Issue 1866 final by Cheltenham College

Prep for the Week Issue Number 1866 – 8 September 2017

In this week’s issue… Headmaster's Blog Meet the new Head Boy and Girl Team Bonding Kingfishers, Lower, Middle and Upper School News Hawkeye Falconry Show pictures Sports Update Next week's calendar

ad h l l a e 'v u o y e p and We ho r e m m u s c i t s r a e y a fanta e h t r o f d e t i are exc ahead!

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Headmaster's Blog Dear Parents Welcome back! I hope that you all managed to enjoy some sort of break during the Summer and that you have returned refreshed and ready for the new challenges that await. My first message to you for this academic year will concern itself primarily with the dissemination of information some mundane, some more important.

New staff

We welcome the following to the Prep: Rachel Hamlyn (Deputy Head Academic), Tony Clarke (Head of English), Philippa Cox (Maths), Clare Deshayes (Head of MFL), Charlotte Allen (French & Spanish), Jonny Bass (History), Leanne Allen, Emma Bell, Sophie Chapman, Kirsten Parry, Sarah Westgate (all Teaching Assistants), Nikki Williams (LSW), Rory Moore (Graduate Gappie in Lower School and the boarding house), Ben Wood ( replacement Gappie for Miss Du Toit) and Stella Kasavaram (additional LAMDA teacher). Mr and Mrs Baird have taken over from Mr and Mrs Wells in the Boarding House.

Rewards and Sanctions

This term sees us roll out The Prep’s new rewards system. As previously mentioned, rather than simply awarding a plus for a particular subject, we will now be looking to recognise pupils’ particular skills and attributes in terms of empathy, resilience, creativity, participation, challenge and perseverance across all areas of their school life. Through this, we will look to develop the children’s social and emotional literacy and in the days prior to the start of term, the staff have worked hard on how these skills and attributes can help to develop their teaching and the children’s learning, both academically and pastorsally. Of course, getting things wrong is very much part of the learning process and children will also make mistakes on occasion in their interactions with their peers. Hence the minus system will be used by staff when a child has behaved inappropriately, particularly when the expected level of behaviour has been made clear to them. A minus carries no sanction other than to act as a reminder and we are reminding all pupils of this on their return. Should a pupil reach three minuses in a term, they would discuss these with their tutor and would be likely to lose a break time, with six minuses resulting in a discussion with their Head of Section and a possible loss of more free time. The minus tally reverts to zero at the beginning of each term. The role of the tutor and Head of Section in either scenario is not simply to admonish a child but to support them in making better decisions in the future. Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

Communications with staff

Your child’s Form Teacher or Tutor will be the person who gets to know him/her best. Consequently, your concerns should be addressed to him/her should an issue arise. Should the Form Teacher or Tutor be unable to deal with your concern satisfactorily, then you should seek a resolution with the Head of Section. If this too leaves the matter unresolved, then the person to go to in the case of an academic issue is the Deputy Head (Academic), Mrs Hamlyn, in the case of a pastoral issue, the Deputy Head (Pastoral), Mr Jenkins, or a logistical issue, the Deputy Head (Operations), Mr Wells. I sincerely hope that the level of expertise on offer should sort any issues out before it is necessary to involve me but, as you are aware, my door is rarely closed.

Where to find your Middle and Upper School child’s classroom

We no longer have an area that can be identified as either Upper School or Middle School. Essentially, these are administrative groupings rather than physical entities. Instead, we have moved to the more traditional preparatory school model of departmental areas. The location of some subjects is self-explanatory: Science, Music, Art, Design Technology. Others require more guidance. The English Department is located adjacent to the Library in the corridor leading from the Reception to Kingfishers. The Maths Department is in the Davies Block, a self-contained building comprising four classrooms, opposite the staff room. Geography can also be found here. History and Religious Studies live side by side in a self-contained building adjacent to the Staff Common Romm. Modern Foreign Languages, Latin and Computing share the six classrooms in Day End, with MFL on the ground floor and Computing and Latin upstairs. Consequently, to find your child’s tutor, it is necessary to know the subject that they teach and then locate the appropriate department.

Friends of the Prep

The Friends of the Prep will, once again, roll out a series of events designed to bring parents together in a social setting. First off is a Quiz Night on Friday 29 September. This is not the “Call My Bluff” wine tasting version, instead a simple ‘break the ice’ evening with some gentle competition. The former will be staged in all its glory in February. Other highlights include the Santa Fun Run on 10 December, the Cake Bake Sale and Staff Carol Singing on 14 December, the aforementioned wine tasting quiz in February, the Cricket and Tennis matches on 10 June and the Summer Fete on 16 June. These events are co-ordinated and run by a small band of volunteers who act as Year Group Representatives and my thanks go to them. We do have vacancies in Nursery and Year 2 for any parent/guardian who would like to join our merry band and, if you are interested, please contact Miss Kent, my PA (sa.kent@ cheltenhamcollege.org). 2

Parking Although my observations are that traffic has run relatively smoothly at drop off, when the weather is kind to us, you will be allowed to park alongside the 1st team rugby pitch. This will continue until the weather conditions prevent further use. This will ease the congestion at pick up when parking spaces are hard to find. Do bear with us as we introduce a new system of recording ‘sign out’. As we get used to this and as clubs and activities start, I expect pick up to become less fraught.

“How We Teach” – Monday 2 October at 19.30 This is an opportunity to put yourselves in your children’s shoes and learn more about how teaching techniques have evolved since you were in the classroom. The evening will begin with an introductory talk by the Deputy Head (Academic), Mrs Hamlyn, after which you will be able to enjoy lessons in the appropriate section of the school. I do hope that you will take this opportunity to enhance your ability to empathise with your children. As always, I look forward to working with you so that your children thrive on the challenges ahead!

Meet our new Head Boy and Girl

Charlie Keene 12 Athens Music is probably my favourite but I also really like History Rugby Kayaking

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

NAME AGE HOUSE FAVOURITE SUBJECT

FAVOURITE SPORT HOBBIES

Alice Bradley 12 Corinth Languages, I'd like to have a career as maybe an international lawyer Swimming & Netball Seeing friends, baking and singing

TEAM BONDING

Pupil write-u p

Pupils from Years 3-8 took part in a wide range of team bonding activities on Tuesday

Lower School sang, practised circus skills and orienteered their way around College. Middle School were given a clinic in skipping and Upper School danced along to Zumba and learnt kickboxing.

For team building on our first day back, we got to have a go at kickboxing and zumba dancing. In kickboxing, the instructor taught us the basics like a jab, where you keep one hand to protect your face and the other hand punches straight forward. We were also taught special kicks and got into groups to kick a shield. Then we got into teams and went up to our teachers kicked them with a shield! After that we went outside and the Zumba instructor put on some fun tracks and started dancing, we copied her and tried to keep up! We did around10 dances to 10 different tracks, it was very fun and we didn't stop moving for the whole hour. It was very fun learning to kickbox and Zumba dancing and a good way to get to know people. Freya Wood, Y8

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

Kingfishers It has been lovely to welcome the children back to Kingfishers this week and to extend a warm welcome to our new families. Our theme this year is ‘Try something new’ and we are encouraging the children to have a go at new challenges and also to tell us of anything that they tried over the summer holidays. We would love to see any photographs of the children carrying out new challenges and these will also count towards their Prep Award. Some of our Year 2 children have already stepped up to volunteer to be our first Playground Friends and have been key at playtimes, helping our new children settle in. The boys and girls are already beginning to respond to our new ‘Super skills’ and have been challenging themselves to be like Charlie the Challenging Cheetah. As the weeks draw on, we look forward to trying to emulate our other friends from our ‘Super Skills Squad’ as we try to put these new skills and attributes into our everyday language in Kingfishers. As the children have discussed their summer holidays this week, it has become clear how important their grandparents are to them and we look forward to meeting as many of them as possible on Saturday morning for Grandparents’ Day.

Pupils fro Recept m io enjoyin n g the new pl ay area

Billy the bo back bun unce ny (resilienc e)

Catherin e creative the cat

Charlie the challeng ing cheetah

Meet our Super Skills Squad! As part of the review of how we reward our children, led by Mr Jenkins, in Kingfishers we have created some new characters. These characters will help the children become familiar with these new skills and attributes and we believe these will help our boys and girls be successful learners. Please help us encourage the children by using these words at home.

Peter th e participa ting penguin Ella the em elephant phatic

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

Poppy t he persever ing pony 5

A flying start to the year for Lower School, Tuesday saw everyone return with smiles and chatter, excitement and laughter. It was lovely to see our eager new Year 3s and grown up Year 4s. Everyone had been so busy over the holiday and it has been great to hear what has been happening and what wonderful work all the boys and girls have been doing. Our team building activities gave everyone the opportunity to mix and work with lots of other Lower School pupils. Through our carousel of Circus skills, Drama activities, Singing and Orienteering, we were helping each other, sharing ideas, motivating one another to complete a challenge. By the end of the afternoon, our pupils already felt they had used so many of the different skills and attitudes we are focusing on: perseverance, challenge, empathy, resilience, challenge and creativity. Year 3 and 4 clearly know what we are looking for from them this year.

Lower School

Awe and wonder continued as we had our close encounter with our feathered friends. How brave everyone was, with owls big and small flying overhead and so quiet, understanding that the birds must not be frightened. Fantastic sketching and great listening to all the new knowledge and facts about these marvellous birds. A fantastic start to the term: it is wonderful to see how everyone wants to be the best they can be. We are looking forward to a busy and productive term with trips to the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, special India and Egypt days and of course our Christmas Production at the end of term. Finally, please remember our Informal Parents' Meetings between 08.00-09.00 on Wednesday 20 September. This is a great opportunity to have an informal chat with class teachers about how your children have settled into their new class. We also offer the chance to see what your children have been doing by looking at their books with them on Friday 20 October between 08.00-09.00 in their classrooms at our Open Doors Event. I do hope you will mark these dates in your diaries and we will look forward to seeing you.

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Middle School pupils have had an active and engaging start to the year. On Tuesday, after a morning spent settling in with their new form tutors, pupils were treated to a skipping workshop lead by ‘Dan the Skipping man’. Dan led the pupils through a series of different exercises and showed them how to skip in a variety of styles – from individual skipping to group skipping and even some double dutch! Dan proved to us that everyone can skip and it was great to see the pupils learn some new skills and perserve with some of the more challenging exercises. We have purchased a number of long ropes for the school, so that Middle School pupils can use them at break and lunchtimes, however, if pupils want to purchase an individual colour changing ‘solar’ rope, then please send me an email (l.gooch@cheltenhamcollege.org) and I will add £6 to your end of term account.

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

ing w o l l o f u're o y e r u Make s r (@ e t t i w us on T ook b e c a F and ) p e r p ll a chelt r o f ) rep p . m a h en he t (@chelt s s o r c ma o r f n o i the act y. a d y r e v school e

We must say a big thank you to Alayne Parsley, Head of Art, for organising the fantastic display in the Assembly Hall on Wednesday as all pupils (and staff ) were given the chance to meet the birds and even have a go at holding them!

HAWKEYE FALCONCRY SHOW

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

Upper School We have had a busy and positive first week back at school and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve enjoyed welcoming back our boys and girls as well as meeting our new pupils into Upper School. On Tuesday afternoon, as part of our team building work, we all participated (many staff included!) in a kick boxing and Zumba workshop. Everyone had lots of fun, and seeing over 100 pupils trying to follow the dance instructor is already shaping up as one of the highlights of the term. We have also got our new prefects in place, and I am looking forward to working with them as Heads of Houses and in their roles as prefects. We expect our prefects to help with duties and be role models around school and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be working on their roles around school.

Our new prefects are:

New Appointments

Head Boy - Charlie Keene Head Girl - Alice Bradley Head Boarder - Aidan Portch Head of Athens - Harry Dawson Head of Corinth - Jamie Reid Head of Persia - Willoughby Cooke Head of Rome - Ollie McGrath Head of Sparta - Eva de Quincey Adams Head of Troy - Claudie MacInnes Additional prefects: Eliana Hale Sophie Essenhigh Tom Bridge Jasper Norman Ruby Coull Nastya Zinoveva Isobelle Mace Freya Wood We also have a Chairman of our new Year 8 Common Room, Archie McNeill, who took the initiative to write to staff, oversee and implement this facility for all of Year 8 to have some space to meet, chat and just relax. He has worked extremely successfully to put together a convincing proposal and ideas and present this to all concerned. I am looking forward to working with this committee during the coming term. There is also the opportunity for further prefect appointments during this year, so we encourage all our boys and girls in Year 8 to aim to be the best they can be around school. I look forward to a happy and productive year with Upper School. Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

SPORTS After a good turnout to pre-season at the end of the holidays, girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hockey trials are well underway, ahead of our first fixtures against Wycliffe next week. Please remember that our teams are fluid and the coaches are in regular contact about how players are performing in training and matches, so please encourage your daughter not to be too disappointed if she hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite yet made the team she was hoping for, it is a long term with plenty of matches and plenty of time to change team.

GIRLS

This Sunday, Cheltenham College host a Prep Schools festival and we have an U13 and U11 team entered, where girls competing for places in the 1st VII and the U11A team will have an extra opportunity o show what they are made of. Good luck to both squads!

BOYS

This week began with a very well attended pre-season session in brilliant sunshine. We have not had any matches in the first week to focus on the core skills and game understanding of the boys, building them towards their first fixtures. There has been plenty of hard work on display and as ever the staff have been very impressed with the passion and determination the children bring to each session.

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1866 8 September 2017

CALENDAR

Sunday, September 10, 2017 - Sunday, September 17, 2017 Sunday, 10 September 2017 09:00

Cheltenham College Hockey Festival (H): U11A, 1st VII Squad. Pick up 16:00

13:00

Boarders’ BBQ (Full and Regular Flexi-Boarders Only)

Monday, 11 September 2017 Week 2 (2) 11 - 17 September 00:00

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra music workshops for Years 1-4

Wednesday, 13 September 2017 00:00

Lower School Roald Dahl Day