Junior Reflections Week 5 October 2024

Dear parents,

Coats please

I cannot quite believe that October has arrived, the weeks are flying past with only two left until half term. The weather is beginning to turn so please do send you child in with a named coat or blue waterproof as we do try to keep them outside for breaks and lunches in order that they get some fresh air.

Kindness

Kindness was the theme for the week and one of our virtues; everyone should be kind, and as my nan used to say, “If you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all!” In assembly, I shared a short clip from ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’, one of my all-time favourites demonstrating kindness, inclusion and so many more values. Ms McElhatton shared with the pupils our new ‘Kindness Bucket’, which is attached to my door, whereby pupils can award each other vouchers for being kind. The amount of kindness being shown has gone off the scale and I have certainly enjoyed reading all the examples of acts of kindness.

School council and house lunches

I ran our first school council meeting of the year this week, and gosh we had fun! Lots of discussions concerning things they enjoyed about school and a few tips for making it better. Pupil voice is always so important and even though I can’t promise to make all their wishes happen I will certainly do my best. However, as I have said before, horse riding club is not going to make it on to the activity list! This week also saw the junior school hosting house lunches, giving the children a chance to sit with their housemates during lunch and to get to know each other a little better. It is a super opportunity to develop friendships and I am not sure who enjoys it more, the Upper Two or Form One pupils.

Lulworth Cove trip

Last Wednesday, the Upper Two pupils had a fantastic time visiting Lulworth Cove. They spent the day exploring coastal erosion, studying the rocks at Lulworth, and learning about the formation of features like Stair Hole. The weather stayed clear, allowing the children to create field sketches and enjoy a dry walk to Durdle Door. The trip provided them with valuable knowledge to support their classroom learning and enrich their geography topic on coasts. A big thank you to all the staff who accompanied the pupils on this trip. Mrs Russell was very impressed with the behaviour of all our Upper Two pupils; what great advocates they were to the school.

National Poetry Day

On Thursday, we celebrated National Poetry Day, with the upper school taking part in a Guinness World Records Official Attempt: World’s Largest Poetry Lesson. The pupils had a huge amount of fun, with this year’s theme being ‘Counting’. All the children were busy writing poems in their English lessons with Form One classes participating in an exciting online poetry workshop with the poet Simon Mole.

Local produce

As part of their “Farming in Devon” topic, the children in Upper One took part in a comparison of fruit and vegetables grown locally and sold at the local farm shop “Greendale” compared to the same fruit and vegetables sold at a local supermarket. A lot of fun was had, and the overall conclusion was that the farm shop fruit and vegetables were much more delicious. A big thank you to Greendale for their generous donation of fruit and vegetables.

Scholarships

As you know, we offer a programme of enhanced support and enrichment activities for children who show exceptional talent in sport, music, art and drama, through our scholarship programme. This is open for internal and external applicants for entry to Y7 (11+), Y9 (13+) and Y12 (16+). We welcome applications from your children in the Upper Two, Fourth Form and Upper Fifth years and please note that the closing date is November 2. If you would like to know more, you can read about the scholarships here, and of course our admissions team are always happy to advise.  There will be a talk about scholarships on Saturday morning at the open day, if you wish to attend.

Click here for more info on scholarships

This weekend

As I finish writing this newsletter, I am heading out to the pitches to cheer our girls on who are playing West Buckland. I am sure it is going to be an exciting game of hockey, and I will look forward to seeing many upper school pupils who have kindly given up their time to help be tour guides for our open morning tomorrow.

Have a lovely weekend.