This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Dear Parents
Dear All
It is always a whirlwind during the month of June! The delight of meeting prospective, current, and new parents at Open Day last week, was only bettered by two of our School Captains, Huxley and Poppy, who spoke wonderfully in the Chapel. It is fantastic to hear of the things that they have enjoyed so much during their time in Prep – often elements that we very much take for granted. Congratulations to them both and to all our wonderful tour guides and helpers.
I like to think of myself as decisive; I just wish the weather could do the same! Friday’s Sports Day was postponed due to a downpour in the morning and a weather forecast that turned out to be nothing more than a collection of blue dots that looked like rain but must simply be disguised as sunshine; on the plus side, it was still rather chilly with the gentle Rossall breeze! It is hard to make a call on such events but we do move to our reserve day with the hope of glorious sunshine.
The postponement meant we were able to take part in the whole school’s international festival in the afternoon – every cloud! The children were treated to an array of costumes, food and music from across nearly 60 nationalities. How wonderful it is to attend a school that offers such diversity.
As the Year 6s prepare for their transition through to Senior School, they were visited by the new School captains and some other members of the Sixth Form student leadership team. The children were given the opportunity to ask questions and find out a little bit more about life in Year 7 and beyond. It was interesting to hear how they are already thinking about their subject choices and GCSEs! Our thanks to the students who came to visit.
The Sixth Formers were not the only visitors into School this week. Year 5 and Year 6 have both received their puberty lessons from our Head of Health and Wellbeing, Mrs Turner. The session provides an age appropriate introduction into growing up and developing into adults and I know the children enjoyed asking lots of questions! Mr Hodgetts also visited Year 6 to discuss Rossall’s heritage, land use and future sustainability projects. The children found this fascinating and were once again full of sensible questions.
The sports teams have also been out in force, with our mixed rounders team, the Year 3/4 athletics team, and the U10 and U11 AJIS cricket all performing admirably in their various matches and competitions.
Finally, we look ahead to the weekend and into next week. I am already dreading Saturday night as ‘Midlife Crisis’ takes to the stage once more in Rossall’s Got Talent. Tickets are still available if you would like to see some middle-aged men make fools of themselves – along with some real talent from the students. The Colour Run promises to be a great event on Sunday. Then we have the residentials for Years 2-6, starting on Monday. Let us hope we have some great weather and make some wonderful memories for all of our children.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mr M Turner
Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery
AJIS U10 & 11 Girls’ Cricket
Rossall Prep travelled down to AKS last Friday to play in the annual U10 and U11 AJIS Girls cricket tournament. The conditions were challenging, but this did not deter our cricketers. All of the Rossall players learnt many skills and tactics throughout the day. The progress each one of the girls made was incredible. Both teams managed to win many of their games too! Well done to all of the players that took part, we are already looking forward to next year’s event.
Y3/4 Multi Event Athletics Competition
A squad of very excited Y3/4 Rossall Prep children took part in this multi-event athletics competition on Tuesday, at Stanley Park, Blackpool. They each competed in; throwing and jumping, as well as; sprinting, long-distance and relay races. What a fabulous experience for them all to compete with over twenty other schools. There were too many fantastic individual performances to mention, culminating in the relay races where Rossall Prep finished on a high! Well done to all the children who took part and embraced every challenge. Well done to Heyhouses School for being crowned the overall winner.
U11 Rossall Prep Rounders Tournament
This Wednesday, Rossall Prep hosted the third annual U11 Mixed rounders tournament for all of the schools in Thornton -Cleveleys and Fleetwood. This was our final fixture of the year. The weather conditions were perfect, as was the setting. The matches were closely contested, and the standard of play was very high. When the final results were announced the Rossall Prep team were delighted to receive joint runners-up position with Shakespeare School. Well done to all the children that took part, for playing with such enthusiasm, and making it such an enjoyable afternoon. A big well done also to Sacred Heart School for winning the tournament.
Year 6
“Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.”
William Shakespeare, Othello
This quote from Othello has certainly rung true for Year 6 this week. We have not stopped! Year 6 have taken part in a rounders tournament, started rehearsing for our final assembly, completed our end-of-year assessments and put the finishing touches to our Exhibition work. As Elton John sang, “I’m still standing!” And we most certainly are.
The Exhibition has taken the children a great deal of thought and time to bring together. Working collaboratively, sharing ideas and producing work has challenged them in different ways. They have, at times had to think out of the box to solve logistical problems and creative differences. It has been fascinating to watch and guide them through this new way of working. We are all excited to see the finished products.
We have continued our work about Shakespeare and have incorporated the Bard into our final Chapel Assembly in different ways. The children have risen to the challenge and are enjoying channelling their inner Royal Shakespeare thespians as they learn their lines.
We are all looking forward to next week and our residential to the beautiful Lake District. let us hope the sun shines!
Year 5
‘I bless the rains down in Africa…’ (Toto hit from the 80s!) has been ringing out from Year 5 this week as we continued our exploration into this amazing continent. Our creative writing has focused on the African elephant, and we have developed our ability to produce information texts to accompany video footage that even David Attenborough would be proud of!
In our PSHE lesson, the class thoroughly enjoyed sharing their photos of milestones in their long lives of 10 years this week, and there have been plenty of cries of ‘ahhhh’ as we displayed everyone’s baby photos for all to see. The children have used these to create striking posters of their first decade and observed the changes that have occurred along their journey so far.
This has supported our learning with our theme of ‘Growing Up’, and we were delighted to welcome Mrs Turner from the Medical Centre, who delivered an excellent lesson about the changes that will come in our next ten years! It was interesting, informative and fun for the class, and we really appreciated Mrs Turner’s expertise and sensitivity.
Year 4
Another great week in Year 4!
This week in our Topic lessons, we explored the fascinating lifestyle of the Iron Age people. We learned about their unique homes, known as roundhouses, which were constructed from natural materials and featured thatched roofs. We discussed how these roofs were cleverly fireproofed using soot from the fire in the middle of their single-room homes.
Our investigation extended to Maiden Castle, a famous Iron Age hill fort. We examined its structure and strategic importance, gaining a deeper understanding of how Iron Age communities defended themselves. We also delved into the culinary practices of the Iron Age, discovering that they cooked a variety of foods such as flatbread, salted pork, and various meats.
In Computing, we had a fantastic time editing and changing the composition of chosen images. We learned how to crop images to focus on specific areas and experimented with removing backgrounds. Our creativity shone through, adding colourful effects and imaginative backgrounds to our edited images. It was a great opportunity for us to develop our digital editing skills and express our artistic ideas.
During our Games lesson this week, we focused on playing long ball and enhancing our throwing and catching skills. We worked hard and showed great improvement in our coordination and teamwork. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm and determination in mastering these physical skills.
Year 3
Another lovely week in Year 3 and hard to believe we are very much on the final leg of the year!
In English this week we have continued reading about Zeraffa’s journey to Paris and imagined what it would be like to see a giraffe for the first time if we had never heard of one before. For this, we wrote our own eyewitness accounts filled with wondrous descriptions of Zeraffa, the first giraffe in France. Then we wrote some adverts for different giraffe-themed products using different persuasive writing features – the results were really creative and imaginative!
In Maths this week we finished off our Shape unit and made a start on Statistics. We learned about Pictograms and how they represent data visually.
In Science this week our learning was all about reflection. We learnt that light travels in straight lines and bounces off reflective surfaces. We imagined designing our own reflective belts and for this we tested different materials using torches to see which were more reflective.
For our Ancient Egypt topic this week we learnt about Mummification! We role-played the steps of Mummification using toilet paper to act out our own mummies. It was great fun and the children were fascinated by the processes involved in mummifying pharaohs.
The children also enjoyed Religious Studies this week focussing on Judaism and learning about the festival of Hanukkah.
Finishing off the week with Sports Day was fantastic and all the Year 3 children performed amazingly!
Of course, we are all very excited for our residential trip to Waddecar next week, the class are thrilled for the adventure and can’t wait!
Year 2
We have had a fantastic week in Year 2. This week it has been a Healthy Eating Week and the children have become more reflective on the choices they make for snack time and at lunch time. This week has also been assessment week, the children all tried so hard on their Summer assessments, showcasing what an amazing year they have had. The week ended with a very exciting International Day festival, where we celebrated the different nationalities we have within the school.
This week in English we have started our new book, ‘Grandad’s Secret Giant’. The children made predictions on the ‘good deeds’ they thought the giant handyman would complete in secret for the town of Gableview. We even asked the handyman to come in and fix our clock. We were amazed to find he had answered our calls and paid us a visit.
In Maths we continued our exploration of time and we can now tell the time to the nearest five minutes. The children have been using mini clocks to help them. It would be amazing if the children continued to practise telling the time at home to reinforce their learning.
In Science this week the students have been learning about how different plants can survive in different climates. The children investigated the different types of plants found in hotter and colder climates and discussed what they had in common. They were able to identify what enabled certain plants to survive in certain climates and it opened some really interesting discussions.
In Topic this week we continued our exploration of Seas and Coasts. This week we focused on the difference between physical and human features. We looked at different photos of different coastlines to help us identify some of those features. The children were particularly excited to see the familiar Blackpool coastline and its amazing human and physical features.
Year 1
In Maths, this week it has been all about time. We have been practising our days of the week and months of the year, thinking about what order they happen and using vocabulary yesterday, today and tomorrow. We have also been learning about measuring and comparing time using seconds, minutes and hours, and telling time to o’clock and half past.
In RS this week we learnt about the Hindu Mandir, created rangoli patterns and talked about the festival of Diwali.
In Art, we looked at famous paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. We thought about what colours Van Gogh used to portray different moods and emotions, then discussed how the paintings made us feel and which we liked or disliked.
In English, we continued reading our class book. We sequenced the events so far, and read about the toys being taken aboard a spaceship. We created our own space creatures and wrote descriptions of them, making sure we used lots of amazing adjectives. We discovered that the space creature had taken the toys from the garden while looking for his own missing toy. We then wrote letters from the space creature, Hoctopize, to his missing toy, Cuddles.
Reception
What we eat can play a critical role in determining our health, whatever our age. The eating patterns established in the first few years of life influence our health during childhood and adulthood. Encouraging good nutrition during the early years of life is therefore an investment in the health of our population for years to come. Recently we have been looking at a healthy diet and the children have looked at foods we should eat and foods we should only eat some of the time. They have also learnt that they need plenty of energy (calories) and nutrients, eg protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. They have sung songs and rhymes that tell them these needs can be met by including a variety of foods from each of the main food groups in every meal.
General eating habits and patterns are formed in the first few years of life. We therefore have a key role to play in introducing our children to a wide variety of foods and establishing a pattern of regular meals and healthy snacks. The children love our arrangements for snack, choosing and serving their own cereal or fruit and of course, washing up afterwards too! The children can choose to eat their snack at any point in the morning. You may have heard your child use the term ‘pussycat plate’, where a plate looks like it’s been licked clean by a cat. This is to encourage the children to eat all their lunch or at least try all the food on their plate and believe it or not … it works! After reading ‘Supertato’ the children are definitely more eager to eat their vegetables, especially to stop any more peas from escaping!
Nursery
This week in Nursery we have focused on understanding the world.
The Sanderlings focus this week has been Understanding the world.
The babies in Sanderlings have been taking part in some expressive arts and design, experimenting with a range of media, tools and materials. They have enjoyed painting using brushes and their hands, the babies love the feel and being able to explore the texture of the paint with their hands and getting fully involved. In addition, the babies in the Sanderlings have been taking part in Taste Education this week, this is a favourite with the Sanderling babies. This is where the babies get to explore a variety of different fruits and vegetables, this week they tried sweet, salty and sour foods.
This week in sandpipers the children have been working on their understanding of the world.
To build on equality and diversity the children in the Sandpiper room have been flying in their ‘aeroplanes’ to explore different countries. So far these have included Spain, Greece, Italy and China. The children looked at different flags, and traditional clothing and explored traditional food dishes. In addition to exploring other countries, the children got back in their ‘planes’ and have been looking at everything that England has to offer! Furthermore, the children have looked at the planet and different places on the maps and they now have an understanding of land and sea. To enhance their learning and understanding the sandpiper team have introduced some new songs and books related to the topic.
The Sandpiper children have also continued with their book of the month and furthering their knowledge of life under the sea.
This week the children in the Pre-school room have been building on their knowledge of understanding the world. The children have been encouraged to talk about aspects of their familiar world including where they live and talking about places of importance to them. In addition, the children have been engaged in activities related to ‘growing’ including plants, animals and themselves. The children have taken part in some directed painting where they copied pictures of flowers and they have also taken part in a variety of free drawing activities related to understanding the world. During circle time the children have shared what they would like to be when they grow up! Furthermore, the children have been preparing for their transitions to school and the staff have been supporting the children with this through books, pictures and activities.
Awards
Year 6
Archie for his perseverance learning lines for our assembly, and Amelia for excellent teamwork in sports.
Nilanth for showing leadership skills in preparing for the Exhibition
Savannah for excellent resilience and perseverance during the assessments
Year 5
Delilah: Outstanding progress with reading comprehension skills.
Henry: Outstanding progress and commitment in all activities.
Year 4
Our certificate winners this week go to Emma and Willow for being outstanding role models and fantastic friends to all.
Year 3
Our Year 3 certificates this week go to Beau and Arla for their wonderful work learning about shapes and angles in Maths.
Year 2
Leale- for becoming more confident and independent in Maths.
Teigan- for always trying her best and for being a fantastic motivator to others.
Year 1
This week’s certificates are awarded to Jasper, for a positive attitude to his learning, and Xander, for excellent engagement in RS, Art and Dance.
Reception
This week’s certificates of achievement go to George and Lucas
George for producing some outstanding and very neat sentences in his written work this week.
Lucas for enthusiastically taking on board our Healthy Eating Week Challenge and choosing fruit over a cake most days.