From Mrs Hall:

It was wonderful to see so many families enjoying time together outdoors, exploring, creating and making special memories. Thank you for taking the time to join us—it was a lovely morning. I am also enormously grateful to Mrs Walker, the Catering Team, and the entire Pre-Prep staff for their energy, creativity, and dedication in making the event such a success.

On Tuesday evening, we also welcomed parents to our Positive Parenting Evening. Thank you to everyone who attended. We hope you found the session both informative and reassuring and came away with some practical tips and ideas to support family life at home. We are always delighted to be able to offer opportunities for parents to come together and continue the partnership between home and school.

Looking Ahead to Next Week
The PPA Book Sale will take place on Tuesday 23 June. The stall will be open: 3.45pm immediately after school and at 4.30pm after Judo and after-school care.

Our Year 2 boys will once again be putting their entrepreneurial skills to good use by helping to run the sale. They did a fantastic job during the recent plant sale, and we're sure they'll be just as enthusiastic and capable with this event. We hope to see lots of you there to support them and perhaps pick up a few summer reads!

Please note that there will be no swimming next week, as the leisure centre is hosting a special event and the pool is unavailable.

We wish you all a wonderful weekend and look forward to another exciting week in the Pre-Prep.

(See below for photos)

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Save the Dates !

Diary dates for next half-term appear below. Remember the whole school diary is displayed on My School Portal here:

The Pilgrims' School – Whole School Diary

Saturday 27 June	0830-0930 1630		Wellbeing Matters 'Live' Staff and Parents Cricket Match
Tuesday 30 June			New Boys' Day
Wednesday 1 July	1900-2000		Pre-Prep Introduction Meeting for Parents
Friday 3 July	1600-1700 1700-1900		Pre-Prep and Lower Prep LAMDA Showcase Summer Art and D&T Exhibition
Monday 6 July	0815-0845 1330-1500		Open Classrooms Pre-Prep Sports Day
Tuesday 7 July	0815-0845 0915-1545		Open Classrooms Pre-Prep Trip to Meon Shore
Wednesday 8 July	1500-1530 1545		Celebration Assembly Term ends for Pre-Prep

Notices

Menus are available here on My School Portal. 
^{Reminder: no food is to be brought into the school and/or given to boys at any time, especially at sign-out.}

Upcoming Events

 

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Shell awards:

Year R - Kai for his positive attitude towards school and staying to after-school clubs confidently!

Year 1 - to Maxi for saying "yes" to classroom jobs with a positive attitude and a smile.  Well done, Maxi!

Year 2 - to Felix for growing in confidence and finding his voice.

 

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Year 2 

Events of the Week – This week, our work on ocean pollution has continued. In English, we looked at the beautiful book Dear Earth by Isabel Otter and Clara Anganuzzi. Inspired by its message of caring for our planet, we reflected on our own hopes and dreams for the future. The boys chose the place in the world they would most like to explore and explained their reasons, developing their ideas by describing what they would like to do and discover there.

Our writing activities provided excellent opportunities to develop key grammatical skills, including the use of verbs, conjunctions and commas. The boys worked hard to expand their sentences and make their writing more detailed and engaging.

For Topic, we embarked on our own "Galápagos Islands" adventure around the school grounds. The boys became naturalists, just like Charles Darwin, carefully observing and recording the plants, insects and wildlife found around the river and Bower House. They showed great curiosity and enthusiasm as they explored the natural world and considered the importance of protecting habitats and reducing pollution.

In Maths, we have continued to develop our understanding of time, including telling the time to the nearest five minutes and solving problems involving time. We have also begun our new unit on statistics, where the boys have been learning how to collect, organise and interpret data using tally charts, tables and bar charts. These are important mathematical skills that help us understand and present information clearly.

The boys should be proud of the enthusiasm, curiosity and effort they have shown across all areas of the curriculum.

​Mrs Maxine Kent
Year 2 Teacher

 

Year 1

Thinking Skills – Take One Picture
One of the final learning projects we are undertaking in Year 1 is focused on our thinking skills through Take One Picture. This is a long-running learning programme created by the National Gallery that encourages schools to use a single artwork as the starting point for rich, cross-curricular learning.

The principle is simple: children spend time looking closely at one painting and use it as a stimulus for enquiry, discussion, creativity and investigation. Rather than being told information immediately, pupils are encouraged to observe carefully, ask questions, make connections, think deeply and follow their own lines of enquiry. The artwork then becomes a springboard into subjects such as art, history, geography, literacy, science, mathematics, philosophy and even technology.

This year’s painting is A Muse (Calliope?) by Cosimo Tura from the National Gallery collection. The boys began by examining small, zoomed-in sections of the painting before gradually revealing more of the artwork and sharing their thoughts using the Look, Think, Imagine, Talk strategy. The emphasis has been very much on enquiry and deep thinking; there are no right or wrong answers, but the boys are encouraged to explain and justify their ideas. This approach has led to some wonderful discussions and a huge range of thoughtful questions. We have also used these questions as an opportunity to practise writing question marks accurately. So far, the scallop shell, the golden sea creatures, and the jewels and pearls have particularly captured the boys’ imaginations.

This week, our investigation of the painting has led us to focus on the scallop shell at the top. Why is it there? What exactly is a scallop shell? How is a pearl made? These were just some of the many fascinating questions that emerged from our enquiry. We have taken to investigating a variety of shells. The boys first described them through touch alone, without being able to see them, before adding to our growing bank of adjectives and similes once they were able to observe them more closely.

We also explored how to use images to search the internet and identify different types of shells. The boys developed their skills in taking carefully focused photographs with the iPads and worked hard to ensure they took just one clear image of each shell (as we can sometimes get a little trigger-happy with the camera function!). They then learned how to use these photographs to search online and discover the names of the shells they had investigated.

We were delighted to discover that our classroom collection includes a dolphin shell, a clam, several scallop shells of different sizes, a sea conch, a dog sea conch, a muffin land snail shell, an orange spider conch, a speckled Cerith, a murex shell and a Florida horse conch.

As this is a completely pupil-led enquiry, we will continue to follow their interests and allow their questions and curiosity to determine where our learning takes us next.

Summer term winners already – Ralph, Joshua, Minghao, William, Hammie, Henry R

Mrs Victoria Ford
Year 1 Teacher

 

Reception

What a busy and productive week we have had in Reception! From our Father's Morning Forest School session to the whole-school photograph, there has certainly been plenty happening. Every week now seems to bring something a little different to our usual timetable, and the boys have risen to each change with calmness, resilience and maturity. We are so proud of how adaptable they have become, embracing new experiences with enthusiasm and confidence.

Our Father's Morning Forest School was a wonderful opportunity for the boys to share their outdoor learning with their families. It was lovely to see everyone working together, exploring the woodland environment and creating special memories. Thank you to all those who were able to join us.

In the classroom, the boys have continued to work hard across all areas of learning. They have shown increasing independence in their activities, demonstrated excellent listening skills and taken great pride in their achievements. Whether completing challenges, collaborating with friends or persevering with new tasks, they have approached the week with positivity and determination.

Our focus text this week has been Little Hotchpotch by Brian Patten and Michael Terry. This delightful story celebrates imagination and creativity through a mixed-up animal made from the heads and bodies of different creatures. Inspired by the book, the boys worked with a partner to create their own Little Hotchpotches. One partner drew the head of an animal, folded the paper over so it could not be seen, and then their partner completed the body. The results were very funny! From a "Giraffapo" to a "Hedgehorse", the boys created some wonderfully unusual creatures and thoroughly enjoyed sharing them with their friends. There was much laughter as we revealed each creation. Over the coming week, we will be using our imaginative animals as inspiration for our writing.

As we move towards the end of term, there are still plenty of exciting events and learning opportunities ahead. We look forward to see to what week will bring!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Sarah Huntley
Reception Teacher
 

Father's Day in the Woods