Newsletters

Friday 12 February 

To be a Pilgrim is to celebrate, Episode 17

Happy New Year! Today, 12 February, is Chinese New Year’s Day and I am delighted to wish all who are celebrating today a Happy New Year! In Pilgrims’ Virtual School this week the boys have been learning about Chinese New Year and we were thrilled to watch a lovely short film made by our boys who celebrate it. The link to this film follows the PPA Chinese New Year report further down the newsletter. 

Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year as its timing depends on the lunar calendar. It always occurs at the new moon between 21 January and 20 February. New Years’ Eve is the start of a fifteen day celebration which lasts until the Lantern Festival. Customs vary, but the focus of Chinese New Year is on giving, sharing with family, and wishing everyone peace and prosperity in the coming year.

About ten days before the spring festival, people begin to clean their homes and decorate, with a crescendo on New Year’s Eve. The colour red symbolises luck and is very important at Chinese New Year. Typical decorations include: red lanterns; couplets fixed on both sides of a doorway (poems about spring written in Chinese calligraphy in black ink on red paper); paper cuts (designs cut out of paper in any colour, but typically red for the Spring Festival) are glued to a contrasting backing or a transparent surface (e.g. a window); New Year paintings are pasted on doors and walls as a symbol of New Year's greetings; as well as upside-down Fú characters. Upside down Fú characters is an example of wordplay: the words for "upside-down" and "to arrive" are homophonous. Therefore, the phrase "an upside-down Fú" sounds nearly identical to the phrase "Good luck arrives”! The boys saw some of these on their peers’ film and then had the chance to make some.

Last night, Chinese families cooked and ate a special New Year’s Eve meal with different foods to represent different aspects of peace and prosperity e.g. dumplings (for wealth), long noodles (for longevity), whole fish (for good fortune), tangerines and pomelos (for wealth and luck), sticky rice cakes (for success) and meat, poultry and seafood (for abundance). Jess Xu taught other parents how to make delicious Chinese dumplings in a super PPA event on Wednesday. With huge thanks to Jess and the PPA Committee.

According to the Chinese horoscope, this year, 2021, is the Year of the Ox.

There are several stories about how the years became associated with twelve animals according to the Chinese Zodiac. One legend is that Lord Buddha called together all the animals in the animal kingdom to say goodbye before he left Earth. Only twelve came. He rewarded them by naming a year after each one in the order they arrived. Another legend you may have heard is that the Gods decided that there should be a swimming race. Whoever came first would be first in the cycle and the rest of the animals would be in the order they finished. The ox was set to be the first to arrive, but was tricked by the rat, who rode on its back before jumping off and scurrying in first. The final order was the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, goat and then the pig.

Each year is not just linked to an animal sign, but also one of the five ancient Chinese elements: gold (metal), wood, water, fire, and earth. The Year of the Metal Ox brings career advancement, success in business, prosperity, and wellness for all zodiac signs.

On New Year’s Eve, red envelopes with lucky money inside are exchanged. A red envelope (known as lai see in Cantonese and hong bao in Mandarin) is simply an ornate red pocket of paper the size of an index card. They are commonly decorated with beautiful Chinese calligraphy and symbols conveying good luck and prosperity on the recipient.

Though they are unquestionably a symbol associated with New Year, red envelopes are also given for weddings, birthdays and other special occasions. At New Year they are given by parents to children, by adult children to parents, by married adults to unmarried children in the family, to friends and family, and from employers to employees.

The days following New Year's Day are typically a procession of visits to the homes of family and friends to wish them good luck in the year ahead. I imagine these will be more commonly Zoom calls this year in most of the world but good luck wishes will be shared nevertheless.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and happy half term!

Artwork of the Week

'Composition (after Kandinsky)' by Rufus, Year 3

After studying Kandinsky's use of geometric and organic shapes, hard-edge lines, primary and secondary colours, and the principles of balance and symmetry, the Year 3s turned their attention to his favourite form: the circle.

This week's Artwork of the Week is Rufus' homage to Kandinsky and his love of circles. Well done, Rufus! This is an outstanding work of Art. Have a Show Up for your efforts!

Mr Walters

From the Chaplaincy - The power of faith 

When Jesus visited his hometown he could do no miracles because the people there lacked faith. The Greek word for lack of faith is α?πιστι´α (apistia). Apistia is a 'lack of faith, unbelief,' the negated form of the noun pistia, meaning belief or faith. As such, apistia – unbelief - and pistia - belief/faith - are polar opposites. 

Apistia as the state of unbelief is a condition in which people can choose to stay or which they can abandon, as St. Paul says, ‘if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be restored, for God is able to restore them’ (cf. Rom 11:23). The consequences of living in such a state are ignorance, stopping miracles and rejecting God. Jesus graciously condescends to human weakness to help those who struggle with a lack of faith. Many people struggle with a lack of faith. Sometimes there can be so many terrible things going on around us that it is difficult to believe that there is a God who loves us. Sometimes things may even happen to us personally that make us doubt God. 

A few years ago, I learned about a man called Nick Vujicic, he was born with no limbs. After many years of depression and despair, he found faith in Jesus and went on to live a happy, fulfilled life sharing his faith in Jesus. Nick’s story is amazing. I think it teaches us that no matter how difficult life might seem, there is no obstacle too great for us to overcome if we have faith in Jesus.  

You can learn more about Nick Vujicic here: Life Without Limbs – Nick Vujicic 

Mr Bryant

From the Base

Bitter pills

One of the hardest things I've ever had to do as a parent is ask for help. The idea of admitting that I was failing, that I was not doing a good job, that I was not 'protecting' my children, was a bitter pill to swallow.

That was, until I actually swallowed it. Swallowed my pride, consumed and destroyed the idea that somehow, we are so supposed to just 'know how to be a good parent'. My guidebook must have been lost in the post!

The pill wasn't bitter. It was transformative. Through the prism of hindsight, I see that I had bought into the illusion, that my ego had convinced me that we, as parents, didn't need help.  I was wrong and fortunately overcame my short sightedness.

As parents we all need help from time to time, and our current times are no exception in the least. To try and help, the school has put together a Wellbeing page on My School Portal, as a resource of ideas and web links that might help you with your children over the coming weeks and even years. We are also running some events, such as the Lorraine Lee talk last week and the Saturday 12pm drop in zoom chats. 

Please do consider looking at the Wellbeing page and attending any of these and future events to support parents.

Mr Shroff

R&R

You may remember that we have been wanting to change the name of Sick Bay to something more health promoting, and positive!

A challenge was given to find the new title, and the boy who won came up with twenty-six options, some of which were extremely funny! Well done to Alex H: R & R has hit the mark, and we love it, Rest and Recuperation.

A prize is on its way to you!  We now have a restored room, with a renewed name. The next challenge is to design a new sign for the door. Is anyone keen to have go during Half Term? Please send your entries to: nbeaumont@pilgrims-school.co.uk

Mrs Beaumont

All Join In! What a fun workshop!

Mr Burton led two wonderful musical events on Wednesday.  Nursery and Reception aged children and our local nurseries were invited. Music and Movement was what it said on the invitation, but there was so much more: singing and dancing, games with high and low notes, buzzing bees to catch, seeds to grow into trees, shakers to make and shake and the highlight for many was when four of our wonderful Year 8 boys treated the children to a few notes on their instruments. Thank you, boys!   

We have had some wonderful thank you notes from the visitors and nurseries:

"The children at St Swithun’s had a fantastic time joining in with your session."

"Please pass on our thanks to your music faculty for the wonderful session this morning, and especially to the students who demonstrated their instruments.  The children enjoyed making their instruments last week and using them during the session." Riverside Nursery.

"A huge thank you for the Zoom music group this morning. Our children and staff had a wonderful time!!"  Farley Nursery, Sparsholt.

“It made for half an hour of enraptured delight for both my 2 year old and my 6 year old, and a very welcome treat at this difficult time. My eldest particularly enjoyed the older pupils showcasing their instruments; what very articulate boys, and what a joy to see young musicians clearly passionate about their instruments.  At this time when live musical performance is silenced, musicians are suffering, and both performers and audiences alike are feeling the loss very keenly, their enthusiasm provided a truly hopeful moment for the future, so thank you very much!” (a visiting parent)

Mrs Brown

The PPA Chinese New Year event

Pilgrims of all ages and their families watched Jess Xu (Mum of Nathan and Edward) show us how to make Chinese dumplings on Wednesday evening.

A traditional dish in New Year celebrations, we learnt how to roll and fold the dough, stuff it with pork, spice and cabbage and cook the dumplings to perfection. It was great fun and very tasty.

Thank you so much for your time and effort, Jess.

Happy Year of the Ox everyone!

For a video celebrating Chinese New Year made by some of the boys please click here.

Anna Kennedy, PPA Chair

Happy Chinese New Year!

Watch the adorable short film here of our boys teaching their peers about Chinese New Year, food, red envelopes and wishing everyone Happy New Year! With many thanks to Jess Xu.

(password: New Year)

Accelerated Reader

The final set reading results of this half term are in!  Saxons have extended their lead, with the Wrens and the Normans battling it out for second place.  A charge from the Romans this week sees them overtake the Monks and head into 4^th place although the Monks are not far behind. 

As a school, the boys in Years 3 - 6 have read a total of 29,465,893 words since September – an amazing number!  This of course only includes the books ‘quizzed on’ through Accelerated Reader, so in reality this number is MUCH higher! 

Boys, you should feel very proud of your reading efforts – keep up the good work!

Miss Higham

Year 3 - a construction project

Here is Sasha  from 3E with his model of the Titanic.  He built it almost entirely by himself using an app! It is made from wood and closely resembles the ship itself as you can see.

Sasha writes:

I became fascinated by the Titanic when I saw a book about “The Queen of the Seas” in Waterstones two years ago. Since then, I have built four models of the Titanic, watched the film, read several books and have visited the Titanic museum in Southampton.

I really want to visit the museum in Belfast because it still has real parts of the ship. I loved building the wooden model of Titanic because I did not need any glue, just a little hammer. Getting started and putting the hull together was the most challenging part, but once I had done these it was great fun, especially adding the masts and crow’s nest!

Sasha, Year 3

Sasha dressed as a sailor with his ship''s cat, Pushkin

Year 3 Design & Technology - Super Chairs

This academic year is the first that Year 3 has been offered Design & Technology as a subject. During their lessons this term, the boys have been working through Dominic Wilcox's 'Little Inventors' Mini Challenges.

One of their recent briefs was to: Draw a ‘Super Chair’ to help an older person FLY, SWIM or have FUN. After designing his 'Super Chair' in class, Noah decided that he wanted to build a maquette of his design and so that is exactly what he did, with a little help from his Dad. Being able to do this in his family kitchen over a weekend is certainly one of the benefits of attending school at home!

Both Mr Armstrong (Head of Design & Technology) and Mr Walters (Year 3 D&T Teacher) were incredibly impressed with the quality and ingenuity of Noah's maquette! Well done, Noah, on an outstanding D&T project! Have a Show Up for your efforts.

Mr Walters

Year 3 fingers are getting faster! 

More fun with our Nessy Fingers touch typing program this week, with the added bonus of some spelling practice too!.

Mrs Thorne

Year 4 Geography - Coasts

Year 4 have been learning about coasts this term. They have learnt about hard rocks and soft rocks, as well as the different types of erosion. Last week they learnt about headlands, caves, arches, stacks, and stumps.

This week, they popped their creative hats on and found various objects around their homes to make a 3D model of a cave, an arch, a stack, and a stump. Some boys used books, some used tissue paper or toilet roll, some used their Lego or created it on their device using Minecraft.

Alfie created a wonderful video of an eroding cliff, which highlights the amazing IT skills he has learnt during lockdown. 

Well done, Year 4. I have been so impressed with your efforts and creativity. 

Miss McGrath

Valentine's Day cards

The boys in Years 4, 5, and 7 have been working on designing their own digital Valentine’s Day cards as shown below. Whilst there were many submissions, this selection was chosen because there were no names on them – we don’t want to give the game away…

Mr Armstrong

Year 5 Science - Light

As part of their study of light, Year 5 have been making Newton Wheels.  By spinning a multicoloured wheel, boys have been able to demonstrate that white light is made of a mix of colours.  Dressing up is optional!

Mr Shroff

Senior History - Castle Building Challenge

Senior boys have risen with a superb effort to the Pilgrims' Castle Building Challenge. They have built some amazing examples of these mighty medieval structures, using historical research and imagination. Well done to all boys who have entered so far! You will all receive a Head's Show Up.

The competition will continue over Half Term to encourage more boys to design their castles over the screen free holiday, and I look forward to seeing their work.

Mrs Bailey

The Sky at Night - Saturday February 13 and onwards

Finding Uranus

What do you know about Uranus?

• Uranus is known as the 'sideways planet' because it rotates on its side.
• Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel.
• Uranus was the first planet found using a telescope.
• Uranus is an Ice Giant planet and nearly four times larger than Earth.

But more importantly, have you ever seen it?

It can be tricky, even with binoculars, but this week there is a splendid chance.

Although a nearby bright moon does magnitude 5.8 planet Uranus no favours, its monthly visits can help to show you where the distant planet is located. In the western sky on Wednesday 17 February, the 33%-illuminated crescent moon will shine several finger widths to the upper left of Uranus. Note Uranus' position about midway between the medium-bright stars Menkar and Sheratan and seek out the blue-green planet with binoculars, or even your unaided eyes, on a subsequent moonless night. 

Mr Hammond

Mars 2020

Do not miss the Mars landing on Thursday evening, 18 February.

Mars 2020 is a Mars rover mission by NASA's Mars Exploration Program that includes the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter drone. It was launched on 30 July 2020 and will touch down in Jezero crater on Mars on 18 February 2021.

Perseverance will investigate the surface and the possibility of past life on Mars.

All being well, you should be able to see it land close by 2030 on Thursday.

This link should help.

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/watch-online/

Mr Hammond

Kitchen Lockdown Returns  

Brought to you by the Ford family 

KL2.0, Episode 5: “Phew, It’s Half Term!” or Roast Potatoes 

Phew. You all made it through this baffling, exhausting, dark and cold half-term. You all deserve a real break; perhaps aiming to do something which is completely different from the last six weeks of virtual school. Try focusing on activities that use your hands rather than your head. I will always find myself in the kitchen when I need and require time out. 

Having read in his obituary in the Times last week that Captain Sir Tom Moore was still making Sunday lunch for his family well into his nineties, it struck me what powerful possibilities we all have at our fingertips when entering the kitchen. The possibility of giving a great gift to the people that we love, the possibility of learning (and keeping) new skills and feeling a sense of achievement that can be life affirming, the possibility of a mindful activity that brings rest for the brain... the possibilities are endless.  

Pick up the potato peeler over half term and make the roast potatoes for your family to come together and reconnect over this break from virtual school with a Sunday roast. I hope you would find yourself still cooking the roast potatoes (and more) for your family well into the future just like the quite exceptional Captain. 

I had to seek reassurance from my very own King Edward (aka the Potato Don of my family, Edward my dad!) that I’m still doing it right, 20 odd years down the line. There’s still room for improvement for me. And that’s the beauty of cooking.  

You will need: 

900g-1kg King Edward/Maris Piper potatoes 

Cooking fat of your choice – oil (rapeseed/olive) and perhaps butter, goose or duck fat 

Salt  

Community Compassion

We have been contacted by a local care home, who have a resident with them turning 100 years old in April.  Due to the pandemic, she is not able to celebrate her incredible milestone birthday or see her family but the Pilgrims’ boys have been offered a wonderful opportunity to help make this lady’s special day one to really remember. 

We would love to have as many of our boys (and families) who wanted to, to create a birthday card for her that can be sent onto the care home and shared on her 100^th birthday.  I have included some details about her below, which you may find helpful in designing a card or writing a message.  I’m sure she would love to have short messages from the boys wishing her a happy birthday and perhaps telling her a little about themselves, or a funny joke or interesting fact etc. 

All cards would need to be sent by April 9^th in order to reach her before her actual birthday (we are not allowed to know the exact date due to GDPR). Any cards can be dropped at school, or brought back in after half-term. We will then collate them all and send them directly to the care home. If you are happy for your son’s photograph to be used by the care home in their PR story of the celebration, please do include a photograph of your son holding his homemade card, or email it directly to me.

The recipient is a lady called Helen. Her interests are art, gardening and music, and she is a huge Jane Austen fan.

It would be wonderful to support a member of our local community in this way and I hope the boys will enjoy helping her celebrate such a special birthday. If you have any questions about it, please do get in touch.

Miss Higham (bhigham@pilgrims-school.co.uk)

Photography Commoner

This week’s photography commoner brief was to take a (series of) photograph(s) inspired by Milton Glaser's iconic 'I Love NY' design. We decided to bring this brief into the 21st century by using our hands to make the heart shape, as you see Gareth Bale doing in his trademark goal celebration (when he’s scoring goals!)

Have a brilliant Half Term, and don’t forget to have your best camera with you to capture your finer moments in life. 

Mr Armstrong

From Mrs Ross

What a wonderful week of learning we have enjoyed in the Pre-Prep!  Thank you to all of the boys who have taught us so much about 'Chinese New Year' traditions and celebrations.  Despite the freezing temperatures, the winter sunshine seems to have lifted everyone's spirits, and the sense of achievement at reaching Half Term is palpable.  I thank all boys, parents and staff for your continued enthusiasm and perseverance and look forward to the second half of our Spring Term together.

Year 1

Thank you Year 1 boys and parents for your hard work and commitment in completing a whole half term of virtual school! Boys you have especially impressed me this week with your own learning activities, especially your lovely Chinese dragon pictures for Chinese New Year. You have also worked brilliantly with your atlases when learning about the UK and tackled some tricky problem solving challenges in Maths. I wish you all a happy, healthy and restful half term. 

Mrs James

Year 1 created some nature photo frames this week. First they made a frame using four sticks or twigs. We chatted about the sort of pictures they could create and what things they would find outside in order to create their masterpiece. The boys had some wonderful and imaginative ideas and captured these in their very own natural photo frame. Can you spot the bird?

Year R had great fun using their senses outside. The boys investigated what they could see, smell, hear and touch. Lockdown has really heightened our senses and made us all much more aware and we have all enjoyed listening to the birds.

We got creative in Year 2 and made some ice art that could hang from the trees. We chatted about the freezing point of water and what would eventually happen to their creations over time. Each design was unique and sparkled beautifully in the sun.

Mrs Walker