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Prep Newsletter Friday 6th February
2015 Dear Parents,
We have had such an exciting week in all year groups. The Reception
Class have been preparing for their Cinderella Ball by writing invitations,
Year 3 this week decided that Maths is delicious as they used Smarties in
their Data Handling topic. A number of girls professed that chocolate is
their favourite food. I wonder why? Food continued to be a theme in Year
4, or rather not food, but recipes. I sat in on their Creative Writing lesson
recently and was amazed at their imaginations and compassion. Their
friendship recipes are so sweet! Year 5 have also been writing creatively,
using their imaginations as well as ideas collected from the wonderful
range of books they have been reading. Thus their writing skills are
certainly impressive as they have been developing depth and detail. Year
6 are being encouraged to watch the news and read newspapers in their
quest to learn more about politics and the upcoming General Election.
Debating and considering another‟s point of view is certainly proving a
thought provoking exercise!
making magical wands and
rehearsing their superb dancing
skills. On Wednesday the Lower
Prep building smelled delicious
as the Year 1‟s prepared and
cooked their gingerbread, and
then yesterday they were
decorated. Sticky fingers were
everywhere, but they all learned
much whilst having a huge amount of fun. In Year 2 the preparations for
the forthcoming fashion show are gaining momentum as the excitement
is growing and the cat walk poses are being practised - such posing!
Girls where have you learned these impressive moves?
The amount of screen time and where they can access a screen is often a
concern for parents, as some children have internet access in their
bedroom, in the car and/or away from supervision. It has never been
more important to ensure that our children are taught how to keep
themselves safe online and away from the risks that exist. However, a
word of caution...Children need to know about e-safety and potential
dangers BUT when they are ready! Therefore what we teach is age and
maturity appropriate. “We can't shelter children from the ugly excesses
of the world, but we should make sure they receive certain knowledge at
the appropriate age.” Peter Tait, the Daily Telegraph 03.02.15
Internet Safety
Safer Internet Day is on Tuesday 10th February.
This is an international event and a very
important one too with a serious message,
therefore we are promoting it in school
throughout next week. Technology can be
great, if used correctly and the internet is a
During next week in ICT lessons, assemblies and whenever there are
opportunities to promote safe, appropriate and responsible internet
usage we will be highlighting the positive benefits of technology,
linking these with our School Values of being kind, thoughtful and
respectful to others. We will be exploring with the children their
responsibilities and how they can help to create a better and safer
large part of our lives with many children having access to it from a very
young age. Just look at the number of young children waiting in doctors
surgeries, sitting on a plane en route to a holiday or on a car journey to
know how young and proficient some of these children are. The number
of mobile devices that children can use is increasing and, for some,
their expertise is in advance of their parents.
safer online community. In
fact everyone can work
together to help create a
better internet. “Ultimately,
a better internet is up to
us!”
(www.saferinternet.org.uk)
In your daughter‟s bag today there will be an online safety leaflet
guiding parents with hints and tips and providing discussion topics to
use with your child. Other information can be found at:
www.saferinternet.org/online-issues
www.thinkuknow.com
www.getsafeonline.org
www.kidsmart.org.uk/
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2011/10/
http://parents.vodafone.com/
www.internetmatters.org
Use of social media is all about us if we choose to use it - in our daily
lives for personal use or work related, and generally for good purposes.
However occasionally its use is more threatening. In school we are
incredibly careful about how technology is used and what sites are
accessible to children, plus we have various „blocks‟ in place to ensure
that our children are safe when using the internet. Thankfully most
children will use the internet safely.
Frequently, and especially next week, we teach the children how to stay
safe and what they can do if they feel uncomfortable when using the
internet. It is also important that we teach children to be very careful
about what they put online and equate this to only typing what they
would say to someone. ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don't say it at all.’
Equally all children should know not to post personal information or
pictures. When social media issues come to light we are proactive in
managing them as they arise and follow all of our policies and
procedures.
Commendation
CONGRATULATIONS TO…
Alisha Y6 Anais Y4
Caitlin Y6 Easha Y6
Lucy Y5 Marina Y5
Maya Y6 Roxanna Y4
Sahana Y6 Tara Y4
Zahra Y6 Zara Y4
Certificate
CONGRATULATIONS to…
Anaya Y3 Anya Y3
Chuwen Y4 Geeta Y6 Priya Y6
Congratulations to:
Chuwen (Y4) for completing all of the Y3 + 4 Maths Challenge questions
correctly. Chuwen decided that this was not enough and answered the
more challenging Y5 + 6 questions and achieved 100% again. Well done
Chuwen!
Yesterday our Quiz Team
competed against 11
other Prep school teams
in the area heat. Priya
(Y3), Elif (Y4), Camille (Y5)
and our team leader
Yoana (Y6) tried incredibly
hard with the 40 very
very difficult general knowledge questions. Using their knowledge,
intelligence, problem solving skills and strategy, they worked well as a
team and communicated well. Despite not winning sufficient points to
move up into the semi-final we are very proud of the team.
Mrs C Aisthorpe
Head of St. Margaret’s Preparatory School
Connections
We are incredibly grateful to the Connections team who last year helped
to raise a fantastic £4500 for the Prep School Adventure Playground.
They also raised money for other charities too. Therefore thank you to
the Connections team and also thank you to parents who supported us
by attending the various events, including the Christmas Market and the
May Fair. There is a meeting next Thursday at 7.30pm in the Senior
School Dining Room for those who wish to be on the committee, as we
will be appointing officers - Chairperson, Vice Chair and Treasurer.
Please do join us as not only is this good socially, but also Connections
do a lot of good for St Margaret‟s School.
Next week:
PCSO Ainsley visiting to talk in the Upper Prep assembly about keeping
safe.
Valentine‟s Party (Lower Prep) and Valentine‟s Disco (Upper Prep). At
collection time to ease „traffic‟ please would Lower Prep parents park in
the Lower Prep staff car park or the Upper Prep staff car park as there
will be public swimming sessions in the Sports Centre and we expect the
main car park to be busy. For the Upper Prep collection we do not
anticipate any parking issues. To ensure a smooth hand over between
your daughter‟s teacher and you, please would you collect from the
following venue in the Upper Prep:
Reception, Years 5 + 6 - Collect from the Upper Prep front door
Year 2 - Collect from the Upper Prep Dining Room door
Years 3 and 4 - Collect from the Upper Prep Hall door
If you are not collecting her after the party or disco please would you let
your daughter‟s Class Teacher know who is collecting her.
Mufti Day - Comic Relief - Red Nose Day
Gordon House Cake Sale (Upper Prep)
February
9th-13th
Internet Safety Week
12th 08:45-10:30 Year 5 & 6 Parents Visit to Senior School
12th 3.30-5.00pm Lower Prep Valentine’s Party
12th 5.15-6.45pm Upper Prep Valentine’s Disco
13th Mufti Day
12:30-2.00pm Gordon Cake Sale
3.30/4.00 Half-term begins
23rd Term resumes
23rd-27th
Sponsored Spelling Week
24th Y3 Visit to Verulamium Museum
26th 09:30-12:00 School at Work Open Morning
Dates
020 8416 4501 [email protected]
Reception This week was National
Storytelling Week and
so we learnt the story of
Cinderella. We made
our own little books by
sequencing pictures
and practised re-telling
the story in our own
words, using lots of
exciting language.
Miss King
Then we decided to hold our very own „Cinderella‟s
Ball‟, we wrote invitations, made glass slippers and
wands, had lots of fun making dresses out of
colourful material and then danced at our very own
ball to the music of Johann Strauss.
Year 1 Year 1 have made
gingerbread this week.
As part of National Story
Telling week, Year 1 have
been reading Hansel and
Gretel. On Wednesday
they made gingerbread
and using several
unfamiliar ingredients
including black treacle,
allspice and soft brown
sugar. There was a
magical smell emerging
from the kitchen as the
gingerbread was baking.
The girls will be
decorating the
gingerbread with sweets
and icing so watch this
space for more fabulous
pictures next week.
Mrs Jolley
tf
Yea
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en
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rhym
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?
Year 3 Delicious Maths in Year 3 There was great excitement in Year 3 when they made a very important discovery in Maths. Learning about collecting data, about axes and drawing graphs proved to be a very popular lesson. The girls were given the task of collecting data from a tube of Smarties and then drawing a graph to show the number of each different colour. Only when the graph was finished with labelled axes and a title could the girls have the reward of eating their Smarties. It was a wonderful lesson. We already know that Maths is fun, it is interesting and it is inspiring. Now
we know that it is also delicious!
Mrs Franklin
How to Make a Good Friend By: Anais
Miss Smith
Year 4
Year 5 In our Creative writing lesson we were focusing on characterisation, examining how an interesting character can bring a story to life. As Michael Morpurgo said, “Characters are the key to a good book. It took me several novels to comprehend that.” Below are some extracts Year 5 have written:
“A tall dark-haired man walked into the classroom.
His name was Mr Fitz. His beady eyes scanned the
classroom. Everyone knew what type of man he
was….The only thing Mr Fitz enjoyed was when the
class treated him like a king. He would give the class
a mountain of homework each day but no one knew
why Mr Fitz was so glum. Some people felt sorry for
him, but why? Mr Fitz was the most mysterious
person I ever met. I see him sometimes behind all his
pencil cases; a teardrop falls on a picture of some
girl. Maybe that would be the reason why he is so
sad.” By Kalyani
Ms Caher
“Knight Joe looks like a living person but under all the armour is a ghost.
He walks around a castle stabbing everyone who comes near him with
his spear. He has even stabbed the King and left him near a boar, which
devoured him! Queen Emily is feeling remorsefully sad. Morgan, the
maid, tried to cheer her up but nothing makes her happy apart from
seeing her husband.” By Nikita
“Bobby Kong is a comedian and a scientist. He lives in a tiny
cottage. All the children ask him why he has huge pointy ears.
No one knows he is a scientist – they think he is doing magic
tricks. In his free time, he discovers new things and tests out
inventions. The reason his ears are so big is because he
accidentally made a huge mistake with his formula and it
spilled all over his ears. “ By Amisha
“Max is a very vicious person. He is only eighteen
but he looks fifty. Max is always angry because he
has no friends, no family and no pets, so his house
is always quiet. Once he tried to steal the moon
because he hates cheese and people say the moon is
made out of cheese.” By Mia
Mrs Walsgrove
Year 6 have been learning about variation and classification in the Animal Kingdom. They have watched David Attenborough filming some incredible creatures on the sea bed and they have compared a selection of weird and wonderful animals to us human beings.
Year 6
Maths Challenge
Well done to all the girls who tried the recent challenges on the Maths board. The next challenges are now on display. In Years 3 & 4 the following girls successfully completed the „This and that‟ challenge and have been awarded a commendation for their House!
Raleigh Wesley Nicholson Ishiya Chuwen
Lucy
In Years 5&6 the following girls successfully completed the „Moneyboxes‟ challenge and have been awarded a commendation for their House!
Gordon Raleigh Wesley Nicholson Yoana Bryony Zahra Nikita
Easha Milly
Lily Camille Sanaa Sahana Yukie
Double
commendation Chuwen (Yr4)
Amita Shravani
Anika
A special mention must go to Chuwen who
collected 3 commendations for her House!