On Friday evening last week, myself, a panel of judges and a packed school hall witnessed the most incredible display of talent from over 50 of our brilliant students at ‘Sunninghill’s Got Talent 2023’.
We were blown away by the incredible performances, the confidence on stage and the fantastic support from their peers! From beautiful singing and dancing solos and duets, to incredible rock bands, instrumental solos, choirs and orchestras – even some fabulous football skills!
My thanks must go, not only to the performers, but to Mrs Nolan-Stone and all the staff who helped set up, clear up and worked backstage. Thanks also to the PTFA who ran the bar for us on the night. It really was a night to remember – and I know our parents and grandparents loved it as much as we did.
This morning Reception held their fabulous assembly in support of Books Trust Pyjamarama 2023. Today children from all over the UK spent the day reading, enjoying and sharing stories, all in the comfort of their pyjamas to raise vital funds to help every child get a bedtime story. This amazing initiative will not only help children less fortunate than our own, but is a great way to encourage our children to read for pleasure. All forms were in Pyjamas today, with Forms 2 and 3 in their PJs yesterday as they are on a trip today!
Reception’s assembly was a wonderful celebration of stories! They told 3 stories, using music, dance and art to bring the stories to life! They spoke so confidently and I was incredibly proud of them all.
During assembly we also gave our several badges for our TT rockstar champions. Special mention must go to Louis and Lottie who received a gold badge for answering maths questions, on average, in under 1 second. Absolutely incredible! I wonder how many of us could do the same?
On Wednesday, Form 4 held their cake sale at break time to fundraise towards adopting an orangutan at Monkey World. This is part of their cross curricular PHSE and geography. They raised £103.05, which was counted by Fin, Phin and Oliver who are Form 4’s monkey world accountants, who will ensure that the class meet their target!
Next week they will be holding a sponsored maths challenge to hopefully complete their fundraising. If they reach their target, and they are over half way there, Monkey World are giving them free tickets to take Form 3 and Form 4 to Monkey World for an end of term treat.
Seven Form 5 pupils travelled to Bryanston School this week with Mr. Salisbury to compete in their D&T Challenge. They split into two teams and each had to build two cars to a chosen design; one for form (decorated with all the bits and pieces provided) and one for function. At the end of the day, the second was rolled down a ramp at an increasing angle, from 20° up to 90°. The catch was that the car contained a raw egg, and the egg had to survive for the car to try the next angle. You can imagine the cries of anguish as each car impacted the barrier!
Our teams were very unfortunate as both eggs broke at only 40°; but everyone had a great time and were able to put into practice all the skills they have been learning with Mr. Salisbury in school. Team 2 won the runner up in the “best decorated buggy” competition, team 1 won “neatest team”, and we all came away with a box of Lego. This has already been reserved for an end of term project. Mr Salisbury was very proud of you all as you all behaved beautifully all day.
Our end of term trips are well under way and we have lots of very excited children. Today, Forms 2 and 3 are currently visiting the ‘Heavy Horse’ in Verwood. They are so excited to see all the horses and other animals.
Yesterday Form 1 had a wonderful day in Weymouth! They visited a local artist’s garden overlooking the sea for their ‘Beside the Seaside’ topic. The children had a tour of Olivia’s art studio before having a watercolour tutorial from our school art teacher, Mrs Saines. They produced some wonderful artwork before playing in the stunning gardens. My thanks to Olivia who hosted our children and to Mrs Saines and Ms Wake-Walker for organising the trip!
Our Form 8’s are having the most incredible time in Spain with Mr Stazicker and Mrs Thomason. Although they had a slightly disastrous start, with the airline cancelling their flight entirely, they have more than made up for it over the rest of the week and are having a blast in Alicante with Rock And Rapid Adventures.
Their first day, they headed into the mountains for some climbing followed by a much needed cool down in the villa pool. Day 2 started with the high ropes. The children loved all the different elements to the course and enjoyed a well deserved ice cream afterwards. The via ferrata in the afternoon was an incredible challenge. All children climbed an 80m via ferrata. It was not easy for everyone, but they all made it to the top – showing incredible courage and wonderful teamwork.
Day 3 was a fabulous day on the road. Three different rides totaling 35km. Today, their last day, the children will be enjoying a day at the water park – Aqualandia. In the evening, they will be going to Finestrat, the local town, for a final dinner.
The children have been incredibly brave, resilient and supportive of each other and have had a wonderful trip. We hope they have a much smoother return home tomorrow!
Form 6 welcomed Jane Silver-Corren to their religious studies class to talk to them about the religion of Judaism. She delighted them with a mixture of songs, special prayers, artefacts, traditional costumes and food. The children asked some excellent questions and were fully immersed in the experience. They had looked at information related to this particular religion prior to this session and were able to add further to their knowledge because of Jane’s excellent presentation.
Next week we are fortunate to have booked the Stay Safe Initiative, which is a not for profit organisation whose main aim is to educate and protect young people online.
The main instructor and founder Richard Pomfrett will be delivering a session entitled Parenting in the Digital World (Virtual Learning), aiming to give parents straight forward help and advice. This will be delivered via ZOOM on Thursday 29th June at 7:00pm lasting around 90 minutes.
It will cover topics such as gaming, the use of social media and group chats, looking at the risks involved, how parents and carers can talk to their children, the tools that are available to help and what to do if things go wrong.
Further information can be found on the following website: www.thestaysafeinitiative.org.uk
Keeping our children safe online is such an important topic, and I really hope as many as you as possible will join the ZOOM meeting. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Smith, our designated safeguarding lead:
dsl@sunninghill.dorset.sch.uk
Finally just a reminder that donations for the Summer Fayre can come in from next week. Please also bring back all raffle tickets next week if possible. Thank you so much for your support – I am so looking forward to my first Summer Fayre at Sunninghill!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Best wishes
David
