Prep for the Week - Week 15

Prep for the Week Issue Number 1878 – 15 December 2017

In this week’s issue…

Headmaster's Blog & Commendations Kingfishers Update Academic Olympiad Lower School Update Boarding House Update Christmas Fun Sport Updates Birthday Announcements

as h t i m er t a t a Wh t a e n o ry e v E ! n bee p e r P m ha n e t l e h C r u o y d an u o y s wishe rry e M a s familie py p a h a nd a s a m Christ r! a e Y w Ne Follow us on Twitter: @CheltPrep

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1878 15 December 2017

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Headmaster's Blog

Dear Parents Congratulations to all on such a great term which came to a very appropriate conclusion at the Carol Service. Thanks to all those parents who joined us for this special occasion which brings this long, busy and challenging Autumn Term to a close. The weather conditions at the beginning of the week brought exactly the sort of challenge which strong schools embrace and enhanced the seasonal feel. Parents, children and staff pulled together to ‘carry on regardless’ and consequently the sense of enjoyment and achievement was heightened. I particularly enjoyed the Christmas Concert, the school orchestra being one of the best I have ever listened to. That is not to decry the achievements of either Lower School and “Panto Crime” or Kingfishers and their nativity with a twist, both of which were excellent.

Our emphasis this term has been on the development of learning behaviours notably, challenge, creativity, empathy, participation, perseverance and resilience. Of all of these, where the community has been most successful, is in the area of resilience. This too is where parents have been most important as we all know that it is the hardest thing to do, to step back and watch your child struggle to learn difficult lessons. To those parents who have successfully fought against the temptation to be their child’s advocate, I offer sincere and heartfelt thanks. A successful education is based on a delicate and shifting balance of co-operation between home and school and, on the whole, I believe that Cheltenham Prep does this very well.

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Undoubtedly, there will be a delicate balance between family duties and hedonism over the next three weeks, an area in which I have no intention of becoming involved. Well, only a little bit. Please can I ask that the period immediately post New Year and prior to our return is relatively quiet, possibly even punctuated by something vaguely resembling education. We all know that there is little genuine rest to be had before then and so it is doubly important that the children make best use of this ‘fallow’ period. As you are all aware, I refer to the Spring Term as ‘the difficult bit in the middle’, and we all must be prepared for it, physically and mentally.

I do hope that you all have a wonderful time over Christmas and the New Year and those who work enjoy some genuine time off. It has been, again, a pleasure and honour working for and with you and I look forward to welcoming you back in 2018!

Mr Jon Whybrow Headmaster

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Headmaster's Commendations Franchesca Flexer

Monty Campbell-Black

For excellent effort and application given to story writing this term, making significant improvements and meeting her targets.

For excellent contributions to Science lessons and attaining very good results in the end of topic tests.

Diana Mawundula

Taylor Smith, Thomas Smith, Matilda Culpan, Sienna Baggioli, Isabella Mawdesley-Thomas, Jerome Yu, Alexander McCombie, Harriet Keen & Resul Nurjanov

For her determined efforts throughout the term in Maths and producing excellent work.

For producing creative and excellent salad servers.

Jemima Penny

Taylor Smith, Sienna Baggioli & Harriet Keen

For her enthusiasm and consistency in Science lessons and carrying out investigations with care.

For 100% attendance this term at D&T Enthusiasts.

Henry Hewer

Ava-Grace Buckley-Browne

For concern and compassion towards a fellow pupil.

For stepping up and taking on extra roles in the Lower School production.

Michael Warr

Fenella Pearson

For consistent effort in Creative Writing lessons this term and for producing some excellent work.

For her consistent work in English and creating some excellent stories throughout the term.

Joey Richardson For working with enthusiasm and commitment in Maths lessons this term.

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For working with great effort and attitude in Maths lessons, improving written workings and accuracy.

Shannon Elliman

Lawrence Young Stepping up and stepping in at the last moment in our Christmas performance to play the part of a second character. True spirit of teamwork.

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s r e h s i Kingf e t a d p U

In Kingfishers we thought it could not get any more exciting after last week’s Nativity and Strictly Spectacular. However, arriving in school on Monday morning hailed the beginning of another week of fantastic, festive fun! Not only has Frosty our snowman taken up residence at the entrance to Kingfishers, but he had clearly been outside over the weekend, laying lots of lovely snow for us to play in on Monday. Everybody had lots of fun making snowmen, snow angels and even snow dogs and we rounded off our playtime with a huge game of snow tag.

On Tuesday we entertained our parents and passers-by with our increasingly growing repertoire of Christmas carols on Bath Road at the Exmouth Arms. The children’s voices rang out beautifully and they loved it when the grown ups joined in too, the favourite clearly being ‘When Santa got stuck up the Chimney’.

The children had a wonderful time at their Christmas party on Wednesday. Kingfishers was filled with party games, Christmas crafts, gingerbread men and, of course, Mrs Jones’ disco! The crowning moment of our afternoon however, was the visit from Father Christmas. He arrived, bearing gifts, into the library, explaining that his reindeer had gone to see the pigs for a visit. He commented on how good the boys and girls were and how much he had looked forward to seeing them.

With the addition of our Mufti Day and Christmas Carol service, Kingfishers really have given it their all over the last fortnight.

Although tired and excited, the children have behaved impeccably and most importantly, have continued to be kind to eachother.

So well done Kingfishers – what a super finish to a term full of fun and achievement and we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Kingfishers Team.

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Our bi-annual Academic Olympiad was a truly superb morning! The event was themed 'Around the World in 80 Days' and the children began by trying to solve picture clues that linked to the introduction, which focussed on the Jules Verne novel and the more recent world record cycling attempt by Mark Beaumont. From here they moved to their first of three activities, all of which gave them the opportunity to earn points for their house and required them to work collaboratively with others from Years 5-8.

Academ

ic Olym piad

Challenges ranged from filtering drinking water for Phileas Fogg, maths puzzles from around the world, designing a paper aeroplane to travel the furthest, to creating 'Top Trumps' for different countries sourcing geographical, historical and religious facts to include. Some teams flew on 'Lingua-Jet Airways' and faced challenges involving deciphering languages from different countries, whilst others completed a quiz about the adventures of Phileas Fogg, including an Egyptian dancing element!

At the end of the morning, pupils were treated to a delicious international feast where they had to try and guess which country the different foods were from. Wonderful international costumes adorned the teams and a real sense of team spirit purveyed.

We were incredibly impressed with the participation see from all and the attitude with which the academically demanding activities were faced. Many, many thanks go to the staff who threw themselves entirely into planning and delivering a wonderfully enriching morning for the children.

Student Report Molly Ropner - Year 7 The Academic Olympiad this year was very enjoyable and a definite success. The theme 'All around the world in 80 days' was a very effective theme and getting people dressed up added to the fun of the event.

There were a range of activities on offer, each tied into the theme.

For example, making dirty water clean with equipment and making paper aeroplanes.

Overall it was a brilliant morning and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A big thank you to Mrs Hamlyn and all the Heads of houses for a fantastic morning!

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Christmas Concert A fantastic concert took place to parents (despite the weather!) on Tuesday night in the assembly hall. Pupils from Years 5-8 took part in the following ensembles: string orchestra, string quintet, string quartet, brass group, wind band, jazz band and percussion group, finishing up with the orchestra playing a selection of items including ‘sing-alongs’ for the audience. Much fun was had by all and the children performed fantastically well at the end of this very busy term.

The Genie House D&T Competition The challenge - to create a board game!

Prizes: Winning House - The D&T Genie Trophy US, MS & LS winners - Popular board game US, MS & LS runners-up - Card game Every entrant - House points Deadline - Monday 15 January Prep for The Week Issue Number 1878 15 December 2017

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We have had an amazingly busy final few days of school. It is hard to believe that we have had 15 weeks of term and we look back with pleasure at all the fun and learning that has taken place in that time.

Lower School Update

We were hugely impressed by how quickly our Year 3s settled into the new routines and what busy and responsible learners they have turned out to be.

Meanwhile Year 4 have enjoyed being in their new classrooms upstairs and have taken the responsibility of being the older year group well within their stride.

So much has been crammed into the term starting with visits to the wonderful Literature Festival and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. We have enhanced our learning with visiting parents who have enriched our Science curriculum and themed days for Egypt and India. Most recently our Christingle Service not only provided the pupils with the chance to empathise with others less fortunate than themselves but has also provided some of our Year 4s with a real-life context for their Maths. They have been busy counting the coins collected in our Christingle candles, sorting them and adding up the money. The final total will be over £500. An amazing amount collected

by Lower School and Kingfishers for their odd jobs.

A big thank you to all of you who found some chores for our pupils to do.

Our term ended on a high note with the Lower School performance of ‘Panto Crime’. Since half-term we have been impressed by the amazing team work, participation and enthusiasm to learn lines that has been shown by our Year 4 characters. The show was a huge success and followed in the tradition of pantomime with some great jokes and comic timing. Well done to all of our Year 4 actors. It couldn’t have been done however, without our Year 3s who sang all the show stopping tunes with such great enthusiasm.

As the term drew to a close we had one final opportunity to appear in front of an audience, our Lower School Informal Christmas Concert. Once again everyone took part and it was a pleasure to see all of our instrumental groups take their first steps in performing to an audience and great fun to hear our favourite Christmas songs played by a variety of instruments.

Well done Lower School pupils and staff on such a hard-working and fulfilling term. We wish all pupils, parents, staff and friends a very happy Christmas from Lower School.

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On Saturday we continued the Christmas theme with preparations for the Boarders' Christmas Feast. The Feast Committee worked hard on the final preparations and a fantastic night was had by all. Well done especially to Freya and Matilda for the beautiful table plan, Freddie and William for the Christmas Quiz, the camera men, table decorators, speech writers and Aidan for a brilliant speech. We enjoyed an evening of great food and entertainment. All the Boarders were immaculately dressed and behaved, fantastic hosts. We have had many compliments from the staff who attended saying how much they enjoyed the Boarders' company, we are very proud of you all.

Boardin g Hous Update e

We watched video clips of how the teams had got on in each task during our Taskmaster activity earlier in the term. There was much hilarity and the final live task left several people with hands sellotaped together! Finn secured victory for his team with his calm approach and had shown great leadership throughout all the tasks, well done Team Finn!

It wouldn't be the Boarders' Christmas Feast without finishing off with a story from Mr Baker.

We were also treated to a rendition of 'Let it Go' by Cindy on the Piano, with everyone joining in with great enthusiasm! Thank you to all who attended the feast, as well as all the kitchen staff and others who helped to make it such a special evening.

Sunday morning saw the Boarders jump out of bed and race outside to join the Gap Students playing in the snow! After a warming breakfast we headed over to college to join the Santa Fun Run to raise money for the school charity, 'Heal Romania'. What an amazing experience, joining with so many other 'Santas' and playing in real snow, it wasn't so much a run, but a waddle!

After drying off and having some lunch Mr Newson lead a trip to the cinema to see some of the latest film releases. There were rave reviews of Paddington 2 and Ferdinand, however Daddy's Home 2 and Jumanji didn't stand up to the harsh Year 8 critics so well!

We finished off the weekend with our usual TV series and early bed, in preparation for the final busy week and all that the weather can throw at us! Merry Christmas Everyone!

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Christmas fun Thursday morning saw plenty of festive fun taking place outside the Davies block.

Members of staff treated pupils and parents to an array of Christmas songs.

The Friends of the Prep kept everyone well fed with some delicious cakes.

The 'Grow Your Own Cash' club sold fun toys and wristbands.

Take a look at some of the best pictures here...

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A Festival of Fun On Saturday the Year 2 children from Dean Close Preparatory School, St John’s Church of England School and Cheltenham College Preparatory School came together for a morning of sporting fun. Due to the frozen ground outside all the events moved indoors, but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the children.

The girls all played a series of netball matches whilst the boys played tag rugby matches. The boys and girls at Cheltenham Prep and Dean Close have run a programme of developing Games at the Year 2 age, coming together for an end of term fixture for a number of years now and have a great relationship together fostering a love of sport at this young age.

Cheltenham Prep and St John’s Primary are in a partnership together where resources, ideas and philosophies are shared for the benefit of the pupils. Every Friday the Year 2 children travel over to Cheltenham Prep for a games lesson alongside the Cheltenham pupils, benefiting from the coaching of the College sports professionals.

Although this seems a young age for fixtures, it is not about winning or losing, it is about everything that is good about sport. Learning about performing their skills under pressure, supporting their friends and giving three cheers at the end.

As with all good sporting events, it finished with a feed – hot dogs, hot chocolate and some cracking cakes.

Rory Simpson, aged 7, said, “We had lots of fun. I scored a lot of tries and we made lots of friends.

Best of all was the hot dogs at the end.”

Next term all the boys and girls from St John’s will again join the Cheltenham pupils to learn how to play hockey and we will be kindly hosted by Dean Close at the end of the Spring Term for another fun festival.

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House Cross-Country

House results:

Individual results: Lower School Girls

Individual results: Lower School Boys

T1 - Athens & Corinth 3 - Sparta T4 - Persia & Rome 6 - Troy

1 -Lily Evans 2 - Claudia Hiscock 3 - Jemima Penny 4 - Sophia McCarthy 5 - Eve Loosemore

1 -Theo Archer 2 - Lawrence Young 3 - Jack Evans 4 - Huw Richards 5 - Joey Richardson

Middle School

Middle School Girls

Middle School Boys

1 - Troy T2 - Corinth & Persia T4 - Athens & Sparta 6 - Rome

1 - Matilda Barter 2 - Isla-Rose Elliman 3 - Tessa Leung 4 - Magdalen Archer 5 - Eme Hesketh

1 - Tom De Quincy Adams 2 - Max Callon Hine 3 - Harry Crawford 4 - Nehemiah Williams 5 - James Katz

Upper School Girls

Upper School Boys

1 - Ruby Coull 2 - Matilda Kitson 3 - Sky Jamieson 4 - Izzy Anton-Smith 5 - Eva De Quincy Adams

1 - William Matthews

Lower School

Upper School 1 - Athens 2 - Persia 3 - Rome 4 - Corinth 5 - Troy 6 - Sparta

2 - Pablo Rodriguez Bercebal 3 - Jude Richardson 4 - Oliver Lane 5 - Ed Carter

Overall result: 1 - Athens 2 - Corinth 3 - Persia 4 - Troy T5 - Rome & Sparta

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Notices BIRTHDAYS Happy birthday to the following pupils who have their birthdays over the holiday: Nico Hartley (4) Sean Degnan (9) Charlie Keene (13) Felix Duggan (10) Freya Wood (13) Resul Nurjanov (11) Freya Barltrop (8) Isobelle Mace (13) Eva Shortt (5) Ellianna Collins (12) Tula Leach-Herrero (11) Zara Leach-Herrero (11) Jasper Brumpton (13) Harry Rushworth (9) Monty White (10) Georgia Williams (4) Ronan Cowing (12) Jerome Yu (11) William Berry (8) Timur Kazakov (8)

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THANK YOU The Grow Your Own Cash club would like to thank all of the pupils and staff who supported them on Thursday morning as they sold toys and wristbands. They managed to raise ÂŁ95.80!

The team from the Candlelight carols events at The Suffolks would like to thank all of the singers and parents for their support. Over ÂŁ400 was raised for their Charity - Cheltenham Open Door, your kind support has helped to buy lots of Christmas dinners for those in need this year. Well done everyone!

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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 1878 15 December 2017

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