​​​​From Mrs Ross

We were able to watch several of the hatchlings 'pipping' their first holes in the eggshells and hear them cheeping inside their eggs.  

The first chick hatched during lunchtime on Wednesday, followed by the second during After School Club. This morning, I rushed into school as early as I could manage, to find the last six hatchlings snuggled together in the incubator. The chicks will stay with us until next Thursday, when Mrs Walker will be taking all eight of them to her home.  

All the Pre-Prep boys will have opportunities to meet and handle the chicks, once they are sufficiently rested and settled.  Do pop into the Reception Classroom at drop off or pick up to say "hello".  As Dario told Miss Whitmore this afternoon "The chicks are adorable!".  

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Save the Dates

• Friday 16 June Cathedral Assembly 1500-1520, parents welcome
• Monday 19 June Pre-Prep Move Up Meeting for parents (present Year 1, Year R and prospective Year R) 1900
• Wednesday 21 June Year 2/3 Move Up Meeting for parents (present Year 2) 1900
• Wednesday 28 June Year 4 and Pre-Prep Performance 1500
• Thursday 29 June Year 4 and Pre-Prep Performance 1500
• Friday 30 June Pre-Prep Sports Day 0900-1100
• Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 July Open Classrooms for parents 0815-0845
• Wednesday 5 July - Final Celebration Assembly 0845-0930
• Wednesday 5 July - Pre-Prep End of Term 1545
   

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards

• Year 2 – to Samuel for his fantastic progress when faced with a writing task. Well done, Samuel! 
• Year 1 - to Keijiro for his super effort and progress made when exploring money.
• Year R - to James T for his wonderful sentence writing about the chicks.  He remembered to leave finger spaces between his words and kept his writing on the lines beautifully! 

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Notices

Menus for next week are available 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

Summer Fête pre-loved clothing wanted: Calling all those half-term spring cleaners! 
We would like to hold a pre-loved clothing stall at the Summer Fête on Saturday 24 June. If you are clearing out at home, and have any items in good condition that you no longer wear, please send them our way by Friday 16 June. They should be put in bags and left in the front office, marked for our attention. Thank you.
Mrs Duncan and Mrs Cadoux-Hudson

 

Year 2 and Year 3 Cousins were introduced to each other today!  

As part of our preparation for the exciting transition to Year 3 in September, the Year 3 boys came to meet and play with their new Year 2 cousins at morning break time. At lunchtime the cousins joined Mr Halliday and the Junior staff for lunch together, in the main dining room. The boys behaved beautifully and had a wonderful time. This will become a regular Friday routine until the end of term.

Year 2

Prior to half-term, Year 2 explored the print-block work of Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai, and in particular, his most famous piece of work, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa (1831). It wasn’t until Hokusai was in his 70s that he produced this piece and started to become well-known. The boys really enjoyed discussing this artwork and creating their own sketch from their observations. We worked on our sketching technique to create an overall shape before looking more closely at the detail and how we could use pressure to create difference effects.  

This week, we have explored some of the abstract art of Sonia Delaunay who was a French artist, born in Odessa in 1885 (then part of Russian Empire), and spent most of her working life in Paris until her death in 1979. The boys very quickly saw a link between Delaunay’s shapes and colours with that of Kandinsky, who was studied earlier this year. They enjoyed the clash of colours that Delaunay used with big, bold shapes to make her compositions so engaging. They couldn’t believe the size of some of them! We experimented with creating a composition similar to Delaunay in shape and colour, but not quite in size! 

The boys’ sketchbook work shown here are early studies in preparation for their final piece for the upcoming Pilgrims’ Summer Exhibition. Next week, we shall be looking at the rhythm and movement that both Hokusai and Delaunay were able to create in their work. 

Mrs Ford 

 

Year 1

Welcome back after a beautiful, sunny half-term break!  The boys have come back to school enthusiastically and ready for their last half term in Year 1. Where has the time gone?

This week we have been focusing on money in our Maths sessions.  We have looked at all the different British coins and their values alongside banknotes up to £50. Money can be a tricky concept to learn because one coin on its own does not always mean there is 1p. It is also tricky to learn that, for example, there are not 3p, 7p, 9p... etc coins. The boys have enjoyed looking at real money, finding the different values, adding together the amounts and also buying items using the fewest number of coins. I have noticed a great improvement in the boys' knowledge and skills as the week has progressed. If you can, explore money at home together. How many different ways can you make 17p? How many different ways can you make £1.72? What coins could you use to buy a book that costs 78p using the FEWEST number of coins? How much money is in your money box?  A few examples to try.

In our topic sessions, we have been learning about the 7 continents and 5 oceans of the world. The boys have learnt some facts and labelled both on maps. The boys have also looked closely at a globe and chatted about how flat maps are really the globe flattened out! The 7 continents can be tricky to label correctly, so we have been learning a song to help.  Ask your son if he can remember how the song goes and if he can locate the continents correctly!  

Have a great weekend.
Mrs Huntley

 

Year R

Monday morning in Reception was met with added eggcitement with the imminent arrival of our hatching kit.

The boys were full-to-bursting with their half-term adventures in places they had visited and with delicious ice creams eaten!

In Maths, we have revisited doubles. If you have a set of dominoes at home, this weekend would be a great time to play.

We are very pleased to announce that all eight eggs have now hatched, and the chicks are settling into their new home very well. The boys have begun their daily housekeeping duties; cleaning the cage, giving fresh water, and feeding the chicks.

Forest School

Inspired by the story of the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl, the boys in Year R chatted about all the things the caterpillar had eaten and then decided that perhaps we should try and create a more appropriate menu for our own caterpillar. Following the same structure as the story, the boys went on the hunt for a delicious selection of food for our hungry caterpillar, and food that was perhaps a little more suitable!

This week Year 1 learned about the structure of a flower, which linked in with their science curriculum. The boys carefully dissected a lily flower and identified all the key parts. They also learned about pollination and germination, as well as having fun playing our bee game!

 

Year 2's Forest School session also had a science link. We chatted about the basic needs of all living animals and how an environment can provide those needs. The boys were given a small dinosaur and asked to create a suitable shelter to protect their creature from the elements. As well as learning new ways for creating a shelter; the boys were also able to recall some methods learned from Year 1.

The boys were also very proud of the vegetables they have grown this term. Great care had been taken to make sure they were regularly watered, and this week everyone went home with a wonderful lettuce and a tasty radish.

Mrs Walker