19th March  2021

The Pre Prep has been full of laughter and noise this week enhanced by some beautiful Spring sunshine. The children have shown fabulous adaptability to other changes in their school routine. 

This resilience is commendable and actively encouraged by all staff alongside building independence. We are fortunate to have some very talented children in our care, but talent doesn’t always help when learning is easy for a child. The only thing that can be reasonably said is that some children are born with certain abilities that can help them excel at a particular activity.  Many children succeed at an early age with little effort, and this can lead them to have little ownership of their successes. Without ownership, children don’t learn the connection between their efforts and their outcomes, and, without that link, they can’t take pride in their results. They can’t say, ‘I did well because I worked hard.’ They may also develop the belief that they will always succeed in the future without effort. 

We can build resilience by teaching them to solve problems independently. While the gut reaction of the parent might be to jump in and help so that the child avoids dealing with discomfort, this actually weakens resilience. Children need to experience discomfort so that they can learn to work through it and develop their own problem-solving skills. Without this skill-set in place, children may experience anxiety and shut down in the face of adversity.

The staff and I wish you all a very happy Easter holiday which starts on Wednesday 24th March at 2.00pm.   

Kirsten Knight 

Nursery has been very excited to take part in lots of lovely Easter activities this week! The children learned that we receive Easter eggs to celebrate new life. We talked about the new lives we see during the Springtime in the form of baby animals. The children made Easter bonnets using a range of materials. They thoroughly enjoyed this!

Lucy Pemberton

Reception has been fascinated by volcanoes after reading the rhyming story
‘Going to the Volcano’ by Andy Stanton. We have been learning about how they have formed and the various types of volcanoes. We then completed our own volcano experiment and discussed the chemical reaction that took place to cause our own eruption. Sophie Milburn

Year 1 has had great fun making Mayan masks in Art. The children researched the many different masks made by The Maya and found out that masks played a central role in Maya culture. They designed a mask and used a variety of materials to get the effect they wanted. Of course, the best bit was getting to wear them! Susan Flynn

Year 2 has been investigating materials in Science this week, they have been comparing the suitability of different materials and explaining why different materials can be used to make the same object. They have written diaries from Captain Robert Scott on his expedition to the South Pole, and created some beautiful pictures featuring Chinese Ming vases and spring blossom. Have a look at our gallery,  they are beautiful. 

Kirsten Knight