LENT TERM ROUNDUP
Prep School
MARCH 2024
Nursery?
Easter Reading
Following our theme of Spring and new life, Mr Papenfus read 'Pig in the Pond' to the children in Nursery. We had started to make the scenery for our Spring Hat Parade, featuring baby chicks and blossom. We had also chosen the music and practised the songs with Mr G. It all came together well. We even had time to do some 'have a go writing'.
Easter Gardens and Decorations!
Mr Holman
In Nursery we have had Dinky Dinosaurs, dressing the dollies and dotty hearts Mr Holman came to read Harry and a Bucketful of Dinosaurs He helped at teatime by being the water monitor! He loved the idea of Weetabix Wednesday and having the 'd' sound dribbled on our Weetabix in honey We even had time to look at the seeds we planted in ‘s’ week and guess what they have started to grow, even the seeds from the melon we had at teatime. Of course, visiting the Fire Station had been on our list of activities but had to be cancelled due to the 'watch' being on a shout it will be rebooked It didn't dampen the children's spirit as they got to spend time with a special volunteer, Mrs Cockbill. We even managed to make our own firefighter hats
Farmyard
Nursery went on a visit to Mini Meadows farm to look for signs of Spring. It was such a lovely day. The weather was kind, the animals were gentle, the lambs were very hungry. They really liked the milk we had in the bottles for them. The Highland cattle were huge and had 'sloppy' tongues. It was a busy day, but we did have time to play! Again, the photographs tell it all.
Butterflies
Butterflies decided that Stickman was off on an adventure to outer space!
The children drew and described the planets Stickman visited and the aliens he met. We have read The Smeds and the Smoos, Aliens Love Underpants and There's an Alien in my House, to help us gather ideas.
Our maths work has involved making 5 in a variety of ways and we have used monkeys and aliens to help us. We finished our week by looking at the solar system and making some star biscuits. The children enjoyed decorating these and the most enjoyable part was eating them for afternoon snack.
The Snow Queen
In Butterflies the children have been thinking about characters from traditional tales and which ones they like and explaining why they have chosen them. The Snow Queen has been a focus story and the children created snow scenes, adding a picture of themselves dressed up as a character from the story. We were amazed by how many different versions of The Snow Queen there are, and the children were able to choose which version they preferred. Everyone has made their own bookmark with a character from the story, they have enjoyed decorating these with beads and tassels.
Butterflies made beautiful Valentine's vases, everyone chose their family’s favourite colours for the flowers. They had great fun in P.E. activity sorting colours and shapes and the veterinary table has been very popular. We all enjoyed the Butterfly Breakfast morning.
What has been going on in
Hedgehogs and Kingfishers?
Healthy Eating
Children in Butterflies, Hedgehogs, Kingfishers and Owls had a fantastic opportunity to learn about Healthy Eating. Chartwells, our catering team came to work with the children, the theme was ‘Fun into Food’. The children learned about food groups and portion sizes and then made their own food caterpillar using a range of fresh ingredients. The best part was when the children got to eat the snack they had made!
So many activities!
Hedgehogs and Kingfishers learnt about the symbolism of the menorah in their RE topic. They were all very respectful when handling the artefact and appreciated the importance of this lamp for Jewish people. They enjoyed finding out which materials were attracted to a magnet, a lot of discussion and investigating took place to determine whether the statement ‘All metal objects are attracted to a magnet’ is true. The children also had their first dress rehearsal, the costumes are amazing and the joy on the children’s faces as they walked into the Hall was lovely to see.
Football
The children had their first football lesson, learning how to dodge round people and starting to control the ball with our feet. The children dressed for the weather, but this didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for football!
Kingfishers and Hedgehogs performed the most marvellous musical version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children were amazing, they spoke clearly, the singing was incredible, and the costumes were so colourful, watching the show was a truly uplifting moment. Listening to the children talking about it and their excitement level was infectious. Well done!
It hasn’t all been about the play in Hedgehogs and Kingfishers this week. In RE the children learned about the Mezuzah and decorated a copy of one and wrote a prayer. In Science children tested materials to find out which would be suitable as an umbrella, most appropriate for the weather earlier in the week.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
What has been going on in
Owls?
Mother’s Day Cards
Owls worked hard to create a beautiful Mother’s Day paper craft card – it was challenging, the finished cards were wonderful - well done, everyone!
Languages? What went on in
Years 1 and 2 were continuing to develop their knowledge of Spanish through mostly speaking games and songs and. The highlight for them is always their end of year food events.
Year 3 made the move to French with ease and have made a great start; they should now be able to greet people and introduce themselves effectively.
Year 4 sees a real development from mainly using single words or very short phrases to them being able to create and describe in detail a monster and talk about what they like to eat and drink for their meals in French.
Years 5 and 6 move from a single to double lesson, therefore, there is more scope for going into lots of detail with specific topics. We have also started to introduce grammatical terminology so hopefully concepts such as 'subject pronoun’, 'first person' and 'conjugation' are words they will recognise as they move into the Senior School.
We have now a well-established curriculum for all year groups from Y1-6 and pupils are responding well to all the different activities each week. It is always lovely to hear stories from pupils about their time abroad when they are given the opportunity to speak or if they are communicating in some way with family members whose first language might not be English.
D&T and Health
Mrs Whitmore from the DT department came to work with the Butterflies children to make felt bear puppets. It is fabulous to build these cross-school links.
During the term, the topic How Humans Work provided a huge opportunity to investigate a variety of aspects of the human body. Pupils were lucky enough to receive visits from a dentist, a nurse and an optician as an entry point to the topic. Following on from this they experimented with different liquids to find out which were most likely to cause tooth decay, by soaking eggs in the liquids. After learning some gruesome facts about the digestive system, they made an interactive digestive system and created a skeleton on a trip to the outside learning area. Pupils also found out some interesting facts about the eye and the complexities of sound and hearing.
Sport
This term we had the Year 3 and 4 Club Sports competition. The girls did a circuit of netball skills, and the boys did a circuit of football skills. Both the boys and girls did really well and supported each other a lot. It was then the turn of our Year 5 and 6 pupils to represent their clubs by playing matches against the other clubs. The girls showed a lot of talent on the netball courts and the boys performed strongly on the football fields.
Drama
Year 5 have been rehearsing diligently for their Tea-Time Shakespeare recitals this term, even giving up some of their lunch times for the cause! Both classes have worked hard to learn their lines and bring their characters to life on stage using a variety of different drama techniques. The children have enjoyed putting their performances together and have shown excellent teamwork!
Drama Club
In drama club this term, we have looked at a range of different activities and games, with some very comedic performances as a result. The children have experimented with some script work and improvisation. It is lovely to see children from different year groups working so well together.
Music Club Singing
Art
A warm welcome from the Prep Art Department! We finally have had the kiln repaired and so the children painted their long-awaited Christmas clay projects at the start of the Lent term. I hope they are now stored safely away for next Christmas and when they come out again to spread a little Christmas joy. Many of the children, particularly Year 6, who made robins, have said they are going to keep their little birds outside all year! My Art Club have started their clay chickens this week, it was very messy but great fun!
We have started the new year with a flourish of excitement and energy. Year 3 looked at the artist Mondrian, linking it with their work on maps. Year 4 imagined being explorers, discovering a new minibeast and doing a little printing along the way. Year 5 used Paul Klee and his use of colour line and pattern to explore mixing colours in a large-scale painting and Year 6 were looking at the environmentalist land artist Goldsworthy and creating artwork from found natural resources.
Mrs Mitchell has been busy working with the Lower Prep where they are creating a lovely piece of collaborative Artwork at the entrance to the building. Owls have engraved copper plates using their designs taken from the wildlife found around the school grounds. We are hoping they will hang on a tree branch, whilst gently blowing in the breeze.
What has been going on in
Community and Charity
Break the Rules Day
All pupils were given a card in Club meetings showing the rules that can be broken for a day. We asked for 20p per rule broken (£2 if all ten rules are broken), which were handed in to Club Presidents. We welcomed the return of the Pokémon cards, the fancy hair accessories, the different coloured shoes and coats! Leaving the Dining Hall before 12.30 was very popular, not to mention juice in water bottles and unhealthy snacks! Just remember, it was all for charity!
Activity Break
The Charity Committee worked hard to prepare a selection of ten activities for Upper Prep pupils to enjoy, including target games, guess how many sweets in the jar, biscuit decorating, guess the name of the teddy, lucky dip, bingo and much more! All activities were 50p each.
There were lots of prizes to win, lots of fun had and lots of money raised for The Ronald McDonald House Charity.
For World Book Day, we all embraced the opportunity to dress up as a character from a book. The day started with an assembly for Key Stage 1 and 2 led by Mrs McDougall and Mrs Petrie, it was a fabulous opportunity to get together and share our love of stories. In Lower Prep we took the theme of Traditional Tales and the doorway to each classroom was dressed to reflect the traditional tale the children were going to focus on for the day. The children absolutely loved this, and it really added to the excitement, enjoyment and engagement throughout the day.
Sharing a story with children is one of the highlights of working in a school, at the start of the day the children chose which story they would like to listen to in the afternoon. The photographs show how captivated the children were and sharing these stories was very special. We had an end of day assembly where Nursery and Butterflies joined us all as we wanted to celebrate the fabulous costumes each child was wearing. To this end each class promenaded across the stage to the delight of everyone – adults included here!
We celebrated Culture Day and it was wonderful to see the children dressed in traditional clothes or the colours of a particular country, some were blended with costumes for their assembly! The conversations this has generated between the children has been incredible, children used atlases to locate the different countries, we visited the amazing array of stalls and activities in the Senior School Hall, and we ended the day learning some Latin Fusion dance moves. A fabulous Whole School celebration.
Trips
Year 3 enjoyed an exciting trip to Stansted Airport as part of their Gateways to the World topic. Prior to starting the topic, the children had the opportunity for a Q and A with a British Airways Pilot and were pleased to be able to put some of their questions into context.
The day started with a fascinating talk about the history of Stansted, the role it played during the war and the way it has changed over the years. The pupils were then able to take part in a variety of airport, Geography and STEM related activities.
The pupils were tasked with designing a selfsupporting bridge made from wooden blocks and other experiments to investigate air resistance, lift and gravity. The Xbox flight simulator proved to be very popular as the children had the opportunity to 'land' a variety of aircraft. The role play area was great fun as the children dressed up as pilots and cabin crew and used the aircraft’s seats, PA system and food trolley to conduct their own flights. This was very popular, and it was wonderful to see the children so fully involved in role play.
In the afternoon, we visited the viewing platform to witness the planes taking off and landing. This was hugely exciting as we welcomed a private jet being flown by a retiring pilot who was on their final flight and was met with water cannons provided by the fire service.
This is always a popular topic and very much pupil led as we discover and learn about the world around us.
Space Centre
This Lent term our intrepid Year 5 pupils embarked on an extraordinary voyage beyond our blue planet. Their destination? The National Space Centre, a place where dreams of interstellar travel come alive. The day incorporated a blend of awe-inspiring exhibits, interactive displays, and hands-on activities.
Pupils had the opportunity to explore the various galleries and exhibitions, including the impressive rocket tower. They also completed a workshop on the Earth, Moon and Sun, learning about the movement of our home planet, understanding why day turns into night and how seasons are created. A highlight of the day was the ‘Journey through the Solar System’ planetarium show. During this, pupils were taken to each planet and learnt about its size, temperature, material and many other fascinating features.
Pupils also learnt about the work of famous astronauts, particularly Tim Peake and had the opportunity to explore inside a replica Columbus Module from the International Space Station. The trip was undertaken as the entry point to the new topic on Earth and Space where they also studied a variety of aspects of our Solar System.
Bears
Eight Year 1 and 2 Bear Cubs enjoyed meeting Mrs Waite (Club President of Bears) for lunch. It was wonderful to spend some quality time to familiarise themselves with the Club President, before some of them join Upper Prep in September. Congratulations Lower Prep Bears for winning the club points competition last half term!
The Bears were also filled with a sense of excitement and determination for club singing. After much consideration they chose "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman as their competition piece. This powerful song celebrates self-acceptance, resilience and the importance of embracing one's true self and uniqueness. We very much enjoyed showcasing our hard work on the last day of term!
Bears were eagerly counting down the days until the club trip to Flipout. It promised to be an evening filled with laughter and adventure, alongside plenty of bouncing and eating! The trip was a wonderful opportunity for all Upper Prep Bears to socialize and mingle in a relaxed, informal setting.
Panthers
In Panthers, legacy is very important, and we like to follow the progress of our members, even after they have left the Prep School. We were very excited to see that when next year’s Senior School positions of responsibility were announced, five of the pupils were former Panthers. We were privileged to be visited by three of these ‘Old Panthonians’ this week, and the other two will come to our next meeting. Even better, we were also able to have the Year 1 and Year 2 Panthers visit from the Lower Prep, so we had three ‘generations’ of Panthers all together, which was really special. We congratulated the Senior pupils on their appointments and spoke about how it was only a few years ago that they were in the same position as the current Panthers, and how they can inspire us to aim high when we reach the Senior School.
Lions
In week 6, Lions’ Club meeting was very busy discussing our favourite pancake toppings for Pancake Day, making Love Birds for Valentine’s Day, and choosing our song for the Prep School Club Singing competition!
Top 3 pancake toppings: Nutella, Lemon and sugar and Golden Syrup!
We also decided on our Club Singing song ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift. We have heard there are many parents who are Swifties! We also welcomed our Year 2 lion cubs who came to join us in club. As classic love songs played, pupils enjoyed making colourful Love Birds for family and friends.
With 2024 being a Leap Year, we talked about what this means. There were interesting group conversations about a Leap Year and what it would be like to be a ‘Leapling’ or ‘Leaper’ which is a person who is born on 29th February, and only having a birthday every 4 years!
With an extra day in the year, the pupils discussed what they would choose to do if they had an extra 24 hours. Thoughts were varied and ranged from flying to Florida and enjoying theme park rides, playing video games, sleeping and going to the beach with family and friends!
Spring is not only a beautiful season, but it is associated with youth as it is a time full of energy, newness, and vitality. Every Tuesday, the Lion Cubs are brimming with joy, vigour, and purpose, and are a pleasure to be with.
Tigers
Tigers have been terrifically busy in Club Meetings since the start of term: there have been lots of activities, learning and celebrations. In assembly, Mrs Owen talked to the whole school about British birds and how the pupils could take part in a national bird count.
In Club Meetings, Tigers played 'British Bird Bingo', which was very entertaining and not in the least bit competitive (!). During the session, pupils learnt about the appearance and behaviour of some of the birds we can see in the United Kingdom. Then followed two funny 'True or False' quizzes with lots of fabulous facts and falsehoods about our fantastic, feathered friends.
Following on from another thought-provoking assembly on celebrating differences, Tigers learned about working together when everyone has different skills. To be successful and gain the ever-popular prize of chocolate, the pupils had to collaborate to overcome individual challenges.
Finally, the whole Club celebrated coming 2nd in Club points. With an extremely high average of 103, they were able to enjoy a treat or two, whilst contemplating how they might achieve that particularly elusive 1st place...
Wolves
What a fantastic start to the year we Wolves have had!
We have made a great start with collecting pluses this term, placing top of the leader board two weeks in a row! We are indeed making excellent progress each week and are in touching distance of achieving our hot chocolate treat which I’m sure we will enjoy very soon Well done to everyone!
In January we discussed and wrote New Year’s resolutions and thought about what we want to achieve by the end of 2024 We also learnt our song for the Club Singing competition and it was a great pleasure to see all pupils trying their best and working as a team to prepare for a fantastic performance We also welcomed our Wolf cubs from the Lower Prep to our meeting We shared our Club song with them as well as creating some Valentine’s Day cards for our loved ones.
For Children’s Mental Health Week as a club, we were given the theme of ‘How to take care of each other’s mental health’ We discussed this as a group and wrote down our ideas We agreed that it is really important to check in with our friends to make sure they are OK We talked about calming our friends down when they feel angry or frustrated and making sure we support each other when life feels challenging Lastly, we discussed and shared ideas of how to boost each other up by giving compliments and performing acts of kindness
Jaguars
As we embrace the opportunities and challenges of the current academic year, there's much to share about the remarkable achievements of our pupils both in and out of school.
Last term finished with the fantastic Strictly Come Club Dancing competition. Well done to Bears for winning but I am so proud of our 9 Jaguars girls who came second. The commitment shown by all the dancers over the six weeks was fab-u-lous.
I always love hearing and reading about what our pupils achieve beyond school. Our Club Captain Frankie is a dab hand in the kitchen, and he made an amazing cheesecake.
This term we prepared for Club Music and the fiercely competitive Club Singing too. Other fun also came with the start of the individual Club team building activities.
Jaguars' activity took place this term on Thursday 15th February which happened to coincide with a mufti day, hooray. We went bowling at Hollywood Bowl and had tea.
Outdoor Learning
The weather forecast at the start of Lent Term predicted cold and frosty days – we have certainly had a few of these. The blue sky and sunshine have been wonderful, but we have all been thinking about how tricky it must be for the birds. The children decided to help and have started to make feeders for the birds and hang them on the Christmas tree we had in Lower Prep. This is definitely work in progress but as they say, ‘Every little helps!’
Butterflies had a wonderful time in the Outdoor Learning Area learning how to make and light a fire. The children also enjoyed time in the mud kitchen – thank you Mr P!
Year 4 have relished the opportunity to create their own project files on famous explorers and have absolutely loved their survival training put on by Mr Blakey. They had a fabulous time when they were joined by family members to take part in an Orienteering Challenge. Given the weather in recent weeks, it was a muddy affair, but great fun was had by all.
Gardening Club
The children in gardening club festooned the Christmas tree with cereal chains for the birds and filled the feeders with fat balls. And then came storm Isha quickly followed by storm Jocelyn! The tree has taken a bit of a battering, but the Estates team have been on hand to help us – thank you.
We wanted to set up feeding stations for the birds to help them through the winter but also to attract birds to our grounds in preparation for the Big School Birdwatch.
Dens
In response to the wet weather, Kingfishers and Owls refined their den building skills in the outdoor learning area. We all wondered whether boat building might have been more appropriate! The finished dens were wonderful and as you can see from the photograph the children were justifiably very proud.
What has been going on in
Pastoral
The programme engaged the children to change the attitudes, behaviours, and culture of bullying by building their skills and confidence to address different situations. The pupils were provided with knowledge on how to recognise people who are being bullied and bullying behaviours. They learned about the impact of bullying and the different types that young people and adults can face inside and outside of the school. They were encouraged to make sure the whole school know about the Anti-Bullying Ambassador role: sending a message that our school is committed to tackling bullying behaviour and ensure that pupils know that they can come to them if they are experiencing bullying behaviour or know someone who is. Critically they were encouraged to reach out to those that may be having a difficult time, using positive activities and engaging them in conversation, to carry on the school’s passion for kindness.
Congratulations to all the children who took part - they were enthusiastic and a credit to the School.
Anti Bullying Ambassador Training
10 pupils in Year 6 took part in the AntiBullying Ambassador Programme run by the Diana Award, which took place at City of Peterborough Academy.
My Voice Matters
At the end of last half term, the Prep School embraced the spirit of Children's Mental Health Week with a series of enriching activities designed to promote emotional wellbeing and self-expression. This year's theme, "My Voice Matters," allowed the children to explore the importance of their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in shaping their mental health. In Clubs the children were asked to explore different aspects of this theme and Bears were given the question: "Can you name different feelings?" Armed with felt tips and paper, pupils eagerly set out to express themselves through drawings of emojis representing a wide range of emotions; from joy and excitement to sadness and frustration. The colourful array of emojis reflected the rich tapestry of human feelings. The activity not only fostered creativity and self-expression but also encouraged open dialogue about emotions—a crucial skill for developing emotional intelligence and resilience. By acknowledging and normalizing the full spectrum of emotions, pupils gain valuable tools for navigating life's ups and downs with greater understanding and compassion.
