Our children have been extremely busy this week out in the gardens making the most of the beautiful Autumn sun, and stunning Autumn colours on all the trees. Bobbins Room, our older children in Little Robins Nursery, had a wonderful morning collecting Autumn leaves during their gardening lesson. They compared all the different colours and shapes, and collected them in little bags to take home. They also enjoyed leaf rubbing too! Form 1 also looked at colour and shape and made some beautiful artwork. We are so lucky to have such beautiful grounds for all the children to enjoy!
Senior Prep gardeners went to Dorchester Town Centre this week to refresh the planters that we are looking after as part of our 4Cs lessons. The work the children do on these planters fulfill 3 of our school values – compassion, creativity and commitment and the children absolutely love producing something beautiful for others to enjoy. Thank you to Liz who has been helping them on this project for over a year now. The planters really do look wonderful.
This afternoon there was much excitement in school as we welcomed two Disney creatives who came in to teach the older children choreography from the actual stage production of Aladdin. It is a very complicated and fast paced dance and the children did so well! Forms 2 and 3 focused on passages from the script, learning to use expression and project their voices as well as story telling. It was a fantastic experience for them and I am very excited to see all these tools in action in our own production of Aladdin in the Spring.
Today in our celebration assembly we celebrated our Well Done winners who were Alfie, Jonah, Remi, Felix, Clara, James, Heidi, Arthur, Abel, Harry P, Millie and Lilia.
Juliet, George, Elsie, Sophia and Louis C also received their Summer Reading Challenge certificates from the library. Elsie and Louis N gained the most housepoints for Commitment this week, Elizabeth and Albi for compassion, Logan and Joni for courage and Ivy and Amelia for Creativity.
I also thanked all the children who attended out Open Morning last Saturday. It was an incredibly successful day, with so many positive comments from our visitors, who were bowled over by the tour guides, and all the children and staff that they chatted to. The school looked beautiful and I was a very proud Head. We have had a large number of registrations already from the day, so thank you to all the children and wonderful PTFA members who supported us. It really is very much appreciated.
There was also much excitement this week when Miss Blair and Miss Wake-Walker brought their lovely new babies in so that the children could meet them!
On Thursday we marked World Mental Health Day where Forms 6-8 discussed the importance of self care and looking after our own mental health. Our pupils were incredibly excited to have a virtual assembly held by Reece James, Captain of Chelsea Premier League FC and a member of the England Football team, where he answered questions and shared his own experiences of how his injuries and sporting pressures have affected his own mental health. We also found out he enjoys playing tennis!
Form 8 welcomed local historian Brian Bates to their history lesson to discuss the impact of World War I within our locality. He shared a range of photos and evidence related to this and discussed the role the Pope family played. It was interesting to find out about the role of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. Also, the military hospital set in the area and its vital role in caring for the wounded. Of great interest to the pupils was the prisoner of war camp established on what is now the industrial estate.
As part of our project in religious studies looking at ‘Who is my neighbour?’ the Form 8s were fortunate enough to have a session with the Samaritans from the local Weymouth branch. The children found out about the history of this organisation and the role of a volunteer. The pupils asked many interesting and varied questions.
Reverend Keith Magee came along to Form 5’s religious studies lesson on Wednesday to talk to the pupils about his beliefs and role in the community. The children asked him a wide variety of questions and were asked by Keith to try to define the term ‘faith’. Reverend Magee shared lots of anecdotes related to his own religious journey and created a moment of joy when he told the children about two kittens he was planning to adopt this week!
Finally I was incredibly lucky to watch some of the matches this week. What made me especially proud, was not just the wins (although there were many of those) but the teamwork and compassion of the players. It was really noticeable that the more our teams looked after and supported each other, the better the whole team played as a whole. My thanks to our sports staff who instill this sense of teamwork and sportsmanship into the children – I am excited to see continued progress for all our teams!
Have a lovely weekend!
David
