Prep Newsletter Friday 6th February

2015 Dear Parents,

We have had such an exciting week in all year groups. The Reception

Class have been preparing for their Cinderella Ball by writing invitations,

Year 3 this week decided that Maths is delicious as they used Smarties in

their Data Handling topic. A number of girls professed that chocolate is

their favourite food. I wonder why? Food continued to be a theme in Year

4, or rather not food, but recipes. I sat in on their Creative Writing lesson

recently and was amazed at their imaginations and compassion. Their

friendship recipes are so sweet! Year 5 have also been writing creatively,

using their imaginations as well as ideas collected from the wonderful

range of books they have been reading. Thus their writing skills are

certainly impressive as they have been developing depth and detail. Year

6 are being encouraged to watch the news and read newspapers in their

quest to learn more about politics and the upcoming General Election.

Debating and considering another‟s point of view is certainly proving a

thought provoking exercise!

making magical wands and

rehearsing their superb dancing

skills. On Wednesday the Lower

Prep building smelled delicious

as the Year 1‟s prepared and

cooked their gingerbread, and

then yesterday they were

decorated. Sticky fingers were

everywhere, but they all learned

much whilst having a huge amount of fun. In Year 2 the preparations for

the forthcoming fashion show are gaining momentum as the excitement

is growing and the cat walk poses are being practised - such posing!

Girls where have you learned these impressive moves?

The amount of screen time and where they can access a screen is often a

concern for parents, as some children have internet access in their

bedroom, in the car and/or away from supervision. It has never been

more important to ensure that our children are taught how to keep

themselves safe online and away from the risks that exist. However, a

word of caution...Children need to know about e-safety and potential

dangers BUT when they are ready! Therefore what we teach is age and

maturity appropriate. “We can't shelter children from the ugly excesses

of the world, but we should make sure they receive certain knowledge at

the appropriate age.” Peter Tait, the Daily Telegraph 03.02.15

Internet Safety

Safer Internet Day is on Tuesday 10th February.

This is an international event and a very

important one too with a serious message,

therefore we are promoting it in school

throughout next week. Technology can be

great, if used correctly and the internet is a

During next week in ICT lessons, assemblies and whenever there are

opportunities to promote safe, appropriate and responsible internet

usage we will be highlighting the positive benefits of technology,

linking these with our School Values of being kind, thoughtful and

respectful to others. We will be exploring with the children their

responsibilities and how they can help to create a better and safer

large part of our lives with many children having access to it from a very

young age. Just look at the number of young children waiting in doctors

surgeries, sitting on a plane en route to a holiday or on a car journey to

know how young and proficient some of these children are. The number

of mobile devices that children can use is increasing and, for some,

their expertise is in advance of their parents.

safer online community. In

fact everyone can work

together to help create a

better internet. “Ultimately,

a better internet is up to

us!”

(www.saferinternet.org.uk)

In your daughter‟s bag today there will be an online safety leaflet

guiding parents with hints and tips and providing discussion topics to

use with your child. Other information can be found at:

www.saferinternet.org/online-issues

www.thinkuknow.com

www.getsafeonline.org

www.kidsmart.org.uk/

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2011/10/

http://parents.vodafone.com/

www.internetmatters.org

Use of social media is all about us if we choose to use it - in our daily

lives for personal use or work related, and generally for good purposes.

However occasionally its use is more threatening. In school we are

incredibly careful about how technology is used and what sites are

accessible to children, plus we have various „blocks‟ in place to ensure

that our children are safe when using the internet. Thankfully most

children will use the internet safely.

Frequently, and especially next week, we teach the children how to stay

safe and what they can do if they feel uncomfortable when using the

internet. It is also important that we teach children to be very careful

about what they put online and equate this to only typing what they

would say to someone. ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don't say it at all.’

Equally all children should know not to post personal information or

pictures. When social media issues come to light we are proactive in

managing them as they arise and follow all of our policies and

procedures.

Commendation

CONGRATULATIONS TO…

Alisha Y6 Anais Y4

Caitlin Y6 Easha Y6

Lucy Y5 Marina Y5

Maya Y6 Roxanna Y4

Sahana Y6 Tara Y4

Zahra Y6 Zara Y4

Certificate

CONGRATULATIONS to…

Anaya Y3 Anya Y3

Chuwen Y4 Geeta Y6 Priya Y6

Congratulations to:

Chuwen (Y4) for completing all of the Y3 + 4 Maths Challenge questions

correctly. Chuwen decided that this was not enough and answered the

more challenging Y5 + 6 questions and achieved 100% again. Well done

Chuwen!

Yesterday our Quiz Team

competed against 11

other Prep school teams

in the area heat. Priya

(Y3), Elif (Y4), Camille (Y5)

and our team leader

Yoana (Y6) tried incredibly

hard with the 40 very

very difficult general knowledge questions. Using their knowledge,

intelligence, problem solving skills and strategy, they worked well as a

team and communicated well. Despite not winning sufficient points to

move up into the semi-final we are very proud of the team.

Mrs C Aisthorpe

Head of St. Margaret’s Preparatory School

Connections

We are incredibly grateful to the Connections team who last year helped

to raise a fantastic £4500 for the Prep School Adventure Playground.

They also raised money for other charities too. Therefore thank you to

the Connections team and also thank you to parents who supported us

by attending the various events, including the Christmas Market and the

May Fair. There is a meeting next Thursday at 7.30pm in the Senior

School Dining Room for those who wish to be on the committee, as we

will be appointing officers - Chairperson, Vice Chair and Treasurer.

Please do join us as not only is this good socially, but also Connections

do a lot of good for St Margaret‟s School.

Next week:

PCSO Ainsley visiting to talk in the Upper Prep assembly about keeping

safe.

Valentine‟s Party (Lower Prep) and Valentine‟s Disco (Upper Prep). At

collection time to ease „traffic‟ please would Lower Prep parents park in

the Lower Prep staff car park or the Upper Prep staff car park as there

will be public swimming sessions in the Sports Centre and we expect the

main car park to be busy. For the Upper Prep collection we do not

anticipate any parking issues. To ensure a smooth hand over between

your daughter‟s teacher and you, please would you collect from the

following venue in the Upper Prep:

Reception, Years 5 + 6 - Collect from the Upper Prep front door

Year 2 - Collect from the Upper Prep Dining Room door

Years 3 and 4 - Collect from the Upper Prep Hall door

If you are not collecting her after the party or disco please would you let

your daughter‟s Class Teacher know who is collecting her.

Mufti Day - Comic Relief - Red Nose Day

Gordon House Cake Sale (Upper Prep)

February

9th-13th

Internet Safety Week

12th 08:45-10:30 Year 5 & 6 Parents Visit to Senior School

12th 3.30-5.00pm Lower Prep Valentine’s Party

12th 5.15-6.45pm Upper Prep Valentine’s Disco

13th Mufti Day

12:30-2.00pm Gordon Cake Sale

3.30/4.00 Half-term begins

23rd Term resumes

23rd-27th

Sponsored Spelling Week

24th Y3 Visit to Verulamium Museum

26th 09:30-12:00 School at Work Open Morning

Dates

020 8416 4501 prepoffice@smbushey.com

Reception This week was National

Storytelling Week and

so we learnt the story of

Cinderella. We made

our own little books by

sequencing pictures

and practised re-telling

the story in our own

words, using lots of

exciting language.

Miss King

Then we decided to hold our very own „Cinderella‟s

Ball‟, we wrote invitations, made glass slippers and

wands, had lots of fun making dresses out of

colourful material and then danced at our very own

ball to the music of Johann Strauss.

Year 1 Year 1 have made

gingerbread this week.

As part of National Story

Telling week, Year 1 have

been reading Hansel and

Gretel. On Wednesday

they made gingerbread

and using several

unfamiliar ingredients

including black treacle,

allspice and soft brown

sugar. There was a

magical smell emerging

from the kitchen as the

gingerbread was baking.

The girls will be

decorating the

gingerbread with sweets

and icing so watch this

space for more fabulous

pictures next week.

Mrs Jolley

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Year 3 Delicious Maths in Year 3 There was great excitement in Year 3 when they made a very important discovery in Maths. Learning about collecting data, about axes and drawing graphs proved to be a very popular lesson. The girls were given the task of collecting data from a tube of Smarties and then drawing a graph to show the number of each different colour. Only when the graph was finished with labelled axes and a title could the girls have the reward of eating their Smarties. It was a wonderful lesson. We already know that Maths is fun, it is interesting and it is inspiring. Now

we know that it is also delicious!

Mrs Franklin

How to Make a Good Friend By: Anais

Miss Smith

Year 4

Year 5 In our Creative writing lesson we were focusing on characterisation, examining how an interesting character can bring a story to life. As Michael Morpurgo said, “Characters are the key to a good book. It took me several novels to comprehend that.” Below are some extracts Year 5 have written:

“A tall dark-haired man walked into the classroom.

His name was Mr Fitz. His beady eyes scanned the

classroom. Everyone knew what type of man he

was….The only thing Mr Fitz enjoyed was when the

class treated him like a king. He would give the class

a mountain of homework each day but no one knew

why Mr Fitz was so glum. Some people felt sorry for

him, but why? Mr Fitz was the most mysterious

person I ever met. I see him sometimes behind all his

pencil cases; a teardrop falls on a picture of some

girl. Maybe that would be the reason why he is so

sad.” By Kalyani

Ms Caher

“Knight Joe looks like a living person but under all the armour is a ghost.

He walks around a castle stabbing everyone who comes near him with

his spear. He has even stabbed the King and left him near a boar, which

devoured him! Queen Emily is feeling remorsefully sad. Morgan, the

maid, tried to cheer her up but nothing makes her happy apart from

seeing her husband.” By Nikita

“Bobby Kong is a comedian and a scientist. He lives in a tiny

cottage. All the children ask him why he has huge pointy ears.

No one knows he is a scientist – they think he is doing magic

tricks. In his free time, he discovers new things and tests out

inventions. The reason his ears are so big is because he

accidentally made a huge mistake with his formula and it

spilled all over his ears. “ By Amisha

“Max is a very vicious person. He is only eighteen

but he looks fifty. Max is always angry because he

has no friends, no family and no pets, so his house

is always quiet. Once he tried to steal the moon

because he hates cheese and people say the moon is

made out of cheese.” By Mia

Mrs Walsgrove

Year 6 have been learning about variation and classification in the Animal Kingdom. They have watched David Attenborough filming some incredible creatures on the sea bed and they have compared a selection of weird and wonderful animals to us human beings.

Year 6

Maths Challenge

Well done to all the girls who tried the recent challenges on the Maths board. The next challenges are now on display. In Years 3 & 4 the following girls successfully completed the „This and that‟ challenge and have been awarded a commendation for their House!

Raleigh Wesley Nicholson Ishiya Chuwen

Lucy

In Years 5&6 the following girls successfully completed the „Moneyboxes‟ challenge and have been awarded a commendation for their House!

Gordon Raleigh Wesley Nicholson Yoana Bryony Zahra Nikita

Easha Milly

Lily Camille Sanaa Sahana Yukie

Double

commendation Chuwen (Yr4)

Amita Shravani

Anika

A special mention must go to Chuwen who

collected 3 commendations for her House!