From Mrs Ross

Despite the very hectic demands of this busy schedule, the boys have embraced both familiar and new experiences with enthusiasm, interest and respect.  

We maintain high behavioural expectations of our young Pilgrims and this term, our focus has included lunchtime routines and table manners. Mrs Ford, Mrs Huntley, Mrs Kent and I, have worked hard to ensure that lunch times have become a much more pleasurable and sociable experience for all.  We are very proud of the boys' progress this term.    

Coding Commoner

Our new Coding Commoner has successfully 'taken off' this half term. (Thank you to Mrs Huntley, Miss Whitmore and Mr Upfold for their help in making this happen!) Last week the boys learnt about the simple principles of code, whilst controlling the movement of fish in an aquarium. This week, we moved onto a more complex traffic control challenge. Great hilarity ensued when Oliver discovered how to make the helipad move (rather than the helicopter!). Next week we hope to move onto adding sound and 'collision avoidance' to our programming challenges.

 

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards

• Year 2 – to Darcy C for his mature approach to his part in the nativity. 
• Year 1 - to Ian for his excellent progress in Read, Write Inc Lessons.
• Reception - to Dario C for his fantastic sentence writing. 

 

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Diary dates

 

 

Diary dates	Times	The week ahead
Tuesday 22 November	am	Flu Vaccinations in school with NHS Nurses
Friday 25 November	0915-1130 1900	Pre-Prep Open Morning (see website for details) PPA Christmas Drinks Party
Wednesday 30 November	0900	Pre-Prep Nativity, Pilgrims' Hall (book via SchoolPost email)
Thursday 1 December	all day	Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas lunch
Friday 2 December	1500	Pre-Prep Cathedral Assembly
Monday 5 December	0810 1300	Pre-Prep Open Classrooms Pantomime: Jack in the Beanstalk
Tuesday 6 December	0810	Pre-Prep Open Classrooms
Wednesday 7 December		End of Term

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Notices

Menus - Please find a link to next week's menus here, on My School Portal. 

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From the PPA

 

Year 2

Last week, I wrote about the spell-binding cinquain poems that the boys have written about firebirds. Our recent art lessons have been spent marbling paper from which the boys have created their own firebird. An opportunity for paperwork means an opportunity to practise various fine motor and scissor skills. The boys had to carefully draw around a template, not once but twice! This had to be done to exacting proportions as they required two sides to their bird, and they needed them to match! Their final piece of marbled paper was folded carefully into a concertina to create the wings of the bird. The final pieces look enchanting.  

I have been really impressed with how dedicated the boys have been as we make a start on our nativity practices. As a class, we are getting to know the script well as we continue to read through it together. Each boy has had the opportunity to ‘dissect’ their part with Mrs Pleming and me to really think about expression, intonation and speed. Next week shall see us coming together with the rest of the Pre-Prep during the week and practising in the Pilgrims’ Hall. It never fails to make me smile when the boys burst into a class rendition of “Look, look, look in the sky” in the middle of maths! 
Mrs Ford

 

Year 1

The boys have been excited to get back to their learning about Beegu, our alien friend whose spaceship crashed on Earth and left her lost and lonely!  A letter arrived from her friend Zed asking her where she had been, what she had been doing and what it was like on a different planet. The boys wrote letters back to Zed as if they were Beegu, answering Zed's questions and telling him all about Earth.  "Are we going to send them to Zed, Mrs Huntley and put them in the postbox?" they asked! Yes indeed, I am sure Zed will be so pleased to receive them.  Super letter writing. 

Alongside thinking about Beegu, the boys have started to add mod-roc to their alien sculptures this week, which they have previously made from junk materials.  Mod-roc is great fun. If you don't know about it, it is like 'Plaster of Paris'. It comes as a chalky fabric type material, you cut it into strips, dip it in water so that it goes soggy, and then you can stick it onto other materials, such as bottles.

You then need to manipulate it, so that it goes smooth and blends together. It then hardens and makes objects sturdy and strong. You can then stick onto it and paint it. The boys loved the feel and wrapping their sculptures with the mod-roc, "This is so much fun!" they exclaimed, "I love mod-roc!"  Once all sculptures are complete the boys will be able to look at their alien design and add other features.  A great new alien friend for Beegu.  

A fun and busy week.  Well done, boys!
Mrs Huntley

 

Reception

It has been a week of creativity. The boys have been using their imaginations to make a creature to hide inside a box, after listening to the story, My Cat Likes to Hides in Boxes. The boys used their fine motor skills and displayed high levels of dexterity, drawing carefully around a stencil and adding colour, before cutting it out and placing it inside a box. With some taking it even further and securing it with copious amounts of sticky tape, ensuring nothing would escape. 

How many? The boys have been recognising numerals, matching numicon tiles and building towers to illustrate how many as beautifully demonstrated during their PE lesson last Friday morning.
Mrs Kent

 

Forest School 

Who is hiding behind the leaf mask? Year R had a lovely time blending in with their natural surroundings. The boys used the autumn leaves in the arboretum to help them create some beautiful woodland masks. The boys had fun playing in their masks as well as learning how to bug hunt using bug pots and magnifiers.

Year 1 this week, had a go at wild weaving using a ‘Y’ shaped stick and coloured wool. Once they had recalled how to tie a clove hitch knot, the boys wove the wool around the stick to create a woven frame. Fun was had finding natural items to weave into their frame, the boys were very proud of their creations.

It is at this time of year that some animals start to think about hibernating for the winter months. After learning about the dormouse, the boys in Year 2 set about making a suitable winter home using grass, straw and twigs in order to create a cosy and warm nest for a dormouse to hibernate in.
Mrs Walker