Prep Newsletter Friday

19th June 2015

Dear Parents and Friends,

This has been such a lovely, busy week, with the girls, as always, being

hard working, delightful and full of fun. We have also had so many treats,

extra to the curriculum. Many, many thanks go to all of the Prep School

staff who work so well as a team and so hard to ensure that every lesson

is well planned, each pupil is encouraged to do her best and every event is

organised.

This last week…

Maths Morning on Monday was hugely enjoyable and a tremendous

success. Every girl carouselled around a variety of activities designed to

encourage thinking skills, problem solving and teamwork. Please see the

Maths Morning article for more information and photographs. Thank to

Miss Caher for organising this event.

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The Year 3 - 6 Inter-House Swimming Gala

on Monday was incredibly exciting. Please

read Milly and Yoana‟s report. The results

will be added to the running totals from

other Inter-House events, culminating in

the „Best House‟ being awarded the House

Trophy in the final assembly on Friday 3rd

July. Thank you to the Sport Department

for organising this event.

Our Year 5 and 6 (and Elif from Year 4)

participated in the Senior School Junior

Music Concert on Tuesday. This was a

delightful event, organised by Mr Hope

involved pupils in Years 5 - 9 with solos,

choir and orchestral performances.

Living Eggs

There was great excitement early on Wednesday morning when the girls

arrived at school to find that 2 baby chicks had hatched. These were

quickly followed by another one which pecked its way out before they

had even dried their feathers. The chicks have an “egg tooth” on top of

their beaks which they use to break the shell and it drops off once they

have emerged. The process of cracking open the shell is called

“pipping.” By lunchtime we had 6 new babies and year 2 were lucky to

see one of them hatching out and seeing daylight for the first time. They

were enthralled as they watched the miracle of life unfold.

By Wednesday evening all ten eggs had hatched out, producing 8 males

and 2 females. The girls are looking forward to holding and caring for our

new pets next week. Thank you to Mrs Walsgrove for organising the

Livings Eggs.

Congratulations to the Year 3

“Yummy Mummies from SMB” team

who took part in a 5k charity run called

the Race for Life for Cancer Research

last Sunday at Cassiobury Park. The

team have worked really hard

fundraising over the last few

months and so far have managed to

raise an incredible £2000.00 for the

Cancer Research charity. It‟s still not

too late to donate:

https://www.justgiving.com/teams/yummy-mummies-of-smb

On Tuesday the Year 3s visited Whipsnade Zoo as part of their learning

about habitats. They had a wonderful time and obviously learned much

(for some girls it was their first time seeing these wonderful animals). As

always their behaviour was beautiful and Mrs Franklin was proud to be

their teacher. Please see the wonderful review of their day on the Year 3

page.

Our Year 4 Speech and Drama pupils performed beautifully in the Lower

Prep assembly on Wednesday. Mrs Lester‟s group recited a poem

„Breakdown‟ accompanied by instruments and Mrs Muir‟s group

entertained us by working as a group to recreate an object and its

actions e.g. machine, kangaroo and cuckoo clock. The Lower Prep were

thoroughly entertained and loved seeing the Year 4s.

The Year 6s Charity Bake Off on Thursday was

an interesting event in that the girls had to make

their cakes and then work out how much each

cost to make in order to work out the price. The

concepts of profit and loss were taught, which

was new to some of the children. They also had

to package the goods and organise the selling of

the cakes.

Today was the last Speech and Drama lesson

this term for all pupils, except the Year 6s who

will make up for the missed lesson (due to being

on the PGL residential) on Friday 26th June.

Father‟s Day Breakfast on Thursday was a lovely

event with many fathers joining their daughter

for a breakfast and having a chat with each

other. The weather was on our side, allowing our

guests to spill out of the Dining Room onto the

patio, decked with bunting. Thank you to

everyone who participated, there was a great

atmosphere and we hope that you enjoyed it.

Mrs C Aisthorpe

Head of St. Margaret’s Preparatory School

Our Celebration of Achievements Ceremony is next Thursday 9.30 -

10.45am. Girls can come into school anytime between 8.00 - 9.00am and

go to their usual playground where they will be supervised. The Sports

Hall will be open to you from 9.00am. It is expected that the ceremony

will finish at approximately 10.45am. To ensure that the girls can be

heard and are not distracted, plus that you can hear the girl‟s names and

the prize they have been awarded, we politely request that young

children and babies are not brought to the event. After the ceremony we

would like to invite you to join us for refreshments. The Connections

raffle prizes will be drawn at the end of the refreshments and prizes

distributed accordingly after the event. The girls will resume their

lessons at 11.30am. Every girl will be receiving a certificate or a prize..

Swimming Gala by Milly and Yoana

On Monday 15th

June the Upper Prep Swimming Gala took

place. Everybody swam amazingly but in the end there could

only be one winner. The overall results were:

1st

– Nicholson, 89 points

2nd

– Raleigh, 81 points

3rd

– Wesley, 64 points

4th

– Gordon, 63 points

Next week…

Year 6 will be learning about swim survival over the next two weeks.

Please would you refer to your daughter‟s Homework Diary to ensure

that your daughter brings in everything she needs on the correct day.

The Wesley Cake Sale will take place on Wednesday

for the Upper Prep children at the end of the lunch

break. If your daughter is in Wesley please would you

mind donating (preferably homemade) cakes, bringing

them to the Year 4 classroom on Wednesday morning.

June

22nd

-26th

Year 6 Swimming Survival Week

23rd 08:45-09:00 Year 6 Class Assembly – Parents Invited

24th 14:00-14:30 Wesley Cake Sale (Upper Prep only)

25th 09:30-10:30 Celebration of Achievements Ceremony, Sports Centre

26th 12:30-13:00 Year 6 Speech & Drama (catch up lesson)

11:15 – 12:00 Senior School Speech Day

27th 19:00 – late Connections Grand Summer Ball - cancelled

30th 15:45-16:05 Lower Prep Zumba Show,Upper Prep Hall

16:15-16:45 Upper Prep Zumba Show, Upper Prep Hall

July

1st Upper Prep Summer Picnic & Walk

2nd 10:30-11:30 Year 2 Scooter Training

3rd 14:00 Term Ends

020 8416 4501 prepoffice@smbushey.com

Dates

End of Term Ballet Display

Year 1 - Wednesday 1st July -12.40 - 1.30

Year 2 - Wednesday 1st July - 3.30 - 4.30

Year 3 - Wednesday 1st July - 4.30 - 5.30

Reception - Thursday 2nd July - 12.40 - 1.30

Years 4 & 5 - Thursday 2nd July - 4.10 - 5.10

Maths Morning On Monday girls in the Prep School took part in a Mathematics morning

organised by Miss Caher. The main focus was to provide a rich learning

experience through practical activities.

In the Lower Prep the girls rotated between 3 activities, learning about

Shape Tangram Puzzles with Mrs Jolley; Calculations using beanbags

and buckets with Miss Pares and Maze Activities with Miss King.

In the Upper Prep the girls were thrilled to be involved in a similar

carousel structure, participating in Venn diagram activities with Mrs

Charlesworth; Capacity activities with Miss Caher; Logic problems with

Miss Smith and Position & direction activities with Mrs Franklin. As you

can see, the girls thoroughly enjoyed every experience.

I enjoyed the capacity

challenge because it was a

lot of fun to estimate and

work in teams. There was

one time that my partner

and I got our estimate

exactly right! Geeta Yr6

“One of my favourite activities

was with Miss Smith as you

really had to use your brain and

it was very methodical.” Amita

Yr6

“On my direction sheet, I loved

discovering how to write about

mazes. Mrs Franklin helped us

a little and then we knew what

to do.” Riana Yr3

Reception

In Reception we have been watching our

caterpillars grow over the last few weeks

and now they are ready to make their

chrysalises.

Year 1 have been developing

their sewing skills this week.

They are now attempting more

ambitious pieces and have

been learning how to stitch

the letters to sew their names.

They look fabulous.

Year 1

Year 2 had a great time on Monday practising

our number bonds to 100 in really fun ways

during the Maths morning we had in school.

Year 2

On Tuesday Year 3 went to

Whipsnade Zoo. We had a

wonderful day and were

very lucky to enjoy

amazing weather too!

We went into the Butterfly

House and were thrilled to

see lots of different

coloured and beautiful

butterflies flying around

us.

We saw the ring tailed

lemurs being fed their

breakfast and the

chimpanzees enjoying

their morning snack.

Year 3

The Birds of the World display and the sealion display were

great fun to watch. Initially the sealions were being rather

naughty and did not want to perform, (maybe it was because it

was a lovely sunny day) but eventually they behaved and

thrilled us with their clever tricks.

The train ride in the afternoon enabled us to see lots of amazing

animals including the elephants, rhinos and beautiful deer.

To finish off the day we visited the giraffes and the lions. They

really were playing sleeping lions! They looked very peaceful.

It was such a lovely outing and a great day for us all to share at

the end of a wonderful and happy year.

“ I loved the train when we saw all the different animals.” Kaiyana

“I loved the train too.” Maya

“I liked watching the sealions. They were really funny and very

clever.” Beatrice

“I liked seeing the baby animals especially the ones in the farm

area.” Ishiya

Year 4 were given a practical

challenge about shapes and

structures this week. This

involved spaghetti,

plasticine, much planning,

re-planning and, if truth be

told, a few heated

discussions! They learnt

about working together and

listening to each other‟s

ideas as well as producing

some interesting models.

Come up to the Science

Room and see the Leaning

Tower of Pasta!

Year 4

In Year 5 we have been learning about how our country is

governed. We discussed the processes involved and the girls

were very interested in all the developments during our recent

general election. The girls began to think about leadership and

the responsibility it involves. Below are some of their ideas

about their views on

“If I were Prime Minister…”

Year 5

I would give all

children free ice

cream every

Friday……Hannah

I would make all swear

words illegal and

people would be fined

for using them…..Sanaa

We would

make sure

there would be

homes for

every

abandoned or

stray dog in the

country….Nikita

, Arabella &

We would ensure anyone

found to be treating

animals in a cruel way

would receive a life

sentence in prison….Ruby

& Mia

I would make sure

there were higher

fines for people who

drop litter….. Amisha

I would make physical

bullying illegal and any

offenders would have to go

to juvenile detention for

two months…Bryony

I would ban people

from

smoking….Marina

I would make sure

everyone has 999 saved

on their phones in case of

emergencies….Kalyani

I would increase the

budget for the NHS to

ensure everyone is well

looked after….Camille

Year 6 had a wonderful time at PGL in Wiltshire. From the

moment they arrived the sun shone and they were

outside, enjoying the fresh air for three days of non-stop

action.

Year 6

The activities included: fencing,

trapeze, Aero-ball, abseiling, giant

swing, nature trial and zip wire.

Some of them were very high and

scary, but the girls conquered

their fears and embraced each

activity as it came. Most of them

felt a real sense of achievement

when they found that they could

take on the highest of heights -

even if it did mean a good scream

on the way down!

At night we

enjoyed a camp

fire party for

Sahana's

birthday, as well

as a game of

Robot Wars,

which meant

dressing up

friends in

cardboard boxes!

The week was

fun and full of

laughter and all

of the girls

worked well in a

team.