From Mrs Hall

With a definite chill in the air and less than two weeks left of term, it feels appropriate for me to mention ‘Christmas’ for the first time. It is always a fun, yet hectic time of year in schools with Christmas productions and festive preparations added to the timetable, alongside regular lessons and activities.

Our first Christmas event is next week with the boys performing their nativity, ‘Prickly Hay’. The atmosphere in the Pre-Prep is filled with creativity, teamwork, and a sense of anticipation as everyone works together to put on a great show. Christmas will certainly dominate the final weeks of term. It is a very special time, and we look forward to sharing much of it with you.

Have a good weekend!

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards

Year 2 - to Zakaria for politeness and good manners.
Year 1 - to Rhys for such wonderful effort towards his part in our Pre-Prep Nativity. 
Year R - to Edward A for being such a sensible and focused member of our class, always ready to listen and learn.

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Save the Dates!

Please remember to book your seats for the nativity, Prickly Hay, on Wednesday 6 December at 0900 in the Pilgrims' Hall. Refreshments available from 0820.

 

Monday 4 December	Treehouse Theatre Pantomime visits the Pre-Prep
Tuesday 5 December	Pre-Prep Nativity dress rehearsal and photos
Wednesday 6 December	Pre-Prep Nativity - Prickly Hay! 0900-1000
Monday 11 December	Pre-Prep Open Classrooms 0830-0900
Tuesday 12 December	Pre-Prep Open Classrooms 0830-0900
Wednesday 13 December	End of term, 1400 Carol Service, Cathedral 1530
Tuesday 9 January	Lent Term 2024 begins

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Notices

Menus for next week 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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From the PPA

 

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Year 2

Excitement is building as we enter the season of Advent, and prepare to perform our nativity, 'Prickly Hay'.

 

In maths, the boys have been working on symmetry of shapes; in English, on conjunctions, and in art, a study of Guiseppe Archibaldo, an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books.

 

Year 1

As one would expect during the final week before the Nativity performance, our classroom has been extremely busy with preparations. I have been really impressed with the maturity the boys have shown during all our practices as a whole Pre-Prep. They have worked very hard to concentrate, sing loudly, say their lines clearly and follow all the various instructions, as well as keeping warm in the Pilgrims’ Hall during this very cold spell of weather! They have also put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into decorating stars for the stage, designing pictures for the programme and running through their lines at any spare opportunity.  

Today, Friday, has brought even further excitement. A very special someone dropped off an extra-special package to school for Year 1. Thank you to Mr Rainer who just happened to be arriving at school just after the package was delivered and brought it down to us with some interesting observations of the person who delivered it. Rumour has it that bells were heard over the Pre-Prep early this morning and perhaps even a distant Ho Ho Ho… 

Mrs Ford
 

Year R

Christmas has finally arrived in Reception class this week, as well as around the whole of the Pre Prep!  "Mrs Huntley, it's Christmas tomorrow!" some of the boys told me on Thursday 30 November, and, well, "Yes, it kind of is, boys!" I replied.

The classroom was decorated with a Christmas tree, ready for the boy's hand decorated fir cones for self registration to be added, lights and, a special delivery from none other than the man himself, Father Christmas.  Great excitement and joy was expressed while we opened the special letter and Advent Calendar.  The boys will all be able to have a dip in Father's Christmas' stocking over the next few weeks and hang their tree decorations in the classroom ready to take home at the end of term.

'All join in' with Mr Burton was a fabulous session where both current Reception boys and new friends joined in together with instruments that had been made in class.  Lots of jolly Christmas singing, moving and laughter could be heard all around the Pre Prep.  

I wish you all a very happy weekend full of fun and laughter, just like we have all had at school this week.

Mrs Huntley

 

Forest School

Christmas always comes early to Forest School. Our wooden Christmas tree has pride of place in the arboretum. Year R were most excited about adding some fir cone decorations to the tree. Using bits of ribbon, wool and, of course, a touch of sparkle, our tree really started to look quite festive. Some of the boys were very proud of their reindeer medals, and soon discovered drilling a hole into a piece of wood was quite tiring!

The boys in Year 1 had a great session, collecting and sorting sticks for our fire pit on Wednesday. I was impressed with how well they listened to our fire safety rules. The boys all helped with the cooking of the popcorn, and squeals of delight could be heard as the kernels popped right in front of their eyes.

Our Christmas theme continued during Year 2’s Forest School session. A simple wooden disc was drilled, decorated with the jolly face of Santa and turned into a festive decoration for our tree!

Mrs Walker
Forest School Leader