From Mrs Hall

It has been another exciting and enriching week in the Pre-Prep!

Following on from our focus on reading last week, this week has been National Storytelling week. This has been a wonderful opportunity for the boys to immerse themselves in stories, both as eager listeners and imaginative storytellers. One of the joys of walking through the Pre-Prep is seeing storytelling happening in so many different ways—whether it’s through books, role-play, or the boys’ own creative ideas!

In Monday’s assembly, I spoke to the boys about one of our core values, ‘Excellence’. We explored what it really means to demonstrate excellence—not just by being excellent at something, but through perseverance, effort, and always striving to do our best. ‘Pip the Bird’ helped us understand this, as he demonstrated excellence by not giving up on learning to fly! The boys have since been thinking of ways they, too, can embody excellence in their everyday actions.

A few notices for the week ahead: 

• Next Friday’s Celebration Assembly – Boys should come to school in their PE kits on Friday, as we will be holding a special celebration assembly at 11:15. Please do come and join us.  We will finish for the half-term break at 12:00.
• Creating Calm & Cosy Spaces – If anyone has any old flooring or table lamps that they no longer require, we would love to re-purpose them to create more ambient and inviting spaces within Pre-Prep. Please do get in touch with one of us. 

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. 

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Save the Dates !

Music Groups for Toddlers and Babies
Don't forget our toddler music group, Musical Shells and our Little Shells play sessions for pre-schoolers. We encourage you to spread the word to friends and family - all our welcome! (see flyers at the bottom of this newsletter).

Saturday 8 February	09:00-10:00	Pilgrims' Parley, Pilgrims' Hall
Friday 14 February	11:15-12:00	Pre-Prep Celebration Assembly
Friday 28 February	15:00-15:30	Pre-Prep Cathedral Assembly; parents welcome.
Friday 7 March	19:00	PPA Quiz Night (book on My School Portal)
Saturday 8 March	09:00	Pilgrims' Parley, The Octagon (sign up on My School Portal)

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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.}

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards this week:

Year 2: to Arthur J for his excellence: his focus and perseverance in Maths.
Year 1: to Tomas for making brilliant progress in joining ALL his letters together when writing. Well done, Tomas!
Reception: to Artie for working hard to improve his handwriting and spelling by listening and acting upon the advice given.

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Reception

Hibernation has been our 'Winter wonder' for this week in Reception Class.  The boys have learnt more about what this actually is, which animals hibernate, why animals hibernate and where these animals might hibernate.  It has been a very interesting topic of discussion and valuable internet resources have been used to answer the boys' questions, such as, 'How can they stay asleep all this time?'  'Do foxes actually hibernate or not?'

With hibernation in mind, we also chatted about George the tortoise hibernating and when he may start to stir from his 'big sleep'.

Mrs Sarah Huntley
Reception Teacher

Year 1

English – writing our story!
After weeks of investigating, thinking, planning and reviewing their ideas, Year 1 are finally at the point where they are writing their whole story inspired by “The Knight Who Wouldn’t Fight”. All boys have chosen the format that they would like their story to be set out in and have started the task of bringing all their ideas together. So far, we all have a captivating story start, a description of our knight character and the build up of the story. Next week, as per our story mountain planning format, we shall tackle the problem of the mythical creature that wants to fight their knight, followed by the resolution and the ending to the story. We shall also be designing our front cover and binding our story into a book. This will be a tremendous achievement for Year 1, and we look forward to sharing the books with you when the time comes.

In other news, the boys are thrilled with the snakes they sewed for Chinese New Year last week. It proved to be a motivating English task when the boys are asked to write about their snakes using adjectives. Some boys were keen to wear their snakes whilst completing their writing. Thankfully, the snakes were as well-behaved as the boys!

Mrs Victoria Ford
Year 1 Teacher
 

Year 2

In Maths, we have embarked on learning about multiplication and division. 

Reminder: each boy has his own log in for Times Tables Rock Stars so he can practise any time!

Times Tables Rock Stars – Times Tables Rock Stars (ttrockstars.com)

 

Forest School

The 2^nd February was national hedgehog day, and with this in mind, I chatted to the boys in Year R where they thought many of our smaller animals and insects spent their time during the winter months. After having a look for some suitable homes around the Pilgrims’ garden, the boys had a go at trying to make their own safe and warm hiding place for their little insect. We even tested them to see if they were waterproof!

At this time of year it is very important that our birds have a good supply of food. This week, Year 1 took the responsibility of making some fat balls and Cherrio garlands for the birds to enjoy. Our new outdoor classroom provides a lovely, calm space to watch the birds from.

The boys in Year 2 learned about the freezing process of water and how we could use this to make some wonderful artwork. Care was taken collecting some interesting natural items and these were carefully placed into some containers. The containers were then filled with water and placed in the freezer. Next week the magic will be revealed, so make sure you look out for our ephemeral artwork in Pilgrims’ garden!

Mrs Fiona Walker
Forest School and LAMDA Teacher

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