From Mrs Hall

This special time of year marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year. In our Monday assembly we also introduced the concept of forgiveness, a key aspect of both Rosh Hashanah and building strong friendships.

We have continued to think about what it means to be a good friend. The boys are learning that being a friend involves kindness, patience, and understanding. They are also learning the important lesson of forgiveness—that friends might make mistakes sometimes, but it’s how we handle these moments that can strengthen our bonds. The boys are discovering that forgiving others when mistakes are made is a key part of friendship and helps everyone move forward in a positive way. They are learning the importance of taking turns, waiting patiently, and saying 'I'm sorry' or 'I forgive you' when needed. These skills not only help their social development but also lay the foundation for nurturing deep and meaningful relationships with their peers. The concept of using kind hands, kind feet, and kind words is becoming a key part of our culture within the Pre-Prep. The boys are building an understanding of the importance of being gentle, respectful, and considerate in their interactions with others.  We encourage you to please reinforce these ideas at home by discussing with your sons what it means to be a good friend, the importance of forgiveness, and how they can continue using kind hands, kind feet, and kind words in their interactions both at school and at home.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Sarah Hall
Head of Pre-Prep

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Shell Awards this week:

Year 2: to Ben H for making great progress and always striving to do his best.
Year 1: to Rory for his fantastic attitude to being part of a team within the classroom. Well done, Rory!
Reception: Artie for good listening and working very hard on his unaided independent skills.

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Save the Dates !

Monday 14 October	1600-1800	Year 2 Parents' Evening (booking available on My School Portal.)
Friday 18 October	all day	Year 1 trip to Winchester Science Centre
Saturday 19 October	0815-0915	Wellbeing Matters Live 1: talk for parents in the Octagon
Monday 21 October	1600-1800 1830-2030	Reception and Year 1 Parents' Evening Year 3 Parents' Evening
Tuesday 22 October	1500	Pre-Prep Celebration Assembly - all welcome Half-term break begins
Monday 4 November	0830	School resumes

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Notices

After School Club and Commoners pickup times: Please remember to collect your sons promptly, either at 1630 when After School Club ends, or at 1800 when Supper Club ends. 

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.}

Music Group for Toddlers
Don't forget our new toddler music group, Musical Shells.  For more details, please refer to the link on our website and our recent Social posts. We encourage you to spread the word to friends and family!  Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. 

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Reception news

This week, boys in Reception Class have been exploring 'measure and patterns' in their Maths-focused sessions.  First, conkers were looked at to compare size and long snake-like creatures were created, showing how the size of conkers either got larger or smaller.  

This time of year can really lend itself to finding Autumnal items while out and about. These can then be used to create size order patterns/pictures. Leaves, conkers, acorns, fir cones, to name a few, can all be valuable learning resources. You might like to have a go at this at home?

Every afternoon just after lunchtime play, the boys come into class for some 'calm, relaxing, drawing, reading or watching time'.  This is a session where the boys can unwind after a busy playtime and reset for the afternoon.  Drawing and colouring is proving to be very popular. Some amazing, imaginative pictures have been created. Pencil, pen and mark-making skills are starting to progress well with the encouragement of holding the pen/pencil/mark-making implement using 'froggy legs OR birdy beak' in the tripod grip (between thumb and index finger with the pen resting on the middle finger underneath). It can be tricky at first, but with practise and perseverance it will come more naturally. There are stages of pencil grip which you might like to explore further. Developing fine motor strength is important and any activities that work on this is recommended, such as pegging clothes on a line, placing small implements into pots using tweezers, manipulating playdoh or threading beads onto laces.

Enjoy your weekend.

Mrs Sarah Huntley
Reception Class Teacher

 

Year 1 news

The Zones of Regulation teach boys that 'big' feelings are okay. We all feel those emotions sometimes. But, what can we do to overcome those 'big' feelings and get back to feeling better?

If we feel 'out of sorts', we are not in a position to learn effectively. Boys need to be in the GREEN zone, feeling happy, calm and focused to be ready to learn. We have talked a lot about what we can do at school to be GREEN.

The Colour Monster helped us to discuss different feelings and the colours that might be linked to those feelings. When the Colour Monster feels “out of sorts”, he feels a complete mixture of colours… some boys said they feel like this when they feel excited or tired or worried.

In the classroom, we have a Calm Space that the boys can be invited to visit by members of staff if it is noticed that they are not feeling GREEN. Boys can also ask to spend some time in the Calm Space if they notice they are out of the GREEN zone. In the Calm Space there are various things that might help us find our calm again, from white lego bricks for calm construction to sensory balls and finger puppets for busy fingers. We also have rugs and cushions that some boys like to lie under and feel the weight of them to find their calm. We have practised breathing and following a directed rhythm to take us back into the GREEN zone.

Teaching boys to be aware of these emotions and to connect them to a colour helps them to express themselves more clearly. With practise, it will help them feel more confident to find their own ways to getting back to feeling GREEN.

If you want to know more about the Zones of Regulation, this video sums it up well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rk7sAJvaoo

Also this week, the boys particularly enjoyed learning about an astronaut’s space suit. They were all engrossed in drawing their own spacesuit and labelling the features that we learnt about through Tim Peake.

Mrs Victoria Ford
Year 1 Teacher

 

Year 2 news

All in a day's work
The boys in Year 2 have turned into authors writing their own fairy tales with a twist:

'One thousand years ago in space there was a Big Bang!'

'In a distant forest there was a colossal beanstalk.'

They worked hard to use interesting adjectives, so the bean stalks are not just big, but 'gigantic' or 'colossal.

In Maths, they have been working hard on place value, extending their knowledge. We had fun making number lines on the floor, with ten increments. It’s funny how asking the boys to write somewhere different adds a totally different element to the level or engagement and learning! 

And we mustn’t forget George. Working with a partner, the boys looked up some interesting facts about tortoises. They discovered George’s cousins live in the Galapagos Islands, what is their Latin family name and just how long they can live for.

We continued the theme during Crafting Commoner with Year 1, and had fun making tortoise bunting. We drew our very own tortoises, taking care of some mindful colouring, designing some wonderfully colourful shells. 

Mrs Maxine Kent
Year 2 Teacher

 

Forest School

Year R had such fun creating their own pets this week in the form of a ‘Log Dog’. The boys learnt how to tie an open clove hitch knot, which is a knot used widely at Forest School. With support, the boys were able to tie this knot around a stick, thus making a lead for their stick. They then enjoyed adding on some details, such as eyes and ears, before taking their pet on an adventurous walk.

The autumn colours are starting to appear, and the beautiful leaves provide us with a wonderful creative resource. This week, the boys in Year 1 learnt how to create a stopper knot and used this knot to help them create some wonderful leaf hangings. Some of the boys tried to think about following a pattern when threading their leaves.

The colourful leaves were also our inspiration in Year 2. Using our knot skills again, the boys learnt how to create a leaf mobile using a stick and an open clove hitch knot. We were then able to hang these in the arboretum to create some autumn tree decorations, helping us celebrate this beautiful season.

 

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From the PPA

 

 

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