Simba - Issue 44

Issue 44 | Autumn 2021

News from BKHS Bablake Preparatory and BKHS Pre Prep School

W

hat does it mean to be responsible?

This is a question we have been exploring throughout this term as the first of our three themes this year: Responsibility, Excellence, and Community.

Responsibility at BKHS Bablake Prep and BKHS Pre Prep is focused on taking ownership over our choices. It is divided into four parts: • • • •

being responsible taking responsibility acting responsibly having responsibility

We believe that every child within our school is a leader.

Leadership requires accountability and acceptance for the choices made. Our Growth Mindset provides us with the mental resilience necessary to redefine and improve upon the results we strive to achieve.

Our pupils have showcased their ability to be responsible for simple but fundamental aspects of their school week, ensuring they are prepared for each day. I recall the words so often said to me growing up, “if you learn to be responsible for the small things, one day you will understand what it means to be responsible for the big things in life.” I firmly believe this sentiment to be true, as responsibility is a learnt art of informed choice. Even not making a choice is a choice in itself.

By taking responsibility, we have encouraged our pupils to take ownership over the choices they make, their thoughts, words, and actions. Acting responsibly is found in the right action and attitude towards others, schoolwork, and co-curricular endeavours. Having responsibility has been highlighted by the many leadership opportunities offered to our pupils, from our Eco Committee to our School Council. The autumn term has accentuated the importance of this theme as part of the skill set we highly value within our school community.

Mr Lorrian Holder Headmaster

www.bkhs.org.uk

Nursery

LEARNING THROUGH STORYTELLING This term we focused on the story The Three Little Pigs and worked with a wide variety of activities to enhance the overall learning experience.

In order to support the children’s recall and retelling of the story in their own words we used puppets, story cards and role play masks.

It was great fun and the children really enjoyed putting on a puppet show and being able to show their hard work while at the same time sharing a familiar story.

The storytelling experience is a great process that they work through several times over the year and this was a good start for everyone.

2 SIMBA

Reception Developing our skills Reception children have been working so incredibly hard on their physical development this term, in particular on their gross motor skills.

The boys and girls have had great fun balancing, climbing, stretching and reaching on the climbing frame. They have enjoyed using ribbons to make pre-writing shapes in the breeze. They have also shown great strength and assessment of risk when creating large courses to follow.

As a prime area of learning, it is so important to spend the time on these skills in order to prepare them for writing. Developing a link between their brain and the ability to control and use their bodies is extremely important.

We don’t want to race the children into writing before they are ready.

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

3 SIMBA

YEAR 1

Dinosaur Day To launch our dinosaur topic, we had some very special visitors in school; a baby dinosaur, a velociraptor and an allosaurus! We learned lots of facts about dinosaurs and it was great to be able to see things first hand like how larger dinosaurs balanced with their heavy heads and tails. We also learned about what and how they hunted, but were a bit frightened at one point as Sophie the allosaurus became very silent and still and lowered her head — all signs that she had seen some prey!

Later in the day, we became palaeontologists.

We dug for fossils, dusted them down and looked at diagrams and images to try and identify what they were. We found horns, claws and even some bones!

We loved our dinosaur topic, and it is safe to say that we definitely have some experts in the making!

DIWALI We had a whole day of celebrations to learn about Diwali, we came into school dressed in traditional or bright clothes!

There were four different activities and we completed our day with a Diwali feast! First, we learned about Rangoli patterns and then created our own with coloured rice. Next, we learned about the story of Diwali and had a go at retelling the story through sequencing pictures. Then, we made coconut barfi that we could take home and enjoy. Finally, we created lovely sparkly Diwali cards to take home to celebrate with family!

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YEAR 2

Maths measuring The children enjoyed the nice weather this term and we were able to do some of our Maths activities outside. In pairs, they used rulers to measure a selection of leaves to the nearest half centimetre. The children then ordered all of their leaves from smallest to largest for the whole year group.

RESPONSIBILITY In Year 2, the children focused on our theme of responsibility and talked about what it meant to them. They wrote an acrostic poem and were caught ‘being responsible’ around school.

Poetry and art

Autumn Time

Autumn

As the gnarled bony branches huddle together like a penguin herd, the wild wind blows the leaves.

Hedgehogs crawling like turtles in the beautiful, bright forest.

Furiously the rustling, golden leaves spin and twirl about in circles like a tornado.

Floating in the sky like ballerinas.

Olivia Lo

The gushing, howling wind tugs at my hair and punches me as I stroll along.

Arya Sinha

Autumn Time Whistling, wild wind howls and growls as it punches me in the stomach.

– inspired by nature In English, we focused on the use of descriptive vocabulary and similes. The children wrote poems using figurative language.

Following on from this we created land art using autumn leaves and natural materials.

Golden leaves as crunchy as crisps, as beautiful as flowers.

Autumn Spiny, gentle hedgehogs scutter along the muddy forest floor.

Birds tweet tunefully like opera singers.

Golden leaves crunch like crisps spinning and twirling like fairies.

Fleur Goddin

Prickly hedgehogs spiky like a pin cushion shuffle and sniff for scrumptious scrubs under the splintery logs.

Bony, bare, twisted branches delicately sway as the golden leaves twirl and float through the air like a ballerina.

Frosty frozen icicles twinkle and shimmer in the moonlight.

R eliable E xcellence in all we do S ensitive to others P erseverance O rganised and ready to learn N ever giving up S triving to be the best we can be I ndependent learners B eing kind and caring towards others I nspired by those around us L isten and be ready to learn I always try to make good decisions T eamwork – working together to make a better world Y ou’re trustworthy

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

Clara Drury

5 SIMBA

School News Book Sale at The Grange Our School Librarians at The Grange wanted to raise funds to purchase some new exciting books for the Library and the classrooms.

They realised that our wonderful library was bursting at the seams, but that we had multiple copies of some books that we didn’t really need. They decided to hold a book sale to find the extra books a new home and make some space for the new books at the same time. This was a great demonstration of the children using their problem-solving skills to organise an event for everyone’s benefit.

INFORMAL MUSIC CONCERT We were so happy for the children to be able to perform to a live audience once again this term.

All of the children were wonderfully enthusiastic and showed great resilience: they absolutely didn’t give up when things went wrong. The audience was welcoming and it was lovely to meet lots of parents face-to-face for the first time. The concert was a great ‘first step’ on the ladder of performance, helping the children gain in confidence. I’m sure that the standard and quantity of performers will be even higher at the next concert after Christmas and I’m looking forward to it already!

Miss Sainsbury

6 SIMBA

ONCE UPON A TIME… AN AUTHOR CAME TO VISIT We were very lucky to have local author Ann Evans visit school to run workshops with the children.

She shared some of her exciting works and was able to talk with all of the year groups throughout the day about different story writing skills. She signed copies of her books and was happy to talk to pupils about their own writing interests.

Extreme Reading challenge Pupils were invited to participate in an Extreme Reading Challenge during the half term break. The challenge was to read a book in the most adventurous place.

Throughout the term, pupils at the Preparatory School have been competing in the Times Tables Rock Stars Challenge.

Competition has been fierce!

We would like to commend all pupils involved and congratulate the following pupils

Overall House results Ranking

House

Score

1st Nathaniel — Fairfax

1

Wheatley

154

2nd Abdullah — Wheatley

2

Fairfax

131

3

Crow

118

3

Bayley

118

3rd Shaan — Wheatley

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

7 SIMBA

School News COVENTRY CATHEDRAL CHORISTERS Elizabeth, Sebastian and Archie have all been selected to be a part of the Coventry Cathedral Choir. This is a great honour and all three children were very happy at the news and are looking forward to performing with the choir.

Elizabeth said, “When I first got my letter about the Coventry Cathedral Girls’ Choir, I was extremely excited about it. I passed the auditions, but never knew that underneath the Cathedral there is a secret area where the girls’ choir practise. At my first rehearsal I couldn’t believe how high my voice was and how high other voices were.”

Rolling to success!

Year 3 pupil, Francesca, recently competed in the Roller Skating Red Rose Festival in Bolton and her group was awarded a bronze medal for its routine.

She was also part of a team that won a trophy for their dance performance. Francesca was also able to compete as an individual and entered the ‘newcomer’ category to join skaters of all ages who were competing. This was the first time she had entered a festival or competition and it was a great experience for her to participate in an activity she does outside of school.

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VENICE’S DONATION Venice, Year 6, decided to cut her long locks to offer as a donation to the Little Princess Trust Charity.

She said, “I hope I can put a smile on someone’s face, whoever may need it.” Well done Venice for your thoughtful and kind deed that will help support someone through the charity’s endeavours.

Magician’s Elephant This term we were able to organise a trip for all children at BKHS Bablake Preparatory to visit the RSC in Stratford to watch the production of The Magician’s Elephant.

It has been a long time since we have had the opportunity to take all the children to experience the magic of live theatre and it was a group of 200 very excited children (and staff!) who arrived in Stratford to watch the newest Christmas production.

The children had spent the previous few days reading the book, written by Kate DiCamillio, and activities around school ranged from painting giant elephants to putting the Magician on trial! Year 6 wrote reviews of the musical.

“Kate DiCamillio’s novel The Magician’s Elephant arrives at the RSC like Dumbo from the skies. An emotional but enjoyable performance, with an elephant puppet I will never forget. The clever way in which they made the elephant disappear at the end was extraordinary.”

Jaron Lewis-Haynes “The second half took me on a completely different journey. I did not know where to look next, it was so busy and entertaining.

The songs were catchier and the main character Peter, really came alive. The elephant… WOW! It was so well made and moved so realistically thanks to the three puppeteers inside.”

Bella Clarke

“I have never been to the RSC before, so I arrived there openminded as going to the theatre is not something normal for me. When I went and sat down, I straight away was very surprised of how the room looked because it was huge. When the performance began, I was blown away by the incredible set, especially the moving bridge and the spinning floor.”

“One of the main characters was a surprisingly detailed elephant which was very realistic. Another character that stood out for me was Vilna Lutz the old soldier, because he was played perfectly, and I loved how he was a little bit crazy.

Whenever he heard a car approach, he thought the enemy was about to attack.”

Matthew Anderson

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

Hugh Roche

9 SIMBA

Charity

WE RAISED AN ASTOUNDING £3,321.50 THROUGH CHARITY FUNDRAISING THIS TERM! This is an amazing achievement that reinforces our theme of responsibility, as the children understand how important it is to support charities and their efforts.

Jeans for Genes Look at all that denim! Early in the term, we held a non-uniform day at BKHS Bablake Prep and BKHS Pre Prep in support of Jeans for Genes – a great charity that supports families and children with genetic disorders.

We raised an incredible £822.00!

Macmillan We were able to hold our Macmillan Coffee Morning again this year and raised an impressive £269.60 for this wonderful charity.

10 SIMBA

The Book Fair is back!

The Book Fair was able to return to school again this term and the children thoroughly enjoyed searching for books to buy. The children in Year 6 were able to demonstrate their responsibility as they liaised with the reception staff to run the fair during break and to manage the money. The proceeds from this event allowed us to add some great new titles to our School Library. Thank you everyone for your support – we raised over £600 to put towards new books!

British Legion Poppies There was overwhelming support again this year for our British Legion Poppy sale and we raised a grand total of £267.50!

The children wore their poppies with pride at the Remembrance Service held on the day.

Children IN NEED We raised over £900 for Children in Need.

The School Council was busy selling Pudsey ears, keyrings and pin badges.

We also had a cake sale and a non-uniform pyjama day. Marly was the lucky winner of the raffle and got to take home Pudsey Bear!

Christmas cards We raised almost £400 for local charity Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice through our Christmas card drive.

This was the first time we had been involved in this and the children really enjoyed it. They were all asked to create some lovely Christmas artwork early in the term, which was sent away to be made into cards and gifts for parents to order – thank you so much for all your support!

Christmas Fayre We were able to support the Bablake Parents’ Association Christmas Fayre once again this year with Year 6 managing their own stalls and games. The children had to organise and submit their suggestions for the fayre and then manage the stalls on the day. This was a great way for them to get involved in the planning process and take responsibility during the event.

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

11 SIMBA

YEAR 3

Hazards and

SAFETY CENTRE

Year 3 visited the Safety Centre to experience Hazard Alley. The children learned how to stay safe in all sorts of different situations; by the road, by water, in the home and how to make a 999 call.

The children thoroughly enjoyed discussing what they should and shouldn’t do in different scenarios and they were able to practise some very important life skills in a safe and fun environment.

We hope they will be able to remember much of what they were told to help keep themselves safe in the future.

Miss Adcock

Rocks and FOSSILS

The pupils were able to visit Lapworth Geology Museum at Birmingham University to kick off their rocks and fossils topic this term. During the trip, the children did a treasure hunt around the museum, learned about Mary Anning and made a cast fossil. This was a great trip to get the children excited about the topic and to get out to do some practical learning.

We were also able to have a visiting teacher come to school to bring various rock samples to help the children understand the rock cycle. The children were especially excited about the fossils and how they were formed from living animals!

Mr Powell

12 SIMBA

YEAR 4

Swashbuckling adventures Our annual Pirate Day helped us to bring together various topics and it was a unique opportunity to develop cooperation, teamwork and friendships as the children enjoyed a special day in school. The pupils dressed up and took part in a treasure hunt, map making, creative writing and Drama activities.

Digestion Games One of the Science projects this term in Year 4 was to create a Digestive System Board Game.

The children got to play, share and review the games in class. There was a fantastic variety of ideas and materials on display. Most importantly, the games helped consolidate their knowledge of the digestive system and for many of the pupils they were able to use their creative skills to reinforce the topic in a visual way.

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

13 SIMBA

YEAR 5

SCIENCE AND POLITICS IN ACTION! Some of our Year 5 children and Student Councillors have been investigating the drinks on sale at the school canteen.

Pupils are currently not allowed to purchase the various bottles of flavoured water due to the sugar content and acidity.

The children are campaigning to change this rule and have taken matters into their own hands through science!

They compared the labels for sugar content and as they are allowed to purchase apple juice, this was used as a comparison. Next, they used litmus paper to test the acidity levels of both drinks for further comparison.

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THE RESULTS • The flavoured water has less sugar than the apple juice • The drinks are equally acidic

Will the rule change?

We will wait and see…

YEAR 6

MYSTERY WRITING In Year 6 we have been looking at how we can build tension in our writing.

Using texts such as Phillip Pullman’s Clockwork and Leon Garfield’s The Wedding Ghost, we looked at techniques such as figurative language, short sentences and carefully chosen vocabulary that are used to hook the reader.

PRIMARY MATHS CHALLENGE We had wonderful results this year for our Year 6 pupils who took part in the Primary Maths Challenge. There were 26 children that made the results table – 15 Bronze, 9 Silver and 2 Gold.

Well done to everyone for showing great effort and achievement!

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

15 SIMBA

Girls’ Sports I have been so impressed with the girls this term, as they have all been very enthusiastic and committed to each sport and activity that we have participated and competed in.

All the girls from Year 3 to Year 6 have shown great improvement in lessons and excellent commitment to the many lunchtime and after school clubs. I have been particularly impressed by the amount of hockey players getting up early on a Monday morning to attend an 8 o’clock club before school! (Well done parents too, your commitment is also noted!) The girls thoroughly deserve all the success they have achieved over the term and I am very proud of them all.

HOCKEY The girls have been very excited to be able to play other schools in fixtures again and have worked so hard to improve their skills.

The U11s have had some great wins against Arnold Lodge and King Henry VIII and drew against The Croft, Solihull and Bromsgrove.

The U11 A team represented Bablake at the IAPS regional finals that was held at Repton School.

The girls worked incredibly well as a team and played brilliantly to win 1-0 against Wakefield, then had an unlucky 1-0 loss against Leeds and Leicester Grammar, but went on to win 1-0 against St Peters to get into the semi-final. They showed true grit and determination to manage a 1-1 draw against The Elms to finish third in The Plate Competition.

The U10s have also really improved this year and have been eager to play matches against other teams. They managed some excellent wins against Arnold Lodge, Solihull School and The Croft.

16 SIMBA

NETBALL The U11 A team have had some super wins against Bromsgrove 13-2 and Solihull 3-1 and even beat the BKHS Bablake Senior U12 A team!

The U11 B team is unbeaten this year, winning 7-1 against Bromsgrove, 3-2 against Solihull, 5-3 against The Croft, and also the Seniors.

A great effort!

The U10 teams have made significant improvements this year and although they have had some matches cancelled this term, they played with exceptional skill to beat Bromsgrove.

Well done to everyone competing in the teams this term for all your hard work, and a special thank you to the parents for your support at the matches whatever the weather!

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

17 SIMBA

Boys’ Sports It has been a fantastic term on the rugby field as regular fixtures have resumed.

The lack of competitive rugby over the last 18 months meant it was a leap into the unknown for the teachers, coaches and pupils. However, all the boys, and some girls, have exceeded all expectations and have performed brilliantly in all of our fixtures this term – we’ve had some great success. There have been wins aplenty and some teams have finished the season undefeated which is testament to their commitment and dedication. Our success has been built on a Sport for All mentality, allowing all pupils to have the opportunity to participate and play in fixtures against other schools, no matter which team they are representing.

We are so very fortunate at Bablake that this is able to happen and the enjoyment that children get out of taking part in a fixture and playing as part of a team must not be forgotten. It builds lifelong friendships and a love for playing sport and whatever a child takes away from taking part in a fixture must not be underestimated – most of the time it is the hotdog afterwards! We must thank the Sports Department for allowing this all to take place, in particular, Mrs Haywood, Mr Roberts, Mrs Kilroy and Mr Anderson but also all the teachers that help out with lessons and fixtures.

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Let’s not forget the parents who make sure the children look their very best with all the correct kit and for their positive support on the sidelines – thank you!

Over to the results The U11s have had a very successful season and have exceeded expectations.

The A team started the first half of the season very strongly and although results have not quite gone their way during the second half, they have shown that they have great potential and will be a very strong team over the next few years. The B team is undefeated, which displays great strength and depth in the year group and the C and D teams also had some great wins to round off a successful term. It was great to see everyone in the year group playing every week.

The U10s have had a remarkable year, playing 13 matches and only losing one! The A and B teams beat everyone that was put in front of them. The C team only lost one game against a strong Warwick team. It has been so rewarding to see how all our new members of the group have added to the already strong unit. All the boys train ferociously and with guile which is implemented into the matches. I couldn’t be more proud – well done U10s!

The U9s have some unbelievable young talent and I look forward to contact Rugby with them next year.

The A, B and C teams all only lost one game each on their fixture card and they should be proud of their victories against strong schools. The A team game against Bilton Grange will live long in the memory – it has a high-class game played at an unbelievable pace which finally finished in a well-deserved draw!

Our youngest teams, the U8s, are a very enthusiastic group and the A team is undefeated this season. They have some genuine pace in the team and with more experience I am sure they will be a successful team in years to come. The B team picked up two very good wins against Eversfield and Crackley Hall and should be proud of all their efforts. Well done boys!

B K H S B A B L A K E P R E PA R ATO R Y | B K H S P R E P R E P S C H O O L

19 SIMBA

House Cross Country Our pupils took part in the House Cross Country Competition on the Friday before half term. It was a hugely competitive event, and the first big sporting event for the new House structure.

We would like to thank Mr Benfield, Mrs Haywood and all our staff for making this occasion so successful.

The commitment and effort showcased by all our pupils was great to see.

Well done to all pupils and special congratulations to the medal winners!

Girls

Boys

Year 3 and 4 Race

Year 5 Race

Year 6 Race

1st Marly (Y4)

1st Fleur

1st Portia

2nd Elizabeth (Y3)

2nd Amy

2nd Phoebe

3rd Robyn (Y3)

3rd Catherine

3rd Scarlett

1st Liban (Y4)

1st Charlie

1st Morgan

2nd Shaan (Y4)

2nd Jude

2nd Niki

3rd Reuben (Y4)

3rd Charlie

3rd Louie

Position

House

Points

1 Place

Fairfax

329

2nd Place

Bayley

348

3rd Place

Wheatley

391

4 Place

Crow

440

st

th

BKHS Bablake Prep

BKHS Pre Prep

Coundon Road, Coventry CV1 4AU t 024 7627 1260 e info.bps@bkhs.org.uk

The Grange, Brownshill Green Road, Coventry, CV6 2EG t 024 7622 1677 e info.thegrange@bkhs.org.uk

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