Prep Newsletter Friday 20 th March 2015 Dear Parents and friends, Solar Eclipse Following Miss Caher’s assembly on Thursday when the girls were told what an eclipse is and why it is important, as well as hearing very important safety information, the girls experienced it this morning. From about 9am we noticed the light diminishing and at 9.30am it was mostly dark. Mrs Walsgrove took the Year 4s outside in their Science lesson to Swimming Gala The friendly swimming gala on Wednesday between St Margaret’s and St Hilda’s was exciting. It was a great learning experience as for most of our girls as this was their first gala. Many were proud of their achievements. Quotes from our girls at the gala: “Teamwork is key.” “It was really hard, but I tried my best.” “It was stressful but I managed to come 2nd.” “We all wanted to win but it was great to take part.” “It was all about taking part, not just winning!” “In a gala you always push yourself.” mostly dark. Mrs Walsgrove took the Year 4s outside in their Science lesson to experience the dip in temperature and to hear the birds quieten. Thankfully it was very cloudy so the whole experience was very safe but it was a great experience and one that we hope the girls will remember.
Transcript
Prep Newsletter Friday 20th
March 2015
Dear Parents and friends,
Solar Eclipse Following Miss Caher’s assembly on Thursday when the girls were told
what an eclipse is and why it is important, as well as hearing very
important safety information, the girls experienced it this morning. From
about 9am we noticed the light diminishing and at 9.30am it was mostly
dark. Mrs Walsgrove took the Year 4s outside in their Science lesson to
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Swimming Gala
The friendly swimming gala on Wednesday between St Margaret’s and St
Hilda’s was exciting. It was a great learning experience as for most of our
girls as this was their first gala. Many were proud of their achievements.
Quotes from our girls at the gala:
“Teamwork is key.”
“It was really hard, but I tried my best.”
“It was stressful but I managed to come 2nd.”
“We all wanted to win but it was great to take part.”
“It was all about taking part, not just winning!”
“In a gala you always push yourself.”
mostly dark. Mrs Walsgrove took the
Year 4s outside in their Science lesson
to experience the dip in temperature
and to hear the birds quieten.
Thankfully it was very cloudy so the
whole experience was very safe but it
was a great experience and one that
we hope the girls will remember.
Chess Tournament Our chess team performed incredibly well whilst encountering some
fierce opposition at times. Over the 3 tournaments this academic year the
team’s points were totalled and cumulatively they secured 7th place out
of the 20 participating Hertfordshire schools. A wonderful result and one
which we are very proud of. Congratulations to all of the girls who have
participated in the team this year.
LAMDA exams This week the girls who take Speech and Drama lessons have had their
LAMDA exams. Tensions were high and nerves evident but when
speaking with the girls on the whole they enjoyed the experience and felt
proud of their hard work. Results will be with us soon.
Determination In our Monday assemblies we have been considering the values expected
of a St Margaret’s girl. This week we thought about determination and
how important it is to have a goal, work hard, try our best and if it’s
tough, keep persevering. In other words, having the determination to
succeed. I then set a challenge which would need thought, trial and error,
overcoming failure and most importantly, determination.
The challenge: Using nothing else, insert a plastic drinking straw through
a raw potato.
Well done to all of the girls who brought in their potatoes and have each
received an Award Mark for their efforts:
Here are successful potato challenges from Easha, Yoana and Amita.
Chess Match Report by Lucy, Year 4
In our first round we did very well. These were the results:
Mia – Won Lucy – Won Scarlet – Won
Chuwen – Won Anika – Drew Yukie – Lost
Round 1 Facts
We played the first round against Brickland Park School. Mia
won without knowing! Lucy was in a losing position but did win
in the end. Scarlet found out that the man training the other
teams was called Mr Peroolin. Anika and Chuwen had normal
games. Yukie was doing well but lost because she ran out of
time.
In our second round these were the results:
Mia – Won Lucy – Lost Scarlet – Lost
Chuwen – Drew Anika – Lost Yukie – Won
Round 2 Facts
We played the second round against Mable School. Mia won in
just over 5 minutes. Lucy lost very slowly. Scarlet, Anika and
Yukie had really good games.
Overall we came 7th
out of 20 teams!
More Chess News
Last Saturday Scarlet, Year 3, joined a team of 14 boys and 1 girl
and represented Hertfordshire in the Under 9’s South of England
qualifier for the National Final. Scarlet scored 2 out of 3 and
helped Hertfordshire finish a clear 2nd
, just behind reigning
national champions Barnet and ahead of Kent and Essex, among
others. Along with the rest of the team, Scarlet was awarded a
silver medal. Congratulations Scarlet!
Mrs C Aisthorpe
Head of St. Margaret’s Preparatory School
Lift Share/Car Pool Requests
1. A Lower Prep parent is looking for help with collection at the end of
the day as she is unable to take her daughter home. The parent
would be able to help with taking a child to school if you wish. She
lives on Little Bushey Lane (WD23).
2. A Lower Prep parent is looking for a possible lift share/car pool from
Safety’ Week. We learnt how to cross the road safely
and practised on our very own miniature road. Then
we wrote instructions on how to cross the road
safely.
We also did a
traffic survey
using a tally
chart, we then
used the
information to
make a bar chart.
Reception and Year 1 had a fantastic Environmental
Day on Wednesday. We looked at different types of
spring flowers and trees. Thank you so much to Mrs
Hilton for organising such a lovely day.
Year 1 have been learning about the Solar
Eclipse that occurred this morning. They
learned that it happens when the Moon
blocks the light from the Sun. We used balls
of wool and an inflatable globe to
demonstrate how the eclipse occurs. We were
hoping the skies would be clear enough so
that we can observe the effects of the eclipse
using a pin hole camera. We know we must
never look directly at the Sun even if it is
cloudy or we are wearing sun glasses.
Year 1
Year 2's English lessons have had a Scottish theme this
term, so in Art the girls have been learning how to paint
thistles. They started by sketching a thistle with their spiky
flowers, and went on to learn how to use water colours to
make the thistles more life-like.
Year 2
The results are beautiful. You
can see how a wash has been
used to create the flowers and
darker, thicker paint has been
applied using a fine brush.
Mrs Charlesworth was very
pleased with the girls'
creativity. All of their
paintings are displayed in the
Upper Prep art room.
Year 3 As the Spring Term comes to an end we can look back on a wonderful term. We have made things and drawn things. Learnt about negative numbers, division, drawn graphs, learnt about money and fractions. We have learnt about the Water Cycle, Pollution, continents and countries. We have finished our studies about the Romans and had a wonderful visit to Verulamium. We have written stories and poems. We have learnt about adjectives, prepositions, proper nouns, collective nouns, verb tenses, commas and singular and plural nouns.
We have done gymnastics, played games and been swimming. Goodness! There was also time for looking after each other, lots of fun, laughing, learning poems and so much more. A term in Year 3 and lots of happy memories!
Year 4
Year 4 had a fantastic fun day at the Science Museum where they met a Russian cosmonaut who told us about the highs and lows of working in space. She explained that although men originally thought that women would not cope well in space, scientists have proved that actually the female brain is better suited to some tasks than the male brain, for example women’s colour differentiation is much more accurate in space than men’s!
shadows, spinning like a skater and designing an arch bridge. They showed great teamwork, supporting and helping each other until they had constructed a bridge that supported them! It actually held the weight of 9 girls! Well done Year 4. We had a brilliant day and their behaviour was impeccable throughout.
We watched an amazing live show called ”Flash, Bang, Wallop!” where we saw how explosions occurred and then spent time in the Launch Pad. Here the girls carried out some practical activities such as capturing their
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Year 5
Last week Year 5 visited St Alban’s Abbey as part of our studies of the Victorians. The girls arrived at school dressed in a variety of Victorian costumes. Did you know that from 1553 to 1871 the Lady Chapel in the Cathedral was used as a school? Using this as our inspiration, the girls considered the changes that going to school brought to the lives of Victorian children, before entering the Victorian Classroom to experience life as a Victorian school child. Under the tutorship of 2 stern and strict teachers, the girls learned the 3 R’s, experienced drill and enjoyed an object lesson all about a pheasant. Following Camille’s ‘caning’ for stealing apples the girls were in constant fear of the cane, and poor Aryana had to wear the dunce’s hat!
afternoon they participated in a workshop. Using toy and game artefacts, the girls became historical detectives exploring pastimes in the Victorian age. They considered the contrast between toys owned by the rich and poor of society, what the toys were made of and how they worked. Having handled examples, the girls then had the chance to make a Victorian Thaumatrope of their own to take home.
At the end of the session the girls had the chance to reflect on their experiences and compare them with modern day teaching. They decided they would return to school calling Miss Caher ‘Mam’ in future. In the
Year 6 visited the RAF Museum in Hendon as part of their history studies about World War 2. It was such a rewarding experience. We started the day in a 1940’s classroom with old fashioned furniture (including desks like our own!), ink wells, quill pens and a very strict teacher who told us about discipline in the classroom at that time. The girls even experienced an air raid and had to hide under the desks to take cover from potential bombs with their gas mask
boxes. It was great fun and brought history to life.
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Year 6
We also saw real planes from the Second World War including
a Spitfire and Lancaster bomber. They were much bigger than we expected and sat alongside the German Luftwaffe which was a sight to see.
