Pre-Prep News, Friday 13 March

Another busy week in Pre-Prep - read more to find out what we've been up to!

From Mrs Hall:

What an amazing Book Celebration Day we had! It was wonderful to see such an array of words, from ‘balloon’, ‘saucepan’ and ‘onomatopoeia’ to ‘carpenter’, just to name a few. We started the day with a special assembly where each boy displayed his chosen word and explained which book it came from, sharing how reading can introduce us to such a rich and varied vocabulary and develop into a lifelong hobby.

Later, we enjoyed a lovely Mother’s Day celebration in the woods with our mummies. A big thank you to Mrs Walker for all her hard work in setting up and organising such a wonderful afternoon for us all.

The week culminated in the Pre-Prep and Lower Prep Set Quiz. There were so many heart-warming interactions as the boys sat in their set groups, with a representative from each year group. There were four rounds, ranging from geographical questions to identifying famous people as LEGO figures! Lots of new knowledge was learnt, as well as wonderful social connections being made across the year groups.

My favourite fact from the morning: a baby echidna is called a puggle! Please do ask your sons about their learning from this morning.

Another huge thank you to Mrs Ford and Mrs Hunter for organising such a fun event.

Next week is our final week of this busy term. On Monday and Tuesday mornings we have our Open Classrooms 0815-0845, an opportunity for you to share in your sons’ learning. We will end the term with our Celebration Assembly, which will begin at 2.45pm on Friday (this is slightly earlier than planned and advertised due to other events taking place that afternoon). We hope to see you there! The end of term finish will be at 3.45pm, Street Dance will run as usual and After-School Care will finish at 4.30pm as there will be NO supper club on Friday evening.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

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Save the Dates !

Monday 16 March	0815-0845	Open Classrooms, all welcome
Tuesday 17 March	0815-0845	Open Classrooms, all welcome
Friday 20 March	1445-1545 19:00	Red Nose Day Pre-Prep Celebration Assembly and term ends for Pre-Prep (Prep School term ends for Y4-8 Saturday 21 March) PPAEvent: Race Night from 7pm ** EVENT POSTPONED**
Monday 20 April	0830	First day of Summer term

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.}

Reminder:

Term ends for Pre-Prep at 15:45	Friday 20 March
Term ends for Prep School (Day boys 12:00; Boarders 12:45)	Saturday 21 March

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Shell awards:

Year R - Louis for being sensible, interested and ready to learn more on our class trip.

Year 1 - Henry R for all the hard work he is putting in to his handwriting at the moment. Well done, Henry!

Year 2 - Skerdi, for his curiosity and enthusiasm for learning

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Upcoming Events

FOR ALL OPEN DAY ENQUIRIES CLICK HERE

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Year 1

Our celebration of World Book Day
The week started with a bang as we were all in our costumes for a grand celebration of books. The class were full of energy and enthusiasm to discuss their favourite books and share the reasons for their costumes. Books feel even more like imaginative adventures when you can become one of the characters from them.

Lego in another form
Year 1 have a new resource in the classroom in the form of Lego Dots.

These are small decorative tiles and pieces designed for making patterns. In a classroom, they’re surprisingly useful because they combine creativity, fine motor skills and learning activities. Handling the tiny tiles will help the boys to strengthen finger control and hand-eye coordination, which supports writing and other classroom tasks.

Because placing the tiles is repetitive and tactile, it is also calming and mindful. The boys have enjoyed the Challenge Job of creating their own spring flower using the Dots and I enjoyed seeing the various creative approaches.

They have been mature in their approach to a fiddly task and careful when choosing the different coloured tiles.

Cookery Club – Pizza tarts

What a fun week! There was so much learning to capture. Our cookery session involved not only cooking but also maths and science skills. The boys measured, halved and quartered pastry, used pastry brushes, and practised the bridge-hold to cut toppings safely just like real chefs.

It was lovely to see the care taken when placing the puff pastry frame around the base and organising the toppings, with plenty of flair when sprinkling the thyme!

Mrs Victoria Ford
Year 1 Teacher

Reception

Last Friday, the boys, Mrs Anderson, Miss Keen and I enjoyed a wonderful trip to the Weald and Downland Living Museum in Singleton. Although the weather was rather cold and very rainy, it certainly did not dampen our spirits, and we had a fantastic day full of learning and exploration linked to our theme 'Houses and Homes through Traditional Tales'.

During the visit, the boys took part in two engaging workshops. The first was linked to the traditional tale of The Three Little Pigs. In this session, the boys experimented to discover which type of house would be the strongest. They explored different building materials and completed activities that involved bonding bricks, building strong homes for animals and completing predictions about materials that would float or sink. Along the way, they learnt exciting new vocabulary such as density and thatch, helping them to understand why some materials are stronger and more suitable for building with than others.

As we explored the museum grounds, the boys also looked at several olden-day homes and discovered what they were made from, including traditional materials such as wattle and daub. They observed how houses have changed over time, noticing how ceilings in earlier homes were often very high and black due to smoke rising and gradually realising how they became lower in later buildings. The boys were also fascinated to learn how chimneys used to be placed in the middle of a room with nothing around it to keep people safe, before later designs moved them to designated chimney and hearth areas with many more safety measures! They were also very clear about the fact that the houses did not have any lights or any electricity.

In the second workshop, the boys became history detectives as they explored artefacts from the past. They carefully examined a variety of household objects and discussed how these relate to the items we use today. Together, they compared older and modern versions of everyday objects such as kettles, washing machines, hoovers, irons, hot water bottles and weighing scales. It was wonderful to see them making connections between life in the past and the world they know today.

We had a really great day and the boys were very well-behaved throughout the trip, making us all very proud of them. They especially enjoyed spending time together outside the school environment and sharing new experiences with their friends.

If you have never been before, I would highly recommend a family visit to The Weald and Downland Living Museum during the holidays, when even more houses and buildings can be explored. It is a fascinating place to learn about how people lived in the past and a fantastic day out for all ages. Find out more here: What’s On & Seasonal Activities | Weald & Downland Living Museum. I hope you all have a lovely Mothering Sunday weekend.

Mrs Sarah Huntley
Reception Teacher

Year 2

On Monday we celebrated World Book Day with our wonderful 'Dress as a Word' theme. The boys showed fantastic creativity and imagination, bringing vocabulary to life with a range of clever and colourful costumes. The accessories really brought the costumes to life — from wands to a real chisel and hammer, and even the BFG’s fart machine, which had staff doing double-takes as they walked through the Year 2 classroom! It was a joy to see such enthusiasm for words and reading across the school.

Thank you to Mr Buck, who also visited on Tuesday, to give an engaging talk about African wildlife and conservation. He began by assessing the boys’ knowledge of South Africa, with Skerdi quickly impressing everyone by naming two of its capitals. This led to a discussion about what conservation means, with the boys suggesting that it means looking after, protecting and preserving the natural world.

Mr Buck then set the boys the task of researching facts about Africa’s Big Five – the elephant, black and white rhino, lion, leopard and African buffalo. He finished by introducing them to an inspiring group of women known as The Black Mambas, an anti-poaching unit who patrol the reserve perimeter for 24 hours a day. Thanks to their incredible work, no rhinos have been killed by poachers in their area in the last five years. Read more here: Black Mambas - Helping Rhinos : Helping Rhinos

The talk clearly inspired the boys, with Macarthur enthusiastically declaring, “I want to be a Black Mamba!” What an inspiring visit — thank you so much, Mr Buck.

In Maths, the boys have also been developing their measuring skills, starting with small classroom objects before moving on to measuring larger spaces using metre sticks and trundle wheels. It has been a great opportunity to practise a practical skill used in everyday life — just as I explained when buying my car and needing to measure carefully to make sure it would fit up my narrow driveway!

*(The boys have been using the IT-based program Purple Mash to create detailed drawings of birds of prey. Maximilian was incredibly proud of how he used particular lines to represent the quills on the secretary bird’s head, showing great attention to detail. It was wonderful to see the boys combine creativity with learning, reinforcing their knowledge, from our recent trip, of these magnificent birds while developing their digital skills.