Prep Newsletter Lent Term Week 12

This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.

Dear All

As always, it has been a hectic run-in to the end of the term. On Sunday, our football-mad pupils were treated to a wonderful trip out to watch the Manchester City vs Chelsea women’s teams play at the Etihad complex. The children enjoyed a wonderful game of football and were spotted on TV, as the game was broadcast live on BBC. I believe from Mrs Santamera, that they led the singing admirably!

The Music Assembly Concert was a wonderful occasion that highlighted what wonderfully talented pupils we have in the Prep School. Whether at the start of their musical journey, or an accomplished musician, to perform in front of an audience takes great confidence. Congratulations to all those who took part.

Our Awards Assembly on Thursday provided us with an opportunity to recognise the award winners for the term, be they for house point totals, or individual sporting successes. It is always a lovely occasion and I was delighted by the manner in which the children celebrated all the successes.

Rossall Rotation finished with a flourish with children visiting the planetarium with Dr Lister, the golf centre and Tee-Time golf driving range, the beach, the farm, the kitchen, and our wooded area. The success of our programme is reflected in the joy on the faces of the children and the animation in which they speak of their experiences.

This morning the children enjoyed Easter Egg hunts and the traditional egg-rolling competition. It was clear that some of them had been working hard on their technique since last year and I know that the many family members who attended thoroughly enjoyed the occasion.

I wish you all a wonderful and peaceful break and look forward to seeing you after the holiday,

Mr M Turner

Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery

Manchester City Ladies v Chelsea Ladies in the Women’s Super League

This nail biting football match involved many international players. Man City dominated most of the game, and moved up to second place in the league after a two nil win. As well as watching a game of the highest quality, the Prep children managed to appear on TV and also take part in the numerous football related activities on offer. It really was a fun day out for everyone, and I’m sure we will recognise some of the same players in the World Cup in the Summer.

Prep Hockey Success for Year 5 and 6 Boys against Giggleswick 

Congratulations to all the boys in Year 5 and 6 for representing the school so impressively against Giggleswick. 

This was the first time that the children had played hockey competitively against another school, and the commitment they showed and the progress they made throughout the afternoon was extremely rewarding for the teachers, parents and the team.

Well done, Rossall!

The Rugby Future is Bright at Rossall Prep!

The U9 Rossall Raccoons and U8 Rats were in rugby action this week, and although the wet weather had inhibited our training in recent weeks both teams came out against Highfield Priory like caged tigers!

It was wonderful to see all the boys in Year 3 and 4 representing Rossall with passion and pride, and although Highfield Priory had played in a tournament the previous day to prepare, they met their match against a powerful, fast and fearsome Rossall attack.

The future is certainly bright for Rossall sport, and it was extremely rewarding for teachers and parents to enjoy such a dazzling display of running rugby.

Well done, Rossall!

Year 6

What a wonderful term we have had in Year 6 with so many varied activities to enjoy, from trips to see the amazing Halle Orchestra to starring in our own magnificent production of Matilda. The children have had the opportunity to represent the school in an array of sports, as well as in a regional choir competition, and conducted themselves impeccably along the way. I know from past Prep School pupils who are now preparing for their final school exams these are experiences that will stay with them fondly as they move into Senior School. As the year flies by some of these events will be the children’s final time, such as dressing up for book character day or egg rolling on the front lawn.

These really are special moments, and to see the excitement on the faces of the Year 6 children as they scoured the campus in our annual Easter egg hunt filled me with pride and put a bunny hop and skip in my stride.

It has been an action-packed term, so recharge Year 6, ready to enjoy your final term in Prep School and make lasting memories together.

Have a very Happy Easter, and don’t eat too much chocolatey, we’ve got lots of athletics, cricket and rounders next term!

Year 5

This week, in English, we have completed our class book ‘The Darkest Dark’. We researched information about the author Chris Hadfield, a real life astronaut, whom the book is based on. We have also looked at a biography about Neil Armstrong and used this as a model to create a biography of Chris Hadfield, using our research. for our final piece of writing.

In Maths we have continued to work on fractions, and in Topic we have researched what the climate is like in the Tropics and compared it to the UK to create our own weather reports.

In our final astronomy session of Rossall Rotation we had the chance to visit the planetarium and find out more about constellations and mapping the night sky.

Well done for all your hard work this term. Enjoy your Easter holidays and have a well deserved rest. 

Year 4

What an egg-cellent end to the week we have had in Year 4 with egg rolling and egg hunting to top off a busy final week. In English, we have completed reading our chosen book and finally discovered what happened when ‘The Giant Stirred’. The children have since been working hard to write stories detailing the events of the book and empathising with the characters in the story as they faced some very tough decisions. I have been very impressed with the children’s response to the text and the emotional anguish displayed in their writing.

In Science we have been learning about classification keys and how scientists can use them to organise different animals into groups. The children very much enjoyed putting themselves in the role of the scientists and playing ‘yes or no’ games to work out the animal group for a variety of creatures such as polar bears and kangaroos.

In Geography, we rounded up our study of natural disasters by creating earthquake-proof structures. The children enthusiastically accepted the challenge and quite effectively built complex structures using only cocktail sticks and blu-tack. They thought carefully about the strongest shapes and incorporated them into their designs, along with wider bases to create strong foundations. I am happy to report that we have a class full of architects because each building remained standing during the various earthquake intensities when the earthquake/table shaking occurred. The children’s desire to design the most architecturally sound building without sacrificing elegance is to be applauded by all.

Have an egg-cellent and restful break.

Year 3

A fun-filled final week of the Lent term for Year 3!

We are very proud to have created our very own Year 3 Wildlife Magazine containing interesting articles all about Blue Whales! A great achievement in the children’s writing. In Maths we have continued our learning of fractions looking at how to use bar model to solve problems. Science was super exciting this week with a visit to the Senior School Science Department where we were guided by the lovely Dr Bradburn! We discovered and identified different plants, and looked down some microscopes at pollen. In Topic we finished of “Protect our Planet” by creating our own environmental posters. We also had our last Rossall Rotation on the farm which was great fun planting gladioli bulbs. And such a fab end to the term with our Easter activities. Well done for a brilliant Lent term Year 3, enjoy your holiday!

Year 2

The final week of term has seen us come to the end of our book Major Glad, Major Dizzy. The children have completed some fabulous written work in relation to this, their diary entries from the perspective of Major Glad demonstrated how far they have all come over the course of the year. We are now well under way with our work on fractions in Mathematics, though the children are working really well with the concepts involved and broadening their Mathematical vocabulary the class can’t fully agree on whether it is any easy concept or not, in fact the disagreement is really causing some division!!

In Religious Studies we have been finding out a little bit about Easter and why it is celebrated, we talked about rebirth and new life, our art work this week was related to this and we hope parents liked their cards.

One of our Home Learning tasks this half term has been to design and build a paper bridge, we then had a little competition to find the best bridge. This involved three aspects, the aesthetics, how many coins it could hold and how closely the architect followed the design remit. We had lots of fun and the children enjoyed sharing their constructions.

Friday was a thoroughly enjoyable day, the class took part in an egg hunt, an egg rolling competition and only had to come to school for half a day. All of which led to a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement. It has been a very busy term, the class have all worked incredibly hard and definitely deserve a lovely Easter break!

Year 1

Our House Point winners in Year 1, who earned the most House Points this term, are: 

Lexi, Millie and Bow

It’s been a creative week in school for Year 1 with lots of Art and storytelling and it’s been creating a super buzz in our class. We have designed and made our Abstract animal masks this week and WOW they are so artistic! The children knew exactly which animal they wanted their mask to represent and their creative juices flowed from then on. We used bright colours and even some 3D effects to create a fun animal in an abstract style. Well done children! In English we have been planning our story and adapting it too using a story mountain to help us pinpoint what happens in our story and which parts of our story we are going to change. Using this plan we have written our entire story about a large animal that meets a small animal and the lessons they learn together. It’s fantastic to see our children writing in sentences and taking real care of their spellings, their structure and even their word choices. Last week we showcased our Class Assembly with Reception and we talked all about Easter around the globe. It was brilliant! Everyone spoke so clearly and confidently and our hard work and preparation certainly paid off once we saw how much our family and friends enjoyed it. We are all so proud of you, Year 1! We’ve had lots of talks about Easter and we can’t wait to celebrate with our friends and family; have a wonderful break everyone and I can’t wait to see you after feeling refreshed and ready for summer!

Reception

This week, Reception has looked at some Easter traditions.

We watched a short film that focuses on Christianity, and narrated the story of Easter. It told us the story of Jesus’s crucifixion, his rising from the tomb three days later to the delight of his followers, and his ascension to heaven.

Eggs have been our focus topic this half term so we had to include Easter Eggs too! An egg is a symbol of new life and for Christians, Easter eggs are used as a symbol for the resurrection of Jesus.

Nowadays, most Easter eggs are made from chocolate and covered in coloured foil. Traditionally though, chicken eggs would be hard boiled and then decorated by hand. Traditional Easter egg hunts remain popular with both Christian and non-Christian children. The children thoroughly enjoyed both our Egg Hunts outside!

Did you know that the Easter Bunny is a legendary Easter gift-giving character that originated in Germany. In some traditions, children put out their empty baskets at night for the Easter Bunny to fill up while they sleep. The children left a basket outside this week and the Easter Bunny even brought them some chocolate to school!

We ended the week with our annual ‘Egg Rolling’ competition which is apparently a Scottish tradition. Although our competition is slightly different, traditionally eggs are boiled and painted before children roll them down a grassy hill. Whoever’s egg rolls the farthest wins! The rolling of the egg symbolises the rolling away of the stone from Jesus’ tomb.

Have an EGG-cellent Easter! 

Nursery

“The child begins to perceive the world not only through his eyes but also through his speech”

Lev Vygotsky

This week in the Nursery we have focused on Communication and Language.  

The Sanderlings

This week The Sanderlings have been on walks around the Rossall grounds talking about what they can see, hear and smell using as many descriptive words as possible to encourage early talking. The babies visited the library, where they read books and spoke about what could be seen in the pictures. Finally, The Sanderlings have done lots of creative, painting and drawing activities where they have used different materials to make marks and patterns, talking about the colours and the shapes in the picture.

The Sandpipers 

The Sandpipers have taken daily trips to Rossall Library where the children enjoyed reading lots of stories, talking about what might happen next and drawing their favourite book characters. The children have also enjoyed developing their physical development, kicking footballs on the field and seeing how fast they can run. During circle time the children have been talking about interests such as favourite foods and toys. At the end of the week, the children designed their own obstacle course in the garden to strengthen their balancing skills and confidence. 

Preschool 

This week in Preschool has been full of conversation starters. The children have been getting in the Easter spirit and reading lots of books. Mrs Gaynor has been encouraging the children to make their own stories up, having discussions on the carpet, with each child saying a sentence. The children have been encouraged to talk about which nursery rhymes and songs they like and have taken turns to choose the corresponding song from the song bag. In teacher time the children have been working on rhyming words, using their first names to create a word that rhymes with it. On Friday, in the malleable area, the children have been talking about what they enjoy eating and baking before creating the food items using the play dough. 

Rossall Nursery would like to wish you all a very happy Easter

Easter Awards

Congratulations to all our pupils who worked so hard in the prep school this term, with an extra special commendation to the top 3 winners of house points in each Year. These pupils embodied the spirit and principles of Rossall and we want to recognise their achievements.

We end this term’s newsletters with a selection of photos from our Easter Awards Assembly, well done to everyone for your hard work. We look forward to seeing what can be achieved next term!