The Bulletin Edition 19

In Loving Memory of Mrs Gellner-Ward

As a school community, we continue to remember Mrs Gellner-Ward, following her brief illness and the subsequent very sad news of her passing during the summer holidays last year. There remains great fondness and deep appreciation for all she brought to Hampton Pre-Prep & Prep. We are aiming to commemorate her further in the summer term with a small event for members of her family here at school, however ahead of that, very kindly the HPPPA are also aiming to have a memorial bench placed in Carlisle Park – a place she loved – in her honour. This will serve as a fitting public tribute where pupils, colleagues, and friends can take a moment to reflect and remember her kindness, warmth, and dedication.

To help make this tribute possible, the HPPPA have set up a GoFundMe page, where contributions from the school community are warmly welcomed:

https://gofund.me/40be64c5.

Thank you for your support in remembering a much-loved member of our school.

Here are some photos of the Book Fair that happened on the 26 February.

The rain has tried it’s best to disrupt play this week, keeping us off the pitches in the park and causing the U10 and U11 fixtures against Bishopsgate to be cancelled. But as the saying goes, ‘Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems’, and for the boys this week the opportunity was to focus on handling and fitness. This took the form of 4v4 touch games on the court, handling games on the playground, and rugby specific fitness and dodgeball in the hall. The benefits of dodgeball may seem tenuous to rugby, but there are some real transferable skills. Firstly scanning: the game gets boys’ heads up, moving their eyes and looking for threats, as you would want them to do in a rugby game. Agility: the clues in the name, sidesteps and swerves are vital to survive in dodge ball. Hand-eye coordination: just like rugby, throwing and catching are integral to the game. Speed and stamina: boys are consistently and continuously moving at speed; it’s a great fitness builder. Composure and decision making: as in rugby, a calm head prevails. Because of its fast and furious nature, dodgeball raises emotions and pressure quickly providing a great opportunity to practise managing this component of sport.

I am absolutely delighted to announce that the Pre-Prep refurbishment is now complete. Over the half-term break, all year groups safely moved into their fantastic new spaces – and we are already loving our superb, considerably larger new hall. We can’t wait to show it off, and to that end have several exciting opportunities lined up in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on SchoolPost for dates and details.

Monday was bursting with excitement as both staff and children stepped into and explored our new classroom. This week, we immersed ourselves in the classic fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, reading several versions, from cherished old hardbacks to modern picture books, and even online adaptations. As we compared them, one thing stood out: there was always a small, medium and large bowl, chair and bed—plus, of course, the porridge! We had lively discussions about Goldilocks entering the cottage on her own, with children quick to point out that she shouldn’t have gone into a stranger's house or entered uninvited! Together, we decided to write a letter from Goldilocks to the three bears, filled with different ideas of what she might apologise for.

What an exciting week it has been in Reception! We have loved settling into our new classroom and were especially thrilled to sit on our brand-new rug. With the arrival of spring, it has been wonderful to enjoy the outdoor area, playing with the water tray, construction toys and mud kitchen.

Year 1 have been learning how to write instructions using ‘bossy’ verbs. Imagining we were writing to an alien in outer space called ‘Sporkle’, who didn’t know how to live here on Earth, the children ordered and wrote instructions for our morning routine and how to brush their teeth. We were able to identify the imperative (“bossy”) verbs and the sequence adverbs like first and finally. We know that these help us to give a clear and helpful set of instructions.

Year 2 have loved delving deeper into Roald Dahl’s world in English this week by venturing into Willy Wonka’s inventing room. The children had to imagine they were applying for a job as a sweet inventor at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. They dreamed up some incredible concoctions: sweets with a function, such as a sweet that teleports you to another land; or sweets with a surprise, such as the ‘Chonka Wonka Bar’ that regrows after eating! They used persuasive language to sell their incredible inventions.