This morning we had a fabulous Open Morning – with a huge number of families attending who were all blown away by our lovely school. We received so many compliments about the friendly staff, the excellent tour guides (our Form 7 and 8 pupils), our beautiful grounds and our lovely PTFA, who helped serve tea and cake and chatted to our prospective families. Before we had finished lunch, 9 families had already signed up for our nursery! Thank you to everyone involved who supported us with our Open Morning.
We held a slightly different assembly today. Although we awarded a few well done winners to Orlando, Ivy and George, and pen licenses to Dominic and Arthur, the majority of our assembly was actually focused on our fabulous teaching staff for National Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week!
This week I was lucky enough to have some time with our amazing Form 6 who decided that they would like to take over the majority of my blog to shine a spotlight on the incredible work the teachers and staff do at Sunninghill. This is what they said…
‘Teachers support us with just about anything associated with them and us from a maths exam to sports day to rugby to science.’
‘We appreciate the teachers because they educate us and advise us and every year some of them take us on residentials giving up a lot of their free time to work out of hours. Last week for example we went on residential with Mrs Telfer and Mr Stazicker – they woke up very early every morning to prepare us for the day.’
‘Teachers help Sunninghill by helping build up the next generation. They teach us in every subject giving everyone a choice or idea for when we become adults.’
‘Every teacher does their bit to make sure every child who attends Sunninghill enjoys every second and every day at school.’
‘They give up their time for us and they mark our books to extend our learning even further. They help us when we are stuck and they work tirelessly just for us.’
‘Teachers never give up on us. They encourage us to try new things and overcome challenges.’
‘Teachers try and find different ways to make our lessons really fun.’
‘Teachers also give up their free time at home to plan interesting lessons for us.’
‘Contributions to music and sport and they give us confidence before shows and matches.’
‘Every day teachers try and make us happy. If we are sad they work really hard to make us happy.’
‘We have the most delicious food served by friendly staff who always look after us. We always have full and happy tummys and we never go hungry.’
‘The cleaners always tidy and clean the school after the mess we sometimes make and they always leave it nice for us.’
‘The office staff look after us in so many such as first aid, lost uniform, finance and organising so many things for us and are always smiley and welcoming.’
‘School is the reason we have friends and people we can rely on and trust.’
‘They give us so many opportunities that we could not get anywhere else.’
‘Teachers are constantly trying to help us to improve and understand challenges. They fill you with confidence to persevere when times are tough or with any problems.’
‘They help us to learn to have good sportsmanship.’
‘They are our champions and are always cheering us on in all that we do.’
Thank you so much Form 6! Such incredibly thoughtful comments that I hope will really show our fabulous staff just how much our children appreciate them all.
I always love to hear what hobbies our children have out of school, and it is lovely when this is shared with me. Here is a photo of Will in his greens with his Marine beret. He joined The Sea Cadets at Nothe Fort Weymouth, Marines division. He will be sailing twice a week now after school and doing lots of charity events. In May, he will be doing a shooting course at Plymouth at the Caldicot base. Well done Will!
Form 6 are learning about evolution and inheritance in science. This week they were able to extract DNA form bananas!
They mashed up their bananas with salt, water and washing up liquid, filtered it and then added alcohol to the filtrate. The DNA appeared as white strings! Form 8 were dissecting pigs hearts this week in Science, looking at the structure of the heart and lungs. Mrs Evans was very impressed with their maturity and their interest in their dissection lessons this week.
This afternoon our sailors and windsurfers took to the water for their enrichment activities in what, at long last, was the most glorious afternoon on the water. The children had a fabulous time! Mr Stazicker and Albi’s mum took these fantastic photos!
Reception class have been busy this week planting wild flowers with Liz! We can’t wait to see their beautiful flowers bloom!
Form 8 are currently working on their Lions Lair project, a competition between a few groups to create a product to sell at the summer fair. They would like to invite you (parents, students, family, friends etc.) to a fun and sociable family friendly Tennis Event at school on Friday 17th May. They will be selling beverages that are refillable for free once you purchase a cup. Each team will have a stand where you can talk to them about their project and maybe try a few samples:
There is a Junior Prep Tennis Event at 3:30-4:30. the Senior prep Tennis Event is at 4:30-5:30. Please come and support them if you can.
This afternoon, Daisy, Alice and Iris were lucky enough to go along to Henry’s mother’s business, Bramblewood Soap Co. to see how she makes her beautiful soaps and skincare products and get inspiration for their own products that they will be producing. They had a wonderful time, and were buzzing afterwards with so many ideas! Thank you!
Senior Prep impressed us this week on Wednesday at the Claysmore Prep Athletics afternoon. Some fantastic events and races and the children had a great time!
It’s been an incredibly busy week, and it was so wonderful to see the children playing so happily in the sun – Sunninghill is at its very best in the sunshine!
Next week Form 3 are off on their residential – and we know that they are going to have so much fun!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Best wishes
David
