The Rydes Hill Times - Rydes Hill Preparatory School

Spring Term, Issue 118
May 2013
The Rydes Hill Times
… our newsletter
keeping parents in touch
DIARY DATES
Letter from the Headmistress
27th—31st MAY: HALF TERM
Dear Parents,
Week beginning 3rd June
Mon
3rd
Wed
5th
Golden Boot Challenge starts
Lower Transition outing to Marwell Zoo
District Athletics Championships, The Spectrum Guildford—2.30pm
Golden Boot Challenge ends
Lower Preparatory Coffee Morning—8.30am
Fri
7th
House Colours Mufti Day in aid of minibus
Second Hand Uniform Shop, Form One
classroom—2.30 - 4.00pm
Week beginning 10th June
Mon
10th
Form One & Higher Preparatory PGL residential trip to Windmill Hill departs
Tues
11th
Friends’ Committee Meeting—7.45pm
Wed
12th
Lower Preparatory outing to Wisley ‘Get
Growing’
Fri
14th
Form One & Higher Preparatory PGL residential trip to Windmill Hill returns
Middle Preparatory Coffee Morning—8.30am
Week beginning 17th June
Mon
17th
Prospective Parents Open Morning—
10.00am - 12 noon
Tues
18th
Mass—9.15am (parents welcome, refreshments afterwards in the Dining Hall)
Wed
19th
Thurs
20th
Form One Junior Citizenship outing—12.45 2.45pm
Thank you so much for your
generous support of our new
minibus appeal, led by Mrs
Hall and the Friends of
Rydes Hill. We have almost
reached our target of
£11,000 and, with a further
contribution from School
funds, we shall be looking
forward to a second minibus
in the autumn term.
Well done to Maisy for
suggesting the additional
‘Bob A Job’ fundraising
idea for over half term—we
look forward to hearing
about it! Holly, Maddie and
Issy in Higher Preparatory
have also suggested a
carwash, which we will
have more details about
after half term as the
weather gets warmer. A
newsletter with more information from the Friends is
attached.
We also have good news
from Chef Jane and her
team, who have agreed,
from the autumn term
2013, to provide all the
match teas. Since the num-
I am delighted that
many children have
noted the increase
in variety and quantity of food at lunch
times, thanks to Chef Jane
and the additional staff in
her team this term.
Thank you for supporting our
initiative to improve safety in
the School car park by using
the new woodland walk and
the zebra crossing and driving at under 5mph. Thank
you to governor Mr Colin
Mullis for leading this initiative and all those who have
helped. Thank you also for
displaying the new Rydes Hill
car park stickers in your
vehicles.
Following the success of last
year’s competition, over half
term your child will be coming home with a circle of
white paper on which to
design a safety sign for the
Miss Deering Concert, the Lodge—2.00pm
Mrs White’s
baby
Whole School Sports Day: Nursery—9.00am
Pre-Preparatory—10.45am
Preparatory—1.30pm
Higher Preparatory Coffee Morning—8.30am
Fri
21st
ber of matches and
tournaments
has
increased so much
we hope that this is
an advantage for
busy parents!
Congratulations to teacher Mrs White on the birth
of beautiful daughter
Matilda (Tilly) Grace!
Upper Transition outing to Windsor Castle
Kindergarten Assembly—10.15am
Speech & Drama Examinations
Sat
22nd
We all look forward to
meeting her soon!
Speech & Drama Examinations
Ballet Examinations
2-3: Sports & Music
www.rydeshill.com
car park. The winning three
designs will be turned into
real signs and displayed in
the grounds.
We appreciate your collecting
Sainsburys vouchers for
schools. The deadline for giving these to us is Monday 3rd
June, after half term. Please
put your vouchers in the box in
the Nursery corridor near Mrs
Carol Smith’s office.
Higher Preparatory and Form
one parents are invited to a
meeting in the Lodge at
3.45pm on 4th June to discuss the PGL week away.
The Surrey Advertiser featured our May Procession
this month, photographs of
which are on pages 4-5, with
more on the website. We
hope you enjoy them!
I have been delighted to
attend a number of First Holy
Communions and three Confirmations of former Rydes
Hill pupils this term. Photographs will follow in the next
newsletter.
Happy half term!
God bless,
— Mrs Bell
4-5: May Queen Procession
6-7: School Outings
Email: [email protected]
8: Silver Book & Children’s Section
Tel: 01483 563160
Page 2
Cricket & Rounders at Longacre—10th May 2013
Determination, team spirit, excellent support and a dedicated
class teacher made this a winning afternoon!
The weather forecast was rain,
however, the sun shone and a
great afternoon for rounders and
cricket was had by all. The Kindergarten and Lower Transition
boys, with a few Upper Transition
girls, made a huge effort to improve their skills in cricket.
The boys had lots of exciting moments to share with me and it
seemed the girls really made a
difference to their team. They
thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.
Above: the Upper Transition Orange team
Below: the Upper Transition Green team
I would like to thank all the parents who helped with the boys on
the field, especially Mr Steer. It is
wonderful to hear their stories
with such enthusiasm and excitement; it reminds me of why we
arrange friendly, fun fixtures with
other schools for this age group.
The Upper Transition girls really
excelled in Rounders. The players
pushed themselves to make the
next rounders post; there was
healthy competition by all to
score full rounders and half
rounders. It was incredible to see
them embrace the game with
sheer determination. After two
weeks of hard practice in the
classroom and on the field, they
played like little champions.
The girls played three matches
each: the green team won their
first match 3 ½ - 2 against Longacre, drew their second game
against our orange team 3 ½ all
and won the last game against
Felton Fleet 2 – 1 ½!
The orange team drew their first
match against Felton Fleet 2 all,
drew against the green team and
lost 1 ½ – 3 ½ against Longacre.
It was lovely to see Mrs Baker,
their class teacher, support the
class with such passion. Thank
you to all the parents and grandparents for supporting the whole
class either by helping with
transport or simply encouraging
from the sidelines; it was very
much appreciated.
I would like to emphasise the
importance of matches like this.
We arrange them so all pupils can
experience what it is like to go to
another school and play a sporting fixture. It is not really about
winning and losing, although winning is always an added bonus.
We are preparing the younger
children for the years ahead. The
most important factor was for all
children to have ‘fun’ and I feel
this was achieved.
Thank you and well done everyone!
Carrie Places at Ice Skating Competition
Congratulations to Carrie, who did extremely well and came third in her category at the Guildford Ice Figure Skating Club
Free competition on 23rd March.
This competition was open to all ice skating clubs around the country and involved
Carrie doing an ice skating routine to music in front of four judges. Well done!
— Mrs Bell
— Mrs D Morris
Page 3
Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose
The main hall at Rydes Hill was
turned into a recording studio on
Friday 26th April, as all the girls
from Lower Prep to Form One
gathered to record the children’s
choir songs and choruses for
Alexander L’Estrange’s new choral piece: Ahoy! Sing for the Mary
Rose.
Songs ranged from sea shanties
(including Haul Away Joe and
Sam’s Gone Away) to the famous
Tudor song Greensleeves. My
guess is that Drunken Sailor was
the children’s favourite song!
The children’s voices will be
mixed with the adult choir’s (also
recorded at Rydes Hill) and the
instrumental group (piano,
drums, double bass, violin and
accordion) and the final CD version will be released in time for
the first performance (in Ports-
mouth) on 24 June. Parents
will be able to purchase a copy
of the CD at just £5. I will let
you know as soon as it is available.
- Mrs T Forbes
Right:
Mrs Forbes with
composer Alexander L’Estrange
and sound engineer Al Forbes
Transform Charity Walk at Painshill Park
On Sunday 12th May our charity
of the year, Transform, led a
walk and picnic in Painshill Park.
Tour guides described the highlights of the park on the twoand-a-half mile journey, including beautiful landscaping and
18th-century follies, as the sun
shone.
Our Chairman of Governors, Mr
Bernard Stevens, who is also a
trustee of the charity, joined us
with his wife Carol.
Our final fundraising for Transform will be the collections at
the summer production. We
have already raised £1844.66.
Pupil
Juliette
with her
dog Hugo
Thank you all so much for your
support for this worthwhile
cause, which helps homeless
young people in the Guildford
area.
Mr Stevens
enjoys the view
from the ‘Gothic
Temple’ folly
Lucy P
Left: Mr and Mrs Bernard Stevens
Page 4
THE MAY QUEEN PROCESSION
On May 2nd Rydes Hill continued its
longstanding tradition of the 'May
Queen' procession by the students
who celebrated their First Holy Communion this year with the crowning of
the statue of Our Lady in the garden.
It was a beautiful day for the ceremony, and Higher Preparatory's Julia
The girls celebrating First Holy Communion
this year processed through the garden to
crown Our Lady’s statue with flowers
made a lovely May Queen to crown the
statue before the rest of the school laid
their flowers before it as well.
Afterwards pupils celebrated with milk
lollies as a break time treat in the summer weather. We hope you enjoy this
selection of photos from the day; more
are up on the website galleries page!
Page 5
& CROWNING OF OUR LADY
Fellow pupils sing hymns before placing
their flowers too and joining the procession to the Church
Below and below left: Students enjoy milk lollies in
the sun as a celebratory treat at break afterwards!
Page 6
Middle Preparatory Outing to Lydling Farm
On Friday 3rd May, Middle Preparatory went to Lydling Farm
for Geography because we are
learning about farming.
Firstly we got on the bus at 9
o’clock. This was the first group
for we had to go in two groups
because the minibus was too
small for twenty one children.
The first group consisted of Isla,
Giovanna, Phoebe, Evie, Aurora,
Camilla, Olivia and me. The journey took about fifteen minutes,
not too long, and when we arrived
we had a mini-beast hunt. The
first group found slugs, flies,
spiders and millipedes.
Next, when the second group
had arrived, we met the farmer,
Angus who showed us his cattle.
One cow licked Evie, Isla and
me! The tongue felt rough on our
P.E. tops.
Afterwards we saw Mrs Lappage,
our teacher, Mrs Morris, one of
our P.E. teachers, and Mrs
Carter, our teaching assistant,
go on a tractor and get lifted up
high!
Later on we had lunch, then
went on a slow walk in the hot
sun with a bottle of water. Mrs
Carter let her dog, Buddy, come
on the walk which was about
one hour long. We enjoyed running around in the fresh air and
watching Buddy roll on the
ground.
Finally we made our way back to
the minibus and back to school.
Everyone was exhausted. At
school we got our things together and found our parents, then
went home tired and hot, but
happy!
- Anastasia
On Friday 3rd May Middle Preparatory went to Lydling Farm. Some
of us went first, I hid a rubber
snake and everybody screamed!
We were there for Science and
Geography. It was great going on a
school trip, and after I scared everyone we started a mini-beast hunt.
After that we collected grass and
went to see Farmer Angus. He
wrapped the grass in cling film
and taught us how to store food.
Next we saw the cows and Angus
showed us how to weigh them.
Afterwards we went on a one
hour hike. Then we had lunch
and met Buddy the dog. We saw
chickens and learnt about eggs.
In the end we rolled down hills
and had mini beast hunts. Some
of us went home first. After the
day I was feeling like I would want
to be a farmer’s wife.
It was the best day of my life. My
favourite part of the day was
seeing the Shetland Ponies!
- Phoebe
Page 7
Kindergarten outing to Wisley Gardens
On Tuesday 21st May Kindergarten visited Wisley
Gardens. We had a super
trip, attending a workshop
to learn all about jungle
plants. We were also guided around the glass house,
where we sketched and
discussed plants of different shapes and sizes.
We then made a giant collage together of a jungle
scene. After a picnic lunch
we enjoyed walking around
the gardens and visiting
the ‘wild wood’ adventure
playground. It was an exciting and tiring day for all!
- Mrs K Phillips
Page 8
Silver Book
Week ending 10th May 2013
Excellent Work
Josie G
Chloe E
Zara
Isabella
Isla
Danielle K
Davina
Excellent Conduct
Oliver
Ellie
Daniela
Sathya
Maria Luisa
Holly
Georgia H-E
French Award
Thrinethra for her excellent spoken French
Music Award
Maddie H for her enthusiasm and commitment to
all musical activities
Physical Education Award
Blair for excellent long jumping in class this week
Science Award
Grace F for lovely thoughtful ideas and contribtions to class discussion
Special Girdle
Evie C for bravery
House Points
CHILDREN’S
SECTION
10th May 2013
CAMPION
120
GERALD
127
PATRICIA
114
PETER
108
Winner — GERALD
3rd May 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
WISHES TO:
June
CAMPION
163
GERALD
99
PATRICIA
150
14th Rosa
PETER
111
21st Molly S
4th
Davina
5th
Lily S
*********
Week ending 3rd May 2013
Excellent Work
Jackson
Isobel S
Francesca H
Juliette
Aurora
Blair
Duha
Excellent Conduct
Jiha
Natalya
Sophie D
Ella C
Lola
Tamsin
Isobel D-C
French Award
Francesca H for her beautifully labelled picture of
‘un petit lapin’
Music Award
Lucy P for her distinction in her singing exam
Physical Education Award
Bronwyn for her excellent rounders skills in the
match against St Teresa’s
Science Award
Alicja for consistent effort and enthusiasm
Special Girdle
Erin for her efforts with her Viking costume over
the holidays
*********
Week ending 26th April 2013
Excellent Work
Excellent Conduct
Jedd
Lilian
Dido
Priya
Laila
Caterina
Grace F
Georgia C
Anjali
Virginia
Alicja
Julia
Josie M
Abby
French Award
Oliver for always joining in with our songs & rhymes
Music Award
Grace S for exceptional progress in her saxophone playing
Physical Education Award
Sienna and Isla for shooting so well in the U9
netball tournament at Tormead
Science Award
Anjali for her excellent homework
24th Giovanna
Winner — CAMPION
27th Hazel
26th April 2013
CAMPION
115
GERALD
74
PATRICIA
101
PETER
115
Winners — CAMPION & PETER
Thought for the Week
A Blessing
May the power of God this day enable us,
The beauty of God silence us,
The justice of God give us voice,
The integrity of God hold us,
The desire of God move us,
The fear of God expose us to the truth,
The breath of God give to us abundant life.
29th Lola