Prep Newsletter Summer Term Week 7 | Rossall - Independent Boarding School

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

Dear All,

The Year 6 pupils began this week finalising their presentations and then delivered a wonderful Exhibition of their course work on Tuesday. All children across the Prep School were afforded the opportunity to visit the exhibition, learn about the variety of topics, and play games to win prizes. The day culminated in a visit by many of the Year 6 parents, as they were treated to confident and articulate speeches from their children. Congratulations to all of our amazing Year 6!

The week did not slow at all, as we became a sea of blue on Wednesday for our Oceans Day. Organised by our very own School Council, the day focused on the importance of the oceans and seas, with the children given the opportunity to raise money for the RNLI by dressing in blue and taking part in a variety of activities including drama and beach cleans. A super day; well done to the School Council!

Our athletes were out in force on Thursday, as we ventured to Manchester to take place in the annual AJIS Athletics event. Again, congratulations to all who took part and performed with such determination. Thursday also saw Rossall host the EYFS Early Excellence, acting as a hub for the North-West. Practitioners came from independent and state schools to learn about the changes to the EYFS and to share good practice. My thanks to Mrs Trippier for organising and hosting this wonderful and enlightening event.

We were once again treated to a wonderfully confident assembly chapel this morning. Year 4S told us all about the ways in which we greet each other around the world, whilst also focusing on the some facts our the Queen – I had no idea that her favourite food is potted shrimp on toast, or that she supports Arsenal! Congratulations on delivering such a lovely assembly. This evening we held our important parent RSE meeting in the Pennine Suite. Providing information regarding our PSHE curriculum is crucial to support the link between what we educate the children in School so that this can be supported at home. My genuine thanks to all who came along; for those who could not make it, we will be distributing a more detailed overview of the Relationships and Sex Education strand of PSHE in the coming days.

Finally, as a child I used to watch Blue Peter and fondly remember having a good crack at their mini projects that resulted in the immortal phrase of ‘here’s one I made earlier’ (which of course bore no resemblance to the model I had created)! I was delighted to announce to the School that Jess has received one of the much sought after Blue Peter badges, a ‘Music’ badge for her singing and instrument playing. Huge congratulations!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mr M Turner

Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery

Year 6

It was absolutely wonderful and extremely rewarding to see Year 6 present their ‘Exhibition of Learning’ to the school this week with an array of fabulous display boards and interactive activities for all to enjoy. The quality of the artwork and confidence of the presentations was outstanding.

There were games, quizzes, prizes, music and even explosive science experiments that thrilled all ages from the children in Pre-Prep to our parents and grandparents, who were clearly immersed in all the varied learning activities.

It was an opportunity to demonstrate all the skills they have acquired throughout their time in the Prep School, especially the teamwork that is required to put on such an amazing education festival and they passed with flying colours!

Congratulations to the Year 6 team for a marvellous exhibition and for excelling once again.

Year 5

What a fun and busy week we’ve had to kick start the final term of the year!

I have loved getting to know each and every one of the Year 5’s and they have made my first week at Rossall very enjoyable.

Year 5 have enjoyed learning all about saving our oceans and the environment. They each prepared a small drama piece in groups to raise awareness on the climate change crisis- coming up with lots of different creative and wonderful ways to deliver their ideas. They also loved heading over to the beach to complete a huge beach clean-up in house groups followed by a beach scavenger hunt. They all did amazing and worked super hard.

In Art, Year 5 have been using recycled materials to make an owl. The materials they have used include: a CD to make the body, bottle tops for the eyes and waste card to create the features, feathers and wings.

Year 4

e’re into our final half term of Year 4 and we have so much to fit in to a few short weeks.

What an amazing day we had for Ocean day on Wednesday! The children had a fantastic time creating drama pieces, completing a beach clean and building pebble towers on the beach, all while learning about the important role our oceans play on helping us all to survive.

We have started our new Topic and the children have enjoyed sharing all their prior knowledge about the Iron Age and linking it to their learning from Year 3 about the Stone Age. They watched a BBC clip looking at what life was like in Britain during this period and how important the discovery of iron ore became to the different tribes. The children have enjoyed researching some amazing facts about the Iron Age and answering some of their own questions.

In Maths we have moved onto Statistics and focused this week on bar charts and line graphs. The children surveyed the rest of the children in Prep School, asking them what their favourite sports are. They then tallied their results and created a bar chart to display their findings.

Our new book, ‘Blue John’ has taken us on a journey into a deep, dark cave and the children have used this inspiration to do some letter writing about an adventure into a cave, inspired by Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’. We listened to the music and imagined the character tip toeing through the cave and discovering the mountain troll! It was great fun telling the story using the music to aid our ideas.

Next week we have sports day to look forward to and the children have all been practicing their running, throwing and relay passes during Games.

Which house will come out victorious?

Year 3

It’s hard to believe we have started the final leg of our time together in Year 3, and the class have had a fantastic week! Of course, we had World Ocean Day on Wednesday, which was both a huge amount of fun, as well as reinforcing a very important message about protecting our seas. The children worked in the houses to devise drama pieces about saving the oceans, conducted a beach clean and participated in a beach scavenger hunt.

In English, we started our new book Zeraffa Giraffa which is based on the true story of a giraffe that was taken from Egypt to Paris, and was the first ever giraffe to be seen in France. We have also practiced our use of contractions in English this week, as well as continuing to develop our comprehension skills.

In Maths, we have moved on to Angles and Turns, learning about different kinds of lines and angles: right angles, acute angles, obtuse angles – and we have been spotting them around the classroom and in different shapes.

For Science, we have begun our final unit of the year all about Light. We conducted a ‘light hunt’ around the school, and learnt how to tell the difference between natural light sources and artificial light sources.

We also started our final topic – Ancient Egypt! We learnt about where Egypt is, when this civilization happened and talked about what life would be like then. We also learnt about pharaohs and in Art we drew our own Ancient Egyptians masks.

On Tuesday, we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Year 6 Exhibition, thank you so much for sharing all your hard work with us!

What a brilliant start to the final half term!

Year 2

Year 2 have had a great week back in the classroom. We have started to read our new book in Literacy, ‘Grandad’s Secret Giant’ and we have been thinking about what adjectives and noun phrases we can use to describe different giants. We have also started our new topic, Sun, Sea and Sand and have been learned the definitions of coast, sea and ocean. In Maths, we have been started our new unit on time and have been practising telling the time to o’clock, half past and quarter past. Our highlight of the week was ‘Ocean Day’ on Wednesday. In the morning, Mrs Roberts led and assembly on what ‘Ocean Day’ is and why it is important to look after the ocean. In the afternoon, we took a trip to the beach and enjoyed lots of different activities such as: a beach clean, beach art and a scavenger hunt!

Year 1

Welcome back. What a fantastic start to our last half term in Year 1. It’s hard to believe that it is nearly the end of the school year, and we are starting to think about moving up to Year 2.

We have started to look at our new class book ‘Toys in space’ by Mini Grey. This links closely with our Science and Topic work on space and space travel, and we are excited to start our astronomy sessions as part of our final Rossall Rotation. In Topic this week we have been finding out all about Neil Armstrong and why he is so famous.

On Wednesday we enjoyed an afternoon at the beach as part of World Ocean Day. The children learned about the importance of looking after our blue spaces, protecting wildlife and the human impact on different habitats. The children took part in a whole school beach clean, although the Prep children had done such a good job in the morning, there was hardly any rubbish left for us to collect!

Reception

Young children are naturally inquisitive, full of questions about the world around them and the drive to investigate how things work. It follows, therefore, that we should take advantage of this innate curiosity and start channelling their enthusiasm for scientific discovery as early on as possible. This week there have been plenty of opportunities, both in and out of the classroom for scientific discovery.

The children had been asking questions about the vegetables on their plates at dinner time. So we channelled their curiosity, and to foster their investigative skills we looked at a variety of vegetables in the classroom. We cut up the vegetables and looked closely at the seeds in peppers, the layers of different onions and cabbage. The children then enjoyed investigating the patterns they made when printing with them.

World Oceans Day, on June 8, was all about protecting the ocean. A healthy planet needs a healthy ocean, but our waters face huge risks from overfishing, climate change, and plastic pollution. We then spent a fantastic afternoon at the beach where the children took part in a litter pick, helping to prevent plastic from going into the ocean and harming wildlife. We also used natural resources to make some beach art and completed a scavenger hunt, looking closely at the plants and animals we could find along the coastline.

Most young children love physical exploration – the messier the better – so on Thursday we tapped into this, their favoured learning style, to help some ‘Chilly Peas’ defrost from the ice. The children investigated various ways to melt the ice as quick as they could. This engaged the children and maintained their interest until the peas unfortunately became the ‘Mushy Peas’.

As well as organising specific activities for the children to participate in, we always try to look out for spontaneous, daily opportunities for scientific discovery, guided by us but ultimately led by the children. This week, they have been hunting for snails in all the usual places and then making homes for them. Where will the children’s curiosity and questions take us next week.

Nursery

It’s been a week of fine motor mastery for Rossall Nursery this week!

In Sanderlings baby room, the children have enjoyed using tools to manipulate and explore playdough. The children have also had fun visiting the boarding house gardens on their walks this week where they learnt about colours as they looked at all the different flowers growing.

In the Sandpipers room (2-3), the children have been channelling their inner artists by painting both indoors and out.. they created some beautiful masterpieces! It was lovely to hear the children discuss how the colours were changing and what they were painting. The children have also had fun developing their independence by self serving at mealtimes.

Our Pre-schoolers have been busy using tools for purpose in their cooking lesson with Mrs James to make some delicious cookies. They have also been practicing using scissors to cut out shapes, cut along lines and cut out leaves they collected in the garden.

Our highlight of the week has definitely been some lovely trips to the beach.. from babies to pre-schoolers all rooms have visited the beach this week to enjoy exploring the sand, observing the natural environment and building some fantastic sandcastles!

Awards

Year 6

6S Awards

Ruby: Outstanding support and kindness to the Pre-Prep children.

Jasmine: Outstanding commitment to our exhibition

6R Awards

Charlotte: Outstanding contribution and collaboration to our exhibition

Aliyah: Outstanding contribution and collaboration to our exhibition

Year 5

The certificate winners were Daisy for settling in so well and contributing excellently in the Ocean Day activities and Freddie contributing in class discussions throughout the week.

Year 4

For 4S this week, Amelia and Cara have been awarded for their inquisitive and energetic start to our new topic.

4R certificate winners are Mia for outstanding effort in the lead up to Ocean Day and Karanjot for an outstanding Ocean Day drama performance.

Year 3

This week’s certificates in Year 3 go to Jude for his wonderful contributions in Religious Studies and to Ethan for always being so helpful and responsible.