Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School Newsletter – Michaelmas Term 2021 – Week 7

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

Message from the Preparatory School Headmaster

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to what promises to be an exciting and busy term. I trust you all enjoyed a relaxing half term break. We have already circulated our fantastic curriculum maps that explain all of the exciting topics that the children will be learning about throughout the course of this half term. It is always a magical half term in a primary setting and I know that the pupils will be looking forward to the array of activities that have been planned for them.

The weather is most definitely turning and whether we are faced with the rain or plummeting temperatures, could you please ensure all children come into school wearing their Rossall coats.

As we prepare to mark Remembrance Day next week, the pupils have the opportunity to make a donation when purchasing poppies and associated items that are on sale in the morning, as the children pass through the walkway. Our Remembrance Service for the whole School will take place on Thursday.

This week at Chapel, Father John focused on ‘being prepared’. Whether it be your coat for the playground, learning spellings for a test, or making a Christmas wish list (it is nearing that most wonderful time of the year!), it is crucial that children begin to understand the importance of taking ownership of the many different aspects of their lives. Hopefully this will include keeping their bedrooms tidy, packing their bags, and brushing their teeth… we can only hope!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mr M Turner

Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery

Prep School Poetry Returns in Style!

After a year away, it was wonderful to see all the children from Years 3-6 taking part in the annual House Poetry competition. There were two parts to the event, with the children scoring points for their House in the individual class preliminaries, and then collectively, where all pupils worked together to prepare and perform a group poem in front of the whole of Prep and Pre-Prep.

The standard was superb, and it was wonderful to see our enthusiastic poets displaying their talents in the individual finals, followed by the team competition, which radiated the camaraderie and support that underpins all our House competitions.

There were certificates for all the finalists, with Ruby Williams and Lara Clark winning the Upper and Lower School competitions respectively. Hesketh were the champions in the Year 5/6 team event, whilst Clifton received the Year 3/4 trophy. Assheton were plucky but really quite unlucky!What a performance and what a wonderful start to the half term.

Goals Galore as Rossall Welcome St Pius

The Rossall playing fields were awash with red, white and blue football strips with children from Year 3 to Year 13 representing the School, and enjoying a fun filled afternoon of football.

We were delighted to welcome our good friends from St Pius, Preston, to play two triangular fixtures against four Rossall 7-a-side teams.
The standard of football was dazzling on both pitches and there were some outstanding goals from Zac, Harry, Michael, Finley (starring in his debut!), Archie, Nicholas, Jude and Jude. Credit must also go to the Rossall goalkeepers with Kameron, Jack, Jasper, Lockie and Lukas all making brilliant saves.
The crowd of parents were treated to a fine feast of football, but the highlight for everyone was the Rossall post match tea, where everyone enjoyed celebrating a perfect afternoon of sport together.
Well done, Rossall!

Year 6

U11 St.Pius v Rossall Netball

These were our first ever netball matches, away at St. Pius Preparatory School. We were so excited travelling to our first fixture in Year 6! The first game was amazing but tiring. St Pius were a good team, but we pushed through and won with a superb overall score of 16-2.

The second game was a great fun too, but unfortunately we lost 4-1 to St. Pius. We all worked very hard and it payed off, there was a lot of running and getting into space. We had a fantastic time and St.Pius were very good hosts we hope to be playing against them again soon.

There was a lot of singing on the mini bus on the way back to Rossall, having had a brilliant afternoon of netball!

Jasmine & Ruby

CCF

Attention! Conscription Day came to Rossall this week and the engaging officers from the CCF made the experience one that the Year 6 children will never forget. The activities of marching, rifle shooting and fitness training ‘Army style’ got the new recruits communicating, thinking about safety, and working well as members of a regiment. Not only did the children learn an incredible amount over the course of the afternoon, they thoroughly enjoyed it too. So much so, they have signed up and are eagerly awaiting their recruitment in Year 9!

Year 5

The inclement weather could not dampen the excitement in the classroom this week. It was lovely to see the class back together after the half term break.

We have had a busy week introducing our new Topics and taking a first look at our fabulous new book for English, ‘ The Lost Happy Endings’.

The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in our House Poetry competition on Monday afternoon. Year 5 worked hard alongside Year 6 in their respective Houses and we were all amazed at the organisation and teamwork that they showed to present their poem.

Wednesday afternoon was spent on the sports field, some of the boys showcased their super skills in football matches while the rest of the class honed their hockey skills on the Astro.

Mr Newell took the children for their Drama lesson which was quieter than normal because they were learning the art of mime!

The weather has become much colder over the last few days. Please make sure that the children have a coat, hat and gloves for playtime.

Year 4

This week the children examined a human skull and in particular the composition and types of teeth. They were able to see how far the teeth were embedded into the facial bones and mandible, and how they were held in place by the long roots of the teeth. The children were fascinated by all the structures in the skull and we covered an array of topics from how the spinal cord enters the head to the fusion of the skull.

The children also remembered information from our previous topic on the digestive system and tried to envision where the oesophagus would be located in relation to the bony structures in the head. It is encouraging to see the children cross-reference information gathered between lessons and build upon the knowledge gained. Grasping these concepts takes quite a leap of imagination and I am happy to say I am impressed with their enthusiasm and interest in the subject and judging by the questions asked we will be revisiting many related subjects in the future.

After wrestling with questions relating to anatomy and physiology, it was time to find answers to a very important 21^st century question – why does popcorn pop? The children learned that popcorn has been around for thousands of years; however, scientists have only recently resolved the mystery behind the popping sound and the detailed mechanism of how the popcorn bursts due to the vaporisation of water escaping from the kernel after it has cracked.

The children were given the opportunity over the half term to choose and learn a poem for the individual school house poetry competition. Three children were elected to recite their poem on stage to the entire school and they did amazingly well in such an impressive setting. The class also took part in the group house competition and did well remembering the words and actions of the poem ‘Rapunzel! Rapunzel!’. Each house worked collaboratively to direct and choreograph their routine and were able to put on three outstanding performances.

Another highlight of the week occurred when the children were able to attend swimming lessons for the first time since term began. After an academic beginning to the new term this was an ideal pursuit to enable the children to boost their vital endorphin and serotonin to improve brain health.

Year 3

We have had a wonderful first week back in Year 3!

We began our new book Winter’s Child which fits in very well with the cold weather we’ve been having! Inspired by the book, we wrote list poems using noun phrases and dialogue using speech marks. In Maths, we have been deepening our understanding and skills in 3-digit addition and we decided we are now the ‘kings and queens of exchanging’! Which brings us to our new Topic: Riotous Royals!

The children loved our first lesson on this, learning about William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings – including a gruesome fact they can share with you! In Art, we created our own version of the Bayeux Tapestry to represent the battle. Lastly in Science we have started our unit on Forces and Magnets, conducting our first experiment: to see how much force it takes to pull a toy car along different surfaces, and we used force meters to measure and record. As you can see, we have been busy! Well done for your enthusiasm and hard work Year 3, what a fab start to the half-term!

Year 2

Year 2 have been bubbling with enthusiasm this week. Our new ‘Digging for Dinosaurs’ topic has captured our interests and we have been looking for signs that dinosaurs have visited our playground. We found scratches on trees, footprints in the mud and we even found a dinosaur egg!

We kept it safe in our classroom until it hatched into our very own mini triceratops! In Maths this week, we have been working really hard on grasping the column method for addition and subtraction. The children have all been amazing at the way they have applied their Maths knowledge throughout the week.

In English, we have been introduced to our new book ‘The Owl Who is Afraid of the Dark’ and we have been making predictions about the main character, Plop.

Year 1

He’s back!!

Nibbles, The book monster has returned. He has been back in Year 1 causing lots of mischief and mayhem. He has been nibbling allsorts of things. He just loves to nibble things… especially books, but he will nibble just about anything – shoes, socks, rubber ducks, even soap. Now we just have to try and stop him from escaping and invading the rest of the school. We have made wanted posters to try and catch him. Look out for him!

In Science we have started to think about identifying and naming different materials, so we can investigate and find the best material to make a cage to capture Nibbles in. We have been on a material hunt around school to find different materials, and to learn about why certain materials are used for different objects.

Nibbles hasn’t been the only one causing mischief and mayhem. In Topic, we have been learning about Guy Fawkes and his plot to kill the king. We have been talking about why we celebrate Bonfire Night and how Guy Fawkes’ plan was thwarted. We have made our own bonfire rockets and talked about keeping ourselves safe on Bonfire Night.

Reception

Sometimes our children struggle with coping strategies and require tools to improve self regulation. This can occur at school or at home. Addressing specific needs like sensory overload, worries or anxiety, fears, or nervousness can be as simple as having a set of sensory coping strategies on hand. One way to do this is using mindfulness and positive coping skills like deep breathing exercises, which we link to the children’s interests.

Deep breathing acts as a coping tactic and a calming activity. It’s an easy coping strategy for children because taking deep breaths with mindful breathing can be done anywhere and without any equipment.

Taking controlled breaths with deep breathing can give children a sense of control that helps them rest and address self-regulation or emotional regulation when they are upset, worried, or feel a need to calm down.

This week we tried a deep breathing activity which used a simple picture of a pumpkin, but we used a real pumpkin, too. The small decorative pumpkins are perfect for this activity, because children can hold the small pumpkin in their hands and feel the weight of the pumpkin as they complete the breathing strategy.

Using a pumpkin picture, we showed the children how to use deep breathing as a coping tool by taking calming breaths while they trace the lines of the pumpkin. The children have thoroughly enjoyed these activities and hopefully the children can learn to use them to help self regulate in the future.

Nursery

This week saw the introduction of our new stories of the month.

Preschool have chosen Goldilocks and the Three Bears. During the story the children have been using props to engage deeper with The story. They really enjoyed acting out and using their voices to represent the characters.

Preschool have also practiced their maths skills by filling bowls of porridge . Estimating how many spoons it takes to fill a bowl and talking about sizes, small, medium or large.

This week the children have had the opportunity to go to the Rossall Kitchen and make some lovely cupcakes. This is a wonderful experience allowing the children again to use maths skills by looking at the numbers on the scales, ovens, and recipes.

The Sandpipers’ book is Goodnight Hoot. The children have enjoyed looking at the pictures in the book which have a variety of new animals they may not have seen before. The weather has been good on a few days this week so they have been exploring the grounds to see if they can find a squirrel just like in the book. They have also been crafty this week exploring colours for Diwali.

Sanderlings have also managed to explore the grounds this week. The large open space is ideal for them to walk and crawl around safely. They have also had a variety of tuff trays out for the children to explore including cereal , shaving foam with food dye to explore colours and hedgehogs to explore touch.

Award Winners

Year 6

Our certificates this week go to:

Gabriel for outstanding contribution to classroom discussion

Lockie for outstanding enthusiasm in all activities.

Amiee for outstanding Contribution in Academic and Sporting Activities

Charlie for outstanding Contribution in Class and Support of his Peers

Year 5

Our certificates this week go to Roman for fabulous football and Joey for amazing home learning.

Year 4

Our awards this week go to Annabel for outstanding perseverance in Maths and Reuben for outstanding effort in all subjects.

Year 3

Certificate winners in Year 3 this week are Archie for his amazing enthusiasm in our new Topic and to Ethan for his outstanding creativity in his list poem.