Bulletin Autumn 2019 - Buck Press

Autumn 2019

Buck Press

A

ssuming my memory serves me correctly, I am now writing my fifth December address for our bulletin. In any event, it is definitely the first time I am writing a December bulletin at a time when we approach a general election and indeed one which might have such far reaching consequences on not only our school, but the whole independent education sector. I feel it just goes to show that nothing ever stands still for long and we must continually strive to meet our challenges which will surely come our way.

I am lucky here at Buckingham Prep School in that I have such a supportive team who are never daunted by challenges and indeed relish the opportunity to meet them head on. Our decision to elect not to follow the Early Years Foundation curriculum but to better it is just one example of this and whatever may come our way in the future, we are ready for it.

This is an attitude we aim to instil in our boys too; life is not always as hoped or as planned but that must not deter us from continuing to strive for the best outcome. I believe we are successful in this aim and I am proud of that aspect of our school.

However, enough of this train of thought because we are now approaching the festive season and I for one cannot wait for Santa to meet the challenge I have set him, which is to bring a significant number of large presents down my chimney. They are not of course for me you understand, well not all of them anyway, because I have my children, my brother and sisters home for the break and I am very much looking forward to spending time with them all.

As I remind the boys each and every year at this time, remember to work hard, take time to rest and reflect, enjoy family life and be thankful. It is just as relevant to this as it has been to all previous festive breaks. My warmest wishes go out to you all.

In this issue

European Day of Languages

KS1 visit the Iver Centre

Magical Christmas Journey

Children in Need

VR Talk with Ian Phillips

Year 5 in York

European Day of Languages

On Wednesday 25th September, we celebrated European Day of Languages. Everyone, from Pre-school to Year 6, came dressed in the colours of the flags of the French flag – bleu, blanc et rouge. We had already prepared our French moustaches in class and we used them in every photo opportunity. The day started with a French breakfast of hot chocolate and croissants. In assembly, we practised saying hello in several European languages, thanks to some of those boys who are fortunate enough to already speak another European language: Max and Kamil for Polish, Eric for Albanian, Pasha for Turkish and Noah for German. Help was on hand from the linguistically talented Mrs Komarewicz, Miss Raduca and Mrs Marinkovic, who helped us say hello in Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian, Czech, Slovenian, Russian, Italian and Romanian.

Merci Ă tous. Thank you to everyone who helped make the day special for all the boys.

In Pre-School the children spent a week learning about 'The Gruffalo'.

They created story maps, including all the characters from the story and wrote repeated refrains from the story in speech bubbles. They also made Gruffalo crumble cornflake cakes for the Gruffalo and measured their footprints and compared them to the Gruffalo's. The owl from the story wrote the children a letter asking them to write their names using his special feather owl pens. The children spent the week re-enacting the story with their peers through role-play and they even dressed up as the Gruffalo in Phonics and jumped on the letters. In Maths the children went around the school with tally charts and asked the grown-ups which character from the story they liked the best. A very fun and productive week of learning in Pre-School!

Dear Pre-School, I am sending you my special owl feather

pen for you totry

and write your name.

Love, Owl

Anaya

Arjun

'The York trip made me feel independent and happy as I was with my friends.' Praneel 'Being part of the York trip meant that I had to be sensible and respectful towards others staying in the area.' Rayan 'My favourite part of the York trip was the ceramic cafe as I am really proud of the bowl I painted.' Sambhav 'I really enjoyed going bowling because everyone was competitive. When Miss Fry said that she was, SHE MEANT IT!' Erik

Aviral

Rayaan

Subhang

Erik

Year Five in York

October was a long time coming for the boys in Year 5.

They had been waiting for it with anticipation as it was now time for their three night residential trip in the city of York. Miss Fry and Miss Raduca had the pleasure of their company for the week and reported back to school about their daily adventures.

Activities included a visit to York Minster, a tour of a chocolate factory and some down time with paintbrushes at the ceramic cafĂŠ. The daily videos on Facebook suggested that they were having an absolute ball and when they returned, they struggled to decide on their top three activities.

It has been said that they were model students on the trip. The teachers enjoyed it as much as they did.

Jash

Trip Report LO: to reflect on my trip to Guru Nanak Sikh School

Aryan C.

Shivesh

Year 3 visit the London Transport Museum

Year 3’s trip to the London Transport Museum was a resounding success. They learnt about the history of the tube system, as well as what it took to build a system so complicated in the year 1863! The class set out from Rayners Lane station in the morning and arrived at the museum in Covent Garden. Whilst there, Year 3 engaged in an informative session entitled ‘The World’s First Underground’. There was lots to see, including old buses, trains and even what the future of the TFL might hold for the city and its users.

The trip linked to PSHEE and community, and how TFL provides the means to move people from communities all around the city and indeed the country!

Rishi

Sean

Who did it?

Throughout this term Year 2 have approached English lessons using a technique called Talk 4 Writing. Brought about by a man called Pie Corbett, Talk 4 Writing teaches children how to successfully create different pieces of writing by learning them through hands-on activities.

On a dreary Thursday afternoon in October, Year 2 were told they had to hurry to the library, for an incident had occurred! They arrived to find that the library had been destroyed; there were chairs everywhere, books overturned, mysterious items laid out on the table and police tape cornering off the key parts of the incident. The children had to transform into detectives in order to figure out what might have happened. They soon realised it had been Goldilocks that had caused the problems due to the clues she left behind.

Once all this information was gathered the children then came back to the classroom and wrote fantastic recounts of the event, including key information and trying hard to include the adjectives that were discussed when we were exploring the destroyed library incident.

Talk 4 Writing has been a successful model for the children in Year 2 this term. They have managed to write everything from news reports, to poems, to new versions of stories. They will continue to use this model moving forward, and I’m sure will produce many more pieces of successful writing.

What do you know about sharks?

Year 3 and 4 had a special lesson about ‘sharks’ from a visitor from Haberdasher’s school. The boys were involved in an interactive session that dealt with general facts about sharks as well as myths surrounding sharks. Did you know that sharks can detect electromagnetic pulses in prey in order to hunt, catch and feed?

The boys had lots of questions about how sharks operate: How do they breathe? Can sharks see like humans?

A large part of the discussion surrounded the idea that sharks do not actually deliberately try to eat humans but can regularly mistake them for other smaller creatures such as seals and other similar animals.

So Year 3 and 4, the next time you see any programme or media about sharks, check to see if it’s accurate! I think sharks have got a bad reputation over the years, don’t you?

Children In Need

Once again November came around and all the boys at Buckingham Preparatory School started planning how to support Children in Need.

The school council voted unanimously for a yellow and spotty non-uniform day, also to organise a cake sale and to hold a sweepstake for the annual Children in Need duck race. Tracey and her staff very kindly baked cupcakes which were all decorated by the school council and some helpful volunteers to be sold after school. Mr Evans began organising our annual duck race event, which caused much excitement amongst both staff and pupils! We were also lucky enough to have a special volunteer, Mr Patel, who agreed to sell raffle tickets in exchange for the prize of shaving his head! The lucky winner was Shailen Amey who very carefully began the job of shaving our brave volunteer and did a fantastic job. By the end of the day we had raised ÂŁ605.27 for this fantastic cause. Well done everybody for once again helping to make a difference for those in need.

On Wednesday 13th November 2019, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 wrapped up warm and set off for a day of outdoor learning! We all boarded the coach and started the journey to Iver Environment Centre. When we reached Iver Environment Centre we were met by Emily who guided the boys in a series of nature-based learning. Firstly we were looking at how to identify the different trees in our surroundings by looking at their size, location and the types of leaves they had. We had the challenge of blindfolding a partner and identifying the different trees just by touching them. Next we looked at the types of trees at Iver Environment Centre. The boys learnt how to calculate the age of a tree by measuring its circumference. We were surprised to find the trees were older than the teachers! After lunch we learnt about the different parts of a tree and used natural materials to create and label a diagram to share our knowledge. All in all it was a day filled with new experiences and lessons and it was enjoyed by all!

Dilan

Shreehan

Iver Environment Centre Kayen P.

Kayan S.

Riaan D.

Achievement Assembly

We are very proud of the pupils at Buckingham Prep and we strongly believe in the value and importance of acknowledging the good work and effort they consistently demonstrate. Our weekly achievement assemblies play an important role in how we celebrate the wide and varied triumphs of all our pupils.

During achievement assembly pupils from each year group are presented with certificates for a variety of reasons. Demonstrating consistent or improved effort in a particular curriculum area, producing an exceptional piece of work or displaying admirable qualities such as kindness and tolerance towards other members of the school community are just a few examples of the achievements recognised.

Once children have received a total of five achievement certificates within the academic year, they are presented with a bronze award. Ten achievement certificates earn pupils a silver award, and pupils rising to the challenging target of fifteen achievement certificates receive a prestigious gold award.

Alongside the weekly presentation of achievement certificates, we like to recognise other achievements.

This may involve children receiving a coveted ‘pen licence’ as a result of consistently well-presented work, certificates for participation in special activities such as the Primary Maths Challenge, or Speech and Drama awards.

We also encourage pupils to let us know about their talents, interests and achievements outside of school. Pupils are invited to play their instruments at the beginning and end of assembly, perform poems or presentations from their speech and drama or to bring in and show the medals or awards they have received for their sporting interests.

One of the highlights of any achievement assembly is the presentation of the ‘Kindness Cup’. Children are nominated across the school for acts of kindness during the week. All nominated children come to the front of the hall and the reasons for their nominations are read out to the whole school. All nominees are given a headteacher’s sticker and one deserving nominee is awarded the ‘Kindness Cup’ to take home for the week.

Acknowledging all of these achievements is important. It encourages our pupils to believe in themselves and to continue to strive to do their best in all areas of their lives. It enables them to recognise that every member of our school community is valued and has something special to offer. We are proud of our pupils.

This year’s Harvest festival bought us another successful collection to help those in need. Once again we we focused our efforts locally, and the school council decided to help the Harrow Food Bank. The Harrow Food Bank works to tackle food poverty and hunger in our local communities, as well as across the UK. All the children brought in food donations from home and our school hall was packed with tins of all kinds of vegetables, cereals and biscuits. The school council had the hard job of organising all the donations and getting these ready for Mr Carlisle to take to the local collection centre.

This will help provide over 1,182,954 emergency food supplies as well as supporting other people in crisis in the UK. Thank you so much for all your donations for this worthy cause.

Are you a pioneer, all-packed and ready to go to Mars? Should we be fixing Earth instead? Or should

we use this opportunity to explore everything design can do?

Year 5 tried to find answers to these questions during their exploration of all things Mars at the

Design Museum. After having stepped into a full-scale Mars home, immersed themselves in the landscape and looked critically at sustaining life on Mars, Year 4 drew up a list of pros and cons.

The trip provided the boys with ample knowledge about the conditions on Mars and about new

technologies that can foster pioneers’ desires. The day started with a 3D printing workshop. The boys were able to develop their understanding of 3D printing and how it can help us design environments suitable for human survival on Mars.

The boys are now faced with the challenge to use the research gathered during their visit and to

design a capsule - a habitat for humans living on Mars. This project will carry on into the spring term when they will also be designing and making a Mars rover.

Here are some of their explorations of structures and forms for the capsule. We look forward to

seeing how the initial concepts develop.

Rayan

MOVING TO MARS

Aviral

Raaghav

Subhang

What is VR?

From VR classrooms that enable students to experience real-life scenarios to doctors being trained and phobias

being cured, this new technology is beginning to define its role in today’s society. Virtual reality as we know it is going to develop at a fast pace and we should educate the young generations to understand its potential to do both good and bad.

It is this generation of young people that will benefit from this technology as well as being able to innovate it further.

Will all of this in mind, we invited Ian Phillips, Director of IT and Computing at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School

to help us look critically at virtual reality technologies. Mr Phillips delivered a brilliant talk and a truly immersive workshop.

He was able to share his vast knowledge on the subject and to answer some of our boys’ questions. The boys’ ideas were thoughtful and looked at the problem from different angles. For example, Jash mentioned that VR can empower disabled people by helping them discover the world. Sahvan talked about how it can be a solution to climate change and Hamza mentioned how VR can help us empathise with others. Pranav made a very good point that one of the down sides of VR is that people can develop an addiction.

Addicted to escapism or not, we did come to the conclusion that VR can be of great help in the classroom. It has

great educational potential. We were able to witness it when Sambhav and Mylan dissected a human heart and a liver right in front of our eyes. There was a definite WOW factor about it all…

Our tip: please consume both reality and virtual reality responsibly!

A new lease of life for the library

‘I like coming to the library and I like all of the new books.’ Kayen P, Reception

‘Being the Library prefect this year has been really exciting. Challenging but rewarding…’ Nikhil, Year 6 ‘Since the library has been restocked, I have been visiting much more. I’ve already finished the entire David Solomon series and I really enjoy going to choose something new. This happens two to three times a week.’ Rayan, Year 5

In the summer term of last year a bold decision was made. It was decided that there would be a full upgrade

of the school library. This was going to be a mighty feat but we were not deterred by this as it was clear that the final product would benefit the whole school community both now and for many years to come.

The Children’s Bookshop, located in Muswell Hill, jumped on board with our project and through visits and

meetings they were able to set us on the right track. By the first week back in September, we had already culled the Key Stage 2 Fiction section of the library and had also launched a ‘Sponsor a Book’ fundraiser.

Thanks to the generosity of many families and the school’s governing body, we managed to raise a whopping

£2224.00. This gave us enough funding to restock Key Stage 2 Fiction and also fully upgrade the Key Stage 1 and Early Years Fiction. Over October half term, countless boxes of shiny new books were delivered to school. Now it was time for the children to select which books they wished to sponsor…

‘When I got to choose which book I wanted to sponsor, I felt surprised because there were so many to

choose from. I’d never done anything like that before.’ Vivan, Year 2

There are so many new picture books that Pre-School are now able to have an entire box on loan in their

classroom and the other classes are frequenting the library much more often. All of the hard work has certainly been worth it. Reading has a high profile at BPS this year!

THE WINDRUSH STORY

AND ITS IMPORTANCE

On Monday 14 October we were treated to an immersive assembly experience when Bigfoot Arts

visited BPS to help us learn more about the Windrush, the ship that brought more than 500 pioneering Caribbean migrants to Britain in June, 1948.

During the assembly, we met Grace as she waved goodbye to Jamaica to start a new life with her

husband and young son Clinton in post-war Britain. We learnt about some of the things she would miss: family, friends, food and sunshine. However, Grace was excited by the prospect of a new life in the ‘Motherland’ where job prospects and greater economic security awaited.

The assembly was followed by workshops for Years 3 – 6, where photographs, role play and mime

allowed boys to gain greater insight into the lives of the Windrush generation as they fought against discrimination and homesickness to make a new life for themselves.

The Windrush story is just one of many vital stories that must be told about the bravery and personal

sacrifices that people from different parts of the world have shown and made in their personal odyssey to settle in Britain. The cultural and religious diversity of our schools, cities and country is something to celebrate with joy and gratitude.

We therefore wholeheartedly thank Marissa who played Grace with so much compassion and led the

workshops with such a wealth of knowledge that it will be a day to remember for years to come!

Pat Capel

A special visitor came to deliver workshops to Year 5 and 6 this term. His name is Pat and he was talking to the

children about perspective and how to use it to their advantage in stressful situations. They will now have some tools to help them on their 11+ journey. Year 6 are lucky enough to have had sessions with Pat two years running. He was amazed by how much they could remember from their session back in Year 5 and he was delighted to hear that they have used the strategies he covered with them.

In the sessions this term, the classes designed hot air balloons. The shape of their balloon represented an

aspect of their personality and they had to think about their skills and support mechanisms in order to decide on the resources that they would use as their ‘hot air’. Stability ropes represented the things in their lives that keep them level-headed while restraint ropes symbolised the aspects of their life that hold them back.

To conclude the session everybody closed their eyes and envisioned themselves blowing all of their resources

into their balloon, breaking away from their anxieties, so that it could take off and fly!

‘I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow up my balloon!’

REDDIFORD CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS

Buckingham Prep have been competing in this tournament for 20 years now, after its inception in 2000. It is a round-robin tournament where each team plays every other team. In the past we have won the tournament on 4 previous occasions, the last one being in 2010. Due to the mixed results so far this term, my main aim was that the boys should just try to give their best performance. Indeed, on the day I was pleased to see the players perform consistently well, conceding only 2 goals in the 4 matches and scoring 6.

I was extremely pleased with the BPS boys’ performance and would like to congratulate the team on their victory. I hope for more of the same in the future.

November once again saw the Year 5 and 6

boys taking part in the annual national Primary Maths Challenge. The boys did exceptionally well, with 11 boys achieving a bronze award, 7 achieving a silver award and 4 boys claiming a gold award. The Challenge consisted of 25 questions, each getting more difficult than the last. It was extremely pleasing to see that two of our boys achieved full marks this year; well done to Aviral and Pranav in Year 6!

The results have been placed onto the Primary

Maths Challenge website, and we look forward to seeing which of our boys will be invited to take part in the bonus round in February.

Bronze: Y5 – Erik, Harris, Hamza, Rayan, Aviral Y6 – Darsh, Pranay, Pasha, Sahvan, Vrishan, Kesavan Silver: Y5 – Subhang Y6 – Nikhil, Sastha, Siddart, Aarav, Samay, Anuran Gold: Y6 – Aviral, Pranav, Nathan, Mikael

PRIMARY MATHS CHALLENGE

Trips 3rd October

Year 3 to London Transport Museum

7th – 10 October

Y5 residential trip to York

6th November

Year 1 Nature Walk

13th November

Infant trip to Iver Environment Centre

14th November

Year 4 to Guru Nanak School

15th November

Year 5 to Design Museum

28th November

Year 5 to Hampton Court

Other Events 24th September

Individual Photographs

14th October

Bigfoot Art Education Windrush Workshops for Years 3-6

16th October

Harvest Festival Assembly

5th November

Workshops on mental health – Years 5 & 6

7th November

Shark talk to Year 4

8th November

Diwali celebration

13 November

Police talk to Y6

14 November

Police talk to Y5

15th November

Children in Need Day

3rd December

Virtual Reality talk to Years 5 & 6

4th December

Infant Play

5th December

Flu immunisation

9th December

Pre-School Christmas performance

Year 6 to ‘We will Rock You’ at John Lyon School

10th December

Hobgoblin Theatre Company – ‘Wind in the Willows’ for whole school

11th December

Judo gradings

12th December

School Disco

13th December

Carol Service

Charities Poppy Appeal

£150.00

Children in Need

£605.27 (including £98.55 from the cake sale and Mr Patel bravely raised £197.55 by raffling the

opportunity to shave his head)

Class Assemblies

Staff Assemblies (on the theme of ‘The Environment’)

Year 5

York residential trip

Mrs Stoneman Orang Utans

Year 4

The Changing Face of Money

Mme Lad

European Languages Day

through history

Miss Thompson

How can we help our planet?

Year 3

History, English and Catalogue

Mr Morarji Space Junk

of work completed

Miss Raduca

Year 1

Germs

Olafur Eliasson and his research based

art practice Ms Bourne Greta Thunberg Miss Kelly

Signs of Global Warming

Miss Fry

'Extinction Rebellion - Agree or Disagree?'

Diwali celebrations

Our belated Diwali celebrations

brought a joyous end to our first week back after the half-term break. Boys (and Pre-School girls of course!) looked very festive in their own clothes regardless of whether they wore traditional Indian clothes or not. Each classroom was a riot of colour!

Lunch was followed by everyone being

offered jalebi for pudding and it was heartening to see boys who were unfamiliar with this sweet give it a try. In the afternoon, the whole school got the opportunity to express their artistic and creative side. Pre-School, Reception, Years 1 and 2 took part in a ‘Best Colour Scheme Competition’. They brought Miss Raduca’s hand-drawn illustration of Lord Rama and Sita to life through colour.

Years 3,4,5 and 6 had the opportunity

to experience the traditional manner in which Rangoli Art is created; they drew large-scale Rangoli designs on the floor. Ms Bourne and Mr Morarji definitely had their work cut out for them in judging the winner and runner-up for each KS2 year group; everyone’s work was beautiful!

Many thanks go to all staff who helped make the day such a success, and of course to the children too who always display the spirit of sharing with each other; it’s what makes BPS the very special place it is.

Magical Christmas Journey

Form Captains First Half Second Half Year 5 Aviral Goel Esa Aslam Year 4 Shrey Vadera Khian Patel Year 3 Jayden Burnaby Aditya Iyer Year 2 Sahaj Mehta Nikhil Nair Year 1

Dhivarn Thusekaran

Dilan Biju-Dhyaneish

Reception Ethan Nizzar Kayen Parmar

Notices for the spring term 2020 SWIMMING Swimming will be on FRIDAYS and next term will be for Years 1, 2, 5 and 6. Swimming will commence on Friday 10th January.

CLUBS Please note that most clubs will begin in the week commencing Tuesday, 7th January and will finish on Thursday, 26th March (a few may finish in the previous week).

•

The Breakfast and Homework Clubs commence on Tuesday 7th January.

•

Judo commences on Wednesday 8th January.

•

Elms Sports (Years 1 & 2) commences on Friday 10th January.

The BPS staff wish all our parents a most enjoyable Christmas holiday and a very Happy New Year.

Spring Term starts on Tuesday 7th January 2020