Prep Newsletter Summer Term Week 3 | Rossall - Independent Boarding School

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

Dear All,

This week I had the privilege of being asked to speak at two Heads’ conferences, meaning I have been out of School. It has been a long time since we met together in person and an acute reminder of just how different things are in the virtual world! Meeting other Heads and discussing pertinent and very often similar challenges, delivers fantastic opportunities for sharing good practice. It also provides headspace to critically reflect whilst not in the thick of the action in School.

School has been a hive of activity once again. Our Assembly concerts last Friday provided a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the musical talents of the children. Welcoming parents and family members into School is always enjoyable and the concert provided the chance for us to come together as a community. Well done to all of the pupils who took part. This was followed today by the first of our Chapel Assemblies that we have launched this term. Year 6S delivered a fantastic array of information about Famous Victorians.

Year 4 loved their trip to watch Manchester Thunder Netball on Monday and we were delighted to host our first girls’ and mixed cricket fixtures on Wednesday. Again, my congratulations to all involved in some excellent matches against St. Mary’s Hall.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our fundraising event tomorrow night. The evening that will raise money for our Ukrainian Hub will bring together parents, friends and staff of Rossall.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr M Turner

Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery

Manchester Thunder Trip

Prep School had an amazing trip on Monday evening, to watch Manchester Thunder netball team play against Team Bath in the Belle Vue Arena, Manchester. The teams included many international players who will be playing for their respective countries in the Commonwealth Games in the Summer. The highlights for the girls were not just the match, but spending their money in the gift shop, collecting many of the players autographs, and having their faces painted!

Cricket is a big hit in the Prep School!

Congratulations to the Year 5 and 6 cricket teams for an outstanding team performance versus St Mary’s Hall, Stonyhurst this week.

There were four matches in all, and it was wonderful to see boys and girls thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to play in a competitive match.

The progress was incredible, and with three victories and a draw it was a wonderful start to the cricket season.
Well done, Rossall!

Year 6

What an electrifying week it has been for the Year 6 childre; scripting and delivering our first Chapel Assembly; preparing for our Exhibition on the theme of Exploration, and investigating the field of ‘Electricity’ in Science. The children have thoroughly enjoyed the wide variety of learning experiences, and it is so rewarding to see the class relish the range of opportunities that come their way each week.

6S delivered an informative and very entertaining Chapel Assembly to the whole school and their parents about famous Victorians who studied at Rossall. From Thomas Beecham, Britain’s first international conductor, to Walter Clopton Wingfield, who pioneered lawn tennis, and Thomas Byles, the Reverend who gave up his lifeboat place on the Titanic to bless people as it sank, the children presented their knowledge splendidly.

With the Victorian era firmly in our minds, it was fitting that so many of the Year 6 represented the school in cricket versus our friends from Stonyhurst, St Mary’s Hall. This fixture now in its 148^th year was first played by our Rossall Victorians in 1874; we truly are part of some wonderful history at Rossall School.

Year 5

Another hectic and productive week has come to an end for Year 5.

This week we have enjoyed learning more about where our power comes from and what we use it for. The children have enjoyed researching different types of Power Stations and have produced some detailed work. We have had spirited discussions about ways in which we can reduce our reliance on these Power Stations and help our environment at the same time.

We have moved onto decimals and percentages in Mathematics and the children have made a super start on their new topic.

Year 4

It has been a jam packed week in Year 4 and the children are now fully immersed in their rainforest topic. They have been looking at animal adaptations in Science and how changing environments can influence how animals have evolved. As humans, we realised we are able to put on a coat and a wolly hat if it gets too cold, but what can animals do? The children looked at animals from various climates and matched them with various adaptations. They then created their own animal which had to be able to survive in rapidly changing environments!

In English, they have created some excellent pieces of non-fiction writing about certain aspects of rainforests and where they can be found. They have also created persuasive posters to try and help save the rapidly decreasing areas of forest throughout the world. We looked at how adverts persuade us to buy certain items and what kind of language is used to make the reader feel empathy for the animals losing their homes.

We have finally completed our Maths unit on decimals and the children are looking forward to beginning their new topic next week!

Year 3

Another wonderful week in Year 3!

We started off the week with another visit to the Senior School Science Department. This time, we observed pollen and stomata using microscopes! We also learnt about different methods of seed dispersal.

In English we have continued our journey through Journey, this week developing our descriptive writing using interesting verbs and building our vocabulary. We also learnt some new prefixes and learnt the features of play scripts.

In Maths, we have been deepening our understanding of equivalent fractions and then looked at comparing fractions. For our topic this week, we have been learning about the different capital cities of Europe. We used our research skills to find out facts and information about a chosen capital city.

Finally to finish off the week in Art we learnt about the famous Dutch artist Van Gogh and his impressionist painting style. We connected this with our learning about plants to create our own interpretations of his famous Sunflowers painting. Well done for an awesome week Year 3!

Year 2

In Literacy this week, we have been following the journey of Red as she ventures through the forest. The children have written some superb pieces of writing; a guide on how to catch a wolf, rules to stay safe in the forest and a list of things that you should know before you enter the forest. To extend their writing, Year 2 used apostrophes for contraction, conjunctions and adjectives that end in ‘er’ or ‘est’.

Maths this week has been all about measuring! We have measured almost everything in the classroom with either a centimetre ruler or a metre ruler and had great fun doing it too! We have compared lengths of items and even compared heights of some of the Year 2 class as well.

Our Topic lessons are allowing us to gain a great understanding of what a seaside holiday was like in the Victorian times. This week, we focussed on why and how seaside holidays became popular.

Year 1

Year 1 have been keeping a close eye on our bean plants and we have observed that some have already started to grow. We have thought like scientists and have recorded our findings and questioned why some have started to grow, but others haven’t.

In Topic we have been learning about the four countries that make up the United Kingdom. We have looked at the flags, capital cities and used atlases to label them on a map.

This week, in Maths we have enjoyed splashing around in the water and investigating capacity. We have used different containers to estimate and measure how many containers it would take to fill another container, and to cover the floor!

In Language, we have used our class book to write descriptions of the city, using adjectives. We thought about all of the things the one bear might see, hear and smell. We have also created our own fairy tale themed city, choosing names for our new places that the one bear might visit. Will he go to Troll Towers, Ariel’s swimming bath or Snow White Salon?

Reception

Real reading has to do with thinking, learning, and expanding a reader’s knowledge and horizons. It has to do with building on past knowledge, mastering new information, and connecting with the minds of those you’ve never met.
Zimmerman, S. and Hutchins, C. (2003)

Reading comprehension is the ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning. It relies on two, interconnected abilities: word reading (being able to decode the symbols on the page) and language comprehension (being able to understand the meaning of the words and sentences).

When we make sense of a text, however, we don’t just remember the exact words and phrases we read. Rather, we form a mental model of what the text describes by integrating the sense of the words and sentences into a meaningful whole, like a film that plays in our head.

Good comprehension is vital if reading is to have a purpose, if a reader is to engage with and learn from a text and, ultimately, if a reader is to enjoy what they’re reading.

With all this in mind, we use a structured, systematic scheme for teaching, practising and improving reading comprehension. We plan to teach children the skills and strategies they need to successfully explain their understanding of a wide range of texts, and offer ideas to extend their enjoyment of, and engagement with, reading.

This week’s key text ‘Hugless Douglas’ by David Melling is based on familiar ideas and has a clear sequence of events. The children were asked to listen to the relevant part of the text, then sequence pictures and answer questions about the story.

Our weekly Bug Club Guided Reading Prep, provides an opportunity for you to support your child at home with their reading comprehension. There is also some additional information on how to support your child with reading comprehension that I have placed onto Google Classroom.

Nursery

Our Sanderlings baby room made history this week, by being the first baby room class featured on the Rossall whole school photo. Since opening our baby room in September 2020, we have experienced lots of firsts and this week’s was extra special! The Sanderlings room has been full of songs, dances and smiles, as the staff have been creating lots of opportunities for the children to explore rhythm and music. These activities, although fun are a fantastic way to teach the babies early literacy skills and to further develop their physical development.

In Sandpipers room this week, the children went on a hunt around the Rossall grounds in search of “a choo choo”. Following the children’s interests and lead, the Sandpipers team set out on a child-led walk around the school site, offering lots of opportunities for awe & wonder and of course navigating. The children have also been practicing making their own playdough, to explore their sensory and physical development. It was also a lovely opportunity for the children to practice their listening skills, develop persistence to see the activity through and of course lots of language.

Miss Emsley took the Preschool children on a bike ride this week around the school grounds, we are so lucky to have such a safe space on site to take our bikes out on an adventure. The children were able to take turns using the bikes, use trial and error to master the pedals and of course exercised their sense of coordination.. luckily the children haven’t mastered pedalling at any speed yet hehe. Our new Rossall Reception class also enjoyed their first PE lesson this week, along with their first visits to the dining hall, what an exciting time!

Award Winners

Ava – Outstanding Confidence Approaching Challenges

Charlie – Outstanding Support towards Others

Zachariah – Outstanding performance in the cricket match

Bailey – Outstanding performance in the cricket match

Year 5

Our awards go to Linc for incredible poetry and Emily for always doing the right thing and being a fabulous friend.

Year 4

Seluleko for his impeccable manners and general kindness and Eleanor for her amazing rainforest prep on toucans.

Year 3

This week’s certificates in year 3 go to Nilanth for his great progress in reading and to Florence for her smiley and helpful disposition.

Year 2

Roman – for showing great scientific skills during our Science lessons

Sophie – for producing outstanding writing in our Literacy lessons this week

Year 1

This week’s awards go to Arabella for always trying her best in everything that she does, and Kaxshaan for excellent effort in his writing and phonics. Well done!