Parsons Green Prep | Spring 2023 Newsletter

Newsletter Spring edition - March 2023

School news Parsons Green Prep

STEAM

www.parsonsgreenprep.co.uk

Out and about

In the classroom

Events Events

HEAD’S MESSAGE

FROM THE HEAD I am immensely proud of the children’s achievements this term. World Book Day encouraged us to read for pleasure and the educational and residential trips honed key skills and brought the curriculum to life. The joint Year 6 and Reception STEAM workshops were a triumph and in Year 4 we celebrated this year’s winner of the ISA national STEAM competition. Our sports teams produced commendable results in national IAPS, ISA and local competitions and the school’s Poetry Competition highlighted the children’s exceptional literacy and performance skills. I look forward to next term, which is bursting with even more transformative opportunities.

Dr Edmonds

SCHOOL COUNCIL The school places great importance on pupil voice and the School Council has been proactive in identifying opportunities for school development. All members of the School Council have shared their ideas and recommendations with action in progress, including an enhanced reading environment in the school library, an increase in the variety of play equipment for the quiet area games tables and troughs of spring flowers for each year group to plant, as well as themed lunches.

FOPGP The children enjoyed an afternoon with Sharky & George at the disco. They were enthusiastic participants and really showed some impressive dance moves. We had our biggest turnout ever for the Quiz Night & Art Auction. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success. We had a uniform sale ahead of the summer term and a hardworking crew has been organising the library.

Mrs Heather Goertzen Parsons Green Prep

HOUSE CUP RESULTS Congratulations to Shackleton on winning the House Cup this term with an average of 7.6 house points per pupil each week across the term. Attenborough came second with 7, Earhart a very close third with 6.8 and Williams fourth with 6.

THE ARTS ART AND DESIGN TECHNOLOGY We’ve had lots of fun in the art room this term.

Year 1 made medieval shields using their sewing skills. Year 2 made Tudor houses and wonderful observational drawings of the London skyline.

Year 3 explored Ancient Egypt and made a super wall hanging and canopic jars. Year 4 learned watercolour techniques that they applied to their own paintings. Year 5 produced some amazing work based on aerial photos of rivers. Year 6 learned the art of Batik and created designs for a cushion.

LAMDA This continues to go from strength to strength, with over thirty students currently enrolled from Year 1 to Year 6. Following fantastic results from the Autumn term, a further 13 children are undertaking a Spring exam. This term Mr Max was honoured to judge the school's poetry competition. The standard was incredibly high and the LAMDA students excelled.

The children have shown enormous creativity and poise. It is testament to the school's commitment to champion the arts that so many felt able to participate. Mr Max looks forward to another full and exciting Summer term.

MUSIC We have lots of fun in music this term with aural pattern games and ballet in Reception and reading rhythms and dynamics in Y1. Y2 have finished their rhythm theory book whilst Year 3 have studied string instruments and made one from boxes and rubber bands. Y4 have been busy composing using scales and arpeggios. Y5 composed their own planetary music after Holst’s The Planets and Y6 have solidified their knowledge on the orchestra with Benjamin Britten. Well done everyone.

Parsons Green Prep

OUT AND ABOUT MILL ON THE BRUE Year 4 had a magnificent time at Mill-on-the-Brue.

They spent their time jumping off towers, climbing walls, burrowing through dark tunnels armed with nothing but a map and head torch, kayaking and flying on a zipline. While the activities were tremendous fun, they all served to reinforce key values taught at PGP: teamwork, resilience, curiosity, communication and perseverance. The children supported each other, cheered each other on and ensured that no matter what, every child felt that they had achieved their very best.

ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL A highlight for Year 2 was our trip to St Paul's Cathedral, where we were in awe of Sir Christopher Wren's beautiful architecture. We saw scorched stone statues that survived the Great Fire of London, demonstrated our knowledge about how the fire started and were even able to try our hand at re-enacting putting out the fire with only teamwork and a bucket. We then climbed the 376 stairs to the gallery floor to view the modern-day city. We spotted Monument, Tower Bridge, the Shard and many other famous landmarks. What a wonderful day.

Parsons Green Prep

THAMES EXPLORER Year 5 loved their trip to the River Thames as part of our humanities topic on rivers. It was a beautiful day and the children had a fantastic time exploring the river’s foreshore. We tested the river’s temperature and pH level and searched the area for living creatures. Surprisingly, we discovered that the river is biologically healthy and not very polluted. We found a number of living creatures such as shrimps, clams and leeches to show this. The children’s behaviour was exemplary and they had a wonderful day.

POLKA THEATRE Reception went to watch Jack v Giant at the Polka Theatre. It was a new adaption of Jack and the Beanstalk featuring mining, gold and magic beans coming out of a mysterious tree.

The children were mesmerised by the story, songs and puppetry. They loved the giant and his cheeky dancing, as well as the glittery, shining castle in the sky. It was lovely to hear them singing the songs on the way back on the coach.

BUDDHIST TEMPLE Year 6 visited the Buddhapadipa Temple in Wimbledon to complement our learning about Buddhism in our Religious Studies lessons. We met a Buddhist monk at the temple who taught us about the Five Precepts. We learnt that Buddhists should follow the Five Precepts to ensure they are living a moral and good life. This helps them to get rid of suffering and achieve enlightenment. Meeting a Buddhist monk really helped bring this topic to life.

Parsons Green Prep

STEAM SUBJECTS

MATHS This term the children from Reception to Year 6 have engaged with mental arithmetic and written maths within lessons. All year groups incorporate ‘stretch and challenge’ in lessons where the children learn to solve problems and reason. Year 1 have been solving mathematical problems from numbers 1-50 and solving related word problems.

Year 5 now are beginning to problem solve and reason answers within 11+ past paper questions, while Year 6 successfully applied their learnt problem-solving skills to their Theme Park Maths topic this term.

YEAR 3 - YEAR 6 CODING CLUB In Coding Club the children have learned how to use Scratch. We have planned and executed myriad projects, including animated rock bands, a Shrove Tuesday pancake flip game and talking animals. The children have learned to use complicated algorithms and focused on cause and effect, such as making a pancake flip in the opposite direction when it comes into contact with a pan. The children are proficient coders, some even taking their skills home to create their own online games.

CHESS We’ve had another big push towards mastering Chess Notation this term. Chess is great for so many cognitive disciplines and writing down the moves adds to these. It not only looks good on the children’s school CVs, but also helps students study the games of great players (eg LaskerThomas, 1912). Mr Viv has seen tactics improving in the club all term. We will be running a chess tournament for Y3-Y6, with the winner awarded the PGP Chess Cup, so there is lots to play for.

Parsons Green Prep

STEAM OVERVIEW Reception and Year 6 had a cross-curricular STEAM day about oceans. Classrooms projects have included endangered animals, paper engineering and Egyptian bookmarks. PGP also took part in British Science Week, building and testing their own seismograph, bridge building, exploring bacteria and considering how human actions can impact connections within an ecosystem. One of our Year 4 children won the KS2 category in the ISA STEAM competition.

YOUNG ENGINEERS LEGO CLUB The Spring term has been all about vehicles.

Trucks, ploughs, mountain bikes and even towing vehicles. How do they move? What makes them go faster? Friction and gravity are just two of the things we explored. The more experienced Young Engineers built increasingly complex models such as cranes that could lift Lego people on blocks and angled conveyor belts. We also had fun with catapults and seeing how elastic energy works while calculating the trajectory needed to hit our target.

COMPUTING Year 1 used directional keys to create basic code and debugged algorithms. Year 2 explored how information can be presented using technology and considered the effectiveness of binary trees and more complex databases. Year 3 were introduced to spreadsheets and cell references and Year 4 explored animation and text-based coding. Year 5 used formulas to convert measurements, work out the ages of different planets and plan a whole-school cake sale. Year 6 planned, wrote and published a blog.

Parsons Green Prep

IN THE CLASSROOM

YEAR 1 Reception have explored Winter, Space and Quirky Stories. The children have developed their artistic skills, creating effects through marble painting, crafting and layering. We have learnt our Phase 3 Phonics sounds and the class are becoming excellent readers and writers. We have dug deeper into our mathematical concepts using our new vocabulary to explain our learning. We have also enjoyed our buddy reading and computer sessions with Year 6.

The class performed their first KS1 Production, The Bees Musical, alongside Year 2 and really got a taste for projecting their voices and singing with gusto. Our trip to The Tower of London was fascinating and gave us the full experience of life in medieval Britain. The children loved their STEAM challenges, exploring the material qualities of paper including how to design the most aerodynamic paper airplane and tallest skyscraper. This tied in with our science topic about the properties of different materials.

YEAR 2

YEAR 3

The children have been busy bees this term.

Alongside Year 1, they put on a spectacular performance full of catchy songs, stellar acting and waggle dances. In the classroom, pupils have learnt new multiplication and division strategies, written diaries, non-fiction leaflets, stories and poetry. Highlights for the Spring term include creating balanced smoothie bowls in STEAM teams, taking in the architecture and panoramic view at St Paul's Cathedral and celebrating Science Week with an experiment exploring the benefits of soap on bacteria. A superb term.

The class has had another busy and exciting term filled with much learning and lots of fun.

They have thoroughly enjoyed studying their topic of Ancient Egypt and have used this across the curriculum to develop their skills in many different areas. This has included producing fantastic STEAM projects and a brilliant trip to The British Museum. The children have persevered in the core subjects and made much progress as a result. Another fantastic term Year 3 - you should be proud of all that you have achieved.

RECEPTION

Parsons Green Prep

YEAR 5 YEAR 4 It’s been a tremendous term. We had our residential trip to Mill-on-the-Brue, involving resilience and grit. We learned about the Earth, visited the Science Museum, performed our assembly to the school and learned how to design and build an electric alarm system. In computing the children learned how to create animations and also applied PowerPoint and research skills to plan and create independent projects.

We all loved our fantastic trip to Hindleap Warren, where we took part in a number of epic activities and adventures which tested our communication skills, teamwork, and resilience. At school, the children have been particularly excited by our science topics. Learning about space has sparked Year 5’s curiosity and led to some brilliant questions and knowledge sharing. In humanities the children really enjoyed learning about rivers, which was brought to life during our trip to the Thames.

YEAR 6 This term Year 6 finished their 11+ exams and completed senior school interviews. Miss Beth would like to congratulate all Year 6 pupils on completing their exams with confidence, resilience and a growth mindset. A particular highlight in the classroom this term has been our self -led projects in STEAM, where we researched ocean wildlife in detail. Another highlight of the term is the weekly buddy system, where Year 6 partner up with Reception children to help with their reading and computing lessons. This is a great opportunity to share our knowledge with the youngest children in the school.

Parsons Green Prep

LE FRENCH PROGRAMME It has been a fantastic term. All of the children have consolidated their reading, writing and comprehension in French. We have talked about all the traditions typically celebrated in France too: La Galette des rois, La chandeleur, etc. We acquired a new series of reading books for all levels and the children love them. We are also open for four days during the Easter holidays. Children of all levels between four and eight years old are welcome on 3, 4, 5 and 6 April.

SPORT HOCKEY Years 4, 5 and 6 have enjoyed gaining and practising hockey skills during their onsite PE lessons. The children have learned the core skills of passing, dribbling, tackling and shooting and applied them in small-sided games. They also built on their teamwork skills and their understanding of roles on the pitch. They learned positioning and various effective ways of defending and also learned how to outwit defenders whilst attacking.

TAG RUGBY Prep school pupils learned the key skills of tag rugby in Games lessons at Hurlingham Park. It was our main sporting focus for the term and the children relished getting stuck into the sessions albeit muddy ones. It has been great to see them develop the core skills of defending, attacking, handling and evasion. The highlight was the final fixture of the season. Years 3 and 4 took on Prince’s Garden Prep School in an exhilarating afternoon of matches. PGP left victorious with two excellent wins and a thrilling 9-9 draw.

Parsons Green Prep

FOOTBALL The Prep children continued their football lessons at the start of term at Hurlingham Park and had a great block fixture against St James School, with excellent wins for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. The highlight of the season was the exceptional performance of the U11 boys football team at the ISA London West U11 five-a-side football at Claires Court School. The boys did extremely well reaching the quarter-finals and represented the school fantastically. Pupils from all year groups have thoroughly enjoyed the ongoing and outstanding lessons led by staff from the Chelsea Foundation.

INVASION GAMES The Pre-prep children have been developing their understanding of Invasion Games and the principles of defending and attacking. They have developed skills such as sending and receiving both with feet and hands, as well as dribbling with both feet and hands. Towards the end of the term Year 2 progressed onto netball and learned the core skills of passing, shooting and defending, applying this in internal five-a-side matches.

HOUSE MATCHES These football games were a great success. During the Y3 and Y4 matches Earhart came first, winning all three of their matches. Williams came second with a close 1-0 win against Attenborough.

Earhart secured the double later on in the week, winning the Y5 and Y6 competition and going undefeated. Well done to Williams, who had a hard-fought 4-3 win against Attenborough to secure second place in the final match.

Parsons Green Prep

EVENTS

CHARITY ROUND-UP

ECO COMMITTEE

Earhart raised £922 for the FARA Foundation through their t-shirt making and fashion show.

The children expressed themselves and were incredibly creative with the resources they used to up-cycle their t-shirts. FARA informed us of donations and purchases being made in their local shops and are grateful for all the support from our PGP community. ‘Fara’ means ‘without’ in Romanian and with our support we have contributed towards providing families with education, shelter and food. Well done to everyone for your courage, creativity, generosity and fashion flair.

The Eco Committee's environmental review of the school highlighted two areas of focus for this year: waste and biodiversity. To reduce the amount of waste we are producing, the children carried out a waste survey, which highlighted that we all needed to be reminded about what we could and couldn’t recycle. In order to tackle this, we created posters, led an assembly to remind each other of the importance of recycling and spoke to the catering team about how to reduce food waste. Next term we will focus on biodiversity.

EASTER BONNET PARADE Our annual Easter Bonnet Parade was a great success, with the children showcasing their fabulous Spring 2023 Easter Bonnet Collections.

They paraded their designs, ranging from the classic to the outlandish. PGP held an exciting Easter egg hunt in the school gardens and the children ended the day by demonstrating their splendid voices and singing Count on Me by Bruno Mars. Look out for the pictures on social media next week and have a very Happy Easter!

WORLD BOOK DAY PGP celebrated the power of both words and illustrations this World Book Day. The children enjoyed meeting author Omri Stephenson, who shared his varied illustration styles and thoughtprovoking books. Older pupils then designed their own innovative invention while younger children created colourful animal collages inspired by Omri’s tale of endangered pangolins. To celebrate their love of books, PGP spent the day dressed as characters from their favourite stories. It was fantastic to see characters pick up a book during the Drop Everything And Read events.

Parsons Green Prep