This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Dear All,
As the children got back to some degree of normality after their exertions on trips and residentials last week, they were met with yet more excitement in the form of our House Challenge Day! The annual event was back with bang, as our children displayed superb teamwork, resilience, determination, sportsmanship, problem-solving, critical thinking and most importantly, fun! From suitcase races to tugs of war, dodgeball to orienteering, mazes to golf, there was certainly no shortage of opportunities to shine for each house. Congratulations to the winners this year: Assheton!
The Music Assembly Concert on Wednesday was an absolute delight. I was in awe of the accomplished performances of the pupils as they confidently delivered again and again. I know that everyone in attendance was wowed by the concert and we have already received requests from some of the children who were listening, to begin lessons so they too can perform in such events. Well done to all involved.
Huge congratulations to our Year 4 Striking and Fielding Team who won the Wyre & Fylde competition on Tuesday. Competing against 5 other schools, they ran out worthy winners and now look forward to representing the region on Tuesday next week at the Lancashire Games! Go Year 4!
Transition afternoon is always a huge day for the children in Prep. Whether it be the Year 6s moving up to Senior School, our newest starters in Reception, new joiners to Rossall, or simply finding out who a new teacher will be or where a new classroom is, it is a day of mixed emotions. Looking back over the year has been as well as anticipation for September and beyond. I hope all of our children have enjoyed their day and are as excited for the future as I am.
A reminder that Prep and Pre-Prep School finishes for the Summer break at 12pm on Friday 8th July. There is a great deal to squeeze in before that point, including our Performing Arts weekend events, the Year 6 Garden Party, the Striking and Fielding Competition, Prize Day, and our Beach Party! Wow!
Have a restful weekend!
Mr M Turner
Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery
Rossall Golf Championship
On Sunday the 19th June some of our junior academy members came together to compete in the Under 10’s and Under 12’s Rossall Championship. For some golfers it was their first time out on the golf course and for others their first time competing. It was great to see all their hard work paying off and plenty of fantastic shots were played throughout the morning at Myerscough. The winner of the Under 10’s championship was Ava and the winner of the Under 12’s was Ollie. Congratulations to both winners and to all competitors for taking part, learning, and best of all having some fun out there!
Mr Hemmings, Director of Golf
Lancashire Youth Games Baton Relay
The Lancashire Youth Games are taking place next Tuesday 5th July at Stanley Park. The Baton Relay was an opportunity for all schools across Lancashire to pass on the Baton in celebration of this impending sporting bonanza. With the help of Heather, Year 6 did a fantastic job of greeting the incoming Larkholme children as if they were royalty! Betsy, Henry and Mr Rund stepped up to the challenge by running over a mile down the promenade to pass on the the Baton to Manor Beach School, where it was to be been taken further afield. A big thank you to everyone who made this occasion so special.
Year 4 Strike Gold!
Rossall took part in the Wyre district Year 4 Striking and Fielding Festival at Cardinal Allen School on Tuesday. We had to complete many different activities. First of all, we practised the events and then we did them for real. All of the points we scored at each striking and fielding station were added up. We were delighted and surprised when we were announced as the winners by the host, Mr Cadwallader. This means we have qualified to represent Wyre District in the Lancashire Youth Games next Tuesday at Stanley Park. Well done to everyone that took part. Good Luck to the team next week!
Eleanor & Amelia
Rossall V Highfield Priory
Rossall hosted their final rounders matches of the year on Wednesday against Highfield Priory. All Year 5 and 6 girls took part and we really did finish with a bang, with fine performances from both teams ensuring that we had two resounding wins. The progress the girls have made this year is phenomenal and more importantly, testament to their dedication and hard work. We wish Year 6 all the best with their sporting endeavours in the Senior School next year!
Year 6
It’s unbelievable to think we have come to the end of the penultimate week of Year 6, and as always it has been an incredibly busy one. The children returned to school after last week’s residential trip thinking the year had reached its peak, but it just keeps getting better and better. With Rossall Rotation, the Assembly Concert, House Challenge Day and Transition Day, all whilst preparing for our final assembly has meant the week has been absolutely action packed! The manner in which the Year 6 children have taken what they learnt from their time at Stoller and demonstrated these skills in the various activities we’ve taken part in this week has been a pleasure to witness. With the Year 6 Garden Party tomorrow and another exciting week ahead the action never stops.
Year 5
We have had another amazing week in Year 5 with lots of different experiences happening across the week. We kick started the week with a very important lesson from Mrs Turner who spoke to the Year 5’s all about puberty and growing up. The focus was on the names of different body parts – learning the scientific names along with other names we may call them too. Year 5 were knowledgeable in explaining what happens to their bodies when going through puberty and they were very enthusiastic in our class discussions!
This week also saw the final Rossall Rotation session for the year! Year 5 have loved being on the farm looking after all of the different animals. A few were a little hesitant in holding the guinea pigs and rabbits but then conquered their fears for the final session. The Year 5’s were able to feed, pet, clean their homes and even clip the animal’s nails which required them to hold them super still. A very tough challenge it seemed!
House Challenge day has been an event the Year 5’s have been excited about all week. They loved taking part in challenges such as orienteering, tri-golf targets, the maze, dodgeball, tug of war and the infamous suitcase relay! The competition was incredibly high!
We hope the children get a restful weekend in preparation for their final busy week as Year 5’s.
Year 4
What an eventful penultimate week we have had at Rossall. The children enjoyed hearing the musical talents of their peers during the Assembly Concert, testing their airport dashes for the suitcase race in our House Challenge Day, and meeting their new Year 5 teacher during the Transition Afternoon.
To top it off, the children had their final Rossall Rotation session of the year and ended on a high by honing their golf skills. The children ‘putt’ ‘putt’ their all in when playing ‘Hit the Pin’ before later unleashing their competitiveness on the golf simulator to see who could hit the ball the farthest by using an iron and a driver.
In Topic, our Iron Age theme continued with the children learning all about the jobs they may have undertaken, often at a very young age. They were somewhat relieved to be born in an era where careers include video game designers instead of daub mixers. They also investigated Art in the Iron Age and in particular elaborate swirling patterns and knots which the children found surprisingly complex and convoluted.
In Maths, the children have been reviewing their knowledge of symmetry. They have made their own reflecting patterns and discovered that mirrors are an excellent product for helping to identify symmetrical patterns.
We are now looking forward to a final eventful week to round off Year 4 in style.
Year 3
Our second last week together in Year 3! It is so hard to believe that we are coming to our final week! We have had a wonderful time.
In our Maths this week we are on to our final unit of the year which is capacity. We have learnt to read scales on measuring jugs and how to convert between litres and millilitres. For English we have finished Zeraffa Giraffa and in our writing we have created adverts for giraffe-tastic merchandise and also researched the Jardin des Plantes – where Zeraffa lived in Paris. For Topic we learnt about Ancient Egyptian pharaohs and the children researched facts about Tutankhamen. In Science we conducted an experiment using mirrors to learn about reflection. We had to use mirrors to reflect light from a torch to shine on an object.
Well done to the children who performed in the Assembly Concert on Wednesday, we all thoroughly enjoyed it!
Finally we thoroughly enjoyed Challenge Day, all the children collaborated in their houses to participate in the fun activities. We ended the week with our Transition afternoon and met our new class teacher. We’re really starting to get ready for our move to Year 4! Very exciting!
Year 2
The penultimate week of Year 2 has been great!
On Tuesday, we enjoyed our Rossall Rotation session on the beach. At the beach, the tide was quickly on the way back in so we discussed the importance of beach safety and why it is important to be aware of the tide times. We also consolidated our Topic learning and discussed the physical and human features of the beach.
In Maths, we have started our final unit on measures. We have been comparing mass, using the vocabulary lighter and heavier and measuring in grams.
On Thursday, we loved House Challenge Day and worked so well together in our house groups to complete the challenges to the best of our ability.
On Friday, we said goodbye to Miss Bowman, who has been a super addition to the Year 2 community this term and has been amazing at teaching us different aspects of the curriculum.
Year 1
As we come towards the end of our time in Year 1 we are extremely grateful that, for the first time, we have completed a full school year without any disruption and learning from home.
We have had another extremely busy week and are thankful for the opportunities we have had where we can be with children from other year groups. We especially enjoyed the House Challenge Day. It was very close all the way through to the final race. We enjoyed working as a team and earning points for our house.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to our Pre-Prep performance of ‘Fred the Skunk’ as part of the Performing Arts Weekend, and all of our special events next week.
In our final Rossall Rotation of the year we talked about space creatures and created and described our own. This linked well with our class book ‘Toys in Space’ where we have just discovered Hoctopize, the space creature who has been taking lost toys whilst searching for his own lost toy, Cuddles. We have written letters to Cuddles from Hoctopize’s perspective. We hope that Cuddles comes back safe and sound.
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 have loved our new arrangements for snacks, 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!
It has been shown that children who develop an active lifestyle when they are young are more likely to maintain a healthy active lifestyle as they get older. We encourage our children to be active all year round and not just in the summer months. Visits to the beach, a run on the field, free flow into an outdoor classroom, daily playtimes or through special events such as, House Challenge Day, all happen regularly for Reception. Outdoor play provides great opportunities for learning, for example children can learn about the environment around them. Playing with other children can develop their social skills and help build their confidence. Where will you venture to this weekend?
Nursery
Play is often talked about as if it were a release from serious learning. For children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood
Fred Rogers
Our nursery has been a hive of learning and play this week; in all rooms there has been a focus of feelings, what makes us unique and talking about ourselves and our families.
The Sanderlings have been on numerous walks this week where Miss Scofield, Miss Sumner and Miss Sumner modelled language to encourage the babies to use words to explain what they can see. The babies have enjoyed making shapes with the playdough to hone in on their fine motor skills; the shapes they created included circles, triangles and squares. Finally, the babies all enjoyed having a play with the sensory basket and sorting the items into piles of ‘soft’ or ‘rough’ textures.
The Sandpipers have also been to the beach where they used their senses to talk about what they could hear, see, smell and touch. There are so many interesting things to explore at the beach. Mx Preston introduced the story ‘The Colour Monster’ to us which linked to our focus this week of feelings, the Sandpipers teamed up with Preschool to go on a colour walk and link how each colour can represent a certain feeling. Miss Southern, Mx Preston, Mrs Gaynor and Mrs Mayer have also supported us all to draw ourselves and our families and discuss what makes us all unique.
The Preschool children have been continuing their school readiness in preparation for the children who will be leaving to go to big school; the younger children (who are staying with us for the next year) have also been enjoying adult-led activities such as name writing practice. Miss Ward set up an activity where we had a competition to put as many pegs on boards as possible to strengthen our fine motor skills. Miss Emslie took some of us on a walk with Mx Preston to look for colours – there are so many beautiful flowers around. In the garden we have loved making cups of tea using fruit tea bags and lots of different sized pouring containers. Mrs Farrell has been painting flowers with us and because of all our knowledge of flowers from our walks this week we did a super job. We have also celebrated a lot of birthdays this week which has been lots of fun.
Awards
Year 6
The awards this week go to:
Charlotte and Gabriel – Outstanding Teamwork and communication
Adrianna – Outstanding Confidence and commitment
Lizzie – Leadership and initiative
Year 5
Our awards go to Lex and Oskar for writing such a wonderful piece of independent writing based on our class book ‘The Hunter’. They included fantastic vocabulary and a variety of punctuation.
Jacob also received his gold reading award after reading 30 books – well done!
Year 4
This week in Year 4 our certificate winners are Henry and Reuben for outstanding effort in Golf.
Year 3
Certificates in Year 3 this week go to Archer for fabulous reading progress and to Alfie for wonderful writing progress.
Year 2
Annaiya – for being super brave in swimming and challenging herself to not use a float.
Roman – for super involvement in lessons and offering ideas in class discussions.
Year 1
This week’s awards are for Josephine and Valencia for fantastic concentration and attention to detail in our Art lesson.
Reception
This week’s certificates of achievement awards go Teigan and Anand for super imaginative writing based around our story this term, ‘Supertato’.
On the night there will be a charity auction and raffle with proceeds going to Brian House Children’s Hospice.
Tickets cost £50 per person and include a three-course meal and welcome drink.
Over 18s only
There will be drinks available to purchase on the evening.
Book your Midsummer Gala Ball tickets now
