We had a fabulous Open Morning this morning, with lots of very positive feedback from prospective parents who loved the school, the atmosphere, and particularly the tours from our Form 7 and 8 tour guides. Parents commented on their excellent communication skills and confidence. Thank you to these children – you really did yourselves and Sunninghill proud. Our thanks also go to the PTFA who chatted to our visitors and served teas and coffees. Tomorrow we have 16 families coming along to our Reception Open Morning – a mix of current Nursery and Reception families, registered families and brand new families who have heard lovely things about Sunninghill. There is certainly a very positive buzz going around school and we are excited for what lies ahead. This half term we have welcomed Sukey in Form 4 who is with us for a short stay, and Alfie who has joined us in Nursery. It is lovely to see how well and how quickly new children settle in and how welcoming all the children are.
This week Form 1 visited Herringston House to tie in with their ‘Down in the Woods’ topic. They had a lovely walk through the grounds with Liz, spotting evergreen and deciduous trees and enjoyed a scavenger hunt, finding a variety of natural objects. To end the afternoon, the class were set a challenge to build a den with just a tarpaulin, rope and the trees available. Miss Wake-Walker was so impressed with their teamwork! The children then enjoyed a hot chocolate under their den whilst listening to the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
On Monday, Form 5 and Form 8 were lucky enough to have a visit from Jo Richardson from Space Detectives. Form 5 had workshops on ‘Our Place in Space’ showing our position in the solar system. Form 8 had workshops on ‘Alien Worlds – how we discover exoplanets’, planets that are outside our solar system. The children loved the workshops, asked lots of questions and enjoyed a variety of different investigations and practical activities.
Form 5’s topic this week is ‘Forces’. Yesterday, they experimented with home made helicopters to test the speed they fly with added variables, like increased surface area and weight differentials (with added paper clips). Some flew the helicopters while others timed the flights.
It was dissection week for Form 8 and Form 6 this week in science. Form 8 were dissecting as part of their muscular and skeletal topic and had a particular focus on dissection skills. Form 6 were dissecting as part of their circulation topic, focussing on the different chambers and blood vessels within the heart. Both forms looked at the lung as well. Form 6 said this was the ‘best science lesson ever’. Even the children who were not keen on dissecting the heart themselves did come through and observe their peers.
On Monday, Mrs Salisbury presented the third of our Academic Series, this time on mathematics at Sunninghill. Form 4 supported the presentation with a dance to show how they have learnt their Roman Numerals! Miss Thomasson started the event with a bit of place value bingo, before Mrs Salisbury talked through the maths curriculum at Sunninghill, our favourable performance against the national average, progression of pupils and extension work in lessons and some resources parents can use to support their children at home. Our next Academic Series on Monday 27th February will be English at Sunninghill. Please remember to book your place and thank you in advance for supporting these events.
After a very successful launch in Form 3, we are introducing Classlist to Form 1, Form 2 and Form 4. You should have received your invitation to join Classlist if your child is in one of those classes, so please sign up by next Friday 10th February so that we can roll this out to these classes after half term.
This morning, in Assembly, the children practiced one of their songs for Moana. A clip of this is on our Facebook page today and it already sounds wonderful – even with 6 more weeks of rehearsals to come! Tickets will be on sale after half term – but please keep either the 16th or 17th March free! This week we were absolutely thrilled to receive the incredible boat that Rosie and Katie’s Grandfather has built for the production – such a lot of work and it looks fantastic! Thank you so, so much.
Finally, some exciting news…Eddie Erskine, aged 19, a former pupil from Sunninghill, has been selected to be part of the Scotland U20 Rugby team for the Six Nations. Scotland meet England this evening at 7pm at The Stoop, and it can be watched live on iPlayer. Eddie is currently contracted with Bath Rugby as a University Scholar, so if you can, please tune in to watch him.
Have a lovely weekend!
David
