5 FEBRUARY 2024 3 JULY 2023 Message from the Head of Prep
We are now at the halfway point of our academic year and it has been fantastic to use this week to raise awareness around children’s mental health. Staff across the school have put on a wide range of events for the children to help them think about mental health and to share happiness with others. In assembly today, we reflected on the many opportunities that the children have enjoyed this week. Finding time to give ourselves little moments of quiet or rewards can be beneficial and the mindfulness activities and hot chocolate sales definitely helped to spread some peace and joy. Music is an excellent way to help with mental well-being and this week we have been treated to 2JC’s assembly and the Drama production of Rock Bottom, both of which were brilliant. Staff put on Boogie Dance and Feel-Good Karaoke sessions for the children and these certainly had an amazing buzz about them. Exercise can improve our mood and this was definitely the case for the lunchtime runs with Miss Moore which proved very popular. On the subject of being active, congratulations to those children who qualified for the British Schools National Biathlon event taking place at Bath University in March and good luck to those involved in the Highfield Cross Country fixtures.
I wish you all a very enjoyable half-term.
Mr Heaver
Year 4 and 5 Drama Production
On Wednesday, all pupils in Years 4 and 5 starred in a Cranmore Drama production of Rock Bottom, the musical by Craig Hawes. The performance was set in prehistoric times and was about an inventor called Bobby Cobblestone who demonstrated the importance of never giving up, developing resilience through a series of challenges.
Pupils sang a variety of songs, with some excellent solos, and delivered the jokes and characters in a colourful and entertaining way. It was a very suitable event for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and there were many smiles throughout. Well done to the pupils for all their hard work and dedication. Thank you also to all the parents and families who attended and supported. Mrs Hanson, Head of Drama
Year 4 and 5 Drama Production
Year 4 and 5 Drama Production
Year 5 French Breakfast On Thursday, Year 5 travelled up to St Teresa's to take part in an Effingham Schools Partnership event, a French breakfast. The pupils enjoyed sampling some French breakfast items. The highlight was drinking their hot chocolate from a bowl - very French! Whilst sitting at their tables, the pupils were encouraged to speak some French and I was delighted with how willing they were to try out their conversation skills. Well done, everyone.
Mrs Spooner
Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week We have celebrated Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week with a range of events across the school from hot chocolate sales to karaoke to wellbeing runs around the school grounds. In the library this week, Upper Prep pupils have enjoyed taking part in word searches and mindful colouring on the theme of wellbeing at break times.
Lower Prep Hot Chocolate Sale As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, Lower Prep enjoyed a lovely ‘Hug in a Mug’ during our Hot Chocolate sale on Tuesday to raise money for Place 2 Be, the Children’s Mental Health Charity.
An impressive £158.30 was raised through the children’s generous donations. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the break time treat, especially the whipped cream!
A big thank you to our Lower Prep School councillors and to Mrs Carpenter for organising and running the event.
Miss Gallop
Reception News Reception have had lots of reflection time this week during Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. The children have enjoyed lots of yoga sessions in class, mindful colouring and circle times. We discussed how we can help ourselves to feel good and how we can help others to feel good too. We then created a heart with detailed pictures of how we can do this. The children did some beautiful drawings. What a lovely way to end this half of term, Reception. Well done! Miss Hurl and Mrs Prothero
3RF Marble Jar Treat 3RF filled their marble jar and chose a chocolate fountain as their reward. They have worked very hard to earn this treat! Miss Freeman
2JC Class Assembly 2JC thoroughly enjoyed sharing their special message all about the importance of friendship in their class assembly on Tuesday. They shared what makes a good friend and how Jesus chose his twelve disciples whom he was able to trust. As part of Children's Mental Health Week the children decided to wear their slippers for the assembly as it made them feel happy and as a special treat they wore them all day on Tuesday!
Year 3 News India is our current topic in Year 3 for Humanities and the children were keen to try some common Indian dishes. Our kitchen provided us with a delicious selection including onion bhajis, vegetable samosas, plain naan bread, mango chutney and raita.
The children were very interested in trying the food and everyone tried a little of everything – even though the samosas were very spicy! We even tried to eat using only our right hands, like they do in India. Year 3 then wrote their own menu of Indian food to go in their topic books. Mrs Sinclair and Miss Freeman
Year 1 News In Year 1 we have been celebrating Chinese New Year. We have made red envelopes, created animals out of cones and have even been writing our names in Chinese! Mrs Bowen
Flute Demonstration to Year 2 Cranmore has a long history of excellence in Music, from high quality orchestras to competition winning choirs, performances at the O2 arena in London to exceptional solo instrumentalists and singers. To secure the future of this reputation at Cranmore it is important to inspire musicians at a young age by allowing them to experience professional musicianship at its best.
To that end, our Year 2 pupils had a fantastic flute demonstration with Mrs Daly this week. They listened beautifully to some lovely recorder pieces, expertly played by Mrs Daly. They also learned about all the different sized recorders that you can play if you have lessons. If you would like your child to have instrumental lessons, please use this form to show your interest. In particular, we would love to have more pupils learning woodwind instruments (recorder, clarinet, bassoon, flute) and brass instruments (trumpet, trombone and the horn).
Mr Roberts
Come and See—Nursery, Reception and Year 1 Pre-Nursery, Nursery, Reception and Year 1 parents were invited in last Friday, to come and see their children’s work. It was a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to showcase all their hard work and progress from the start of the academic year. They also enjoyed inviting their parents to sit at their tables. Thank you to all those who came to join us for the afternoon. Miss Gallop
Nursery News The Nursery children have been learning about Shrove Tuesday and Lent. They enjoyed making pancakes and selecting the toppings of their choice. In Science they enjoyed focusing on the concept of friction and magnets. The Pre-Nursery children have participated in a fun game to instil their recognition of colours and shapes. They had to identify the shapes and then make their way through the shape maze and place the correct shape on the correct shape floor tile. Ms Luke, Director of Nursery
Music News
Nick A in 2NS performed the violin to the Lower Prep during this Monday’s assembly. He is working towards his Grade 1 exam and played absolutely superbly. Congratulations Nick.
Mrs Thornton
Upper Prep Wicked Writers Competition In 2023, the National Literacy Trust recorded that one in seven young writers are ‘social writers’ as they either write to support causes and issues they care about or because it makes them feel connected to the world. In addition, their latest research shows that giving children and young people the opportunity to get inspired to write through literacy events can positively influence their writing enjoyment and frequency. The National Literacy Trust has teamed up with stage musical Wicked and its acclaimed Wicked Active Learning cultural and social education programme to run an exciting social action writing competition encouraging school pupils to write about a positive environmental change they want to see. Wicked Writers: Be the Change asks 9 to 14 year-olds to harness the power of persuasive writing to think about any environmental issue they feel passionately about.
All Upper Prep and Senior pupils are invited to take part in the Wicked Writers Competition which the National Literacy Trust is running. I will be running drop-in sessions on Friday lunch times (13:15 to 13:45) starting on Friday 9th February for pupils to work on their submissions which will be based on environmental issues close to their hearts.
All shortlisted young writers will be published in the Wicked Writers Anthology and receive free copies of the publication. Prizes include: •
Free class tickets to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London
•
Author visits from MG Leonard and
•
Curated book bundles.
The deadline for entries will be 11th March 2024 and the winners will be announced on Earth Day, 22th April 2024. If your child is interested, they should speak to me in the Senior Library.
Mrs Watkinson, School Librarian
Sport Update Biathlon Congratulations to the seventeen boys from Year 4 through to Year 9 who have successfully qualified for the British Schools National Biathlon event taking place at Bath University in March. This is a great achievement by all involved and good luck to Cranmore for the finals. Well done to Titus G, Fabian H, Matthew B and William R from Year 4; Arlo W, Rory C and Harry S from Year 5; Charlie S, Noah M and Jax A from Year 6; Henry C, Edward W and Jacob S from Year 7; Daniel B and Freddie R from Year 8; and Theo L and Sam S from Year 9.
Dunckley Shield Last week, our U9s, U10s and U11s took part in the Dunckley Shield. This annual rugby competition between Cranmore and Donhead has been taking place for over 25 years with both schools winning the prestigious shield roughly the same amount of times. Six matches took place across the U9s to U11s with points being awarded to the winners of each game to determine which school would be the overall winners. The final score was a 3-3 draw which meant that Donhead retained the Dunkley Shield. In other rugby matches, the U9s had a great year group block fixture against RGS Prep and the U11s were undefeated across five matches against Danes Hill. The U10s are playing against Boxgrove and Staines Prep today, whilst the U8s are playing against Surbiton Prep.
Basketball Match Twenty Year 5 pupils took part in a basketball fixture last Thursday against RGS Prep. The match was played in our Sports Hall and it proved to be a very enjoyable experience for the pupils. Miss Moore and Mr Williams were impressed with the standard on show. Cross-Country Best of luck to the pupils in Years 4 to 11 taking part in the Highfield cross-country today.
Sport Update Goalkeeping Camp at Cranmore AB1 Goalkeeping Camp will be taking place at Cranmore during the February half-term. Please see the flyer and link below for more information: http://ab1academy.com/horsley-camp/
Football Camp at Cranmore SFCC Camp will be taking place at Cranmore during the February halfterm. Please see the flyer for more information.
Cricket Coaching at Cranmore Horsley CC are coaching cricket at Cranmore during the evenings and on Saturdays. Please see the flyer for more information.
Activate Camps at Cranmore
Activate Camps are taking place this year at Cranmore - please see link below. Cranmore parents are able to take advantage of a 20% discount when booking Activate Camps. The code is LAUNCH20. https://www.activatecamps.co.uk/venues/ cranmore-school/
Mouthguards Please see link for more information regarding OPRO Cranmore mouthguards: https://www.opro.com/school/cranmoreschool Mr Hodgson, Director of Sport
This Week’s House Cup Winners
Congratulations to Borelli House in the Lower Prep and Morton House in the Upper Prep for gaining the highest number of merits this week!
A Message from our Chaplaincy Team
Prayer
"For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God." Teresa of Avila
Notices
19th February
Retreat Day for Years 8 and 9 led by NET Ministries
28th February
Senior School Mass
Reflection This week we hear about how important prayer is. Prayer is the turning of our hearts to God. Sometimes we need words, sometimes silence. Jesus knew how important it was to pray. Spend time in prayer this week. Turn your heart towards God, placing your concerns into His hands. Prayer We pray for all those who find themselves homeless at this time. We pray for those who are affected by the rising cost of heating their homes. We pray for all those who are ill or unwell.
St Andrew …Pray for us. St Maximilian Kolbe ….Pray for us. Amen
Notices
Adoration Every Wednesday
8am to 8.25am
This is an invitation to come to the chapel to be in Jesus’ presence on Wednesday morning This is a time of silent prayer and to be in Jesus’ presence
Parents are asked to meet us in Reception at 7.55am
When we face the sun we get a tan… but when we stand before Jesus in the Eucharist we become saints. Blessed Carlo Acutis
Notices
Notices
Notices
Notices
Message from ESTA
ESTA is excited to be running 2 days of tennis camps at St Teresa’s during the half term break!
On Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th February, we will be offering the following sessions:
9-12pm Years 2-4 9-12pm Senior Performance Training (invitational) 1-4pm Years 5&6 1-4pm Years 7+
Each camp session is priced at £39 per player per day. Camps are open to boys and girls across the trust as well as external players.
We are also offering private lessons from 4pm on both days.
To sign up or for more information, please contact Kirsti at esta@effinghamschools.org
Menu
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Soup
Soup of the day
Soup of the day
Soup of the day
Soup of the day
Soup of the day
Main
Locally sourced pork sausages & onion gravy
Mild beef chilli con carne served in a taco & dips
Roasted pork loin with Yorkshire puddings & apple sauce
Freshly baked pepperoni pizza with Italian style salad
Traditional battered fish fillet or fish fingers
Jacket potato & beans
Plain pasta & tomato sauce
Jacket potato & beans
Plain pasta & tomato sauce
Jacket potato & beans
Vegetarian style sausages & onion gravy
Quorn & bean chilli
No meat meatballs in a tomato sauce
Freshly baked cheese & tomato pizza
Mac ‘n’ cheese with chef’s salad
Sides
Mashed potato Broccoli / sweetcorn
Vegetable rice Roasted carrots / Mediterranean vegetables
Roast potatoes/ mixed vegetables
Jacket wedges/ sweetcorn
Additional
Salad bar
Salad bar
Salad bar
Salad bar
Salad bar
Dessert
Chocolate cake with chocolate sauce
Rocky road
Shortbread biscuit
Chocolate chip sponge & custard
Fruity Friday
Vegetarian
Items in Italic - Sourced from F Conisbee’s, our local butcher
Chips/peas/ baked beans