Prep for the Week - Week 14

Prep for the Week Issue Number 1877 – 8 December 2017

In this week’s issue…

Headmaster's Blog & Commendations Nativity Pictures Lower School Update Boarding House Update STEM Club Update Music News Sport Updates Birthday Announcements Notices

a l e e f o t g n i n n i ere It's beg h s a m ist r h C e ne o lot lik y l n O . p e r P at The the l i t n u o g o t k wee s! holiday

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Headmaster's Blog

Dear Parents My thanks to the school orchestra for beginning the countdown to Christmas in such spectacular style at assembly on Monday. A booming rendition of “Good King Wenceslas” accompanied the enthusiastic singing of the Prep School and all of a sudden, the trees and decorations made sense. As a teacher who really enjoys and embraces the festive period, I feel that there is nothing like a school at Christmas with children and staff alike enjoying the air of expectation. The Christingle Service, one of the few occasions when the whole Prep School is able to come together, was a particularly warm occasion despite the chill blasts outside Chapel. I do hope that the parents also feel involved when you visit for the panoply of events which have been, and will be held, before the end of term.

Good luck to all those who are participating in Saturday's Academic Olympiad. By holding such an event, we are trying to achieve two things.

Firstly, we are trying to demonstrate to children that creating successful teams is not restricted to the sports field.

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We are also attempting to allow others, who might not find the rough and tumble of the games field to their liking, the chance to shine and be the ‘star’ in their team. This also means that those, to whom sport comes naturally, might have to learn to play second fiddle, allowing another to take the dominant lead.

The last week includes many enjoyable events notably the concert on Tuesday evening and Christmas ‘mufti’ on Thursday, when we hold our Christmas lunch. I do hope that the children enjoy taking the opportunity to sport their special Christmas jumpers! The staff will also be singing carols outside the Davies Block from about 8.00am on that same Thursday. A spectacle not to be missed.

Mr Jon Whybrow Headmaster

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Headmaster's Commendations Maxim Murashov For taking time and care with a very professional looking shelf unit which is easily dismantled to take home.

Frederick Hall For his beautifully made pencil box in DT.

Emily Grant For her beautifully made pencil box in DT.

Isla-Rose Elliman For producing a beautiful glue picture in Art.

Oliver Smith For his sensitive and accurate portrait of a Kestrel in Art.

Benjamin Mace For his commitment to producing the shiniest and most beautiful coloured glue picture in Art.

Charles Maclean

Sienna Baggioli

For his well made and creatively decorated wooden pencil box.

For being an outstanding host to a girl on a taster day.

Sienna Baggioli

Edward Carter

For her determination in producing a beautiful and huge glue drawing in Art.

For his commitment to creating a stunningly accurate portrait of an Owl in Art.

Oscar Lait

Poppy Watkins

For achieving 100% scores in every spelling test this term.

For her stunning portrait on an Owl.

Prep Awarder of the Week Now the “Prep Award” initiative is well underway, albeit in its first year, we are delighted to bring to your attention a “Prep Awarder of the Week”. Each week we will highlight a child that has done something commendable or especially worthy to contribute to their Prep Award credits.

Harry Dawson, 8S. For his performance in the Shakespeare Schools Festival in the main role of Romeo.

Just to remind parents – this scheme runs across two years for each level of the Award: Lower School Bronze Award – Awarded in Y4 Middle School Silver Award – Awarded in Y6 Upper School Gold Award – Awarded in Y8 Pupils will have two years to gain as many credits as possible (with the exception of this first year when children in Years 4, 6 and 8 will be awarded after just one year). They will then gain either a ‘Pass’ a ‘Merit’ or a ‘Distinction’ depending on their efforts, to be celebrated in a ceremony in the Summer Term.

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Kingfishers Nativity Nursery & Reception

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On Wednesday we were treated to a delightful traditional Nativity complete with singing stars, dancing snowflakes and a beaming Holy Family. Our 3 and 4 year olds followed their cues so well and looked extremely comfortable on stage. They delivered their lines clearly and beautifully to tell the story to a full audience. Well done Foundation Stage, we are so proud of you!

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Kingfishers Nativity Year 1 & Year 2 Lights, Camel, Action!

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This week we were entertained by a Broadcasting Company on location at Bethlehem's very own Strictly stable. We enjoyed the Innkeepers' Tango, the Disco Dancing Star, The Ballet Dancing Angels and our very own rustic dancing Shepherds. The judges scored fairly and critically, although Caesar clearly was not impressed by much!

The Year 1 and Year 2 children performed so well during both of their nativity performances and we are so proud of them! They were very enthusiastic and sang and danced their hearts out! A big thank you to all of our parents who spend time practicing lines, providing costumes and giving endless support to the children.

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Kingfishers Australia Day Wednesday saw an exciting landing day for Years 1 and 2. Their Home and Away topic has come to an end so they celebrated by having their very own Australia Day! The children took part in a range of art and craft activities such as making the Australian flag, creating the Sydney Opera House and designing a boomerang. They also made and tasted traditional Anzac biscuits. They were visited by Miss Bentley and Miss Boydell and they explained how and why they celebrate Australia Day. They then stayed and helped Year 2 make fairy bread. At lunchtime, celebrations continued and they had their very own BBQ feast! A fantastic day was had by all.

Racing Ahead!

It has been a busy year for Zak O'Sullivan (8S) The 12 year old is working towards a fulltime career in motorsport. He made the transition to CIK FIA World Karting this year. Despite his tender age and relative inexperience he has been a consistent front runner. Zak is pictured here sharing the podium with the current 14 year old World Karting Champion. We wish him the best of luck for his 2018 campaign.

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Lower School Update Despite a busy week with panto rehearsals we have still found the time to sharpen our maths skills, tackling fractions!

We have been investigating equivalent fractions with practical activities in class. It has been great to see how the children have recognised equivalence and the relationship between fractions and tables. Super effort from year four!

We will continue with this theme next week with some Christmas fractions.

If I eat 16 chocolates from a box which contained 24 chocolates‌ what fraction do I have left?

Panto Crime Invitation Parents are warmly invited to the Lower School performance of Panto Crime. The two performances are Saturday 9 December at 10.30 and Monday 11 December at 14.00. Both performances are taking place in the Assembly Hall and there will be refreshments provided afterwards.

We hope you all enjoy the show!

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Boarding House Update This weekend the Boarding House has really got into the Christmas spirit. On Friday night we started off our House advent calendar, where each night of advent there are three prizes to be won. One edible one from the advent tree, one from the Lego calendar and one lucky winner gets a cracker, and the privilege of wearing the hat for the rest of the evening!

Saturday afternoon saw the decorating of the Christmas tree and other parts of the House, really making it feel like Christmas is approaching fast.

There was also some Christmas Craft going on in the Houseparents' flat, followed by a choice of Christmas films in the evening.

Sunday was a relaxing morning followed by a trip out to see the pantomime, Dick Whittington and his Cat, in the afternoon. There was a shout out to the Prep Boarding House which we greeted with enthusiastic cheering. The highlight was our very own Ben Arnold being invited up on to the stage to join in with a song. It was not only an amazing experience for him, but the audience clearly enjoyed his entertainment also! A big thank you to Miss Ramsay and Mrs Theedom for taking the trip to the pantomime and also to the Gaps for their genuine excitement (sorry Miss Bentley that you didn't get picked to go on stage!).

Continuing on the Christmas theme, some of the Boarders braved the cold and joined the choirs singing carols in the Suffolks on Wednesday night.

Thank you to Mrs Reid for supporting them and bringing them safely back again!

We are looking forward to a final busy weekend with our Feast on Saturday night followed by the Santa Fun Run on Sunday morning and a trip to the cinema on Sunday afternoon. Roll on Christmas!

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STEM CLUB STEM club off to a flying start!!!

Members of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) club have been busy this term designing and building their gliders to enter in the Regional Finals of the STEM flying start competition.

They have had lots of help along the way from the two Aviation Engineer graduates from SAFRAN who have been giving the children lots of lessons in the principles of flight. If you asked them, the pupils could all tell you about the Roll, Pitch and Yaw of their gliders! We have been testing the gliders and making final adjustments to stabilise them and are very confident that we stand a good chance of reaching the Grand Finals in the spring! Watch this space!

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MUSIC NEWS

The Christmas preparations are underway and we have a busy week next week in the music department...

Monday: Lower School Pantomime final performance at 14.30 Expect laughs a minute with this wonderful pantomime performed by Year 3 and 4.

Tuesday: The Kingfishers Choir will be performing at the Exmouth Arms on Bath Road at 14.00.

Music Christmas Concert at 18.30 Middle and Upper School music ensembles will play a range of carols and well known Christmas songs for us all to enjoy.

Wednesday: Lower School Informal Christmas Concert at 15.30 Join Lower School in the Assembly Hall with carols, jolly Christmas tunes and a whole host of music from the Lower School ensembles.

Thursday: Staff Carol singing at 08.00 It's that time of year again where staff all don their Christmas jumpers and join in with the Christmas merriment outside the Davies Block. It's always a treat so don't miss out!

Friday: Carol Service at 10.30 Enjoy watching the Kingfishers, Lower School and both Chamber and Chapel Choirs perform. It is always a treat and a tradition we are all proud of.

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On Wednesday, members of the Chapel Choir and Chamber Choir joined with some pupils from College and staff members to sing carols at the Suffolks Trader’s Association Christmas festival.

Wrapped up warmly (!) and standing on the back of a flat-bed truck as a stage the choir sang ten carols to the crowds that had gathered. Despite the blustery weather conditions, the pupils sang very well, did the school proud and gave the assembled audience some much-needed festive cheer. Well done to all!

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GIRLS' SPORT MIDDLE SCHOOL HOUSE HOCKEY RESULTS 1ST - TROY 2ND - ATHENS 3RD - ROME 4TH - SPARTA 5TH - PERSIA 6TH - CORINTH

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Staff v Year 8 Hockey

This fixture has secured a regular and much anticipated slot in the autumn term calendar over the years. This year was no exception. 16 Year 8 girls turned out to take on the Girls’ Games staff and we could not have asked for a better game. Staff went 1 - 0 up in the first quarter with a wellplaced rebound, but by half time, the pupils were leading 2-1 after continued pressure led to two very well finished goals. The third quarter brought an equaliser for the staff, meaning it was all going to come down to the final 12 minutes. It was end to end, but the staff eventually scored the winner from a series of penalty corners. A great match, played in good spirits and enjoyed by all.

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BOYS' SPORT Season Review

This Week's Results U13A vs The Down's 30 - 35 U13A vs Abingdon 30 - 0 U13B vs Abingdon 35 - 5 U12A vs The Down's 30 - 5 U12A vs Abingdon 25 - 15 U12B vs Abingdon 10 - 50 U11A vs The Down's 50 - 10 U11A vs Abingdon 25 - 5 U11B vs The Down's 25 - 5 U11B vs Abingdon 50 - 5 U11C vs Abingdon 30 - 45 U10A vs The Down's 25 - 25 U10A vs Abingdon 5 - 15 U10B vs Abingdon 0 - 50 U9A vs The Down's 20 - 25 U9B vs The Down's 50 - 20 U8s vs The Down's No scores kept

This season has seen the boys play a monumental number of fixtures, quite a number of which were under the new RFU format in which scores are not kept and development is the key. The coaching both from The Prep Staff and the College Professionals, Mr Morgan, Mr Runciman and Mr Walton has been superb. The staff have also been mentored by Mark Bennett MBE and are using coaching strategies aimed to develop the children into problem solvers and communicators. It has been a very exciting term and we look forward to more from the boys and staff next term.

The Year 2s have charged around every Friday afternoon and are putting their skills to the test in fixtures against Dean Close this coming weekend. The U8s have attended a lot of Festivals and have really seen their rugby develop. There is plenty of pace in the group and boundless excitement. The U9s have also had a superb season, proving dominant at a number of Festivals.

There is great depth in the group and a great appetite for defence.

The U10s have shown great development this year, both the A and B teams started slowly, but have gone full throttle post half term. Their play down at Clifton at the end of November showed the potential we know is in them. Their coaches are extremely proud of the constant improvement of the group and we know there is even more to come from them. The U11ABC teams have had a very strong year, proving very dominant at a number of Festivals this year. The handling of the group from A-C is a joy to behold and we look forward to them kicking on in senior rugby next year.

The U12B team has been like an episode of Holby City each week. When the team is at full strength they have been wonderful (such as the wins v Tommies), but through sheer bad luck they have rarely had all the guns out on a field together. They have played with heart and determination, but this season has become a ‘what might have been’. The U13B team have had a cracking season, with their finest hour winning the Shield at the Barbarian Xs. They have come on so much this season and are more than ready for College Rugby.

The 1st XIII (U13A) have had a mixed season. They started slowly, putting together patches of good perfomances – a strong second half against Clifton, a strong first half against St John’s, but it was against Bromsgrove that the team put together a whole match performance and discovered their forte. They are not a big side, but play an intense, high work rate game based on putting pressure on the opposition and capitalising when they cannot match that pressure.

They play best in the wind and rain and were outstanding up at Beaudesert, beating a highlyrated team. Their finest hour came away at Abingdon School, with minutes to go, 10-5 down after a questionable try from the opposition, carrying injuries, short on numbers and playing into the wind and rain…they kicked long, forced a turnover and battered away until they got the equaliser. They play with real heart and will be a credit to College Rugby.

The team of the season has to go to the U12A team. As U11s they managed to go the whole season without winning a match. As U12s they have won 12 out of 14. There have been a small number of new arrivals, but much of this has been down to confidence and self-belief and the same group of boys, who were so morose last December, are walking the halls as if they are six foot tall. Questions about 11+ sports scholarships come to mind – would any have deserved them last season? 12 months on there are a number of stars dominating big name opposition schools...an interesting thought on Long Term Talent Identification at such a young age?!

Churchill said “Never, never, never give up”, the U12A team could have after their 2016 season, but they did not and now deserve the credit they are receiving.

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Notices BIRTHDAYS Happy birthday to the following pupils whose birthdays are coming up this week: Oliver Smith (12) Harry Mills (12) Riley Jackson (10) Octavia D'Orazi (9) Elizabeth Keen (7) Fred Barter (12) Matilda Culpan (11) Seraphina D'Orazi (7) Thomas Bridge (13) Grant Fielden (5) Verity Rudin (13)

CHRISTMAS FUN It's all happening on the morning of Thursday 14 December. The following activities will all be taking place from 8.00-8.30 outside of the Davis Block: The Staff of The Prep will be singing Christmas Carols. Parents and pupils are encouraged to come along and join in.

At the same time, Friends of the Prep will be selling cakes and treats to keep the crowds sustained.

Whilst next to them, the 'Grow your own cash' club will be selling toys and Christmas themed bracelets, suitable for everyone.

We hope you can all come along and enjoy what promises to be a very festive morning!

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JOIN THE FUN CALL OR GO ONLINE FOR DATES & BOOKING

01242 705 551

Monday 18th - Thursday 21st December

AT CHELTENHAM COLLEGE SPORTS CENTRE

Over 20 exciting games and sports, including arts, crafts and swimming for boys and girls aged 4½ - 14 years CHILDCARE VOUCHERS ACCEPTED Discounts available for Cheltenham Swim School

Shorter day packages available so your kids have fun and you get time to shop!

www.cheltenhamactivitycamps.co.uk

01242 705 551 Prep for The Week Issue Number 1877 8 December 2017

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