THEECHO ECHO ECHO
Christmas 2011 Edition
Providing Lessons for Life As the Autumn term draws to a close, every child and every parent at St Margaret’s has enjoyed participating, either as a performer or as a member of the audience, in one of the many performance opportunities available at the school. If we wind the clock back to the 1990s, these essential opportunities were simply not possible and there was limited provision in terms of the performing arts. The music department comprised a trolley, with a few homemade percussion instruments on it; the school didn’t initially even have a working piano and performance opportunities were limited. But what was evident then, and remains the case now, was the belief amongst the staff that encouraging children to develop this aspect of their learning would bring enormous benefits in terms of life skills. Now, when you consider the amount of clubs and performance opportunities available to the children – how we have moved on! We believe that all children benefit from having opportunities to experience music and drama, which leads on to taking part in a wide range of performances, both within school and in the wider community. During this year, here at St Margaret’s we are supporting a national initiative, ‘Sing Up’ – encouraging everyone countrywide to ‘have a voice’. Regular performance opportunities build the children’s confidence and gives them a sense of pride in their own achievements. In a wider context, this can lead to improved concentration, better co-ordination and markedly better cognitive skills. It’s also great fun too...
Welcome to the Christmas Edition of The Echo As I write, the sound of children engaged in their day-to-day school activities permeates every area of St Margaret’s. From my office I can hear singing, the cheers of those on the sports field and the laughter of children at play. A short walk down the corridor brings the chanting of times tables, the groans of despair when LEGO robots don’t perform as you would hope, the strumming of a guitar coming from Year 3 and silence from those in Year 6 industriously engaged in their revision programme! Above all, and despite there being only two weeks to go until the end of term, there is a sense of purpose and pleasure evident
throughout the school, as the children focus upon each and every aspect of their education with determination and never-ending enthusiasm. I hope that you enjoy sharing in some of their many highlights of the term within this edition of The Echo. As ever at this time of year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish the children in Year 6 every success in their forthcoming 11+ examinations and, in the meantime, I send you and your families my good wishes for a blessed and joyous Christmas, and a peaceful and happy 2012.
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Kindergarten Make Marks! Children in Kindergarten enjoyed using their hands and fingers to explore Making Marks in paint. They took it in turns to choose a colourr to squirt on to the table, and made faces, drew w pictures, wrote their names, and had great fun n rubbing them out and starting again! The next xt person then chose another colour and they alll waited in anticipation to see what colour the table would turn next. Some of the children were so pleased with their creations that they took a piece of paperr and placed it on top of their picture to make a print of what they had done. Kindergarten
Reception C go on a Shape Hunt! Reception C have been learning all about 2D Shapes. The children went on a shape hunt in the outdoor classroom to see how many different shapes they could find, there were lots! They spotted the square tiles, the rectangular windows and even noticed the circle on the lens of the camera. They then used digital cameras to record what they had found and created a shape book with the photographs. Everyone created a different picture using only squares, circles, rectangles and triangles! Finally, they practised drawing shapes with chalk on the playground and played lots of fun games to help them remember the names.
Reception C
Popular Phonics in Reception K The children in Reception K have got off to a flying start this term with their phonics. They have been continuing the Letters and Sounds journey that was started in Kindergarten and have loved using the magnetic boards, giant letters, writing graphemes in the tuff spot and using interactive whiteboard games to practise their segmenting and blending skills. The children have even had their lessons outside, playing ‘Noisy Letters’ and ‘Find the Phoneme’ on the playing fields with the games staff; a real cross curricular approach! They have also been using their phonic skills to help in both reading and writing and have been very proud to show off their ‘Busy Bee’ writing books and completing reading ‘homework’ each night. Well done Reception - keep up the good work! Reception K
Light and Dark in 1M
Year 1J
Pirates in 1J The children in 1J have been enjoying a variety of cross curricular Pirate activities. In Literacy they had great fun learning about ‘The Night Pirates’ story, when they wrote about their favourite part of the tale. Next everyone made pirate ships from junk modelling in Science, learning how objects made from some materials can be altered by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching. In Design Technology the children designed and made a moving part ‘Night Pirates’ picture, experimenting with colour mixing, mark making and creating a sea-like texture by adding sand to the paint. Finally, they made a 3D pirate portrait in Art, exploring different media including wool, pipe cleaners, felt, foil circles and sequins. Learning is such fun!
In Science, the children in 1M have been having lots of fun learning about Light and Dark. They found it very exciting working together to identify sources of light and then covering them so that their classroom was pitch black. They then huddled in the role-play area and had lots of discussions about why we need sources of light. The children worked as a team to build their new area and had so much fun creating and naming their own stars.
Sparky 2R During Science, the children in 2R have been learning about Electricity. They undertook an audit of what uses electricity in the school and made sure that everything was switched off that should have been! Then, after learning about how to keep safe around electricity, everyone made posters which they loved sharing with Kindergarten to help them be safer. Now the class can build their own circuits and they think electricity is great!
Year 2
Year 2T
Wildly Artistic 2T The 2T children had an amazing time investigating and exploring the Wildlife Area for Natural Materials. Using Andy Goldsworthy for inspiration, as well as their superb observational skills, they constructed artistic masterpieces with great skill and patience. The children had to look carefully at materials and use them to create texture, movement and form. Some pieces were created individually, some in small groups and one as a whole class. This took great communication skills and team work, as well as strength! Year 2T
THEECHO ECHO ECHO
CHRISTMAS 2011 EDITION
Year 3 and The Stone Age
Moving Monsters in 3C!
In October, as part of their work on The Stone Age, all of Year 3 enjoyed a fun and educational trip to the historical landmark of Avebury. The morning started with a walk around the henge where the children enjoyed discussing what each stone looked like, ranging from the head of a tyrannosaurus to a needle!
Something positively terrifying has made its way to 3C’s classroom! Gruesome and terrifying monsters, with moving parts, have been recently discovered. In their Design and Technology lessons, the children have been busy investigating simple Pneumatic Systems and designing and making a model of a monster that has moving parts controlled by pneumatics. There are a range of moving monsters proudly on display, from evil elephants to ferocious frogs and dangerous dragons that open their mouths. Come and see them in 3C, you will be in for a fright!
Next the children took a look around the interactive museum; trying on replica Stone Age clothing proved a popular activity! Using artefacts from the museum, one of the staff discussed how the people of the past would have survived and the children had a chance to handle the shoulder blade of a cow and the horns of an ox, both of which it is thought were used for digging the henge at Avebury. Finally, everyone took a look round the Alexander Keiller museum and were very interested to see all of the arefacts which had been excavated, including the skeleton of a dog as well as numerous pots and utensils. The children had a wonderful time and enjoyed having the chance to see and handle part of our precious past.
Thrifty 4B! In their Design and Technology lessons this term, the Year 4 children have been making pencil cases. They designed the container that they wanted to make and then used their sewing skills to stitch the sides together and decorate the case. Before they began this task, the children practised Sewing Techniques; threading needles, tying knots in the end of the thread and designed a bookmark with their initials on it. The skills of patience, perseverance and determination were also evident in this task! Year 3
Adventurous Meals for Year 4 Year 4 set off for the annual trip to Mill on the Brue just before October half term. This trip is always eagerly anticipated by the children as, not only does it give them a chance to spend two nights away from home, they also have the opportunity to experience numerous activities and challenges throughout the weekend. This year, both Year 4 classes sampled adventurous meals having helped pick vegetables produced on the surrounding land. Everyone also had a go at making their own apple juice from fallen apples. The theme of ‘Try Something New’ continued with the children sampling parsnip soup and lentil burgers with salsa, which were surprisingly nice! It was agreed that everyone in Year 4 is definitely ready for any new challenge presented to them!
Year 4
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Year 5’s Good Health Guide In their Science and PSHE lessons, the children in Year 5 have been learning about The Human Body and Good Health. As well as investigating the skeleton, muscles and human organ systems, they have looked in detail at teeth types and functions, tooth decay, the circulatory system and finally the digestive system. There have been many fantastic activities in support of this: everyone loved Mrs Chester and Mrs Gordon’s idea of investigating the effects of exercise on pulse rate by testing their pulse before and after 100 star jumps! Similarly using the ‘Sing Up’ website to sing ‘Dem Bones’ when learning the names of all the different parts of the skeleton was very popular. This year’s visit to St Mary’s School for a day of ‘Sport and Science’ complemented our curriculum beautifully, as its theme was ‘Energy and Exercise’. The day consisted of a number of activities. There were
two sporting sessions; the first looked at the heart and the effects of exercise through Lacrosse based games. The second investigated reaction times through a circus of activities. s Watching the children trying to follow the computer generated moves on a dance mat was great fun. In the laboratories the children learnt how energy is created by the sun and used by plants when they photosynthesise. Food chains and webs were explored (using sweets as an incentive) and it was demonstrated how energy use as it travels up the food chain is quite wasteful. The final session involved burning different crisps in Bunsen burners to see how much energy value they contain.
Year 5
Year 5 Explore Calne The Year 5 children braved the cold weather one November morning and headed into Calne to Investigate Their Locality. With some ideas already of what the town had to offer and how it could be improved, the children were amazed by how much more they learnt. The morning began with a traffic survey – a constant thorny issue with the locals – and, unsurprisingly, the A4 proved to be the busiest road. This was followed by a mapping exercise and the children noticed how clean and tidy the centre of Calne was looking, and how much effort had been put into shop window displays to entice customers. Finally, the children approached the locals and asked them a few questions about their impressions of the town. They demonstrated how to do this politely and sensitively. Leaving the centre, the children all commented on how much there already is in Calne and had some good ideas for improvements.
Helpful Librarians in 6G
Year 6 go Manga!
As part of the English curriculum, 6G learnt all about how books are catalogued in a Reference Library using the Dewey Decimal System. The children spent time in the school library looking at the ten main categories and the type of book found within each. They then had to search for books in the library. It is very important books are kept in the correct place - as every librarian knows a misplaced book is a lost book! To help others find books in the library, 6G then made mobiles of some of the categories they use the most. The finished mobiles will help to decorate tthee llibrary. b a y.
Over the second half of term, Year 6 have been looking at Drawing Faces. The children have tried techniques such as dividing a picture into grid squares and have developed the way they look at the subject more closely. In one particular lesson, everyone was given the opportunity to try to draw faces in a ‘Manga Shoujo’ style. The resultant drawings,, resembling Japanese comic book characters, were enjoyed by all. The children even had a go at turning each other into cartoon characters by accentuating key features such as hair, eyes and face shape!
Some of the children in Year 6 are volunteer librarians who help out every week, checking books in and out and also reading with the younger children.
www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk A Super Term on the Games Field The Autumn term has proved very prosperous out on the Games field, with excellent results against some strong opposition. Here are just a few highlights: Year 3 boys and girls proved themselves keen and eager after the summer holidays to get stuck into the Key Stage 2 Games programme. There have been highlights in Games sessions and at some hotly contested fixtures. Particular mention must go to Jemima for consistently high standards on the pitch. The Year 4 children have shown determination to develop their game and apply newly learnt skills to competitive fixtures. There have been many fantastic individual performances and reference must be made to exceptional performances, in all fixtures, by Nicholas. The upper Key Stage 2 girls have had a positive term on the hockey field. The Year 5 girls have channelled their motivation to become more competitive sportswomen and have had some encouraging results. Meanwhile, Hockey in Year 6 has gone from strength to strength - the girls are enhancing their skills and showing a real ability to work as a team. Both Holly and Amelia deserve recognition for outstanding leadership this term. The Year 5 and 6 boys’ season got off to a challenging start. However, they have since regained their winning ways, with the acquisition of Henry, at scrum half. Their Rugby is now played with good continuity and passion. This has helped them to achieve comprehensive victories throughout the term. Well done to everyone and keep up the good work!
Year 6 have ‘FUN’ competing in the LEGOLeague Challenge This year’s LEGOLeague Food Factor Challenge competition at the Hewlett Packard Laboratories in Bristol, captured the imagination of the children in Year 6. The innovative challenge encourages a cross curricular approach using Programming and Control, Design and Technology, Mathematics, Research, Presentation Skills, Strategic Thinking and Teamwork to achieve the aims of the challenge.
LEGOLeague
65th Devizes Junior Eisteddfod Last year eleven children from St Margaret’s joined other children from local schools to attend the Devizes Junior Eisteddfod. This year, a total of twenty-one children from Years 3-6 performed in thirty-two different classes, including a ‘news reading for television’ category. The children who entered this year performed in a range of musical categories including solos for piano, clarinet, recorder, strings, flute and brass instruments, as well as recorder duets, singing and ensembles. All the children were awarded aw either Merit or Distinction and an a number won their classes. A special s mention should go to Lucy Lu in Year 6 who won her class and an her category in the ‘Under 11 Newsreading N for Television’ section. In the evening, some of the children were w invited back to play at the prize-winners p concert in Devizes Town T Hall, where the prizes were presented by the Mayor.
The Team ‘Food Understanding Network’ (FUN) were asked to investigate food and find one way to improve its safe delivery. Questions they considered while preparing their presentation included: Where does your food come from? How is it grown? Where has it been? Who handled it? How did it get to your kitchen cupboard? Who protected it along the way? How did they prevent spoiling and contamination? How did they decide which food was good and which was spoiled or contaminated? After the children learnt about our food’s journey from ground to table, they searched out how and where our food could become spoiled or contaminated. They chose one problem that our food faces, researched it and created a presentation that illustrated their innovative solution to that problem. For the Food Factor Robot Game, the team’s robot was tasked to put some common foods through just a few of the steps food goes through in order to get into our stomachs, while either avoiding or dealing with contamination! And the results....Congratulations to the team who were runners up in the Core Values category! They demonstrated that they understood that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork. St Margaret’s Preparatory School, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 0DF Tel: 01249 857220 Fax: 01249 857227 Email: office@stmargaretsprep.org.uk Website: www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk
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