THEECHO ECHO ECHO
Christmas 2014 Edition
Shaping the Future The Academic Year 2014/15 began with a flourish in many respects, not only taking into consideration the excitement of the forthcoming twelve months, but with special regard to the launch of our 10 Year Vision – Shaping The Future. Our ‘vision’ reflects the core values of both St Margaret’s and St Mary’s and will help to shape the future of education at Calne. St Margaret’s has developed extensively in recent years and it is vital that we continue to allow the children to be the best that they can be. Projects currently under consultation include an Arts Centre, a Science Laboratory, enhanced support facilities and, upon the acquisition of Lansdowne House, a self contained facility for our youngest children, which will also support Maggots and our wrap around care programme. Additionally, we continue to work purposefully towards our joint venture of a Sports Hall, which will benefit all our pupils between the ages of 3-18! As we look towards the future we are unashamedly ambitious in what we are seeking to achieve, but we are confident that our aspirations will become a reality and that St Margaret’s will continue to grow and thrive, providing exceptional opportunities for years to come!
Welcome to the Christmas Edition of The Echo As I write this article in late November we have just had our first early morning frost which would suggest that winter is at last on its way! The balmy days of September have seemed to stretch on endlessly, but with that has been the joy of seeing the children playing outside amongst the leaves and on the wonderful new play equipment! At the start of term we welcomed many new families to St Margaret’s, as well as some new members of staff. In a very short period of time everyone has become an active member of the school community and achievements have been
celebrated across all aspects of school life. We have especially enjoyed seeing the children’s emerging confidence which has enabled them to take risks and challenge themselves. Next term we look forward to all of our pupils continuing in this positive way, and especially the children in Year 6 as they prepare to take their 11+ examinations in January. We wish them every success and, in the meantime, I send you and your families my good wishes for a blessed and joyous Christmas, and a peaceful and happy 2015.
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Year 3 Set Up Camp at School! Year 3 began the term with an exciting camping adventure, which delivered new experiences aplenty. The weather was kind, enabling them to enjoy outdoor living at its best, with the welcome benefit of the school bathrooms close by! The children delighted in many of the time honoured traditions of camping, such as pitching a tent and making it home for the night, singing songs around a roaring campfire and toasting marshmallows on sticks until they become deliciously gooey inside. Everyone learnt a range of bushcraft skills - hunting for wood to build fires and creating shelters under the cover of the trees. Year 3 worked together to complete a variety of fun challenges, in order to win tokens for their team. There was a distinct air of camaraderie amongst the year group and the daytime activities and the nighttime whisperings allowed plenty of time to get to know each other better! The H5 Camp proved an excellent addition to the Year 3 calendar; a popular and memorable event for everyone involved.
Reception P See the Bigger Picture! The children in Reception P have been exploring mark making this term. Everyone enjoyed using a variety of different tools to draw and paint with, in order to create different textures and effects. During the warm weather in October, everyone went outside and had the opportunity to ‘go wild’ and draw a picture of their choice using the chunky chalks. It was very exciting as the canvas was as big as the outdoor classroom! Initially, many children chose to work on their own and then tried joining their picture onto others to make a ‘big class picture!’ Great team work Reception P!
Santa’s Little Helpers!
Year 3 Perfect Instructions!
The children in Kindergarten have been working hard to create a workshop for Santa and his elves, as well as somewhere they can go and rest at the end of the day. They have been writing lists and wrapping presents to help him prepare for his very busy night.
The children who entered Key Stage 2 in September have been working on reading, listening to and writing instructions. They suddenly realised what a huge number of instructions they have every day! The children worked on developing their ability to be clear and concise in the instructions they gave to one another. They carried out practical tasks and wrote instructions on how to look after their PE Kit! Mrs Richards then managed to trick the class by asking the children to follow some simple instructions that were written down, it made everyone understand how important it is to read really carefully!
They have particularly enjoyed making decorations for the tree, stockings for the fireplace, and a sleigh in which Santa can travel in order to deliver his gifts.
5G’s Adventures in South America The children in Year 5 learnt about the vibrant continent of South America in Geography this term. The work covered different biomes as well as research on some of the countries. Now they know what landscapes are found around the continent and can locate them correctly. For their assembly, 5G presented their findings on the different wildlife around South America and included singing in Spanish and some Samba drumming. This gave a real taste of the cultures of the continent. Part of their studies was a trip to The Living Rainforest. Gigantic leaves on the huge trees made the forest floor shady. Flying freely around were small birds while a pair of toucan, a crocodile and even monkeys were in cages. All of this gave the impression of actually being in the rainforest. There was even an amazing sloth, eating upside down in the trees. The children were taught how the rainforest provides wood, fruit and even medicine for the world. But if we continue to cut down the trees of the rainforest all those resources will be lost forever.
Sensitive 1J!
2A Learn About WW1
This term the children in 1J had great fun learning about the senses. They discovered that there are five senses. To find out about smell they made ‘smelly’ Playdough, using smells such as lemon, mint, strawberry and rose. This was great fun! To find out about their sense of touch the children then carried out an investigation called ’feely feet’. They worked in pairs with one blindfolded and the other guiding them onto the different materials. The children came up with lots of describing words to describe how these materials felt under their feet!
The children in 2A thoroughly enjoyed learning about World War 1 this term and had an amazing time discovering the history of Britain, as well as their ancestors. They learnt about many aspects of the Great War from baking their own trench cake, to understanding about the hygiene and exercise the soldiers endured whilst at war; from tasting food from 1914-1918 and the rationing process, to the transport used by the soldiers.
Year 4 Experience the Saxons at Salisbury On a wet November morning, the Year 4 children put on their raincoats, collected their packed lunches and eagerly boarded the coach to take them for a learning session on the Anglo-Saxons at Salisbury Museum. Everyone took part in a number of fun learning activities about AngloSaxon life. The session began with a photo of a Saxon warrior skeleton known as The Ford Warrior and clues in the grave were used to piece together information about his life. The children then handled replica Saxon artefacts and had to record characteristics such as what they might have been used for and what they were made of. There was also an opportunity to make and decorate a Saxon brooch which was then completed with a safety pin so that each one could be worn for the rest of the day. Messages in Saxon runes were written to one another and finally a re-enactment of a Saxon funeral was experienced by all! Everything happened before the children had even had the chance to pick up their clipboards and pencils and become detectives in the museum, and of course, visit the shop! The outing was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
The Year 2 children performed a wonderful assembly and ended the half term by collating all their knowledge to make their own fact files. Everyone now understands the importance of Armistice Day and this will have an everlasting impact on them.
THEECHO ECHO ECHO
CHRISTMAS 2014 EDITION
All Things Scottish in 4NC The children in 4NC have been studying all things Scottish! They started with reeling: learning Strip the Willow, they thought about climbing Munros and have looked at the Whiskey industry and making Harris Tweed, but it was shortbread that really captured their imagination! Due to interest in The Great British Bake Off the children decided to have their own competition comparing eighteen different recipes. Needless to say there were a lot of visitors in the classroom with so much shortbread on display! The ‘bakers’ looked at different types of flour, flavour and presentation. The favourite overall contained rice flour, with the gluten free recipe also containing this coming second. The best flavour was apple and ginger, with the traditional circular shortbread winning the presentation category. 4NC had a great week but everyone felt that they had eaten enough shortbread to last them for a very long time!
Reception C Rise to the Challenge of Repeating Things The Reception C children had great fun making their own repeating patterns this term. They explored a carousel of activities, using a wide range of tools and techniques to make their patterns. They engaged in stencilling, cutting and sticking, sponge painting, leaf printing and using shape and stamp tools in Revelation Natural Art. The children particularly enjoyed using number stickers to make their repeating patterns!
Boom! Crackle! Whoosh in 2T! After seeing some amazing fireworks at the St Margaret’s Bonfire Night, the 2T children wrote some lively poems. They learnt how to use onomatopoeia, similes and alliteration to create some wonderful images. ‘…boom like TNT’, ‘… pop like popcorn in a pan’, ‘…shimmering like a wave’ and ‘…sparkling like clean metal’ was just some of the wonderfully imaginative language that the children used. They proudly shared their poems with the school in their assembly and then used pastels and black paper to recreate the night sky. Fantastic work 2T!
Year 6 Visit the Imperial War Museum Year 6 began their study on the First World War by visiting the Imperial War Museum. The children looked at the newly opened Ashcroft Gallery, where all the recipients of the George and Victoria Cross Medals are honoured. Each person is shown, the citation they received on award of the medal and their story is given. The different attributes of bravery that each person had demonstrated was humbling to read about. The children were then shown two paintings, one from 1915 and one from 1918 and were asked to consider how they could use primary sources to learn more about the First World War. Their guide then allowed them to handle a variety of artefacts, ranging from an artillery shell, to a china tank model (used to raise money to buy tanks) and helmets from British, French and German soldiers. Everyone then had to work together to find a link between their artefact and a photograph that they were given. Lots of discussion and questioning took place! Finally Year 6 walked through the newly refurbished First World War Gallery – an inspirational and thought provoking day.
www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk Body Matters in 5W 5W have been learning about the human body in Science. The children moved around the room like blood cells around a body, going in the two loops, both to the lungs to collect oxygen and then to the body to deliver it. They then used a sock to show how muscles control the descent of food to the stomach. Finally, everyone really enjoyed putting all their understanding together in a class assembly involving most of the organs in the body cavity. Although most of the class thought that many of the things going on inside a human body were pretty disgusting, there was still no shortage of volunteers to play the parts of either the ‘bacteria’ killed in the stomach or the ‘waste food’!
Autumn Falls in 1C As part of their work on Seasons, the children in 1C enjoyed exploring Autumn this term. Despite the rain, they put on their coats and wellies and headed outside to observe the beautiful Autumnal colours and the changing of the seasons. The class then discussed how they would use their senses to take in their surroundings, before creating some ‘wow words’ to include in their Autumn poems. The rain and wind gave everyone plenty to discuss and the children then used the objects they had collected outside to make some great collages. They also made use of the leaves during their Open House, where parents enjoyed helping them with their leaf rubbings. 1C are now all looking forward to learning about the other seasons throughout the year!
6C Celebrate National Poetry Day This year’s National Poetry Day was thoroughly enjoyed by Year 6. The day started with a fantastic session, which saw the Year 6 children reading some of their favourite poems to the Reception classes. Old time classics, like ‘The King’s Breakfast’ by AA Milne and ‘Ladybird, Ladybird’ by Emily Bronte, could be heard alongside newer favourites, such as ‘Daddy Fell into the Pond’ by Alfred Noyes and ‘Whizz, Bang, Orang-Utan’ by John Foster. Some of the poems were even acted out by the Reception children as the Year 6 pupils read aloud. Great fun! To coincide with the centenary commemorations of WW1, Year 6 also researched the famous WW1 poets. Everyone chose the poem that they found most powerful to share with the others in the year. This included the work of Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, W. B. Yeats and Wilfred Owen. Everyone felt that the powerful imagery and stark sentence structures of these poems helped them to understand the reality of the War. Finally, many of the Year 6 children chose to extend their writing skills by taking part in Mrs Gordon’s Creative Writing Club each week; as part of this they wrote their own WW1 poems. These were submitted as entries to the local Calne Arts and Literacy Festival competition, where we were delighted to hear that Beatrice’s entry, ‘Moonlit War’ won the Under 16 category. Well done Beatrice!
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Senior Girls’ Hockey Success In November, the U10A Girls’ Hockey team took part in the annual tournament hosted by Monkton Prep School, whilst the U11A Girls’ team attended the tournament hosted by King Edward’s. The U10A girls were in Group A which included Westonbirt, Stonar, Hazlegrove and The Paragon. The girls progressed from their group with wins against Westonbirt and Paragon, drawing their match against Stonar and losing only to Hazlegrove. This set of results allowed them to progress into the knock out stage of the competition and to compete against Monkton Prep in the semi-final. The match was hotly contested with both teams pushing hard in attack but defending very well. It was St Margaret’s who managed to score the solitary goal of the match which saw them progress to the final where they faced last year’s winners - Hazlegrove. St Margaret’s knew that this match was going to be a challenge having lost to Hazelgrove 2-0 in the group stage of the competition. With both teams pressing hard it was tense affair, but neither was able to break the deadlock and the match ended 1-1. This meant that the winners had to be decided based on the number of goals scored throughout the tournament. Victory was awarded to Hazelgrove, with St Margaret’s being valiant silver medallists.
The U11A team members were full of confidence and raring to go right on the first whistle of their opening match. They opened strongly with a convincing 1-0 win against Westonbirt. They went on to win two of their three remaining group matches against Colston’s and the hosts, King Edward’s, losing only once to The Paragon 2-0. The girls had done enough to progress into the semi-finals against Monkton Prep. With both teams keen not concede a goal the game was very tight, but it was St Margaret’s who came out on top with a well worked goal leaving the final score 1-0. St Margaret’s had reached the final of the tournament where they would face The Paragon again. With the girls knowing that they had nothing to lose they pushed and pushed but were unable to score that elusive goal. The game finished 0-0, which meant victory was awarded to The Paragon who had managed to score more goals throughout the afternoon. St Margaret’s were most definitely worthy runners up on the day!
The Future of Learning What is the future of learning? That is the key question Year 6 ‘Lego Lunatics’ investigated as they prepared for and participated in this year’s LEGOLeague Challenge. The children researched and re-evaluated how people gather knowledge and skills in the 21st century and endeavoured to teach adults about the ways in which children need and want to learn.
Buenos días! Bonjour! Guten Tag! The Autumn term got off to a flying start with lots of language learning. St Margaret’s has started a Spanish club and our enthusiastic linguists can’t wait for Wednesdays when Señora Rosa comes up for a lunch time full of fun with Spanish. In November, the puppet Felix from the Goethe Institut invited some children in Year 5 to Franzi’s birthday party at St Mary’s! Everyone played some German party games, made party hats, learnt words for colours, counted to 10 and sang ‘zum Gerburtstag viel Glück’ to Franzi! The children learnt a lot of German and discovered just how much fun language-learning is! Back in school, everyone sang Christmas Carols in English, French, Spanish and German and were especially excited when St Nikolaus visited our assembly in December!
As part of the joint Computing/DT competition project, the LEGOLeague team members were challenged to think like scientists and engineers. They had extensive discussions and chose a real world question for the project – “How can we improve the way that someone with a disability learns to play a musical instrument?” Additionally, many enjoyable (if at times a little frustrating!) hours were spent building, testing and programming the robot to solve a set of demanding missions in the Robot Game. The children were very much one large team working together and they all set off for Bristol on November 26th enthused by their solid background of research and programming to compete admirably against 18 other teams from the South-West. Amidst a fantastic atmosphere of flashing lights and pounding music, the Lego Lunatics represented St Margaret’s superbly both in terms of presentation and programming. We are delighted to report that the team were awarded the ‘Core Values’ trophy and qualified for the quarter and semi-finals, narrowly missing a place in the finals!
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