Weekly Round up 7th June

Dear Parents

I hope you are all well.

Grandparents’ Day was a tremendous success and it was lovely to welcome so many relatives to school for the day. We really enjoyed showing off our classrooms and grounds, and it is always fascinating to hear about our visitors’ own experiences of their own school days. The music concert and maypole dancing added to the occasion!

I hope that you managed to enjoy some downtime over the recent bank holiday weekend. I spent Monday at Heathrow Airport which, whilst not particularly restful, reminded me of my university days when I had to write a play as part of my degree. Seeking inspiration, I decided to travel to Heathrow as I knew this would be full of people from all over the world and would surely provide me with inspiration for what I hoped would become a creation of Shakespearian proportions. Whilst the inside of Terminal 2 was interesting, I found myself drawn to a sign which pointed me in the direction of a long staircase that led to the roof. At the top, I found myself absorbed into the world of the “plane spotter”. I had never realised this world existed or that there was a café and gift shop on the roof too. Drawn to the many conversations and walkie-talkie (remember those?!) chats that I could hear, I formed the idea of my script and sat there, notebook in hand, and wrote it over the course of three visits.

Was the play ever published or performed? No. Was it any good? I thought so – at the time. I found it over half term and re-read it. Not as stunning as I remembered but certainly the germ of an idea. Many years later, Mr Collings and I decided to write a comedy series – not about planes – and spent a summer writing the first episode and mapping out the storyline for the first series. We were convinced that our wonderful idea would be snapped up by the BBC. Sadly, a few months later, Channel 4 released a show that was perhaps too similar to ours and so we never pursued it for want of looking like we were copying someone else’s idea – something Shakespeare obviously never worried about! However, the series still exists somewhere on one of our laptops and maybe we will try again sometime.

Best wishes

Luke Harrison

Dear Parents,

I awoke Wednesday morning to the more muffled sound of early morning birdsong knowing that it could only mean one thing…snow. Though it may have caused some chaos on the roads getting into school, once the children were in, they thoroughly enjoyed the chance to build snowmen at playtime and I could see yesterday a number of efforts that had not yet been melted by the rain. It was lovely to hear the children’s enthusiasm and to watch them work together to build the biggest snowman on the playground.

The children have been enjoying their learning this week and it has been lovely to see the children in Nursery continue to use their story trays more independently. There have been story trays for so many familiar stories such as The Gruffalo, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, The Three Little Pigs and Dear Zoo.

In Kindergarten, they have been busy making route maps showing how they can find their way around the garden or making treasure maps to help them find hidden treasure. Always a favourite, the children have been enjoying The Very Hungry Caterpillar and learning about the days of the week.

Reception children have had fun with the traditional tale, Cinderella. The children sequenced the story, made invitations to the ball and finished the week dressing up as characters from the story as they danced their way around the Pre-Prep ballroom.

The traditional tale theme continued in Year 1 with Jack and the Beanstalk. I have been so impressed reading some of the children’s work as I did my ‘proud work’ walk and it was lovely listening to the children read their stories to me, filled with interesting vocabulary and similes.

I had the privilege of spending time with the Year 2 children this week and was able to see some exciting writing based on the story ‘Katie Morag Delivers the Mail’. I think the extra effort the teachers made with their costumes last week, as the two grannies, has had a hugely positive impact on the children’s writing!

Wishing you all a very restful weekend and sending out a wish for some spring sunshine and no more snow!

Best wishes,

Mrs Wake

Assistant Head Teacher of Pre-Prep