Friday 27th January 2017
Dear Parents,
It has certainly proven to be a rather cold week but that has not deterred us at all in the Prep School,
although unfortunately the weather did put a stop to the Rugby and Netball matches this week due
to frozen pitches and courts. It was wonderful to see so many Year 6 parents at the first Parents’
Evening of the term. Year 5 parents should now have received an invitation for the up and coming
evening on Monday 6th February.
Assemblies
Apples were the theme of my assembly this week! I used apples to demonstrate the damage that
unkind words can do to us. I had two rather delicious red apples. I invited the children to be really
horrible to one of my apples by insulting it. I then asked the children to complement my other apple.
I am glad to report that they found it far easier to be kind then they did to be spiteful. Once completed
we looked at how the outside of the two apples looked exactly the same, however, when I cut the two
apples in half, the apple that we had been horrible to was rotten inside. We discussed how unkind
words and actions can affect people’s feelings and confidence.
During our Celebration assembly this week the Prep School
had a special visitor. The pupils were delighted to welcome
Sarah Jane-Ladum from the Dogs Trust. Charlie presented
a cheque which was the amalgamation of two fundraising
events, Christmas Jumpers and Rookwood has Talent.
Overall pupils raised £77. The pupils listened with such
care as stories about some of the dogs that have been
rehomed were shared.
Achievements
Well done to the following pupils on their achievements this week:
Immie Allright was awarded her ‘Teamwork’ badge from Guides.
Xen Medland was presented with his certificate for taking part in the recent ISA National Finals.
Alex Morrison received his certificate of acknowledgement for taking part in The Tempest play.
Bronze Awards
Well done to the following pupils on earning 100 house points:
Alex B, Andrew P, Megan H-G, Finlay N-H and Jaap T
Silver Awards
Well done to the following two pupils on earning 250 house points:
Sophie M and Oliver S.
The Good Egg
I am extremely proud of the following pupils who were nominated this week. The reasons for their
nominations carried a similar theme. All pupils nominated this week were so for their excellent
manners and care and consideration to other pupils. You are all ‘Amazing’.
Leshawn C, Katie B (Twice), Amelia B, Toby McC, Charlie M, Harrison F and Ede B.
The winner this week was Ede. Ede was nominated for her kindness and consideration to another
pupil.
In the classroom
Year 3
Year 3 have been looking at adjectives in English this week. Together, they devised personality posters
for each other, coming up with words which they felt suited their friends. Can you identify the
children from these words (answers at the bottom)?
Child 1: Tall, quiet, brainy, beautiful, Dutch.
Child 2: Small, smiley, happy, cute, Ninjago loving.
Child 3: Big, kind, caring, wriggly, talkative.
In Maths Mrs Fazal has set her Challenge Group the task of trying to work out how many Smarties
would fill a classroom. The group have been busy thinking up inventive ways of calculating the
answers, other than by buying millions of Smarties of course. Suggestions may be handed into to 3A
please.
Answers: 1) Eefje 2) Harrison 3) George
Year 4
In Maths 4L have been continuing their work on metric conversions and have started looking at
reading scales. Pupils have become very efficient at working out what each scale jumps in before
trying to work out the missing numbers.
Year 5
Year 5 have been focussing on Fables this week during their writing lessons. They enjoyed listening
to and reading a range of fables and then trying to work out what the moral was. Mrs Lodge is very
much looking forward to reading their own fables and seeing which animals they decided to involve.
Year 6
The works of Shakespeare have been under scrutiny by Year 6 this week. Pupils watched a tragedy in
the form of ‘Julius Caesar’. Pupils had to investigate what similarities and differences they noticed
between Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Thankfully they noticed an obvious
difference in the genre. Next week pupils will be exploring the style of Shakespeare sonnets with the
added challenge of attempting to write in the style of the great playwright. Hopefully I will be able to
share some of their creative work with you in the next newsletter.
Year 6 have been focusing on algebra during their Maths lessons this week. Pupils started the week
by 'collecting like terms' and have moved on to substitution and calculating perimeters by using
substitution.
World War 2 is alive within history this term. Pupils have been learning about what life in London
would have been like during the Blitz. The pupils enjoyed learning about the different shelters
although they weren’t so keen on the idea of being evacuated. Many declared that they would miss
their parents!
The Great Bird Watch
Binoculars and clip boards were at the ready this week. The first group of avid birdwatchers went out
as part of the National Birdwatching survey. The weather wasn’t really on their side as a thick fog had
descended upon Andover. However, this did not deter our intrepid explorers and they were not to be
disappointed as they recorded quite a few birds on their survey. Pupils in the Prep school will be
joining Mrs Yarlett over the next two Wednesday lunchtimes to observe the birds that live and visit
Rookwood School grounds.
ISA
Last weekend Xen travelled to London to take part in the ISA
National finals. Xen competed well and achieved 4th position
in all of his events. I must congratulate Xen on his times as he
beat his qualifying times by over two seconds in all events. We
are all extremely proud of your achievements.
NSPCC run
Please can I remind all parents that next Monday all pupils will be taking part
in the NSPCC fundraising run as part of their Games and PE lessons. Rather
than the event being sponsored we are asking pupils to bring in a voluntarily
donation of £2. Thank you in advance for your support.
Shaking Up Shakespeare
Next week's after school rehearsal requires the Year 5 boys: Charlie S, Charlie M, Ahren, Robbie, Toby
and William please.
I am now starting to put together the costume lists and was hoping that some children would be happy
to lend some Hallowe'en costumes to Year 3. We already have witches, vampires and skeletons
aplenty, but any other horrible thing lurking in the cupboards would be gratefully received. Please
make sure everything is named. Thank you Miss Abraham.
Today has appeared rather quiet (which is strange) in the Prep school as many of the current Year 6
pupils have been involved in the Senior School academic, art and sport scholarships and Year 4 have
been out in the sunshine at Ropley Station. Next week normality returns hopefully with warmer
temperatures. I am very much looking forward to welcoming a Rabbi into our Year 6 RS lesson. I hope
that you all have a wonderful weekend.
Best wishes,
Mrs Emma Lewis
(Head of Preparatory)