News and blog

Spotlight on: Pre-prep

Spotlight on: Pre-prep

Our Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers on Pre-prep activities this term

Reception – Miss Natalie Shale

Reception pupils have been busy in the Sensory Garden this week as the group prepares raised beds ready to plant new seeds. At the end of the Spring Term the group discussed what kind of flowers and vegetables they would like to grow, and the girls will start by planting lettuce leaves, spring onions, rocket, marigolds and wild flowers. They are always very keen to work together to look after the seedlings and it is wonderful to see how excited they get when the first tiny shoots appear in the soil and, hopefully, grow in to plants and vegetables.

An amazing amount of scientific learning is involved in growing things and Reception pupils will also be using their mathematics skills to measure and compare the growth of the flowers and vegetables. One of this term’s topics is Marvellous Magic and, in the Spring Term and Summer Term, the Sensory Garden often seems like a magical place as the birds sing overhead, bees buzz and beautiful butterflies flit from flower to flower.

In the photos you can see the girls cutting back some older tulips and daffodils so that the bulbs will hopefully grow again next year, and some of the girls with a selection of the seeds we are growing.

Year 1 – Mrs Carol Kew

There are lovely summer dresses and happy smiles all round as the Year 1 girls arrived back to school relaxed and ready for the new term.

This term the girls’ learning emphasis is on clothes, and we have read Hans Christian Andersen's story, The Emperor's New Clothes. The group discussed the meaning of the story and the girls decided that it was better to be kind and thoughtful rather than preoccupied with how you look.

Each group acted out a different part of the story and, as you can see from the photos, found it very amusing. The girls will design a much more suitable outfit for him to wear and write their own version of the story. The Easter break already seems a distant memory as the pupils have so many exciting things to do and look forward to this term: weaving and knitting, looking at clothes from throughout history, practising songs for the upcoming concert. The term might not be long enough! 
 

 

Year 2 – Mrs Kerry Owens

The Year 2 girls have returned from their Easter break full of the joys of spring and ready for action!

In this first short week back they have been learning about Hinduism. The girls will be learning about how Hindus pray both at home and in the temple and through artefacts, images, books and videos will hear about some special celebrations. The stories about Hindu gods and goddesses are exciting to listen to and we will also draw mehndi patterns on paper ‘hand’ cut outs. Learning about Hinduism also fits in well with the Year 2 topic for this term: our watery world. The girls will learn about the importance of the River Ganges in India in worship and day to day life and how providing clean water can be a problem in some areas – incorporating plenty of Geography skills as well as Religious Studies learning over the coming weeks!