R24430 WBH Bulletin #2

Westbrook Hay Bulletin

DECEMBER 2024

This September we welcomed a record number of children into our Year 7 cohort. Eighteen pupils moving on from our Prep into Seniors were joined by eight girls and eight boys from local primary and prep schools.

Prior to the start of the academic year the school hosted events which

ensured that pupils knew each other and forged some friendships before the summer break.

A trip to Pizza Express in the late spring, followed by one to Thorpe Park in June, alongside a Senior Taster Day in school allowed the cohort to bond ahead of the academic year.

Sport continues to be an important part of the curriculum in Seniors. Following our ‘Sport For All programme’, pupils have had a busy schedule of matches against local state and independent schools.

In September we hosted our first U12 Girls’ Football Festival. Over 100 girls from nine different senior schools competed in this inaugural event, where there were talented performances and team spirit on display.

For Westbrook Hay, the highlight was our nail-biting penalty shoot-out in the final playoff game. All the girls took a penalty kick, with Myiah proving the hero making a great diving save down low to her right to seal our win and an eventual 5th place.

In late September Year 7 enjoyed a residential trip to Kent. In a visit which supports their Medieval Realms syllabus, looking at a variety of different monarchs, battles and events from 1066 to 1485, the pupils had an opportunity to tour Canterbury Cathedral and visit the spot on which Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered. Our pupils impressed the tour guides with insightful questions and good subject knowledge, and were truly awed by the scale of the building and its history. The following day the group visited Hastings Battlefield, where King Harold Godwinson fought Duke William of Normandy for the throne of England. Mr Baird expertly led the pupils through the site of the battle, giving them first hand experience of what attacking uphill might feel like. The consensus was that it was exhausting!

As well as matches in this term’s core sport, football, senior pupils have also enjoyed fixtures in a range of other sports, including golf, waterpolo, table tennis and badminton.

Our pupils impressed the tour guides with insightful questions.

Hero Myiah makes another great save!

The group were awed by the scale of the Cathedral. Our golfers won 4-2 against Swanbourne House School.

Westbrook Hay Bulletin

DECEMBER 2024

Pupils in Year 7 and Year 8 follow the Pre-Senior Baccalaureate, a skills-based assessment model which values skills and attributes which are needed for success beyond the classroom. Through PSB our pupils have an opportunity to develop their core skills alongside our robust academic curriculum. By integrating both academic curriculum and core skills we hope that our pupils’ experience is enriched with life long skills which can be transferred well beyond Westbrook Hay.

PSB Core Skills

Each term pupils enjoy a PSB Enrichment Day where they put their skills into practice. This term Year 8 took part in a Motion Capture and Physical Performance Day with industry professional Robin Berry. Pupils built their confidence inhabiting a character with their whole body, whilst learning more about the technical aspects of film making. The children had a session on Motion Capture and experimented with Quadruped movement, using arm extenders to create creatures and taking inspiration from films such as Planet of the Apes.

More recently, many of our senior pupils have put themselves forward as part of the audition process for our 2025 Senior Production, Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang. In what will be a busy term, we are also looking forward to taking senior pupils on an international residential trip to Rome and the Bay of Naples in the final week of the spring term.

Through PSB pupils have an opportunity to develop their core skills alongside our robust academic curriculum.

In October Year 7 took part in a PSB STEM Day. Working in small teams, the pupils had to use their core skills in tasks such as shelter building, making ropes out of plastic bags, working out survival rations and communication.

Thinking and Learning Communication

Collaboration

Leadership Reflective Learner Independence

Pupils working in a team designing their own shelters.

Pupils built their confidence inhabiting a character with their whole body, using arm extenders to replicate quadruped movement.