The Bulletin Edition 16

Music holds a quietly transformative power in the life of a child. Whether through learning an instrument or simply raising one’s voice in song, I believe the boys and girls here discover far more than notes on a page because of what they sing and play. Our instrumentalists learn discipline, patience, and the value of sustained effort. They experience what it means to practise with purpose, to persevere through challenge, and to take pride in gradual improvement. Perhaps most importantly of all, they grow in confidence, finding the courage to share something of themselves with others, which when it is of a musical nature can feel deeply personal for them.

This was evident in abundance at this week’s Pupils’ Informal Concert. These concerts take place every half term and we possibly don’t refer to them enough, given their very joyful nature! It was a genuine pleasure to hear such a range of performances, from instrumentalists at differing stages of their musical journey to the boys who receive LAMDA lessons confidently delivering their prepared pieces. Each performance represented a small but significant step forward, and each boy who took part should feel justifiably proud.

We were treated again this morning to some lovely music by the boys from 5B in their assembly on the theme of ‘respect’. As part of their presentation, they sang two songs together, and the lyrics were a terrific embodiment of the very value they were exploring. Respect, after all, is rooted in listening, in awareness of others, and in recognising that each individual voice matters.

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Gymnastics is a fantastic foundation sport for developing strength, balance, mobility and coordination, and the boys in the Prep have been working hard on their pikes, straddles, forward rolls and bridges in their PE lessons this half term. They have now began using their creativity to link movements together in partner routines, and it has been wonderful to see their growing confidence and control.

This week I spent a highly energising and action-packed day at (another!) terrific Prep School up in Worcestershire, RGS The Grange, exploring how they use Sphero BOLT+ across their curriculum, and it was genuinely inspiring to see this piece of ‘edu-tech’ kit in action.

The Junior Librarians have been busy since the beginning of the term making room for our new books! Sifting and sorting the stock they were able to find some duplicates and older versions of books to donate. We were incredibly excited to support Mr Cope (an old Hamptonian) who has started an initiative to provide libraries to deprived areas. Mr Cope and his volunteers have just finished their first library, and our donation has added to their collection for the second. This is incredibly important to our community outreach, sharing our love of books and since our new books have been much read already, we are looking forward to putting them into their new homes on the newly tidied shelves. As you can see, the Junior Librarians were excited to be able to support this and have plans for a future endeavour.

Year 4 pupils enjoyed an interactive workshop on healthy eating, learning how food fuels the body and how to make balanced choices. The workshop combined discussion with practical activities, giving pupils the opportunity to explore nutritious ingredients and create their own yoghurt pots — encouraging creative thinking about everyday meals while developing important life skills.

What a whirlwind week it has been — full of energy, learning and wonderful achievements both in the classroom and beyond. Reception had a fantastic time on Wednesday when our Year 5 Junior Travel Ambassadors put them through their paces with a lively and engaging road safety awareness session. You can read more about this in Miss Johnston’s section, but safe to say, fun was had by all and some essential safety messages were reinforced along the way. 

Wow, what a busy week it has been! We’ve had so much fun in Kindergarten exploring the story Alien Loves Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort. We read it over and over again and, of course, the aliens wearing pants on their feet and heads had everyone giggling. We also enjoyed Aliens Save the World by the same authors, along with many other alien themed stories. 

This week in Reception, we have absolutely loved learning all about road safety. One of the highlights of our week was Wednesday’s trio of exciting road safety workshops led by our Prep Junior Travel Ambassadors. Armed with their scooters and our special road safety set, the children practised safe stopping, scooting fast, slowing down and even navigating a tricky obstacle course! 

Year 1 have learnt the concept of contractions and how they can be used in a sentence. The children have tried hard to use the contractions they learnt about last week, in their writing. Super job, Year 1!

The children in Year 2 have thoroughly enjoyed becoming news reporters in our English lessons this week. Many of them were able to retell significant events from The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, reporting what eyewitnesses saw and writing in the past tense. Our expert writers even used apostrophes for possession and incorporated Mrs Wordsmith’s exciting vocabulary to bring their articles to life!