Headmaster's Welcome
Headmaster's News, Friday 17th January, 2020
Jan 17, 2020
School News
5M Assembly – Happy New Year!
A big thank you to 5M who delivered an excellent work assembly this morning all about New Year. They told us how New Year is celebrated around the world, starting with London’s fireworks which are set off from the London Eye as Big Ben chimes midnight. In Romania, people dress up as bears to chase away the evil spirts. They do this because bears are special according to old Romanian stories and they can protect and heal people. Also, the children were amazed to discover that four children from 5M celebrated New Year at very different times as they were at different places around the world. 5M concluded their assembly by talking about their New Year’s resolutions and targets for the New Year. Thank you 5M for a fascinating assembly and I wish you all every happiness for the year ahead.
Out and About with 4D French
I visited 4D French this week with the hope of polishing up on my French! The lesson started with Mme Morrice asking what day of the week it was. Manavi answered ‘Mercredi’ before spelling it out correctly. Hiba said it was ‘quinze Janvier’. The whole class then copied this in their books. Today’s lesson was all about pets. Mme Morrice explained that in French pets are called les animaux domestiques. She then asked the children if they knew any names of pets in French. Lily said, ‘le chat is cat’. Diya also explained that if the word ends with a consonant it is silent. The children then listed other animals from a rabbit - le lapin - to a dog - le chien (see, my French is improving already!). Leo remembered two difficult names from a card game they had played previously: le poisson rouge - gold fish - and le cochon d’inde - a guinea pig. The final name was l’oiseau - bird. Kedar pointed out that it begins with ‘l’ and an apostrophe because ‘oiseau’ begins with a vowel. Joseph also said that ‘le’ is for masculine nouns and ‘la’ is for feminine nouns. It was now time for animal bingo. The children created a bingo card on their whiteboards with the English names. As names were read out in French, the boards were filled until Hiba shouted ‘lotto’. After a couple of games, which the children really enjoyed, they moved onto sentence writing. They had to write a number of sentences at different levels describing whether they liked the animal. The children really enjoyed the lesson and made visible progress whilst I was in the room. Well done, 4D, and thank you Mme Morrice.
Artist and Composer of the Term
Our Artist of the term is Leonardo Da Vinci and our Composer of the term is Ludwig van Beethoven. Please support our work in school by continuing the discussion and enthusiasm for these subjects at home.
Alice in Wonderland performance The performance this year is on Wednesday 12th February at our new venue (since the closing of The Charter Theatre) Landmark on St Mary’s Street. The performance will be led by our Year 4 actors and supported by Miss Burns’ dancers. We will announce when tickets are available to buy from the School Office.
Internet Safety
I would advise all parents to monitor closely their child’s use of the internet. The following website provides excellent up-to-date advice. It highlights the dangers of popular games, social media and Apps. It also suggests a number of safe Apps and games for children to play. It is an excellent website which will help you to protect your child against the constantly changing threat of the digital world. https://nationalonlinesafety.com/resources/wake-up-wednesday/
Student Council
Our student councillors for this term are: 1D: James 1W:Aryana 2E: Flora 2J: Drew 3M: Violet 4D: Evie 4S: Sophie 5H: Reya 5M: Hasan 6P: Lucie and Inas
Nursery News
Our Nursery children have enjoyed a variety of activities since returning after Christmas, from puddlejumping to Forest School sessions to developing their understanding of size through play. There has also been a great interest in writing letters this week so, on Wednesday, the children wrote letters to each other and then, in the afternoon, we all walked to the post box together to post them. We can’t wait to receive our letters back at school!
News from the Sports Field
Year 5 and 6 visit Preston Grasshoppers Our Year 5 and 6 pupils had their first outing of the term, last week, to Preston Grasshoppers’ All-Weather Pitch in our first session of Rugby. It was great to use such a fantastic purpose-built facility. The boys did really well, developing their contact skills quickly and improving their understanding of the game in preparation for matches later this term.
Merits and Awards
Week ending 17.1.20 RB: The Whole Class 1D: Yusef 1W: Aryana 2E: Tabitha 2J: Monty 3M: Violet 4D: Hiba 4S: Hayden 5H: Neelesh 5M: The Whole Class 6P: Stephen Monitors of the week: Hiba
Reminders
Open Day – Sunday 15th March
This is a very important day in the school year. It is a chance for you to celebrate, with your children, all their success and hard work as well as giving you the opportunity to look at the work your child will be tackling in the next year. Please could you also tell the date to any friends, family or work colleagues who may be interested. Please keep the date free in your calendars. All children, from Year 4 upwards, will be needed on the day for tours and activities. The children really enjoy the experience and it is a valuable opportunity for the older children to improve their communication skills as they give tours of their school.
Banner Sites
We are looking for new banner sites. If you have a residential property or office on a main road where we could display an Open Day banner, please could you let the office know. We would really appreciate your support.
Drop-Off Zone
The yellow hatched area at the front of school is for immediate drop-off only, at the start of the day. Please could parents refrain from leaving cars unattended. This will prevent congestion and enable this area to be used efficiently.
Fact of the Fortnight
Britain’s tallest waterfall is twice as high as Niagara but entirely underground. Gaping Gill still retains the records for the highest unbroken waterfall in England and the largest underground chamber naturally open to the surface. Length: 21 kilometres (13 mi) Location: Ingleborough, North Yorkshire, England Depth: 192 metres (630 ft)
