Dear Parents,
This week we opened the new heart of our school - our atrium. I am not going to lie when I say that it has been a long time coming, and that we have awaited completion with great anticipation. But good things, as they say, come to those who wait, and I cannot stress enough the hard work and dedication that has gone into making this wonderful, peaceful space a reality.
I choose the word peaceful deliberately - the lighting, the decoration, the tranquillity, all serve as a deliberate pause before entering the beautiful, hard-working chaos of our school.
Father Kevin said Mass this week, also choosing peace as the topic of his homily. He encouraged the children to think of those in other countries, perhaps suffering infringements of their human rights, perhaps living in war torn surroundings. He urged them to think of others and to try and use peaceful words with each other at school.
As ever, every single participant put in a huge effort, with learning their lines, with some glorious singing, and with some thoughtful prayers. A huge thank you to both Mrs Whittaker and Mrs Kimberley for writing a most beautiful mass with such outstanding music. They are true angels! The whole experience got me thinking too - about our values. Our values as a school, and our values as a country.
What are the things that matter to us? I decided to get everyone to join in some games in this morning's Assembly, asking the children to consider their identity - what really makes them them? I also asked how the values of the UK: equality, rule of law, individual liberty and democracy, resonate within our school.
Perhaps you might want to think about this at home too? It certainly brought up some interesting thoughts - about where kindness, respect, ambition and tolerance appear within our daily lives as we gave examples both good and bad, and thought about how we can all do more to live in peace with one another.
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Flagging up our winners
We wanted to highlight the tremendous effort the children put in during last week's capture the flag challenge. There were so many entries, Ms Kirk told me that she had to 'get a bit picky' about the winners, choosing those who had used capital letters to denote a proper noun, and who spelt all the names of the countries correctly.
In the end, there were two joint winners, so congratulations to Year 5's Arjun B and Evie J in Year 6. A special thank you to Evie too for her kindness in helping the smaller children as they guessed the flags later on in the day.
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Art from the heart
Our children in Upper Prep explored the work of the sculptor Andy Goldsworthy this week and created their own nature inspired pieces.
British artist Goldsworthy is known for his installations, which are made from rocks, ice, leaves, or branches, in a specific place, with the knowledge that the art will change over time.
The classes explored lines, filling, balancing, spirals, circles and layers, using some lovely textures and colours to create their designs.
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History file on the Nile
Year Four created some wonderful reports on life in Ancient Egypt this week, thinking about the similarities and differences with our lives today. There were some excellent illustrations and lots of care and attention went into creating some very smart, considered pieces of work. A particular well done to Christina and Dea for their efforts.
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Mr B's sport report - it's a monster this week!
Now that the ice has melted, we are finally back to our regular schedule of participating in sporting fixtures vs other schools. Its been a busy week of action across all the year groups and our teams delivered some amazing results.
Netball Under 10 vs Langley Hall
Last Friday our Under 10A&B Netball teams travelled to Langley Hall School for the first of their fixtures of this term. The Under 10B’s took first to the court and although we were beaten by a very strong team, our girls put up a very good effort throughout the entire match. We were unable to a score a goal, but our ladies defended immensely and did not make it easy for our opposition.
Our Under 10A’s then took to the court, and from the start gelled as a team hungry for goals. The way our players moved on the court, and the passing amongst each other was spectacular to behold. Our girls finished the game with a resounding 12-3 victory. A dominant display from our team indeed. Well done to both teams for their amazing efforts on the day, and a special congratulations to Shaan and Aahva who were nominated as their respective team’s Most Valued Players (MVP).
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Under 7 Football Tournament at Papplewick
On Monday 30th January our Under 7 Footballers attended a Football Festival hosted by Papplewick School in Ascot. Considering that we did not have much time to prepare, our boys were certainly up for the challenge and got stronger throughout the afternoon’s event.
We made it through to the plate final, where we met the hosts and our players came out on top with a 2-0 victory to claim the trophy. This was a wonderful performance from our youngsters and we are are super proud of their achievement! Well done boys!
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Netball Under 9 vs Long Close
On Tuesday we welcomed Long Close School for an Under 9A&B fixture. Both our teams were super excited and up for the challenge. Our girls on both courts put up a remarkable display of teamwork, and linked up well with each other to score some fantastic goals.
Each team came away with a good win, with the U9A’s winning 5-0, and the B’s beating their opponents 4-1. Well done to all the players and a special mention to both Zayna and Mahi for each picking up the MVP accolade for their teams.
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U9 Football vs Long Close
On Tuesday our U9 Footballers were delighted to finally play their first fixtures of the term. Considering our teams had little time to prepare due to frost and ice, our players did not disappoint.
The players linked up well, covering all spaces on the pitch and provided good balls for our strikers to attack and score. Both our Under 9A’s and Under 9B’s won their matches 3-0 each - a great performance by all. Both Archie and Nihal were the well deserved MVPs for their team.
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U11 Netball vs Dair House
On Wednesday Dair House U11A+B netball teams visited us. Our girls played some exciting netball, scoring fantastic goals in both matches.
Both our teams won their matches with the A team winning 3-0 and the B’s claiming a resounding 11-1 victory. This was a tremendous effort from our players. Well done to both teams and also to Hailee and Ruby for each being awarded as the MVP for their teams.
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U11 Football vs Dair House
Our Under 11s kicked off their season against Dair House away on Wednesday. The U11A’s were up against a very formidable side and although we were 1-0 up early in the game, it was not enough to hold out a very strong comeback from our opponents. We lost the match, however our boys will bounce back stronger for their fixture next week.
Our U11B’s came back from a 0-1 trail, to lead most of the match 2-1. In the dying moments of the game a penalty was awarded to Dair House, and they made it 2-2 for the final score. Well done to both teams for putting up a good fight. A special mention to both Mylan and Aneni for being nominated as the MVPs for their respective teams.
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New leaders announced
We received 30 phenomenal applications for our Children Leadership Team (CLT), to say I was impressed is an understatement.
It was an incredibly tough decision to come to, as we allocated the first places to Sophia R, Ayaan A, Navraj, Arjun B, Oscar and Annika.
The second term will be served by Ria V, Zayna, Raman, Tulsi, Arjan P and Aryaman.
The CLT's first task is consider the design and set up of our new library.
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My favourite week - time to tell stories (Masked Readers)
It was National Storytelling Week this week - so for a bit of fun we got our support staff and teachers to pose with some excellent reads. Can you guess who is who?
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Upcoming dates
Monday 5 February - Team GB athlete visit
Monday 5 February - Friday 10 February - Safer Internet Week
Friday 10 February - Fruit sushi aka Frushi tasting
Friday 10 February - Year 3 & 4 production 'Change the world together' - parents welcome - 2pm.
Tuesday 14 March - Twilight open evening 5 - 7pm
Wednesday 15 March - Open day 9:30am - 11:30am
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What a wonderful afternoon our Year 2 players had @PapplewickAscot Under 7s Football Festival! Five matches with some great performances saw us come away as the overall Plate winners. Well done, team! #Sports #Football https://t.co/5lDJt01xJs2 days ago Follow |
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Value of the week
Mylan in Year 6 was commended by Mrs Rossiter for his thoughtful help for the little ones - showing them where to clap during our namaste song. A wonderful visible demonstration of 'leading by example.'
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Tulsi's weekly book review
Even our book this week is taking on board the values and peace messages that we've been talking about! A captivating book for readers who love adventure...
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Mrs Verma's big ideas for curious minds
As a school we love to stretch and challenge our children, to enrich their education beyond the curriculum. Every week I will be sharing with you some discussion topics, new vocabulary, maths riddles and book recommendations, that will imbue our children with a love of learning.
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Word of the week: Optimism (noun)
Optimism: a tendency to be hopeful and believe that good things will happen
"He was filled with optimism about the football match, as he'd been training hard."
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Bash Street Kids artist dies after 60 years drawing
The artist behind the Beano's Bash Street Kids has died, aged 89.
David Sutherland was described as the "single most important illustrator in Beano history" by the editor of the children's comic.
Mr Sutherland, who was from Invergordon in the Highlands, spent more than 60 years with Beano and began illustrating the Bash Street Kids in 1962.
He was made an OBE for services to illustration in the New Year's Honours List. The next edition of the comic will feature Mr Sutherland's final illustrations, drawn at the end of last year. Were any of you Beano fans when you were young?
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"In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact." Les Brown (Author)
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I would love to see your interpretations of the 'St B's kids'! Happy scribbling, everyone.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs A Verma
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