Bishopsgate Newsletter
Forthcoming Events
Retro Race Night - Saturday, 8th March
I look forward to seeing lots of you at tomorrow evening’s
Retro Race Night.
ESB Group Speaking Assessments
Years 5 to 8
It has become necessary to change the dates of the ESB Group
Speaking Assessments for Years 5 to 8. Year 8’s assessments
will now be on Tuesday 25th March, whilst the assessments for
Years 5, 6 and 7 will take place on Tuesday 20th May.
Frogs and Friends Easter Camp
A separate flyer will be sent to you via email and further
information may be found at www.frogsandfriends.org.
Flintoff Cricket Academy
Do pencil in dates of the Easter holiday Andrew Flintoff Cricket
Academy at Bishopsgate. It runs from 7th April to 11th April
and is open to boys and girls from Year 2 upwards. Further
details and online bookings may be obtained by logging on to
www.activatesport.co.uk.
GOSH Annual Charity Clay Pigeon Shoot Save the Date - 5th September
7th March, 2014
exciting discussions back in the classrooms. The children were
very surprised that there were only two actors and many of the
children had anticipated the appearance of Grandma and the
wolf at any moment. The show also prompted some wonderful
and varied follow-up activities, including the creation of a story
board in pictures and words, writing a re-telling of the story,
puppet making and art work.
A trip to Brooklands Museum is always a highlight with our
Year 2 children, and this year’s visit was one of the best! The
sun shone all day and even the very large Wellington aircraft
hangar seemed warm. Brooklands is very much a living museum
with newly added vehicles, aeroplanes and artefacts linked to
transport on display. This year the racing car Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang is on display in all its glory. The children soaked up the
information relayed to them by their guides, who were
impressed by the children’s knowledge as well as their curiosity.
Lots of ‘wows’ were heard as the children climbed aboard the
Wellington bomber, the Sultan of Oman’s plane and the
amazing Concorde. Most enjoyed their ride on the penny
farthing bicycle but one amongst our party was heard to remark
that it was pretty ‘nerve wracking’! There were also mixed views
on the race up Test Hill. However, one thing is certain:
Brooklands, once again, consolidated in a truly exciting way all
the children’s learning about carriages, cars, bicycles and
aeroplanes.
Please make a note in your diaries to join us at the annual clay
pigeon shoot on 5th September at The Royal Berkshire Shooting
School in Pangbourne, Berkshire. You are invited to either enter
a team of four guns or come to the lunch and get involved in the
auction. The world famous RAF Red Arrows Aerobatic Display
Team have again agreed to provide an air display.
For further information please contact Annabel Bromilow via
email address: [email protected], telephone 01753
740123 or www.gosh.org.clay-pigeon-shoot2014.
GOSH Ball - Save the Date - 15th November
The Bishopsgate Great Ormond Street Ball will take place at
Great Fosters Hotel in Egham. We are proud of Bishopsgate's
close link to the hospital and the very significant funds we have
raised on its behalf over the past 17 years. Please come along
and enjoy a memorable evening and help us raise money for
this very special institution.
Staff Accommodation
We are constantly on the look out for affordable rental
accommodation for our younger members of staff. If any parents
have a suitable flat or house they would be willing to lease,
please let me know. Being able to offer young teachers
accommodation helps us to attract and retain the highest quality
candidates.
Lower School News
Excited children and staff from Reception to Year 2 set off last
Tuesday for the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon where they were
to watch the magical fairy tale of Red Riding Hood, adapted by
the award-winning writer Mike Kenny. The story focuses on a
young girl, accompanied by her little brother, who went to spend
the night at Grandma’s house. Our children were enchanted as
the two lead characters brought this favourite fairy tale to life
through song and words. The experience prompted some
Year 1 children are learning about 2D and 3D shapes,
recognising, naming and describing their properties. They have
created some fabulous abstract sculptures and patterns using
recycled materials, all of which are proudly displayed in the
classrooms. In Geography, the children are looking at road signs
in their local area in readiness for next week’s walk to the Green
where they will carry out a traffic survey and look at all the
different road signs.
Our Reception children have been finding out interesting facts
about a variety of different fruits which they have made into a
book. This is illustrated with some lovely pastel drawings. The
girls and boys also made delicious looking fruit kebabs that were
eaten with their pancakes.
Forest School News
Nursery children made their first visit to the Forest School this
week and cannot stop talking about it! They loved playing in the
mud kitchen, checked into the ‘bug hotel’ and even had time to
play ‘hide and seek’. Mr Cowell and Tinder popped in to see
what they were up to! The children selected leaves and used
them to make bookmarks. Reception children started sawing this
week and are feeling very proud of their developing DIY skills.
This work has been linked to the story of Handa’s Surprise which
the children have greatly enjoyed retelling.
Last week our Nursery children were looking at fairy tales. The
favourite tale was The Three Billy Goats Gruff. This led to a
discussion of why the goats had to cross the bridge, which in
turn led on to the subject of arch bridges, drawbridges,
suspension bridges and truss bridges. The children drew their
own designs before using construction blocks to build their
bridges.
Limiting Screen Time
Leading American Child Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman, who has
published a number of books on alcohol abuse, parenting and
the dangers posed by the overuse of digital technology, gave
superb presentations on Tuesday to the pupils of Years 5 to 8
and then to parents on the important subject of Screen Time.
He highlighted several medical studies that point to links
between prolonged screen time and conditions such as heart
disease, stroke and diabetes. He asserted that the effects go
further than those simply associated with being sedentary for
long periods. He believes that prolonged screen time can lead
to reductions in attention span, clearly a significant factor in
school performance, and can impair social skills, leading to an
inability to empathise. Dr Sigman fully appreciates the value of
technology, but he believes it imperative that the discretionary
use of digital media is limited at home to a maximum of two
hours each day and he strongly recommends that there are no
televisions or computers in bedrooms.
Archer’s Charity Challenge – School Meals
for Ghanaian School
Archer Wyld is to be congratulated on his achievement of raising
an impressive £1102 by taking part in 10 challenges, including
a 5K run, a 5 mile bike ride and a sponsored silence. The money
Archer has raised so far will feed a Ghanaian school of 100 for
74 school days!
Remarkably, Archer is only half way through his challenge and
he is keen to provide more school meals for children whose
families cannot afford to pay. If you would like to make a
donation to Archer’s cause, please log on to his Justgiving page:
http://www.justgiving.com/Wyld-Ghana.
Wellington College Dance Award
Warmest Congratulations go to Olivia Ricketts on the award of
her Dance Exhibition by Wellington College. Olivia has worked
extremely hard and thoroughly deserves this recognition. We
thank Miss Ellen for helping to prepare Olivia for her very
rigorous assessment.
Sailing Around the World
to wonderful projects created by the children, including an
Olympic torch, cakes, Powerpoint presentations and models of
Olympic stadia. The children had the chance to present their
projects to the rest of the class during History and, as well as
being able to celebrate each other’s work, the children learned
a great deal about the Olympics!
Year 3 children enjoyed a fascinating talk from Mr and Mrs
Schofield about their two year sailing adventure. Having
departed from the United Kingdom in their catamaran, they
crossed the Atlantic Ocean, headed through the Panama Canal,
over the Pacific Ocean, finally arriving in Sydney! The children
enjoyed all the stories and photos from their trip as well as trying
on lifejackets, passing around lava and shells and looking at a
harpoon!
World Book Day and Assembly
Congratulations to the Librarians, who led a superb World Book
Day assembly on Wednesday. Following an explanation
of the importance of reading, the librarians, dressed in character,
read extracts from their favourite books. Miss Robinson and
Mrs
Locke
were
also
enthusiastic
participants!
Year 2 Science Club
The children have been growing the most extraordinary coloured
crystals in Science Club. Livvy Wilson is now the record holder
for being the grower of the biggest crystal ever at Bishopsgate!
She also researched how crystals grow and, even though she
was ill this week, she emailed in the findings of her research!
"The process of crystal forming is called crystallisation. Crystals
often form in nature when liquids cool and start to harden.
Certain molecules in the liquid gather together as they attempt
to become stable. They do this in a uniform and repeating
pattern that forms the crystal. In nature, crystals can form when
liquid rock, called magma, cools. If it cools slowly, then crystals
may form. Many valuable crystals such as diamonds, rubies and
emeralds form in this way."
Year 3 History
Over the half term holidays, as part of their next History topic on
Ancient Greece, Year 3 children were encouraged to create a
project on the Ancient Greek Olympics. They were asked to
make Powerpoint presentations, make models and to create fact
sheets. On the first day back from the break, we were treated
evidence indicated that the culprit was not a child but an adult!
Fortunately, though some of the children were convinced
otherwise, this was not a real investigation!
Eileen Browne, author of
‘Handa’s Surprise’, visited
Bishopsgate on Thursday, telling stories to the children from
Reception to Year 3. The day was made even more special by
the splendid variety of costumes worn by the children as they
played the part of characters from a range of books.
Book Day Fancy Dress Winners
Year 3
Joshua Duke - Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third - How
to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Year 4
Charlotte Dwyer – Queen of Hearts - Alice in Wonderland by
Lewis Carroll
Year 5
Raphie McFadzean - The Mad Hatter – Alice in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
Year 6
Luca De Costa - The Joker from the Batman books
Year 7
Ben Austin - Captain Hook – Peter Pan by J M Barrie
Year 8
William Thorpe-Stanley - Rupert the Bear by Alfred Bestall
A £10 Waterstones book voucher was awarded to each winner.
Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will receive a book to
share with the class.
Year 3 Maths
Mrs de Vere Green’s Maths class found that their classroom
had turned into a crime scene last week! The children donned
high visibility jackets and completed a Police report. They
measured all the evidence found at the scene – a footprint,
hand print, thumb print and a jumper that had been caught on
the window as the suspect had escaped. They found that the
History Corner
In recent days there has been much activity in the History
Department. Year 8 pupils have finished their mock
examination and are eagerly awaiting their results.
Year 7 medievalists have been investigating the quarrel
between Henry II and Thomas Becket and the subsequent
murder of the unfortunate Archbishop.
Year 6 pupils have gone back in time to 1939 and have looked
at what it was like to be an evacuee.
Year 5 pupils have been studying Henry VIII and the reasons
behind the execution of Anne Boleyn. Mr Mc Cue’s class reenacted the event, with unbridled enthusiasm, on the first floor
landing of the Jubilee Block. Fortunately, no members of staff
were injured during the proceedings and the damage done to
the fabric of the building was merely cosmetic!
DT Mechanics Club
After weeks of hard work and enterprise from Mechanics Club
members, the two kit cars are almost complete and will soon be
taken for a test drive. It is an exciting time and the children are
hoping to be racing them by the end of March. The children
enjoy the practical hands-on nature of this club, but they are
even more excited by the prospect of driving their creations!
As part of their War Horse topic, Year 6 children have been
finding out about Animals at War. They have been working
collaboratively to research a particular animal and prepare a
presentation for the class. Next week, they will use this
information to write a detailed, informative essay.
Laura and Poppy:
Did you know that dogs had small canisters containing small
messages attached to their collars? The dogs delivered these,
often urgent, messages directly to the trenches.
Tom and Raf:
Did you know that the highest military tribute that can be
awarded to an animal is the PDSA (The People’s Dispensary
for Sick Animals) Dicken medal? So far, this has been awarded
to 32 pigeons, 24 dogs, three police horses and one cat.
Year 7 children have become journalists and written some
informative newspaper articles about the missing machine gun
in the book ‘The Machine Gunners’. It was important that they
wrote in a journalistic style and included correctly punctuated
direct and indirect quotations.
Here is an extract form David’s article:
The Heinkel HE 111 was shot at by ARP wardens and was
forced to crash-land during Monday night’s air-raid. The plane
was mostly obliterated but the tail-end, found in the forest, still
remained intact. It is suspected that the tail-end was blown
clean-off when it plummeted towards, and crashed on, the local
laundry. ARP wardens believe that it carried a full bomb load
lurking behind the trap doors.
“You could tell that it was a full bomb load. I felt the heat on my
face a mile away!” says Mr McGill, 39, a local ARP warden.
Year 4 RS News
In RS lessons this term, Year 4 children are learning all about
Sikhism. Ria Mankoo became the teacher for part of a lesson
last week and even got to sit in the teacher’s chair! She taught
her class some interesting facts about Guru Nanak that she had
researched herself. She then finished with a quiz to see how
much everyone had remembered. With lots of hands up, it was
clear that we have a potential teacher of the future!
Senior English
Year 5 children have been continuing their ‘Perilous Pirate’ topic
and are currently finding out about jobs on board a pirate ship.
Next week, they will be creating their own information leaflets,
advertising job vacancies on board.
Year 8 classes have been exploring the structure and features
of discursive writing and have written some interesting essays
about the wearing of school uniform. They have also been
focusing on the CE Mock examinations and have worked hard
to improve significantly their poetry analysis skills.
Year 4 Maths
The Year 4 children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the
properties of 3D shapes. They created 3D shapes from clay and
made a net to form into a box in which to keep the shapes.
Year 7 Maths
Year 7 children began investigations into the calculation of the
volume of a cylinder.
Sports Round-up
Netball Results
v Holme Grange
U13
Won
U11A
Won
U10A Lost
U10B Draw
U9A
Won
U9B
Won
U8A
Won
U8B
Lost
23-3
1-2
0-16
7-7
5-1
5-1
15-1
0-4
v St George’s Windsor
U13
Won
16-2
v Newland House
U11A
Won
15-12
U11B
Lost
9-10
Rugby Results
v St George’s Windsor
1st XV Lost
55–19
2nd XII Lost
40–7
Colts A Won
41-26
Colts B Won
30-0
Colts C Won
50–0
v Twickenham Prep
1st XV Won
44-7
Colts A Won
45-0
Colts B Lost
20-15
Colts C Lost
45-25
Under 11 IAPS Netball National Finalists
During a very long and challenging day, during which the girls
played 12 matches in total, our Under 11 Netball team has
qualified for the IAPS National Finals in Brighton. They won 6
and drew 1 of their group matches, including victories over
Eagle House, Lambrook, Chesham Prep and Highfield. The
girls then won all 5 of their second round matches to clinch a
place in the final. We congratulate them on an outstanding
achievement.
Squad: Holly Jones, Laura Nicoli, Sirina Juffali, Isabel Murphy,
Lavinia Loria, Juliet Ricketts, Rosie Woolger, Emily Rose, Luci
Bell, Scarlet Thurner
Social Committee Swimming Towels
Bishopsgate swimming towels are now available to buy from the
uniform shop. These are optional items and the cost is £25.00.
Profits go to the Bishopsgate Social Committee.