From Mrs Hall

Our Year 2 boys have been absolutely fascinated by their topic work on Africa. We were incredibly lucky to have Mr Buck and Will (Year 3) visit us to talk about ‘The Big 5’ and share how The Black Mambas group has been working tirelessly to protect rhinos in South Africa. Their enthusiasm and knowledge truly inspired the boys, sparking some fantastic discussions.

Year 1 enjoyed an enjoyable trip to Portchester Castle last week. They explored the historic site with great curiosity and excitement, and it was a joy to hear their reflections on the adventure.

Meanwhile, Reception have been diving deeper into their spring-themed learning through exploration and curiosity, embracing every classroom activity with enthusiasm. It’s wonderful to see their confidence and independence continue to grow! The duck eggs are still rotating nicely, with 11 days left to incubate—an exciting countdown for us all!

Working with the boys always brings a smile to my face—especially this morning, when I overheard a heartwarming moment as one Year 1 boy kindly complimented another. A lovely reminder of the kindness and support we so often see amongst them!

Save the Date – Mother’s Day in the Woods
We are excited to invite our Pre-Prep mothers to a special Mother’s Day in the Woods event. Please save the date, Thursday 27^th March and look out for invitations next week!

Winchester Books Festival
We are delighted to share details of the upcoming Winchester Books Festival, which takes place on 25th–27th April. There are a number of fantastic children’s events, most of them free, with a special session featuring Maz Evans. The festival aims to make literature accessible and enjoyable for all families. You can find more details here, and we encourage you to take a look!

 

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Shell awards:

Reception: to Henry B for his confident approach in Maths and showing great progress.
Year 1: to Willoughby for his active engagement and sensible attitude on our class trip to Portchester Castle.
Year 2: to James T for his outstanding effort with his handwriting.

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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 preschoolers. We encourage you to spread the word to friends and family - all are welcome! (see flyers at the bottom of this newsletter).

Friday 21 March	tba	PPA Book Sale in the Yard
Wednesday 26 March	All day	Reception trip to Manor Farm
Thursday 27 March	tba	Pre-Prep Mother's Day in the Woods
Friday 28 March	15:30/16:30	Term ends for Easter holidays, returning: Thursday 24 April

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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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Reception

The Reception boys have continued with their learning about Spring this week.  They have been able to look more closely at the sorts of natural wonders this season brings.  It has been a pleasure to see more of the sunshine, flowers popping up and blossom growing on trees.  

Colour mixing, collage and Spring pictures have been 'Challenge jobs' for this week.  Super results have been produced with clear ideas of the boy's understanding around Springtime.  The paper plate chicks and cygnets have brought joy to our classroom walls too!  Individual ideas have been used to cut, stick and join collage materials to paper plates to transform them into great works of art.  

Update on the incubator - all doing as it should (fingers crossed) with 11 days to go!

Long may the sunshine and spring-feel last.  I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Sarah Huntley
Reception Teacher

Year 1

Measuring - The boys have been understanding some new vocabulary this week and investigating taller/ longer and shorter items in the classroom as well as themselves. Lots of conversations had to be had about how to be accurate and precise in our measuring as well as if we could predict if something would be taller or shorter. The boys have been introduced to centimetres as a unit of measurement. Much fun has been had with this topic so far.

Computing - The boys wrote a short recount of their trip to Portchester Castle which they are using to create a postcard on Purple Mash. Typing the sentences has been the most time-consuming element of the project as the QWERTY keyboard (which is also in capital letters) takes much getting used to. The boys had great fun changing the size of the text, the font and the colour. Despite some of these computing skills being tricky to master, their hard work has paid off and wonderful postcards to various members of staff have been created.

Archery - As part of our Knights and Castles topic, Mr Leslie, Q School Housemaster and Head of Geography, who has taught archery in outdoor education centres for a number of years, came to visit us on Tuesday. He brought one of his longbows with him and various types of arrows, all housed in a quiver. He spoke to the boys about the materials used to make bows and arrows in the medieval period and how effective they were as a weapon. Boys had to train for 10 years to be a professional archer who could fire more than 10 arrows a minute. We tried our hand at archery but we certainly were not firing 10 arrows a minute! It was hard to pull the string back far enough for the arrow to fly through the air but by the last attempts we were all shooting straight at the target. The boys had such fun! It really brought their learning to life. We are very grateful to Mr Leslie for visiting us and sharing his knowledge.

Mrs Victoria Ford
Year 1 Teacher
 

Year 2

This week, our Year 2 boys took their math lessons outdoors for a hands-on exploration of measurement. With metre rules and trundle wheels in hand, they worked together in threes to measure different parts of the school grounds.

The boys were tasked with measuring everything from the length of the playground to the width of their Quad and Grid. They used metre rules for smaller measurements and the trundle wheel to measure larger distances, discovering just how much fun learning can be when you get to work in groups! 

As an added bonus, the boys took their own photographs during the activity, capturing their measurements in action. Not only did this give them the opportunity to reflect on their learning, but it also encouraged creativity and gave them a sense of ownership over their work.

Well done, Year 2! Keep up the excellent work, and we can’t wait to see where your measuring skills take you next!

A Big Thank You to Mr Buck for an Amazing African Safari Adventure!

We are incredibly grateful to Mr Buck for sharing his incredible knowledge and stunning photographs of an African safari with our class. We were taken on a virtual adventure, providing a fascinating insight into the wildlife and landscapes of Africa.

Through his captivating storytelling and beautiful photographs, Mr Buck brought the safari experience to life, allowing the boys to get up close to majestic animals like lions, elephants, and giraffes, all from the comfort of the classroom. His personal experiences, combined with his expert knowledge, helped the boys learn not only about the animals but also about the importance of conservation and protecting our planet’s natural habitats.

Thank you, Mr Buck, for taking us on this unforgettable safari journey. We appreciate your kindness and the opportunity to experience such an incredible adventure!

Mrs Maxine Kent
Year 2 Teacher

Forest School

Great excitement this week at Forest School for Year R as their teddies were invited to join us for the day! It was quite an adventure for the teddies; they were taken to Elizabeth Meads and the boys learned how to build a wonderful tipi-style home for their teddies. Tipis were decorated and soon the teddies were able to take up residence in their new comfy and protected home!

This week the boys in Year 1 were taught how to use natural materials creatively to create some paint and a natural paintbrush. Fun was had mixing up a paint using a chalk base and then care was taken creating a natural paint brush. A little bit of support was needed with tying the knots, but the boys had fun painting with their paint and paint brushes. We even opened up an art gallery!

Can you work out who this is a natural portrait of? The Year 2 boys had great fun using nature to create self-portraits; the activity honed in on their observational skills and natural items were used imaginatively. Plenty of giggles could be heard coming from The Pilgrims’ Garden!

Mrs Fiona Walker
Forest School and LAMDA Teacher

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Pre-Prep for preschoolers