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Mrs Murphy’s News
Everyone has returned to school refreshed and ready to embrace the second half of term, which promises to be particularly busy as we head towards Christmas. We have several exciting events planned over the coming weeks, and we hope many of you will be able to join us.
Key Dates for Your Diary
- Thursday 26 November: The Kindergarten Nativity will be performed in the Centenary Hall at 10.45am.
- Friday 4 December: Open Classrooms for Parents will take place from 8.15am to 9.15am in each classroom.
- Wednesday 9 December: Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will present their Christmas Play in the James Hall at the Prep site at 2.30pm.
- Thursday 10 December: Christmas Merrie. Children may come to school in their own clothes. Please avoid anything too smart, as there will be plenty of crafting and other messy festive activities!
It has certainly been an action-packed start to the half term as we have welcomed two special visitors to Pre-Prep. Our first visitor was Kwame, who led an exciting African workshop for Year 2. Mrs Timba shares more details about this wonderful immersive experience in her round-up of the week.
We also welcomed Jamie from Build to Learn, who delivered a series of fantastic hands-on LEGO workshops as part of our STEM morning. The children thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to design, build and problem-solve while developing their creativity and teamwork skills.
A quick reminder that next Friday (13 November) is BBC Children in Need. As is tradition, our School Councillors will be collecting donations in support of this important charity, which helps children and young people across the UK. They are also organising a special raffle to win a small Pudsey Bear. For just £1 per ticket, you could be in with a chance of taking Pudsey home!
This week the Courtesy Cup and Badge went to Viraj for always showing exceptional manners in class and in the playground.
and Stars of the Week were awarded to:
- Year 2: Aarav for impressing us with his interesting vocabulary choices and BEAUTIFUL handwriting in English this week.
- Year 1: Athavan for working incredibly hard on his reading and growing his confidence.
- Reception: Kiyan for his fabulous independent writing about autumn days.
More awards followed the above and so our congratulations to:
Year 2:
- Anish for his winner – foundation football league certificate; he played well during the tournament and was praised for his performance and efforts on the pitch and successfully completing Stage 3 Swimming and progressing to Stage 4.
- Eesa for successfully passing his karate grading and moving up to blue belt.
- Aric for achieving the Ninja Knights certificate for great work on his kong vault into a safety roll and 180 pres.
Reception:
- Henry for achieving a Colets certificate for demonstrating good listening and being kind to everyone.
- Zachary for being selected as Man of the Match at his football lesson with Little Kickers.
Before I finish, I would like to highlight the live parent webinar being delivered by Emma Gleadhill on Thursday 12 November from 7.00pm to 8.15pm, details of which were shared via SchoolPost on Monday.
Emma is an excellent speaker and comes highly recommended. Although the session will touch on sleep, it is relevant for all families, whether sleep is currently an issue or not. She will be discussing ways to support children as they move through different ages and stages, and I am sure parents will find the session both informative and reassuring.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We look forward to sharing these special events with you in the weeks ahead but in the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Kindergarten
This week, our Kindergarten classroom has been buzzing with excitement and creativity as we explored two special celebrations: Bonfire Night and Diwali.
We began by learning about Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night. We discussed how Guy Fawkes did not follow our Golden Rules, using this as an opportunity to talk about kindness, respect and making good choices. The children worked collaboratively to create a firework-themed display using flicked paint and designed their own colourful rockets with pens and tissue paper. We explored exciting descriptive words such as bang, pop, whizz and whoosh, and enjoyed a story about a family celebrating Bonfire Night. Watching real firework displays on the whiteboard was a particular highlight, and we reinforced the importance of staying safe by learning about the Firework Code and listening to Firefighter Fred’s safety story.
We also turned our attention to Diwali, the Festival of Light. Through the story of Rama and Sita, the children learned about the significance of Diya lamps and how they are used to welcome Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. Many children were eager to share their own experiences of celebrating Diwali, telling us about Rangoli patterns, special outfits, family gatherings and fireworks. To conclude our learning, the children created and decorated their own Diya lamps using paper plates, each one unique, colourful and full of sparkle.
We were also excited to welcome a new classroom friend, Askaraptor! His message, “I can ask questions,” encourages curiosity and reminds us that asking questions is an important way to learn. The children have embraced Askaraptor with great enthusiasm and are working hard to follow his example by thinking of thoughtful questions to ask their friends and teachers about the world around them.
As part of our STEM morning, the children thoroughly enjoyed a problem-solving challenge which involved rescuing a dinosaur from the water using stones and bricks. This engaging activity encouraged the children to think critically, work collaboratively and develop their creativity as they explored different solutions together. As a class, we also created fireworks in a jar using water, food colouring and bicarbonate of soda. These engaging activities promoted critical thinking, creativity and teamwork.
Next week, we will be learning about the importance of Remembrance, exploring themes of reflection, gratitude and peace, as well as discovering the significance of the poppy.
By Mrs Hand – Kindergarten Teacher
Reception
Reception focused their learning around ‘Signs of Autumn’ & ‘Nocturnal animals’. We enjoyed looking and talking about our Autumn treasure and wrote a fabulous piece of writing about ‘What I see in the Autumn’, it was particularly lovely to hear the children using some interesting Autumn adjectives to embellish their writing. In our phonics sessions, we have continued developing our blending skills, as well as learning the correct formation of letters /d/, /g/and /o/.
In art this week we created our own unique Forest Folk out of clay and our Autumn treasures that we had collected from our Autumn bags last weekend. We had great fun manipulating the clay to form our unique models and adorning some gorgeous natural details, such as pinecone noses and leaf hats and googly eyes! On the tuff tray we had lots of fun using the hammers to tap pins into our spooky pumpkins with precision, really testing our fine motor skills!
We also enjoyed sharing half-term holiday snapshots, with children speaking in lovely detail about their travels and experiences. It was a wonderful way to build speaking and listening skills while celebrating their adventures.
In mathematics, we’ve been learning to tell the time using o’clock, exploring the days of the week, and discussing the differences between day and night. The children reflected on their daily routines, sharing what they do during the day and at night, which helped reinforce their understanding of time and sequence.
Next week we will be thinking about festivals celebrated in the Autumn and Remembrance Day.
By Mrs Johnston – Reception Teacher
Year 1
A very warm welcome back to the new half term! The children have made a fantastic start and have settled straight back into their routines. It has been wonderful to see them return with such enthusiasm and confidence, ready to get stuck into their learning. They have clearly been working hard, and it is lovely to see.
In English, we have begun a new topic focusing on rhymes and poetry. The children have been exploring rhyming words, finding matching pairs and experimenting with new vocabulary. They have come up with some fantastic words and ideas, making a brilliant start to our new topic.
Our maths learning this week brought our place value topic to a close. We focused particularly on comparing numbers using greater than and less than, with the children showing great confidence in explaining their thinking. We also revisited our 2, 5 and 10 times tables. It would be great to spend a little time practising these on TTRS ahead of next week’s lessons.
In science, we have started exploring different animal groups and species, with a particular focus on mammals. The children enjoyed learning about the features that make an animal a mammal and discovering which of these characteristics we share!
Meanwhile, in humanities, we began preparing for our new topic on the Great Fire of London by comparing London in the past and present. There was plenty of amazement as the children discovered just how much the city has changed over time, and this has sparked some great discussions ahead of our new topic.
To round off the week, we enjoyed a fantastic STEM day, where the children put their creativity and problem-solving skills to the test by designing and building their own eco-houses using LEGO. There were some wonderful ideas and impressive creations!
Overall, the children have made a really strong and positive start to the half term. We are looking forward to building on this enthusiasm and having another fantastic half term together.
Have a lovely weekend!
By Miss Madden – Year 1 Teacher
Year 2
Year 2 were incredibly fortunate to take part in a fantastic African workshop led by African Activities, giving the children an immersive insight into African culture, traditions, music, and storytelling.
The day began with an exploration of Adinkra symbols, traditional symbols from Ghana that represent important values, beliefs, and proverbs. The children learnt about the meanings behind a variety of symbols before designing and printing their own tote bags repeating patterns. We really hope you will enjoy using these at home.
Next, the children enjoyed a captivating storytelling session led by Kwame, our educator from Ghana and a member of the Ashanti community. He introduced the children to the rich tradition of oral storytelling, bringing the tale of Anansi the Spider to life through expressive storytelling and rhythmic drumming. It was a truly memorable experience that captured everyone’s imagination.
The workshop concluded with an energetic drumming session, where every child had the opportunity to play their own drum and learn how to follow and create traditional West African rhythms. The children also enjoyed trying a range of other authentic musical instruments.
Back to reality and in the classroom, in our maths lessons, the children have been exploring fact families. This has proved quite a challenge when working with subtraction calculations where the answer appears first, such as 14 = 17 − 3. The children have shown great perseverance as they develop their understanding of the relationships between addition and subtraction facts.
In English, Sammy the Sloth returned from an exciting half-term adventure in Kenya and amazed us with tales of his travels. Inspired by his journey, the children wrote diary entries about the day Sammy encountered a herd of elephants. They worked hard to include ambitious vocabulary to bring their writing to life, using words such as majestic and towering to describe the impressive animals. We have been delighted by the creativity and detail in their writing.
We have also been working hard to improve our handwriting. The children have been learning how to prepare themselves for successful writing using the ‘P check’: Posture, Paper, Pencil Grip, and Pressure. We have also introduced our new pencil grip method, “Nip and Flip”, which is helping the children to hold their pencils more effectively and comfortably. Ask your child to demonstrate the Nip and Flip technique at home and see if they can remember all four Ps!
We hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing weekend.
By Mrs Timba – Year 2 Teacher
On the Sports Field
It was great to see the boys return from the break rested, refreshed and full of energy. Fifteen of those boys put that energy to good use at the St Paul’s Prep Cross Country Competition, a fantastic event involving 22 schools. Years 3 and 4 tackled a 1.6km course, while Years 5 and 6 took on a 2.5km route.
The boys demonstrated tremendous determination throughout their races, with every Hampton Prep runner finishing in the top half of their respective year-group fields. A special mention goes to Wilf R in Year 3, who earned an excellent second-place medal. Other notable performances came from Sebi P, who finished 7th, while in Year 6, Luca P secured 6th place and Max B crossed the line in 5th. Congratulations to all the boys involved for representing the school so well.
In today’s Celebration Assembly, it was a pleasure to present the Man of the Match certificates from our fixtures against The Mall School. One of the most enjoyable aspects of these awards is reading the comments written by the coaches, explaining why each boy was nominated. Reasons included “Great vision and passing,” “Fantastic striking of the ball to score a hat-trick,” “Excellent engagement and work rate during the game,” “Fantastic leadership on the pitch to encourage his teammates,” and “Excellent resilience and determination.”
These comments serve as a reminder that sport is about far more than physical ability alone. The qualities recognised by our coaches are the same qualities that help boys succeed in the classroom and beyond. Effort, teamwork, leadership, resilience and a willingness to support others are all values that we seek to develop through sport, and it has been great to see them on display this week.
Rugby Fixtures
Rugby fixtures for next term are now available to view on SOCSand via the school calendar on MSP.
Next Week
Wednesday 11 November
- U10 A–D v TPS (Home) – 2:30pm
- U11 A–D v TPS A & B (Away) – 2:30pm
Friday 13 November
- U8 A & B v TPS (Home) – 2:30pm
- U9 A–D v TPS (Away) – 2:30pm
By Mr Salt – Head of Sports
Stem Day
Discover what our Pre-Prep and Prep pupils got up to during STEM Day, they took on exciting challenges, experimented with new ideas and put their problem solving skills to the test.
Supporting the Poppy Appeal
Year 6 have been busy selling poppies during lunchtimes in the lead-up to Remembrance Day. The money raised will go towards supporting the Royal British Legion and its work with serving and ex-serving members of the Armed Forces and their families. Thank you to everyone who has supported the appeal.
Poppy sales will continue next week, so if you would like to make a donation and purchase a poppy, there will still be an opportunity to do so.
nEWS FROM THE jUNIOR TRAVEL Advisors
The Junior Travel Advisors treated the school to an engaging assembly exploring different modes of transport, some rather less suitable for the school run than others, in preparation for Road Safety Week 2026 (15-21 November). This year’s national theme, “Safe People on the Move”, encourages everyone to think about how we can travel safely, whether we walk, wheel, ride or drive, and how we can help to protect one another on every journey.
A key message of the presentation was the positive impact that walking more can have on children’s mental health. Recent research involving more than 5,000 young people found that those who took more steps each day showed fewer symptoms of anxiety, low mood and other mental health difficulties when assessed a year later.
To mark Road Safety Week, pupils are invited to take part in the House Road Safety Poster Competition. Posters should reflect this year’s theme of “Safe People on the Move”. Entries should be handed to Mr Johnston by Monday 16 November.
We look forward to seeing the pupils’ creative designs and inspiring road safety messages.
By Mr Johnston – Year 3 Class Teacher
