From Mrs Hall

The boys have all participated in some great adventures whilst enjoying the beautiful spring sunshine. Reception had a wonderful time visiting Manor Farm and learnt a great deal. Year 1 has produced some amazing artwork; their blossom paintings are beautiful! Year 2 have thoroughly engrossed themselves in capacity activities and using prepositions in their writing! On Wednesday afternoon, Christ Church delivered a fun Easter assembly. Our last STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) club was also well attended with some ‘eggcellent’ Easter egg rolling (sorry!). The boys have demonstrated such great teamwork by collaborating and negotiating some tricky concepts. STEAM will continue to be celebrated next week with the Junior and Year 2 STEAM Day on Monday. The year 2 boys are very excited!

There are no commoners on Tuesday and pick up will be at 1545, or if your son usually attends After School Club, then 1630. There is NO supper club next Tuesday.

Thank you for all your support this term. It has certainly been another memorable one and let’s hope for a glorious upcoming Summer Term. May I wish you and your families a peaceful and happy Easter break.

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards

Year 2 - to Keijiro for his hard work and perseverance.
Year 1 - to James for his clear and careful counting and for working well with his partner in our investigations. Well done, James!
Year R - to the whole of Reception for their outstanding behaviour, enthusiasm and engagement whilst at Manor Farm.

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Save the Dates!

Monday 25 March	Pre-Prep Open Classroom 0815 - 0845
Tuesday 26 March	Pre-Prep Open Classroom 0815 End of term 1545
Monday 22 April	School resumes

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Notices

Menus for next week 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.}

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From the PPA

Book club is now reading ‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell.  An electrifying novel set in Renaissance Italy, based on the true story of Lucrezia de Medici who at 15 was forced by her parents to marry the older Duke of Ferrara thus merging two dynasties. It is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.

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Year 2

In Year 2 this week, we have moved onto studying capacity and volume. You are never too old to enjoy playing with water! After initial investigations, the boys settled into measuring, understanding the need for accuracy when using a standard measurement. This continued through both morning and lunch playtime. It was great to overhear the boys chatting about how many litres they had in their container, which held the most water, or whose container was three quarters full/ half empty. Parents, is it half empty or half full - what do you say? 

Please do encourage this curiosity at home. Why not ask your son to measure out the milk needed for the pancakes, for example?

As the term comes to a close, it would be amiss of us not to share with you some of our favourite photos and memories from our trip to The Hawk Conservancy.

Mrs Kent 
Year 2 Teacher

Year 1

Measuring
Over the last two weeks, our maths focus has been measuring. Length and height have been investigated along with mass and volume. At this stage in their learning, the boys focus on measuring with an object like cubes or paper clips. We have discussed why the object has to be the same, which helps them to understand a standard unit of measurement. More of which will be introduced as we move through the topic.

We had great fun investigating the length and height of various objects with cubes. Mr Rainer passed through our classroom and suddenly found himself being measured! 96 cubes tall, if anyone was wondering! The same joy was found when measuring the mass of objects in the classroom. Rubbers, scissors, pencils, books and water bottles were all investigated to find out their mass in cubes. Making the scales balanced was the aim. Careful hands were definitely required! Our counting skills were seriously put to the test with the heavier objects like water bottles, as all cubes had to be counted carefully.

Mrs Ford
Year 1 Teacher

Year R

The drizzly weather did not spoil the fabulous time we had this week at Manor Farm, located in the River Hamble Country Park. The boys were kitted out in their waterproofs and were very excited to head off on the minibus for the first time on their school trip! Upon arrival, we were greeted by Farmer Chris and Farmer Ali who led our day.

We started with an introduction to the farm where the safety rules were explained. The first activity was then eagerly approached. Eggs had been dropped from Farmer Chris' bag in the grass, and we needed to find all the eggs for him. Everyone managed to find two each! Next was an activity where eggs needed to be placed on the correct animal picture if this animal laid eggs. There were a few tricky cards to think about, such as a frog and a Daddy duck. The boys got the frog right! A few random eggs also found their way onto a horse card. We chatted about which animals lay eggs and which do not.

After time was spent in the cabin, we headed off around the farm with Farmer Chris leading the way. We saw the chickens and learnt how to speak cockerel and turkey! A very funny experience! Ask your son how we did this and to demonstrate it. They actually spoke back!

The cows, sheep and piglets were fascinating to watch and to learn more about. Ginger the sow had fairly recently given birth to some piglets. Four lambs were also born over the weekend and were warming up under a heat lamp. So very sweet.

Feeding the goats was a real highlight. They were tickly, funny, and very greedy! Farmer Chris told us all their names. The one with a curly horn is called Hector.

Other afternoon activities included:

• Learning more about food-to-table, fruit and vegetables
• Exploring pollination
• Grinding wheat into flour
• Planting a sunflower seed
• Milking a cow and goat (not real ones!) Poor Macarthur got a bit wet!
• Meeting the alpacas
• Revving the tractor engine
• Learning about poo! Various shapes and sizes!
• Exploring the old Victorian Farm Cottage and how life was so different in the past
• Churning cream into butter
• And lastly.... pumping water from the well!

What a fun packed day!  We did so much and learnt a great deal about farming, growth, life in the past and how to care for animals and plants. It was a fabulous trip. The boys' listening, attention, question asking and answering were superb, not to mention the enthusiasm and willingness to join in. What a pleasure it was to take your sons on their first minibus class trip! 

This is a great day out for all the family too, if you fancy it over the Easter break.

Mrs Huntley
Reception Teacher

 

Forest School

Year R discovered how tiring building a nest can really be. After chatting about the structure and purpose of a nest, the boys were encouraged to build their nest using only their thumb and index finger as an imaginary beak. Once the main structure was created, time was spent making it as comfortable and as cosy as possible. The boys proudly placed their decorated eggs in them.

Mrs Walker
Forest School Leader