The Bulletin – Edition 5
Two years ago, Mrs Tinkler led on the second iteration of the Pastoral Review. Her excellent Review Document remains one of the principle influences of the continuing development of our pastoral care here, as we work through meeting the targets and recommendations that were set. This year the chief task arising from the Pastoral Review is for Mrs Tinkler and the staff team at both the Pre-Prep & Prep to bring a set of values alive, in the hearts and minds of all the pupils here. We will be using our Joint Heads of House from Year 6 and the Deputy Head Boy and the Head Boy to assist us with this task, as we hope to cascade down to all pupils some actions and processes they can adopt in order to cement identified values into how they think, work and learn at our School. Last year all the boys in the Prep came up with a value, in their Houses, that they wished to see promoted this year. These entirely boy-led values – and the Houses who came up with them – are:
Lancaster – Integrity
Tudor – Honesty
Windsor – Perseverance
York – Teamwork
We hope to be able to update you on the progress made with this endeavour as the year rolls by.
Prep
Pupils’ Accomplishments
On Thursday afternoon, the Hampton Prep Quiz Team participated in the postponed National Quizclub Final, which had been due to take place on the stage of a West End theatre in central London last term...
Humanities ‘1960s Theme Day’
Since March, we have all seen the cancellation of many events: concerts, sporting events and most notably, the summer Olympics in Tokyo. Today the boys had the opportunity to relive the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, gaining a glimpse of what it might have been like.
Assemblies
Mutual respect and tolerance are two of the so-called identified Fundamental British Values that all schools in the UK are required to actively promote. Continuing with our assembly theme of ‘challenge’, on Wednesday the boys in the Prep listened very carefully to Mr Smith as he reminded them that we abhor racial prejudice of any kind at our School. Routine challenges that come our way, no matter what we look like, will almost certainly be more difficult to overcome for any individual who is also having to overcome the challenge of being treated differently, simply as a result of the colour of their skin. The boys at the Prep understand this all too well, and their mutual support of each other is testimony to how important they know it is to treat others as they would wish to be treated themselves.
News from year 6
Year 6 had a change to their usual timetable last Friday, with an afternoon dedicated to considering what is important to them and how this may relate to upcoming senior school interviews. With three diverse sessions, the boys enjoyed thinking about how their interests have changed since Year 3 and explaining how that is representative of how they know they have grown in so many ways, how a first impression can set the tone and finally how to convey their enthusiasm for each individual school they are applying to! All boys will further reflect on the sessions during Life Skills lessons and they will also be putting the theory into practice as mock interviews are held over the coming weeks. We hope Year 6 enjoyed their afternoon and would welcome any feedback from parents on this.
News from Mr Salt, Head of Games:
1960s sports history was re-written today at the Prep, when West Germany beat England in the 1966 World Cup final. Happily, one hour later England were victorious when Year 4 stepped into the role of the players in that classic final. Questions were asked and answered about East and West Germany and so the boys could see how wider history and culture plays out in the world of sport.
Pre-Prep
A word from Mrs Murphy
Over the last few weeks in our assemblies, we have been exploring the theme ‘challenge’. Initially through story book characters, all of whom bravely overcame challenges and problems thrown their way but, more recently, through real life examples. We have discussed Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s epic ascent of Mount Everest together back in May 1953 and Amelia Earhart, the pioneering female pilot whose final challenge was to fly around the world. We have decided that challenges and problems are part and parcel of life, they give us experiences, make us learn and help us to become wiser and stronger – in fact, they make us grow and shape us. One thing is for sure, we will all have problems thrown our way – big or small – how we face them and ultimately deal with them is the important thing.
Kindergarten
We have had a ‘Roarsome’ time in Kindergarten this week learning all about dinosaurs. Using the computer, we discovered lots of information and facts about prehistoric creatures that existed over 65 million years ago - some lived on land, others in the water and some were covered in feathers so they could fly. Some had two legs, some had four, some were super speedy, whereas others extremely slow. We found out that a group of Triceratops is called a herd just like elephants and we learned new words, such as ‘carnivore’ and ‘herbivore’.
Reception
What a busy week we have had in Reception! We have enjoyed listening to the story ‘The Little Red Hen’, and have retold it using puppets and props. The story is about a very busy red hen who wishes to bake a loaf of bread by planting the seed, harvesting and grinding the flour to bake the bread. The hen’s lazy farm friends refused to help, that is, until she had finally finished the baking. We read and discussed different endings to the story in different versions of the book. Our focus sounds this week have been /g/, /o/ and /u/. We have had fun sounding out CVC words to listen for the initial, middle and final sounds.
Year 1
The children in Year 1 have loved developing their detective skills this week. In English, we used adjectives to describe the qualities needed to be a good detective – the boys thought one needed to be quiet, good at tracking, able to follow footprints and listen to information. We then put these skills to the test; working in pairs to try and solve the new mystery of Squirrel’s missing scarf! We used our powers of deduction to work out that Owl was the thief! We are all working hard on careful, cursive letter formation – particularly focusing on the ‘curly caterpillar’ letters – c, a, o, d, g, and q.
Year 2
Year 2 practised their own circus skills this afternoon! They took part in a range of circus skills activities including juggling and stilt walking. During our English lessons, the class planned and wrote diary entries as if they were performers in the circus and also enjoyed playing the writing game ‘consequences’.