From Mrs Hall

We talked to the boys about how excellence can be demonstrated in many different ways, whether through hard work, kindness, creativity, or simply trying their best in everything they do. The boys left with ideas on how they can strive for excellence in their own unique ways, both in the classroom and beyond.

For our Plant of the Week this week, we introduced the boys to dead nettles. They asked a lot of interesting and thoughtful questions about this curious plant and learnt that, despite its name, the dead nettle is not harmful and can even be quite useful in nature. The boys were fascinated by its appearance and its role in the environment.

The Year 2 boys had an amazing trip to Tudor House, where they explored a variety of 17th-century artefacts. They thoroughly enjoyed stepping back in time, studying historical items such as pomanders, and the highlight of the trip - the plague doctor mask. They were eager to learn about life during that period and how people lived differently from today. It was an exciting, hands-on experience that brought history to life!

We look forward to more exciting learning opportunities over the next few weeks!

* * * * * * * * * * * 

New Music Group for Toddlers
We’re thrilled to announce the start of a new toddler music group Musical Shells, starting on Thursday 3 October. For more details, please refer to the link on our website and our recent Social posts. We encourage you to spread the word to friends and family!

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. It’s been a week full of learning, laughter, and growth, and we can’t wait for another exciting week ahead.

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Shell Awards this week:

Year 2: to Dario, for his excellent recount of our trip, including further independent investigative work on the iPad to gain further knowledge of an artefact along with the reading back of his work.
Year 1: to Willoughby for excellent manners when speaking to members of staff, saying "Good Morning" and saying Grace at lunchtime.
Reception: to Joshua for his excellent attitude towards completing teacher-led activities and for being proud of his achievements. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Save the Dates !

Friday 4 October	0830-0900 1000-1100	PPA Pre-Prep Coffee by the river event (see flyer below) Pre-Prep Pilgrims' Play (in Reception) for pre-schoolers
Saturday 5 October	0830-0900 0930-1130	PPA Breakfast-in-the-Yard event (see flyer below) Whole School Open Morning
Monday 14 October	1600-1800	Year 2 Parents' Evening
Friday 18 October	all day	Year 1 trip to Winchester Science Centre
Saturday 19 October	0815-0915	Wellbeing Matters Live 1: talk for parents in the Octagon
Monday 21 October	1600-1800 1830-2030	Reception and Year 1 Parents' Evening Year 3 Parents' Evening
Tuesday 22 October	1800	Pre-Prep Celebration Assembly Half-term break begins
Monday 4 November	0830	School resumes

* * * * * * * * * * 

Notices

After School Club and Commoners pickup times: Please remember to collect your sons promptly, either at 4.30pm when After School Club ends, or at 6pm when Supper Club ends. 

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.}

* * * * * * * * * * 

From the PPA

.* * * * * * * *

Year 2

This week began with a trip to the Tudor House in Southampton.

It was with much anticipation that the boys stepped inside this timber-framed building; 'Southampton's most important historic building, revealing over 800 years of history'. The morning began with a hands-on exploration session learning more about the Great Fire of London, before a tour of the house, gardens and cellar. The cannonball, the tankard made of horn and a 'Beak Doctor's' mask were amongst the boys' favourite objects. 

In the kitchen we discovered that Thomas Farriner, King Charles II's baker was, in fact, in charge of making the 'Ships Biscuits' for the Royal Navy. The boys were quick to recall their trip to HMS Warrior in Year 1, where they had been told about such biscuits! After lunch, we entered the banqueting hall and were greeted by two friendly ghosts who told us more history about the house. We also explored the shell of King John’s Palace, where we discovered 'how many boys could fit inside a gun slit'!

It was a brilliant way to start the week and sparked much talk and discovery around the Great Fire of London. 

Mrs Kent 
Year 2 Teacher

Year 1

Space – aliens

As part of their Space topic, the boys have been exploring a book by Alexis Deacon called Beegu. She is a small, yellow, glowing alien who crash lands on earth. She is alone, she is scared and she needs some friends. In the story, the first people who are willing to help Beegu are the children she sees in the playground of a school.

Our boys have put themselves into this role and thought of questions they would have liked to ask Beegu should she have visited their playground. This has helped them to practise using various questioning words as well as the use of a question mark and where it goes in a sentence.

• What do you eat? (Macarthur)
• Why are you here? (Christopher)
• What are you? (Lucas)
• Why did you crash? (Rory)
• Are you okay? (Willoughby)
• Where is your mum? (Edward)
• Are you hurt? (Tomas)
• What language do you speak? (Felix)
• What did you get here in? (Maximilian)
• How did you get here? (Justin)
• Where did you live? (Skerdi)

We have drawn our own alien that could become a friend to Beegu. We have practised our pencil hold and sketching lines to draw an alien creation out of our favourite alien features that we investigated last week. The boys also loved the opportunity to create an alien design on Purple Mash.

Mrs Ford
Year 1 Teacher

 

Reception

Our 'Show and Tell' sessions on Fridays are proving to be a great success!  All boys have brought in something interesting to show and talk about, and it has been a pleasure to listen to the enthusiasm they have spoken with.  Thank you all so much for your support with this. The boys always love to share items from home.

This week we have started our 'Dough disco' sessions.  Dough gym and moving/dancing to music have been the two activities which took the focus for this week. By manipulating dough in different ways and moving our bodies, it helps support gross and fine motor control and development. These are key skills needed to help with core strength and will later support the boys with writing, painting, building and holding their bodies with greater agility, balance and coordination.  The boys really seemed to enjoy this session and it was great fun!

Next Wednesday afternoons we have an Art focus. This half-term the boys will be exploring Printing.  This was introduced last week with apple printing during Forest School and this week moved on to printing in their new Art sketch books.  It can be tricky not to wobble and smudge your print, but the boys worked hard to hold control over their printing item. There were some very successful results.  We will later be having a go at leaf printing.

The boys should have brought home a 'Phonics' pack in their book bags today.  There is an accompanying letter which explains everything.  Please do come and ask us if you have any further questions.  Many thanks for your support and have a great weekend.

Mrs Huntley
Reception Teacher

Forest School

The boys in Year R got creative with some rather enormous leaves. After having fun playing with the fallen leaves, the boys collected their favourites. We learnt about the purpose of the veins in a leaf and then, using some paint pens, the boys carefully traced the veins and decorated the leaves. We opened up our very own leaf gallery!

Year 1 used their imagination and creative skills brilliantly this week to change a very ordinary fir cone into a wonderful bug. Using leaves, bits of wool, pipe cleaners and some tissue paper, the boys very much enjoyed designing their insects and then exploring the arboretum with them.

With the boys in Year 2, we chatted about the art of blending in with our surroundings and the concept of camouflaging in the natural world. With this knowledge, the boys then chose a place they would like to blend in with, and using natural materials, they worked hard to blend their hands in with their natural surroundings. The results were very effective.

Reminder: all boys need to bring a waterproof coat into school each week, along with waterproof trousers and wellington boots for their Forest School sessions.

Mrs Walker
Forest School and LAMDA Teacher