Friday 4th May 2018

Dear Parents,

It has been a busy week at Yarrells and we have certainly dived in to the new term’s programme with enthusiasm, despite the return of winter earlier this week! Year 5 enjoyed a visiting artist, Year 1 visited the synagogue in Bournemouth and, last week, Transition and Reception children had a fabulous trip to the Wildlife Centre in the New Forest. It was lovely to speak to so many Year 5 and 6 parents at the parent conferences this week too. In assembly last week, I talked to the children about encouraging each other and not giving up. I emphasised the importance of seeing each day as a new opportunity, reminding them of the immense importance of making the most of the journey. At Yarrells, we certainly endeavour to relish the daily experiences with our pupils and we firmly believe that our children have much to contribute, not only at school, but also in the future.

I am delighted to announce the arrival of a baby boy for Mr Renwick and his wife, Lucy. Angus James was born on Monday 30th April, weighing a healthy 7.9lbs. Mother and baby are doing well. Mr Renwick will be off for two weeks enjoying this special time with his family. We send them lots of love and look forward to meeting Angus soon.

Creativity is something we value hugely at Yarrells. Today in assembly, some of our Year 5 pupils shared their experience of their art workshop earlier in the week. Mrs Warner-Gale organised a local artist to work with them on a collaborative project and their finished sculpture is being displayed as part of the Purbeck Arts Festival. Many of our children participate in art clubs with Mrs Neesam; she has been so impressed with their enthusiasm, independence and creativity. Congratulations to Kekoa Kong-Brown, Brandon White, Arthur Wilson, Aanya Jaswal and Jonah Shepherd on achieving their Arts Award Discover certificates. We were honoured to invite Evie, William and Teddy Huntingford up in assembly to share some exciting news. The Huntingford family were invited to Windsor Castle and were delighted to meet the Queen! The children were extremely proud of their father, who has been awarded an OBE for his service in the Royal Marines. They beamed in assembly, sharing this most special experience with us. Lieutenant Colonel Huntingford has led our Remembrance Day memorial service and, as a valued member of the Yarrells' family, we send him our warmest congratulations on this very prestigious accolade.

Last Friday, FOYS hosted the quiz, which was rescheduled after the snowy weather. The evening was a huge success; we enjoyed a delicious chilli and had a fun-filled evening. I would like to thank FOYS for all their hard work to arrange this social event for the Yarrells community. Some excellent prizes were won in the raffle; I know someone is looking forward to taking part in a triathlon! We’re still counting the profits, but we’re thrilled to say it was a hugely successful night, taking around £1000 in ticket sales, raffle and the very popular and well stocked bar! Thank you for donating prizes to support our fundraising. I am very much looking forward to the fair on 12th May.

With the money raised through FOYS, we are planning to refurbish and develop our school library. Your support is always greatly appreciated and the overhaul of the library will be hugely beneficial to all the children in the school.

Whilst we are on the theme of reading, we have recently had a huge delivery of books to supplement our reading schemes throughout the school. We have invested in a range of books to extend the variety of both independent and guided group reading books. We have also increased our resources in the highest reading levels so that the children are able to stay on the staged reading scheme as this allows them to extend their comprehension whilst reading more challenging texts. A big thank you to Mrs Williams, who has been very busy recolour coding all of our reading books to the 'book band' scheme. You may have read recently in the press about the importance of sharing and reading books with your children. This helps them with their grammar, vocabulary, listening and questioning skills. There has been a huge drop nationally in children reading for pleasure. To promote this in the Pre-Prep, the teachers have launched a reading competition. Every time your child reads or shares a book they write the title on a paper chain. The class with the longest chain at the end of term will get a special treat. Reading with your child is really important, and great fun, whatever their age and ability. The Yarrells gardening club has launched and the children have been buzzing with excitement planting a variety of vegetables, herbs and wildflowers. We also have raspberries, rhubarb, gooseberries, strawberries and pears growing. As well as collecting rainwater, the children are learning about crop rotation and even creating recipes for their harvest! Mme Forbes, a keen gardener, has been busy extending their French vocabulary and the estates team have kindly made some special dual language signs for the garden. Let’s hope we have a good crop for us all to enjoy during lunch later this term. I have also been seriously impressed with the creations for ‘Le Louvre’ exhibition that are coming in to school. The creativity and array of entries has been truly astounding! I particularly enjoyed Lily’s Parisian cake; I am glad a photograph was taken for the exhibition before it was devoured!

It has been wonderful to see so many of our pupils enjoying sport and some exciting outdoor activities this holiday, with lots of success all round. I would like to give a special mention to two of our Year 5 pupils this week. Oli Evans, a talented gymnast, took part in a national tumbling competition and is getting closer to gaining a qualifying score for the British Gymnastics Championships, which is outstanding! Also, Jayden Coombes travelled to Cheltenham to participate in the Biathle GB series. He took the top spot for U10s in the GB team and will compete in the European Biathle championship in Germany this summer. Both boys are hugely talented and we wish them every success in the next stage. Isla McPhail and Elizabeth Dawson are both training as part of the Dorset Development Swim programme and Aimee Kelly was awarded top 9-year-old girl in a Dorset graded swim meet over Easter. Congratulations to all the swimmers who have gained PBs and awards over the holidays. Parents also deserve a medal for all their support in getting children to their events and training, of course! Whilst mentioning sports, we had a great start to the cricket season with our Year 6 boys beating BCS by seven clear runs! Also, the Yarrells Tennis Championships are underway. The finals will take place on 21st June. In assembly, Mr Cornish explained how this will run and the children know how it will be scored. Some of our lucky Year 5 pupils have the opportunity to go to Wimbledon on 2nd July. I know this is always a real highlight and a fabulous opportunity to see the professionals at work. On the football field, Rafferty Vavasour has been invited to train with Southampton F.C., which is a great achievement. I would also like to wish Josh Toop good luck for this weekend as he is travelling to Berlin with Southampton F. C. to compete in a tournament against teams from all over Europe. Good luck also to Paige Vincent, who has been training very hard in taekwondo. She is the youngest pupil in the Wessex Club to be selected for a competition in London this weekend.

Thank you very much for sending in your photos of your children participating in different sporting activities, competitions or fun adventures and anything new they may have tried during the Easter holidays. We had an amazing response and put all the photos together in a collage at the end of the newsletter. There are a few spaces left on the ski trip to La Plagne for Easter 2019. We are very happy to take unaccompanied children from Year 5 and up. Please email me directly if you are interested as we have some children who are keen to go with a few friends. It is not only a great active week in the mountains, but with room for plenty of geography learning opportunities, the children can also brush up on their French of course. Please remember that there is no school on Monday and on Tuesday, we will be having an Open Morning for new prospective parents. Please share with your friends and family to come along if they are interested in their children joining us at Yarrells. Finally, I am pleased to announce that today in assembly, we picked out of a top hat, our very own Meghan and Harry for the Yarrells royal wedding celebrations and they are Isla Merrell & William Hilborne-Rose both from Year 2. I hope that Grandparents will be able to join us on Friday 18th May.

With warm wishes for a sunny bank holiday weekend!

Mrs Linda Sharpe Acting Head

Things to remember week commencing

7th May 2018

Mon 7h NO SCHOOL – BANK HOLIDAY

Tues 8th

09:30 14:00 14:00 14:00

OPEN MORNING – 09:30 – 11:30 Yr 4 Girls Rounders v Park (H) Yrs 3 Cricket v Castle Court (A) Yr 3 Girls Rounders v BCS, Park and Dumpton (A) @ BCS Junior School

Wed 9th 14:00 Yr 5 A & B Girls Rounders v Park (H) @ Upton Rec

Thurs 10th

09:00 10:00 10:00

Hearing Tests - Reception to Year 2 Mini-Monets - Parent and Toddler Group Year 4 Carey Camp (overnight stay)

Fri 11th MUFTI DAY - FOR SPRING FAIR TOMBOLA

Year 4 Carey Camp (Day 2)

Saturday 12th May @ 12:00 – 15:00 Yarrells Spring Fair

Sun 13th

09:00

South West Schools Biathle / Triathle Relays (A) @ Leweston School

Trans Serena Kelly Trans Sophia Jee RT Grace Stratton RW Bella Cake 1D Sam Vaughton 1W Freddie Stephenson 2R Paddy Ghandour 2W Jakob Goodes 3I Leah Seweryn 3M Malachi Evan-Cook 4D Coral Beard 4MW Zach Khan 5B Polly Ghandour 5CW George Rawlings 5S Kekoa Kong-Brown 6LF Milly Talwar 6S Lewis Beard 7SM Tom Shepherd 8S Freya Tudberry-Swain

SP = Selected Pupils

MUFTI DAY – FRIDAY 11TH MAY 2018 Children are invited to wear mufti in return for donations towards the Spring Fair. These could be any bottles, plants, confectionary, toiletries, unwanted gifts or condiments & conserves. Please bring these items on Friday morning.

GREAT YARRELLS BAKE OFF COMPETITION @ YARRELLS SPRING FAIR Please bring your cake creations along on Saturday to be part of this competition. Every entry to the bake off will receive two gold stars for themselves or their child.

This week in Greenwood we have been discovering Little Red Riding Hood as part of our topic of Traditional Tales. Last Friday our teachers put on a show of the story after we had read them the book. In cooking, we made cakes for Little Red buns to take to Grandma. We took advantage of the sunny weather and created our own beach. It was so much fun! We had picnics outside too, to celebrate one of the children’s birthdays. In our PE session, we enjoyed a yoga session instructed to us through a story!

Reception started off the summer term with an amazing trip to the New Forest Wildlife Centre. We saw amazing animals and learned some really great facts. The children met and sniffed a ferret - that's right, sniffed! We had a wonderful experience seeing bison, wallabies, otters, owls and deer. We even went into a tropical butterfly room where we saw giant butterflies! Of course, we have also been doing lots of work while back in Greenwood, including studying traditional tales such as Little Red Riding Hood. We have also been growing cress and honing our subtraction skills. What a great week!

On Tuesday, Year 1 spent the morning at The Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation Synagogue as part of our RE topic on Judaism. The building was absolutely beautiful and the children loved searching for all the six pointed stars of David. We learned that the six points represent north, east, south, west, up and down. We talked about the celebrations of Hanukah and Passover and we were so impressed with the thoughtful questions the children asked and how well they listened. Verity and Adrian made us feel so welcome and said that we were the youngest and most well behaved class they had ever met! We also learnt that in the Synagogue all the men sit downstairs and all the ladies sit upstairs because they talk too much…

Reception News Mrs K Wyatt & Mrs C Tucker

Year 1 News Mrs J Williams & Miss A Denison

The Year 2 dancers have been busy dancing around a maypole this week with Ms Robbins and Mrs Brinded. The children are really looking forward to performing for you at the spring fair. Please come along to watch; you may even choose to join in at the end!

After a very long wait, we were very excited to receive a large envelope addressed to Year 3. Our pen pal letters from New Zealand had finally arrived. Back in January, the children excitedly sat and wrote letters to children attending Waikite Valley School, a small rural school half an hour from Rotorua on the North Island. The school is surrounded by several beautiful lakes, thermal waters and hot springs and the famous Waikite Valley Hot Pools. Mrs Ing’s nephew attends the school and she was able to make links with Mrs Dinning, the Headteacher.

• ‘I was really excited and liked learning about the hot pools from my pen pal.’ - Elizabeth

• ‘I loved getting my pen pal letter from Abby in New Zealand. We like the same food and she told me about her friends.’ - Keira

• ‘I felt like I was going to pop like a bottle of champagne as I was so excited to get my letter from Cruz. He told me about his life. He swims in a creek!’ - Fin

• ‘I couldn’t believe how many pets my pen pal has! (4 cats, 6 cows, 17 chickens, 3 goats and 3 sheep)- Max

• ‘My pen pal, Taylor, told me that the most dangerous spider in Waikite Valley is a white tailed spider!’ - Paige

Year 3 have also really enjoyed their geography topic on rainforests and we were very impressed with their home learning homework. The children created a wide range of projects: 3D models, posters, power points and art work. One child created an amazing 3D board game based on the rainforest whilst another made a large-scale model of a tree with lots of inhabitants! Amazing work, Year 3!

Year 2 Maypole Dancing Ms G Robbins & Mrs T Wilson

Year 3 News Mrs L Ing, Mrs K Moyes & Mrs J Ghandour

Year 4 have some special pets to look after! As part of their science topic on habitats, they are rearing some caterpillars of the small tortoiseshell butterfly. The tiny larvae arrived in the post last week and are now settled into their cage in Year 4, steadfastly munching their way through a large quantity of stinging nettles. They have doubled in size already! The children are looking forward to seeing them pupate and releasing some beautiful butterflies into the school grounds sometime after half term.

Year 5 had a fabulous time being creative on Tuesday, incorporating movement and dance into their work. Mrs Warner-Gale organised a local artist called Fran Quinlan to work with them on a collaborative project. Their sculpture is being displayed as part of the Purbeck Arts Festival from May 26th – 10th June at Rollington Barn, near Corfe. All Year 5 parents are invited to the Private View on Friday the 25th June from 5pm – 9pm. There will be refreshments available and live music on the night of the private viewing.

Congratulations to the children who recently completed their Arts Award Discover Sculpture module. This award is accredited to the Arts Council, England and run by Trinity College, London. These awards are crucial for anyone wanting to enter the creative industries and transferable skills are applicable across the whole curriculum. The module was dedicated to discovering how we can take everyday objects and materials and make them into a 3-dimensional piece of visual art. After learning a few basics and looking at various other artists’ work, the children were given a project to complete called ‘Me, Myself & I’. It was fantastic to see the variety of interpretations on the theme, and the amount of

Year 4 News Mrs S Way, Mr F McClelland & Mrs M Doohan

Art at Yarrells Mrs L Warner-Gale & Mrs A Neesam

creativity which went into the sculptures by every child was outstanding - well done to everyone!! Our next Arts Award club theme is Discover & Explore Painting. Fingers are crossed for some sunshine so that we can get outside and do some ‘Plein Air’ painting! - Mrs Neesam

Years 3 & 4 Boys All-Stars Cricket Coaching Wednesday 2nd May 2018

On Tuesday 1st May, Year 3 and 4 boys had a session with an all-stars cricket coach. All the boys had a chance with three different stations to practise their bowling, batting, catching and fielding. At the end, they had the chance to play a match. It was a great afternoon of cricket and all the boys made a lot of progress.

Year 5 Boys Cricket v Castle Court Wednesday 2nd May 2018

Hugo Young reports (Captain)... On Tuesday, we had a cricket match against Castle Court and we all played really well. They had some particularly talented players but we still tried our hardest. Josh Oxley was noticeably good, hitting two 4's, and James Moore bowled some excellent balls to the opposition. Despite a loss, overall we played really well as a team.

Year 6 Boys Cricket v BCS Wednesday 2nd May 2018

Tom Shepherd reports (Captain)… On Wednesday, the Year 6 and 7 Cricket A team went to Upton Rec to play BCS. BCS won the toss and decided to bat first. The match went really well and there was some great bowling from Sam Wallis who took 3 wickets, and a fantastic catch by Alex Large. Max Phillips played really well at wicket keeper to and made some great takes. Thanks to some good batting from the team, we won the match by 7 runs. What a great first match!

Hopefully you have seen the invitations we sent home to Grandparents to join us in celebrating the Royal Wedding on Friday 18th May. Sadly, as our numbers are limited we kindly request a maximum of two grandparents per family. There will be entertainment, cutting of the wedding cake and a hat parade. A copy of the invitation and itinerary is below. Please don’t forget to RSVP to the school office by Tuesday 8th May.