In line with the Prep department, our assemblies so far this year have been in connection with the theme, ‘Being Outward Facing’. In Monday’s assembly, we were all extremely impressed to see an article written by Ayan (Year 2) to raise funds for the charity, MIND. In it, he described various feelings choosing an exciting trip to the Harry Potter studio as his stimulus. The fabulous news is that his piece has since been chosen to be published in the charity’s ‘The book of feelings’ and all sale proceeds will go to the charity. Naturally, we will be looking out for when this book is published in order to obtain a copy for our school library. A prime example of looking beyond oneself to support others – many congratulations, Ayan!
Reception’s class assembly today, ‘Marvellous Me’, was delightful as the children drew together all their learning in connection with their Life Skills lessons. For those who don’t know, this what we call the PSHE element of our curriculum at Hampton Pre-Prep & Prep. The children talked about their unique and special qualities, similarities and differences, the importance of family and taking care of themselves drawing on their session with the School Nurse earlier in the term. The assembly concluded with a very catchy song, ‘1,2,3, it’s good to be me’ which we all loved joining in with – thank you, Reception!
It was good to see many of you on-site at the recent Parents’ Meetings but, regardless of whether your meeting was on-site or off, I hope you found it helpful in pinpointing where your child is now but, more importantly, what your child is ready to learn next and, crucially, how your child will be supported to do so. Recently, I’ve been engaged in conversations around the topic of differentiation, which incidentally should not be confused with streaming. Differentiation is employed by teachers to improve engagement and learning and happens, or at least should happen, in classrooms up and down the length and breadth of the country, with the intention of extending the knowledge and skills of every child in every class. A ‘one size fits all’ approach is not appropriate in schools and, purely and simply, the objective of differentiation is to lift the performance of all and benefits children across the learning continuum, including those who are highly able, combining challenge and support seamlessly.
The recipient of the Courtesy Cup and Badge this week was Rory (Year 1) for showing outstanding manners when walking to and from gym at Prep.
Stars of the Week were awarded to:
Year 2: Konark for always trying his best during our lessons!
Year 1: Frank for being a team player and for always trying his absolute best.
Reception: Charlie for working so hard to learn his sight words and super reading.