We were treated to a wonderful assembly from Form 2 this morning. Little did I know that next Thursday, 29th May, is National Biscuit Day. Not only did we learn lots of historical and scientific facts about biscuits, but I was also invited, with Mrs Moss, to judge the Sunninghill Biscuit Bake off – courtesy of our Form 2 baking superstars. A tough decision, as they were all absolutely delicious, but Romeo’s oreo shortbreads came out on top! I was so impressed with how each of our Form 2’s had learnt their lines for their poem and their songs and performed so confidently – it was an incredibly impressive assembly!
This week our Academic Excellence winners were William C, Sandro, Remi, Felix, Charlie, Heidi and Finlay. Well Done certificates were awarded to Gabriel, all of Form 1, all of Form 2, Samson, Elsie, all of Form 3, Ted, Nikolas, Finlay and Rosa. William K and Manu received the Commitment award, Millie and Ted the Compassion award, Tessie and Abel the Courage award, and Lilia and Mila the Creativity award.
This week I have also been very impressed with our Senior pupils who have taken exam week in their stride. They have approached all their exams with maturity and calm, and I’m sure they have done themselves proud.
Form 1 enjoyed a visit to Lyme Regis Museum on Thursday, to celebrate the end of their topic, Jurassic Fantastic. Kieran, the museum’s resident paleontologist, was really impressed with the children’s knowledge about dinosaurs and Mary Anning! The children carried out activities and explored the museum, discovering fascinating fossils and amazing artefacts. Form 1 enjoyed a picnic on the beach, in the beautiful sunshine. Poor Mrs Culshaw had one of her sandwiches stolen by a cheeky seagull! The residents of Lyme Regis celebrated what would have been Mary Anning’s 226th birthday on Wednesday. The children walked along the seafront and discovered the beautiful statue of Mary Anning, with her dog Tray. Next, Form 1 walked to the local church and found her grave and also saw the beautiful stained-glass windows, designed to celebrate Mary Anning’s life and her amazing achievements. Just as they were leaving Lyme Regis they were even lucky enough to spot a dolphin swimming out at sea. What a perfect end to a perfect day!
Sunninghill were once again one of the few schools that had a full team in the IAPS nationals sailing regatta for both U11s and U13s this week. Although the U11s event was bathed in sunshine the weather gods held back on their generosity with the wind and I can’t ever remember Portland harbour being quite as still. The race committee persevered and tried to run two races, however, they were both cut short and in the second race a third of the fleet didn’t manage to cross the start line. Despite the lack of wind it was a great experience for all with most sailing in a big fleet for the first time. Portland usually delivers and on Wednesday it was dolphins! Two visited in between the two races to shouts of delight from the children making everyone’s day. A great effort from Max, Toby, Daisy and Henry.
On Thursday the wind picked up to make the racing less of a lottery. This event attracts some serious racers from all over the country including some from the British youth teams. Leo and Scarlett sailed well in the light breeze and battled for a top ten finish ending in 9th overall out of 34, including a brilliant 3rd place finish in one of the races. Their downwind speed was awesome. This was the last event for our top crew and I am sure that we will hear more about their sailing in the future with Leo off to his next school on a sailing /sport scholarship. Our other crew in the U13s of Nathaniel and Seb had one great race with a top 15 finish to prove they can do it on the big stage despite still technically being U11s!
‘I want to thank you and everyone for a marvellous day on Sunday at Sunninghill! To reunite with the wonderful teachers and to also catching up with friends again. Once again thank you for the incredible event!’
‘It was so lovely to reconnect with so many old staff, parents and children and to have a good look around the school. Â I was given an excellent tour by Ava who exuded a real love of her school and was so proud to show off her work. Â Well done to you all and I wish the school many more happy years ahead.’
‘It was indeed a lovely afternoon and ‘everyone’, including the two senior boys who shepherded the guided tours, are fine ambassadors for the school. Also, the delightful Iris who provided the civilised musical accompaniment on the harp. As, apparently the oldest OS present (a dubious honour!), it restored many memories seeing those photos of the early-mid 1950s on display.’
Thank you to all the Alumni committee, staff, PTFA and children who helped make it such a special day.
A big thank you to everyone who contributed cakes and supported our School Council Cakes4Cancer cake sale! We are delighted to share that we raised £63.85 for Wessex Cancer Support. Your generosity and support helped make the event a success, and we are so proud of the children for their efforts in organising this fundraiser for such a meaningful cause. Thank you again for your kindness and continued support.
As part of Form 4’s music curriculum this term, on Wednesday afternoon the class went to see the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform at the Lighthouse in Poole. The concert featured exciting pieces from well-known composers as well as some new commissions that we performed together by singing and signing in Makaton.
Experiencing the incredible power of a symphony orchestra was very exciting, but seeing Mrs Hawes, one of our own music teachers, play was definitely the best part of the trip!
The children also all really enjoyed singing ‘Fireworks’ accompanied by the orchestra at the end. Well done Form 4 for being such respectful audience members, Mrs Nolan-Stone and Mrs Moss were very proud of you all!
As a reward for reaching the top of their smiley face mountain, which records all their hard work, Reception were treated yesterday to an afternoon at the library and then to the park where they had so much fun! Well done Reception!
This term the children in Form 3 have been learning about volcanoes in Geography. As part of their learning about the structure of them, the children had to make their own volcanoes out of clay. They had to think about the conduit/main vent size as well as the crater and the magma chamber. In true fashion, we had to cause some volcanic eruptions when we were finished and think about what types of rocks would be formed once the lava had cooled, linking to our Science unit of Rocks.
Form 6 enjoyed a bit of a break from their exams in Science, by extracting DNA from bananas as part of their adaptation and evolution topic.
Finally we’d like to wish Miss Neaves in our Nursery a very happy 21st birthday! We hope you enjoyed your fabulous cake made by Sarah, and you have some wonderful birthday celebrations!
Well done to all the children for an excellent week! I hope you all have a wonderful, restful half term – you all deserve a lovely break and I look forward to seeing you after half term for a very busy fun filled end of term!
Best wishes
David
