Category: Prep News
Such a delightful performance of The Pied Piper at The Abbey.
Bravo to cast and crew for such a wonderful rendition.
Becoming a parent is an exciting time. Our first thoughts as parents are that we want our children to be healthy, fulfilled and happy; ready to enjoy their journey, embracing challenges along the way.
At what point does this change? Parents in the past have informed me that they have decided that Kate (not her real name) is destined for Oxford and will have a career in Medicine. Kate was 3 at the time and struggling with the concept of sharing her tractor.
All parents want the best for their children (and if they don’t, we should be questioning; “why not?”). Sending a child to school should enable the team behind the child; the parents, grandparents, friends, extended family and school staff, to work together to ensure that each individual is supported in the best way possible.
Schools should be about educating the whole child. They should have breadth and balance in the curriculum, value the Arts, enable the gifted, support those with additional needs, encourage independence, promote collaboration, celebrate success, develop individuality, advance academics and advocate teamwork.
The educational environment should be all things to all pupils. Schools should be unashamedly all-encompassing and concerned with developing every aspect.
School life should go beyond the basics of academic rigour and, if that is the single most important focus of a school, I would argue the point is being missed. We should be educating the mind, the body and the spirit. Supporting children to know themselves, recognising their strengths and weaknesses in order that they may continue to grow and develop in all areas. At the end of their time in school our children should emerge as happy, confident and well-rounded young adults; equipped with the examination results to open doors and the skills to ensure the paths that lead from them can be followed.
A good education should be a happy one, filled with positive memories (box-cart racing, productions, recitals, achievement, matches, friendship; not just tutoring and exam prep) and the chance to feel fulfilled, challenged and engaged. If this is achieved then the adults of the future will have been educated beyond the basics and have the transferable skills to cope with the ever-changing workplace.
If you are a parent and you are reading this, do pause for a moment and ask yourself – What do I want for my child?
On Monday 5 March we competed at one of the ten IAPS regional galas.
We took six swimmers to the gala at Bishop’s Stortford College who all swam in individual events. All of our swimmers performed very well in a highly competitive event and posted very pleasing times. We are now waiting with our fingers crossed that some of the times are in the Top 20 across all of the other galas. This would mean that the swimmer will have qualified for the National Finals, which is being hosted at the London Aquatics Centre in June.
Our team was comprised of E Carter, C Hattan, G Phillips, G Pommier, M Pommier and L Zie.
On Wednesday 7 March the U11 C team had a tough but terrific match against Orwell Park.
In our first quarter J Richardson scored a great goal and G Pommier managed to slip in two more great goals. Orwell Park came back and scored two cracking goals. In the next quarter Orwell Park scored another goal. Luckily, G Pommier scored two more magnificent goals. Taking the score up to 7 – 3 to us. It was a nail-biting match but we managed to get our win!
As part of our World Book Week activities the children were immersed in exciting workshops run by a professional storyteller. Through the use of drama and improvisation the children recreated the tale of the Wild Man of Orford.
They looked at the story from various different points of view and explored the feelings and emotions of the Wild Man and his reactions to being treated as an ‘outsider’. Hopefully the children will be able to use some of these creative ideas and concepts when completing the Stig Of The Dump inspired Big Write this week.
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This year for World Maths Day, The Abbey was filled with magical maths! The different year groups completed a variety of maths activities and investigations, all centred around card tricks, sorcery and mind reading. The Year 6 children attended a workshop run by the Senior School, kindly led by Mrs Turner and Mr Streat, where they looked at how algebra can be used to explain card tricks as well creating their own Möbius strips and investigating its properties.
Many thanks to all the children for their excellent creativity and enthusiasm shown throughout the day and to all those who completed World Maths Day activities on Mathletics. |
World Book Day was celebrated this week at The Abbey and at Queen’s House. The day began, at each location, with a celebration assembly and the children all enjoyed spotting their favourite characters.
There was a fantastic array of costumes and the children spent the rest of day exploring their favourite books and characters.
Thank you to all parents for, once again, providing such wonderful costumes!
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