From Mrs Ross

A very warm welcome back to Pre-Prep boys, parents and staff!  It has been wonderful to hear the chatter and laughter of boys both inside and outside the classrooms this week.  We welcome our new Pilgrims': Hugh, Patrick and Rafe, who have settled so quickly into the school routines. We also welcome Mrs Ford as Year 2's Class Teacher during Mrs James' Maternity Leave, and send our congratulations and warm wishes to Mrs James at the birth of her beautiful baby daughter.

We have had a very busy first three days, with visiting speakers who have led workshops and assemblies for us.

As part of our preparation for the transition between Year 2 and Year 3, the Year 2 boys now join the Junior department for lunches in the Main School Dining Room this week. It has been a pleasure to accompany our Year 2 boys, who have all risen to the challenge and coped magnificently.      

We look forward to an exciting summer term of learning together.  

Pilgrims' Play Sessions for pre-schoolers
Friday 6 May and 20 May 10am - 11am
Story time and Teddy Bear hunt in our Reception classroom and garden

These play sessions are a great opportunity for parents and guardians to chat over refreshments, whilst their pre-schoolers play in our beautiful surroundings. To book, please email:

tingram@pilgrims-school.co.uk

Diary dates

Tuesday 17 May		Duck eggs arrive in the Pre-Prep!
Friday 27 May	1100	Jubilee Celebration for parents and boys (details to follow) Ducklings are collected! Break for half-term
Friday 17 June	0845	Pre-Prep Celebration Assembly for parents

 

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Pilgrims' Shell awards

Year 2 - to Patrick B for embracing Pilgrims’ life confidently and happily straight away, and to Rafe H for getting stuck into Pilgrims’ life so brilliantly instantly. Well done to both boys. Absolute superstars!

Year 1 - to Samuel B for excellent knowledge about our previous topic Knights and Castles and to Isaac M for super engagement during our SCARF workshop this week. 

Reception - to Hugh Y for making a fantastic start at The Pilgrims' School!

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Year 2

What a first three days! And, what a class! The boys have stormed back into the Year 2 classroom with real energy and a swing in their step. Already, the boys have made me extra-specially proud to be able to call them Mrs Ford’s class. They have been courteous and punctual to their new lunch destination – the dining room with the Junior School – the first of various components of transition to the Prep School. They have been attentive and insightful during a SCARF workshop on managing our bodies and our feelings. They have been accurate and careful when measuring in metres and centimetres. Moreover, they have wowed me with their use of descriptive language and technique when writing shape poems about sea creatures.

Do come and read their wonderful work on display in the classroom next week looking out for description, alliteration and simile.

Here’s to a well-earned bank holiday weekend. Roll on week 2!
Mrs Ford

Please click here to read a further short letter to Year 2 parents from Mrs Ford.
 

Year 1

It was lovely to welcome the boys back to school this week after a well-deserved Easter break for all. They have been bubbling away with news about their holidays with lots of different experiences to share. They completed some fabulous Easter writing including some really well drawn illustrations of aeroplanes, Easter eggs, Warner Brothers studios and playing at home with siblings. Such an array of fun and excitement shown.

The boys took part in a PSHE (Personal Social Health Education) workshop this week with the SCARF company. They were full of knowledge about what helps to keep us healthy and safe, and learnt more about this important topic. They loved seeing Harold the Giraffe who shares stories with us about his adventures and were so engaged. I was very proud of their polite and sensible ideas and knowledge. Great fun was had by all!

To consolidate our previous topic on Knights and Castles the boys learnt about how castles have changed over time.  They put castles in chronological order from oldest to newest first as a whole class then independently. It was tricky to spot the differences at times. We then looked back at the very start of this topic where we thought about what we already knew about castles and Knights and added to this 'mind map'. Wow, what a lot we NOW know! Well done boys. We are very much looking forward to starting our new topic 'Pirates' next week.

Happy bank holiday weekend.
Mrs Huntley    

    

    

 

EYFS

Reception Class enjoyed a special visit from Mrs Webb at story time on Thursday. Mrs Webb is delighted to be returning to her weekly reading visits. We are looking forward to hearing Mrs Webb's stories and very special jokes!

Mrs Ross

   

Forest School

It was lovely to welcome the boys back to Forest School after their Easter break. We have an exciting term ahead of us.

Year R had a wonderful time exploring how the Arboretum had changed over the past few weeks. Using sticky strips of cards, ID charts, colour charts and magnifying glasses the boys really studied some of those changes in detail. Quite the little investigators!

Year 1 spent the first part of the session practising their knot skills, which will become useful during the term. We had fun playing a game called Buzzards and Hawks and then spent some time chatting about how birds build nests. Working in small groups the boys had a go at trying to create a giant bird’s nest that they could fit in! They even tried to make it as comfy and as cosy as possible!

Year 2 also spent some time recapping on their knot skills and then tried to apply this knowledge to the making of a small raft using twigs. It was essential to cooperate well with your partner as they needed one person to hold onto the twigs whilst the other person tied the knots. This is a challenging activity and the boys demonstrated resilience and perseverance.
Mrs Walker