Stormont Yearbook

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Our year in full colour

The Stormont Yearbook 2019/20

Head’s Welcome 2020 I extend a warm welcome to all readers of this year’s edition of The Stormont, whatever their connection to the school.

In the annals of time, this is sure to be a historic edition, as it features much of our Gayhurst@Home provision in response to the Covid pandemic. I am sure that all readers will enjoy reading about how Gayhurst continued to provide an excellent, broad education during such challenging times.

Aside from Covid, this edition also features many of the other notable events and achievements from the academic year 2019-20. During the year, our children once again engaged enthusiastically in a wide array of learning opportunities and enrichment activities with great success. I am sure that the pictures and reports will recount a very purposeful and enjoyable school experience for them all. I have no doubt that this Stormont will prove to be a great keepsake that will remind the children of the confidence, independence and resilience they showed in adversity whilst also demonstrating what great fun they had at Gayhurst.

As we evolve and develop as a school, it is a great challenge to keep this annual review fresh yet reflective of the variety we offer from year to year. I firmly believe that Michelle Upton, as Editor, has managed this very successfully. She has thoughtfully planned the content in fine detail and has been well supported by all colleagues with their submissions, reports and photographs. The result reflects a strong community and team effort with a shared purpose to provide a nurturing environment and education for girls and boys to succeed. Such purpose is clearly portrayed throughout this publication and I sincerely hope that it fills you with pride whilst you read as much it did for me.

I conclude as ever by thanking Michelle for collating this information into such a wonderful document and keepsake. Of course, none of the content would be possible without such a committed staff body and I thank them all for their contribution to providing such an enviable educational experience for all of our pupils.

Enjoy reading and recapping a very successful year and may the memories live long with you.

Gareth R A Davies Headmaster

Gayhurst School

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Wellbeing

By Mr David Bushnell

Well, what a year it has been. Everyone in the Gayhurst community has been able to demonstrate their resilience, confidence and independence in spades. I write this from the second phase of the country’s lockdown. We are able to go outside to exercise and enjoy the Buckinghamshire countryside. Some of the positives from the challenges we have faced is that we have reconnected with nature, we are more aware of our local surroundings and have a new found appreciation of our families and friends. I for one have found this whilst investigating new walks with my family and pet Labrador, Percy. We have found new trails and routes just yards from our house, despite living in the locality for 10 years. It has been amazing to hear the many similar stories from Gayhurst families, from going on family bike rides to dog walks and completing various athletic challenges. A sense of community has risen from the situation and nothing supports our children and families more than the feeling of belonging and safety in our own world. Our challenge is to extend this beyond the enforced lockdown of society. Can we as a Gayhurst community, including many who leave us as alumni, hold on to the lessons learned for our own wellbeing, lessons of appreciation, gratitude, care, love and comfort. If we are to remember the tough times and how we overcame them, then we will be in a better place because of it.

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The Stormont Yearbook 2019-20

Stay safe, stay well, love those who are close to you and be kind to yourself.

Gayhurst School

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EYFS Review of the Year

By Mrs Joan Terrar

What a year it has been for our children in Nursery and Reception; from their first tentative steps at the beginning of the Autumn term to confident strides at the end of the Summer Term.

Our Nursery and new Reception children very quickly became part of the school and joined with the rest of the Junior School for many activities. Along with Reception they performed their Harvest song within a few weeks of starting school. What confidence they showed!

One of the highlights of the Autumn Term was our Nativity play. The Nursery and Reception children showed us their talents when they performed to a full house of parents, grandparents and siblings. Their independence growing all the time!

stage, others show their developing skills in PE and Games.

There are numerous opportunities throughout the year for the children to learn and STEM week provided enriching opportunities for every child in the school. Many of the children have surprised us with their knowledge, particularly when it is their turn for ‘Show and Tell’ and their confidence develops as they learn to speak to the whole class.

The Reception children have particularly enjoyed their weekly Spanish lessons with Mr Soto and they have already learned some useful vocabulary.

During lockdown, the children have shown us their resilience, confidence and independence. They have embraced learning at home and, supported of course by parents, they have surpassed our expectations.

Many of our Summer Term activities have not been able to happen, but in their place we have had fun, shown our creativity and above all, we have made some firm friends who will be with us for a long time.

A great year!

Santa’s Grotto was a magical experience for the children and we are grateful to the GPA for transforming our Junior IT suite into a Winter Wonderland for this special visitor. Santa knew everyone’s name and he made time to talk to each child.

The children in our Nursery and Reception experience and learn so much every day and we love to see their personalities develop. Some are real characters when they are on the

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The Stormont Yearbook 2019-20

Gayhurst School

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The Stormont Yearbook 2019-20

Nursery Review of the Year

By Mrs Helen Williams

In September, Gayhurst Nursery welcomed seventeen happy three year olds, ready for their first exciting year in ‘Big School’. Much to the delight of Mrs Williams and Mrs White, the beginning of the year also saw the return of Mrs Dibble from her adventure in Year 1. The focus of the first half of the Autumn Term was settling the children into the routines of the busy Nursery week. They met all the challenges of their new timetable with boundless enthusiasm and thoroughly enjoyed their first Music, PE and dance lessons. This year all the Nursery children had been invited to stay for a cooked lunch every day and the children showed great independence and resilience, as they joined Reception in the big dining room at the end of their first morning. The second half of the Autumn term included many exciting topics for the children to learn about, including the colourful festivals of Diwali and Bonfire Night, before culminating in a great deal of Christmas excitement and a visit from Father Christmas on Christmas Jumper Day. The Spring Term was unusually mild and although the children were a little disappointed that they did not see any snow, the milder weather did allow us to continue to get out and about in the school grounds every day. The Nursery children enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year, decorating the home corner with lanterns, eating noodles with chopsticks and writing their names in Chinese. The Coronavirus pandemic brought the Spring Term to an abrupt end and we were unable to finish with our usual excitement of an Easter egg hunt on the adventure trail.

The first half of the Summer Term took place remotely. The Nursery children showed incredible resilience, as they learnt to communicate with their friends and teachers on Zoom.

Although some were initially a little shy, they all gained in confidence and new skills as they adapted to this new way of life. The teachers were delighted to receive daily updates, including photographs of completed worksheets, craft and construction projects and videos of new skills learned, such as bike riding, piano playing and reading. It was a great delight to all, that the Nursery children were allowed to return to school on the 1st June. Although the parents and teachers were a little nervous about the measures that had to be put in place to keep everyone safe, the children were delighted to be back and took all these changes in their stride. After such a long break from the routine of school, they showed enormous resilience and independence as they lined up two metres apart and waved goodbye to their parents at the blue doors. The Nursery year concluded with all the fun activities of a normal Summer Term. The children played outside, practised their athletics skills for Sports Day and took part in the traditional end of term picnic, although teddy bears could not join us this year.

This has certainly been a different year in Nursery and I am very proud of how well the children have adapted to all the challenges that have come their way. They have shown enormous confidence and resilience as they first had to learn new ways to communicate remotely before their return to a very different style of schooling. Let’s hope that their Reception year runs a little more smoothly!

Gayhurst School

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Nursery Performances

By Mrs Beth Dibble

Once the Nursery children had settled into Gayhurst Nursery School we were soon building up to our first performance of the year. It was time for the Harvest Festival service and the Nursery children were singing The Big Red Combine Harvester. Although a little timid to start, they soon got into the swing of the song and we had lots of ‘clattering on’ and smiling faces as well as action packed movements to a very appreciative congregation of parents.

The biggest performance of the Nursery calendar came round at the end of the Autumn Term - the production of the Higgledy, Piggledy Nativity. The Nursery children were very excited about being able to perform to an audience of their parents and their sparkly star costumes just added to the excitement. They walked sensibly down the aisle of the hall and beautifully sat in their special places on the stage.

They joined in several of the songs with Reception but then their moment to shine came and they stood and performed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with ‘twinkling’ fingers and costumes to a sea of proud parents and teachers. Once the final song had finished the children sparkled back to Nursery ready for photographs and cookies to celebrate.

During the Spring term, Nursery joined in the Junior School poetry performances. They stood up at the front of the World Book Day assembly and confidently performed a rhyme about Goldilocks and the Three Bears, complete with actions and a big roar at the end!

The year ended with a slightly different performance with no audience. The Nursery competed in a sports day week. They showed they could rise to the occasion and perform well on the sports field as well as on a stage. They keenly showed off their stickers at the end of each day and their shining star medal they had each made to complete the week of performances on the track.

A fantastic year Nursery. We can’t wait to watch you in many more performances during your time at Gayhurst.

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The Stormont Yearbook 2019-20

Gayhurst School

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Reception Class RB Review

By Mrs Pippa Bremner

It has been an action packed year for RB this year, and certainly one to remember. The children have proven themselves incredibly adaptable and adjusted to the many changes that the year has brought with impressive resilience.

At the start of the Autumn term the children all had a wonderful time at the Stories and More workshop. The story captured their imagination and they were fully immersed in the pirate adventure.

STEAM week provided an exceptional number of opportunities and experiences for the children to enjoy.

Reception took part in many team challenges and different opportunities to explore artistically and scientifically. They travelled to space in the explore dome, where they found out about the universe. The children were very fortunate to have Mr Reeves, who took them on an adventure into space and the children were able to explore a variety of space and alien sounds with the instruments. This was then taken back to the classroom where they enjoyed some very exciting and effective spin art, the effects were very striking.

We designed and made bug houses on the adventure trail and constructed water channels and had to make sure there were no leaks! The team challenges demonstrated the importance of effective communication and enabled the children to build on and strengthen these skills. The children also went on a Gruffalo trail to Wendover Woods, and enjoyed some additional Julia Donaldson crafts, making stickmen at the end of the trail.

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The Christmas period is always an exciting time at Gayhurst and there are always a range of special events. The children enjoyed making their Christingle candles and joined in with the beautiful Christingle service. We had a delicious Christmas Lunch wearing some splendid Christmas jumpers.

We also had a special visit from Father Christmas who took time out of his busy schedule to come and say hello. The children also enjoyed their annual Christmas Pantomime.

Our favourite event of the Christmas period is the Nativity performance and we were particularly proud of the children this year. They rose to the challenge of performing to a large audience with confidence and it was a wonderful occasion.

In the New Year, Reception immersed themselves into the ‘lands of ice and snow’ topic, where the children explored the habitats and the different animals that live there. The children enjoyed writing to little Pip Pip the penguin using the Polar Post and were particularly excited to receive their return mail each day with answers to their many questions about where he lived. We celebrated Chinese New Year with a fantastic dragon dance that they collaboratively designed and made. They also took a trip to our Chinese restaurant to try out some of the traditional Chinese food and attempted to master the art of chopsticks!

The first half of the Spring Term ended with a very exciting week, where each child chose their own topic to explore and share with the class. There was a wonderful array of topics from space and dinosaurs to magical lands and minibeasts, it was a very enlightening week and we all learnt a lot. It also provided a wonderful opportunity for the children to explore and share their own interests, acting as the teacher for their chosen topic.

In the second half of the Spring term we were learning about growth and development and we had a very special visit from baby Chloe. We found out about all the things that she could do and talked about all the things we had learnt to do since we were babies. Thank you to Mrs Smith for sharing her beautiful baby with us for the morning. The topic continued to the senses were we had a wonderful visit from a hearing dog One of the most exciting events of the year for every school is World Book Week, and this year was no exception. The children enjoyed entering the Enchanted Forest with their own key and supply of fairy dust on Word Book Day. They dressed as their favourite characters sharing their favourite books and stories with the class. They authored their own novels and even collaborated to produce a wonderful story together, which we were all particularly proud of.

Whilst the Spring Term was brought to a rather abrupt and unexpected end, the learning continued at home, and it was certainly a steep learning curve for adults and children alike. Exceptionally fortunate to live in an age of Zoom and Dropbox and MSP, we were able to stay in touch and this was a truly rewarding experience. Having spent so much of the past seven months working together it was so lovely to be able to stay in touch with the children and their families.

It was a privilege to be able to maintain contact and be invited to share in their success and achievements whilst at home. From piano and drum recitals to bike demonstrations and meeting the new family pets, I shall cherish the experience, it was a wonderful way to connect with the children and see their confidence beyond the classroom.

The children followed topics on lifecycles, growth and farms, and it was lovely to see the way each child embraced the subjects and activities that were provided. It was particularly exciting recording and sharing the various stages of our class butterflies and growing experiments for the children We were very pleased to be able to welcome the children back to Gayhurst for the final few weeks of term. Whilst we did not enjoy our usual visitors for the topic of People Who Help Us, it was a particularly poignant topic for us all, and one where we really learnt to appreciate all those who help us in the community and at home. The children learnt so much about all the important jobs around us and they were certainly inspired!

The overwhelming feeling when reflecting on RB Class 2019 - 2020, is pride in each and every child. The challenges and changes that the children faced were significant. However, despite it all they returned to school, embracing the changes and the unfamiliar and working together as a brilliant RB bubble!

Gayhurst School

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Class RB

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Gayhurst School

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Reception Class RW Review

By Mrs Sandra Whitaker

Well the academic year of 2019 to 2020 was certainly out of the ordinary! The Reception children will remember this year for the rest of their lives and I sincerely hope that their memories will be of sunny, fun filled days when they had fun at school and also at home. It will be a year that has made them appreciate their lovely school and also the strong friendships that they have made in Reception which they will keep for many years to come.

The Autumn Term started as ever, with the children getting to know each other, their teachers and their new environment. We had lots of fun playing inside and out as they became familiar with each other and the school routine.

Stories and More visited both classes and the children helped to retell the story of “Captain Bernard Knifenose” without any pictures or prompts. They left this wonderful workshop, with an enthusiasm for making up their own stories. As the term progressed the children learned about Harvest and helped to make bread, after listening to the story of The Little Red Hen. They learnt to think about others as they dressed up for Children in Need and made poppies for Remembrance Day. Just before half term was STEAM week. The children had a huge range of Science, Technology, Art and Music experiences. I was particularly impressed with their growing abilities to work as part of a team and to tackle problems. They were encouraged to “have a go” and to think independently and I think that these skills have characterised this particular group of children, throughout the whole year.

As Christmas approached, our busy days got even busier as we rehearsed our Nativity and covered the classroom in glitter as we made decorations and cards. The children put their own decorations onto the Junior School Christmas tree, they wore their jumpers to the special Christmas lunch; sang beautifully at our Christingle service and even had a visit to Santa’s Grotto!

The children really threw themselves into the first topic of the Spring term; the lands of ice and snow. They loved learning about different species of penguins as well as other polar animals. Although there was not much snow to speak of this year, we still went outside to examine the frost crystals and to investigate how our environment had changed from the days of Autumn. RW made a fantastic dragon to celebrate Chinese New year and mastered the art of eating noodles with chopsticks!

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Just before half term, the children had a self initiated week, as we “flipped the classroom” and asked them to investigate a self chosen topic and then to teach their peers about what they knew. We had a range of topics from minibeasts, imaginary lands, cats, dinosaurs, space and superheroes.

It was a fantastic experience and all children and adults learned a lot of new things. The children all had the enthusiasm to want to talk and write and investigate their own topic and those initiated by their peers.

We learned about our 5 different senses after half term, and had a visit from Polly, a hearing dog, who was so well trained to help deaf people. The Home Corner became an Opticians and the children tried out a variety of wonderful glasses.

The Spring Term was cut short by Coronavirus, as we all know too well, and suddenly it was the adults who had to do the learning! The challenge was to continue to make learning relevant, accessible and most importantly…fun, for the children. Personally, I learnt a huge amount from the experience and although Mrs Vos and myself, missed the children hugely, it was so lovely for me to remain in regular contact with them all and their families. I felt that I had been invited into their homes via Zoom and met their pets, watched their plants grow and admired the amazing models that had been made! I was treated to a puppet show, had books read to me and even had a guided tour of the solar system in one of the children’s bedrooms!

With great excitement, a lot of preparation and a fair degree of nerves, school reopened on Monday 1st June! This amazing, resilient group of children took only one day to get used to the new style classroom, the new rules and exactly how far 2 metres is! The children made up new games for themselves and continued to work as a team, as they had learnt to do so, over the year. We will remember the Reception class of 2019 to 2020 with so much affection and a huge amount of pride.

Gayhurst School

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Year 1 Review

By Miss Victoria Ashby and Mrs Camilla Ross

What a year we have had in 1A! It seems a distant memory ago our first day in September coming into our new classroom. We picked up routines very quickly and settled into the new life in Year 1. 1A have loved learning new songs and playing musical instruments with Ms Kereszturi in Music.

Spanish lessons with Mr Soto were always fun, full of singing and learning lots of new Spanish words. In addition, of course, 1A love their PE lessons with all the Games staff.

Autumn is always busy in Year 1 and we fit so much into the term. STEAM week was jam packed full of exciting activities to do. We made kites, coded BeeBots, took part in a colourful skittles experiment and created spin paintings with Miss Crosbie. We also visited Buckleberry Farm, which Year 1 had all to themselves! The day consisted of learning about all the different animals on the farm. We also got a chance to feed and pet them. This year’s nativity was called ‘Everyone Loves a Baby’. The songs were sung brilliantly in the show, with a lot of hard work put in by the Year 1’s with teachers and parents being immensely proud of the children for how they performed.

In the Spring Term we had Hobgoblin Theatre Company visit and they performed Goldielocks and the Three Bears. Then we took part in a drama workshop and learnt how to portray different characters in fairy tales. We enjoyed our weekly trips to the Chalfont Leisure Centre swimming pool. The children were taught basic safety awareness, swimming movement and water confidence skills.

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Summer Term has been quite different to usual. The children adapted to Gayhurst@ Home very well and learnt a new way to communicate digitally on Zoom with Miss Ashby.

Over the term, we created non-fiction dinosaur books, learnt about plants and animals in Science and we loved our topic of Castles in History. Returning to school was another challenge that 1A coped well with by learning new routines and adjusting to the ‘new normal’ at school. It was so nice to see all our friends and teachers. 1A has learnt a lot this year, and a tough end of year it has been too. I am so proud of their resilience and new learning skills to be taking onward in their lives.

Gayhurst School

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It has been a busy year in Year 1R! The children have learnt a great deal and had lots of fun too. Joining Year 1 is an exciting time; grown up blazers and ties and becoming members of houses and collecting house points for the first time is very special to the children.

The children enjoyed a retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears from a visiting theatre company, followed by an interactive drama workshop.

In the Autumn Term the children developed their writing skills inspired by Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The highlight was making and tasting porridge to help them write a porridge recipe!

The Spring Term had an unexpected ending. The children adapted to the changes quickly and washed their hands often and then we all found ourselves at home.

It was also in the Autumn Term that Year 1 started history and enjoyed learning about what is was like to be a child in Victorian times. STEAM week was exciting for 1R. Making a rainbow experiment using sweets was a super morning and the kites the children made turned out really well.

The highlight was a trip to Buckleberry Farm, we enjoyed meeting many interesting animals.

Getting ready for Christmas and rehearsing hard for the wonderful Nativity play; “Everyone Loves a Baby!�, brought the Autumn Term to an exciting and glittery close!

The Spring Term started off cold and inspired sparkly, frosty Winter tree art. The science focus was materials and the children all enjoyed experimenting with magnets as well looking for materials all around us and sorting them.

Swimming is always an adventure for Year 1 and everyone made lots of improvements in their swimming skills over the weeks.

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The Summer Term started at home.

Having a weekly Zoom catch up with each child was a great way to keep in touch. The children adapted well to a new style of learning and hopefully enjoyed the videos the teachers sent! They learnt so much in their time at home and it was an exciting moment to have them all back in the classroom.

Back at school the children again impressed everyone with their sensible attitude to a new way of learning, sitting in desks and being so grown up. They also became experts in hand hygiene.

It has been a pleasure watching 1R develop and become more independent and confident. I look forward to watching their progress in Year 2.

Gayhurst School

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Year 2 Review

By Mrs Gillian Kelly and Mrs Jo Martin

What a year 2K has seen!

The excitement and anticipation of starting the year as a new Year 2 pupil was clear to see. Any nerves during the first week soon gave way to keen and active learners as the routine was established and confidently met and new friendships were explored and developed.

Each member of the class will hold certain memories throughout the year, dear to them and whilst there are so very many to list, I know there have been many, wonderful highlights for all.

In the Autumn Term, Year 2 gave a superb Christmas show which brought the festive cheer to Gayhurst.

The cold chill continued with polar presentations which linked with the Geography topic of ‘hot and cold places.’ The children enjoyed speaking about their chosen animal to the class and presenting a poster to match.

There were so many interesting History topics throughout the year, such as the Plague and the Great Fire of London and World War 2. The children enjoyed discussing and understanding how the lives of people in the past were affected. They learnt about the evacuation, the Blitz and rationing and made a 3-D Anderson shelter. The children loved learning about significant people, understanding that each individual person can make a difference to shaping the future and were inspired by, Louis Braille, Emily Davison, Rosa Parks and Florence Nightingale, plus many more.

A school trip is always a memory to treasure and we had the pleasure of visiting the Natural History Museum at Tring. Once the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild, it is now a public museum, housing one of the finest collections of stuffed mammals, birds, reptiles and insects in the United Kingdom. The children enjoyed exploring

this museum, sketching on their clip boards anything they found of interest.

AmeyZoo came to Gayhurst! This was a chance for the children to meet some exotic animals up close – in our classroom! AmeyZoo respects all wildlife, and other exotics.

They adhere to the Animal Welfare Act and recently won a top pet industry award for their work. The children were thrilled to be meeting some of the animal cast of Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee, Deadly 60 and the David Attenborough series, to name just a few. These famous, exotic animals had the children captivated and it was a great way to meet and learn about reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.

World Book Day saw the pupils dress up as a character from one of Shakespeare’s plays. We had princesses, kings, knights, fairies and Juliet - all popular characters. The class looked amazing and they really got into the spirit of the day.

They introduced themselves and could name the play they starred in.

STEAM week was full of enrichment and exciting opportunities! The children explored shadow puppets in Science, made a pully system in DT, enjoyed the pop-up Planetarium in Gibbs Hall and learnt about outer space and rockets from a visiting Scientist!

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The children have worked in the style of many revolutionary artists, such as Seurat, Kandinsky, Klimt, Klee and learnt to work in their styles. They discovered styles such as Pop Art, Pointillism and Abstract Art and produced some amazing pieces of work.

During the Summer Term, the children showed incredible resilience accessing work through Gayhurst @Home. They learnt knew skills, such as how to communicate on Zoom for Form time and watch and even create their own Powerpoints.

The biggest highlight must be the return of all 2K after our time apart. Being able to see friends, have lessons with teachers and see the beautiful green space of Gayhurst was amazing. Happy smiles were aplenty from both the children and I! Looking back over the time in Year 2, it is incredible to think how the children have developed and grown, both academically and socially. With so many memories, each personal and unique, forming deep friendships and a passion for lifelong learning.

The end of Year 2 marks an important transition time at Gayhurst. The children have successfully completed their time in the Junior School and are ready to take their learning journey further. They are equipped for the new challenges in the Senior School, taking with them a ‘growth mindset.’ The children have made so many treasured memories in an unprecedented and unique year. I have enjoyed teaching them and I wish all the children continued success in Year 3. I look forward to seeing them move about the Senior School and hopefully hearing about the new adventures they will have, whilst holding on to the special memories made in Year 2.

Gayhurst School

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We have had a very busy and happy year in 2M. In the Autumn Term the children started into their new class upstairs, they were excited to be the oldest in the Junior School. They had all grown up through the Summer holidays and were keen and excited to begin the year.

Each week we went swimming at the leisure centre, all the children made great progress throughout the term and maybe we have an Olympic swimmer amongst 2M! We began our history topic by being archaeologists and dug for treasure, we then looked at the Victorians and found out that Queen Victoria had nine children and was Queen for 64 years. We looked at Victorian inventions and we were excited to find out that the Victorians invented ice cream amongst many other things.

The class loved finding out about the Rainforest and particularly enjoyed a visit from Amey Zoo where they were able to see some creatures from the rainforest and learned some interesting facts.

The children continued to be enthused by History, we looked at the lives of people who have made a difference; Louis Braille, Rosa Parks, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Barnardo, Edward Jenner and others. The children found these lives fascinating and went on to learn how to research on the Internet and download pictures and create a factfile in ICT lessons.

The Summer Term was spent mainly at home accessing the curriculum. I became a very proud teacher when I spoke to the children individually and as a class on Zoom. One of the highlights was our Zoom music session where many of the children played the piano, guitar, flute or sang to us. The children missed the company of their friends, I missed their lively chatter, but we all made the best of the situation and were delighted to be back in school for the last 12 days of term. It has certainly been a school year unlike any other!

Whist learning at home the children studied World War 2 and learned about rationing and evacuation. They wrote lovely letters imagining themselves as an evacuee.

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Gayhurst School

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Year 3 Review

By Mrs Roma Pandya, Mr Ben Stevenson and Mrs Kim Veldtman

It was with great excitement (and a few nerves) that the children moved into their new 3P classroom in September.

They quickly settled in, however, and were soon used to finding their way to new rooms for lessons, completing Prep on time and carrying their own trays in the Dining Hall!

Inside the classroom the children worked extremely hard, enjoying the challenge of some new subjects, such as French, and also learning in the new environments of the Science Lab, ICT Room and the Art Room. They demonstrated an ability to work effectively with each other in groups and also to complete independent work of a high standard.

Outside the classroom new sports were learnt with great enthusiasm and the children were proud to represent Gayhurst against other schools in rugby, football and netball.

In the Autumn Term the children went on a lovely theatre trip to see ‘Madagascar the Musical’ which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The children also had their own opportunities to perform to each other in the classroom. In pairs, they

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created some great poetry based on Michael Rosen’s work which they then recited to each other. Then, during Book Week the children really enjoyed learning Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and acting out each scene of the play in the classroom. They demonstrated great aptitude when learning their pieces for the annual Prose and Verse competition, making it very hard to judge who should go through to the semi-final!

During the unprecedented events of the Summer Term, the children in 3P worked incredibly hard from home, submitting assignments and showing great resilience and growing independence. They had fun getting together for daily Form Times online, sharing riddles, jokes and videos that they had made at home. In live lessons they were able to perform a part in play scripts written for an English assignment, injecting the same enthusiasm they would have had in the classroom.

The children also demonstrated a love of growing seeds for the Science topic of Plants, nurturing a wide variety of fruit and vegetables in their gardens.

3S settled quickly into the Senior School at Gayhurst, growing into the new routines; finding their classrooms for lessons, completing Prep and taking more responsibility in the Dining Room.

They seemed to mature very quickly into the lessons in the Senior School, enjoying their new subjects. They worked very hard across the curriculum and it was pleasing to see all of them get involved as much as possible on the carpet.

Autumn Term also brought a number of extra-curricular visits for the children. They had a bonding trip to the theatre with the Year 4s to see ‘Madagascar the Musical’, which was an exciting day. Then they had their first full experience of STEAM week. They were off timetable for the week, completing various activities, before a very exciting visit to Bracknell Lookout Discovery Centre where they really enjoyed the experience of their hands-on STEAM activities.

3S continued in a similar vein in the Spring Term, as they continued their strong work in groups or independently, creating poems based on Michael Rosen’s work and then performing them to the class, demonstrating great confidence.

The Spring Term brought Arts and Literature week, where the children completed activities based on the works of Shakespeare; including acting out the Tempest and discovering more about Shakespeare’s life and the Globe Theatre. The week culminated in the Prose and Verse final, a competition where all of 3S had participated, quite brilliantly, learning a variety of prose to perform to their peers and then their year group.

With the country placed in lockdown, 3S coped admirably with the online learning provided. During form time every afternoon, it was lovely to see all of their faces as we discussed the learning from the day and completed different quizzes, challenges and scavenger hunts. It was also very impressive to receive all the pieces of work they had completed, maintaining the high standards which they started the year with. 3S were a constant in live lessons, learning to use Microsoft Teams very quickly, and showing their resilience and confidence throughout, answering the questions posed to them.

It was lovely to have the children returning at the end of term, where I, as their teacher, could see the culmination of their year and how far they had all come. We particularly enjoyed helping Harry Potter with his potions on our return.

They had a fabulous year and coped so well in difficult circumstances.

Gayhurst School

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It seems a long time since September 2019 when 3V first entered their new classroom in the Senior School.

Although they may have been nervous, there was also great excitement about what Year 3 had to offer. Armed with their pencil cases and Prep Diaries, the children quickly learnt their way around, enjoying the new feeling of independence moving from one lesson to the next without a teacher!

The children settled in well and were soon enjoying the challenge of learning two additional languages, having Art and DT lessons in the Art Room and Science in the Science Lab. In Games, 3V demonstrated great enthusiasm as they learnt how to play new sports such as rugby and hockey. They proudly represented Gayhurst in matches against other schools where they showed great sportsmanship.

The first part of the year was filled with a range of fantastic experiences and learning opportunities. It started with the annual theatre trip for Years 3 and 4 to see ‘Madagascar the Musical’ in Aylesbury.

This was thoroughly enjoyed by all. In STEAM Week in October, the children had the opportunity to explore and test ideas in a range of activities. From building the longest bridge, creating an egg parachute and making slime to designing and making a rocket, 3V worked effectively with others in their groups and persevered with each challenge.

What a great week!

Book Week was another memorable week with a focus on Shakespeare. 3V all dressed up as characters from one of Shakespeare’s plays for World Book Day. We even had William Shakespeare himself! For their first annual Prose and Verse competition, the children all learnt their piece with great aptitude. A few made it to the finals with Austen winning first place in Year 3. An incredible achievement!

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During the unprecedented events of the Summer Term, the children worked incredibly hard from home and made the most of remote learning opportunities. This included making healthy sandwiches for PSHCE, mini weather projects for Geography, going on a Measurement Scavenger Hunt for Maths and growing seeds for the Science topic of Plants.

They had fun getting together for daily online Form Times where they had to either wear a silly hat, bring a pet, share riddles, jokes and Lego creations or go on scavenger hunts.

This has been a challenging year but without a doubt, every child has grown in confidence, resilience and independence.

They have learnt many new skills both at school and at home and should be proud of all their achievements.

Gayhurst School

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Activities Review

By Mr Sam Brown

Even during a very challenging second half of the year, participation in activities in both the Senior and Junior school continued to grow, with plenty of new clubs and activities being offered and undertaken throughout the school.

In the Junior School, pupils continued to enjoy the variety of clubs on offer, making the most of the all round experience available at Gayhurst. The introduction of a Mandarin Club was well received and supports the language options covered in the curriculum. Cookery Club continued to grow in popularity with pupils demonstrating culinary potential in Years 1 and 2. Football Icon and MultiSports remain as popular as ever, helping to reinforce the core skills that are covered throughout PE and Games lessons at school, as well as introducing new sports and activities across the Junior school.

In the Senior School, the children have continued to participate in the wide variety of clubs and activities available throughout the year, they have once again enjoyed firm favourites such as Skiing, Construction Club, Explore Art and Squash, whilst also taking the opportunity to try something different in Cookery, Pom Pom Club and Eco Club. The introduction of new clubs such as Real Tennis, Archery Tag, Philosophy Club and Mandarin have been well received and demonstrate the wide variety of clubs on offer as pupils move through the school. A big thanks must go to the GPA for purchasing the Archery Tag equipment, the club was a real hit with the children in Years 5 and 6. It has also been great to see Gayhurst’s very first Orchestra Club introduced, showing the musical talent within the school.

The start of the Autumn Term will see a slightly reduced programme being offered in order to comply with the new guidelines in place however, pupils will still be able to enjoy a well rounded programme outside of the classroom, helping to develop their overall experience as a Gayhurst pupil.

Gayhurst School

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Art Review

By Miss Sorsha Crosbie

The Autumn Term began energetically; quickly immersing children in creative learning. Year 1 developed their looking skills in a Pablo Picasso style portrait session.

Year 2 explored mystery objects through drawing using a variety of wet and dry media. Year 3 settled into their new art room with a collaborative project called ‘Surreal Stories’ with the aim to engage them in discussion, imagination, drawing and design processes.

Year 4 discovered the artwork of American artist Wayne Thiebaud, whose colourful landscape paintings inspired their own Thiebaud-style landscape compositions. Year 5 explored the theme of Art Nouveau, designing a motif and then modelling clay to create beautiful decorative clay relief tiles. Year 6 explored the theme ‘Nature’ in depth in their development of a mask design, each child coming up with something truly unique and interesting.

Spring Term began with a burst of colourful creativity. Year 1 developed skills in paint mixing and colour application while Year 2 investigated print making skills. Year 3 children explored man-made and natural pattern through observational drawing and painting. Year 4 children visited the Wycombe Chair Museum as part of their chair design and construction project. Year 5 visited the National Portrait Gallery in London as a starting point for their portrait projects. Back in the classroom they enjoyed

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developing their looking skills as they tried to capture the character of their classmates and their own unique traits.

Year 6 completed their stunning nature masks and began developing ideas for a lino print design based on the theme of ‘Insects’.

The Summer Term was unlike any other as the children adapted to a new home learning curriculum.

Year 3 covered the topic ‘Plant Art’. They discovered different famous artists who have taken inspiration from plants and created unique 2D and 3D art in response. Year 4 learned about ‘Famous Buildings’ through a range of creative tasks. They also took ideas from features of buildings as inspiration for their own architectural designs. Year 5 learned to look at objects from different viewpoints and create compositions based on their favourite objects in a project called ‘Line, Shape, Colour’ inspired by contemporary artist Michael Craig- Martin. Finally, Year 6 uncovered ‘Art Illusions’ challenging their observational and technical drawing skills.

“It’s been a unique year, especially in recent months. I am so proud of all the children for what they have accomplished and how they have adapted to new ways of learning.

Next term will bring new and exciting projects aimed to inspire and instil a lifelong love and appreciation of Art.” Miss S Crosbie, Head of Art

Gayhurst School

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Junior School Art Club Review

By Mrs Cloe Vos

Before lockdown Art Club was in full creative flow! The children had a variety of projects to challenge them to try all sorts of different ways to create an image.

One of these projects was a printing project. They used different objects which they gathered from around the classroom to print with black paint. It’s amazing that a few bits of Lego and some other objects can make such brilliant robots!

At the end of the Autumn Term they made smart soldier Christmas tree decorations using large wooden pegs. In the New Year Art Club listened to the story of “Nina”. They drew their own Chinese monster using wax resist and watercolours.

The children created the backgrounds of traditional Chinese views of mountains lakes and cherry trees with pagodas using black ink and one colour only.

For Valentine’s Day the children looked at the American artist Jim Dine. A Pop Artist who was known for his fascination with painting hearts. They collaged and painted the most colourful exciting pictures.

With Spring on the way, the children sketched lots of different mini beasts, afterwards using their sketches they made giant fantastical bugs from junk.

Watch out for Art Club restarting next term with some new, exciting projects!

Gayhurst School

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DT Review

By Mr Will Pendered

Year 3 began their first term of Design Technology exploring graphics. Identifying the variety in shape, colour, font and materials of existing packaging products helped them to design and make their own environmentally friendly packaging.

Following on from this, they investigated mechanisms in the Spring Term. Assembling and disassembling everyday working examples from door hinges right through to latches and locks gave us a clear understanding of how they work and where they are used. With their focus being on hinges, they made wooden creatures using screws and butterfly hinges.

The Summer Term saw their focus shift to wheels and axles.

Despite not being able to come into school, pupils were still able to come up with some excellent designs for their racing car projects. Once the DT parcels containing the projects had been delivered, they had great fun building these, along with racetracks around their houses and gardens for the finished cars.

Year 4 began learning about the dangers of electricity and used this to help them safely design and build working circuits using switches, LEDs, buzzers, motors and light bulbs. They were then able to come up with a range of different projects, including making their own alarm systems.

Similar to Year 3, the Spring Term involved working with mechanisms. This time, they looked more specifically at linkages. Their linkage projects, made out of wood demonstrated both reciprocating and oscillating motion.

Finally, being at home for the Summer Term didn’t stop Year 4 from continuing their excellent work in Design Technology.

Having received their DT parcels, they were then able to design and make some fabulous cam projects and treadle mechanisms.

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Gayhurst School

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English Review

By Miss Tara Williams

The excellent standards of reading, writing, and speaking in English at Gayhurst, both in and outside of the classroom, have continued to impress throughout this academic year.

The year has ended very differently to how it started and so much has changed, but the energy and spirit of keen learning has remained a constant.

Reading is central to our learning and teaching of English at Gayhurst and it is wonderful to see the children progress from learning phonics to tackling - and enjoying - challenging literature. Through discussions, debates, presentations and performances, pupils always impress with their confident and articulate communication skills of speaking and listening.

The annual Prose and Verse competition is, for me, a personal highlight of the academic year. With each pupil preparing a piece to perform to their English class in the first instance, all have the opportunity to display their unique preferences of text, as well as memory and delivery of interpretation. I am always impressed by the level of confidence on display and the finalists’ performance is a great culmination of the vast talents in each year group.

Shakespeare was our theme for World Book Day this year, and once again the whole school was transformed, full of both pupils and staff who had excelled in their research and stepped in to the world and works of our famous bard.

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The Year 6’s continued their Shakespeare studies of Macbeth with a fantastic trip to the Globe Theatre. The structure of the acting space itself, let alone the play on stage, was enthralling for all.

The Summer Term is usually a consolidation of skills honed throughout the year, although in 2020 both teachers and pupils added many more strings to their bow. A key element noticed in English lessons at this time was the level of independence shown by those working at home. Along with some impressive mastering of IT skills, some fantastic written work has been produced which no doubt will prove to be a lasting record of the extraordinary fortitude and talents of Gayhurst pupils in these extraordinary times.

Geography Review

By Mr Gordon Harris

Geography at Gayhurst has continued to thrive this year.

The whole department has been committed to using a more practical style of teaching to deliver memorable and meaningful lessons. Due to the wonderful site that Gayhurst School has to offer, the pupils have benefitted from using their surroundings to deepen their understanding of the world around them as well as being able use the local area. A prime example of this is when Year 6, during the Leavers Programme, used the geographical skills they have developed during their time at Gayhurst to try and navigate from an unknown location (approximately 6km away) back to school armed with some friends, a map and a compass.

The children managed to produce some outstanding work across all year groups and the progress they have made in developing their key geographical skills is outstanding.

Nothing can demonstrate the commitment and motivation that Gayhurst pupils have towards their geographical work as much as the independent work produced during the difficult lockdown period.

Throughout the lockdown, the children attended online lessons ready to learn and share their views and opinions.

They were regularly set research tasks and quizzes and demonstrated outstanding independence to complete these tasks without the aid of their usual class surroundings and teachers to help them. They were kept on their toes with challenging assignments that allowed them to use their creative freedom and, as much as possible, allowed them to be outside or away from their computer screens.

Although planned external trips had to be put on hold during the last term at school this year, the children showed great character and commitment to their studies. They were determined to continue to develop their knowledge and progress their skills. All Gayhurst pupils should give themselves a pat on the back for their dedication to their geography studies and I look forward to seeing this continue into the next academic year.

Gayhurst School

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History Review

By Mrs Amanda Keeney

History events and the people within them have helped shape the world in which we live. The children in our senior history lessons are continually encouraged to remember that they have an important role to play in this and that they are “living history” as they go about their daily lives.

This has become even more important as they have experienced an event that will no doubt become a key area of study in the future. The events of the Covid virus will become an important mark on our British history events timeline with key people, dates and events compared to other historic periods.

Our children will look back on this period with memories of lockdown, remote school learning, clapping for NHS and rainbows displayed across their communities. Scrap books, photographs, diaries, newspaper headlines and accounts will become the artefacts that future children will study and learn about.

The first two terms of the academic year saw the children embracing their history topics with their usual enthusiasm.

Donning their “history hats” they asked questions, investigated around themes, researched about key events and people and debated past events. Periods of history study came to life within the classroom walls throughout the school with the usual high standard of work produced and displayed.

Each year group enthusiastically embraced learning about different periods of British history with some Ancient Civilizations alongside.

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The Senior school covered a range of topics with Year 3’s learning all about the Neolithic periods: Stone Age and Bronze Age. Family lifestyles, farming, buildings and traditions allowed core history skills. They explored the archaeological site of Skara Brae and the Beeker people.

They concluded their chronological narrative of Britain’s History in the Spring Term by exploring the final stage of prehistory: The Iron Age. This period of study continued with the learning about lifestyles, farming and trade.

The Year 4 studied two Ancient Civilizations: The Greeks and the Egyptians. Here the children explored history of the wider world where they first learnt about the lifestyle of the Greeks, the achievements of famous Greeks, religion, the wonders of mythology and theatre. In the Spring Term, the children were captivated by their study on how the Egyptian society was structured, the mysteries of the Great Pyramids and the tomb of Tutankhamun. Their studies in class on Tutankhamun himself were rewarded with a trip into London to see the actual artefacts from his tomb on tour at the Saatchi Gallery: Tutankhamun Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh.

Year 5 studied the Tudors and the Anglo-Saxons. Key figures such as Henry VIII and Alfred the Great were examined to see what contributions they had made to the period of history being studied. Comparisons of everyday life, laws, education and key events were explored through skills of enquiry, extensive research, examining artefacts and making comparisons. The topics allowed opportunities for artwork with the making of the Tudor roses and their own Sutton Hoo masks.

The Year 6 children began the year by actively debating whether the Vikings were as bloodthirsty as depicted throughout history books and the wider media. The topic allowed extensive research skills and discussion work lead by the children. Viking life was delved into and the children evaluated the reliability of their sources of knowledge, examining both archaeological and written sources in order to draw their own conclusions.

During the Spring Term the children studied the topic Medicine. They explored early theories of disease, medical treatments used in the past, changes in hospitals, medical equipment, dental care and the way mental health was treated. Little did we know then how some of these areas of study were going to become key features within the Summer Term for the wider world.

The children concluded their study of “medicine” by producing independent projects on a famous medical person.

Again, we had success in the annual Oratory History competition with Robbie Borwick being selected for a second time to attend as a finalist on the day they host.

Unfortunately, this event had to be postponed.

The theme for this year was “Dates in Time”. Pupils were asked to submit entries on a historical figure or event that occurred on their birthday or in the month they were born.

Robbie chose the Dalai Lama.

Although many of the exciting History outings and visiting speakers had to be cancelled the challenges of the Summer Term of remote history learning was met with vigour, determination and enthusiasm by the children.

The topics continued within the Senior School with live lessons across the year groups. Year 3 children learnt all about the Romans in Italy and their arrival in Britain. They explored and evaluated written evidence and discovered the importance of the archaeological site Pompeii. Year 4 children concluded their study on the Ancient Greeks to study local history focusing on Gayhurst and Gerrards Cross, alongside their own family history. Some even interviewed their grandparents. As soon as the Year 6 children were allowed to return to school, they still continued to prove their resilience in adapting to history lessons within their “bubbles” exploring the Battle of Britain. This saw some history lessons taking place outside the classroom including the testing of spitfire planes.

I am really proud and pleased with the way the children have adapted and continued their enthusiasm for their history lessons and the amazing standard of work produced from all the children across the years.

Gayhurst School

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RS Review

By Miss Melissa Legg

This academic year has certainly provided us with some challenges but I have been so proud and pleased with the children and staff for taking the huge leap into technology to produce some really fantastic pieces of work remotely.

I am thrilled to say that the RS department has managed to maintain a highly visible presence on the school’s social media too.

Whilst in school, Year 3 were busy creating dramas based on the story of the Little Red Hen and the Old Testament stories of David. They worked collaboratively to create some thought-provoking mind maps about children living in Afghanistan and have also shared their own artefacts and personal experiences when we were learning about Harvest and Chinese New Year.

From home, the work continued, and they produced some fantastic diary entries written as a character from the well known New Testament stories based on the Miracles of Jesus.

In the latter stages of the year they were able to complete their own information booklet about Buddhism.

The Year 4 children enjoyed learning about lots of different festivals. Several children make Sukkahs at home whilst we were learning about the Jewish festival of Sukkot We made colourful Divas in class during our study of Diwali and some children shared their own experiences of celebrating this festival.

We listened to The Creation Story and the children created a story board to demonstrate their understanding and the children learnt about other stories from The Old Testament including Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel and they enjoyed re-enacting the story of Jacob and Esau.

Year 5 were the only year group who were fortunate enough to be able to go on the planned trips and visits this year prior to the enforced lockdown and really enjoyed attending the Neasden Temple as part of their studies on the topic of Hinduism.

They continued to work hard from home on this study area and produced some great research work on the Hindu gods and goddesses, some creative Henna design patterns, as well as learning new note taking skills through a variety of formats, whilst we also enjoyed lots of collaborative work when still on site and creative challenges such as designing a successful Moses’ basket.

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Year 6 began the year by studying one of the Old Testament key figures, Abraham. This is perfectly timed with them taking on positions of leadership themselves and many interesting discussions were held in relation to roles and responsibilities too! We moved on to developing our understanding of ‘Faith’ and looked at aspects of the key 6 World Religions. This culminated in the children producing their own independent study projects about a religion of their choice – some really excellent and personal journals.

The children have really enjoyed being able to share their own artefacts with their peers, ‘LIVE and DIRECT’ from their homes!

Although we have had to cancel events, trips or visitors and it has been a sea-change, all of the year groups grasped the remote learning opportunities with both hands and it has allowed us to be more creative in our expression and exploration of our subject.

And we have been able to allow the children to continue to lead some sessions, as we would normally, encouraging and promoting the values that we, as a school community, continue to hold very dear to our hearts. #ELDRIC #communitytogether

Gayhurst School

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Maths Review

By Mr Grant Whitaker

During the Autumn term the pupils in Year 5 and 6 took part in the annual Mathematics Challenge organised by the Mathematical Association. The paper consisted of 20 multiple choice questions and 5 tricky and challenging questions at the end. Four pupils, Raghav S, Kabir K, Georgina and Zemar A qualified for the Bonus round.

Raghav and Kabir achieved Silver awards and Georgina a Bronze award.

STEAM week once again provided an opportunity for more mathematical fun and games. Year 3 – 6 searched the grounds of the school looking for clues using QR codes.

A quick scan with the iPad revealed a question which the pupils then had to solve. This was a lot of fun .

Four pupils travelled to Oxford to take part in the Oxfordshire Schools Mathematical Challenge. Over 100 pupils took part and Raghav S and Kabir ran out the winners. An incredible achievement!

The Spring Term brought even more opportunities for mathematical challenge and fun. Year 4 pupils took part in the annual Mathematical Challenge held at Gayhurst. Over 25 schools took part bringing nearly 100 young mathematicians into the Gibbs Hall. The place was a buzz with frantic puzzling and the Gayhurst pairs worked hard to try and win a prize.

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Tom H and Edward L finished 3rd and won some super mathematics equipment.

During the term, pupils enjoyed great success in the Bucks County Sumdog contest. 7 classes made it into the top 10 slots and 4 pupils were in the top 10 highest scorers.

The Summer Term would have been equally busy in the Maths department but unfortunately many events had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak. However, pupils in Year 3 and 4 took the First Mathematical Challenge organised by the Mathematical Association. This year was particularly exciting as Mr Whitaker had been part of the editorial team and had written some of the questions. The Challenge was done online with William T, Tom H, Marlon R, Lee E, Jasper W and Charles L achieving full marks. There were certificates for all in a very successful event for the Gayhurst competitors.

17 pupils achieved Gold, 10 Silver and there were 2 Bronze awards.

All in all, it has been a very busy and successful year in the Mathematics department. All pupils were able to enjoy the variety of in-house activities that have been run and many pupils had the opportunity to compete and represent the school in a whole host of competitions. Well done to all those that achieved success. May next year be an even greater year!

French Review

By Mrs Susan Wilmot

After an early introduction to Spanish in Reception, the children start to learn French in Year 3. Our aims in both languages are: · to encourage enjoyment in language learning, · to develop pupil’s confidence when communicating in both French and Spanish · to inspire an appreciation of other cultures.

The interest and curiosity of the Year 3 beginners in French is stimulated through games, mime, role play, action rhymes and songs, with an emphasis on speaking and listening. The Year 3s have also started to develop their literacy skills this year and have enjoyed engaging in interactive digital activities with the characters of the spooky Château Rigolo, in all the language skill areas.

In Year 4 to Year 6, the children have continued developing their speaking and listening skills and learning to read and write more confidently. Year 5 had fun expanding their range of adjectives and describing pets and animals in the Spring Term, whilst the Year 6’s talked about French food and eating out at restaurants. Year 6 have found out about French shops and written their own shopping trip scripts.

During lockdown, the children have shown great resilience and many pupils from Year 3 through to Year 6 have demonstrated their creative flair, producing lively videos and sound recordings, some working collaboratively and all honing their language skills in the process. Their multimedia output has included demonstrations of items in their homes from Year 3, interviews with a family member or friend from Year 4, weather forecasts and reports from Year 5 and shopping role plays from Year 6.

At the end of this year, the Year 6’s have become confident learners in French, having gained some independent language learning strategies and they should feel well prepared and enthusiastic to continue their languagelearning journey in the next stage of their education at secondary school.

Gayhurst School

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Spanish Review

By Mr Alexy Soto

Spanish begins in Reception when the younger children learn simple words and phrases through songs, games and rhyme. Research has shown that the earlier children hear and have access to a foreign language, the quicker they can assimilate words as they become older and therefore are better disposed to take on a language in their higher studies.

In Upper Key Stage 2, the children in Year 5 are expected to revise and practise most of the content from Reception to Year 4 and learn new topics. They now have two lessons every week and it is a pleasure to listen to them engage in simple conversations as they are able to recognise and reproduce the vocabulary, previously learnt, with increasing confidence.

By the time the time the children are in Year 3 and Year 4 they are practising and developing their skills and a more focused approach is adopted especially on the spelling of simple words and phrases. By the end of Year 3, children carry out role plays such as basic conversation, introducing each other using the content of all or most of the topics they have learnt and they also do much more spelling practise.

In Year 6 our expectation is that the children will have further developed all four skills (writing, listening, speaking and reading) and have widened their knowledge and therefore their ability to engage in longer conversations including giving opinions and justifying their thoughts on different topics like food, drinks, places to live, places in town and the weather.

Children enjoy participating in games like beat the mouse or the teacher (Mr Soto), snap the card and catching and throwing a toy apple around the class helps keep them highly motivated during speaking and listening exercises.

Throughout Key Stage 2, all pupils enjoy games involving flash cards, use of IT and videos and singing and dancing whilst learning different topics.

Mr Soto has created his own Youtube channel called “SingAndLearnMFL� with the aim of creating songs for the children to have fun and learn Spanish.

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Music and Drama Review

By Mr David Reeves

The 2019-20 Academic Year began with me coming to terms with how hard it is to compete for pupil-time with the enormous range of opportunities offered at Gayhurst! It is a real challenge, considering the children have so many activities available to them, for staff and pupils to fit everything into the week!

Nonetheless, we had some great moments in the first half of the year, later adapted to remain creative during lockdown and finished with a bang with the Year 6 Leavers’ Production.

In the Autumn, the Senior Choir gave its first performance of the year at our Harvest Festival. Two boys, Robbie Borwick. and Frank Edwards. supported myself in playing ‘The Last Post’ on Remembrance Day. After half term, Year 4 gave a very enjoyable musical performance of Roald Dahl’s version of ‘Cinderella’ before we rushed headlong into Christmas.

St James’ Church hosted two Carol Services, starting with Year 3 & 4 in the afternoon. The children read with great confidence and clarity and while each year group had its own choir a highlight was bringing both year groups together for ‘In the bleak midwinter’ and ‘Somewhere in my memory’ both chosen by Miss Kereszturi, who conducted the choirs while I accompanied on piano.

In the evening, the Seniors performed a varied programme, again with year group choirs and several sub-groups, meaning that every child performed in at least one choir during the evening, with some performing in four. One highlight was Lotta, Angelica and Ore performing as the trio ‘Venite’ giving a mature performance of Bob Chilcott’s three-part song ‘For him all stars have shone.’ The Year 6 boys were particularly

impressive in a powerful section from A Christmas Jazz (by Kenneth Cartwright). They sang the story of arriving in Bethlehem from an anxious Joseph’s perspective, treating us to an aggressive intensity developed on the rugby field! This balanced the gentle melody and harmonies of the girls singing as Mary. The piece also included a bluesy trumpet solo from Robbie Borwick. Another instrumental feature came from Paramveer Sidhu, who played the well-known solo from ‘Take Five’ in my arrangement of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’, borrowing heavily from Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.

We also enjoyed a Year 6 band which came together for ‘One Night Only’ with every pupil playing an instrument to create a magnificent Good King Wenceslas, joining with the brilliance of Paul Carey at the Organ.

After Christmas, our Gayhurst Ensemble was formed, rehearsing every Wednesday. So popular was our new band that it brought some children (Alice Laventure & Dan Baker) - who had given up instrumental lessons - out of ‘retirement’ and they flourished as musicians in the social setting of playing together. We were making great progress and were very excited about our debut performance at the planned Easter Concert/Service. We prepared 2 pieces, one a Gayhurst Blues, and the other, the anthemic Don’t Stop Believin’ confidently hoping we’d get to play right up to the moment the event was cancelled, and the world entered ‘Lockdown’.

We did our best to continue to practise remotely using various technology including my One-Man-Band going out to member’s computers so that they could learn new music at home and still play ‘together’ but it was never quite like being in the same room.

We also managed to audition, cast, learn and rehearse for the Leavers’ Production through TEAMS and Zoom but much of the preparations had to be rearranged when we returned to school to find that the cast were by and large in different ‘bubbles’ and could not work together. Undeterred, we adapted and managed to film our work, making great use of our school grounds as settings for various scenes. The highlight was probably the very last item, which we filmed outside the pavilion, and involved every Year 6 child singing ‘When I grow up’ for the first and only time altogether. This was to become the finale to our film. There was an outpouring of euphoria and relief as we sang the line “…I will spend all day just lying in the sun…” whilst we stood in torrential rain!

Although current advice suggests there will be restrictions on performing music together for a while yet, we will continue to be creative in finding solutions to enable us to celebrate the joy of making music in our school community.

Gayhurst School

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Junior School Music Review

By Miss Petronella Kereszturi

Music in the Junior School covers a wide range of topics and a variety of musical activities. These all include developing basic music skills, learning about musical terms and improving performance skills through opportunities to perform in front of an audience.

The children in Nursery have been learning about ‘high and low’ sounds which have improved their communication, language and literacy skills. ‘Loud and quiet’ sounds that helped their physical development. ‘Beat and tempo’ which have contributed to develop their personal, social and emotional skills. ‘Structure, texture and timbre’ in music, which have helped their mathematic, creative skills and their knowledge and understanding of the world. The children have enjoyed learning about these through singing games, rhymes, stories and using instruments in class. They have had their first opportunities to perform in front of an audience first at the Harvest Festival then in their Nativity performance of ‘The Higgledy Piggledy Nativity’.

The children in Reception have been learning about reacting quickly, tuning in, ‘quiet and loud’ sounds, rhythmic patterns and playing in time to a steady beat using instruments which has been contributing to develop their rhythmic precision.

They have been listening to musical extracts to identify two different beats, tempo changes, feelings and diction.

Distinguishing the difference between ‘high and low sounds’ in the warm up activities have become a regular exercise which the children thoroughly enjoy. The children have had

several opportunities to improve their performance skills from singing songs for Harvest Festival and performing for their Nativity performance of ‘The Higgledy Piggledy Nativity’.

The children in Year 1 have been using their voices to explore a variety of sounds and duration. They have also learnt about the difference between pulse and rhythm. They really enjoy exploring and identifying ‘lower and higher’ sounds as well as using instruments and creating sounds on them by reading symbols. Timber, tempo and dynamics are also musical terms that they have been working with this year through listening to musical extracts, stories, singing games and percussion instruments. The children have been practising their performance skills for an audience at Harvest Festival then at their Nativity performance of ‘Everyone loved a baby’.

The children in Year 2 have been exploring sounds and duration in a variety of ways. They have learnt the difference between ‘pulse and rhythm’.

They enjoy identifying ‘lower and higher’ sounds through musical extracts as well as using instruments and creating sounds on them by reading symbols.

Timber, tempo and dynamics are also musical terms that they have been learning to identify through songs and playing instruments and musical extracts. The children have had performance opportunities for an audience at Harvest Festival then at the Christmas Around the World concert where they have sang songs in different languages.

Junior Choir and Recorder Club have had a great interest amongst the children in Year 2. They have been very dedicated to turn up to rehearsals each week and worked hard to learn seasonal songs.

Gayhurst School

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Cinderella – The Year 4 Musical Production

By Mrs Rachel Giles

The Year 4 Production this year was Roald Dahl’s Cinderella, Mr Reeves’ first at the school. It was a slightly alternative version of the original story, with many funny lines. The children excelled themselves in the auditions making it very difficult for Mr Reeves to cast. In the end he decided on two Cinderellas; Liberty Ives, who played the Cinderella before the ball and Milla Adams who played the transformed Cinderella after the ball. Both girls rose to the occasion admirably and Liberty bought the audience (and Mr Reeves!) to tears with her beautiful singing voice. Joshua Dillon played a very dashing Prince and the ugly sisters were played by Thomas Holohan and Samarvir Sekhon. Tom and Samar played their roles superbly and not only looked the part but also sung beautifully and acted well.

The children had many line and songs to learn which they did commendably. Some of the more memorable songs

included ‘Jam Man’ and ‘Off with her head’, which bought many chuckles from the audience. The children also had some fancy ballroom dancing steps to learn. Who can forget the wonderful ‘Midnight tango’ scene!

Mrs Crosbie (aided by some parents) created a wonderful backdrop for the play as well as many other props including: a magnificent carriage for Cinderella to be transported to the ball and a wonderful slipper for the Ballroom scene. The parents helped supply the costumes with Miss Ohl stepping in to create the final touches.

On the night, the children, in full costume and make up, were excited to finally perform to their parents. When the lights went up, all the hard work paid off and the parents thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Gayhurst School

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Gayhurst School

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Science Review

By Mrs Sally Inshaw

This academic year Mrs Inshaw has taught Years 5 and 6, Miss Robertson has taught Year 4 and Mrs Pandya has taught Year 3. Science has been a popular part of the Gayhurst@Home programme this term with many practical activities for the children to undertake and some keen gardeners emerging.

We entered four teams into the National Science Quiz this year. Team R consisted of James Rawlings, Chenna Mitchell, Monty Halkerston and Noah Kerr and Team C was made up of James Cosgrove, Alice Laventure, Dhruv Joshi and Oliver Forrest. Both these teams took part in a heat held at The Science Museum in London in January and both won places in the final which was due to be held in London in June. The final will now take place on-line at Gayhurst School on 1st October 2020. Two other teams entered a heat that took place at school. One of these teams consisted of Annabelle Potts, Georgina Tamberlin, Tanvi Savania and Alisha Kortman and the other included Rajveer Khera, Aiden Tamberlin, Tom Gray and John Brisbourne. They both gave excellent performances but didn’t quite make it into the final.

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Some other highlights included Year 5 working hard to produce some carefully researched and beautifully presented projects about ‘Space’ in the Spring Term and a visit from Professor Stephen Hawking’s daughter, Lucy. Year 6 studied diligently to gain entry to secondary schools with some excellent results. Year 3 have carried out lots of handson investigations including light and shadows, the strength of different types of magnets and the friction of a variety of surfaces. The favourite lesson in Year 4 was digestion where the children crushed and squished a variety of food to mimic the workings of the human stomach and intestines.

It has been another busy year in the Science Department.

I would like to thank all the teachers for their efforts in making the subject interesting, enjoyable and practical.

Well done to all the students who are developing resilience, independence and confidence through Science.

Gayhurst School

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Sports Review

By Mr Simon Kearns

Once again children got the opportunity to experience a wide range of activities in all sports and through the seasons excelled and enjoyed their sport with some outstanding results all round. We had a number of successes across the board with children being rewarded for their achievements each term. This was done in final assembly with the ‘most improved player’ and ‘most valuable player’ being awarded to boys and girls in each team. In Year 6 children were awarded ‘half colours’ and ‘full colours’ for their efforts in sport. These children did not only excel at Gayhurst, but achieved outside of school at clubs and at county level. I would like to make a special mention to our Year 6 children who attained full colours across all terms. They were Ollie Killbourn,

Let us have a look at some of our achievements throughout the year: • Children enjoyed playing sport in all years including mixed(co- ed) sport • We hosted our first rugby/ netball camps with Saracens and the Mavericks in a partnership scheme.

• All the tournaments we hosted supported our charity work for the school’s chosen charity which was the ‘Helen Douglas House.’

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Joshua Fienberg and Zac Peters who was awarded a sports scholarship to Claire’s Court. I would also like to thank the sports captains: Karam Bal, Oliver Killbourn, Zac Peters, Ore Oduleye, Hector Lamb and Rebecca Jukes for assisting the games staff in their leadership roles.

We continued to award laces to children at post match teas for ‘sporting principles’ displayed that afternoon such as sportsmanship, team work, dedication, discipline and effort. Children really appreciated this and it was great way to socialize with the opposition and parents after matches.

Children and parents enjoyed the fantastic food laid on by our kitchen staff, especially the sausage rolls and I would like to say a massive thank you to them for their efforts.

THE AUTUMN TERM • Gayhurst hosted the first Interschools Cross Country event of the year with the highlight of the day being the ‘Junior Dash’ which was for children in Year 1 and 2.

• We hosted the Under 11 IAPS rugby competition again this year • Once again we hosted the ‘Percy Watts’ under 8 tag rugby festival with boys and girls taking part in this fun filled occasion.

• The under 11 girls pulled off their best performance at the IAPS Hockey competition.

THE SPRING TERM • The Year 6 boys had their best result so far at the IAPS hockey festival going through to the semi-finals of the regional competition and just missing out on qualifying for the National Finals • Year 3/4 and 5/6 mixed basketball teams won their regional competitions in the School Games and qualified for the School Games Finals in Milton Keynes.

• The Interhouse-cross country competition for Years 3 -6 was a close affair with Taylor winning the competition by 1 point.

Gayhurst School

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We had so much to look forward to at the end of the Spring Term but unfortunately this was all brought to a halt due to Covid and lockdown.

We missed out on all the football/netball tournaments including our own Under 8 football festival, Under 9 netball tournament, the final cross country events of the season, the end of term football and netball fixtures and swimming galas too. The IAPS ski competition was cancelled which was extremely disappointing as we had 3 mixed teams of really good skiers kitted out and raring to take part in the competition.

We lost all our cricket fixtures and were so looking forward to the Summer Term with boys and girls playing in the same teams.

Although we did not manage to play ‘proper’ sport in the Summer Term the children embraced the online teaching with great aplomb and got the opportunity to work on different types of fitness. They took part in gym/circuit training, yoga, speed and agility drills, and cricket and tennis based skills. They took on the mile challenge each week and went for cycles, walks and runs in the near perfect weather which was great to see. It so good to see children out cycling and I would often bump into them on my own cycle routes.

The half-term 26mile challenge was won by Campbell with some outstanding performances by so many children.

The children battled it out in the Virtual Sports Day and Year 6 were fortunate enough to have a ‘live’ Sports Day as part of their leavers programme. The Year 6 children were also able to compete in the School Tennis Cup. Congratulations to the following winners: Joshua Fienberg (the Boys Cup), Sacha Kerrigan and Mattheo Civettini Zera (the Plate) and Georgina Tamberlin (the Girls Cup).

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I would finally like to say a massive thank you to all the children in the school for their efforts throughout the year and wish the leavers all the best with their sport as they move on to their new schools. Thank you to parents for all your support at matches, with their club sport and the support you gave the children with lessons during the lockdown period. Thank you to our groundsman, Mr Mills and the caterers for your efforts this year.

Thank you to our super Games Staff team. I know you enthuse the children with your energy and commitment to sport and none of this would be possible without your input.

I look forward to seeing you all on the sports field next year.

Year 6 Girls Sport Review

By Mrs Katie Hall

The girls started off the school year with their Hockey season, which started off challenging at first but with a lot of determination and resilience in training sessions and learning from their first lot of fixtures, the girls showed great progression in their Hockey skills and their confidence grew throughout the term, resulting in some brilliant successful outcomes. Their main achievement was competing in the IAPS Hockey and doing so well within the competition. The girls love their Hockey and it was great to see so much development and passion within their play.

Karam Bal took on the role of Sports Captain during this term and helped to prepare the girls for their training and matches by putting together the correct equipment and team talks throughout the season. Karam also gained half colours for Hockey, alongside Georgina Tamberlin and Rebecca Jukes, with Alienor Perrin-Cocon and Oreoluwa Oduleye accomplishing full colours. Lotta Ross and Anika Johal both received the most improved player awards for their individual progressions throughout the Hockey season.

The girls had a tough start to the Netball season during the Spring Term but showed great progression in their passing and throwing accuracy. This resulted in closer matches, particularly for the B team and winning the majority of their matches towards the end of the term.

Oreoluwa Oduleye took on the role as Sports Captain for this term and also won player of season and full colours for Netball, an excellent role model to her team. Alienor PerrinCocon also received full colours, with Karam Bal gaining half colours and Anika Johal recognised for most improved player of the season.

Some of the girls have also represented the school in other sporting activities. Karam Bal, Rebecca Jukes and Alienor Perrin-Cocon played in the Basketball competition at the South Bucks school games. Alienor also gained half colours for Basketball.

Georgina Tamberlin has always been a keen skier, taking part in Ski club and numerous competitions and it was great to see she was able to achieve the skiing endeavour cup award.

Overall the girls have all shown enthusiasm and progression in their sporting ability and all attained personal achievements whether it be in their confidence and resilience or within a particular skill. I wish them all the best in their next adventures.

Gayhurst School

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Year 6 Leavers and Sport at Gayhurst

By Miss Sarah-Jane Robertson

We were so fortunate to have such a talented and fun group of children in this Year 6 group. They had the opportunity to experience a wide range of activities in all sports and throughout the seasons excelled and enjoyed their sport with some outstanding results all round. Not only did they produce some excellent results but they all developed and matured in their sporting ability and approached every session with the utmost enthusiasm, which was a joy to see. The enjoyment and dedicated approach of these children not only helped themselves to develop as sportsmen and sportswomen, but they enthused the games staff who I know looked forward to every session with this group. The key to their success was having fun in all activities.

We had a number of successes across the board with children being rewarded for their achievements each term.

This was done in final assembly with the ‘most improved player’ and ‘most valuable player’ being awarded to boys and girls in each team. In Year 6 children were awarded ‘half colours’ and ‘full colours’ for their efforts in sport. These children did not only excel at Gayhurst, but achieved outside of school at clubs and at county level. I would like to make a special mention to children who attained full colours across all terms. They were Ollie Killbourn, Joshua Fienberg and Zac Peters who was awarded a sports scholarship to Claire’s Court. I would also like to thank the sports captains: Karam Bal, Oliver Killbourn, Zac Peters, Ore Oduleye, Hector Lamb and Rebecca Jukes for assisting the games staff in their leadership roles.

I would like to thank Year 6 for the effort they have put in to all the sport at Gayhurst School and the fantastic memories

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they have given us. Remember: the match teas, the Sports Tour to Jersey, the IAPS girl’s hockey festival, the boys winning the Bucks Cross Country Champs at Stowe, the IAPS basketball plate final, the IAPs ski competition, the Gayhurst Tennis Cup, the IAPS rugby festival, the Gayhurst under 8 tag rugby festival, the football tournaments, the Gayhurst netball tournament, swimming galas, games sessions up on Pease Field and last but not least the fiercely contested Interhouse Competitions.

I would also like to thank the parents from this year group, for your support with your children and the school. The children embraced your support especially on the touchlines and this has aided their development and confidence too.

I hope you all continue to enjoy your sport and maintain your drive and commitment in all that you do. We will truly miss you and wish you all the best as you move on to your next schools.

Gayhurst School

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Jersey Sports Tour

By Mr Simon Kearns

During the October Half Term our Year 5 and 6 boys and girls embarked on a Sports Tour to the Island of Jersey.

With 41 children travelling and the Rugby World Cup in full swing, everyone involved was excited about this new venture.

The boys and girls took part in rugby, netball, mixed football and mixed hockey matches against local clubs.

The first round of fixtures involved the boys playing matches against Jersey Rugby Club in a triangular competition that also involved Warwick School. Our Under 11 boys won all of their matches with the Under 10 team winning one match and losing one. The girls were up against some really tough opposition in Jersey Netball Club and lost quite heavily but enjoyed playing in a such a fantastic facility. After a delicious match tea, our boys and girls met up for their next round of fixtures.

The mixed hockey matches against Jersey Hockey Club were closely fought with both sides winning matches in a round-robin format. The children warmed to Signor Soto’s hockey expertise and support from the touchline and played some outstanding hockey that day in perfect conditions.

The final day of fixtures involved mixed football matches against Jersey Football Club in their new stadium which was a fantastic experience for our Under 10 players. Similar to the hockey fixtures, matches were won by both teams with some excellent goals being scored by both teams.

Our Under 11’s had to wait for their match which was being played under floodlights against St. Lawrence FC and it was well worth the wait with our side winning 3-0. Zac Peters (Sports Captain) scored a hattrick. What a finale to the tour!

On top of the fantastic sporting competitions, our children visited the Jersey Zoo and the War Tunnels which was very interesting. They had fun at Splash World and enjoyed the food and comforts of our lovely hotel.

Thank you to the parents who followed and supported the children on tour and to Mr Harris, Mr Soto, Ms Robertson for their input and efforts. A massive thank you to Mrs Hall for organising such a great trip which was perfect in all aspects. I am sure all the boys and girls will take some fond memories away with them and hopefully, fingers crossed, we get to do this tour again soon.

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Gayhurst School

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PSHCE Review

By Mrs Ruth Lingley Lorenzo

This year has been an interesting and thought provoking year in PSHCE. In Junior School, they have been focusing on learning to follow the Golden Rules at school and British Values. Nursery and Reception have recognised their own feelings and those of others with ‘Mood Monsters’ displayed in their classrooms.

They have also been learning to share and play kindly with their friends. Year 1 and 2 continue to develop these skills throughout the year.

KS1 have focused on looking after the environment, individuality and how to keep themselves healthy which has been a very important topic to cover.

This term in Year 3, the children have designed and made a healthy sandwich at home - good practice for helping at home when they are older.

Year 4 learnt about Health and Safety both inside and outside which has been invaluable during the period of lockdown.

Year 5 designed and costed healthy street food.

Year 6 learnt all about democracy and the political processes, invaluable information during the 2019 General election.

PSHCE and understanding British Values impacts every aspect of our lives and work both inside and outside of school and is taught in an explicit and implicit way.

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Staff News

By Mrs Maria Kay Grant Whitaker and Jo Martin sign the Leavers Wall

Some lovely baby news here at Gayhurst! Mrs Smith had a beautiful baby girl, a sister for Matthew called Chloe.

With her hands now rather full, Mrs Smith has decided to spend more time with her family and will not return after maternity leave.

Mrs Bremner and Mrs Hall are both expecting their second babies and so will go on maternity leave later in the year.

We say goodbye to our Gap Year student Lily who has been a great addition to the Gayhurst team this year. Lily studied Fashion and Design at university, and after having spent time here, has decided to do her PGCE at Roehampton with a view to teaching Art and Design in secondary school. We wish her all the best.

We would like to wish Mrs Martin all the best too as she heads off to Suffolk. She initially came to Gayhurst for one year, loved it so much she stayed for three! Thank you for getting our Year 2 children ready for the transition to ‘Senior School’ Mrs Martin!

After 18 very fulfilling years Mr Whitaker is leaving Gayhurst. He started back in 2002 initially teaching Maths to Year 5-8 and in December 2009 became Director of Studies and the following month took on the role of an ISI Team Inspector. Mr Whitaker has thoroughly enjoyed running the Bikeability scheme and numerous trips including Skern Lodge annually as well as visits to Bilbao and the Basque country. Although he is hanging up his teaching boots he will continue to work part-time as a Mathematics Consultant in the commercial education sector, he needs to leave plenty of time to train for the Madrid marathon and a cycling trip to Spain. Good luck Mr Whitaker!

And finally, a very fond farewell to Mrs Terrar who has been with us since 1994. Mrs Terrar started the very first Reception class at Gayhurst and became Head of Junior School in 1998. She has touched the lives of thousands of children over the years and has seen many changes throughout her time here. Mrs Terrar is looking forward to having the time to improve her Bridge game and to play golf. She is also going to enjoy spending more time with her family, particularly with her twin granddaughters Beatrix and Elsie May.

Joan Terrar in front of the Leavers Wall

Julia Smith

Katie Hall

Saying goodbye to Jo Martin

Saying goodbye to Joan Terrar

Saying goodbye to Grant Whitaker

Pippa Bremner

Saying goodbye to Lilly Ohl Gayhurst School

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Leavers Alex Creighton

It’s a shame that we couldn’t go on the trip to Bilbao, Spain as I was really looking forward to going.

During lockdown I’ve thought about how much I love school and I am really fortunate that I was able to come back to school and see my friends again before the end of term. Unfortunately the end of the Spring term and the first half of the summer term was spent in lockdown.

We had to do schooling at home and have live meetings with the teachers I have enjoyed the new experience of remote learning at home.

Alice Laventure My Lockdown The year has passed by quickly, But not at all a bore, It has been extremely prickly, With ups and downs for sure!

With Covid-19s arrival, It has caused a pandemonium, And people clamouring for survival, Reaching for the podium.

The symptoms of Corona, Will make you feel nauseous, You’ll get a high temperature, And there will be chaos.

But symptoms don’t always show, Your illness may be hidden.

You might not even know, Which isn’t great, so listen!

Listen to people you trust, Stick to the rules and regulations, Even if it all turns to dust.

Every single creation.

It has been strange, We must keep our distance.

But of course, we stay in range,

Alienor Perrin-Cocon When I heard that the schools were closing, I had two opinions. I was happy because we hadn’t had a break from school for a while and was sad because I knew that I wouldn’t see my friends for a while. Over time I got used to the home-schooling routine with the online lessons and work. I knew that it would be very different from school, but I would still learn. It started getting harder after a few weeks being away from friends, but

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I don’t want to leave Gayhurst (this was my favourite school.) I joined Gayhurst at the start of the spring term in Year three. I have made a lot of friends since then and am really lucky to have them.

I will be moving back to the USA in July and I will remember my time at Gayhurst school for ever. My favourite moment at Gayhurst was Surfing at Skern Lodge in year 5. My favourite teachers are Mr Brown Mrs Inshaw, Mr Reeves and Mrs Veldtman. Despite lockdown, I have really enjoyed my time at Gayhurst - not that I didn’t like lockdown, I just wanted to be in school rather than at home.

Keep at it with persistence, and resistance.

Lockdown has been crazy, A rollercoaster, Maybe, just maybe, We’ll get out of it soon.

I joined Gayhurst in Year 4 after coming to England from Singapore, and it has been amazing. We’ve been on all sorts of trips and enjoyed every moment of it, and one of my favourite trips was when we went to Prague and Chessington World of Adventures, I also thought that Skern Lodge was incredible.

I enjoyed STEAM week, in which we do Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths. I’ve made friends with all sorts of different people and joined different clubs, and when I think back on it, we had so much fun!

In Year 4, I was in 4H with Mr Harris and Mrs Williams. They were great teachers! In Year 5, I was in 5C with Miss Carr and Mrs Hall, they were also lots of fun! Year 6, I had Mrs Cook and Mrs Inshaw, again wonderful teachers. All the teachers are! Although of course in the last half term of Year 6 , after the home-schooling, we had bubbles. All the girls in our year were in a bubble together.

Gayhurst has been wonderful and I’m very lucky to have been able to come here! Moving on will be different, but we’re all going to try it. It has been incredible! Thank you Gayhurst!

I started Face Timing them more often. During my time away from them I realised how much my friends meant to me. I went in the pool at home with my sister and we had a great time. If we weren’t in lockdown, we would be having the time of our lives right now in Bilbao, but now we’ll be stuck at school for another five weeks. I can’t believe that after the Christmas holidays our main worry was the summer production! Wondering who we would be in the play and thinking how many lines we would have! Nobody would have imagined this would happen on our last year of Gayhurst but we coped with it well and it feels great to be back at school. Seeing my friends makes a big difference in my life. I started at Gayhurst in Year two. I quickly made friends and really enjoyed sports. I discovered hockey here and now I love playing in matches and training.

Andreas Georghiou Lockdown at first was very hard to digest just thinking about not coming close, let alone even seeing other people outside of home. I remember during the first few days it was ok, because you could still meet people at parks. Gradually the Government restricted more ways of people seeing each other until you had to stay and isolate at home.

Joining Gayhurst can never be a regret. All because of the zest during my time at Gayhurst. I came to GX’s hall of fame in Year 3, hearing it from my loyal friend James Rawlings. I have a vague memory of my first day because it started on the old astro. I remember watching the 3R boys playing together, from then on everyone collaborated at play times and during Games and P.E. My first teacher was Mrs Seddon. I remember her for her welcome into the classroom she gave everyone. When she left to go to Saint John’s Norwood, she still remembered and welcomed her class at matches. My next Year 3 teacher was Mr Sutherland who made me realise that all my classmates had open arms to welcome someone new into the 3D family.

Year 4 was my most valued year because of Miss Legg, who by far has taught me the most life lessons to use in the future. For example, treat people how you would like to be treated because me and Tom didn’t go through our best year as friends. But after Miss Legg

Angelica Abdenbi-Santiapillai

taught me and Zemar a lesson I was never going treat anyone like that again. Another highlight of my most valued year was when Miss Legg read us a story during form time. I loved it and I think everyone else cherished it as well. Year 4 was also the year I started adoring football, as well as making it into the B team. School trips took to the next level this year when we travelled to Legoland and Bushcraft.

My teachers in Year 5, were Mrs. Lingley and Mr. Pendered.

Something that shocked me was changing classes and switching round Year Groups. Being separated from the people I started Gayhurst with and wanted to finish it with. It was unexpected but I knew it was a beneficial change because it will help everyone to explore other friendships by collaborating with each other.

When Dara joined, I remember him looking at everyone with such a grimaced look on his face. But after a few weeks, Dara started to make everyone laugh so much, changed his label to funny, and became more open to talk to.

Year 6, we got the Best teacher (Mr Brown), best trips (except for Bilbao) and a good table. In my first term in Year 6, we had the 11+.

Extremely challenging, but I knew it would help me in the future.

I was disappointed that I didn’t pass but my determination helped me to pass the Berkhamsted exams. Preparing for the summer production was important but at the time I felt that I would have a lot of time to learn my lines. But after lockdown, 5 months later, I am nervous about if this last memory of Gayhurst will go ahead. Now I’m trying to enjoy my last days and to not get on anyone’s nerves.

These memories will take a place in my heart for as long live. Thank you Gayhurst.

Everyone takes part Teachers to Girls and Boys, But apart from that I’m quite sad,

Lockdown ruined everything silly COVID19 thing

Because I don’t want my last week to be bad,

If lockdown never happened, we would be in Bilbo!

Who knows if we will even survive,

Our last few days at primary school arrive, As I know that soon I will have to say goodbye,

But we are stuck at plain old school for now,

I must admit I’m the clingy type,

Although over the years we’ve had some fun,

As we walk our last lap of the field,

I would much rather be lounging in the sun,

The Gayhurst bond acts like some shield,

So maybe I’m being a bit over dramatic,

1, 2, 3, 4 I hold my breath as I step through the blue doors,

Like Skern Lodge was fantastic!

I’m in the car sobbing to my mum,

I remember singing to the giraffes,

If only we could have had a leavers program or something fun,

In a country far away called Prague,

She hugs me and says no, no my dear,

Although our plane was quite delayed,

Stop wasting your precious tears,

It was so much fun eating sweets our teeth were decayed

For sure you’ve had so much fun,

I remember the musician of the year,

Watching you smile as you go to school everyday Hun,

My favourite contest from all my Gayhurst years

I think about all those funny times,

Although I may have never won,

Bloopers of life with my friends and I,

I must admit it was sooo much fun!

And soon I say who needs a leavers program anyway!

The Christmas talent show always brings us joy,

I know that I will come back to Gayhurst someday.

Anika Johal Lockdown has been a weird experience that I will never forget. There were some good bits like taking short walks with trees leaning over me and the breeze rushing through the air like a strike of lighting or relaxing and wasting time too.

Also seeing my friends on the screens, I am not saying that it’s a bad thing seeing them in real life but at least I got to see them.

wanted to see my friends It felt like ages; months that I have not seen them and my brother started to get annoying. By the first week I had already done everything I could have thought of doing in lockdown.

When I heard that I could go back to school I was over the moon with joy. Then the day came I was going back to school.

Gayhurst has been the best years of my life. I have met some great people with different personalities, but all kind-hearted. Everyone has their own ideas and it was an experience we had together.

Gayhurst has given me the courage that I need to go to secondary school, I will never forget Gayhurst school.

I also had some bad bits like a really Gayhurst School

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Annabelle Potts I have been at Gayhurst since Year 3.

Year 6 has been a strange year because of Covid-19 and I have missed not being able to go to school. However, as lock-down has continued, I have also realised that there are many positive things. Spending time with my family and doing homeschool which has been really fun and rewarding, means I still get interaction with my class-friends every day.

I remember my induction day at Gayhurst very vividly. I was playing ring-a-ring o’roses and I thought the girls here were lovely. I am friends with everyone in year 6 but my closest friends are Angelica, Rebecca, Karam, Lotta, Alienor and Anika. All our

Chenna Mitchell My experience of school during lockdown was very different from how I understood school to work. The first week before the Easter holidays, Microsoft Teams wasn’t working then so it was done completely remotely. Then we had the Easter holidays and got told to go onto Microsoft Teams. Most of Set 1 English made it to the first ever live English Lesson. Mrs Williams explained to us how to use Teams. The first halfterm of the summer was a bit difficult and confusing but gradually, we got better at joining meetings, handing work in, being able to complete the work and it started to become less complicated.

We then got told that we could go back to school. I decided that, as much as I desperately wanted to go back and see everyone, talk to the teachers and be at school, it would be safer to stay at home. We continued mostly, as what was now, normal. The only difference was that most of Year 6 were doing it at school, while a few stayed at home.

Daniel Baker

Although Year 6 hasn’t been what we expected, the beginning of the year was busy and exciting. We all had our senior-school exams and I was really happy to get all of them. I was really proud when I received a Scholarship to Queen Anne’s which is where I will be going in September.

The biggest lesson I have learned this year, is that it is important not to be afraid when things change, and to enjoy the positive things we often take for granted. I will have many happy memories of my time at Gayhurst and will miss it very much.

I joined the school in Year 5, in my opinion, the hardest year to join in. Despite the fact that everyone was getting increasingly more worried and stressed, with more homework and the 11+ to worry about, I made some great friends and settled in well.

After my first half-term at Gayhurst, I started tutoring for the 11+ too. I had never had to cope with so much stress, but my lovely friends were very supportive and sympathetic and the teachers were very understanding. One of my friends, Alice, had joined the year before and knew almost exactly how I felt. During the ‘Hockey day’ before term time, I got to know her and we became best friends. Another of my friends, Georgina, who is Head Girl now, was the person who showed me around the school on my Induction Day. We became great friends when term started. When I had my first form time, I found that Alice and Georgina had saved me a space, when I sat down, they introduced me to Xenia, who, like Alice, Georgina and I, was also a bookworm! Anika was a great friend too. She isn’t very talkative but she is a great listener. In Year 5, we went to Skern Lodge for a week. It was so fun and I’m really happy that we got to spend a week with our friends there.

Even though I had known everyone for a year, I found out some interesting things about all my friends and I’ll really miss everyone when I leave Gayhurst.

while he felt homesick, this somehow inspired me as for some time I felt it through my second year at Gayhurst.

Lockdown. This has been a hard time and yet it has allowed reflection on us as human beings, therefore giving us a better understanding of our world around us. It has been hard at times because of not seeing your family, like grandparents, but again it has also led to some self-improving and somewhat philosophical times. My overall rating was ‘not too bad’ but would not do it again.

When I joined in Year 2, I was placed into 2G, this was a class only of boys. One of my main memories of that year was I sat on the same table to Sebastian. It was not unusual but it has just stuck in my brain. My best friend was Marcus since we met before school at a camp. In Year 3 Mr Blackwood became my teacher but after a

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teachers are amazing, especially Mrs Robertson and Mrs Inshaw.

Mrs Robertson is so enthusiastic and supportive, and Mrs Inshaw makes all her Science lessons so interesting and she is really kind. My favourite subjects are Games, Maths and Science. We have had many amazing school trips but my favourite trips were; Prague, Legoland and Bushcraft.

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There have been many valuable life lessons yet simple ones, I will take many on to secondary school. These examples are kindness, a huge part of human nature, this will be a main lesson that I will take onto Chesham Grammar School as I gaze toward secondary school.

My favourite school trip was a combined two; Jersey sports tour was grand! As was Skern lodge! I can remember it like it was yesterday, we went surfing and I was ‘acceptable’ at it. That was a highlight of that trip. The highlight of the Jersey tour was well, I do not know! It was so exciting!

Finally, my favourite subjects, IT, English, Computing, Games, History - almost every subject!

My time at Gayhurst has been very VERY fun.

Dara Lall

We started walking everywhere, every day.

On 23rd March 2020, the worst news ever, our life as we knew it had ended. A virus called covid 19, (believe it or not, there are more covid’s so that’s why they numbered them).

The prime minister said that we must not leave our house, there was no school. We all stayed indoors.

Daily we watched the news, and they showed doctors and nurses fighting with protective uniforms. The number of people dying every day was astronomical and everyone around us was really upset.

I couldn’t see my friends, go to school or see my family. First, it felt strange as my Mum and Dad said that they probably needed to buy lots of food. Everyone was panic buying and supermarkets ran out of food.

We soon got into a routine and started online schooling. This, meant that I saw my friends and teachers. Slowly, we started going out for walks and playing football in the park. Whenever we went to a supermarket, we had to wear face masks and always wash our hands.

We all talked about how quiet the roads were as there were no cars.

The sky was the bluest ever and the air felt different. There were no aeroplanes in the sky and no smog in the air. The pollution levels went down.

Ewan Otten Learning in lockdown was very nice to start with. I did some housework with my Dad and did a bit of schoolwork. Then full lessons came in. I hated this. Usually we got on very well, but we always ended up shouting at each other in maths. It didn’t help my mum as two thirds of the time she was on calls.

We got over this after week 2, but I still look back on some of those fights. Going back to school has really helped and now I’m spending much more time with my friends. I’m glad to be back at school.

Frankie Young Life during lockdown has been very strange, I’ve been missing a lot of things during it such as going out to London, meeting my family and lots more. I’m barely allowed to go outside my house which is annoying and I also broke my arm so now I can barely even do exercise! But we are now allowed to meet people in a private area with a distance of two metres so I can say hi to my family.

I had a Lockdown birthday this year, my 11th. My parents tried their best to make it nice. I had balloons and our neighbour made a nice cake, but it wasn’t the same without seeing my friends. My mum then had this idea of asking some of my friends to drive by our house and for them to see me two metres away. It was good to see them, and it made me really happy. It turns out you don’t really need a mountain of presents or things, all you really want is to see your friends and family.

When I first went to Gayhurst, I was really unsure, I didn’t know how things worked around there. I didn’t know anyone - well, I did have a small playdate with Dubs, James Rawlings and Zemar but we only played football, and did some other fun activities. I went around the tour at Gayhurst, Robbie Borwick (one of my best friends now) was extremely polite and took me around. I began to ease up and relax. At the end of the day, I felt that it was so much better than my old school, and I definitely wanted to go there in Year 5.

On my first actual day, I felt tense again, but once again, everybody in my chosen class was so nice and polite! I was amazed. Everyone was so respectful of each other. Everyone opened to me and let them play with me, football, tag, hide and seek, and loads more!

By the time I had completed the first term I was literally friends with everyone, and really popular.

Looking back my time at Gayhurst seems to have gone by so fast. I joined in Year 4. I found it hard to get my head around all the work, but I got used to it. Year 5 was the most stressful with the 11+ making its way to me and all the tutoring was annoying. Especially when I had to do it on weekends. I have a nice memory of being on the science team and competing in the national finals. We didn’t win, but it was an honour to be there. I don’t have such a good memory of the Year 5 residential trip to Skern Lodge. I was sick on the bus and the weather was very bad on the day when we did the climbing walls. The final day was the worst. I got a swollen eye and I felt nauseous. We got back at 4:00 pm. It wasn’t very nice.

After the 11+ it was worth it. We went to Chessington World of Adventures and had a great time. It was my favourite school trip. I passed and I’m going to The Royal Grammar School. Gayhurst has been great and I don’t want to leave.

I started Gayhurst in Year 3 and my teacher was Mr Stevenson. He still remains my favourite teacher today. I was in Campbell house and was extremely proud of it. In Year 6 I became Head Musician and School Council and some of the privileges we got were really cool! In Year 4 I started playing guitar and have been playing since.

When the coronavirus came in Year 6 many of our trips were cancelled like going to Bilbao in Spain. The Year 6 leavers programme was cancelled as well which is extremely annoying because we would’ve got to have gone on loads of trips.

I will miss Gayhurst a lot and when I leave I am going to John Hampden and will hopefully enjoy it there!

It effects school a lot because we had to work at home but now we’re back. We still have to keep a safe distance of two metres but that’s alright.

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Georgina Tamberlin

Joining the school in Reception was scary, Then I made quite a few friends,

I love Gayhurst and even the teachers,

Joined in the games,

I have made so many friends,

And nothing was scary.

Played so many games, And learned an awful lot.

Now I am Head Girl, Reception seems so far away,

My favourite part was going to Prague,

I am the person people look up to,

Singing in amazing venues,

And I do not look up.

Going on a river cruise, And eating amazing breakfasts

I am so sad to be leaving, I do not want to go,

I think the virus has been weird,

I know that I will come,

So many changes,

Back to this school,

No touching, I am happy to be back in school.

Gregor Clark

of the people in that form had made a sign saying ‘Welcome’, and it made me feel a lot better.

When lockdown started on the Saturday before the end of term, I had already been self-isolating for a week, so I was already familiar with staying at home.

When I joined, Josh F and Tom W were my buddies and they were brilliant at helping me to settle in. Josh F and I have been in the same form since Year 4. In Year 5, it was my turn to be a buddy. I was Tom C’s buddy. I have lots of other friends now.

In lockdown I missed my friends, but a plus of everybody being at home was that I got more time with my family. I’m really, really happy that we are back at school, even if it’s a bit different.

My favourite school trip was the residential trip to Skern Lodge because it was SO fun. I didn’t think that I would be able to do the abseiling, but my friends helped me get through my fear of heights, and I felt awesome afterwards.

Another thing I enjoyed, was running up and down my stairs for 45 minutes for P.E. I also enjoyed the 30-day Lego challenge in which I had to make a Lego model every day.

I joined Gayhurst in Year 4. I didn’t want to change schools, but now, I am really happy that I did. I will remember being extremely scared on the first day of school but when I went in to my new classroom, all

Hady Chaban I had woken up to the sound of people clapping from their doors. I jumped out of bed and sprinted to my parents. ‘What was going on?’ I yelled. My parents had told me they were clapping for the NHS. What does that mean? My mum said it is a national health service who helps people, but why are they clapping and waking me up?!!! Because they are trying to defeat this deadly virus. “You should be a doctor when you grow up it would be lovely to see you helping people in need’’. My mum kept on bragging that I should be a doctor but in reality I am not good with blood and injuries, in fact I am good at cooking and fixing things. I got a lot of time with my friends on video games it was our way of communicating with each other. Actually, in my opinion lockdown was not that bad. There was so much homework it could even fill the tower of Pisa. Most of the time I had to do homework, I could be having fun. But in the end I managed it all thanks to my brother. My brother was like a teacher

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Back to this place like home.

The Stormont Yearbook 2019-20

My favourite subject is Science. I will miss every aspect of life at Gayhurst, and I want to thank all my teachers including my LAMDA teacher, Mrs Moon, for helping me all the way. They’ve helped me become who I am now. I will be sad to leave Gayhurst, but I’m also excited to start at my new school.

he taught many things through lockdown. He taught me how to play video games such as FIFA and rocket league and he taught me how to do a rainbow flick in football.

Coming back to school Coming back to school was very strange but good in a way because I got see my friends after 3 months in lockdown. Doing lessons at school again was boring but I had to do it. My favourite lesson was maths and games because they are both fun, and interesting at the same time. We had to social distance which was really weird.

I first joined Gayhurst in Year 2. It was exciting, and I could tell I was going to love it here. My first friend in this school was James Rawlings, I have learned so many things during my period at Gayhurst. My friends are Louis, Matteo, Sasha, my most memorable moment was when I went with school to Skern Lodge when I had learned how to surf.

My favourite teacher is Mr. Bushnell. I am going to miss Gayhurst when I move school, but I will always remember it. I will be moving to LVS Ascot in September.

Harry Bell My experience of lockdown was not anything really, it was just boring - no fun and games, just nothing to do mostly just bouncing around on my trampoline all day or making the most of the sun. The worst thing that ever happened to me in my life so far.

My Time at Gayhurst I joined Gayhurst in Year 5 close to Year 6.

I remember my first day, I was extremely nervous and frightened the only person who gave me confidence was my exceedingly small amount of friends at the time. Then

Harry Dent At the start of lockdown, I thought it was a miracle that we didn’t have to go to school. I managed to keep my spirits high at home for the first two weeks. After that, I started to realise how bad it was becoming. The weeks went on and my house just became quite melancholy.

It was just after the Prime Minister’s speech that we started climbing the mountain. As soon as he announced that we were allowed to meet a friends two metres away I passed a football with my friend for hours on Wednesday afternoon. He also commented on the fact that Year 6’s may be going back on 1st

Harry Lamb Lockdown’s threats haven’t all been wicked. Excitement has popped up in these dark times. The first attack, COVID’s arrows forced us into our homes.

Two long, tedious months went by, to stay occupied we had to find new things to do. No friends knocking on the door, no open parks, no food at restaurants.

It all stopped. Easter lockdown no families meeting up to celebrate. School

Hector Lamb I have been doing loads of sport in lockdown and enjoyed having no school for the first week but after that I got really bored not being allowed to see friends and worst of all having to play cricket with people that are worse than me at cricket. It was nice to wear comfy clothes but boring not seeing any friends. I had to look at friends on a screen rather than get to play cricket with them. I am also hoping that we get to play cricket with a hardball against another school but it probably won’t happen. It has been

slowly over a few months I had a few more friends but still not my goal. By the summer holidays just before Year 6 I had almost reached my goal but at that time I realised that there should not be a goal I could just have 1 friend and still be happy.

My Best School Trips In Year 5 I had one of the best school trips ever it was the trip to Skern Lodge it was very enjoyable and frightening with all the water activities, climbing ones to, all the outdoors it was a wonderful time.

Another school trip was to Jersey, it was a sport tour where we played against all the local schools in sports, there was rugby, football, and hockey. (This was my favourite school trip)

June. When Gayhurst then announced that Year 6 would be going back, I couldn’t stop smiling. We returned to school, and I’m really enjoying it!

I started Gayhurst in Year 3, 2016. The first memory I have was on my induction day, Frankie, Matteo and I were running round the Astro getting chased by a bee. We then went on to be best friends for the whole school year. In Year 5 and 6 I have got on very well with Tom Webster and Dan Baker. My favourite teacher is Mr Stevenson, because he really helped settle me into the school when I was struggling. My other favourite teachers have been Miss Carr and Mr Harris. I really enjoyed the Jersey sports tour in October earlier in Year 6 and Skern Lodge in Year 5. My favourite subjects were Maths, History and Games.

I’ll be very sorry to leave the school at the end of the summer term.

then started. Computer brains working harder than ever before.

Breaktime with friends abandoned, ambling into the classroom heaven no more, completing work from home... check.

Many excitements were shot towards us like bullets. Winning in pool and scoring goals in football. Bike rides through the heights, Lego building and exercise. Until the day of a lifetime slowly took the last step, being allowed to go back to school!! Reception, Year 1 and YEAR 6! Unfortunately, I was told to stay at home, the pain and horror of seeing almost everyone in school. But one million people didn’t go back in the UK, so I suppose I was one in a million.

fun and annoying at the same time. I don’t know what I found more fun but lockdown has been interesting.

I joined in Reception and had Mrs Whitaker as my teacher she was very nice and was a very good teacher . The set up in the Junior School was very different then mainly because Year 3 were in Junior School. In Year 2, I had Mrs Smith and me Veer and sometimes Zac Peters sat on the table we called the smart table. I was in the first Year 3 to be in Senior School. I was friends with Harry, and James I am also friends with Josh F and Sacha my favourite teachers are Mrs Whitaker, Mr Harris, Mr Whitaker, Miss Legg and Mrs Smith because they all have been very nice to me. My favourite lessons are games, maths, art, science, geography and computing.

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Ishaan Nagi I joined Gayhurst in Year 4. My friends over the years were Frankie, Harry D, Alex, Harry B and Robbie. The teachers that have inspired me are Mrs Cook and Mr Whitaker because they both are good at teaching maths and I enjoyed them teaching me. Mrs Cook because she has inspired me to get to learn more and more about computing.

are my favourite subjects. The school trips that I have enjoyed over the years were Skern lodge and Chessington because they were both fun especially Skern lodge. During lockdown it was hard to do work, but the staff at Gayhurst said we would use Teams, and everyone struggled to use it for the first week but the teachers were very good at trying to solve our problems over a video chat, but when we went in it was a lot easier to get support.

My favourite teachers are Mrs Cook, Mr Brown, Miss Legg, Mr Harris, Mr Kearns and Mr Whitaker. My favourite class that I’ve been in is 6B. I’ve loved my time at Gayhurst and will miss the school.

The lessons that I’m going to take further are maths and computing as well as they

Ivo Richardson The 16th of March 2020. The first week of home schooling. It was ok, a little hectic, but ok. It wasn’t too organised but I knew the teachers were trying their best and that it was new for everyone. Then it was the Easter holidays a time to relax. After Easter we started more school at home, but it was much easier and more organised as we even had our own timetable like we would at school. Live lessons were also very different but fun as I could see and talk to all my friends. It was definitely a big improvement.

Since I have come back into school everything has been different to what I thought it would be. Such as we didn’t have to wear facemasks and we had our own groups called bubbles. We weren’t allowed to mix bubbles, so I had to video call my friends from other bubbles. Break time and lunch time were also very different as in the lunch hall there was only two people per table.

James Cosgrove This year at Gayhurst has been very unusual with coronavirus. We have been made to complete the majority of the school year at home this has been hard because we have had to get used to working on computers and printing and then scanning work back. It has had some benefits such as we do not have to spend time travelling to school and back. I felt happy when the government announced that school were closing because of coronavirus my views were quickly changed though as home schooling began. When finally, the Prime Minister informed us that we would be returning to school, I was very happy at this announcement but when I returned things were very different. We were divided into four pods of ten. Social distancing was enforced, all the doors were propped open and we each had our own desks.

However, some children did not return as going back to school was optional.

It hasn’t just been coronavirus so now I will go over my best times at Gayhurst.

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The Stormont Yearbook 2019-20

My Gayhurst experience The year 2014 was when I joined Gayhurst I was five years old and just starting Year 1. One of the only things I remember from my first day was that how friendly everyone was. My best friends in Year 1 were Sebastian Parker and Tommy Tinkler. Those friends stayed with me for almost all my time in Junior School. I can’t remember any trips in Year 1 or in fact any at all from Junior School.

My favourite teachers from junior school were Mrs Clark and Mrs Smith.

Year 3 was my first year in the Senior School I was in Mr Blackwoods class and my friends were Jonas, Zac Watson, Jack, Daniel and Tom Stalder. In Year 4 I was in 4L with Miss Legg. I met lots of new fiends such as Andreas, Leo and lots more.

Year 5 was one of my favourite years in Gayhurst. My form teacher was Mrs Lingley. I also loved going to Skern Lodge I also had lots good friends like Dara and Harry Bell. Year 6 was a really good because of all the good trips such as Chessington and Jersey.

I have really enjoyed the variety of fun lessons. I have made so many friends over the years like James R, Harry L, Robbie B, Sebastian P, Tommy T, Alex C and Josh G. All the teachers are great especially Mr Kearns, Mr Brown, Mrs Inshaw, Mr Stevenson, Mr Harris, Mrs Keeney.

One of the best experiences at the school is the residentials in Year 3 up to Year 6 as well as the numerous fun and beneficial school trips. Residential trips take place at the end of the school year. They are always fun, like Bushcraft in Year 4 we learned how to build a shelter, put up tents and set traps.

IAPS sport is another fun trip where the A team of a sport or sometimes just a team if it is not one of the main sports go on a trip and play other schools to see who wins. I personally have only been on two IAPS team’s rugby and skiing however, there are many more. My favourite IAPS trip was skiing because we had to travel to Italy this trip lasted a week, it was possibly my favourite trip I have ever been on but there are strong contenders such as Bushcraft in Year 4, Skern lodge in Year 5 and the trip to Chessington World of Adventures in Year 6.

James Rawlings Lockdown began early for me. It all began when I went into school on Monday, of the second last week, of the spring term.

My sister and my dad were unwell that morning and we struggled to decide whether me and my other sister should go to school that day. Eventually we decided that school is important therefore we should go. When we finally arrived, we were in fact, late, so I went into the office to register and to explained why my sister was not at school. I went to go put my bag upstairs in my classroom then went down for my English lesson. Five minutes into the lesson Mr Bushnell came and said my mother was waiting to collect me.

He said that it was too much of a risk having me at school with unwell family members.

Joseph McNally My lockdown experience was great I think the teachers handled everything very well and I don’t think that any of us missed out on an important part of our education thanks to the teachers’ calm and clever attitude. Though I did miss my friends during the lockdown, I saw them virtually of course but that is very different from seeing them in real life.

The virtual learning was great but I did miss my friends.

Josh Fienberg This year has been quite unusual. A global pandemic has just struck our Earth. It is called COVID-19. It has put the world into isolation. This means that we can’t go to school. So we started home schooling.

Some of us have been experienced in this way of education due to illnesses or whatever but some people are completely new to this sort of thing. That included me. I started off quite badly, not knowing what to do, but over the weeks, I (I think most of us) got the hang of it. We were introduced to a completely new system which was Microsoft Teams. Some of our parents, like their children, had no idea what was going on. Luckily for me, my parents had been using Teams so I got a head start.

But I did still struggle a bit. As I said earlier, over the weeks, we gradually began to understand the system. Now we are back at school, we still use it. I think that could be useful in future years.

But, apart from all the downsides, there are still good things about it. Here are some things that were good about lockdown. Firstly and most importantly, we have been spending more time with our family and it does no harm to ask them a question if you’re stuck on something, but don’t get me wrong, it is perfectly fine to ask a teacher something if you are stuck, but it can be quite hard to.

Lockdown school was hard, but the teachers and the students managed to pull through the first half of the summer term. Year 6 were lucky we got to go back to school on the first of June, but it was annoying not being allowed to socialise with anyone out of your bubble, (which in my case was all the boys in my form,) some of my best friends (for example James C, Harry L and Leo M) are not in my bubble.

I joined Gayhurst in Year 2. It was scary at first, but I quickly made friends, the first person I knew, and my first friend was Hady Chaban and I was fast to make more like Leo and Ollie. By Year 5 I had a massive friendship group.

I liked all my subjects, some of my favourites were: Science, PE and Games, math, CT and IT I am decent academically and on the sporting field.

I have had an amazing time at Gayhurst.

The fact that schools were closing wasn’t a big shock because there was talk of it since the beginning but I was thinking how would the teachers go about schooling us. I think they did a good job at schooling us through a difficult time.

And secondly, we as individuals become more independent, we are starting to learn to get everything organised and starting to upload our work independently and of course doing it. So, there you go. Lockdown isn’t the end of the world is it?

Coming back to school was quite a weird time. We’d been in lockdown for about 6 weeks and that means no coming to school for 6 weeks. And then SNAP, we are back at school. It did take me the first couple of days to get used to the whole coming back to school thing but at the end of the first week, I think I’m quite cool with it now. At the start of the first week, I was just really nervous to come back to school but at the end of the day, it is not so bad, you get to see your friends and they get to see you. What’s better than having a nice play and run around with your friends. At least that is what I think. But it isn’t going to just be hardcore work like the first term, we’ve done our exams and know what school we are going to and it looks like to me, most of us are happy. We are still doing a good amount of work but I don’t see why it matters that much. I guess it is just to keep us up at the right level. And for me what I’m most sad about is the sport. I definitely know that the teachers are trying their hardest to fit it in and I completely appreciate that but sport has brought me up to where I am right now and it has built my confidence and it has built me and to finish Gayhurst, the place that I first saw it and loved it, without any sport would just be heart-breaking. Anyway, I am glad that I came back to school.

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Joshua Gray In lockdown I found it very odd because I had never happened to me before and it is not what I’m used to. But I was lucky to have a big garden to play in and a football net so I could play football in my garden. At the start all the restaurants and pubs and other leisure places were shut and you couldn’t see your friends or extended family. You also had to stay 2 meters away from everyone in the streets.

Only one person could go shopping and collect essentials. For virtual learning I found it good that we could still work and learn from home. On the downside we still weren’t allowed to see any friends or do anything still. when I heard we might be going back to school I was happy as ever to finally get away from the house.

Joshua Waldegrave My lockdown experience has been up and down with it being hard in general but I’ve also got more confident by doing it all myself, submitting work and getting all the equipment I need on my own. It’s also gotten me better with computers and now I know them a bit more now.

It’s been very different with home-school by not meeting my friends or teachers but just listening to their voices or seeing them on a computer doesn’t feel realistic.

Kabir Kochar

My friends that I’ve had in Nursery to Year 6 are Zac P Taran J, Josh F, Josh W, Robbie B, Leo M and many more The teachers that inspire me are: Miss Legg who always gives me confidence while I’m doing my work. Another teacher who inspires me is Mr Brown who believed in me to play rugby and now I’m good at rugby and enjoy it a lot more than I thought I would. Mrs Inshaw also inspires me because she always makes fun lessons and I always try my best in lessons.

The best trips I’ve had is when we went to Odds Farm and Skern Lodge in Year 5. My favourite subjects are all round sports and PE, science, maths and geography.

I started going to school at Gayhurst in Reception. The most memorable memory was my first day at school, ever since then I’ve got the best experience possible in my opinion. My favourite subject has always been games. My friends have always been James Rawlings, Robbie Borwick, Zac Peters, Andreas Georghiou, Ivo Richardson, Ollie Kilbourn, Josh Grey, Dara Lall and Josh Fienberg.

From Gayhurst I have learnt to take on to my next school to always be kind to teachers and let them go past when they need to get back to class. The most inspiring teacher to me is Mr Brown who has taught how to tackle better in rugby and told me always to keep going when I felt like I couldn’t finish something off. My favourite school trip was probably going to Legoland because of all the awesome rides. My favourite rides were the water ones.

“A Pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”.

My Journey at Gayhurst School began in January 2019 when my parents moved to Buckinghamshire and I started at the school in Year 5. From day one, I have enjoyed every bit of my time I have spent at the school. I vividly remember my first day, when I was feeling timid and aimlessly wandered through the school corridors.

Now two years later, the new entrants are feeling the same way as me and I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown by.

I’ve made so many friends along the way, with whom I have shared awesome memories. I just wish, I get to spend more time with them but alas this Covid lockdown!

This Lockdown made me ponder on a lot of unanswered questions like ‘’When will this end?’’, ‘’Will life ever be normal again?’’, ‘’When will a universal vaccine be found?’’. I was getting bored of my normal routine of school-work, cycling, TV, dinner and sleep.

Fortunately for me, my parents were sensing my dejection and without saying anything, one day they pasted a quote of Churchill by my bedside wall.

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I first joined Gayhurst in Nursery and the thing I remember most, was when first arrived seeing so many people and I was so overwhelmed I’d never seen so many people in one room before.

I felt very nervous and worried, I felt very like mountains were towering over me.

The Stormont Yearbook 2019-20

A day later at the dinner table, my parents told me that my favourite restaurant was closing down and encouraged me to do something positive, reminding me of the Churchill quote. That was the key catalyst and enough to get me motivated. My cousin and I developed a website – www.Zouchers.com over the next two weeks. The word Zouchers comes from the combination of the words ‘Generation Z’ and ‘Vouchers’. Zouchers.com allows family owned business to register for free and sell vouchers in advance for future business. In my case, my favourite restaurant could have sold some vouchers to my family and used that cash to hopefully remain in business. Other restaurants and cafés shouldn’t lose hope too because like Charlie Chaplin said ‘Nothing is permanent in this wicked world not even our troubles’.

As we are moving towards phased opening, I am looking forward to returning to school and meeting my friends again. I really hope that we are able to enjoy the last few weeks together and make memories to last a lifetime, before we move to the journey of Secondary School.

Thank you Gayhurst for being such a wonderful school. I’ve made so many friends and have had so many wonderful experiences. I will remember each one of my teachers and friends very fondly.

Karam Bal

I picked up the ball, and I jumped out the car, I ran towards my friend as she was VERY far.

The last day of school just ended, I said to my friends goodbye,

We played catch for a while, but then she had to go,

I walked downstairs to the door, as I gave a heavy sigh.

I raised my seat, and we headed back home,

I elbow touched my teachers, and got in my car,

I ordered stuff off Amazon, and went to bed,

And suddenly school felt, oh so very far.

During lockdown I was bored, and didn’t know what to do,

I was sitting there and waiting, waiting to leave this place, As I looked upon the car park and I saw my friends face.

I was eating jolly ranchers but only the ones that were blue,

I got back in my car, up my seat was very low.

When got to my house I went on google chrome.

I want to go back to school, I said in my head.

But 72 days later, it all came true!

Gayhurst has to be one of the best 6 years of my life. I really enjoyed all the school trips and the clubs. I will really miss the school.

I looked at the floor, and I knew what to do!

Leo Marchant When I went in to lockdown, I was extremely scared since all the teachers said that we would be back after half term.

When that didn’t happen, and the virus was getting worse and worse I went into a state of panic. I didn’t know what was happening. It has been 3 months and it is still going on.

I am enjoying going to school though, I am loving the company even though we must stay 2 metres apart and the days are short. I have missed 2 holidays which is irritating. Hopefully it will be over soon and everything we be back to normal, [well as normal as it ever will be].

Lotta Ross

It has also helped everyone get closer even though we are not close! We clap every Thursday in support of our key workers, we look after people who need helping and we stay in doors for months on end to keep other people safe. And what I say to that is we are all HEROES. And that is going to stick with us for the rest of our lives.

I am going to make the most out of my last term of Gayhurst because I have spent most of my life here and I have so many memories here like the Jersey tour, Lego land and Skern lodge, which all my friends came along to: Zac, Ollie, Lucas, Zemar, Josh G, Josh F, Josh W, James, Ewan, Robbie. Those people are amazing, and the teachers are too and even though I am going to a different school, I’m not going to forget anyone. Thank you!

I missed all my friends at school I wanted to hug them so bad but I knew that was not cool When I first heard about Corona I did not know what would happen to us

I just missed them all so bad

All the way from China and all the way to us

I thought every day was the same I thought it was a trick

The days in lockdown went quicker and the death rates went higher

The third month came it was nearly over

I thought it was one month in lock down what a liar I did not know what would happen to year six anymore I thought all the trips would be cancelled and we will be pushed out the door 1 month went by in lockdown I had no hope for us I was exhausted of quizzes and tired of soap and wash

Louis Dunn I joined Gayhurst in Year 5, and the moment I walked in I knew I made the right choice in picking my school. My friends are the people who got me through it. If I was having a bad day when I walked into school, I know the first one of my best friends I see is going to turn it into a good day. When I joined in Year 5 maths was something I thought was boring and something I just wanted to get over, but

Two months happened it was so very quick

The sadness and the loneliness came and went it was over I am going to miss Gayhurst so much, every little second is precious.

I will miss all the teachers and my friends but the person I am going to miss the most is my mum. She has been at this school the whole time. She even introduced this school to me so I would like to thank her or I may be not here today. I may not be who I am today. I had so much fun going on the trips to Prague, Skern Lodge and Science Museum, but I am so excited to start a new adventure at St Marys.

after a fortnight of having Mr Whitaker as my teacher I would always get excited when the bell rang for maths as he turned my thoughts around in 14 days of teaching me. The trip to Devon for Skern Lodge was something I remember Year 5 about as it gave me many opportunities.

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Lucas Jones No doubt about it lockdown was terrible but it wasn’t all bad it made a lot of us more smart with tech and it’s a brand new experience for everyone.

It was quite hard for me to concentrate on my school work in lockdown but I usually manage to work it all out (because my mum made me).

Its quite sad that we don’t get the leavers program or Bilbao but at least we are at school unlike Years 3, 4 and 5.

Matteo Civettini Zera Lockdown began with me feeling like I was on holiday. I could do nearly everything I wanted. I felt a bit lonely with only my family to talk to.

Every afternoon for one hour I would go to the park and play football. Sometimes in the morning I would go with my mum to run or walk a mile around the park near me - The Rye.

Dunn. They both became my best friends and I left Hady out. Me and Hady had tons of arguments but eventually we said sorry to each other and we became best friends again.

When I entered Year 5, I thought I got the worst teacher, but I was very wrong. I thought Mrs Lingley Lorenzo was a very mean and strict teacher but after around week I realised Mrs Lingley Lorenzo was the best teacher I have ever known. She thought and still does think that everyone is equal no matter what gender, skin colour, religion and much more. Mr Kearns inspired me a lot. He is my games teacher. I love rugby and he inspired me because he is extremely good at every sport I know. He inspired me to play hockey and rugby and now I think I am quite good at both for my age.

Then after two weeks I started video calling my friends for my band (me, Sasha, Gregor, Dan and Joseph) and gaming, but talking to my friends on a device didn’t make me feel like I would if I saw my friends live.

The lessons that I have learnt that will take me to another school are games lessons, English lessons and language lessons.

I joined Gayhurst in Year 3. My first friend was Hady Chaban. We played together every day. I made friends with some of his friends.

When Year 5 came I made friends with Sasha Kerrigan and Louis

My favourite subjects are English and games.

Oliver Killbourn During my last term at Gayhurst, it has been especially hard because of lockdown. While we were in lockdown, we wouldn’t be allowed to see friends and we worked online! It was hard at first but after a while I started to get the hang of it. For me not being able to see friends is the hardest challenge but we got through it and that’s what’s important. When I first heard that schools were closing and that we were going into lockdown I got nervous wondering whether or not I would come back to Gayhurst and here’s why: I joined Gayhurst in Year 2 and from the first moment I walked through the big blue doors I knew I was going to have the time of my life! My best friends during my time at Gayhurst have been Zac Peters, Dara Lall, Robbie Borwick, Josh Waldegrave and Josh Fienberg and my favourite teachers have been Mr Harris, Mr Brown, Mr Kearns, Mrs Robinson and Mr Reeves.

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My favourite school trip was Chessington. I was with all my friends there and I had the best time of my life.

My favourite school trips were Bushcraft, Chessington, Skern Lodge and Jersey sports tour. We were at Bushcraft for 2 days and I especially loved when we made a shelter and eating marshmallows around the campfire. We went to Chessington for the day and all the rides were so fun especially Dragon’s Fury and Kobra. We went to Skern Lodge for a week! I absolutely loved it! There were so many great activities but if I had to pick my favourites I would have to be Surfing, Rafting and Kayaking and last, but definitely not least, Jersey sports tour! This was my favourite school trip. We went for a week and as you can probably tell by the name, it was in Jersey! On the tour we played three different sports, rugby, hockey and football. We had 6 games in total. 3 rugby games, 2 hockey games and 1 football game and we finished the tour undefeated!

My favourite subjects were Art, Maths and (obviously) sport and I will be continuing all these subjects at my next school but also starting some new topics like DT and Chinese!

I’m so grateful that out of all the schools in the world I came to Gayhurst and hopefully one day I’ll be able to come back and relive all the special memories I shared with the school and my classmates.

Oreoluwa Oduleye Dear Diary, this has been the best time I have ever had at any school. Lockdown has been a very hard time, especially me not seeing my friends and seeing the same people all the time (my family). But when I heard the news that I was going back to school my whole bedroom and me were shouting for joy. During lockdown felt like I was trapped inside a jail that I can’t get out. All my feelings were making feel like a big angry cloud (sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, grief). Locked inside that same room doing nothing but work. Not having any friends to make you laugh when you are

Paramveer Sidhu I watched as the clock slowly ticked forward it was like a never ending nightmare. My heartbeat was gradually getting faster. My whole body was trembling. My teeth were chattering together. I could not stand this. My head was spinning and I felt ice cold. The pencil in my hand was shaking violently like it wanted to get out of my grasp. I wished to be back at school running and playing with my friends. Sleep was still trying to get hold of me and I shook it off. I was so bored that I got out of my seat and looked out of my clean window. The fresh breeze rushed through my as smooth as silk hair and it was ruffling my hair as if I was a little dog. The smell slithered towards me like a snake. I could smell the beautiful flowers in my nostrils. The extraordinary big all of fire spat down the glorious golden rays. The sun laughed at me as sweat dribbled down my body. It felt like a slimy snail instead of the cold sweat. The trees danced in the glorious wind while the others looked like they were bending down towards the ground as if they were trying to help the little plants out. The never ending sky stretched itself all the way to the horizon. There were only a couple of fluffy sheep in the sky. The grass was a lush green as the sprinkler spun around. The tiny little drops of water flew into the sky like it had just been catapulted. The reflection made a giant

Raghav Srinivasan My experience during lockdown has been an opportunity for me to realise the things I am grateful for, both at home and at school.

The spring term ending with online classes was something I found difficult to adjust to. I struggled with finding the assignments we were given as well as sticking with the deadlines in place.

I began to realise what a difference a classroom setting made to the way I worked, as well as finding new skills like typing efficiently a challenge. I especially became more aware of the hard work the teachers put in to post resources online – not least Mr Brown, who posted several videos of his well explained and equally energising PE assignments!

down. Therefore, that is why I was so happy to be going back to school. The excitement got rid of all those feeling I had in me even though school wasn’t going to be like it used to be. I am sure that the school will be jumping for joy. Tables driving to different places and chairs not rolling near each other. It was fine for me if only I am going to school. My year at Gayhurst has been incredible from high to lows from good times to bad I have enjoyed it so much. I joined the school in year 3 and induction day when I met everyone, I automatically knew that everyone was my friend. The best trip I have had this school could be Skern Lodge in Year 5. I will be studying next year at ACS international school in Hillingdon. I don’t have a favourite teacher because all the teachers are my favourite teachers because they are funny, kind hard working and more. It will be very hard to say bye to Gayhurst but I have to move on with my life.

rainbow. I stood on the spot with my mouth in awe. The birds danced in the sky like the whole sky was their stage and they were the performers.

I had been really joyful all through lockdown but as each second went by as the hand of each clock slowly twisted around life began to get more miserable. I had got my Meccano out and that was the only time when I could let my mind run free with concentration.

I had also learnt how to do origami I loved how we could make birds that flapped their wings and I felt so calm. I was just lost in my own little world. I was so delighted when I found out I was going to school. I remembered how much I have achieved through the lockdown. I had bonded with my family in a way which I never knew was possible. Every night we played card games I looked forward to every one. Everyday I slept really well, waking up at 8 o’clock and knowing that I did not need to worry about homework or anything but I needed a change. I couldn’t wait for school. The birds started to sing like they were all a choir and it made me feel relaxed. I went outside and the sun beat down on me like an angry caveman. I was grateful for the weather as the sun has always been there to say hello in the morning. I woke up with another gleeful day ahead of me.

I can’t wait until we can get back to school My time at Gayhurst has been thrilling and I remember when I used to play with the trains in Nursery. In Reception I remember when we used to play with the marble run and we used to make it so big. I still remember when we used to write stories at the start of the day.

keep us entertained. I truly missed my friends and the games we played together before lockdown began. By the end of May, I was looking forward to spending time with everyone, working on our summer production (which we had previously thought would be cancelled!).

I joined Gayhurst School just over a year ago and have had the chance to make very special memories with my teachers and friends. The caring teachers at Gayhurst inspired my interest in various subjects such as history, geography and RS, through projects that allowed me to explore topics I had not known before.

Lessons I will take forward with me include skills in speaking in front of crowds as well as the teamwork involved in sports such as the football and rugby matches.

I hope the many friends I have made at the school are people I can continue to stay in contact with and that this lockdown experience is something we can laugh about in the future.

Online classes also meant I wasn’t able to see my friends for over 2 months. We were limited to zoom calls, with silly backgrounds to

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Rebecca Jukes When I first heard about Lockdown, I was shocked I did not know what would happen. I would miss all my friends and family and holidays to, we had to stay inside I got very bored, but I found a lot of things to do. I wanted to go back to school.

I needed to, I had to. Home school was a bore I did not want more. I was wasting my time 1000 orders of Amazon Prime. I needed to go to school so I just jumped in

Robbie Borwick This year has been very different. Out of nowhere this virus came and suddenly I could not go to school. At the very start of lockdown, it was my birthday and I could not go out for dinner or see my friends.

I knew at once it was going to be very unusual. I had to miss the last two days of school because my dad has asthma so he was vulnerable. The next week was very unlike normal school because we had to do all our work online. It was very stressful but I managed to get the hang of it.

During my Easter break, I went on a bike ride every day, my longest being 38km to High Wycombe and back. I also went for runs and walks. I spent more time with my family at home. After the lockdown had lifted, I was able to go on bike rides with my friends which was fun. On June 1st we went back to school. I was excited.

On the first day I cycled in and saw all my friends. There were lots of rules, but I still enjoyed it.

Sasha Kerrigan In lockdown I practically every day went for a bike ride I do this to keep fit. At first, I was thrilled to be going out of school but as the weeks turned into months I felt really bored, and wanted to see my friends and teacher. Now at least we’re in school.

We do have some strict rules though.

In lockdown it was very strange to be at home and seeing teachers over video calls.

My parents were always exhausted and really wanted to go to bed but they still had to work until around 3 in the morning. They had to because they blocked work to help me and my sister, so had to replace it in

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my pool. I went on a lot of walks the clock were asleep, time went so slow. When I found out we were going back to school I jumped with glee I shouted ‘yes I’m free’.

My favourite part of Gayhurst is all of my friends and the teachers, My best friends are Karam, Angie, Alienor, Annabelle and Lotta. My favourite teachers are Mr Harris, Mrs Robertson - all of them are lovely. I also love all the amazing trips I have enjoyed Skern Lodge, Hazard Alley and Legoland. I love playing matches against other schools in sport my favourite sports are Hockey, Netball and Skiing.

My favourite lessons are History, Lunch, Games and PE.

I joined Gayhurst in Reception. I didn’t really know anyone except my best friend from nursery Josh Fienberg, I remember that we were both wearing the same type of shirt except that mine was blue striped and Josh’s was red striped.

My best friends from Gayhurst have always been Joshua Fienberg, Ollie Killbourn, Josh Gray, Josh Waldergrave, Tommy Tinkler, Andreas Georghiou, Dara Lall and Zac Peters.

The teachers that have inspired me are Mr Kearns and Mr Harris because they are funny, Mr Reeves and Miss Legg have been really nice to me since I have met them and Mr Brown because he is the best form teacher. My favourite school trip was when we toured across Jersey and I won all our matches which felt good.

My favourite subjects have been games because it has been fun getting to play matches against other schools, and maths because it has been really fun coming into the lesson and trying to get the conundrum and the wittzle.

I would like to say a big thank you to Gayhurst. I have enjoyed every moment since I started. Thank you.

the night. They also needed to print all of our work for the next day.

It was a very strange experience of virtual learning at home. It was also saddening to hear on the radio how many people were dying it was around 900 per day. Now it’s going down to about 500, I think.

Once my dad got furious because someone from the government called Cummings broke his own rules.

When I joined Gayhurst my ‘Buddy’ was Ivo. But my real friend was Matteo. I joined in Year 5 which means I only got 2 years. I remember becoming a friend of Matteo’s and Hector’s. My friends have been of course Matteo, Hector but also, Andreas, Dara, Josh G, Gregor, Joe, Dan and Harry D. There are 2 teachers who inspired me: Mrs Lingley Lorenzo who is also my tutor she teaches English but she also tutored me for maths and Mr Harris who teaches games and he inspired me to play cricket.

Sebastian Parker Over the lockdown I have found that I missed school. The things I missed most was not seeing my friends and I missed having a strict timetable. I wished that I could go back to school sooner than we did. I thought that Gayhurst did a great job at giving us work at home, with a structured timetable and information on how to submit the work. Throughout the lockdown, I was generally bored without school. I did enjoy being at home though, mostly because I saw my dad more often and the long bike rides we did.

The first school week in lockdown was stressful but I eventually got into the habit of handing in my work when the lesson finished.

Suki Basford My last term at Gayhurst School started in lockdown. What a shame to end four years here in this way. During lockdown I missed my friends and my teachers. It was hard and sometimes I felt sad. I read a lot more in lockdown through and went on lots of walks with my family. It was nice to spend time out in nature.

Taran Joshi It was after the end of the spring term when lockdown began. On the social side of things, it was terrible. Not being able to see my friends and extended family, not being able to go and do leisure activities, but as I came further into it, I noticed that it was not all bad. I could still go play outside and go cycling on my bicycle, and it meant that I was able to spend more time with my family. I was very glad when we started to come out of lockdown and go back to school. I got to see my friends and teachers again, and a sense of normality started to come back to me.

After the first week, I became more relaxed about completing and handing in the work, and home schooling was generally more enjoyable.

I joined Gayhurst in Nursery and in the first month, I became friends with Tommy, who is still my best friend now, in Year 6.

My friends have varied throughout my time at Gayhurst, but my good friends are: Tommy, Gregor, Joseph, Raghav, Tom H, Tom C and Veer. Gregor was always the friend that made me laugh.

I remember learning about the plague in Year 2, which I found extremely interesting, and I can still remember the details from that lesson! Gayhurst has given me some fantastic experiences but the school trips that I have enjoyed most were: Chessington in Year 6, Skern Lodge in year 5 and Legoland in Year 4. My overall favourite subjects at Gayhurst were: History, English in Year 5 and 6, Science and Games in the rugby season. My Gayhurst experience has been awesome and the memories will stay with me forever.

I have loved being at Gayhurst because I made friends and have been inspired by the teachers. My favourite subjects are art, music, drama, history and science. The best trip I have been on was to Skern Lodge in Year 5. I enjoyed the thrill of abseiling down a cliff for the first time. I really enjoyed doing the clubs, especially Eco Club and LAMDA. I will never forget all the fun times I have had at this school and am sad that I have to leave it all behind, but I am also excited to see what the future holds….

amazing. I have made so many wonderful friendships, and have had hundreds of funny and enjoyable memories, all of which I will remember forever. A few of those include the time in Nursery when we had an Easter egg hunt and it snowed in the spring term, and all of the fun games my friends and I would make up and play at break. My favourite trips were Odds Farm in Reception, Skern Lodge in Year 5 and Jersey in Year 6. Some of my best friends include Josh G, Zemar, Frankie, Zac, Tommy T, Tom Harvey & Marcus Jones, who left the school at the end of Year 4. The teachers that have inspired me are Miss Crosbie, Mr Harris, Mrs Inshaw and Miss Carr. I have also really enjoyed all of the different events that the school have made such as the fairs, mufti days, world book day, Red Nose Day and the games matches that the games staff organised. I really hope that after I leave Gayhurst I will still keep in touch with all of my friends and hopefully some of the teachers too.

Since when I started in Nursery, my time at Gayhurst has been

Thomas Cochrane I’m Tom and Gayhurst was amazing! I joined in Year 5 and loved every day up to the last second there. It was awesome because of the teachers – Mr Harris is the best but you didn’t hear that from me – my friends from class and the whole year group. At the end of Year 5 we had a brilliant trip to Skern Lodge. We did loads of fun activities including: kayaking, surfing, zip-lining and hide-and-seek.

Later I went to Prague with the choir group and had fun singing randomly out in the open. It was also really cool seeing where many people got decapitated and put on spikes. The food was different in a good way. Later that year in October I went to Jersey on a sports trip and it was great meeting new teams from across the UK. The games were hard but we buckled down, played well and had a good time. At the end of Year 6 we planned to do the summer play but because of Covid each of our bubbles performed short snippets from a multiple of plays. I had the chance of being Joseph from Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat, it was nice to go school dressed up as an ancient Egyptian. I am now excited to start at Berkhamsted School on a drama scholarship but I will miss Gayhurst a lot.

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Thomas Harvey

to cheer me up nothing to entertain me.

During the two and a half months of lockdown I have missed normal life. I have missed so much about school, the homework, the lunch queue and all the shouting in the playground but worst of all I miss my friends. During quarantine I have been so lonely and annoyed. I found it really hard doing all the work online because there hasn’t been anything funny going on it has just been sitting at a desk with nothing to do but work, nothing

Tom Stalder

When I heard the news that school was coming back I got so excited about seeing my friends. Those last few days before going back to school went so slow it was like watching the sun rise and fall in super slow motion! But now that I am back at school I fell like I have been cheated because my brother and sister don’t need to go to school but I do.

Some great memories of Gayhurst are definitely Chessington and Skern Lodge. Also some bad memories are the annoying preparations for the eleven plus and the last day of school before quarantine. Also at Gayhurst I have learnt so many useful life lessons that I will remember for the rest of my life.

never gives up even at the toughest times I have ever faced in the whole world.

During lockdown I was playing loads of sport and was keeping my fitness up I was doing a lot of fitness but I did get annoyed doing the same old boring thing every day. I was annoyed like a lion when its prey gets away.

When I realised I was going back to school I thought the times were over now but they weren’t though I still had to sadly keep social distancing and I couldn’t go near anybody, but I am used to it now and I am having a good time.

My spirit never left me when I was annoyed, I was still bravely fighting through lockdown like a warrior that

Thomas Webster With lock down this year some work has been a lot harder but it was fun at times.

It was also hard not being able to see my friends and more distant family. When we came back to school and are on our devices it was good to see everyone again and it was a lot easier to work. But in lockdown I think I got fitter with the mile a day challenge.

Tommy Tinkler Lockdown was creeping around the corner and we all knew it, but it still came quickly giving me a shock! People started to become a magnet to their houses and not leaving. Each day you would wonder who would stay home next. At this time I have learnt to appreciate my friends more than ever! Coronavirus seemed like a big joke to me, like something that you never thought could happen but still managed to sneak into your life. It just stunned me.

We were lucky it came near the half term, in that time the teachers started planning to figure out how to continue school and it has been working fantastically except the fact we could no longer see each other. It didn’t seem very likely to be going back to school soon, but we eventually moved back to similar ways, however, school had to be changed for our safety.

I’ve been at Gayhurst since Nursery, and one memory I still hold is when the teacher chose a colour, and the next day we would bring

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During my time at Gayhurst it was very good and I made some excellent friends - Harry, Dan, Lucas, Leo and many more. We also had some amazing trips such as Prague, Jersey, Skern Lodge and much more. Gayhurst has been a great experience and it will be hard to leave behind.

a toy corresponding to that colour. I enjoyed gazing at what the others brought in!

Since Nursery I have made many great friends, for example, Taran Joshi, Raghav Srinivasan, Veer Sidhu and many more, but my best friend throughout every year I’ve spent at Gayhurst is Sebastian Parker.

I’ve been on many Gayhurst trips. In Reception we went to Odds Farm, it was so much fun feeding the animals, and I’ve also been on Bushcraft; where we camped out in a home-made shelter for one night. But my favourite has to be the Jersey sports tour. My roommate at the hotel was Taran and we had an incredible time!

We went sight-seeing, swimming and we went to the zoo, we also did lot’s of sports too.

There are many clubs at Gayhurst and I have taken part in: Art Club, Chess Club, Fencing Club and Eco Club. All of these clubs have been amazing and I have enjoyed being a part of them.

I have truly enjoyed my time at Gayhurst, I will miss everyone who took this journey with me and I will miss all the fun I had with them.

Gayhurst has been amazing!

Xenia Blake

because everyone wanted to hug each other) and washing our hands with hand sanitiser is essential too.

You know, I can’t actually remember what normal life was like. But then again, what is normal? Imagine if normal was sitting on vegetables whilst juggling water bottles!!

Being in this pandemic is probably going to be the most exciting thing that will ever happen to me. As my parents keep on saying (round the clock!) we are living through history!! And then I point out that we are always living through history, since history could be five minutes ago, or a million years ago. But, technically, they are right. This is history that will be remembered and it will make it into the books.

When I think of my time at Gayhurst, the word that immediately comes into my mind is ‘coronavirus’. Now this is probably happening to a lot of people, because, well, it is the only thing that is on the news (quite literally) and it is the only thing that people talk about!

Coming back to school in the middle of Lockdown has been, well, there is really only one word to describe it, weird!! It has been fantastic to see all my friends again, the teachers and even the school itself, but many, many things have changed. For example, we are in what we call bubbles, or pods, so that we are only allowed to play with certain people, work with certain people, etc. Everyone has to stay two metres apart (it was very hard on our first day back

Zac Peters

COVID-19 has definitely changed our lives, but there are still fun things that we have enjoyed at Gayhurst. Rehearsals for the Summer Production are going well, and everyone has lots of time outside in the sun. Granted we are still having to do school work, but the teachers are setting us very fun things to do as well! When we are outside, I often see Year 1’s, Nursery and Reception running around having an amazing time. This reminds of when I first joined in Year 3. I was so scared, because I knew nobody in my class from my old school, the teachers were scary (I know, right?) and the school was HUMONGOUS compared to my old one. But I soon got to know my way around, and now I know the place like the back of my hand!

Going through the years at Gayhurst has been the best part of my life so far. I recall how much fun we had at Skern Lodge in Year 5, the happiness at Chessington World of Adventures the day after we had taken the 11+ in Year 6, the Red Riding Hood Play in Year 4, and every other bit of fun that I have had here. I am going to take every inch of my time at Gayhurst with me to my next school, DCHS (Doctor Challoners High School) though I know that nothing (and I mean NOTHING) will compare to Gayhurst. Thank you sooooooooooooooo (I would add more Os, but I have a feeling that it would not fit on the page) much for having me here Gayhurst, and thanks to the teachers, my friends, and everyone else at Gayhurst for making me who I am. Thank you!!!!!

trampoline and it did take me a long time to do them, but I did it.

Lockdown has been really hard for me (especially with work) but sometimes it’s fun because I got to watch loads of movies and spend more time with my family. My most enjoyable part of lockdown is going on lots of long walks which are really tiring but fun. I also learnt lots of new skills like riding a bike with no hands and doing a backflip on a

Zemar Ali It was coming up to the end of our spring term. Times were changing. No sport, hand gel required 2 times a day and people stopped coming into school. It was announced that school would close down just before our spring break. At first, I was excited to work from home, because we would be online on devices and we would be at home. Then, I realised that working on devices can include so many technical issues. Almost every shop in our village was closed down apart from essential ones like shopping and groceries. Not being able to see and talk to your friends is quite hard too. Lockdown lasted for 2 months and is still going on for some people. I am happy to be in school with all my friends right now.

Then as lockdown ended, I got to see more of my friends and played tennis, football, went swimming and lots more (but obviously staying 2 meters apart.) But other than that, I’m really happy to be at school before I leave to my next school.

Lockdown, will finish soon, The sun will shine brighter than the moon.

NHS are doing all they can, To put Covid to a ban.

Covid will finish, it will be done, So all of us can laugh and have fun.

Remember your friends and family are there, So don’t go sighing in despair.

And finally, when its all finished, When Covid is gone and completely diminished, We will celebrate with our whole community, Life will continue as it is beautifully My current school is Gayhurst and I am proud to say that the school has given me some of the best memories of my whole entire life. Teachers that inspired me were Mr Harris, Mrs Inshaw, Miss Crosbie and Mr Pendered. My best friends are Frankie and Taran , and my friends are Zac, Josh G , Leo, Lucas and the whole class!! My best memory from Gayhurst was our Skern Lodge trip, the Awful Auntie theatre trip in Year 4 and always laughing with my friends. I have been in Gayhurst for 4 years and hope to value the things it has taught me in the future.

Gayhurst School

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Thank you

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Bull Lane, Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire. SL9 8RJ t: 01753 882690 e: enquiries@gayhurstschool.co.uk w: www.gayhurstschool.co.uk