This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Dear All,
Last Friday we enjoyed wonderful sunshine as our children took part in sports day. Roll on one week and the sun continues to beam down on our pupils in both Waddecar and Stoller on their much anticipated residential visits.
As I am writing this, I am currently sitting on a rib rescue boat on Lake Windermere, watching the children sail around me having picked up many new skills in no time at all. On Wednesday I was fortunate to see the Year 3s in Waddecar, as they took part in bouldering, frisbee golf and team building activities, just before the Year 4s arrived on Thursday.
Whether it be zip wiring, king swinging, nightlining, canoeing, fell walking, sailing, or archery, there is absolutely no doubt that the children have learnt so much, had a great deal of fun, and created memories that will last a lifetime.
As the Year 2s prepare for our latest residential offering – the ‘Big Sleepover’ at Rossall next week, they know that they have much to look forward to over the coming years!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mr M Turner
Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery
U10 Cricketers Are a Big Hit Against Westholme!
Congratulations to the Under 10 Cricket team who welcomed Westholme School this week for a feast of cricket.
Batting first Rossall made a steady start, and by the end of their innings had amassed a healthy total of 141. In reply, Westholme batted confidently but were unable to defend their wickets against the accurate Rossall bowling attack, ending their innings on 121.
Well done to all the children who represented the school so impressively.
Stagebox Company
Huge congratulations are in order for Xanthe who has secured membership of the the exclusive Stagebox Company. Stagebox is an industry accelerator and opportunities platform for 5-18-year-olds in Acting or Musical Theatre. Xanthe was one of just 35 people selected out of 1000 applicants, we look forward to watching her burgeoning performance career take off. Who know what senior school will hold?!
Ocean Day
Earlier in the month, the Prep School celebrated World Ocean Day. This was a fabulous day filled with ocean themed activities. The children wore blue as a fundraiser for the Fleetwood Beach Wheelchair charity and we raised a whopping £171.0. The classes also went to the beach and completed scavenger hunts, beach sculptures and made videos about protecting the oceans. There was also an Ocean Day art competition which resulted in lots of beautiful and creative artwork. The School Council had the difficult job of judging the works and selecting the lucky winners. Well done to everyone for their fantastic creations and here are the winners!
Pre-Prep
- Dylan from Y1
- Y3/4 – Abrianna from Y3
- Y5 – Monty
- Y6 – Jacob
Year 6 & Year 5
It’s fun to stay in the YMCA!!! was sounding out from the Lake District this morning as our amazing Year 5 and 6 children embarked on their final activities overlooking the stunning backdrop of Lake Windermere.
The children and teachers have loved the team challenges, giant swings, zip wires and water sports, but most of all the quality time that we have had together and the funny moments we have shared that we will be able to laugh about when we return to Rossall, and will stay with us for years to come.
It has been a wonderful opportunity for the children to experience so many outdoor activities, as well as develop teamwork and leadership skills that flourish from working together. From learning to sail (or capsize!) to guiding each other blindfolded through the woodland (Ouch!), these activities have united the Year 5 as a group and helped build new friendships. For the Year 6- what a wonderful way to begin their final two weeks in Prep School and make fond meemories that we will cherish forever.
Well done everyone and thank you for an amazing trip!
Year 4 & Year 3
Waddecar! More like, Wowdecar!!! It has been an absolutely awesome couple of days for the Year 3 and 4 children. The sun has been shining and the children climbing, throwing, jumping, falling, hitting the bullseye, camp firing, marshmallow-roasting, sweets eating, not sleeping, but most of all laughing and loving life.
We shared memories around the campfire that the children will never forget.
It has been been fantastic to see the children outside the classroom, embracing a new environment and challenging themselves to overcome fear and try new experiences.
After all the excitement the children may well need a restful weekend, the teachers certainly will!
Year 2
The end of last week was incredibly exciting and I was impressed with the manner in which the Year 2 children conducted themselves during our Sports Day. Monday brought us back down to earth with some hard work. We have completed our Mathematics unit on problem solving, and my goodness the children really did do some fabulous solving. We have now moved onto capacity and mass, though it has been heavy going (ha ha), the children have enjoyed the practical nature of this new topic. In English the children have been continuing to complete some fabulous writing in relation to our class book “Grandad’s Giant”, we completed some fun drama activities that the children then used to complete a diary entry from the perspective of the main character.
We have continued our topic work on the sea and the children completed some pleasing work comparing and contrasting various coastlines. Our artwork was also related to this, with the class creating some fabulous “Great Wave off Kanagawa” inspired pictures. With only 10 more get ups, and 1 of those being in school, please enjoy the lie in, I can’t believe we have nearly come to the end of the term. The more I reflect on the year, the more pleased I am with the progress that this group of children have made. My plan is to make the last two weeks the most fun packed, exciting and inspiring that I possibly can!
Year 1
It’s been another busy week for Year 1 and it felt even busier knowing that we don’t have many of these weeks left! The children of Year 1 have been working so hard each day and they especially excelled when working on their end of year assessments too. Well done everyone for working hard- I’m so proud of how far you have come! We’ve been focusing on so much in Maths this week, from number bonds to 100 to talking about tens and ones. We have also been learning how to tell the time to the hour and to half past too and we are really great at doing so. We have even been discussing what ‘quarter-past’ looks like and how the time on an analogue clock looks on a digital clock. We’ve been discussing our routines and we are so accurate at saying what times we carry out particular routines each day. We had an exciting task to complete this week- we have been sent some letters from another school in the North-West and they have been asking us all about what it is like to live by the sea. It was so fun to read their sentences and to talk about what answers we will respond with. We have been drafting our letters and writing them too, ready to be sent to our new pen pals. Well done everyone!
Reception
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 quickly as they could. They used their hands, hammers, saws, warm water and salt. This engaged the children and maintained their interest until the peas unfortunately became the ‘Mushy Peas’.
This week, we found a copy of the book ‘Supertato’ with a message written inside:
Dear pupils,
Inside this parcel is a very important book that you must read. It is about some very naughty vegetables and how they escaped from the ice. If you come across any frozen peas, don’t help them because they will cause mischief and chaos. Keep them frozen!
Love from ST
We discussed what had happened and explained that they needed to be on the lookout for any of those naughty peas they helped escape from the ice at the beginning of the week. Throughout the week the children have found taped up figures, cubes tipped under the table and even tables turned upside down. The children have demonstrated their creativity by devising numerous plans to recapture the naughty peas, including traps, buying cars to chase them and jumping off bridges to squash them! We read the story together and discussed the different things Supertato does to save the day e.g. washing the broccoli, lifting up the cheese, flying through the air. The children chose one of the super powers to mime. We then asked each child about what they were doing using the magic microphone! We discussed what super heroes the pupils knew and what their powers are. The children then drew themselves as superheroes and wrote about their super powers, which ranged from strength and speed to flying and making flowers! The children then loved using both the indoor and outdoor environments to pretend to be a superhero, thinking about their powers and how they would help others. Hopefully our new super heroes can stop the evil peas from causing more chaos around school.
Nursery
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have”
Maya Angelou
This week in the Nursery we have focused on Expressive Arts and Design.
The Sanderlings
This week The Sanderlings have taken advantage of the warm weather and the babies enjoyed a water play afternoon. Miss Heatley brought in a blow up paddling pool and added some toys to the water such as jugs, bowls and sea creatures. There were lots of splashes, smiles and giggles. To help promote a sensory experience, Miss Schofield set up a tuff tray filled with crayons, paper, tissue paper, pipe cleaners and musical toys. This enabled the babies to develop their creativity with the support of their peers and practitioners. Mrs Beddis loves song time and so do the babies so we had lots of singing, dancing, musical instruments and of course the song box.
The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers have been focusing their expressive arts and design learning based on the children’s interests. The Sandpipers chose to read the book ‘The tiger who came for tea’ as a theme. The children have enjoyed painting their own tigers and being creative with arts and crafts based around this. The children have taken part in wellbeing Wednesday, where we had a spa morning. There was a milk bath for the children to dip their feet into and their very own hot tub expertly made using the tuff tray and soapy water. The children also made their own smoothies using summer berries, ice and yoghurt before a taste test – it was delicious. Finally, the children have also enjoyed making music using the instruments whilst singing nursery rhymes.
Pre-School
Pre-School has had another lovely week, the children have taken part in numerous painting activities, there are certainly some budding artists in Pre-School. The children have started taking part in keyworker times, during this session they spend time with their key worker and complete focused activities based on the children’s individual development focuses and the learning intention for the week. Pre-School have enjoyed exploring different musical instruments, identifying sounds and using listening skills to explore which sound is loudest or quietest. The children were very engaged in this activity and practised pitch and tone. On Thursday afternoon the children had a trip to the Rossall kitchen to make cookies with a choice of raisins or chocolate chips on offer as the filling. As the sun continued to shine, Pre-School have spent time in the garden mud painting where they used sticks and mud to paint the ground. The children love using natural resources.
Pre-Prep Awards
Reception
Certificates of Achievement this week go to Jasper, for devising and drawing numerous very creative plans to catch the ‘Evil Peas’, and Rupert for making excellent attempts at spelling more complex words in his writing.
Our Pre-Prep Sports Day certificates go to:
1st Place Vova
2nd Place Nicholas
3rd Place Chika
Year 1
This week’s Certificate of Achievement in Year 1 go to:
Theo for being so enthusiastic about writing a letter to a pen pal and for working hard when doing so.
Jaxon for having fantastic ideas when discussing what to write in his letter to his pen pal.
Our Pre-Prep Sports Day certificates go to:
1st Place Bow
2nd Place Jaxon
2nd Place Aria
3rd Place Yuha
Year 2
Certificates of Achievement in Year 2 go to Ayana and Darius for outstanding effort when problem-solving in Mathematics this week.
Our Pre-Prep Sports Day certificates go to:
1st Place Rocco
2nd Place Aidan
2nd Place Ayana
3rd Place Starsky
