The Bulletin Edition 11

As December tiptoes in just after midnight this coming Saturday, I shall finally be able to relax my self-imposed golden rule: the word representing the ‘Big Event’ on December the 25^th must remain unspoken until the calendar grants its blessing! But even if we’re not technically saying it, we would all have to be oblivious not to feel its presence. Our Kindergarten Nativity performance on Tuesday was as heart warming as it was delightful, leaving many in the audience misty-eyed in Pre-Prep (#guilty as charged!). There is now, furthermore, a magnificent tree glittering and gleaming in all its festive finery in the James Hall at the Prep.

Miss Barnes, with her characteristic flair, has also been busy readying boys for the Carol Service at St. Mary’s Church next Friday, promising an evening of joy, harmony, and (yes, I’ll admit it) a touch of magic. It’s not quite time to shout it from the rooftops, but we all know what’s coming. After all, it is indeed the most ‘wonderful time of the year’… even if we’re pretending not to say so just yet!

The Hampton Prep Boys’ U11 Cross Country Team are the Richmond Borough Champions! The result of last Friday’s event was sent through yesterday, and I am happy to report that our boys U11 cross-country team’s top four finishers raced to the best overall result out of any school’s boy teams that entered. So, once again, a big congratulations to Bertie, Thomas, Arthur, Jack, Fin and Oli for their outstanding efforts on the day.

Christmas has arrived at Pre-Prep. This week, the Kindergarten children enchanted us all with their delightful play, Going on a Special Christmas Baby Hunt, inspired by Michael Rosen’s and Helen Oxenbury’s much-loved book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. On Tuesday morning, their enthusiastic and joyful singing had everyone spellbound. We were so proud of them all – what superstars they were!

Our Gingerbread Man topic has been in full swing again this week, bringing lots of creativity and joy to the classroom. We’ve explored different versions of the story, noticing how each one begins and ends in its own unique way. In one particularly surprising twist, the sneaky fox didn’t “snap” up the gingerbread man at all!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! This week, Reception has been thinking about Christmas trees. We listened to the story The Christmas Pine by Julia Donaldson, which tells the tale of the most famous tree in London, traveling from the forests of Norway to the heart of the city. After hearing the story, we were thrilled to see a photo of this year’s iconic Trafalgar Square Christmas tree being transported on the back of a lorry! The tree is a yearly gift from the people of Norway to London, expressing their gratitude for Britain’s support during World War II. We can’t wait to see the tree lit up on December 1st!

In English, Year 1 have been enjoying Julia Donaldson’s rhyming poem Nut Tree. We were rhyme detectives, spotting the rhyming words in the text – even those which did not follow the same spelling pattern. We were also careful not to get tricked by the odd words out – some are spelled the same but said differently – for example, in bead and head. Lenny our class lion had muddled up the poem and our challenge on Thursday was to rearrange the poem into the right order! What a cheeky lion!

In Year 2 we have enjoyed learning about African Folk Tales this week in our English lessons. We have focused on the West African stories of Anansi the spider, and his mischievous ways. This week we read “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock”. This is one of the most popular stories about Anansi, who features in African folklore as a cunning part-man, part-spider, character. In this story Anansi discovers a magic rock and learns that saying the words ‘Isn’t this a strange, moss-covered rock!’ will instantly send the speaker to sleep. He uses his discovery to trick the other animals...but one is ready to trick Anansi back... The children loved reading and singing all about this tale and are planning to be able to write their own ending to the story.