Message from the Headteacher March 28th 2014

Dear Parents

What an amazing end to a very busy term!

It is as you read this bumper edition of the School newsletter that you will see just what an exciting and busy Prep School we are! There have been so many events over the last two weeks that I am sure the children will certainly need their Easter break.

Last weekend saw four pupils gain their next gradings in kickboxing.

These are:-

Archie Sullivan - green belt;

Beatrice Holdbrook and Jamie Murray – yellow belts; and

Fallon Carpenter – orange belt.

A big well done to you all.

The Prep School Choir sang at the Spring Concert on Tuesday evening. They entertained the audience with two pieces recently performed at the Hastings Musical Festival. Their performance was received with great applause. The children thoroughly enjoyed being part of such a wonderful whole School event. Congratulations and thanks go to Miss Neave our Choir Director for her dedication and energy; the children clearly gain their joy of singing and confidence at performance from her.

Everyone at the Prep School wishes you a relaxing Easter break.

Best wishes.

Maria Maslin

 

 

 

Message from the Headteacher March 14th 2014

Dear Parents

The Hastings Musical Festival is now in full swing with, amazingly, over half the School taking place in a range of singing, piano, keyboard and Speech & Drama classes.

We have had some amazing performances and won many classes – Miss Neave and Mrs Laurent haven’t stopped smiling!  For a full roundup of the action from the Festival please see our next newsletter.

Successes have also come in this week from our ballet teacher Miss Jane, who was thrilled that all the girls who have recently undertaken their exams passed with high marks.

Yesterday there was great excitement in KS1 as the day came for them to go to the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne to see Peter Pan on Ice.  This trip had been eagerly awaited and by all accounts they were not disappointed.  Mrs Blau said “Years 1 and 2 had such an exciting and inspiring trip to the Congress Theatre Eastbourne to see the Russian Ice Dancers perform Peter Pan on Ice – not only were their skating skills incredible on such a small stage but there were aerial acrobats and frighteningly choreographed sword fights to keep everyone on the edge of their seats!”  The children will be using this experience to further their literacy work.

Last Tuesday saw every child take to the astro in the warm Spring sunshine for our annual inter-house Pancake Race.  With frying pans in hand, and pancakes to toss, each House stood in line ready for the whistle to start the race.  KS2 races first – pancakes were tossed, fun was had and Mrs Corrigan kept a watchful eye to check that the pancakes left the pan at sufficient height to count as a “toss”.  It was down to the races in KS1 to determine the winning House, with the honour finally going to St Martin’s.

The next two weeks are packed full of activities such as our Choir taking part on Wednesday at the Hastings Musical Festival, the Sports Relief Mile next Friday in which all children including our Nursery children will be participating and the Spring Concert in the final week of term to name but a few!

With best wishes.
Maria Maslin

Message from the Headteacher February 28th 2014

Dear Parents

What a busy time we have had at the Prep School since we arrived back to School last week!

There was success for all three of our children at gradings in martial arts last weekend; with Imogen Wheatley gaining her red belt in karate, Solomon and Sebastien Young both gaining yellow belts and

Harriet Wheatley and James Turner gaining a highly skilled brown belt each in kickboxing - well done to you all!

Wednesday saw the Prep School host the Bexhill Area Netball Tournament. Six schools (with a total of 8 teams) were welcomed to join in a competitive afternoon of netball. The sun shone down upon the proceedings; friends and family who had turned up to cheer on the teams could have been forgiven for thinking that Spring was finally on its way. Every match was keenly played with some great team and individual performances. Everyone looked as though they enjoyed themselves and had lots of fun. The Tournament came to an exciting finish with the top three teams being:-

3rd - Battle Abbey Prep

2nd - Little Common
1st - Sedlescombe ‘A’ team - who were worthy winners.

The children have used their swimming sessions this week to undertake the annual challenge of a Sponsored Swim. Members of our School Council had canvassed opinions from the children in Years 1-6 about which charities to support this year, with the results being - ‘The Royal National Lifeboat

Institution’ and two local animal charities - ‘Barby Keel Animal Sanctuary’ and ‘Happy Endings Animal Rescue Sanctuary’.

The children from Reception class took part in their swim on Wednesday afternoon. They swam fantastically well and completed their widths with amazing confidence. It was lovely to see how far they have progressed in their swimming so far this year. 

The children from Key Stages 1 and 2 were full of enthusiasm as they made their way to the pool to take their turns. Determination to do their very best and to keep going was evident as the children from Reception class to Year 6 completed some amazing distances, with a significant number of strong swimmers completing over a mile! Now the Sponsored Swims have finished, the tasks of collecting the monies for our chosen charities, has begun. 

Over the last few weeks, children from the Prep School have been busy becoming authors and refining their writing expertise for the much publicised BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words 2014. The challenge was to write a fictional short story for this national competition and this certainly inspired children in Years 3-6 who wrote some amazing short stories; full of originality and creativity. Mrs Williamson, who submitted them on behalf of the School, was thrilled to see the very high standard of entries from our pupils this year. We submitted nearly 40 short stories in total and must now wait to see if any make it through to the next round of judging. 

The Prep School is pleased to announce newly elected members of the School Council to serve until the end of the school year. They will be continuing the great work of the previous School Council in making sure the pupils have a strong pupil voice. These positions are awarded to:-

• Year 1 – Jamie Murray;

• Year 2 – Anton Orange;

• Year 3 – Ella Foreman;

• Year 4 – Dominic Harvey;

• Year 5 – Solomon Young;

• Year 6 – Maia Lambert.

Badges will be presented to each representative at our inaugural meeting on Monday and their photographs will soon be displayed on our School Council Notice Board.

Next Tuesday morning we will be holding pancake races to observe Shrove Tuesday. The children will be competing in their House groups and as usual there will be an abundance of competitive rivalry. During today’s House time there were plenty of pancakes being tossed and competitive strategies being discussed! The children and House Ms are looking forward to this contest very much!

Best wishes.

Maria Maslin

 

 

Message from the Headteacher January 31st 2014

Dear Parents

The Prep School has been a hive of activity over the last fortnight.  The children have enjoyed many varied activities and there have been no shortage of opportunities to challenge and expand the children’s energies. The many articles and photographs in this week’s newsletter give you a flavour of just what a busy and industrious School we are!

Yesterday, Years 5 and 6 vacated the School for the afternoon and headed, with art teacher Josephine Ho, to the De La Warr Pavilion for an afternoon of art.  The children were greeted by Sharon Howard, their tutor for the afternoon, and they had the special opportunity of viewing the current exhibitions.  The children enjoyed the abstract work of Alison Turnball and the children found her collection of ideas around observation, orientation and perspective enthralling.  They were fascinated to see her artwork on pages of exercise books that had come from around the World.  The second exhibition was that of sculptor Matt Calderwood: three-dimensional geometric structures made from steel, covered in paper and recently “weathered” on the roof of the De La Warr. The children then carried out practical group activities based on mapping and pattern before working in pairs on a 3D structure. 

Kickboxing gradings took place last Saturday for some of our pupils in Heathfield.  Congratulations to Evie McCabe, who achieved her yellow belt, and to Solomon Young for achieving his red belt, in which he got a first class pass – the instructor said that his was the best white belt grading he had ever seen – well done, Sol!

Year 4 led Assembly on Wednesday morning with the theme of “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.  The Assembly centered on the blind tasting of crisps.  However, little did we know that Ms Duncan-Broad had actually switched around the flavours inside the packets so that the flavours on the inside did not match with what the packets looked like!  We then discussed that outward appearances can be misleading and we decided that when we meet people in life that are different from us, it is good to find out what people are like inside rather than by jumping to conclusions.

Today marked the start of the Chinese New Year – The Year of the Horse. Mrs You, the mother of Jia-Xin, brought in a Chinese feast which was shared between the children and staff in Year 3; it included duck pancakes, sticky spare ribs and oodles of noodles. Year 1 spent the day looking at the way Chinese New Year is celebrated and wished the rest of the school a very happy Kung Hei Fat Choy,which means good fortune for the year ahead! Thanks also to Evan Jiang, who brought in beautiful padded red and gold horses for staff and pupils in Year 1.

Prep School children are being encouraged to take part in a national bird watch as part of the RSPB’s “Big Schools’ Birdwatch 2014” which runs from 20th January to 14th February.  Mrs Carey introduced this to the children at Science Club last Wednesday and before long news of this exciting activity had spread around the School.  Big Schools’ Birdwatch allows the RSPB to monitor trends and helps them understand how well the birds we see in our local environment are doing. For the past 13 years, they have been asking young people to count the birds in their school grounds, helping create a ‘snapshot’ picture of bird numbers in the UK, creating an overview of which birds are making the most of school grounds across the UK.

As bird populations are a good indication of the health of an ecosystem, our results can highlight problems affecting the wider environment. If one school reports seeing fewer birds than last year, this could just be due to local factors - such as the weather, or a new building on site - that is keeping the birds away. But if lots of surveys come back saying that they saw fewer of a specific bird, alarm bells would start to ring with their scientists. They would then start trying to work out what was happening, and come up with a plan to help.

Previously, thanks to schools they have discovered the dramatic decline in house sparrows and starlings and could take action.

If any families wish to participate in the Birdwatch this year, all the information can be found at www.rspb.org.uk.

Best wishes.

Maria Maslin

Message from the Headteacher January 17th 2014

Dear Parents

It was lovely to welcome everyone back to the Prep School last Wednesday and the children were keen to share their holiday news. The Spring term has started in a very positive and bright manner at the Prep School with the children showing plenty of eagerness to learn following the restful Christmas break.

Successes for 2014 have cascaded in early for our pupils. Imogen and Harriet Wheatley took part in the South East Regional Schools Trampoline Championships in December. Both sisters competed in the Under 11 Girls’ Novice Event where 29 entrants were contending. Harriet achieved a highly-placed 4th position and eight year old Imogen secured a well-deserved 16th place. Music successes have been celebrated too with eight out of the ten children sitting individual exams gaining the top grade of Distinction. The pupils sat either a piano, keyboard or flute exam and these results demonstrate the exceedingly high standard of instrument playing by our pupils. Of particular note was the result of Oliver Hazell who scored 100% in his piano exam. Our thanks go to Miss Neave for her teaching of the pupils to this impressive standard. 

The first class Assembly of the year was led by the children in Year 5 and was based on the qualities of Superheroes. They thought that Superheroes exist to be a sort of role model for the rest of us. They explained that Superheroes spend their time trying to do the right thing, trying to be good and to help people who cannot help themselves. Year 5 went on to say that as a School we should all try to have the same qualities as Superheroes and do the right thing – but in our school uniforms instead of colourful outfits!

The children at the Prep School collect "Pluses" for good work and conduct both in the classroom and around the School. These are added up over the term to make a total for each House. There was great anticipation at the end of the Autumn term’s Mark Reading, with the termly House Cup being won by St Martin’s – closely followed by St Patrick’s in second place with St Mary’s and St Martin’s in joint third. Well done to every child; a great term’s work.

The first full week has raced by, the children have all settled quickly back into the routine of School and we are all looking forward to the exciting activities and learning opportunities planned for the term ahead.

With best wishes for a successful 2014.

Maria Maslin

　

　

Message from the Headteacher December 13th 2013

Dear Parents

Christmas events have filled the Prep School this week and it has been lovely to welcome so many family, friends and Governors to join with us in these occasions.

Festivities commenced on Monday when there was a full house for our traditional Carols at the Gate with all the children from year 1 to year 6 taking part.  Each class from Key Stage 2 took part in joyful Choral Speaking; Christmas poems and literary pieces entertained the audience.  The Choir gave wonderful performances of both traditional and modern Christmas Carols with a beautiful solo verse of Once in Royal David’s City sung by Madison. The programme was interspersed with individual Christmas pieces by both choral soloists and instrumentalists. Our accomplished musicians performed with amazing confidence.  Key Stage 1 children charmed the audience by singing two pieces - Little Donkey and Rejoice with Us.  They also played a very harmonious Jingle Bells on their ocarinas. The whole School community, including the audience, came together on this special occasion to sing Carols and enjoy the spirit of Christmas.

The Key Stage 1 production of Ralph the Reindeer enchanted the audiences.  All the children performed with great enthusiasm and were well rehearsed.  It was lovely for Nursery children to join in the performances as Reindeer and sing a reindeer version of “The Hokey Cokey”. They sang, danced and really enjoyed their moments on the stage.  We definitely have some extraordinary talent at the Prep School.

The Key Stage 2 pantomime of Dick Whittington was a great success! Every child from Years 3-6 was involved and gave of their very best; their friends and families were certainly not disappointed.  The Year 6 children got into character and performed with great talent and energy.  The singing and choreography was strong and the jokes were fittingly humorous.  The audiences commented on how much the children truly enjoyed themselves on stage.  The pantomime script and lyrics were written by our very own Steve Croft with the musical score composed by our music director Faye Neave.  It was a great triumph!

At the end of the performances our retiring collection for St Michael’s Hospice this year raised £534.10 – we are sure they will be extremely grateful for this donation. 

Our Christmas Fayres on Wednesday and Thursday were also a great success – thank you so much to all the parents who helped set up, bake, man stalls and clear up – we couldn’t do it without you.  Thanks also to years 7 and 8 who came down with Miss Bryant to help man the
stalls and join in the fun.  These Fayres raise
money for our various “Special Days” that we
have during the year for the children.  The final
count is still taking place but it looks as though
it will be in excess of £2,000!

At the end of this final week for this term,
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you
all a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas from
everyone at the Prep School.

Best regards.

Maria Maslin

Message from the Headteacher November 29th 2013

Dear Parents

Year 3 led an interesting and captivating Assembly on Wednesday.  After entering the hall to birdsong, we heard all about Year 3’s Forest School adventures this term. They explained that during their forest activities they have learned to work together more closely and to co-operate with each other. Some of the children then acted out a very funny short sketch showing us how working together to build a den is much better than everyone trying to do their own thing and failing in the task.  Year 3 showed us that listening carefully and working together meant that much more could be achieved.   We also listened to some beautifully descriptive poems; these were written by the children based on their first hand experiences at Forest School. 

On Wednesday afternoon, we welcomed Years 7 and 8 to the Prep School for an afternoon of Inter-House sports matches. They were joined together with Years 5 and 6 into their four House groups and teams for the afternoon’s competitions were quickly established. Hockey was order of the day for the girls and tag rugby was the sport for the boys.  Each game was hard fought and there was some great team and individual play.  St Martin’s were victorious in the girls’ hockey and St Etheldreda’s were too strong a team for the other Houses in the boys’ rugby and won convincingly.  Well done to everyone who took part.

Year 6 pupils enjoyed a fabulous Enrichment Day at the Abbey last Saturday where they were treated to master classes in Art, P.E. and Science.  These were led by staff at the Senior School and the children really enjoyed the sessions.

Children from Reception and Key Stage 1 have made beautiful decorations for a traditional Nativity crib scene which will be displayed as part of St Mary’s Church Christmas Tree Festival in Battle this weekend.  Reception children made the charming animals, Year 1 made the figures for the Nativity scene and Year 2 created the scenery and trees.

Rehearsals for the end of term performances of “Ralph the Reindeer” (Reception and Key Stage 1) and “Dick Whittington” (Key Stage 2) are progressing well.  The children have been busy learning their lines and the stage is set! 

Letters to Father Christmas have been written and posted by many of our younger children and there is a sense of excited anticipation in the air, as we go into our final two weeks of the Autumn term.

Best regards.

Maria Maslin