THE QUAINTON HERALD Issue 112 – 11th February 2022
HEADMASTER'S MESSAGE Dear Parents, We were delighted to see so many parents at the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Drama production on Tuesday morning. The children performed with such confidence and a real sense of joy resonated throughout the hall. I must thank the children for all their hard work and for dancing so well, having had little practice performing in front of an audience. The whole school enjoyed the same performance on Wednesday morning and it certainly lifted everyone’s spirits. A huge thank you to Miss Shah! I would like to thank all those parents who attended the Headmaster’s briefing on Monday night. We were delighted to welcome Miss Haynes, the Head of John Lyon School, to the evening. The staff covered many topics during the evening and a summary of all that was discussed will be circulated to the parent body after half term. Needless to say, it was a very successful evening and it was the first opportunity for Miss Haynes and I to share with you our plans for the way forward following our merger. I would like to thank the staff who presented plans for their respective areas of responsibility and look forward to all that is to come. The EYFS has certainly moved forward with great strides this term. I am always impressed by the progress the children are making whenever I tour new parents and have the opportunity to look at the children’s books in the Reception class. Miss Sherr has certainly taken the department from strength to strength. We have produced a video of a ‘Day in The Life of Children in Reception’. We thought our parents might like to see it and hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ugu7hSnhBsHlGDvQH30pgq94yCuV98Xz/view?usp=drivesdk. On Friday, the School was treated to a superb singing performance from Year 6. It was fitting that our most senior year group closed this half term with a song, having completed their 11+ senior school entrance examinations. It was really moving to see all their smiles and collective enthusiasm as they conclude a busy and rewarding half term; my thanks to Mr Haswell.
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HEADMASTER'S MESSAGE CONTINUED Mrs Ford and I were honoured to be invited to St Paul’s Cathedral today to celebrate Harrow School’s 450th Year. The re-dedication service resonated with me as we too start a new and exciting era as The John Lyon Prep School. Quainton Hall school was honoured with a mention by Harrow’s Headmaster, Mr Alistair Land, in his address and I am sure John Lyon, who founded Harrow School in 1572, would be extremely proud of the recent addition to the foundation he set up all those years ago. Our merger goes from strength to strength and I am looking forward to Year 5 and Year 6’s second John Lyon familiarisation day on 21st February. Staff news: Miss A Rahimi has stepped down from her position as Year1 teacher. Amina has made the difficult decision to resign in order to spend more time with the family as she cares for a sick relative. I thank her for all she has done in her short time at Quainton Hall and wish her and her family all the best for the future. Mrs Nazia Sultana will be joining the School after half term as an additional Learning Support Assistant under the management of Mrs Ahmet and her team. Wishing you all a relaxing and enjoyable half term.
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT News from the English Department: In celebration of Mental Health Week, the children have been using a variety of different ways to express themselves creatively in their English work. Year 6 have used ‘Google Slides’ to create ‘song playlists’ for the different characters in their class text, ‘Wonder’. The children had to select five songs for each of the characters and provide a detailed explanation of how each song reflects the thoughts, feelings, conflicts and challenges faced by the characters throughout the text. We look forward to sharing some of the playlist presentations with you after half term. The children have also explored character through the creation of costumes. They designed fancy dress Halloween costumes to reflect the struggles and challenges faced by each of the characters. Building upon their work on ‘precepts’, the children were asked to select their favourite precepts and present these in an alternative and creative way. We are pleased to share a selection of the Year 6 children’s work with you here:
Elisa's character through costume
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Yug's character through costume
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
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Aahana's precept
Clara's precept
Veera's precept
Nidhi's precept
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
Sanskruti's precept
William's precept
‘If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.’ (Amy Tan) Change the way you behave to change your future. Change the way you think to change your future. You have to think positively to change the future ahead of you. You have to believe in order to change the future. Do good deeds to have a bright future. (Ishaan Top) ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’ (Dr Seuss) This means don’t cry because something is over, but be happy that you got to take part in it and that it happened. In addition, other people may not have had the chance to take part in that certain experience. Maybe it is something that only one in a few people were able to do. You should always smile so you can show you definitely enjoyed that experience. (Shyam) ‘Even the darkest hour only has sixty minutes.’ (Morris Mandel) I think that this precept means that even at the saddest times there is at least one tiny crack of hope and a way through to better times ahead. (Akshaj)
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 5 have created alternative book covers for their class text, ‘Friend or Foe’ and Devaditya has written an impressive ‘letter home’ from the point of view of a World War II evacuee.
Devaditya's letter.
Charan's Friend or Foe book cover
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Haashim's Friend or Foe book cover
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Zaide's friend or foe book cover
Devaditya's friend or foe book cover
Ishika's friend or foe book cover
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED In Year 4, we have focused on our experience of the world using all of our five senses. As part of a scene in the class text ‘Journey to Jo’burg’ where the main characters stumble upon an orchard of oranges during their long, hot travels, we spent time examining, smelling, touching and tasting oranges. Using all our senses, we then created detailed descriptions of the oranges using personification, alliteration, metaphor and simile. It is amazing how incredible a piece of fruit can be when you really take the time to observe, explore and savour it! Here are some photos of the children enjoying their oranges, along with the class descriptions they wrote following their experience.
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Oranges The skin felt as smooth as a peach and was dotted with tiny holes that looked like microscopic moon craters. Nibbling the skin, I winced at the taste which is as bitter as rhubarb. As I peeled back the skin, a hairy pumpkin gradually appeared and a little squirt of juice came at my eye. The plump, plum like flesh opened up like a flower and the underside of the skin formed a white web beneath my fingers. Once opened, the orange flower revealed a collection of crescent moons. A burst of sweetness fills my nostrils. Covering the squishy orange is the delicate lace of a butterflies wings. Pressing the flesh between my fingers, a zesty explosion erupted from the plum like peach. The sugary juice flooded my mouth; it was as sweet as a sweet potato and as juicy as water melon. Oranges As the soundwaves advanced into my ears, there was the satisfying sounds of tearing and ripping skin. When I took a bite, I was chewing like a horse. The squidgy, squelching sounds were like walking in mud. While I was chewing the orange, the scent of sour freshness filled my nostrils. There was an aroma that was like Jaffa cake. Glaring up at me was an exotic, illuminating broken basketball. The juicy orange was as vibrant as a fireball. The inside of the soft orange was the core of the Earth. As I took a bite, the orange was bleeding juice, like a cut. Each segment was rough like dry cement and shaped like crescent moons. The ridges are a beating heart. Whilst peeling the orange, the stringy, white veins shaped as a chessboard appeared. Gazing down at the skin, the yellow and orange tones reminded me of the sun. The skin was spotty like a ladybird and were deep craters on the moon. Stroking the orange, the skin felt as rough as a rhinoceros. Its stringy veins were as white as snow. The small, minuscule segments were as squishy and smooth as a jellyfish. Peering at the orange, each segment was covered in thin cat’s whiskers. While munching on the orange, the pouring juice engulfed my mouth, which electrified my taste buds. In my mouth, the tangy taste was as sweet as honey and was juicy like an apple. When I took another bite, the luxurious taste made my taste buds tingle. The sour flavour tickled my tongue when chewing.
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 3 have been having fun with instructional texts and have produced a series of leaflets detailing how to look after a pet. The children applied the features of an instructional text to create these colourful, informative and engaging leaflets.
Sakshi, Nieve and Anthony's leaflet.
Eshan, Tara and Aarav's leaflet.
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
Aadam, Aashiana and Vihaan's leaflet.
On-line author event for Reception and Pre-Prep As you know, the children in Reception to Year 2 enjoyed an interactive online author event with author Alex Falase-Koya and illustrator Paula Bowles last week. Some parents encountered difficulties with the link to purchase copies of the book. I have been in touch with the organisers of the event and if you would still like to purchase copies of Marv the superhero books, please email Mrs Ford mary.ford@quaintonhall.org.uk and she will be happy to request these for you directly.
PAPERBACKS - RRP £ 5.99 EACH OR BOTH TITLES FOR £11!
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CONTINUED WORLD BOOK DAY – THURSDAY 3RD MARCH We are very excited about World Book Day 2022 and have lots of fun and educational activities arranged for the children to celebrate books and literature. The theme we have chosen for this year’s celebrations is, ‘Stories from Around the World’. As always, the children and staff are invited to come into school, on 3rd March, dressed as a character from a book, or a book title related to our chosen theme. Within the theme, children may like to consider stories and characters from other countries and cultures and we look forward to celebrating a rich diversity of literature from around the world. There will be a special presentation assembly in the morning, followed by a range of exciting activities and competitions spanning across the week. Further details will be provided in the next edition of the Herald but, for now, we hope you have fun thinking about and devising your character/book title costumes over half term.
Pen Licences We are always delighted to award children with their pen licences and, for many years now, this presentation has been accompanied with a Parker fountain pen for the children to use in school. However, since many children now prefer to write with a non fountain pen nib, we have decided to offer the children a choice of pen, as and when they are awarded their pen licence. The pen licence will be awarded in assembly in the same way, but the children will then be permitted to choose the pen they receive as their award from a selection of different school regulation ink pens (including the Parker fountain pen).
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MATHS DEPARTMENT This week, the Year 3s have completed the unit of Fractions with a fun, interactive and practical activity. They have enjoyed using the Cuisenaire Rods to create their own shapes, visualise the abstract concepts of fractions and work out the equivalent percentages and decimals.
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MATHS DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Y4 have been learning about the world of prime and composite numbers as well as factors and multiples. They have enjoyed making a foldable factor “tree” to find the prime factorisation of a given number. This was an engaging activity to reinforce the concept of the factor tree method. Pupils started with any two numbers that multiply to the given number. These two numbers will form the first two branches. Then, if the number is a prime, circle it. If the number is composite, find two numbers which multiply to the number. This will form new branches and continue until all the branches have ended in prime numbers. Here are some examples of pupils’ trees:
Zalaan's Factor Tree
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Shivani's Factor Tree
MATHS DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Y6 has been learning about a Straight Line Graph. They have made a line graph in an Excel Spreadsheet in their ICT lesson. This session helped pupils, to understand how a line graph turns the data into an easy-to-read image that they can use, to represent the data in an Excel spreadsheet.
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REASONING Y5 have enjoyed working in pairs to solve flashcards which are ideal for cementing what pupils have learnt. This was an engaging activity that stretched and tested pupils in their mental logic and reasoning.
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ART AND DT DEPARTMENT Year 2 Year 2 designed and made Chinese lanterns.
Happy Chinese New year to all celebrating.
Year 4 Year 4 studied Gustav Klimt and his art. He was an Austrian artist who used gold leaf in his art. Being inspired by Gustav, Year 4 used bleeding tissue for their background. They have learnt to draw the tree of life where each branch represents a memory in their life.
Lara’s pastel shades bleeding tissue with her Tree of life. Page 17
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
Ottilie’s bleeding tissue artwork and her Tree of Life drawing. The colours in the background are beautiful Ottilie.
Anya’s colourful bleeding tissue work and her Tree of life drawing.
Year 4 DT
Zalaan’s Banjo made using a lid, rubber bands and popsicle sticks.
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Shivani’s Xylophone made using craft straws and popsicle sticks!
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 5 Art Year 5 spent time this week completing their James Rizzi inspired artworks.
Siddharth’s busy cityscape filled with funny expressions and lots of bright colours.
Zynah’s super funny James Rizzi inspired artwork. Love the colour combinations Zynah
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Aadam A’s fabulous and funny cityscape. Aadam has added emotions and expressions to buildings and the moon!
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED Year 6 Art
Nidhi’s one-point perspective artwork. Calm, serene and beautifully coloured.
Ishaan T’s one-point perspective artwork. Time to pack our bags and go on a vacation.
Hobby Art
Sebastian’s amazing sketches. He loves sketching comical characters. These are fantastic Sebastian!
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Aahna’s stunning wax- fabric painting work. She used melted wax to create this stunning artwork.
ART AND DT DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
Hiya’s creative fashion designing artwork. That’s a lovely evening gown Hiya.
Aarav’s abstract artwork. That’s an amazing symmetrical drawing Aarav.
Anaya’s beautiful portrait drawing of Encanto’s Dolores. She can hear everything !
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FRENCH The older children have worked hard on their writing this term and produced some fabulous French prose. All the pieces show a good knowledge of vocabulary; the Year 5 compositions show secure knowledge of the rules governing adjectives and the Year 6 compositions show impressive overall competence in written French. The Year 6 pupils have really impressed me with their complex sentences and use of conjunctions. The children mounted their work carefully and some of them included pictures too. The French room is a delight to enter, when the work on the boards is so lovely! Special thanks to Caylan, Adam, Aaron, Amirah, Keyan, Zynah, Aymen, Zayd, Anoushka, Aditi, Ethan, Rian H., Arushi, Abdullah, Aadam, Dharsha, Charan, Ishika, Anika and Aida, whose work is up on the Year 5 wall. And to Rishita, Rishika, Amelia, Lian, Clara, Yug, Kirtan, Ishaan Topan, Ishaan Tosawar, Eliza, Isabelle, Veera, Shyam, Sanskruti, Bhakti, Ved, Dhruv, Akshaj, Aahana and Finn, Zenyah, Nidhi, Eyitayo and Thashini whose work is up on the Year 6 wall. Children from Years 3 to 6 have also enjoyed working at home on the new subscription website, Languagenut. The following are top of the leaderboard for the term: 1. Vihaan Y3 2. Lian Y6 3. Darsh Y4 4. Charan Y5 5. Aadam Y5 Many congratulations to these five who will receive a certificate and small prize.
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FRENCH CONTINUED
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MUSIC DEPARTMENT In the Music Department, we had a fantastic start to the Spring Term. Our school orchestra grew from three pupils to thirteen. We are currently rehearsing the theme of “Chariots of Fire”, which is sounding fantastic and we welcome our new members. We now have a five-part string section, three-part brass section, three-part tuned percussion section and a solo un-tuned percussionist. We look forward to sharing all the hard work with you soon.
School Orchestra rehearsal
School Orchestra - Krish
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MUSIC DEPARTMENT CONTINUED In our music Kaleidoscope lessons on a Friday afternoon, we have been focusing on some complex percussion patterns and rhythms. The children have been focused and have created some three/four part rhythmical patterns.
Percussion Group Years 3 to 6 have been rehearsing and perfecting their musical theatre performances for next term. Each Year has a chosen musical and will perform a scene and song from there chosen musical. Year 3 - Songs and script from the West End Musical “We Will Rock you”. Year 4 - Songs and script from the classic film and musical “Oliver”. Year 5 - Songs and script from the award winning musical “Matilda”. Year 6 - Songs and script from the musical “School of Rock”. We will be having a special performance next term in order to share and celebrate the amazing progress that the children have made.
Year 4: Perfecting their performance of “Consider Yourself”, from the musical “Oliver”. Page 25
MUSIC DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
6H – Rehearsing their scene from School Of Rock
6H – Time to play: School of Rock
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MUSIC DEPARTMENT CONTINUED
Year 5 - Playing the glockenspiels and xylophones
We have spaces for learning all instruments and now have a visiting cello teacher and an additional piano teacher. We currently provide lessons for piano, violin, cello, trumpet, guitar and drums. We are looking at providing woodwind lessons, so if your child is interested, please let us know. The clarinet and the flute are fantastic orchestral instruments to begin to learn and would support the expansion of our School Orchestra in a positive way. We have an Instrumental Concert next term, where we would like our musicians and budding musicians to perform and share their learning. The concert will be on Thursday 24th February in the grand Old Chapel at Quainton Hall from 7 – 8pm. The schedule will predominantly be created by our visiting music tutors of pupils that have instrumental lessons in school.
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PRE-PREP The Pre-Prep assembly this week was focused on Valentine's day. The children in Year 1 learnt the story of St Valentine and then discussed how Valentine's day has changed over the years and how people celebrate it now. They then had the chance to make some fabulous cards!
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SATIPS
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SWIMMING
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QUIZ - WHO AM I? This week's Quiz Huge congratulations to all the pupils who successfully guessed Karl Benz as the answer to last week’s quiz. Special congratulations to Lian (6AA) who was the first to email me with the correct answer and a certificate will be awarded to her.
One of his famous quotes “Our goal should be to understand our differences.” He was born on April 6, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He is an American molecular biologist, zoologist and geneticist. He discovered the structure of DNA. He joined the faculty of Harvard University and continued his study of RNA & the transfer of genetic information.
Please send your answer by Monday via email to Mrs Alwaheidi at arwa.alwaheidi@edu.quaintonhall.org.uk
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UPCOMING EVENTS START OF HALF TERM
Monday 14th February
Return to School
Monday 21st February
08:30
Individual and Sibling Photographs
Tuesday 22nd February 2022
09:00-16:00
Second Familiarisation Day - Years 5 & 6
Monday 21st February 2022
10.45-16:00
Themed Assembly - Fairtrade Fortnight
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
08:40-09:00
Badminton: U11 Mixed v Norbury (Away)
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
13:30-16:00
Instrumental Concert - Years 3 to 6 (Old Chapel)
Thursday 24th February 2022
19:00-20:00
Netball: U11 v Radlett Prep (Venue TBC)
Friday 25th February 2022
13:30-16:00
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BIRTHDAYS
We wish the following children, who will be celebrating their birthday during half term and the week after, a very Happy Birthday!
Viaan V Nursery
Shivank P Reception
Lara B Year 4
Danyal D Nursery
Nishay P Reception
Hiya K Year 4
Reiko W Nursery
Quinn N Year 1
Haashim D Year 5
Oscar W Nursery
Tara M Year 3
Garv P Year 5
Anaya P Reception
Ariana P Year 3
Yug M Year 6
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