Form 2 Science Day at the National Railway Museum
Form 2 enjoyed a Science day at York National Railway Museum hosted by students from the University of York. Workshops included an exploration of our carbon footprint, of air quality in different parts of the world using a process similar to chromatography, archaeological methods, air resistance, light and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. The pupils even got to travel on a replica of the Rocket Steam Engine at a glorious 29 mph. All enjoyed a plethora of practical science and it was full steam ahead on their Science learning.
Form 2’s Round the World Week
Following the report last week on Form 3’s Italian discoveries, we bring you news of Form 2’s Spanish adventures: “Our Form 2 children have enjoyed learning about Spain, and in particular about Spanish foods and Spanish dancing. Learning to cook Spanish style began in the school cookery room with traditional Spanish tapas dishes including tortilla, salsa, Manchego cheese with quince jam, and Honeydew melon with Serrano ham. The children enjoyed stuffing peppers with goat’s cheese, and creating a more unusual chickpea and black pudding recipe. These dishes were enjoyed by all at break time. Next, Form 2 visited the Ambiente Tapas Bar in York to compare their Spanish cooking with the ‘real thing’; they were especially impressed to learn about the Spanish delicacy which is a ham where the pigs have fed only on acorns. Form 2 pupils and staff are grateful to Javier, our Language assistant, and Senorita Arizabel who introduced the children to flamenco dancing. They were quick to embody the mood of Spanish music. Well done Form Two!”
Form 1 and Pre-Prep Story Share
The Nursery children were delighted to welcome Form 1 pupils this week for a storytelling session. The Form 1 children had written and illustrated some wonderful stories for young children and came along to share them with Nursery. The children were enthralled and the teachers amazed by Form 1’s literacy skills – a fun time was had by all!
Red Nose Day
Pre-Prep got into the Comic Relief spirit by coming to school wearing their red noses. The children paid £1 to make a funny face on a paper plate. There were some hilarious designs which are now being displayed in the brick building. They also danced along with Dermot and listened to the Comic Relief Song. The children found out that if they raised £60 this would pay for an orphaned child in Africa to go to school for a year and the government would then double this amount, enabling a second child to attend school too. Pre-Prep, Main School and Upper School raised a combined total of over £260. What a fantastic fund raising effort everyone!
Form 3’s Italian Week
During ‘Around the World’ week, Form 3 had a fantastic time learning all about Italy. The week began with ice-cream tasting where a wide variety of authentic gelato was tested including salted caramel and pistachio; needless to say chocolate was the overall favourite! The children used all the information that they had learned to then create their own ice-cream advert and design their own packaging. Throughout the week the children took part in a carousel of activities including pasta art, independently researching Italy using a variety of sources and, of course, pizza making. The aroma of freshly baked pizza tempted all who came our way! Finally, the children had been set a homework challenge to make a model of a famous Italian landmark. The entrants were incredibly varied and imaginative. Models included a cucumber Leaning Tower of Pisa, an edible Mount Vesuvius and even a Pope in a soap! Prize winners will be announced by the end of the week.
World Book Day
On World Book Day itself the Pre-Prep pupils and staff arrived at school in some fabulous costumes from dragons to dinosaurs and princesses to pirates. Nursery described their characters to each other and Reception brought in their favourite story and read it to the class. PP1 explored the story of the Three Bears and made delicious porridge. PP2 read four books which included Tabby McTat and wrote adverts for homeless animals. PP2 also wrote their own stories this week using George’s Marvellous Medicine as inspiration. They read their versions entitled George’s Marvellous Machine to the rest of Pre-Prep in assembly. Well done to PP2 for some amazing writing. It was lovely to see so many novel and inspirational costumes throughout the whole of Main and Upper School too. The whole of Pre-Prep also had a ‘draw a book cover’ competition in which the children had to design a new cover for their favourite book and write an explanation of why they particularly liked their chosen book. Congratulations to everyone for their fabulous drawings and explanations, but particularly to our winners: Saskia Simpson-Daniel (Reception), Emilia Sample (PP1) and Gus Living (PP2):
Form 3 Tudor Day
Last Friday, Form 3 continued learning all about the Tudors by travelling back in time and experiencing some aspects of Tudor life on their visit to Barley Hall. The children started the day by dressing up in traditional woollen Tudor costumes and being separated into groups to start their activities. Some children spent the morning under the strict instruction of a Tudor teacher in a traditional classroom where they learned how to write using a quill and brushed up on their Latin phrases. The other group took a tour of the house and learned all about what it would have been like in the Tudor times and how to set the tables correctly for a Tudor banquet. They also had a chance to make some Tudor soap using animal fat and added herbs to make it smell more pleasant. The children came together at lunchtime to dine in the Great Hall where they feasted at long tables and then switched over to do the same activities the other group had experienced in the afternoon. Luckily no-one needed to use the Tudor toilet as modern ones were available! The children really enjoyed entering into the Tudor spirit and a lot was learnt from the day.
House Times Tables Competition 2015
Just before half term, the whole school fell silent for 5 minutes for the annual House Times Tables Competition. Prizes are given for the top scores in each Year, with the maximum score being 99. There were some very commendable scores across all age groups also worth mentioning: FORM WINNER HIGHLY COMMENDED Form 1 Matthew Alton 36 Stuart Broadwith 34 Jude Collier 34 Arran Armstrong 33 Fergus Mainey 30 Form 2 Isla Wadsworth 96 India Duree 94 Josie Sample 94 Alfie Weber 94 Caspar Dallas 92 Form 3 Patrick Cunningham 97 Sam Dallas 82 Flossie Attwood 77 Beth McEvoy 77 Form 4 Matthew Mairs 91 William Cunliffe-Lister 87 Harry Nettleton 87 Emily Bulmer 86 Murron O’Neill 86 Form 5 Basil Nettleton 97 Jacob Zoing 91 Ollie Booth 90 Olivia Turner 90 James Earley 89 Rebecca Bolt 88 Form 6 Ethan Watkins 99 Sean Skahan 88 Ben Earley 87 Niamh Watkins 87 Kit Jay 87 Thomas Hall 86 Leckby Max England 99 Elise Darcy 98 Iranzu Ros-Ramirez 96 Louis Zoing 93 Eldmire Becky Thompson 99 Annabel Hill 98 Lucy Wang 97 Uxua Ros-Ramirez 97 Jenny Davidson 94 Thornton Tim Wang 99 Gabriella Lei 99 Freddie Wiles 99 Ross Sullivan 99 Helena Youmans 96 Lauren Egan 95 Laura Aspinall 94 Quentin England 93 Taking the average score across each house, the House results were incredibly close (the closest in the history of the competition) with just one mark between all four houses: 1st Normans 61.7 2nd Tudors 61.2 3rd Stuarts 61.1 4th Saxons 60.8 Well done to everyone who participated. Same time next year!
Form 1 trip to Audi showroom
On Thursday the 12th February, Form 1 went to visit the Audi garage in York. Upon arrival, the class and their teachers, Mr Crossley and Mr Bayne, were greeted by Ben, their host for the morning. Questions quickly turned to the fastest car in the showroom whereupon they were taken over to the Audi A8 Spider. The children got to sit in the luxury sports car and they even turned on the engine so they could hear the powerful sound it made. After this, they were taken to the executive suite upstairs to view and touch the tremendous array of paints and leathers that can be used to customise a car. Refreshments were also served, whilst the children had great fun looking through the interactive brochures to create the car of their dreams. As a final hurrah, Form 1 were taken outside where the dealership’s second most powerful car was revved up for the appreciative audience. It was incredibly loud! Many thanks to the team at Audi for being so accommodating. Form 1 will enjoy describing their own dream cars and writing recounts of the visit.
Form 3 Tudor morning
On Tuesday 10th February, the children in Form 3 enjoyed a very interesting Tudor morning workshop which taught the them some Tudor history in a dynamic and memorable way. This lively workshop really served to make the children interested and excited about the Tudors. The children were faced with a number of rather strange looking artefacts from the Tudor period which they were asked to have a go at drawing, looking carefully at the details. Even more tricky, the children had to try to decide what the objects were made of and what they might have been used for. Some objects were harder to guess than others. They then had to wait until after break to see if they were right or not. By investigating these artefacts, the children were able consider how Tudor lives were different to ours. The children were also challenged to some Tudor Maths and found out about Tudor weapons and how they were used. It was a memorable morning in which everyone learned lots of new information about Tudor life.