From Mrs Hall

It has been filled with exciting activities, memorable performances, and heart-warming moments. Our talented Year 2 boys took to the stage with Year 4 for their highly anticipated performance of Midas. The boys dazzled the audience with their impressive wishes, singing, and dancing, bringing the classic tale to life with energy and enthusiasm. Year 1 had a delightful time making their very own ice cream! It was a sweet way to celebrate the end of the term and enjoy the warm summer weather. Our Reception class ended their week with a lovely teddy bears' picnic, welcoming the new boys who will be joining us in September. The children brought their favourite teddy bears and enjoyed a fun-filled afternoon with games, stories, and a delightful picnic. It was a perfect opportunity for the new boys to meet their classmates and for everyone to bond over shared snacks and laughter. The event was a great success, and we are excited to see these new friendships grow in the coming school year.

• No commoners’ week beginning 1 July
• Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 July: Open Classrooms for parents from 0815-0845
• Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 July: Reception only Parents' Evening
• Monday 1 July: Pre-Prep Sports Day from 1330-1530
• Tuesday 2 July: Pre-Prep Beach Visit (Please see separate SchoolPost of Thursday 20 June.)
• Wednesday 3 July: Final Celebration Assembly at 1500
• Wednesday 3 July: Pre-Prep End of Term at 1545

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards

Year 2 - to Hugh, for his focus and enthusiasm on his 'Darwin' inspired drawing.
Year 1 - to Dario for his enthusiasm all week for all elements of our ice cream project and being very sensible when making ice cream.
Year R - to Edward for super progress with reading and loving sharing books with others!

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Notices

Menus for the first week back 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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Year 2

It has been a jam-packed week, filled with equal measures of excitement and nerves, including Move Up morning on Tuesday, and two performances of King Midas on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. What can I say, except, well done boys, for a brilliant performance of King Midas. Each wish was spoken with clarity and each flower turned instantly to gold, and back again.

Trying to stay cool this week, we took Library time with Mrs Leslie down by the river. Sketching took inspiration from Charles Darwin.

Mrs Hall, Mrs Pleming and I welcomed the current Year 1's into our classroom for Move Up morning. We began by making a web to illustrate that we are all unique and that we are also all connected to one another. We then completed our self-portraits, and ended by writing our hopes and wishes for the coming year.  

Finally, thank you to all those who joined Mrs Huntley, Mrs Thorne and me last Saturday morning to complete the short Sponsored Walk.

Mrs Kent 
Year 2 Teacher
 

Year 1

Ice cream has been the theme of the week and what a theme to have! The skills we have been able to practise throughout the week through this topic have been varied and well-received. We have had an ice cream van role-play area in the classroom for the boys to practise their money skills by buying ice creams and lollies in different amounts. Some ice cream sellers have driven quite fast to attend their growing queue with a rather loud tune to accompany them!

It has been wonderful to see the enthusiasm for this sort of interactive role play which everyone has been involved in at some point during the week. The boys had order forms to take ice cream orders from around the class which many boys loved (and secretly helped them to practise their independent writing skills!) Motivation to write an explanation text on how to make ice cream was also high. The boys designed their own ice creams on Purple Mash and also used their watercolour skills to paint their favourite flavours of ice cream in a cone.

The highlight of the week was certainly the making of the ice cream and sorbet. We had to be patient! The boys were very sensible around the equipment that we used, showed good teamwork and were mesmerised by the churning of the ice cream mixture in the freezer bowl. All that waiting was worth it in the end!

Mrs Ford
Year 1 Teacher
 

Reception

This last full week in Reception Class has whizzed by with many different and new experiences for the boys.  To list a few...

• Sports Day practice ready for the big event on Monday!
• Move Up morning in Year 1 with Mrs Ford and Mrs Beverton.  Such fun was had!
• Watching the Year 4s and 2s performance of 'Midas' - the Reception boys were mesmerised and not a peep heard from them during the whole 45 minutes! Wow!
• Last Forest School as Reception boys (without the full waterproof kit on!)
• Tour of the Art and DT exhibition, which included our own work on display. Very proud boys and big 'wows' for the older boys' work! Such talent!
• Teddy Bear's Picnic with the new Reception boys.  Great role modelling and behaviour shown! 

Such a special time of year with so many memories to treasure. These last days of term will accompany many mixed feelings. Feelings perhaps of melancholy about thoughts of leaving teachers and fond activities, excitement and great anticipation for what is to come in the next year, and joy (hopefully) for a fun-filled Summer holiday just around the corner! Enjoy it all! 

Have a super weekend.

Mrs Huntley
Reception Teacher

 

Forest School

I cannot believe this was our final week of Forest School this academic year. We have had a wonderful year using nature as a fabulous learning tool.

The boys in Year R celebrated their final session by making summer crowns. They collected items responsibly, and from the forest floor, and had great fun decorating their crowns. At the end of our session, we chatted about if they were ‘King of Nature’ what would they do to help the environment?

There was also great excitement when some deer were spotted hiding at the end of the site. We waited patiently to see if the deer would come out from their hiding place; the boys became most excited when they did.

Following on from our session about pollination and flowers, we continued to focus on bees this week with Year 1. The boys very much enjoyed making their own woodland bee and visiting all the flowers in the arboretum.

Long ago there used to be a goblin village in the arboretum! Sadly, the village was destroyed by a dragon, and after hearing this story, the Year 2 boys thought it would be a wonderful idea to try and rebuild the village. We chatted about what we should include, and the boys had great fun working sensibly together and using their imagination to rebuild the lost village!

Mrs Walker
Forest School