SCRIMPY STOCKINGS!
Christmas began early in Lower School with our annual celebration in St Anne’s church. The children performed with great
enthusiasm saying their lines and singing their songs with real gusto! Taught and conducted by our talented Head of Music, Mrs
Birchall, who also wrote the play, music and song lyrics! The children clearly enjoyed performing to the packed congregation. I
would like to thank all of the teachers and assistants for their work on this production with a special mention to Ms Neil for her
direction of the Year 2 acting parts and to Ms Acus for her outstanding props and ‘stage setting’. I was very proud indeed of all of
our Lower School children, perhaps our best Christmas production yet? Miss Morgan.
Our Christmas show was called ‘Scrimpy Stockings’. It was about a grumpy bank manager called Scrooge. He never, ever spent any
money. His assistants were called ‘Cratchitts’. When Santa went to the bank to get some money for Christmas stockings, his loan
was refused and Mr Scrooge said ‘No!’ A group of children fell into a daze and accidentally called the ghost of Christmas post! He
was very friendly but dropped a letter for Mr Scrooge, luckily it happened in the bank. Surprisingly it was an invitation to the town
Christmas party. Scrooge was so excited that he paid for the whole thing! Spencer 2G
‘My favourite part was when the ghost of Christmas post said ‘coooooeeeee!’ I loved it. My mummy and daddy laughed. It was the
best day of my life! Amelie 2G
1
THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTMAS AT ST ANNE’S
There is something heart-warmingly familiar about the Upper School Christmas Music Concert. As I sit and watch the children perform
in St Anne’s Church I am proud of their musical talent and skill and smile at the endless flow of really excellent performances.
Each child beams with confidence as they sing and play together and await their just rewards of rousing cheers and loud clapping
from the gathered congregation. This is a truly all-inclusive evening involving everyone in Upper School in choirs, orchestra, guitar
ensemble, class performances, readings and let’s not forget the staff parent choir! With Chamber choir opening with a haunting
15th Century choral piece ‘There is a flower Springing’, to Year 3’s twelve bar blues ‘Reindeer on the Roof’ and the staff parent
choir swinging the church with ‘Little Saint Nick’ by the Beach Boys. To the beautiful version of ‘Walking in the air’ by Year 6, ‘The
Nut Cracker’ played by the orchestra and the whole of Upper School singing ‘Hail Holy Queen’ from Sister Act. You can be sure that
Christmas has definitely started! Father Nigel, who was sitting next to me, confided that, although his church is full of carol
services and Christmas events, it is Kew Green’s concert
that he most looks forward to. I was also contacted by a
local Headmistress who I don’t know, asking if she could
attend the evening as she had heard how excellent it is.
Guests and new staff, who hadn’t witnessed Kew Green
in full musical flight, were stunned by the quality of the
evening. Me too ! Happy Christmas. Mr Peck
A choir of Angels!
WE’VE CREATED A MONSTER!
We looked at these originals by Roland Garrigue,
they were amazing!
A choir of Angels?
On Thursday, 21st November, as part of the French Institute’s
Youth Festival celebrations the French author/illustrator Roland
Garrigue came to year 4 to show us his illustrations. He drew
monsters, vampires and zombies, he focused on make-believe
animals. He gets his inspiration from nightmares and has written
and illustrated a book about nightmares called Comment Ratatiner
les Cauchemars, which we read with Madame Thorpe-Woods in
our French classes. We had a go at drawing our own monsters;
some of them were very silly! He showed us the programme he
used to colour his pictures
and his sketch books which
were
fascinating.
The
workshop with Roland was
really good because he told us
all his illustrating techniques
and then let us create our own
characters. At the end Roland
drew Miss Fleming as a vampire
teacher! He was very good at
copying her but made her scary.
Amélie, Sanna & Marco. Year 4
2
On Friday, November 22nd, the French illustrator /author
Marion Billet visited Year One.
Marion has had around 80
books published in 11 different countries and her characters
have appeared in magazines, on stationery and toys, as well
as on children’s furniture and clothes. She read stories to the
children and explained how she creates her book illustrations.
Marion creates her drawings on a graphic palette in Photoshop.
She does everything directly in Photoshop, from the rough stage
to the final colour version. After reading her latest books ‘Au
Pays des Tout Petits’ and ‘Whizzy Wheels’ to the class it was
time for the children to make their own moving London buses.
The children were truly inspired when Marion showed them how
to create their own animal characters aboard the bus, showing
them how to draw un lion, un ours et un chat. Marion explained
how she loved animals saying; ‘ If I could I would love to have
cats, dogs, koalas (I once had the chance to hug one and it’s the
softest animal ever!) donkeys and tigers as pets! Unfortunately
I live in Paris so creating them for my books is a way to keep me
close to them’. Madame Thorpe-Woods
and did a litter pick on the Tow Path. We told him about the Green
Day event last year and Luke explained about the Wastebusters
clothes collection that we did in September to raise money for
Joodon School. (On the day after Mr Barlett’s visit, Luke and
Aaliya presented a cheque for £106 to the Joodon Committee
as a result of the Wastebusters collection.) I showed him the
project we did for Kew Life last December with the chart and
stickers that we made for families so they could see how much
they recycle and how much goes to landfill. He liked that a lot.
We are proud that our Green Flag is renewed as it means we
are an environmentally friendly school. The photo by Florence
shows us holding the Green Flag. Jessica Yr 5 and Luke Yr 6
Typical ... there hasn’t been a bus along for hours ... and
now look!
That’s certainly what the Reception children have been doing
since they started school! This term Reception have been
learning all of the letters in the alphabet, the children have
been sounding, blending, segmenting and spelling and are now
all reading and writing confidently. On December 12th Reception
decided to celebrate this enormous achievement by dressing up
as the initial letter of their name. With support of their highly
trained and talented parents they put together some fantastic
costumes. The children spent the day on a letter hunt, making
letter booklets, dancing to letter songs and presenting their
letter knowledge in assembly. I think the photos show what a
wonderful time they all had! Miss ‘Mouse’ MacDonald
LETTER ‘C’ WHAT’S GOING ON IN
RECEPTION
“Read like nobody’s watching, learn your letters like no one
is listening, write like you just can’t stop, live life like a
Reception child at Kew Green”
RAISE THE FLAG, WE’RE OFFICIALLY
STILL GREEN!
Eco club continues to do a terrific and worth while job
On the 21st of November, Mr. Bartlett came to Kew Green
Preparatory School to assess us for our Green Flag renewal. We
were awarded the Green Flag by Eco Schools 2 years ago and
we are assessed every 2 years. Mrs Parker, Luke and I showed
Mr Bartlett the Eco display which is located outside the year 4
classroom on the top floor. It has information about Switch Off
Fortnight at the moment. We had a chat about all the different
things we had done in our Eco team and we told him that we
thought it would be a good idea now for the School Council
to have Eco representatives on it, instead of always meeting
separately. Mr Bartlett asked us many questions about what we
have done in school. He also looked at a display and pledges
in Year 6 classrooms and seemed impressed that even the Year
Ones joined in on an Eco project for Switch Off Fortnight,
creating posters with eco-friendly pictures and information.
He commented on our litter-free playground and thought it was
good that as we don’t have much litter in school, that we went
From Captain America to
Zsa Zsa Gabor (via Luke
Skywalker) all the initial
sounds where covered
3
It also topped the charts as the best-selling wedding gift of the
century! Alongside the medieval artefacts were the modern
works of Jan Fabre, a living sculptor from Belgium. His bronzes
of insects and mythological creatures glistened like solid gold
and complemented the ancient relics.
After
viewing
the
Impressionist
paintings
in
the
permanent
collection, including the
Houses of Parliament by
Claude Monet and Van
Gogh’s Cows, we made
our way to the centre
of the town to Brasserie
Flore for lunch. Moules
Marinières, Carbonnade
de Boeuf, Tarte Maroilles,
Crème Brulé, and Pain
Perdu were just some of
the dishes enjoyed by the
hungry children. Next on
the itinerary was our tour
of the famous Marché de
Noël where the children had a chance to practise their spoken
French whilst shopping for gifts for their family. We then
proceeded to the historic centre of Lille La Grande Place and
visited the Old Stock Exchange. What is now a stunning covered
vintage book and toy market was once a thriving trading centre
for all kinds of merchants. My group suddenly burst into a
spontaneous sing song
of the Salve Regina
carol on the steps of the
Opera which generated
an admiring throng and
applause from passersby. After looking at
the statute of Isis
and spotting France’s
largest bookshop we
admired the Christmas
animatronics of Arctic
animals and then made
our way to France’s
oldest tea room, Café
Meert, where
we
warmed up with cups
of chocolat chaud and the signature gaufres (waffles).
Here are a few of the Gems that we have heard recently from
our lovely Reception class children. Funny and adorable, they
keep us smiling!
Zita asked: “Guess what I am going to be when I grow up?”
Phaedra thought long and hard and replied “An adult?”
Mr. Ward had a pretend phone call from the Queen. Yamina
put up her hand and said: “Oh Mr Ward, do you really believe
in the Queen?”
During our Nativity song practise, the young man playing Santa
began to cry at which Zachary said, “Uh! I didn’t know that
Santa cries!”
Mrs Beaumont told the class that her daughter wasn’t feeling
well and that she had a sore throat. Mijo looked concerned
and replied “Mrs Beaumont maybe your daughter has
swallowed a fish bone?”
Oliver was waiting for the bus at the end of the day. Waiting
patiently he said to Miss Lucy: “My mum’s late, I think she
might be stuck in the mud!”
OFF TO THE CHRISTMAS MARKETS
On Thursday, December 5th, we met in front of the school at
the crack of dawn ready for an exciting day trip to France.
The early morning Brussels Eurostar from St. Pancras whisked
us off under the English Channel and through the Nord Pas de
Calais to the beautiful city of Lille. After a petit déjeuner à
bord we walked through the cobbled streets towards the Palais
des Beaux Arts. First we visited the current exhibition called
Les Trésors des Illuminations. I was very impressed by the
children’s inquisitiveness and deep interest in the artworks on
display. The exhibition dealt with the most exquisite objects
and illuminated books from the Middle Ages. The pupils were
amazed that the huge books and the drawings had been done
entirely by hand using plant pigments with gold and silver leaf,
as the printing press had yet to be invented. We learnt that
the top best seller of the fifteenth century was The Book of
Hours which was an illuminated calendar.
Following a short walk to the Lille Europe station we boarded
the London-bound Eurostar after a truly memorable day.
Madame Thorpe-Woods
4
BISCUITS, PURSES, FRUIT KEBABS AND THE LONDON SKYLINE?
Design Technology day this term was launched by Paul Newman, a toy inventor. He came in to speak to the children about his
own inventions. He was inspirational and made toys in front of the children and invited them to make toys with him. Some of his
toys were powered by a wind-up mechanism, some used electricity and others were simply powered by air! The children spent
the day on their own Design Technology projects. The school was filled with an air of industrious enthusiasm! Reception designed
and then built the London skyline using junk. They included the Shard, Buckingham Palace, the Gherkin and a few London buses.
Year 1 designed and skewered fruit kebabs. Christmas puppets were made out of textiles by Year 2. Inspired by Roald Dahl, Year 3
decided to design their own ‘Willy Wonka’ style cookies. Both classes spent half the day at Kew House using their Food Technology
facilities to make their cookies and packaging. Studying Ancient Egyptians, Year 4 had ‘Pharaoh Phriday’. They dressed up as
Ancient Egyptian’s, made Egyptian purses and had a Pharaoh’s Party. Both Year 5 classes made moving toys. 5K went to Kew House
and used the Design Technology workshop to make moving wooden toys and 5G made electric fan buggies of their own designs and
Year 6 had a very calming afternoon practicing their needlework skills. All in all, a very successful day and we are looking forward
to the next one! Mrs Girardot
5
WE LOVE WHISTLER!
It was amazing to play as part of a ‘proper’ orchestra!
Loving your work Mr Whistler! From Year 2
Here’s what the children thought:
‘My favourite bit of the afternoon was playing Handel’s Water
Music with the grown ups because I got to play in my mum’s
orchestra with her and it sounded amazing sitting next to all
the brilliant players! I think that the Come and Play session
was a really good idea because it encouraged people to try new
instruments and I was surprised that lots of people were keen
to try my mini-bassoon and some had excellent puff, especially
William in Year 1.’ Tilly, 3K
This term Year 2 have been exploring the topic of seas and
rivers in their art lessons. They created a range of beautiful
work, including collages, paintings and sculptures of koi carp
fish and driftwood boats, some of which you will notice around
school in the New Year. In November, we were able to visit
the Dulwich Picture Gallery for a guided tour of the Whistler
exhibition. James Abbott McNeill Whistler, born in 1834 was
American by birth, yet spent many of his years here in London
where, amongst many other famous works, he completed his
beautifully harmonic oil paintings of the Thames. Whistler was
known for his fiery temper but ironically it was his quest to use
colours to create tranquillity in his work. Prior to our visit, we
had looked at some of Whistler’s paintings of the Thames and the
children had made some chalk pastel studies of them. Although
they were clearly intrigued by the work that they had seen in
the classroom, nothing prepared me for the interest that they
displayed during the gallery session. The staff conducting the
tours were also impressed by their questioning and insightful
comments. To further develop their understanding of the
type of colour palette that Whistler employed in his beautiful
‘Nocturne’ paintings, we invited Jo Lewis, from Dulwich picture
Gallery, to come to school on 28th of November to work with
the children. Each class spent half a day creating collages of the
River Thames. Jo taught them the technique of marbling using
coloured inks, a technique new to the majority if the children.
This is a process of using a pipette to drop a few different
coloured drops of ink in to a water tray, then rolling paper over
the top of the water to create the effect. The art room soon
became a sea of paper, the muted blues, greens and silvers laid
out on the tables and the floors created a real sense of calm.
Each child then spent the rest of the session tearing and sticking
down various papers from their collections, adding doilies and
pale blue coloured ribbon to make the most beautiful tranquil
river collages, true to the style of Whistler. He is one of my
favourite artists, and I was pleased the children enjoyed the
whole experience as much as I did. You can visit the Dulwich
Picture Gallery to see the beautiful paintings, drawings and
etchings of Whistler until 12th January 2014. Mrs Elden-Ford
‘After our rehearsal, children from Kew Green tried out LOADS
of different instruments like the trumpet, bassoon, oboe,
trombone, euphonium and violin. Then it was the concert and
I got to sit right in the middle of the orchestra! I had a really
nice trumpet buddy called Imogen who helped me. I thought it
was a great, great performance!’ Sebastian, 5G
Amélie looked like a pro, sitting in the middle of the orchestra
‘It was an amazing experience to play with a professional
orchestra. We learnt lots about how the orchestra works and
the ‘Come and Play’ session was excellent because we had the
opportunity to try lots of different instruments. My favourite
was the flute. I learnt that an orchestra is like a machine, once
it’s started it’s quite tricky to stop and start it. Sammy and
George tried to conduct the orchestra and they found it very
hard! The orchestra played Pulcinella by Stravinsky which is
about a naughty puppet who makes friends with all the other
puppets and is a little bit cheeky along the way! One of the
movements was like a circus scene and it had some rude noises
in it! I’d love to play in a professional orchestra when I’m older!’
Amélie, 4G
COME AND PLAY WITH THE ERSO!
On a wintry Sunday afternoon, musicians from Kew Green
gathered at St. Anne’s Church for an afternoon of music-making
together with the renowned Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra.
The schedule consisted of a rehearsal for the orchestra and
choir, a ‘Come and Play’ session for anyone interested in trying
out a musical instrument and a concert for the parents. It was
a terrific event and special thanks must go to Fiona Cairney
who worked tirelessly to remind Mrs Birchall to get everything
organised! Mrs Birchall
6
YEAR PHOUR PHARAOH PHRIDAY
YOUR CHILD IS SAFE WITH US!
... needs little explanation... but suffice to say that everyone
wanted a piece of the Pharoah Phriday action!
Year 5 recently had an
extra special science
lesson. As a treat
we walked over the
bridge to Kew House
to use their amazing
resources and to
meet Mr Lees, their
Head of Science, who
helped us through
our lesson. To start
with we were put in
partners and had to
pass a test. All we
had to do was light a
Bunsen burner safely
(more
complicated
than you think!). We
had to light a splint
Health & Safety first always!
while our partner
turned on the gas tap. There are two flames: orange flame, also
known as the safety flame, and a blue flame that is also called
the roaring flame. Everyone had to keep the Bunsen flame on
safety flame or it would have been dangerous (luckily there
were no burnt fingers!).
Once we had passed the Bunsen burner test (which we all luckily
did) we started learning about combustion. We were given a
small piece of magnesium, a malleable metal. Using tongs, we
held the magnesium in a roaring flame, then suddenly the whole
thing was a beam of white light. When the magnesium came
out of the flame it was a different material. Instead of a strong
metal it had turned into brittle white ash. We thought this was
a chemical change, which is irreversible.
To finish this memorable experience Mr Lees set fire to peoples’
hands! He used detergent to make bubbles, which you had to
cover your hands with to make a protective coat on your skin.
Then he used the bubbles to create a flame and burn the bubbles
and BOOM!!! The lucky victims were all perfectly safe. We all
had a great time and learnt a lot, including which elements can
go ‘POOF!’ and burst into flames. Hannah, 5K
SMART COOKIES
In the Summer Term of 2013, Year 5 pupils (currently in Year
6) learned about Plants in science and were given a project:
‘Falling Seeds and Biscuits’. They had to investigate a way to
slow down the fall of a digestive biscuit, based on plant seeds.
The quality of work produced by all pupils in Year 5 proved that
the challenge fell on fertile ground! First they researched the
myriad ways in which plants disperse seeds, particularly those
that use wind/ explosive dispersal methods. From the germ of an
idea that arose from this research they each designed and made
a contraption, attached it to a digestive biscuit and timed its
fall from different heights and compared the amount of damage
to the biscuit. Their plans and practical work bore fruit and
so the budding scientists wrote up their results and presented
them to their peers for review. Year 5 pupils reaped the rewards
of all their hard work and effort when, in November, 11 children
were announced as the winners in the Year 5-6 category of the
CLEAPSS Primary Competition 2013. Mrs Philpott, the Biology
Advisor at CLEAPSS came to school on 2nd December to award
certificates. CLEAPSS provides advice to schools all over the
world on science and technology practical work. Although she
joked that she wished a school from Luxembourg had won, so
she could go abroad, Mrs Philpott was very glad to visit the
school and to hear from us about the work that all of Year 5 did
and to see the display. She explained that the judges were very
impressed with the science and the standard of work shown by
the children and they particularly liked the range of ideas- no
On Friday, 6th of December, because of our humanities topic
about Ancient Egypt, Year 4 had a Pharaoh Phriday. We played
lots of games and ended the day with a big Egyptian party.
Everybody was dressed up as someone from Ancient Egypt.
Almost all the girls were dressed as Cleopatra! First we had a
hieroglyphic treasure hunt outside. It was really fun decoding
the message. The message said, “Do you think Egyptians ate
mince pies?” Then we did some sewing. We started to make
purses but with Egyptian decoration. It was also really good fun.
After lunch, we had a party and an Egyptian banquet. There was
a pyramid cake made by Trey’s mum. It was amazing! All the
parents came and some dressed up. 4G taught their assembly
dance to 4K. Then we had a quiz and the adults had to join in. It
was so funny. Pharaoh Phriday was AWESOME! Sanna, 4K
7
two investigations were the same; showing a lot of freedom to
be creative. Well done everyone! Mrs Parker
Mrs Parker emailed
me since the award
was made to say:
I have been invited
by CLEAPSS to be a
judge at next year’s
competition
and
to go the national
conference of the
Association
for
Science Education
to receive some
resources
for
the school. Mary
Philpott was really
impressed
with
the entries and
particularly
that
the investigations
were
clearly
CLEAPSS (Consortium of Local Education independent
and
Authorities for the Provision of Science child led, focusing
Services) winners!
on something.
that they found interesting and explored. I think a lot of other
entries probably followed an investigation template and had
little variety and I wish I could somehow convey this to parents
to show the true value of what the children did.
FROM THE FRIENDS
As the most frenetic term of the year comes to a close, we
would like to thank everyone who has volunteered, donated,
participated, organised, emailed, cajoled, set up and swept up
over the last twelve weeks. In the last half term, we are very
grateful to Jo Midgley and Michelle Coulter who ran another
very successful Xmas Pudding sale, Penny Pritchard and Donna
Merritt who continue to sell the KGPS Cookbooks and Vanessa
Jefferey and Kirsten Fenton who organised the Lower & Upper
School Christmas treats. The weekly cake sales continue to be
a major fund raiser, and we are very grateful to all the classes
for their efforts which have raised around £2000.
The committee have been busy with the Friends’ section of
the school website, adding new pages and updating it with the
latest activity, so do check it out regularly to keep yourself
informed (especially the new Friends Shopping page!). Finally,
on behalf of the whole parent body, I’d really like to say a big
thank you to Hannah, Susan and Jackie for all their hard work on
the Committee - its their behind-the-scenes efforts that keep
the whole show on the road, and we are very lucky to have such
a great team. Tara Whyte
HUNTING FOR BERRIES, LEAVES & NUTS
Well Mrs Parker, you have and congratulations from me! Mr P
YEAR 4 FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
On Friday, 15th November, Reception donned blazers and hats
and walked around the corner to Kew Gardens. The sun was
shining brightly and we had an amazing morning investigating
the different types of trees and their berries and nuts. We had
a workshop which was held outside and we learnt about three
trees: the Plane tree, the Tulip tree and the Cedar tree. We
also learnt how to measure the height of a tree: “we had to put
our heads between our legs and look up at the top of the tree.
If you can see the top of the tree you then counted the number
of steps back to the tree”, Darcey described articulately. “My favourite part was when we collected the leaves” Baxter
“I liked it when we smelled the trees.” Isobel
“I liked it under the tree when we finded the pine cones” Roxy
“I liked it when we found coloured berries” Lucas. Miss Gibson
... and finally ...
A very smooth term, well done everyone. Year 6,
good luck in January - you will be fine! I hope
Santa is good to you all? Merry Christmas.
Jem Peck - Editor
Mr Searle? ... just a teeny bit star struck!
8
Layton House, Ferry Lane, Kew Green, Richmond, Surrey. TW9 3AF Tel: 020 8948 5999 www.KGPS.co.uk
The November sporting calendar is always a highlight for our
year 4 footballers as it brings about the annual RPPS football
tournament. This is always a unique fixture as it is played on
astro-turf as opposed to grass, thereby bringing a very different
feel to the game. The football rolls faster, bounces higher and
tends to skid along the ground, often making the simplest of
passes difficult to perform. The boys took to the field for their
first clash, against old rivals Falcons who were early favourites
to play in the final. After a closely fought match with a total
of 5 goals being scored, Kew Green managed to get a very
important win. With points on the board, the team had a short
break between games and gathered for a team photo, but not
just any team photo... this one was with David Beckham! The
football legend was supporting his children at the tournament
and was kind enough to have a photo taken with the boys and
to offer them a few words of encouragement. Along with the
11 other schools at the tournament, our completely star-struck
football team now had the task of getting into the finals. The
competition was fierce and they managed to end up in 6th
place overall which is a pleasing result considering the high
standard of football displayed throughout the event. Play in a
tournament, meet a legend and enjoy a post tournament Kitkat
with teammates. It’s a tough job being a kid! Mr Searle