The Fortnight That Was…. 9 March—20 March 2015 T

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J3’s Poetical Weather This term J3 have been learning all about the weather and with tomorrow being National Poetry day, they took the opportunity to write their own poems about the weather. During their Class Assembly this morning, they shared their creative work with impressed family, friends and the rest of the Junior School. The poetry was excellent and J3’s use of descriptive words was very impressive. Following their visit to the Stratford Butterfly Farm, the class also talked about the impact of weather on animals.

“Oi! Get Off Our Train!” The importance of taking care of our planet and not endangering animals, was the theme of J2′s assembly last week. Parents, staff and pupils all enjoyed J2′s re-enactment of John Burningham’s book “Oi! Get Off Our Train!” Some of the class acted the parts of people or animals from the book and others pupils created sound effects, such as the rattle and whistle of the train. The children clearly enjoyed taking part and the audience certainly enjoyed their production. Well done J2

Eclipse Over Pitsford School Sixth Form Meteorologists keenly watched the Eclipse from the School’s Weather Station whilst taking 5 minutely weather readings. Their findings will be compared with those taken by Sixth Formers during the 1999 eclipse. Further eclipse details in The Pitsford Post soon...

Mother’s Day Service Pupils from the Junior School Choir delighted the Pitsford Congregation at the Mothering Sunday Service at Pitsford’s All Saints’ Church. The Choir sang ‘Mothers Day’ and ‘Father I Place Into Your Hands.’ It was a lovely service which was enjoyed by everyone who attended.

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KS1 Visit Mini Meadows Farm Kits, Squirrels and J1 visited Mini Meadows farm in Welford as part of their topic/science work. It was a glorious sunny day and the farm was perfect for younger pupils to explore safely and feed a range of animals themselves. We bottle fed the new lambs and had buckets of colour coded food for the other animals and carrots for the donkeys of course! Everyone had a fantastic time looking at the goats, geese, donkeys, pigs, cows, chickens, lambs and other animals. There was a petting corner too and everyone's favourite was Cadbury the llama!

All parents are cordially invited to join us for the Junior Shakespeare Club’s performance of

Romeo and Juliet

or … SAINTS Vs. TIGERS!

in the Junior School Hall on Friday 27 March at 1:45pm .

Refreshments for parents will be served in the Art Room after the performance, whilst pupils enjoy their Easter Egg Hunt.

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Comic Relief 2015 This year, Comic Relief at Pitsford School took the shape of Pitsford Big Brother 2015. Sixth Formers impersonated various members of staff and used video footage to show the recent 'antics' from the Pitsford Big Brother House after which, the Senior School voted which 'teacher' should be exempt from a custard pie in the face. The sketch was totally in keeping with the idea of Comic Relief: great comedy and fund raising for a worthy cause. The whole audience was thoroughly entertained watching the Diary Room revelations and 'fly on the wall' filming. Before the 'winner' was announced, Sixth Formers outlined some of the great work that Comic Relief carries out in Britain. Congratulations to everyone involved who wrote, performed, filmed and directed Pitsford Big Brother 2015.

J4’s Trip to Sulgrave Manor On Tuesday J4 went to Sulgrave Manor to learn about the Tudors. When we got there we got dressed up in Tudor clothes. The girls wore curtails which would have been itchy because they were made out of wool. Luckily we had long white dresses underneath. We also wore small green bodices with pretty pink laces and white hats that kept falling off. After we were all dressed up our instructor took us around the house. First we went into the kitchen, it was filled with all sorts of Tudor food. There were yummy biscuits and fresh apples from outside. There was also some dried meat that made our instructor worry about her master going away for a very long time. After that we were taken into the bedroom and told why they have canopies on the beds. The canopies were for stopping anything falling from the ceiling on to their faces and the curtains are there so you can have a bit of privacy and to keep you warm. After we had our lunch we made a boat out of benches and got things that you would need like a cat for catching the rats, all sorts of yummy dried fruit, some lumpy bread, a metal anchor so we could stop the boat, a chicken for eggs, a Bible that was written in English, a cross to pray with and much, much more. When we had finished we played a game where we went outside and looked for three baskets. In our three baskets we found some beautiful jewellery and gold and silver coins, a piece of corn and tobacco with a pipe. When we had found all our baskets we went back to the boat and discussed what we had found. This is what Tudor explorers would have found on their journeys. My favourite part of the trip was the treasure hunt because I loved exploring the gardens. I also loved finding what Tudor explorers would have found.

Cara Roberts J4

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ISA Midland U9 Tag Rugby Tournament On Tuesday 10 March seven J4 pupils travelled to Stafford Prep School to participate in the annual ISA Midland U9 Tag Rugby Tournament. The team had been somewhat effected by illness and we had a bare seven, to compete in a tournament with most schools taking full advantage of the 12 player squad, with seven players on the pitch at any given time. The tournament consisted of 14 teams divided into 2 pools of 7 for the group stage. Pitsford played 6 pool games the results of which are as follows:

Pitsford School v Chase Grammar; 9 v 4 Win Pitsford School v Stafford Prep; 7 v 7 Draw Pitsford School v St Wystans; 10 v 8 Win

Pitsford School v Mylnhurst; 7 v 6 Win Pitsford School v Dixie Grammar; 5 v 5 Loss

Pitsford School v St Peters; 10 v 5 Win At the conclusion of the group games the winners and runners up from each group qualify for the main ISA Cup competition, whilst the other teams placed lower go into a shield competition. Pitsford School qualified as the runner up from our group, even though we lost one match as we lead the tries for record, by some considerable margin, as such were drawn to play the winners from the other group in the ISA Cup semi final against Salterford House, the final result Salterford 8 v 7 Pitsford. At the end of the day Pitsford School were placed third overall, a superb achievement for a group of seven very tired J4 boys, of which only two had previous experience of a competitive rugby match prior to the ISA competition. Even more impressive when you consider that most of the other schools in the tournament concentrate on tag rugby as their main sport. The majority of our tries were scored by two players Fabian Powell and Ned Bellamy, but all contributed to our excellent attack play, next time, we hope to up our defensive effort, which ultimately makes the difference when competing for overall honours. The team: Ned Bellamy [Captain], , Anthony Miller, Carl Muriva, Fabian Powell, Liam Rathe and Joshua Robson.

Healthy Living With exams coming up for our Year 11s, the focus in PSHE has been on emotional resilience and dealing with stress. Pupils have been observing and exploring different coping mechanisms, both positive and negative and last week was 'healthy habits' week: pupils engaged in mindfulness and exercise and considered the benefits of healthy eating. The last of these involved making smoothies to highlight the tasty benefits of slow release fruity energy for the days when a clear mind and stamina will most be needed.

Follow Pitsford School’s Sporting Progress on Twitter at : @Pitsford_PE

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Summer Solstice Celebration

Saturday 20 June

Following the success of last year’s

event, come and join in a family day of fun, BBQ and (optional)

camping in the grounds! Full details to follow but make sure you save

the date!

Alistair Green Memorial Concert

Dates for your diary...

7pm,Thursday 26 March* Pitsford Hall

Enjoy an evening of musical entertainment brought to you

by some of the School’s talented musicians

Open Day Saturday 25 April 10.30am-1pm

An independent co-educational school for 3-18 year olds

* NB Date changed due to illness

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Musical High Notes

Eisteddfod Festival of Literature, Music and Drama Charlie Goode came first in the Woodwind, Brass and Recorder Class for children aged 9 and under at the Kettering and District Eisteddfod. Charlie was invited to play at the Celebration Concert on Saturday night and he was given a special award - the G M Riseley plate, for overall instrumental winner in the 10 years and under category. David Shortland (Year 7) achieved 2 second places in the competition. Many congratulations!

19 March Lunchtime Concert Performances: This week's lunchtime concert featured four of the School's Senior musicians: Laura Bullen (Year 9) performed the tricky 'Gigue' by Boulogne with confidence, a piece that will form part of her Grade 4 violin exam in the Summer. David Shortland (Year 7) followed with two clarinet pieces: 'Summer' and 'Rhumba' and demonstrated great technical skill and a beautiful tone. Sixth former Tariq Hilmi performed 'Humoresque', a fun and challenging work from his Grade 8 piano repertoire. Alexandra Crook (LVI) then performed two pieces from her Grade 8 saxophone programme: 3rd movement of Bach's 'Sonata in G minor' and 'Merengue', the fifth movement of Francaix's 'Cinq Danses Exotiques'. Wonderful performances from some very talented musicians. These musicians will also be performing in next week's Alastair Green Memorial Concert. (See page 5 for further information)

PARENTS’ NOTICEBOARD If you have a message for other parents at Pitsford School,

please let me know and I will include it in the next Pitsford Post Email: jheatonharris@pitsfordschool.com

Exam Congratulations Well done to Sam Newby, who passed his grade 5 drum kit exam with Merit. (80 marks out of 100.) Well done Sam!

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Menus As all our produce is sourced locally, menus are subject to change and older pupils will be offered additional options which are not shown here.

Pitsford Mayfayre 1pm on 4 May

Pitsford Village Sports Field We invite any boys and girls 3-11 years who live in the village or attend Pitsford Primary School, Pitsford School or the Scout Group to join in the Maypole dancing and enter for May King and Queen. We are rehearsing on Saturday 18 April at 11.45am, Sunday 26 April at 2.30pm and Saturday 2 May at 11.45am at the Pavilion. We do stipulate that all those taking part come to every rehearsal, then they will be entered to be chosen to be crowned Pitsford May King or Queen 2015 on Monday 4 May at 2pm. If your child would like to take part, please contact Georgina Miles on georginamiles110@btinternet.com or 0783 655 5025 or Margaret Brown on margaret431@outlook.com or 881805. To reserve a table at the Mayfayre’s table top sale, please contact Tony on 07979 802524.

Monday 23 March Cheese & bacon slice with sautéed potatoes and sweetcorn (V) Cheese & tomato pastry slice with sautéed potatoes and sweetcorn Selection of fresh fruits or chocolate brownie Tuesday 24 March Savoury minced beef casserole served with creamed potatoes and fresh vegetables (V) Savoury Quorn casserole served with creamed potatoes and fresh vegetables Selection of fresh fruits or home-made biscuit Wednesday 25 March Roast chicken, roast potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding served with roast gravy and fresh vegetables (V) Vegetarian sausage or nut roast, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding served with fresh vegetables Selection of fresh fruits or yoghurt Thursday 26 March Home-made pork meatballs in tomato & basil sauce, served with new potatoes and green beans (V) Home-made Quorn meatballs in tomato & basil sauce, served with new potatoes and green beans Selection of fresh fruits or apple crumble & custard Friday 27 March Jacket potato served with a choice of fillings: Tuna & sweetcorn, Beans & cheese or Chicken & bacon, all served with salad and coleslaw Selection of fresh fruits or peaches & ice cream

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What’s On Looking Ahead? Monday 23 March: Jnr Lunchtime: Football Club Junior After School Clubs: Needle Craft, Rugby, Netball 4pm: Senior Choir Practice 4.10pm: Basketball Activity Tuesday 24 March: Junior After School Clubs: Badminton, Chess GCSE Art Examination Lunchtime: Speech and Drama Wednesday 25 March: 8.30am: Adult Pilates All day: J5 Tag Rugby Tournament Jnr Lunchtime: Junior School Council Junior After School Clubs: Easter Production Drama (J5-J6) GCSE Art Examination Thursday 26 March: pm: Junior School Swimming Lessons Junior After School Clubs: Tennis, Recorders Improvers 1.35pm Senior Lunchtime Concert 3.30pm: U12 Rugby (h) v Welland Park 7pm: Alistair Green Memorial Concert In Pitsford Hall—new date! Friday 27 March: 8.20am: Chamber Choir 8.30am: Junior School Choir Jnr Lunchtime: School Dance Club and Advanced Recorder 1.45pm: Easter Eggstravaganza Snr Lunchtime: Gardening Club 3pm: Lent Service 4pm: School Breaks up for Easter 4.20pm: School Buses depart Monday 13 April: L6 travel to Snowdonia Friday 17 April: 2pm approx. L6 travel return from Snowdonia

Monday 20 April: 8.40am: School term begins Jnr Lunchtime: Football Club Junior After School Clubs: Rounders and Cricket 4pm: Senior Choir Practice 4.10pm: Basketball Activity Tuesday 21 April: Junior After School Clubs: Athletics and Sailing Lunchtime: Speech and Drama Wednesday 22 April: 8.30am: Adult Pilates Jnr Lunchtime: Junior School Council Junior After School Clubs: Cooking (J5) and Kwik Cricket (J2-J3) Thursday 23 April: pm: Junior School Swimming Lessons Jnr Lunchtime: Recorders (beginners) Junior After School Clubs: Tennis, Recorders (Intermediate) 1.35pm Senior Lunchtime Concert Friday 24 April: 8.20am: Chamber Choir 8.30am: Junior School Choir Jnr Lunchtime: Dance Club and Advanced Recorder ‘pm: Junior School Swimming Lessons Junior After School Club: American Football 4.15pm: Badminton at Benham 4.20pm: Latin Activity Saturday 25 April: 10.30—1pm: Open Day

For the complete list of Senior Activities, see the

Activity Booklet on www.pitsfordschool.com