CRESCUNDA CRESCUNDA
June 2024
THE TERM IN BRIEF
School has been buzzing with activity and accomplishments. From sports competitions to our boys shining in academic activities like the Primary Maths Challenge and Chess tournaments, their dedication and teamwork are truly commendable. Highlights include the Year 5 mask workshop and the inspirational visit from Mr. Justice Choudhury. We launched our first House Art competition, celebrated Mufti Day for Save the Children, and enjoyed a delightful sports showcase for Years 1 and 2. These highlight the spirit of community and the learning that defines our school.
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BOUNCED INTO PLAY Open Site
WREN TRIUMPHS IN SPRING TERM
Many congratulations to Wren, our winning House for the Spring term. Their flag proudly flew at school in recognition of their collective efforts since January. Well done to all members of Wren for their hard work and team spirit.
IT’S WREN, AGAIN!
In our final Spring Assembly, the Wren House Captain received the trophies for victory in the IXL Maths and AR reading competitions Congratulations to all involved!
NEWTON & JOHNSON BREAK WREN'S WINNING STREAK
Breaking Wren's winning streak, Newton and Johnson emerged victorious in the House Hockey and Rugby. Their triumphs are a testament to the boys' teamwork and perseverance Working together, they found the strength to succeed
NEWTON CLAIMS HOUSE POINT COMPETITION
Newton dominated the House Points competition last term, with N1 + N3 claiming the Coronation Cup, awarded to the tutor group with the most HPs. The Watson Cup, for the student with the highest individual number of HPs, remained in N3. 3D won the battle for HP supremacy in Years 3 to 4.
KINGS OF THE BOARD
Chess is a hugely popular activity at school, with clubs and professional coaching on offer. Here are our latest county players receiving full school colours for their achievements. Bottom left are five U9 players who took part in the EPSCA finals at Warwick. Bottom right is a Year 4 who has qualified for the EJCOA national finals in July.
COACHING FOR LIFE
Year 8 received an intensive training session on coaching. It’s a process of active listening and responding, that aims to help the coachee solve problems they face. It’s a skill a number of teachers have been taught, and it’s used extensively at the senior school. We’re preparing our boys for the life that lies ahead.
COMMUNITY MUSIC
Our Year 8 Music Scholar gave an assembly presentation about the intricacies of playing the organ. He plays it at his local church, and other venues. We love hearing about the ways our boys are engaged in the wider community. They share their talents generously
ABRSM SUCCESS
We were delighted to hear that our boys brought in a record haul of Merits and Distinctions in their ABRSM music awards. As you can see, age is no barrier to success, with boys from Years 3 to 8 taking part.
CONNECTING
There’s always time to catch up with others and hear the latest news. We balance work and play.
RELAXING
The Library offer multi sensory spaces, where boys can can get comfy and lose themselves in a good book.
ECO GARDEN JAM
Our green fingered pupils were spreading their love of nature, with this delicious rhubarb jam. Many thanks to Mrs Funnell for its creation!
RUNNING FOR OTHERS
We heard about next term’s Moor Park Fun Run, to raise money for Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, including the Lynda Jackson Macmillan Centre.
BRITISH VALUES
We discuss Fundamental British Values throughout the year. This term we ’ ve had assemblies by Mrs Waddell about what St George represents, and an overview of voting systems by Mr McConnell.
BRITISH JUSTICE
We were honoured to have the Honourable Mr Justice Choudhury visit us. His sons attended MTP, when it was Northwood Prep. His nephew studies with us now. We heard about his route to becoming the first BritishBangladeshi and Muslim to be appointed to the High Court of Justice. It was a fascinating talk and senior pupils posed questions about Rwanda, AI and the future of justice.
THE YEAR 8 DEBATE
Our two Year 8 classes debated if Chamberlain was wrong to appease in September 1938. The boys had English and History lessons and homework to prepare. Many thanks to our host & adjudicator Sam, an award winning debater from Watford Grammar School for Boys.
BREAKING NEWS
We were delighted to have Old Terryer and OMT Harvey Stevens return to talk to Year 8. Harvey explained how taking part in the school radio station helped guide him to a career in broadcast journalism. Since graduating with a First in History from Durham University, Harvey has completed an MA in Journalism and now works at Radio 4. He produces The World At One and PM. Harvey shared advice on how to break into this highly competitive industry.
LINGUISTICALLY CHALLENGED
Year 8 visited the Modern Languages Department at the senior school. C’était très amusant! They enjoyed sessions in Español and Deutsch. They tried some of the speaking tasks they’ll use next year. After an animated discussion about German cars and Spanish grammar, boys linked key phrases to compose longer sentences. The session ended with a Q&A session about languages in the senior school. September will be wunderbar!
HOUSE ART
This term saw the launch of our first House Art competition. It's something our boys requested via School Council. The theme has been the summer ' s Olympics - higher, faster, stronger, together. Here is a video showing the entries, while the photos that follow are of the runners-up and winners.
HOUSE ART (2)
Below are the runners-up and winners of our inaugural House Art competition at MTP.
FANTASY FOOTBALL
Over the school year we run a number of fantasy football leagues. Boys and staff can enter individually as well as by form or tutor group.
As we broke up for half-term our Fantasy Football rep and Mr Crook announced this year ’ s winners - Mr Gough and a pupil in Year 6. Congratulations to them both
AT THE MANOR
Where curiosity thrives
Nursery visited Knebworth House, to complete a Storysaurus stomp. It enriched their school topic on dinosaurs.
STORYSORUS
Here are images from Nursery’s Uniqueosorus wall at The Manor.
STORYSORUS (2)
More images from Nursery’s visit to Knebworth House.
YEAR 3 MOSQUE VISIT
Year 3 visited Wembley Central Mosque. They had a talk from the Imam about Islam and had lots of opportunities to show their curiosity by asking questions. They enjoyed taking part in a quiz to demonstrate what they had learnt, with prizes for the top scorers overall!
YEAR 3 SURVIVE VICTORIAN VALUES & DISCIPLINE!
Year 3 also visited Reveley Lodge. They experienced the joys of Victorian uniforms and daily life. It was a chance to bring history to life, with hands-on activities ranging from the school room to the laundry. Cake may have been consumed.
A ROYAL VISIT
Years 1 and 2 explored the architecture and history of Windsor Castle As the longest inhabited castle in the world it’s filled with stories and adventures.
SAVE THE CHILDREN
Our Mufti day focused on raising money for Save The Children. Our thoughts were with children globally who need help to secure a better future
AUTHOR VISITS
Nursery and Reception were thrilled to have a visit from author Rachel Bright. She read extracts from The Lion Inside and The Pandas Who Promised.
AUTHOR VISITS (2)
Nick Arnold wowed our older pupils with his interactive sessions about Horrible Science.
CALCULATED ACHIEVEMENTS
It’s been a busy time for our mathematicians. First up, we had pupils make it through to the bonus round of the Primary Maths Challenge. Two boys were given Gold Awards. This places them in the top 0.25% of students in the UK.
Then boys tackled the UK Junior Maths Challenge. Run by the UK Maths Trust it ' encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought and fluency to make students think.'
CALCULATED ACHIEVEMENTS (2)
The Junior Maths Challenge is aimed at pupils in Years 7 & 8, but we selected some Year 6 boys too. We had 22 boys qualify for the Junior Kangaroo follow on round, which is the most MTP have ever had. We also had two boys in Year 8 qualify for the Junior Olympiad. To qualify for this round you could only get 2 questions wrong out of 25. One boy got every question correct, which is a first in MTP history!
BEALE POETRY
12 finalists took part in the Beale Poetry Competition. Boys were grouped into Years 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. We were delighted to welcome Mr Hilton-Dennis, the Head of English at Merchant Taylors' School who adjudicated. Congratulations to the winners in each category. On the next three pages you can see each of the winners perform his piece.
BEALE POETRY (1)
Here’s the winner in the Year 3-4 category.
BEALE POETRY (2)
Here’s the winner in the Year 5-6 category.
BEALE POETRY (3)
Here’s the winner in the Year 7-8 category.
DRAMA
Congratulations to Year 7, for another fabulous set of LAMDA results!
YEAR 5 MASKS
Year 5 wowed us with their masks workshop performance. Below is a short video of the different scenes the boys acted out on stage. See over for images. With thanks to Trestle Theatre Company for their collaboration on the production of the masks.
SPORT
The weather has not played ball so far this term. Rain has often prevented play, let alone stopped it. Nonetheless, our cricket squads are forming and matches have happened. Year 3 had a cricket development day. Our athletics squad has been chosen and begun to compete Our first entry to the IAPS table tennis tournament saw three of the squad reach the national quarter finals.
We did manage to host our Year 3-4 sports day, having cancelled it once. And Year 1-2 enjoyed a sports showcase with parents watching before the break.
First XI
Cricket
Captain
YEAR 3 CRICKET DEVELOPMENT
U10, U11, U13 CRICKET TEAMS
U13 IAPS TABLE TENNIS
Table Tennis is a popular game at MTP. So we were delighted to make our first entry to the IAPS table tennis tournament. We were delighted when three of the squad reach the national quarter finals, with the fourth team member reaching the last 16. To get this far in a national competition on the first attempt is an outstanding achievement!
SPORT ON SHOW
The weather gods seemed determined to thwart our plans for a Year 3-4 Sports Day. After cancelling it due to rain, the heavens cleared and we were able to run the event later in the day. Meanwhile, our Year 1-2 Sports Showcase did run to schedule. Many thanks to all the parents who attended.
Click the links below to watch video highlights of both events.
ATHLETICS MEET
Our Athletics squad was in action at MTS. It was grey and overcast, but that didn’t dampen the competitors’ spirits.
We’re looking forward to our Year 5-8 Sports Day later in the term.
