THEECHO ECHO ECHO
Summer 2015 Edition
What an Amazing Year!
The academic year 2014/15 began in a flurry of excitement as the construction of our new floodlight astroturf was reaching completion. As part of our vision for St Margaret’s, working in partnership with St Mary’s, this was a critical first step towards helping us realise our ambitious
development programme for the school. Children have already benefitted enormously from this wonderful addition throughout the course of the year and what a joy it was on Sports Day to see pupils of all ages competing in a range of activities on our all weather surface.
As the year draws to a close, we conclude almost as we began, with builders on site working towards the completion of the next phase in our bold schedule. When the children return to school in September they will benefit from new changing facilities for both boys and girls. Further, our soundproof Drum Studio will enable our drummers to play with great enthusiasm, whilst allowing the rest of the school to work undisturbed! This exciting addition will also facilitate our new Rock School programme. Whilst teaching and learning remains at the heart of all we do at St Margaret’s, having outstanding purpose-built facilities is the added bonus that enables the children to benefit from the best possible experiences in all aspects of their education!
Welcome to the Summer 2015 Edition of The Echo As the academic year 2014/15 draws to a close we take the time to celebrate all that has been achieved during the past twelve months. The successes for the children have been many, both individually and collectively and I know that everyone will have their own particular highlight. This time of year is always tinged with sadness and excitement in equal measure; looking forward to what the future holds and saying goodbye in many different capacities. I send good wishes to all of our leavers, both children and staff and hope that, whatever the future holds, St Margaret’s will always have a special place in their hearts.
‘People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.’ I hope you enjoy reading this edition of The Echo and I send you and your families good wishes for a restful summer – I look forward to welcoming you back to school for the start of the new academic year in September.
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Kindergarten Explores ‘Space’ The Kindergarten children enjoyed exploring ‘Space’ this term, and loved dressing up as astronauts. They created their own planets by decorating CDs with glitter and sand, and used various recycled materials to create their own space rockets. Additionally, they used soft play blocks to build a spaceship to fly to the moon after sharing the story ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy. The children used books and interactive tablets to find out facts about Space, as well as the internet to view real space rockets and images of Space.
Reception C Halve Problems! Reception C enjoyed responding to HALVING and DOUBLING challenges this term, linked to their Challenge role-play area. They tried hard to develop their own ideas for problem-solving, using their own strategies. These strategies included counting on fingers, touching objects in order to count and share them, and arranging objects in rows. During the process the children used a range of mathematical vocabulary and also developed their reading, listening and speaking skills. All of the children demonstrated good perseverance skills and persevered well when challenges occurred, eventually taking pride in their achievements.
Tremendous Teamwork in Beebot Bonanza! In Reception P the children have learnt how to program the beebots in their Technology lessons. They had great fun programming them to move forwards, backwards, left and right. Mrs Perkins set the class a team challenge – each group had to design a minibeast jacket for their team beebot and then use their skills to help the beebot travel through a maze. It was very tricky but through group discussion and collaborative working, every team was successful. Brilliant beebot fun and tremendous team work from Reception P.
THEECHO ECHO ECHO SUMMER 2015 EDITION
A Feast Full of Fun in 1C Children in 1C have been learning all about Castles. They have been comparing castle life to modern day life, sequencing events in chronological order and learning about the different parts of a castle. They had great fun creating a class model of a castle using Mod Roc and junk modelling resources. The children planned their own castle banquet and wrote letters to a friend, inviting them to come along. They also designed their own place mat and crown and thoroughly enjoyed tasting different food and drink!
1J Blossom at Westonbirt As part of their scientific learning, Year 1 went on a trip to Westonbirt Arboretum. The children learnt about the different requirements for growth, as well as the names of lots of trees and plants. In the morning, they made their own soil with all the nutrients required for growth, they found lots of different leaves, smelt the beautiful blossom and even pretended to chop some trees down! Everyone really enjoyed the trip, especially den building, climbing trees and balancing on logs. The children even managed to build a wooden house for one of the three pigs!
Safely Does it 2A! The children in 2A have been investigating playground structures. After visiting the playground in Calne to explore the stability and attractiveness of the equipment, the children then conducted a survey across Year 1 and Reception to find out their favourite play equipment. Using the information from the survey, 2A worked collectively and individually to plan and create their play equipment, using junk modelling for their own miniature playground. It was a very exciting and focused task, ensuring their equipment met the ‘safety standards’ of ‘Miss Ainge’s Safe, Secure and Striking Health and Safety Check!’ They all did!
SPORTS
DAY 2015
www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk Unconventional Looms in 2T 2T had a fantastic time using weaving skills to create amazing pieces of art. They carefully chose coloured fabric to weave through an unconventional loom. The looms were created from hoops of various sizes. The children looked at how colours can be used in gardens, with different flowers to produce striking effects. They then used colour wheels to think about whether two colours would contrast or complement each other and how this would affect the final piece of work. This task helped them to develop not only their use of colour, but their motor skills to carefully move fabric in and out of a loom. Working with a partner the children are very proud of the finished display of their skills.
Domino’s Delivers to Year 3 At the start of term it was evident that Year 3 were very experienced at eating pizza, but less experienced at making it! Luckily Domino’s is just a short walk away from school and the staff there were happy to deliver a master class. The children were invited behind the scenes to see how the kitchen is organised and learn how a pizza is made from start to finish. They even got to watch a champion pizza maker in action. By this stage mouths were watering and stomachs rumbling. It was important to taste the pizzas in order to evaluate different flavour combinations and everyone, staff included, tucked into the feast with delight. Once back at school the children were inspired to design and make their own delicious pizzas. So if you fancy a snack during the holidays, put their new found skills to the test!
Year 3 Cherhill Field Trip As part of their Geography studies, the Year 3 children have been learning about Wiltshire. They can map the main towns and have been learning about famous landmarks. They were then lucky enough to visit a local landmark, the Cherhill White Horse. Whilst the children were there they observed a collection of 10 photographs and had to work out where Mrs Richards had been standing when she took them. The children then mapped these onto an Ordnance Survey map and an aerial photograph. Everyone sat in the sun and enjoyed a scrumptious picnic at the top of the hill; it was the best trip ever!
Amazing Ancient Greek Art in 4B 4B have been studying the use of pattern in their everyday life as well as during Ancient Greek times. In their art lessons, the children have been working alongside Mrs Harlock, looking at how pattern was depicted on Greek pots. Pots came in all sorts of shapes and sizes depending on their purpose, and were often beautifully decorated with scenes from daily life. Once the children had decided what shape they wanted their pots to be, they drew the outline in their sketch books and then experimented with some authentic Ancient Greek patterns. The next stage was to make printing blocks using different materials such as cardboard, polystyrene and string. Finally, they used paint trays and rollers and carefully printed the patterns onto their Greek pots. Everyone was extremely pleased with the results!
THEECHO ECHO ECHO SUMMER 2015 EDITION
Year 4 Enjoy Mill on the Brue Year 4 had another brilliant adventure at Mill on the Brue outdoor activity centre: getting muddy, learning to collaborate as a team and solving lots of exciting challenges. The children tackled archery, cooked in a clay oven, slid on grass toboggans and raced round obstacle courses. One of the highlights was the colony game where the children were put into ‘tribes’. They then had to barter for building materials to make a den and ingredients for hot chocolate. Everyone then composed songs and danced for the water native to win water to enable them to make the hot chocolate! The children finally huddled around a camp fire, cooked marshmallows and sipped their well-earned hot chocolate. A fantastic time was had by all with many wonderful memories to be treasured!
Lovely Landscapes in 5G After their field trip to Swanage, the children in 5G chose images of the coast to create large-scale paintings. These needed enlarging to transfer the picture onto the huge pieces of paper and this meant that the entire group were involved in drawing and assessing the effect of their lines. Working together, they painted the scenes, mixing colours and adding textures using sponges and brushwork. Getting distance into the pictures was important and needed lighter shades near the horizon. The children worked really hard, discussing how to achieve their results as well as actually painting the pieces. Standing back from the images, the full effect becomes clear. Alice and Poppy also investigated traditional and contemporary landscape artists, choosing a favourite picture to reproduce. Both girls prefer a more modern approach to landscape painting!
5W Cam Build Anything! Year 5 children have been looking at how cams convert motion from rotary to reciprocating (circular movement to backwards and forwards), or vice versa. They investigated how cams are used all around them and proceeded to plan and construct toys with movement built in. The building of the toys not only tested their engineering skills, but also their building ability, using precise measuring, then saws and drills, then finally finding secure ways of joining their parts. The results were very impressive on Open Day.
www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk Desperate to Dye in 6B! On a sunny Friday in June, Year 6 set out on a project of tie dying and cooking their own lunch. Half the class made meatballs and cheesecake in Maggots, whilst the remaining children started to prepare their T-shirts for dying. The T-shirts were tied up and the children then used marbles, rubber bands, ping pong balls and string to create patterns; starburst spots, spirals, bullseyes, stripes and ‘flowers’. It took quite a lot of practise to get the bands and string tight enough to create an intricate pattern. Each child chose their favourite colour of dye, which was mixed with hot water and salt, before the T-shirts were plunged into buckets containing the dye. Year 6 then enjoyed a delicious al fresco lunch before hanging out their finished T-shirts to dry. Everyone enjoyed ‘unwrapping’ their T-shirts to reveal the patterns that had been created. Some of the bumps and creases needed ironing out and Mrs Beach and Mrs Chester realised they had missed out on an opportunity for their own ironing to be done! Year 6 are really proud of their work and look forward to wearing their T shirts.
6C’s Celebration of Art In Art and Design lessons Year 6 had enormous fun creating a substantive piece of art using a famous artist as inspiration. To start with, the children all picked an area of art that they most enjoyed; or thought that they would be most successful in recreating. Chosen media included sculpture, painting, pastels, collage, graphics and spray art. Next, famous artists whose work reflects these different media and techniques were researched in detail. Elizabeth Berrin, Banksy, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and George Segal were just a few of the names chosen. The nine elements of art are colour, pattern, shape, form, line, space, tone, texture and composition. Each child looked at one of these elements and prepared an individual study to help develop ideas towards their final piece, which was to be ‘in the style of’! All of these preliminary stages were captured on an individual mood board and, along with the final piece, displayed on Open Day. The results were outstanding and will look fantastic back at home, as well as providing special memories in years to come when the children look back at their time at St Margaret’s.
Year 6 is La Crème de La Crème! During the summer term, the Year 6 children created their very own captivating performance of the Great British Bake Off - ‘Le Meilleur Chef Pâtissier 2015’. The production showcased the children’s huge range of talents from cooking to dancing, singing to judging, presenting to technology and designing to linguistics. The resulting film – presented (in French) to the whole school by St Margaret’s Studios – was testament to the hard work and creativity that the children demonstrated whilst working on the project. What a fantastic finale to Year 6!
St Margaret’s Preparatory School, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 0DF Tel: 01249 857220 Fax: 01249 857227 Email: office@stmargaretsprep.org.uk Website: www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk