricks and received plenty of treats!
Out and About
Gullane beach is one of the most beautiful in East Lothian and this first big trip of the term gave us all the chance to play on the beach, swim in the sea and get to know each other better. Once we’d splashed around in the sea and raced along the beach, we sat down on the rocks to enjoy a hearty packed lunch and after all that fresh air the ice cream treat at the end of the day recharged our batteries!
We’re always excited when we see a trip to Port Edgar in the calendar as it’s just a quick journey down the road for hours of water sports fun. The sun shone for our most recent outing and once we had our wetsuits on, we were ready for action which this time around included paddle boarding, canoeing, and kayaking. We spent the afternoon taking part in fun games and competitions as well as simply pottering around on the water.
Bowling The boarders like to try their hand at tenpin bowling, so this was, as usual, a lively visit to Edinburgh’s Fountain Park. They took over a few lanes and tested their skills against each other. Watching the scores climb on the boards, they were thrilled with the number of strikes achieved.
Honey Pot Ceramics
The Iona House girls took a minibus trip for the short journey to South Queensferry, home of Honey Pot Ceramics. After selecting their pottery shapes, the girls thought about design and colour combinations before setting these out on their chosen pieces. The end results were lovely, and they were excited to receive their fired creations to take home before Christmas.
Ninja Warrior
The Arran team took a trip to Ninja Warrior UK, Edinburgh, testing themselves on the obstacles and trying out the new parkour lane. At the end of a very energetic session, they headed to the café where they swapped stories of the session and drank refreshing slushies.
Learning
The long Autumn Term is traditionally a very busy one in the classroom, and this was no exception with plenty of quality learning taking place. Here, 2nd Form were researching their History topic and 1st Form enjoying a Latin lesson. S Form were studying World War 2 and wore their homemade gas masks for a mock air raid whilst M Form were busy with Maths puzzles.
In the Classroom
M and P Form Storytellers M Form welcomed author, Lari Don, who came to share some of her storytelling ideas. They learnt about Prince Donald who lost his smile, heard stories about some exciting mythological creatures and discovered how the unicorn became Scotland’s national animal. P Form had a visit from storyteller, Gillian Paterson, who took them on a virtual carriage ride around the streets of Edinburgh, stopping off to speak about some famous people living in the city during Victorian times.
Black History Month October is Black History Month, and we celebrated the lives and work of some famous black people during our history lessons and assemblies. Mrs Weatherby provided a list of recommended reads which encouraged pupils to explore these titles in the libraries, whilst P Form watched Karo’s informative presentation.
World Poetry Day was celebrated by the whole school with our oldest pupils studying the idea of reverse poetry during their English lessons. The younger children worked on the theme of an ‘I AM’ poem and spent time thinking about their own character traits and gathering ideas which they brought together in some fabulous poems.
World Poetry Day
Learning Trips
Gladstone’s Land M Form went to Gladstone’s Land, a 17th century tenement in Edinburgh’s Old Town. They had a fun time looking around the house and learning about the lives and professions of its many residents. They were told about the type of food that would have been eaten and the games they might have played. M Form also took part in some activities that would have been familiar to former residents, including making traditional aromatic sachets which would have helped to deter pests, keep nasty smells at bay and help people sleep.
Geography Field Trip The 2nd Form had been studying the characteristics of rivers as a part of their Geography topic and they set off to Aberfeldy and Pitlochry where they went canoeing and took part in a riverside walk. These activities enabled them to see river processes and features in action and the trip was a fantastic opportunity to get outside into the wonderful countryside of Perthshire. Apart from the adventure of being outdoors, the other highlight of their day was a delicious pizza lunch!
Co-curricular
Activities
This term the pupils had the opportunity to select from a wide variety of pre and post half term activities. Sessions took place on the astros, indoor courts of Westwoods, outdoor climbing wall, Assembly Hall, and classrooms. The early evening activities included board games, Lego programming, tennis, paper craft, author skills and many more!
The later sessions were equally diverse and included stage makeup, table tennis, chess, and Eco Club. Sporting opportunities indoors and out saw the children playing football, challenging themselves on the climbing wall and taking part in energetic games of mixed volleyball and lacrosse.
2nd Form Leadership
While the 2nd Form couldn’t get away for their usual overnight leadership weekends, they still had a day and a half of training. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, they stayed at school and talked about what makes a good leader and their responsibilities as prefects, before taking part in some communication and role play exercises. Early the next morning they set off for Broomlee Outdoor Education Centre in West Linton where, in beautiful surroundings, they spent the day engaged in team-building activities and problemsolving up trees, on ropes and blindfolded (but not all at the same time!). 2nd Form agreed that the weekend had been lots of fun and that they had learnt a great deal about the skills of leadership.
New Pupils
Everyone was so pleased to be back in school, and here are some of our new pupils getting to know each other on a trip to Dynamic Earth.
COP26
It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have such a crucial conference right on our doorstep. COP26, held in Glasgow from 31st October–12th November, was seen as a last opportunity to hang on to the 1.5-degree warming set as a maximum in the Paris Agreement of 2015. Sir David Attenborough urged world leaders to be “motivated by hope rather than fear” in their negotiations to avoid catastrophic climate change. He explained that the crucial atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, currently 414 parts per million, is the clearest illustration of the human story; its rapid increase and consequent warming of our planet is leading inexorably to climate change and biodiversity loss.
We used Sir David’s theme of hope and thought about all that we could do to play our part. Activities and discussions took place including litter picking; personal environmental pledges; lessons about the science behind the rise in CO2 levels; discussions about food waste; eco posters; homemade seed bombs; a plant-based lunch and research about palm oil in biscuits.
The Arts
M, P and S Form Art We had a busy, creative time back in the Art studio this term. M Form have been cave painters, making their own paint and analysing natural colour palettes. P Form learnt about printing techniques, putting together collaged shapes and patterns found in doorways and doors. S Form, inspired by the buildings around us, created mixed media images on acetate and then sewed into them.
T, 1st, and 2nd Form Art
T Form have been Pop artists, drawing self-portraits in a minimal style with contrasting colours. 1st Form looked at the theme of ‘journey’ and collaged a background with travel paraphernalia before completing a biro self-portrait on top. Meanwhile, 2nd Form studied the natural landscape around us, inspired by David Hockney’s vibrant colour palette, and created beautiful nests from mixed media and clay.
Music
Form Concert It was exciting to to gather together again for our year group informal concerts and the performers took to the stage with great confidence.
Jordan Singers Every Monday afternoon, the joyful voices of the Jordan Singers ring out from the Prep School. This is a choir for our youngest pupils who are full of enthusiasm and always in good voice.
Music Lessons Individual music lessons have continued apace this term. From beginners through to those taking advanced grade exams, a wide number of instruments were played and experience gained. As well as time to practise one-to-one, pupils go on to play in groups and ensembles so they can share their love of music and enjoy joint endeavour.
Autumn Concert Our extremely enthusiastic and resilient young musicians worked incredibly hard to rehearse their pieces for the Autumn Concert. Because they didn’t have an audience, the music making was shared via a specially commissioned film! The Jordan Singers performed the poignant and powerful song ‘Save Our Planet’, the Flute Group played two pieces with some especially warm tone and the soloists played with superb professionalism. The Orchestra excelled themselves with an energetic performance of ‘National Express’ and the Jazz Band played a rousing account of ‘Tequila’. The ‘pièce de résistance’ was the Gallery Choir’s performance of ‘Hamilton Highlights’. All of our young musicians have kept music vibrant and alive this term with their commitment, talent, and energy.
Carol Service Our Prep School Carol Service took place in the Fettes Chapel for pupils in 1st Form, 2nd Form, Gallery Choir and Chamber Choir. The children’s singing was quite beautiful and our readers and soloists led us with real commitment and confidence. We are incredibly proud of all the children for a truly uplifting and inspiring service. It was wonderful to rekindle the magic of one of our very special events in the Fettes Prep School calendar after what feels like a long time.
Drama
This term, Drama has returned to the classroom with a bang, with pupils using all manner of costumes, props, and lighting to enhance their learning experiences! M and P Forms have been developing their Christmas show with the help of some 2nd Form, staff, and parent expertise, creating costumes, props and make-up designs for a pantomime that promises to be an hilarious retelling of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The show has been postponed until January, thanks to that dastardly viral villain Covid, but in the meantime the Drama department took M and P Forms to see the King’s annual pantomime, ‘Sleeping Beauty.’
S Form have started working on their Drama Sharing production, adapted from the novel Goodnight Mister Tom, whilst T Form have been developing skills in vocal expression and characterisation in preparation for their radio broadcast of the play ‘Matilda’ next term. Mrs Gloom, Mr Martin Nye’s alter-ego, has been terrifying 1st Form, as they navigate various improvisation lessons in-role, whilst 2nd Form developed their interpretation, collaboration, and rehearsal skills in preparation for studying ‘Macbeth’ in spring, in a student-led project adapting passages from Private Peaceful.
Autumn Term
Sport
Hockey Having had a good block of time at the beginning of term to get our girls back into the swing of hockey, it was a joy to return to fixtures at the end of September. All our Under 13 and 11 girls participated in matches against other schools, with over 50 games taking place across the term. The Under 9’s have really enjoyed playing their part in some exciting mini festivals. The U11 Hockey team bowed out in the semi-finals of the IAPS qualifier. They played well, with two wins, one loss and a draw in the 3rd-4th place play-off. Charlotte, Ellie, Holly, Jasmine, Millie, and Saskia were selected to play for the Saltires in the IAPS representative match against the Caledonians and the Thistles, and the Saltires went on to win both their games.
Rugby After such a long time without fixtures, it was thrilling for our pupils to get back to playing rugby competitively and to pit their skills against players from other schools. There was plenty of improvement and enjoyment throughout the term, which is what sport at Fettes is all about. Many boys starting at the school were also completely new to the sport of rugby, so it was extremely encouraging to see them, a term on, out practising hard and watching rugby whenever they could. We made many memories, learnt plenty of lessons and we can’t wait for next season! Congratulations to Angus, Archie F, Archie S, Freddie, Jonty, Lochie F, Lochie M-C and Olly P who were all selected to play for the Saltires rugby team.
End of Term The Autumn Term traditionally culminates in a multitude of seasonal celebrations which include performances, fundraising, decorations, donations, and celebrations! Christmas lunch was enjoyed by all, the deafening crescendo a sure sign of approval. The classroom decorating competition was hotly contested and winners were two classes that had thought carefully about the environmental impact of their decorations.
Parents came to take part in a creative wreath making workshop hosted by current parent, Kate P, from Foxglove Stockbridge. We raised money for Save The Children Fund by wearing our favourite jumpers into school rather than buying new and collected donations for the Basics Bank in Edinburgh.
What a journey of discovery! Whether we were learning about weighty environmental issues, developing leadership skills, testing ourselves with the activities programme, building friendships, or working hard on new topics in the classroom, we have all grown from our experiences this term.
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