THEECHO ECHO ECHO
Spring 2012 Edition
Another Triumphant Year! This year’s 11+ examinations have once again been completed successfully by our Year 6 pupils, with all 29 children obtaining places at their chosen secondary schools. In addition to this remarkable achievement, numerous scholarships and exhibitions were awarded, recognising not only academic excellence, but also talent in sport and the performing arts. Our children really are quite remarkable! It is with immense pride that we publish our examination results for 2012 and we send congratulations to the children and the staff on their wonderful achievements! Charlotte Bruton School for Girls Stonar School Christopher Clifton College Prep Carraig Dauntsey’s School Monkton Combe School Rendcomb College Chloe Dauntsey’s School Ellen Dauntsey’s School Hannah Dauntsey’s School Hector Dauntsey’s School Joseph Dauntsey’s School Magdalen College School Lauren Dauntsey’s School Alistair King Edward’s School Samuel King Edward’s School Evie Prior Park College Hamish Prior Park College
Boarding Day Day Day Day Day Day Academic Scholarship Academic Scholarship Music Exhibition Academic Scholarship Day Day Academic Scholarship Academic Scholarship Day Academic Scholarship Music Exhibition
Toby Amy Katie Mathilda Amelia Caroline Ella Eleanor Hope Katya Lucy Matilda Pandora Rosie Zanya Abigail
Prior Park College The Royal High School The Royal High School The Royal High School St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne Queen’s Gate St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne St Mary’s, Calne Stonar School
Drama Exhibition Day Academic Scholarship Boarding Sport Exhibition Sport Exhibition Day Day Science Exhibition Academic Exhibition Academic Scholarship Day Day Academic Exhibition Day Day Day
Welcome to the Spring Edition of The Echo During the course of the past ten weeks, not only have the St Margaret’s children been busy in the classroom, on the sports field and on the stage, but the whole school community has echoed with the sound of singing throughout! Children, staff and parents have joined together in harmony to work towards the ‘Sing Up’ award; the massed choirs performing in the Spring Concert were a joy to listen to and provided a wonderful spectacle for the capacity audiences. As a result of our collective hard work,
we were thrilled to be awarded the ‘Gold’ accolade in recognition of our achievements. Now we are looking forward to the Platinum award... As well as singing, the children have enjoyed a wide range of triumphs in all aspects of school life and I am thrilled to share many of their achievements with you in the following pages. I hope you enjoy reading this vibrant edition of The Echo and send children, staff, parents and friends my good wishes for a peaceful Easter holiday.
www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk Kindergarten Make Play Dough This term the Kindergarten children have been exploring a variety of textures and one of the activities that they have enjoyed is making play dough. They washed their hands and put on their aprons, ready to begin cooking. They all took turns to add the ingredients, and then enjoyed mixing them all together. The children watched in fascination as the mixture turned to play dough before their very eyes! They talked about the ingredients they used, and selected some green colouring to add to it. Some of the words they used to describe it were ‘soft’, ‘gooey,’ ‘sticky’, ‘lumpy’ and ‘squishy’. Once the play dough had been made, the children selected their own equipment and made shapes, cakes, footballs and even their own dinner!
Porridge Tasting in Reception C
Reception K Go Chinese! The Reception K children have been learning all about Chinese New Year. Everyone learnt how to count in Mandarin and made a special Chinese number line by painting the characters in the correct order. The children made a huge dragon and learned how to perform a dragon dance. They even created their own orchestra to accompany their dragon movement! As part of the ‘Sing Up’ focus they learned two Chinese songs and for EASY week took part in some Chinese Drill Exercises in the Outdoor Classroom.
This term the children in Reception C have been learning about Favourite Stories and they spent a week exploring ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. They made masks and then acted out the story in their role play area. The children made a class story board to help them sequence the story into a beginning, middle and end and then used the Digital Blue camera to record themselves re-telling the story.
The highlight of the week was a huge Chinese banquet that was enjoyed by all (eaten, of course with chopsticks!).
They tasted three different flavours of porridge; plain, chocolate and apple and raisin. The class then discussed which ones they liked and why, and then created a class graph on the computer programme 2Simple 2Count, in order to find out which was the most popular flavour. The results showed that apple and raisin was the most popular flavour in Reception C!
1J Visit Lydiard House
1M Love Being Creative!
In History the children in 1J have been learning about the Victorians. In the classroom they had great fun investigating a variety of Victorian kitchen artifacts first hand. The Victorian period was further brought to life by a visit to Lydiard House, when the children were given a guided tour by Lady Bolingbroke herself. They were so excited to experience dressing like Victorian children, when they took on the roles of the Bolingbroke family members and servants. The enjoyment didn’t stop there; the children investigated traditional toys and objects in the authentic surroundings of Lydiard House. When they visited the scullery, Lady Bolingbroke was very impressed by their knowledge of Victorian kitchen artifacts. What a great way to consolidate learning. Well done 1J!
This term in Art, the children in 1M have been busy making collages of different animal environments. These included a rainforest, a polar region and the ocean. The children worked collaboratively in pairs or small groups and chose the colour they wanted to work with. They then chose from an array of materials within their colour band, and they set to work. Everyone worked with great enthusiasm and motivation on their projects and the results were fantastic! To complete their pictures, everyone had great fun carefully drawing animals to ‘hide’ in their environments.
Is there Room On the Broom? During book week Year 2 went broomtastic! Everyone shared the much loved Julia Donaldson story ‘Room on the Broom’. The children then engaged in a wide range of fun lessons for the whole week. They wrote character profiles for new animals that were going to be on the broom, which led to them making a broom in Art and DT, with new seats that would be best for their chosen animals. Everyone thought of imaginative balances as they all got on board their own ‘broom benches’ in Gymnastics and loved learning the song that accompanied the book. The children even went on a hunt for Julia Donaldson characters in their Key Stage 1 book trail, although they left their broom behind for that! The lesson everyone learnt from all of these great activities was...team work is vital for success.
Jambo! This term in Geography , the children in 2T have travelled across the world to Kenya. They started by thinking of as many questions as they could about Kenya and then used various secondary sources to answer their questions. The children know where Kenya is and they know something about the lives of Kenyan people compared to their own. In English they shared traditional Kenyan stories and everyone used these ideas to write their own amazing stories. Many of the stories featured some of the interesting and diverse wildlife which Kenya has to offer and which the children found fascinating - just have a look at their detailed and imaginative Kenya animal puppets! Year 2T completed the Kenya theme by writing and performing one of their stories.
Year 3B Sing Up Year 3B have fully embraced their latest school initiative ‘Sing Up’. Back in December, everyone had great fun learning the actions to ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ as well as singing and dancing their way through ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’! During their history lessons, the children have sung a Roman rap all about Bath (or Aquae Sulis as it was then known). They then had a go at making up their own lyrics to go with the tune of ‘One Finger One Thumb Keep Moving’. They based this around Roman life and had great fun performing it together. In Science the class has been learning about the human body. Mr Browne found the well known song ‘Dem Bones’ on the Sing Up website and the class had to sing the song, as well as touching all the relevant bones at the same time! Everyone is looking forward to finding more songs on the Sing Up website in the future, to help make learning fun and exciting.
THEECHO ECHO ECHO SPRING 2012 EDITION
3C’s Roman Feast! 3C have been enjoying learning about the Romans in their History lessons. They have learnt that the Romans were a blood-thirsty race that liked nothing more than to sit down to an extravagant feast filled with delicious delicacies and gallons of wine. The children were shocked to hear that wealthy Romans would eat lying down, whilst their many slaves served them their many courses. If you are a fan of chips and tomato sauce, like most of 3C, the Roman times would not be a time for you since potatoes and tomatoes never made it to their plates! All of these interesting facts inspired 3C to try their hand at some of their own Roman cooking and tasting. It was an easy decision to make when deciding whether to cook traditional Roman honey cakes or dormice dipped in honey and rolled in poppy seeds! Cinnamon, honey, nutmeg and flour, along with a few other ingredients combined to make the sweet golden cakes. Everyone agreed they were delicious and would love to make them again soon!
Year 4NC
Year 4 Keep Healthy Year 4 have been thinking about keeping themselves healthy in their Science and PSHE lessons this term. The children have thought about the effects of alcohol, smoking and drugs on our bodies, as well as the importance of healthy eating and maintaining an active lifestyle. Dr Cowley, a parent of a Year 4 pupil, was able to come in to talk with the year group about his work as a Cardiologist. He used X-rays to show everyone the size of the heart and a video of the heart beating. He told us about his work fitting pacemakers and how these enable people to live active, healthy lives. The children were amazed when they worked out how many litres of blood the heart pumps around their bodies each day, particularly when they thought about this quantity compared to litres of milk! A really informative, lively talk that helped us all to understand the importance of keeping our hearts healthy.
Year 5
Year 4 Trip to Windsor Castle Year 4 recently spent the day at Windsor Castle as part of their History lessons studying Knights and Castles. The children started the visit with a walk to look at the structure of the castle, followed by the changing of the guard with a wonderful band. They were very impressed by the way the band could march and play their instruments at the same time. Next was a room in the moat to learn about the history of the castle and the lives of the people who had lived there. Artie was able to try on the helmet from a suit of armour and Maisie and James took part in a ceremony to make James a Knight. After a quick lunch everyone then entered the castle. From the outside it looks rather cold and grey, but the children were very impressed by the splendour within. Everywhere they looked shone with gold, silver and jewels, together with ornate carving. Year 4 also saw amazing paintings by some of the worlds most famous artists such as Rubens and Rembrant. One of the most interesting parts was Queen Mary’s dolls house, with its functioning plumbing! Everyone returned home dreaming of thrones, chandeliers, Henry the eighth’s armour and hundreds of clocks. What a wonderful day!
www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk Baking Bonanza Throughout the first half of the spring term, Devizes-based Chef Peter Vaughan came to school to teach Year 5 about bread. The initial session focused on different types of grain and bread from a variety of cultures. Making soda bread was the easiest as no yeast is used, so there was no need to be patient! This is a skill the children learnt the following week as they kneaded the yeast dough but had to wait a week to make the bread. They learnt lots of interesting facts about gluten and saw for themselves how stretchy the dough became. They created all sorts of shapes and sizes from dainty plaits to snails. Every time, the end results were delicious! The final reward was receiving their own chef hat after completing a challenging quiz, which everyone passed with flying colours.
Mythical Beasts and Legends in 5C 5C have loved their studies into Myths and Legends. The term began with everyone researching myths from different cultures. As well as Greek myths, Celtic, Oriental and Aboriginal myths were also investigated. Written work concentrated initially on Creation stories from different cultures and everyone then chose a country on which to write their own creation story. The children have travelled from Australia to China, to Brazil via America and even north to Scotland and Norway! Next mythical beasts in all their glory (and often gory!) were the topic. The children wrote their own mythical beast books complete with illustrations, cover, blurb, acknowledgments and awards. They look extremely colourful on display and the imaginative beasts created in these are very frightening! Even the non-fiction writing has used Myths and Legends as its theme. The class have prepared their own Myths and Legends Encyclopaedia with entries from all over the world. This has been edited and published by the children themselves under the leadership of a small editorial team. Finally, on World Book Day everyone had a fantastic time dressing up as a character from a book for the schools’ attempt on a new Guinness World Record, and subsequently attending a Myths and Legends Day at St Mary’s. This complemented the term’s studies brilliantly and the children thoroughly enjoyed all the activities, including lion dancing from Chinese Mythology; learning about Indian Mythology; making Greek masks and acting out scenes from Theseus and the Minotaur, in the theatre.
6W Go Round in Circles Year 6 have been looking at the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its radius. They started by simply measuring with pieces of string, but then decided to repeat the experiment performed in the 18th century by the Comte de Buffon. By observing the way in which cocktail sticks fell on a marked piece of paper, they were able to derive an approximation for Pi. If the children had carried on all day, they would have got increasingly accurate, but instead allowed the computer to throw half a million cyber-sticks instead to prove their point!
New Dickens Novels Created in 6G The children in Year 5 and 6 studied Charles Dickens during Book Week to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth. In 6G the children created their own Dickensian novels. To start with, they created characters by dressing up some members of the class. Each group wrote notes on the physical attributes of the character and their personality. Then the characters needed suitable names that gave the reader clues about them. The second step was to create settings, using powerful descriptive language to bring each place to life. It was important to give plenty of sensory detail especially for the sights and smells of Victorian London! To add the complication in each novel, the characters were given a secret. Once all the preparations were over, the children planned and wrote their novels in the style of Charles Dickens. Descriptive paragraphs created an atmospheric setting for the characters to discover that they really were the long lost niece of the rich, but lonely Duke from the half abandoned manor house! Each novel was written in a booklet with chapters and a cover. To finish, the class enjoyed reading all the books and comparing them to real Dickens novels.
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U8A Boys’ Hockey The U8A boys have made a fantastic start to Key Stage 2 Hockey. They have shown the ability to transfer the skills they acquired from Year 2 and apply them to lessons and competitive fixtures. In lessons they have been focusing on positional play and moving the ball into a space. They have worked hard on sending the ball out to the wings, attacking the corners and firing the ball across the face of the goal. This has proven beneficial in matches, where they have won an outstanding 7 out of 8 fixtures this term. Most recently, a visit to Monkton Combe for the Bath Schools Hockey Festival resulted in them winning an impressive 4 out of 4 matches and not conceding one single goal. This is testament to their defensive and counter attacking play. They will continue to build on their skills as they progress to 7 a side hockey in Year 4.
Hier Sprechen wir Deutsch! Everyone is getting in the mood for European Week during the summer term. Some of the children have started a lunch time German club and it is a huge success. Budding linguists from Y3 and Y4 can’t wait for Thursdays when Fräulein Jessica Fechner, who is the UK-German Youth Ambassador at St Mary’s, comes up with her team to run the club. The children sing and they are finding out just how easy it is to speak German! Visit our website and take a look and listen to what we learn and the fun we have in German Club. Kindergarten are also linguists! They already have a repertoire of French songs, can count to 20, know all the colours of the rainbow and they enjoy making their fingers into escargots and having a chat - in French of course!
Take a Look at the New Website Work has now been completed on the ‘new look’ St Margaret’s website. The most significant change is that the site will ultimately provide specific school information tailored towards prospective parents and current St Margaret’s parents in their own sections. Prospective parents and the wider community have access to general school information including academic and pastoral life, sport and fixture results, exam results and news stories. The new site contains more detailed information on admissions, the structure of the school and the various key stages. There is also a new ‘week to view’ and ‘term to view’ option for the school calendar. The school intranet will be the area that current parents will access from the website. This is currently being developed but we hope to be able to launch the first stage very soon. Watch this space!
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