Buck Prep Spring

spring 2019

Buck Press

A

s the summer term approaches us I have allowed myself a few moments of reflection of the last few months and I found myself filled with a great deal of pleasure and pride.

Our Year 6 boys have excelled themselves in the senior school entrance procedures, all gaining places at the best schools in the locality, both independent and grammar. Two of our Year 6 boys have been awarded academic scholarships to the top two independent schools. These are all superb achievements from first-class boys who all thoroughly deserve their successes. I know that the boys would like me to recognise the excellent teaching the boys have received on this journey, from excellent teachers who have educated them through their journey at BPS. The whole school thoroughly enjoyed our Science Week and our World Book Day again this year. I was especially proud to have seen the whole school coming together, from Pre-School to Year 6, to enjoy all that was on offer. It was especially pleasing to see so many parents at the World Book Day parade.

The annual Year 6 performance which helps mark their end of exams is always a landmark moment for me and no less this year with an outstanding performance of ‘Cinderella Rockerfella’.

We wish those boys all they deserve as they then begin their transition into senior school.

Your generosity has again been demonstrated through the money we as a whole school have raised for Red Nose Day. As we head into the summer term we will once again see the NSPCC as our focused charity and I am confident the generosity will again be at large. As well as fundraising we will also be looking forward to the workshops and assemblies that the children will be involved in.

As always, this edition of the bulletin is packed full of all that has been happening at BPS over the spring term. As we move into the summer term, we look forward amongst other things to our junior residentials, our annual sports days, various trips out, our annual speech day and our very first Pre-School prize-giving at the end of the term. Please do read this edition with both pleasure and pride.

In this issue

The Victorian Wash Day

Comic Relief Fundraiser

Pancake Race

Science Week 2019

World Book Day 2019

Year 4 and Pierre Bonnard

The Victorian Wash Day O

n Wednesday 6th March, Year 1 went on a trip to Headstone Manor Museum in Harrow.

They participated in a workshop to learn about the Victorian wash day. The boys were able to handle many old and original artefacts and then use them to recreate the wash day experience.

They scrubbed on washboards, grated the soap, used a dolly stick to move the washing around, tongs to pick it up, a mangle to squeeze the water out and irons to smooth the clothes.

They also crafted washing lines to bring back to school. It was a fantastic way to learn about life in Victorian times.

Vivan, Year 1

World Book Day

O

n Friday 8th March the whole school dressed up to enjoy fantastic activities and to celebrate World Book Day. The costumes were stupendous with an array of creativity, enthusiasm and inspiration on display.

It was incredible to see the amazing efforts made by staff and pupils as they proudly paraded in their costumes for parents to see. Our school turned in to a magical and amazing world of characters and imagination. With a dog on four legs, Sherlock Holmes, Charlie from his Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter, Stickman, Where’s Wally, Fantastic Mr Fox, Horrid Henry, a Centurion and an Emperor and numerous superheroes and other fabulous characters we were definitely in safe hands to protect us from the dastardly pirate teachers!

Key Stage 1 had a big surprise to find all the teachers and teaching assistants were dressed up as pirates for the day…. as for Mr Evans, we think he was dreaming he was in Wonderland.

Key Stage 2 boys also had a fabulous morning with a visit and book signing from Ross Welford, author of the best-selling “Time Travelling with a Hamster”. The boys from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 worked with Ross to make a story together. Ross inspired the boys with all sorts of ideas to develop and create their own stories, they even had a crime scene to explore with lots of toys and objects to fire their imaginations. Maybe the story, “Lost and Found”, which they created together will encourage them to explore their imaginations further in their creative writing. At the end of the session Ross did a book signing for those boys who had ordered books. Some signed copies have also been added to our school library.

Year 6 tested out their digital creativity and developed their own story animation based on Alice in Wonderland with a computer coding project.

The Book Fair also visited the school during Book Week, giving all our pupils the opportunity to buy something new to develop their reading.

Some great photos and a video have been posted on the school’s social media sites to share the multi-coloured spectacle that brightened up our school day. Great fun was had by all involved.

World Book Day, now in its 22nd year, is a registered charity on a mission to give every child and young person a book of their own. It’s also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

Ahon, Reception

#WeLoveReading

Bonjour, Bonnard!

Year 4 arrived at Tate Modern on a chilly morning in March. People were already queuing to enter the museum which only made us worry that we would once again have to make our way through a packed gallery. Little did we know…

The morning brought us peaceful sketching and space to gather our thoughts about French artist, Pierre Bonnard.

Not many art enthusiasts are familiar with his work but his style has been heavily debated over. His contemporaries, Matisse and Picasso, often disagreed when talking about Bonnard. The Guardian’s chief art critic Adrian Searle thinks he was ‘monumental, monstrous and rubbish at dogs’. But what do our Year 4 boys think?

We looked at the work on display with a critical eye. We discussed his use of colour and the manner in which he built his compositions. The word ‘colourful’ seemed to dominate our conversations. Miss Raduca approached the topic of ‘domestic atmosphere’ and the tools Bonnard used to make the viewer feel like an outsider. We also debated the artist’s ability to draw. Madame Lad did not think drawing was his strongest skill but she did enjoy the explosion of colour.

It is very hard to put a label on Bonnard. He longed for Impressionist brushstrokes in a time when artists like Braque and Picasso were over Post-Impressionism, giving birth to Cubism. He was painting from memory, working form out in an almost obsessive manner. Some might say that’s because he was not skilful enough to capture form. Maybe that’s the reason why some paintings took more than eight years to complete. Or maybe, he was just trying to repaint his memories, to renegotiate the ‘domestic atmosphere’ that seems to have been his main subject manner.

Take your French dictionaries out and have a look at what Year 4 thought about the artist after stumbling upon his self-portrait titled ‘The Boxer’.

Aviral

Raaghav

Praneel

RED NOSE DAY Way back in January the School Council met and decided that the charity they wanted to support this term was Comic Relief and they set in motion their plans. For Red Nose Day the School Council organised a ‘red clothes day’ to fundraise for Comic Relief. Children were asked to come in wearing as much red as possible. Leading up to our red clothes day the school council were selling this year’s red noses, which were very popular amongst the children, many trying to see if they got the elusive green nose this year! The day was topped off in true fundraising fashion with a cake sale in the playground, with cakes made by our amazing kitchen staff. Overall the school managed to raise

£376.08 for this cause.

Thank you for your support and amazing generosity!

M A N C A L A Mancala is a game that has been played around the world for over a thousand years.

It is easy to learn to play, but wonderfully challenging! It’s a game that fosters critical and strategic thinking.

Year 6 were introduced to the game during their Maths lessons this week. They played the game using a basic paper version of the board and some place value counters. Once they had become familiar with the rules of the game they were asked to create their own versions of the Mancala board. The boys worked collaboratively all week, using a variety of their mathematical and DT skills to design their boards and to measure and draw nets for the ‘pots’ on the board. The results of all their hard work were great! Once all the boards were finished, the boys took part in a whole-class Mancala competition, with every player determined to put their strategic thinking to good use to become class champion.

K E E W E 9 1 C 0 N E 2 I C S

Examples of Science Week home projects.

W

e kicked off our Science Week with a visit from the ‘Centre of the Cell’. The program is based on the human body and every workshop brought a different, fun and interactive session dealing with an aspect of the body.

Reception – Year 2 had a session entitled ‘A Mummy for Melissa.’ A newborn monster met new friends who taught him about cells, DNA and living things. The kids had a great time.

Year 3 and 4 had a session entitled ‘In a Heartbeat’. This dealt with the intricacies of the human heart and blood circulatory system. The boys got to travel from one end of the body to another, making trips to the lungs and to the heart and then to the rest of the body!

Year 5 and 6 had an eye-opening session about the path food takes when it is processed through the body.

What makes a happy digestive system? What makes the perfect poo?

O

What is the role of the circulatory system?

n Tuesday afternoon we had another visit from Dr Hobbs, who conducted an amazing lesson about gases and states of matter. There was fire, foam, and much more!

Mr Rash Patel gave a talk to KS1 about bees. In a world where there is growing concern about climate change, bees are one of our most important helpers. What does the queen bee do? What does the male bee do?

How do bees make honey? These were questions the boys delved into during the session.

Dr Kanapthipillai is one of our boy’s parents. She was gracious enough to come and talk to Years 5 and 6 about being a general practitioner (GP). The boys had so many different questions to ask! What a great session!

Wha t Gene is like to ral P racti be a tione r?

How do bee honey? s make

Can we c

ure cance

r?

Aadam, Year 6

What Dr Hob is sublimatio amazin bs conduct n? gases. g lesson ab ed an out

Years 1 and 2 travelled to Hendon RAF museum on Thursday 7th February as part of their Science Week activities. The boys listened to a very informative talk which detailed the development of flight from the Wright brothers onwards.

They learnt that aeroplanes became faster as they developed, starting at only 30mph in the early days!

Rian correctly guessed that a Red Arrow can travel at speeds of up to 1,000 mph (or even faster when diving).

They boys enjoyed seeing lots of types of aircraft including the famous Spitfire and the enormous V Bomber, complete with missiles which we were able to stand underneath.

We’re sure many boys will be asking to be taken back so they can have a better look around!

Levin

Lishane

How d Year 1 o airplanes the RA and Year 2 fly?

F Mus eum. visit

Who is vulcan?

In Year 3 this term, we are studying the ‘Extreme Earth’. We have learnt that the Earth’s crust is not solid, but made of plate margins that are moving all the time. At some of these margins, volcanoes occur as is the case with the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean.

Volcanoes occur when pressure builds up under the surface and erupts. Year 3 used the analogy of a cola bottle and mint sweets to observe the idea of pressure building and erupting. They were interested to learn the story of the Roman God Vulcan, from whom we get the word ‘volcano’.

ROMAN GOD OF FIRE Where do we get the word volcano from?

Timisola

Aryan C.

999 Move back, stand back!

Shreehan, Pre-School

In Pre-School the children have been learning about ‘People Who Help Us.’ In keeping with this topic the children in lower school had a visit from the local firefighters.

They taught them about fire safety and what number to call in an emergency. The children got to see all the different equipment a fire fighter has to wear and they explained why they need each item. They were then very lucky to all have the opportunity to squirt some water from the hoses on the fire engines. A very exciting morning for all of the lower school!

Ayaansh, Year 1

# t r ave l k i n d

Gautham, Year 6

On Wednesday 27th February, a visitor from Transport for London (TfL) came to Year 6 to give us an interesting and valuable speech about how to use public transport and how to keep safe on it. Mr Alex Perry from the Safety and Citizenship team discussed a lot of important issues and tips with us. He explained what TfL was and what it does to help the public. We learnt that TfL helps people to reach their destinations safely and easily. Afterwards, we had a discussion about what makes a good citizen when using public transport. To be a good citizen it is important to abide by the rules and to be considerate of others. Following the talk, we watched a couple of fascinating videos. A few rules and facts we learnt from this were: Do not stand by the edge of the pavement of platform.

If someone is in danger, press the emergency button.

Let elderly, pregnant or disabled people take your seat.

Do not open the train’s carriage doors as it is extremely dangerous.

Overall, Year 6 found this talk very beneficial as some of us will be using public transport next year when we move on to our secondary schools.

Aadam, Year 6

T Y P O G R A P fGo nHt s iYn c o n t e x t Year 6 discovered the impact fonts have on our everyday life. They learnt about the anatomy of the letter and designed an original font using Fontstruct. They gave context to their fonts by projecting a message onto body parts, objects or settings. Miss Raduca organised an in house competition for the best design. The winning design can be spotted in the title above.

Congratulations to Vedant for his hard work and determination!

Aadam

Ishaan

Vedant

Ayman

Myan

Omar

Gautham

Inter-House Pancake Races

1st Andrew 2nd David =3rd George & Patrick

Points 12 10 9

The Pancake Race The whole school enjoyed the annual Buckingham Prep House pancake race.

First up in combined races were Reception and Pre-school, followed by Years 1 & 2. They were cheered on enthusiastically by the older boys. Flipping the pancake and catching it in the pan was an added twist to the races of Years 3 & 4 and Y5 & Y6. The results will be announced shortly.

Well done to everyone who took part.

Unfortunately the rain came down which meant the staff were unable to take their turn. Here’s hoping for sunshine next year! Many thanks to the kitchen who provided us with pancakes for dessert at lunchtime. They gave us the energy we needed for the race and tasted yummy.

Young Writers Competition

Spooky Saga

Last term, Year 5 completed a Young Writers competition. The competition involved writing a scary story in 100 words or less. The boys were introduced to mini-sagas and each wrote their own ‘Spooky Saga’. This year, Young Writers received more than 22,000 entries – that is a lot of spooky stories to choose from! 16 entries were sent away from Buckingham Prep and we are very proud to announce that all 16 entries have been selected for publication! Stay tuned to read some of the boys’ fantastic writing!

Year 4 explore a Roman settlement This term Year 4 have been studying the Ancient Romans and their effect on Britain. On Tuesday Year 4 were lucky enough to visit the Verulamium Museum in St Albans. Our day consisted of us first walking around the Verulamium park (this used to be the Ancient town of Verulamium) and viewing the ruins of an old hypocaust, complete with a detailed mosaic in its floor.

After lunch we went into the museum to complete our ‘market and artefacts’ workshops. The boys (and their teachers) got the chance to dress up in Roman clothes. They were given a shopping list and asked to go and fetch various Roman essentials and treats to show the class. In our artefact session we were given some of the 2000-year-old objects that had been found at the site to handle and discuss.

Finally we were given a map and went on a Roman scavenger hunt through the museum, trying to match various information we had learnt in class to what we were seeing all around us.

Trips 23 January 7 February 13 February 14 February 6 March 19 March 26 March 29 March 1 April

Y5 to London Central Mosque Years 1 & 2 to RAF Hendon Museum Y4 to Verulamium in St Albans Y3 to British Museum Y1 to Headstone Manor Infant trip to Ashridge Estate Y6 to Sky Studios Y5 the Science Museum Y6 to Bentley Priory

Other events Mon 4 Feb – Fri 8 February 12 February 13 February 15 February 8 March 12 March

Charity

Science Week Fire Brigade in school for Pre-School – Year 2 Drama Workshop for Pre-School – Year 2 Vet visiting Pre-School World Book Day: Fancy Dress parade Book fair

Amount raised for Cancer Research UK Comic Relief

£300.35 £376.08

Primary Maths Challenge

The Year 5 and 6 boys took part in the national Primary Maths Challenge once again this year. The first round took place back in the autumn term. Those who scored 19 out of 25 or more were invited to take part in the bonus round on 6th February. Seven of our boys had reached the required standard, and all of them were eager to do their best.

In total, approximately 1700 pupils in British schools took part in the bonus round. Awards were allocated to those who scored 14 out of 25 or higher. This meant that 736 awards were given for bronze level (14-16 marks), 657 for silver (17-20 marks), and only 103 for gold (21-25 marks). The boys from Buckingham Prep did very well, with 4 boys achieving bronze, 1 achieving silver, and 1 achieving the coveted gold standard.

Bronze: Harshith Sharavana, Aadam Aslam, Gautham Arun, Ishaan Shah Silver: Trishan Chanda Gold: Aviral Agarwal Well done to all the boys who took part, and a special congratulations to Aviral for achieving gold level whilst still only in Year 5 – an excellent achievement!

Great Assembly Quiz Year 2 (1) Lishane Warnapala 19 (=2) Rian Shah, Krrish Mishra, Maayan Karunananthan 15 Year 3 (=1) Adam Ahmed, Neel Sinha 18 (=3) Shivesh Joshi, Ram Tyagi 17 Year 4 (1) Raaghav Dhanasekaran 23 (2) Aviral Goel 21 (=3) Esa Aslam, Hamza Baig Year 5 (1) Mikael Khan 27 (2) Aviral Agarwal 23 (3) Pranav Santosh 22 Year 6 (1) Vedant Kumtha 23 (2) Ishaan Shah 22 (=3) Ayman Ali, Aadam Aslam, Kacper Wrobel 20 Great Assembly Quiz House Positions 1st Andrew 16.5 2nd George 16.0 3rd David 15.5 4th Patrick 15.0 The House competition winner of the Great Assembly Quiz is: ANDREW

Form Captains

Year 5 Year 4 Year 3 Year 2 Year 1 Reception Pre-School

First Half

Pranay Patel Neer Tanna Giyaan Thusekaran Samarth Mareguddi Anirvinn Sudarshan Sheyan Sivanandan Viaan Hirani

Second Half

Nathan Nair Praneel Manglam Hassan Faisal Rian Shah Shiven Khatri Yakup Babaev Aarav Patel

ASSEMBLIES

Class Assemblies Reception Year 1

Frogs Heroes

Staff Assemblies

Mrs Stoneman Invictus Games

Mrs Rastrick Changing appearances – Stage Make Up

Mr Doyle Changes in film and cinema

Mme Lad Transport

Ms Fry Michael Rosen

Mr Evans Change and Innovation

Mr Morarji Science Week

Miss Kelly Changes in Harrow and Harrow schools over the last 100 years

Miss Raduca What has Helvetica told you to do today?

School council Year 6 Year 5 Year 4 Year 3 Year 2 Year 1

Kacper Wrobel and Harshith Sharavana (Head of School Council) Adam Ali and Samay Kachalia Subhang Aryal and Praneel Manglam Hassan Faisal and Shivesh Joshi Maayan Karunananthan and Rian Shah Ethan Cheung and Dhilan Joshi

END OF TERM ASSEMBLY HOUSE POINTS

Year 6 (=1) Aadam Aslam, Ayman Ali 107 (3) Ishaan Shah 104 Year 5 (1) Sastha Sabarinath 140 (2) Aarav Paul 132 (3) Pranay Patel 112 Year 4 (1) Aviral Goel 61 (2) Raaghav Dhanasekaran 58 (3) Harris Qhoraish 49 Year 3 (=1) Adam Ahmed, Ram Tyagi 40 (3) Anish Kuchangi 37 Year 2 (1) Samarth Mareguddi 91 (2) Rian Shah 72 (3) Atharva Gokakkar 67 Year 1 (1) Kamil Pociask 161 (2) Aarav Patel 146 (3) Jaiyen Mistry 138 Reception (1) Noah Karst 146 (2) Arjun Shah 139 (3) Dhivarn Thusekaran 136

House Positions

1st Andrew 80 2nd George 79 3rd Patrick 74 4th David 73 House Shield (Holders: George)

Winners of the House Shield: Andrew

EFFORT PRIZE

Year 6 Aadam Aslam, Diyen Varsani Year 5 Kesavan Gunaseelan, Siddart Muralisujeeva Year 4 Mylan Renganathan, Neer Tanna Year 3 Aryan Morjaria, Rishabh Ray Year 2 Samarth Mareguddi Year 1 Ethan Cheung, Kyle Toussaint-Gyampo Reception Kabir Raut, Sajan Shingadia Pre-School Zak Modasia, Aarav Patel

CERTIFICATES OF COMMENDATION

Year 6 Trishanjeet Chanda, Harshith Sharavana Year 5 Mikael Khan, Jahanpasha Shokri Year 4 Esa Aslam, Hamza Baig, Erik Pashaj Year 3 Adam Ahmed, Anish Kuchangi, Maksymilian Pociask Year 2 Aditya Iyer, Ayush Patel Year 1 Shiven Khatri, Angad Mahey, Vivan Sen Reception Ahon Bandyopadhyay, Devyaan Prabhhakaran, Dhivarn Thusekaran Pre-School Shreehan Kejriwal, Emily Stoneman

NOTICES FOR THE SPRING TERM 2019 SWIMMING Swimming will be on FRIDAYS and next term will be for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. Swimming will commence on Friday 26th April 2019.

CLUBS Please note that most clubs will begin on Monday 29th April and finish on Friday 28th June.

The Breakfast and Homework Clubs commence on Thursday, 25th April.

Elms Sports (Years 1 & 2) commences on Tuesday 30th April.

Judo commences Wednesday 1st May.

The BPS staff wish all our parents a most enjoyable Easter holiday.

Summer Term starts on Thursday 25th April 2019