Snapshot - Autumn term 2020 at St Swithun's Prep School

SNAPSHOT It’s who we are.

ST SWITHUN’S PREP SCHOOL A REFLECTION OF THE AUTUMN TERM 2020

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Hello everyone, Welcome to our reflection of the autumn term 2020 at St Swithun’s Prep.

Restrictions placed on what schools could do were like nothing teachers had ever seen before. However, here at St Swithun’s Prep we were absolutely determined that, whilst our first priority had to be keeping children safe and preventing the spread of Coronavirus, we wanted to blend that with as much conventional practice as we could. Each and every member of our school community was determined that the children should not be disadvantaged in any way.

I am extremely proud that, with only a few notable exceptions that really couldn’t be avoided (the most obvious being a lack of competitive sport against other schools, but we did hold more matches amongst ourselves to compensate for this) we were successful in our aims. All of the St Swithun’s autumn term activities continued, pretty much as normal, and the full curriculum was delivered to the children. The pages which follow will show you plenty of highlights. Whether it was in the classroom, the auditorium, the sports field, the cookery room, the science lab, the computing and technology (CAT) hub, the art room, the library or the Forest School area, children have been learning, developing, socialising and - most importantly of all during this very trying time - maintaining a sense of normality.

I am, of course, extremely grateful to all colleagues and parents for respecting our protocols for safe operation, and I am so relieved that we were able to run the entire term in the prep school without any classes whatsoever having to enter remote learning or be taught via video links.

As we embark upon our studies in 2021, we all hope for an effective conclusion to the worldwide pandemic, and then a return to full operations in all aspects of school life. As with all challenges, we will emerge from Coronavirus stronger and more resilient: onwards and upwards!

Jonathan Brough

SCHOOL LIFE

A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD

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St Swithun’s Winchester

At St Swithun’s Prep we feel passionately about the importance of kindness. We have learned a lot about how giving our time and consideration to someone else can make a huge difference to them.

Mr Brough gave everyone a copy of the picture book, Kind. It was used across the prep school as a basis for settling into class and forming good foundations.

Here are just some of the kindness class displays that can be seen around the school.

HELLO YELLOW

Year 2 were pleased to be involved in making kindness trees and writing their own book of kindness to become part of their class library.

In support of World Mental Health Day year 5 played kindness bingo.

They discussed how to look after themselves and others, by reaching out and asking how a friend was feeling.

FLOURISH TARGETS With a huge emphasis on kindness, it was wonderful to see so many girls setting targets in the ‘building positive relationships’ Flourish area. These have included helping out at home, looking after pets, supporting friends and helping elderly neighbours.

AMAZING NURSES Year 2 pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about two key female figures in history - Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole - who were exceptionally kind and wanted to help others.

The girls amassed a tremendous array of facts and enjoyed presenting and sharing their new knowledge in a variety of ways which linked history, geography, science and English.

An excellent example of High Performance Learning.

Year 6 thought about acts of kindness and created their own kindness charter.

Reception children were kind by helping the new girl in the class to settle in.

KINDNESS

LOWER KINDNESS PREP

KINDNESS

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We are very fortunate at St Swithun’s to have an enormous amount of outdoor space to discover our natural world. Whether it’s through outdoor learning, Forest School, art or science, the children in all year groups have developed an enormous appreciation for the world in which they live.

ART INSPIRED BY THE NATURAL WORLD

Year 4 children explored how trees change in autumn.

They worked creatively on their mixed-media pictures with beautiful results.

Year 2 children explored natural colours and created their own nature palettes.

UPPER PREP OUTDOOR LEARNING Girls in years 3 to 6 have enjoyed a variety of outdoor learning activities linked with our humanities curriculum and utilising Deborah Lambert’s fantastic new National Curriculum Outdoors resources.

Years 4 and 5 were able to develop and extend their map-reading and orienteering skills. Both groups were very thoroughly rained on but this didn’t dampen their spirits and they showed great strength of character by carrying on despite the weather.

Year 3 spent an afternoon learning about the Stone Age - fire lighting and cooking, making and decorating traditional clay pots, and starting to develop their knottying skills by lashing together sticks to create miniature drying-frames, like those used to make animal skins into leather for clothing and shoes.

Year 6 enjoyed exploring Aboriginal art, making and testing their own boomerangs, taking part in traditional Aboriginal children’s games and creating dreamtime story symbol stones to help them retell traditional tales about the creation of the world and the amazing flora and fauna of Australia.

LOWER PREP OUTDOOR LEARNING Nursery and reception children loved their first term of Forest School. They developed a good understanding of fire safety and relished the experience of cooking on an open fire. They climbed trees, hunted for fairies, became muddy, and discovered the very many uses of a simple stick. They started learning about tools and basic woodcraft, ending the term by making wooden Christmas decorations for their trees at home.

Year 1 and 2 children had a fun-filled start to the year taking on a variety of team-building, mapping and orienteering activities in their outdoor learning sessions. They then enjoyed the return of Forest School sessions in the second half of term.

Year 2 pupils are now working towards their first ‘WILD Passport’ certificate, a new framework for monitoring progression and rewarding skills and knowledge in outdoor education.

Year 2 made colour wheel flower collages. They created the petals of a flower in the same order as the colours on the wheel to expand their knowledge of primary and secondary colours.

Year 3 children learnt about Gustav Klimt and experimented with gold paint and pastels to create tree of life pictures.

SCIENCE INSPIRED BY THE NATURAL WORLD Reception children learned about trees and leaves.

Reception children experimented with texture by painting and cutting out tiny pieces for eyes and beaks.

Year 6 used red cabbage to test acids and alkalis. They also explored ways in which they could keep a dormouse warm for the winter.

THE NATURAL WORLD

STEXTCHOOL THE NATURAL LIFE WORLD

THE NATURAL WORLD

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St Swithun’s Prep wants to do as much as possible to support both our school community and our wider community. Here are just some of the ways we got involved during the autumn term: Year 5 were not going to let Covid ruin their plans to shine and on 20 November they produced two amazing Shakespeare plays, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival.

Although they were unable to have an audience, the girls produced a DVD of their incredible work of which they should be extremely proud.

COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY Children planted daffodil bulbs around their class trees for everyone in the school community to enjoy.

EARTHSHOT PRIZE Inspired by the work of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, St Swithun’s decided to launch its own Earthshot prize and asked the children to come up with simple, but ambitious goals, to make people think and help repair the school, home and/or wider environment. Here are the five categories for the Earthshot prize: Revive our oceans

Build a waste free world

Events such as Harvest Festival took place within class bubbles to celebrate the Flourish area ‘contribution to the community’. There were also some inspiring targets including litter picks, donating old clothes to charity and a very wet but fun sponsored walk to raise money to adopt an elephant.

Clean our air

Protect and restore nature

Fix our climate

The winning ideas which we hope to implement in school during the spring and summer terms are: Recycling and reusing eco bricks Year 2 enjoyed sowing rocket seeds for a winter crop for Tonka the tortoise when he came out of hibernation.

Rewilding the school environment

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Year 5 discover what builds our character...

NURTURE

NURTURE

NURTURE We take great pride in helping children grow and develop as individuals. Here are just some of the highlights from last term.

Cooking– one of the most popular lessons where the girls learn many skills including hygiene and nutrition.

Year 1 learned how to make soda bread.

Late summer outdoor play for reception and year 1 children with role play and problem solving.

RESPONSIBILITY AND TEAM BUILDING IN SPORT Although the pandemic meant that matches against other schools could not occur, girls battled it out against each other across netball and football to be crowned St Swithun’s Super Series champions.

The girls have been in charge of their own teams, making all tactical decisions and managing warm ups, team talks and substitutions.

We have seen some first rate umpiring and refereeing from the girls as they have taken on more responsibility. It has been wonderful to see pupils working together and building team unity. Most leagues have gone down to the wire with every match in the final week counting. It was a great way to finish a productive term in different circumstances.

Important life skills for reception children learning to balance and to follow instructions.

Year 2 have become experts with money watch out parents!

The year 2 girls had tremendous fun using the Curiscope app to peer inside and explore the various systems within the human body.

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Here at St Swithun’s Prep the best learning happens when we are having fun...

In performing arts year 5 dressed up and produced videos and vocals to Santa Baby, whilst year 4 prepared and acted scenes from Oliver.

Year 4 made some singing and interactive advent calendars.

HAVING FUN AT CHRISTMAS

Year 4 baked some gingerbread.

Year 5 made paperchains and Cago Tios where traditionally sweets are hidden under a decorated log and blanket. The log is hit with a stick to music until it produces presents… Mischief thought it looked like great fun and sneaked in to have a go too.

Reception children acted out the story of Christmas and made nativity scenes.

Year 1 made snowmen Christmas decorations during their outdoor learning time.

Year 6 made lanterns.

Year 2 made some beautiful snowflakes and polar bear paintings.

Both upper and lower prep children took part in Christingle services within their bubbles.

FUN AND HAPPINESS

FUN AND HAPPINESS

FUN AND HAPPINESS

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A team of four from years 4, 5 and 6 took part in the virtual National Finals of the Quiz Club General Knowledge Competition. Competing against 69 other schools our team answered questions on a huge range of topics including the world’s largest island, the Mexican flag, the properties of helium and the words of the National Anthem.

IT’S A WIN IN THE CAMERON BESPOLKA TRUST ART COMPETITION We have been celebrating creative success, with 12 children receiving awards from the Cameron Bespolka Trust’s 2020 British Wildlife Art Competition, including the overall winner.

PRIMARY MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE Year 6 took part in the annual Primary Mathematics Challenge (PMC), a fun and exciting competition open to all schools in the UK. The PMC is not designed to be just another test in the school year. It encourages enthusiasm, boosts confidence in mathematics and shows the different way questions can be asked. It emphasises the importance of problem solving as a means of helping pupils develop their reasoning skills and is designed to make pupils think outside the box.

Well done to all of the girls for taking part. It was tough but everyone gave it their all with four girls earning enough points to gain a gold certificate and possibly go through to the national finals of the competition in February.

BUZZING ABOUT BOOKS

WINNING THE RACE Congratulations to all the upper prep children who competed in the inter-house cross-country races during October. The overall house crosscountry winners were the Woodpeckers.

OVERALL HOUSE WINNERS FOR THE AUTUMN TERM Although the Woodpeckers won the cupcakes for the second half of term, it was the Owls who were successful in retaining the house cup for the greatest number of house points.

THE BEBRAS COMPUTING CHALLENGE MATHS WEEK ENGLAND 2020 All year groups took part in challenges for Maths Week England 2020, a grassroots movement to provide young people in England with a positive perception of mathematics. Our reception children had a great time.

The Bebras Computing Challenge introduces computational thinking to students in over 50 countries. This year, all of our pupils from year 2 to year 6 took part with 241,348 pupils from across the UK. Six of our girls placed within the top 10% of pupils nationally which was a tremendous effort.

Years 5 and 6 were introduced to a range of books from Booktrust. Class teachers shared their own reviews and explored the titles with the pupils who could decide which one they would like to keep. The girls received their personal copies and it was lovely to see some voracious reading. We hope pupils will share their books with each other over the course of the spring term, before completing their Bookbuzz challenges in time for World Book Day in March.

WE LOVE A CHALLENGE

WE LOVE A CHALLENGE

QUIZ CLUB GENERAL KNOWLEDGE COMPETITION

St Swithun’s Prep School, Alresford Road, Winchester, SO21 1HA 01962 835750 prepoffice@stswithuns.com www.stswithuns.com Registered Charity Number 307335