This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Dear All
Welcome back to what promises to be another fantastic year at Rossall Preparatory School. The term has started wonderfully well and I am proud of the attitude that the pupils have displayed upon their return; there is a real sense of purpose matched only by real enjoyment across all aspects of Prep School life.
Our Meet the Teacher event on Wednesday afternoon provided a great opportunity to forge new partnerships between parents and staff, as we welcomed over 90 families into classrooms. The annual event is an opportunity for questions and to find out about the expectations of a new year group.Thank you to all those who were able to join us – it was lovely to see you. If you wish to gain access to the slides, please email your child’s class teacher.
Monday’s welcome back assembly needed a risk assessment, as I placed some stepladders before the children (although I was the one doing the climbing!). That first step in tackling something new can often be the most difficult and the smaller you are, the bigger the ladders can appear as you look up at them. As long as we take it one step at a time, and we have the teachers supporting the ladders on the journey (thanks for the offer, Mr Condon!), then no climb is insurmountable, no mountain is too high, and maybe we can even enjoy it along the way.
The co-curricular clubs and activities programme began this week but will be completely up and running with all clubs on offer by Monday. It is wonderful to see so many pupils already enjoying the vast array of activities on offer before school, at lunch and after school.
Finally, congratulations to our brilliant new Reception pupils who have enjoyed a fabulous first week at School. They all enjoyed a visit from Rossall Rabbit on Tuesday, as we did our best to keep everyone in the shade! There were some very tired children going home on Friday afternoon but it is fair to say they have had the most magical first week at Rossall Prep School. Well done, Reception!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mr M Turner
Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery
Year 6
The sun has most certainly had his hat on this week to welcome Year 6 back to Rossall. Mrs Scott and I (Mrs Kenmare) enjoyed meeting many of you on Wednesday afternoon to talk about the exciting year ahead.
The children have settled quickly into their new routines and have had an excellent first week. We have started our book, ‘Star of Fear, Star of Hope’ and the children have already produced some super work based around the themes that the book investigates.
In Mathematics, we are concentrating on number this half term. The children have enjoyed some interactive lessons using our fabulous new interactive TV boards.
Our Topic, Peace and Conflict, has already inspired some excellent discussion, debate and questions. We are all very much looking forward to learning more about World War 2.
We hope the sun continues to shine over the weekend!
Year 5
‘It’s wonderful to be back!’ was the overarching message from the pupils, Mr Condon and Miss Santamera in Year 5 this week. We have thoroughly enjoyed settling into the ‘upper west wing’ of the Prep School and sharing our exciting news from the long summer break. It’s been an action packed few days with plenty of discussion about our hopes and aspirations for the new academic year. We’ve made a creative start to brighten our new classroom displays, designing a class charter and personalising kites with our termly targets; one thing is for sure – the sky really is the limit!
The children have dived into our Topic work on the early American pioneers, and they enjoyed learning about Christopher Columbus’ lack of geographical knowledge that led to his discovery of the Americas. With the glorious weather, the class have relished the opportunity to explore the campus for their Art, Drama and Music lessons, as well as taking a Science expedition to the hidden Rossall pond to study the bountiful variety of life that has thrived this summer.
Our new Year 5 is certainly a ray of sunshine, and we are delighted to welcome five new starters to the year group and to Rossall. Well done to Darcey, Delilah, Evelyn, Hattie, Olivia and all of Year 5 for a wonderful start to the term!
Year 4
Wow, what a fantastic start to Year 4 this week! We have loved seeing their enthusiasm and eagerness every day, ready to take on the new challenges ahead of them. To get to know each other a little more, we made an ‘All About Me’ poster to recognise all the things we love and enjoy. We have been going full speed ahead with our English, Maths, and Topic activities.
In Topic, we journeyed back in time to investigate the Anglo-Saxons, becoming Historians and Archaeologists through investigating different artefacts from the Sutton Hoo site. They were quite familiar with some of the artefacts but other items put their mind to the test, drawing on their problem solving skills!
In Maths, we have started with Place Value, in particular looking at numbers to 1,000 – reading, writing and placing them on number lines. Year 4 has represented numbers in different ways using mathematical resources such as Base 10, counters and number lines. The children find these really helpful and are looking forward to developing their Place Value skills further next week.
Our English curriculum starts off by looking at the book ‘Gorillas’ by Anthony Browne. We began by focusing on the possible meanings depicted by the pictures in the book and I look forward to guiding the children through the narrative as they interpret the connotations within the text.
With their hard work and passion continuing, let the exciting journey in Year 4 begin!
Year 3
Year 3 has had a spectacular first week! The children have settled beautifully and the transition from Pre-Prep to Prep has gone wonderfully smoothly. We have been getting used to the new routines and the new expectations – it all feels a lot more grown up now!
We have got back into the swing of our learning and the Year 3s have certainly kept their brain cells growing over the holidays, ready and raring to work hard this year.
In English, we started our first book of the year – Seal Surfer. We started by making predictions about the book and then we learnt about prepositions, using them to describe a setting. This book relates to our Topic for the half term, ‘Our Coasts’. This kicked off with us learning about the different seas that surround the UK.
For Maths we have started by revising some Maths skills and then starting our first unit on place value, revising our tens and ones and moving on to hundreds.
We also started our new Science unit, ‘Keeping Healthy’, where we are learning to be personal trainers! We will become experts in healthy bodies and healthy eating. This week we started with learning about nutrition, the Eatwell guide and different food groups.
In Art, we completed self portraits and we also had a Computing session learning to log on independently and get used to our Google Classroom set up.
All in all, it has been a fantastic first week back, even if we have ended it quite tired! Well done for a fab start, Year 3!
Year 2
What a first week it has been in Year 2, the Indian Summer has really helped the children get back into the routine of school.
The class loved sharing their news from the summer holidays, so much so they even wanted to write about it. This week has been extremely busy, with the children enthusiastically diving in and completing some very pleasing work. In our Mathematics lessons we have been working with numbers up to 100, in English the class has been introduced to our new book, ‘Troll Swap’, which has been the inspiration for some fabulous writing. We have even managed to squeeze in the time to complete some impressive self-portraits in Art.
I have been incredibly impressed with all of the children in Year 2, especially Tommy, who has settled in brilliantly. The children definitely deserve a restful weekend. I can assure you that Mr Rund will certainly be having one!
Year 1
Well done Year 1, what a super start to the School year! We have been very busy sharing our holiday news, learning new routines, playing with our friends in our new classroom, and creating some solid foundations for our learning this year. We’ve worked hard in Phonics to read and write CVC words and sentences, and in Maths we have been sorting objects and counting. It’s also been an active week for us; enjoying Dance, PE and Music. We are also looking forward to our swimming lessons starting next week.
It was lovely to meet so many parents and carers on Wednesday’s Meet the Teacher event. The children also thoroughly enjoyed meeting Rossall Rabbit on Tuesday, as he visited our new Reception class. However, Year 1 could not resist the chance to meet their furry friend once more! We cannot wait to start our first experiences on Rossall Rotation next week – what will it be – cooking and baking, forest schools, beach schools, astronomy, the farm or golf – we will find out on Thursday! What a wonderful first week in Year 1!
Reception
This week has been full of ‘firsts’ for the Reception children. The first is always the best as it marks the beginning. The start of their learning journey through Rossall School.
The Reception children have all settled fantastically well into the school routines and activities. They are quickly learning their way around School and the classroom rules. They won’t learn it in a day but we will continue to emphasise and practice for the first few weeks.
The children have had their first PE lesson, which was a big hit! On our first afternoon in Rossall Kitchen we made cookies – I hope you enjoyed eating them as much as the children did! Their first music lesson taught the children about simple rhythm and pulse. The children sat very sensibly and quietly for their first assembly with the rest of the School. Rossall Rabbit has even been to welcome us to School and bring us some special colouring books, or, as the children thought, homework! We finished off our first week with a walk around School to help orientate ourselves. What an action packed, busy week for our new starters!
Please can I remind parents to bring in PE bags and swim bags on a Monday. These will then go home at the end of the week. All uniforms should be named. We have a couple of blazers, shirts and ties not named, which can cause upset for the children when they can not find their belongings and we are not sure whose is whose!
Nursery
“Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change to the world ” Roald Dahl
This week in the Nursery we have focused on personal, social and emotional development.
Sanderlings
The start of a new term means that we have welcomed lots of new children to our Rossall family. There have also been some Sanderlings returning from their summer holidays so it has been lovely to hear all about their adventures and all of the different countries that have been explored. To encourage social skills the babies have had a sensory water tray filled with lemons and limes. The babies enjoyed tasting, feeling and splashing in the water, it was the perfect addition to a hot September afternoon. To encourage the babies to join in with their peers there has been plenty of opportunity for songs, stories and music. The Sanderlings have taken it in turns to choose an object from their song box which relates to a Nursery Rhyme before singing along, often with actions too. Finally, some of the older babies had an afternoon on the beach with the Sandpiper children.
Sandpipers
The Sandpipers’ book of the month is “Elmer” written by David McKee so they have been looking at all the different colours in the book and playing lots of colour games together as a big group to form friendships. The children have also explored the environment with their peers. The children have been to the beach, forest and field to notice detailed objects such as boats, diggers, dumper trucks, birds, sky, sticks and shells. The Sandpipers have also taken part in focus time with their key workers to support the children in achieving their next steps. The children looked in mirrors to see if they could identify themselves and body parts, the children could do this confidently and independently using me, you and I in the correct context. Following on from this the children then painted a self portrait. At circle time, The Sandpipers have been talking about their feelings, what makes them happy or sad. The children responded to this saying things such as “mummy makes me happy”, “going to the zoo makes me happy” and “falling over makes me sad”. Finally, the children have also been to the library to look at the books with our teachers and friends.
Pre-School
It has been a fantastic start to the term in Pre-School, the children have done a brilliant job at welcoming new friends and helping them settle into their new routines. As the weather has been so lovely, the children have really enjoyed spending the majority of their time outdoors, in the Secret Garden, on the beach and in our own playground. The children have also enjoyed reading books and playing group ring games in the shade. Pre-School have spent a lot of time completing self regulation activities to try and cool down as it has been so warm. The children have also shown an interest in caring for babies in their role play area, some children even took a trip to our baby room to deliver some pictures they had made for the babies. It was lovely to see the interactions between our youngest and oldest Nursery Rossallians. To finish the week some of the Pre-Schoolers went to Rossall Kitchen to make cupcakes with Mrs James.
Awards
Year 6
Caitlin: Making good choices in everything that she does
Monty: An excellent start to the year
Savannah: An excellent start to her new school
Kyell: An excellent start to his new school
Year 5
Evelyn: Approaching new challenges with confidence, and showing kindness to others.
Alfie: All round impressive behaviour and a conscientious approach to his work.
Year 4
Hope: Making a fantastic start to Year 4 and contributing to class activities.
Sophia: Making a wonderful start to life at Rossall.
Year 3
The certificates in Year 3 this week go to Arla and Starsky for having a fabulous first week and a wonderful attitude to their School life.
Year 2
Tommy: Making a fabulous start to Rossall.
Jessica: Being a kind and caring friend.
Year 1
Well done to this week’s award winners and Francis and Ares for a super start to Year 1 and excellent listening.
Reception
This week’s certificates of achievement go to Dotty, Milly and Henry. What a fantastic attitude the children have had to starting a new school. Well done!
