Newsletter 10th October 2014 - St Michaels Preparatory School
Transcription
Newsletter 10th October 2014 - St Michaels Preparatory School
St Michael’s School Code of Conduct At St Michael’s we are all individuals within our peer group. We understand that what we think, say and do is important and our thoughts, words and deeds can have an impact on others. We will always endeavour to create positive relationships and will look to resolve any differences with maturity, honesty and understanding. We will always try to earn respect by showing respect and will treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. 10th October 2014 From the Head I think this week was as wild as the last was sunny. Despite the elements, we enjoyed many great trips this week; to the Trussell Trust to hand over our harvest donations, to the cinema at Bluewater, to the screening on Wednesday of BBC Ten Pieces, to Juniper Hall for the Year 8 Common Entrance Geography field trip to wade in rivers and measure things in a deluge of rain, and to Sevenoaks School to enjoy a fabulous production of “Les Misérables”. I felt great pride in seeing siblings, former pupils and other pupils on stage who will be unforgettable for their talent. It was moving and memorable. Throw in lots of sport, exciting assemblies and Red, White and Blue day and you have the sum of it; just another week at St Michael’s. I congratulate the U11 A team (Football) on reaching the finals of the Kent and Sussex Region tournament and as runners up in the tournament qualifying for the national finals. The finals take place in St George’s Park, Northampton in May. Louis Green is also to be congratulated on his selection to the Kent County rugby squad. We are all very proud of him. Finn Gosney has just heard that he’s been picked for the Arsenal development squad. What great talent we have here. Details and photos from RWB Day will appear in next week’s newsletter. The day was a great success and at a time when our service men and women are drawn into active service abroad it seems right to be thinking about the important strategic ways in which our armed services display commitment, service, generosity, intellect and teamwork to work to secure peace in our world. We are proud to be supporting them with our giving and learning more from them and about them. Our head of ICT is a serving member of the Territorial Army and we are grateful for the work she has put into the organisation of Red, White and Blue day at St Michael’s Prep. I would like to thank Mrs Hudson and the Déjà Vu team who generously gave us a cheque for £2,250 raised by the sale of second hand uniform. With this money, we are buying a new resource, Espresso, which offers flexible electronic content across the curriculum. We look forward to using this soon. We enjoyed a visit by two old Michaelians, Canon Gerard and Rev Paul Rose on Monday Rev Rose’s name appears on the Scholarship board on the old staircase . They were most eager to reconnect and impressed by the enormity of the buildings compared to the unextended house in their days. As we toured the school they remembered which rooms had been dorms, which the offices and living quarters of a range of staff. As we remember the armed forces this week and raise money for charities that support them, they reminded us how it was to be at school here in WWII, hiding under the stairs and sleeping in the cellar during raids, planes going straight over the school, fear, togetherness and strength in community. There have been other examples of thoughtfulness this week, the Year 6 A team (Football) supporting their fellow Bs and showing concern for the injured player, the pupil who knocked on my door to tell me how marvellous one of our teaching assistants is and a parent writing to thank colleagues for all the support her sons are getting. And then came the excitement of mother and daughter sport in Year 2 and the P and F quiz night tonight. I’m sorry my presence at the touchy feely quiz of the year was lacking. Representing the school elsewhere meant I had to miss it this time. Staff News I’m delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs Laura Andrade to the post of Head of English. 1 Laura gained her degree in English Literature at Durham University and completed her teacher training at the University of Cambridge. Over the past eleven years, she has taught English in a variety of educational settings: she started her career at a large secondary school in Cambridgeshire, before moving into the independent sector as Head of English and Drama at the Duke of Kent School in Surrey. Here, she held several different positions of responsibility, most notably Houseparent and Head of Senior School. Laura is currently an English teacher and the IGCSE co-ordinator at the International School of Riga, Latvia. She moved overseas with her family in search of new challenges and to broaden their collective horizons but, now that her children are of school age, they are returning to the UK to put down some roots. Laura is married to Nick, a PE teacher. In her spare time, she enjoys long distance running, particularly marathons, although with two young children (Sophie aged 5 and Lucy aged 3) she does not have as many opportunities to compete in these as she would like! She also enjoys aerobics, reading and simply spending time with her family. Headteacher’s performance development appraisal. As you will see from the letter accompanying this newsletter, I look forward to reviewing my performance and planning the way forward within the IAPS scheme. Mrs Ros Bowman will be conducting this appraisal on behalf of the governors and you are invited to offer comment and feedback through the questionnaires. I wish you a pleasant weekend. We wish the ski team every success in the national finals and the P & F a wonderfully happy quiz night. Jill Aisher And some more from the Head; some pleas, please. Message from the County Council: Otford Playground -Dangerous Play Heads have been asked to remind parents that children using parks and playgrounds should be supervised by parents. The community playground in Hale Lane has recently seen some selfish and dangerous behaviour by some children, some of whom were with parents but unchecked by them. In particular parents are asked to ensure that children do not climb on the roof of the shelter there. I do hope that none of our children are involved. Taking Holidays in Term Time I have received a disappointing number of requests to take children out of school for one or two days before or after half term. There may be a sense in which parents feel justified in taking cheaper flights through this timing but there isn’t any justification in taking children out of school when holidays are planned so far in advance and are long and generously timed. I would be grateful if parents would please organise holidays to fall within published holiday dates. Important work, and in this case, assessments are carried out in this week. It is not our policy, when holidays are taken in term time, to provide work. Everyone misses out. Monitoring lateness This half term we are analysing lateness by pupils. With the exception of this week (which has been affected by extreme traffic issues because of roadworks) families whose children have been late more than 7 times this half term are asked to come and meet with one of us after half term to investigate what can be done to ensure a reduction in lateness. If you look at the body language of a child arriving late, they are stressed and anxious and therefore unable to begin effective work straightaway. Getting children to school on time (roadworks excepted) is a parent’s responsibility. Please prioritise getting the children here by 8.20am to give them the best possible start. Thank you. Absences Please note if you are calling in to report your child absent, this must be done by 9am. The absence line does not get checked after the registers have closed. If a child is found to be missing from a register, then we would call home to check the whereabouts of the child, which may disturb you if you are unwell. The absence line is available throughout the night. Road Safety Can we please remind parents that children must be supervised at all times, and should constantly be aware of road safety, particularly in the car park? This week we had an incident where a child was nearly hit by a car after running into the road. The child was unsupervised at the time, and the incident, which could have been very serious indeed, left the driver shaken, unable to locate the parent at all to let them know and could have been avoided had the child been walking on the pavement with an adult. Jill Aisher 2 From the Deputy Head CATS testing All of our Year 4, 5 and 7 pupils have now taken the Cognitive Abilities Test Fourth Edition (CAT4) which assess how well a student can think about tasks and solve problems using a range of different questions. The results from these tests are incredibly useful in helping us, as teachers, to decide about the pace and style of learning that is right for our classes and the pupils within them. We will be providing you with an individual parent report which gives an overview of CAT4, and an explanation of your child’s results and where their strengths and weaknesses lie. The report is designed to help you understand your child’s profile of results and what actions can be taken to further their learning. You can also use it to support school-based learning activities at home. The parent th reports will be emailed out to you on Thursday 16 October. We will be running the CAT4 tests for pupils in Year 3 and 6 in the Lent term. Further information about this, including exact dates will be published in advance. Mary Bridges Whole School Fireworks night 7th November at 6.30pm th Fireworks tickets will be on sale from Monday 6 October and are available from both school offices. The cost inclusive of food and a drink is £7.00 per adult and £5.00 per child, or £6.00 and £4.00 without food and drink. Please note next week will be your last chance to buy Food tickets th so please purchase these by Friday 17 October. Please also note that we recommend you buy your tickets in advance of the night due to the popularity of this event. We do sometimes have tickets available on the night but this will depend on the numbers sold in advance and you may be turned away at the gate if we are full. We look forward to seeing you there. Tina Kennard Harvest Collection for the Trussell Trust. We were hugely excited to see the response from the pupil and parent body to the whole school request for produce for the Harvest Festival last week. Both down at Pre-Prep and up in the Prep school we had heaving tables of everything from Weetabix to Haribo to toothbrushes! The vast majority of the goods were taken back to the food bank in Swanley by Wendy Halford, our ex-catering manager who is now a volunteer for the charity. She was in Pre-Prep to give the children a talk about what happens to the donated food and who it helps, in their time of need. On Tuesday this week, I took our Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl and Boy (unfortunately our Head Boy was busy preparing an impressive art portfolio for a scholarship application) to Swanley to deliver the last few bags of produce. Wendy met us there and showed us around the premises that they share with the local Citizens Advice Bureau. We were also introduced to Councillor Mrs Janet Sargeant, who spoke to the children about the vital work of the food bank in the local area. From the ‘front office’, we were then shown the behind the scenes work where the donations are sorted and prioritised for distribution. 3 Wendy showed the children the extent of the donations from St Michael’s. A statistic to be very proud of is that St Michael’s provided more goods than the other donating organisations in the local area put together. She did also let us know that the ongoing commitment that the St Michael’s community has shown has meant that the food bank has been able to continue to support the families in crisis in the Swanley area. Without our ongoing collections, they would struggle to meet the needs of those families who rely on the food from the bank. We have committed to continue with our support for this local charity and urge you all to check the calendar for the Year-specific collection fortnights, but also say that anyone can donate at any time. In the last week before Christmas, there will be a whole school collection in the run up to the festive period and I hope that we can all help to contribute to a happy Christmas for those in need. Fraser Wiseman Déjà Vu Joining us in Déjà Vu are the following new volunteers: Fi Kerr, Atala Myburgh, Fiona Michie and Sarah Williams. Having opened Déjà Vu in the summer holidays we have been able to give the school a cheque for a further £2,250. Many thanks to the existing volunteers, who opened in the summer holidays, and welcome to the new volunteers! Sally Hudson Wednesday 15th October Please be aware that a visiting sports team will be travelling by coach and therefore will be leaving the school grounds at 3.30pm. We are sorry for any inconvenience. Fraser Wiseman Half term activities Hockey Camp I am organising a 3-day hockey camp during the first week of the October half term. The camp is running from Monday 20th to nd Wednesday 22 October. The course will run from 10am - 3pm on all three days. The lead coaches on the course will be myself and Mr Richard Young. We have also had confirmation that current England international Sophie Bray will be joining us to help with the coaching on one of the days. Letters can be collected from the office next week or will be emailed on request. These camps are becoming increasingly popular so please reserve your space ASAP to avoid potential disappointment. You can contact me on [email protected] Joel Thomas Archway Football Academy October Holiday Course th th I will be running my Archway Soccer School again during the October half term, 27 – 30 October. If you would like to book a place please collect a booking form from the Prep school office, and th return it by Wednesday 15 October. You can contact me on [email protected] Carlos Lopez 4 Pre-Prep School News Dear Parents, I was about to start to write the copy for the newsletter when a tiny knock was at my door; once opened I found two gorgeous Reception class children standing with beaming smiles with an offering of bread and butter that they had made all by themselves. What can I say beyond the fact that this is confirmation to me that the teachers are working so creatively with the children to bring their education to life; the children had measured, talked, kneaded, talked, set an oven temperature, talked, shared equally, talked, shaped, talked, watched the bread change size, talked, felt the change of state, talked, shaken cream, talked, observed the changes, talked... then eaten the experiment! Science, maths, language, communication and social skills all in the space of an hour, all wrapped in an activity that the children will remember for time to come...wonderful. . We were very proud of the children from Year 2, they behaved beautifully when out at the Bluewater cinema earlier this week. They had been to see the BBC Ten Pieces screening as an introduction to their music project;, I really look forward to seeing and hearing their follow-on work. Year 1 have been busy measuring using non-standard units, no one could stand still for a second, as if you did a set of cubes was thrust against your feet and their size was quickly compared against any other adult that was unable to move speedily out of the way! There are definitely some budding mathematicians developing here. Kindergarten and Nursery have enjoyed a week of splashing in puddles and running through leaves as they continue to discover the changing season around them. Never a dull moment downstairs; it is always such a delight to observe the children immersed in purposeful play. All the children looked fabulous dressed in red, white and blue today. They had a special visitor from the charity who came to thank them for their kind donations and to explain a little about the work that they do to support our forces. Thank you to all the brave mums who arrived this afternoon in trainers and tracksuits. I know just how much your girls have loved having you play in their netball skills training session. It is difficult to believe that next week is our final one before the half term break, however, life in the Pre-Prep will continue to roll at a fast pace right to the very end. Reception classes are off to Godstone Farm on Thursday and the boys from Year 2 will be at full throttle competing in their football ournament on Friday afternoon. The International Club have asked me to put out a plea for donations of kitchen roll inner tubes. They are superbly organised and looking ahead to their cracker stall for the Christmas Fayre. Please drop them into the Pre-Prep and we will pass them onto Mrs Hume. Thank you. On a final note, please may I ask that families keep us informed of any parent trips away or changes in circumstances that might affect your child. Their well-being is important to us and if we are aware that they may be feeling a little wobbly or out of sorts, we will ensure that there is additional support in school to help them to manage their feelings. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend... Carolyn Hookes-Gosney Head of Pre Prep Parents’ Evenings Thursday 13th and Tuesday 18th November 2014 th Lists for you to sign up for Parents’ Evenings will be placed outside the Reception area on Tuesday 4 November. Please note there will be No Activities (apart from paid Activities) on these dates. Congratulations Weekly Music Practice Award: Nathan A Certificate of Achievement was awarded to: Oliver and Poppy for making excellent progress in Phonics Lexia Reading Certificates were awarded to: Ethan and Gracie for completing Level 1 in Early Reading Isabella, Laurence and Mia for completing Level 2 in Early Reading Charlotte, Natasha, Nathan and Luke for completing Level 1 in Foundation Reading Matilda and Oliver for completing Level 2 in Foundation Reading Emma and Harrison for completing Level 3 in Foundation Reading 5 Beau for completing Level 4 in Foundation Reading Gold Stars were awarded to: Jacob for trying really hard to speed up his work / Laurence for working hard in lessons / Robin for delivering such a confident show and tell this week / Sophia for working so hard in everything / Theodore for fantastic sentence writing / Aurelia for trying so hard in our phonics and maths activities this week / Aaron for his enthusiasm for school and learning / Gracie for fantastic literacy work / All of 1S and 1W for a wonderful performance in the Harvest Festival Assembly / Samuel for working so hard on his writing tasks / All of 2FD and 2L for wonderful behaviour during our trip to Bluewater. In Monday’s Assembly Neve we enjoyed Neve’s performance of ‘Two by Two’ on her violin – well done, Neve! Star Violinist of the Week: Tilly Well done, Tilly! 6 Nursery children having fun despite the rain on Wednesday… Reception children in their cookery class on Thursday. 7 the Nursery children on their first autumn outing to woods on Thursday. Year 1 children have been counting, measuring and practising their mathematics skills. 8 Prep School News Cake Sale th There will be a cake sale held in the dining room after school on Friday 17 October for the Jersey Tour and Y8 Leavers Fund. Please see attached poster. Bring along some money and enjoy some delicious treats! Lexia Certificates Maisie Cheriton Level 1 in Strategies Congratulations Congratulations to Louis, who has been selected for the Kent County rugby squad. The trials took place last week and the standard was extremely high – well done on a fantastic achievement! 9 What’s on Next Week (P) = Parents welcome Monday 13th October Tuesday 14th October Wednesday 15th October Pre-Prep HiStory Troupe Assembly 9.00am Hockey Sutton Valence U11 Tournament (A) 1.30pm (P) Y6 Trussell Trust Food Bank week Performance Platform 5.00 pm (P) Hockey Sutton Valence U10 A, B (H) 2.30pm (P) st rd Football New Beacon 1 , 3 (H) 2 (A) 2.30pm (P) nd Football New Beacon Colts A,B,C (H) D, E (A) 2.30pm (P) Thursday 16th October Friday 17th October Saturday 18th October Reception Trip to Godstone Farm All Day Netball Granville U9C A,B,C (H) 2.30pm (P) Football Hawthorns U9, A,B,C,D (A) 2.00pm (P) Football Russell House U8 B (H) 2.30pm (P) Mrs Ringrose’s Assembly 8.35am Y2 Football Tournament 2.00pm (P) Football Sutton Valence U8 A,C (H) 2.45pm (P) Netball Hawthorns U8 A,B (A) 2.45pm (P) Changes to the Diary -Football Russell House U8 B (H) 2.30pm (P) Open Mornings Beechwood Sacred Heart School www.beechwood.org.uk th Saturday 14 March 2015 9.30am - 1.00pm. Mayfield www.mayfieldgirls.org Tuesday 4th November 2014. 10 NO SATURDAY SPORT ACTIVITIES th until 8 November Sackville School, Hildenborough www.sackvilleschool.co.uk th Open morning Wednesday 5 November 11.15am. Sutton Valence School www.svs.org.uk th th Saturday 8 November. Sixth Form Saturday 11 October. Tonbridge School www.tonbridge-school.co.uk Saturday 11th October 2014, 14th March 2015, 9th May 2015 – 10.00am. 2017 Entry Further Information:- We are now re-testing all those registered with us for 2017 entry. We continue to accept further registrations for both boarding and day places; anyone wishing to apply for a place will be called for a pre-selection test as soon as they have registered. It is likely that the 2017 entry list will close within the next six months and we therefore encourage any potential Tonbridge applicants to register with us as soon as possible. Worth School www.worthschool.co.uk th Saturday 15 November. Sports News Under 11’s Seven-a-side Tournament. Kent & Sussex Region. Season 2014-15 Despite heavy rain at times, the enthusiasm of the teams remained undimmed at the Kent & Sussex Championship at Cumnor House on 4th October. 16 teams competed, divided into 4 groups with St. Michael's, Royal Russell, Bede's and Great Walstead all topping their respective groups. St Michael’s 1 St Michael’s 4 St Michael’s 2 Ardingly 0 M. Fry Lingfield Prep 1 L. Castro, M. Fry Cumnor House 0 C. Driscoll, A. Ellam All teams qualified for the knock-out stages but only two of those group winners won through to the semi-final stages. St. Michaels's and Great Walstead being joined by Lingfield Notre Dame, who had been in St. Michael's group, and Holmewood House, who had finished runners-up to Great Walstead. St Michael’s 6 Handcross Park 1 M. Fry, L. Castro, C. Driscoll. The semi-finals were both extremely tight matches, both finishing goalless and both going to penalties, but it was perhaps justice that the two group winners eventually won through. Holmewood House were arguably a trifle unfortunate, going home undefeated, but they had already won through two earlier games on penalties to fortune was inevitably to go against them at some stage. St Michae’ls 1 Holmewood House 1 St Michael’s win on penalties The Final was a cracking match which was much closer than the eventual score line was to suggest. There appeared to little between the teams at first but the game sprang to life when Great Walstead took the lead through a superb headed goal from Jack from a right wing cross. In the second half St. Michael's could find no answer and Great Walstead took control of the match as Jack contributed 11 5-4 be three further but well-taken goals to ensure Great Walstead won the title for the second year in succession. However, both finalists qualify for the National Finals. Congratulations on a very special achievement gentlemen, you demonstrated everything that is great about St Michael’s and their pupils. Your football was of the highest quality and you maintained the high standards of the school with your behaviour and gamesmanship. We look forward to continuing our footballing adventures. St Michael’s U11 Football Tournament – 20th September On September 20th we hosted a football tournament for the A and B teams. Both teams were amazing, but what stood out was the look of concern on the rest of the team's faces the moment Floris (from the B team) injured himself. It seemed those boys were determined to win for him, and they did. The A team showed their wonderful team spirit by cheering the B team while keeping him company. They dedicated the trophy to Floris, who went straight to the hospital after the tournament. Maybe Sam Cluley's speech got through to our boys. Well done and congratulations to all the boys who took part, we are very proud. Cross Country rd Thomas Trophy at Sevenoaks Prep – Friday 3 October Well done to all the runners who took part in this event, the competition is always extremely strong. There were large numbers of runners in each event and we had some very creditable performances. These races are always tough due to the terrain and the hills! St Michael’s best performances were from: U13 boys – U11 boys - 12 th B. Brown-6 th G. Fisher – 7 rd T. Weekes – 23 U11 girls U9 girls - th th I. Cherny – 19 & A. Scott – 25 th th A. Faulstich – 8 & A. Saunders – 13 Well done to all of our runners!! Thanks to the parents for their support on the day! th IAPS Cross Country - Thursday 9 October These results will be in next week’s newsletter when we have had the official results from The Schools at Somerhill. SPORTS RESULTS Boys’ Games Girls’ Games Football Hockey Saturday 4th October Saturday 4 October St Michael’s U10 Tournament Hawthorns U11 Tournament A Team The A team took a little bit of time to find their feet in Saturday’s tournament. They were playing some fantastic football but were unable to find the target with many of their shots. As a result they ended up coming 3rd in their group, qualifying for the plate semi-final. The team came up against Rose Hill from the other group and started playing some fantastic football. They completely dominated Rose Hill and won the game 3-0. In the final they found themselves up against Sevenoaks Prep again whom they had played earlier in the day. Unfortunately a lapse in concentration saw the boys concede a cheap goal and they were unable to find the goal with any of their shots. The final score was 1-0 Sevenoaks. Team: O. Pryal, A. Heslop, H. French, H. Martin, N. Thomson, M. Ecclestone. The under 11 team started well with a 2-0 victory against Downsend B team and then drew 0-0 with Hawthorns in a hard fought contest. The team then lost 3-0 to a strong Downsend A team before drawing 0-0 against City of London Freemen’s in a game we should have won. We lost narrowly to Daneshill in the final game. These results still meant the team finished a creditable 3rd place out of the six teams -well done to the whole squad. B Team The B team did exceptionally well in their tournament on Saturday. In the league stage they won 3 and lost one match which resulted in them finishing second in their group. They went on to the cup semi-final where they beat Russell House 1-0. The final was against New Beacon and the match was very closely contested with chances at either end. New Beacon scored very close to the end of the match with a header from a corner. So St Michael’s finished runners-up. Scorers were M. Hall 4, J. Hudson 2, J. Hoch 1 and Z. Hudson 1. Congratulations to all the boys who worked with great enthusiasm and played some very good football. U10 A v Hazelwood (Away at Edenbridge) Result: Lost 1-2 Scorer: L. Stokes Player of the Match: E. Man 13 th th Wednesday 8 October U11 A v Sutton Valence Prep (Away) Result: Lost 0-2 Player of the Match: A. Scott U10 B v Hazelwood (Away at Edenbridge) Result: won 2-0 Scorer: A. Powell Players of the Match: A. Powell & P. Tilling Tuesday 7th October U9 A v Sevenoaks Prep (Away) Result: Lost 4-1 Scorer: G. Schooley Man of the Match: W. Craddock U9 B v Sevenoaks Prep (Away) Result: Drew 0-0 Man of the Match: H. Kirby U9 C v Sevenoaks Prep (Away) Result: Won 1-0 Scorer: O. Stuart Men of the Match: O. Stuart and O. Baker Wednesday 8th October U12A v Hazelwood (Away) Result: Won 2-0 Scorers: J. Brindley, M. Nicoll Men of the Match: The team U12A v Hawthorns (Away) Result: Drew 1-1 Scorer: R. Baillie Man of the Match: R. Baillie U12B v Hawthorns (Away) Result: Lost 2-0 Man of the Match: M. Edwards U12B v Hawthorns (Away) Result: Drew 0-0 Man of the Match: T. Godfrey Colts D v Russell House A (Home) Result: Lost 6-2 Scorers: C. Brown, P. Hodson Man of the Match: J. Pottier Colts E v Russell House B (Home) Result: Lost 5-1 Scorer: A. Barry Men of the Match: D. Williams and V. Poracchia Thursday 9th October U8 A v Hazelwood (Home) Result: Won 3-0 Scorers: T. Adesanya (2) J. Fryer (1) Man of the Match: K. Smith U8 B v Hazelwood (Home) Result: Won 2-1 Scorer: J. Cosgrove (2) Man of the Match: J. Cosgrove U8 C v Hazelwood (Home) Result: Won 5-1 Scorers: T. Lister-St George (2) W. Sherry, E. Ellis, C. Mottram Man of the Match: W. Sherry 14
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