Prep for the Week Issue 1829

Prep for The Week Issue Number 1829 20 May 2016 1

Issue Number 1829 – 20 May 2016

Prep for the Week

In this week’s issue…

Headmaster's Blog and Commendations Summer Fete A View from the Geography Department Kingfishers and Upper School News The Year 5 Experience Design and Technology Projects Troy House Dinner Girls' and Boys' Sports (plus Athletics update) Calendar and Notices

Like us on Facebook:facebook.com/CheltenhamPrep

Follow us on Twitter:@CheltPrep

MUFTI DAY

Don't forget the whole-school

mufti day on Friday 27 May.

Proceeds will go to

The

Prep's Charity of the Year,

Gloucestershire Bundles.


Dear ParentsAs I write this piece on yet another wet Wednesday, I am mindful of the enormous efforts of the Grounds staff which enabled two games of cricket to take place at The Prep. This expertise, dedication and enthusiasm is representative of all of the ancillary staff who support The Prep. Day in, day out, our cleaners, caterers, groundsmen, gardeners and ‘handymen’ carry out a plethora of tasks in a good-natured and professional manner. They engage with the children in exactly the right manner, especially in the Dining Hall where their observations and encouragement are integral to the care of the children’s wellbeing. It is pleasing that the children show respect to them and, to date, I have not had to deal with any issues. These are laurels upon which the children must not rest and continued good manners towards the ancillary staff are essential as failure to demonstrate this is the first step towards arrogance. A quick glance at the Calendar will show you how busy the ancillary staff will be in the next few weeks as they prepare for many high profile events. So, please, when you are next sinking your teeth into one of their delicious sandwiches and/or cakes at match tea (the envy of the circuit by the way!), join me in congratulating all our support staff on the great job that they do.

Jon Whybrow

Headmaster's Blog

Headmaster's CommendationsJames Katz, Jakob Sneyd and Paras Aggarwal for selfless behaviour and contributing to the enjoyment of all

William Davey for drastic improvements with handwriting

Monty White for independent research on the Romans

Emily Grant for independent work on her love of music

Eve Loosemore for independently carrying out extra work at home related to what has been taught in school

Sydney Fairs for going above and beyond by making detailed and creative revision tools for her exams

Last week, we said ‘adiós’ to Miss Rodriguez de la Fuente, who has been assisting in the Boarding House as well as in some Spanish and Music lessons. “The pupils have thoroughly enjoyed her enthusiasm, encouragement and practical support in lessons” said Miss Lindsay Gooch, Head of MFL.

Pupils learning Spanish were treated to a session of Indian dance and storytelling, taught through the medium of Spanish by Miss Rodriguez de la Fuente’s mother and aunt. In addition, Junior Choir learned and performed the song ‘Guantanamera’ with Miss Rodiguez in Chapel last


Summer FeteSaturday 18 June 2016

From 12 noonSeaside Fun for all the Family!


A View from theGeography Department“Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change. It is dynamic and relevant. For me Geography is a great adventure with a purpose.” - Michael Palin

So many of the world's current issues – at a global scale and locally - boil down to geography, and need the geographers of the future to help us understand them. Global warming affects countries and regions, food and energy security, the degradation of land and soils from over-use and misuse, the spread of disease, the causes and consequences of migration, and the impacts of economic change on places and communities. These are just some of the challenges facing the next generation, which geographers must help solve.

In the Geography Department at Cheltenham Prep, we study all of the key topics outlined above. The department strives to ensure that students of all ages are familiar with the world around them and the key processes and interactions that take place within it. By emphasising how Geography can be applied to real world scenarios, students then understand why the weather is so changeable, how recycling their waste products each week can save the planet, and can plot their holiday destination on a map.

To this end, fieldwork is a vital component of Geography. We at the Prep offer fieldwork trips and exercises from Lower School right through to Upper School, be it measuring meteorological data on the Prep and College grounds, a trip to Bath Road or visiting the coastal backdrop at

Weston-Super-Mare. By applying the theory learnt in a classroom to a real world setting, so students’ understanding of Geography is firmly embedded. There are plans to incorporate both a day trip to the planned eco-village in Kent and a residential fieldwork trip in the future, circumstances permitting. The skills gained through fieldwork are then used in conjunction with enquiry-based learning in order to challenge students’ perceptions of the world and the natural and anthropogenic processes that shape it.

In Lower School, students learn about space, place and fieldwork through looking at both our local area and other, more diverse places, such as India. This knowledge is then built upon in Middle School, with students learning more about global locations, tectonic processes, rivers and coasts. The topics studied in Middle School provide the foundation for Upper School and the Common Entrance (CE) examinations at the end of Year 8. In Upper School, existing knowledge is then enhanced in topics as wide ranging as biodiversity, weather and climate, globalisation and environmental conservation.

Geography changes every day and the Department uses topical, contemporary case studies to support the theories learnt in class. As Michael Palin says, it is a living, breathing subject that can be used in all other aspects of the curriculum. Want to know whereabouts in France your MFL trip is taking place? Use a map. Discussing that biodiversity programme that Attenborough presented last night? Then it helps to know where the rainforests are. Worried about the traffic in Cheltenham? Studying settlement patterns can perhaps explain the queues. Saw that earthquake on the news? Geography can tell you how and why it happened. The list goes on and on.

Indeed, without Geography, you are nowhere!

Mr Scott NewsonHead of Geography


KingfishersNursery boys and girls in The Cottage were shocked and surprised when a real alien popped out of their Space Tent!

The visitor met all of the children before helping them with their phonic activity! It couldn’t speak like the little humans and needed all their help in joining the sounds in words together. Maybe there are aliens out there, after all!

Nursery class have been enjoying a range of activities as part of their Space topic this Half Term, including making rockets and learning about planets, getting to know the famous astronaut Tim Peake and talking about the first man on the moon. Over the next week, the children will be flexing their creativity by making up their own space adventures.

The Reception classes were out of this world on Thursday with a visit to @Bristol Science Museum. They enjoyed a fantastic session in the planetarium, where they learnt about planets and star constellations. It was a little scary being in a dark room but as the telescope opened and the night sky appeared the children were mesmerised by the stars! They also had the opportunity to explore the rest of the museum and try milking a cow, gathering honey and playing with bubbles, to name but a few.

Here's a great shot of

Ludo the astronaut

running the marathon

on a treadmill in Space

just like Tim Peake!

A Trip to Space!


On Tuesday, Year 5 were treated to a College ‘Experience Day’.

The children were hosted by Head of Third Form, Mr Conner, and some helpful 3rd Formers, who acted as guides for the day. In the morning, excitement built as pupils were handed their navy and cerise t-shirts, dividing them into two teams for their DT and language lessons in Spanish and Italian. The pupils enjoyed the practical elements of the lessons, were all involved and produced some great pieces of work. Next came lunch: the scale of the dining room and the variety of food and drink on offer left some pupils speechless. In the afternoon, the pupils were then split into their three form groups and began a round robin of clay pigeon-shooting, leadership tasks and were taken around the assault course by Mr Gwynn. The day was rounded off with a well-deserved drink and cookie.

All pupils agreed that it had been a great experience and were already looking forward to their next visit to College.

“I had loads of fun making the spinning gymnasts in DT”

- Oliver White

‘I really enjoyed the assault course; we had to work as a team and you learned new skills’ - Izzy Anton-Smith

Miss Lindsay Gooch, Director of Middle School also commented “The day was just one in a programme of events which offers pupils, from both the Prep and from other local schools, a taster of what the College has to offer. It’s great to be able to inform and inspire our pupils about what might come next. Year 5 have returned to their classrooms with a renewed enthusiasm for their learning.”

The Year 5 Experience


Design & TechYear 5The boys and girls have completed a short ‘desk tidy’ project that has been personally decorated to their desired style. This will hold notepads, pieces of paper and other artefacts. They have enjoyed it and will be completing one more project before the term is up.

Year 6 For a little while now, pupils have been working studiously on their soft toys. They can be really pleased with their efforts and the final product, as they were faced with some challenging hand-sewing. Well done and here are some of the finished cats.

Troy House DinnerWith a theme of ‘Best of British’, Troy House enjoyed a wonderful House Dinner. The sun smiled on us so we were able to start our evening with pre-dinner drinks on the lawn. Whilst some simply basked in the sunshine, others chatted and a few built up even more of an appetite with a bit of football.

Upon entering the Dining Hall, all were greeted with the cheerful sight of red, white and blue decorations, Union Jacks and patriotic bunting. Whether they found themselves on Winston Churchill’s, Boudicca’s or Charles Darwin’s table everyone was all reminded of some of the important characters from British history. Conversation, laughter and good humour prevailed, some tried out some good old-fashioned board games (Snakes and Ladders was very popular) whilst others attempted Miss Douglas’ fiendishly difficult ‘Best of British’ Quiz.

The food was wonderful. Having tucked into some sensational steak and chips, everyone made sure they had room for the red, white and blue dessert of Eton Mess: strawberries, blueberries, meringue and cream. A big thank you to our wonderful team in the kitchen for creating and serving such a super meal! Thank you also goes to our Year 8s who said grace for us, toasted the Queen during the meal and tried to make us all laugh with their comedy routines. Our evening was well and truly rounded off by an upbeat speech from our Head of House.

A fun and fantastic evening for the House, with such great manners and super behaviour, everyone enjoyed themselves immensely.

The puuuurr-fect cuddly

companion!


Upper SchoolOver the course of six weeks, the Year 8 Scholars have been tasked with translating a well-known children’s book into French or Spanish during their MFL lessons. This involved a nostalgic trip to the Kingfishers Library to first select a book, carefully translating it into the language they studied and illustrating their own versions. The Scholars threw themselves into the challenge, realising along the way that translation isn’t as easy as it seems.

An array of books was chosen, from popular titles like Old MacDonald, two childhood favourites Dear Zoo and Sleep Tight Little Bear. This Thursday, they read their books to the Kingfishers boys and girls, who loved hearing some of their favourite stories in a different language. The children were able to get involved in the story time with finger puppets, a 'Simon Says' game and some even had a go at reading the stories themselves. It was lovely to see the oldest children in the school engaging with Year 1 and Year 2 and showing them how fun speaking a language can be.

LAMDA ShowcaseThere will be a LAMDA

Showcase on Monday 23 May at 17:00

in Lake House.

It should prove to be an entertaining half hour

and is open to all to come and watch!


Girls' Sports

Girls' Rounders ResultsTEAM OPPOSITION DATE SCOREU13 IX Dean Close Wed 18 May 9 – 13 U10 IX Dean Close Wed 18 May 14 – 18.5 U9 A Dean Close Wed 18 May 5 – 18 U9 B Dean Close Wed 18 May 14.5 – 14.5 U8 A Dean Close Wed 18 May 11.5 – 7 U8 B Dean Close Wed 18 May 18 – 14

Team of the Week - U8A v Dean Close, Won 11.5 - 7

The sun even came out for our fixture at Dean Close! However, due to the earlier wet weather, we played our fixture on their astro. We batted first and connected well with the lovely bowls being delivered. It was brilliant to see many of the girls striking the ball so well and on the astro it travelled particularly far allowing us to sprint round and score full rounders. We accumulated 5.5 in the first innings. Dean Close then batted and were not as successful with their hitting, allowing us to limit their scoring to 4. We continued to hit well in the second innings and fielded sensibly making good decisions. We were delighted to win the match with a final total of 11.5 rounders to their 7.

Girls' Tennis ResultsTEAM OPPOSITION DATE SCORE1st – 3 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 2 – 7 2nd – 3 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 4 – 5 3rd – 3 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 2 – 7 4th – 3 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 0 – 9 5th – 3 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 0 – 9 6th – 3 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 4 – 5 U11 – 2 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 2 – 2 U10 – 2 pairs Dean Close Wed 18 May 2 – 2 U11 – 7 pairs Beaudesert Wed 18 May 5 – 20 U10 – 3 pairs Beaudesert Wed 18 May 2 – 7

For news, fixtures and

updates, follow us on Twitter!

@cheltprepgirls

Boys' SportsBoys' Cricket ResultsTEAM OPPONENT RESULT SCORE1st XI Dean Close Lost Lost by 4 wickets2nd XI Dean Close Lost Lost by 9 wickets3rd XI Dean Close Lost Lost by 8 wickets4th XI Dean Close Match abandoned N/A5th XI Dean Close Lost Lost by 43 runsU11A Dean Close Lost Lost by 9 wicketsU11B Dean Close Match abandoned N/AU10A Dean Close Won Won by 2 runsU10B Dean Close Lost Lost by 46 runsWanderers Dean Close Draw 261 runs eachU9ABC Dean Close/Pinewood Match abandoned N/AU8ABC Pinewood Match cancelled N/A


On Saturday afternoon, a large group of keen athletes went to compete in the Severnside Athletics Meet held at Beaudesert. The weather was kind to us and an enjoyable afternoon was had by all. Our pupils, as always, represented the school extremely well and there were some fantastic displays of athleticism, perseverance and determination. Well done to everyone who competed, but a special mention to the following pupils who placed in their respective events.

1st Place FinishersFreya Coull U14 JavelinGabby Bifulco U13 100mHarry Garbutt U13 Shot PuttRui Palmer U12 200mHarry Noble U10 200mMagnus Hall U10 Long JumpU10 Boys Relay – Harry Noble, Tom de Quincey Adams, Ben Richards and Toby Ellis

2nd Place FinishersIsabelle England U14 DiscusGabby Bifulco U13 Long JumpJack O’Connor U13 200mJack O’Connor U13 800mFinlay Hurst U13 1500mIzzy Anton-Smith U12 1500mIzzy Anton-Smith U11 100mEvie Poulain U11 200mEvie Poulain U11 Long JumpThomas Hill U11 Long JumpTom de Quincey Adams U10 75mToby Ellis U10 75mBen Richards U10 200m

3rd Place FinishersFreya Coull U14 300mPiers Brown U14 DiscusGaby Bifulco U13 200mFinlay Hurst U13 100mFinlay Hurst U13 Long JumpAbigail Hulett U12 1500mJoseph Tagg U12 Long JumpSky Jamieson U11 100mMartha Llewellen Palmer U11 800mAlice Dawson U10 75mHarry Noble U10 600m

Co-Ed Athletics

Team of the Week – U10A beat Dean Close U10A by 2 runs

On a very wet Wednesday, staff faced tough decisions, some matches were abandoned, some shortened and some played on and got very wet. The U10A began play in the hail and played through a number of storms, but managed to get through the 20-20 match. Up against a number of very strong cricketers in the Dean Close side, the boys knew they were in a tough battle, but the hard work that has gone into training over the last few weeks with Mr Simpson and Mr Williams had built a new resistance.Our opening pair faced an extremely fast opening pair of bowlers and through stubborn resistance, strong technique and a fair bit of luck, managed to see off the danger men. Our third and fourth pair came in and built a strong partnership, chipping off runs before the final overs when our number three and five came in and accelerated the scoring to leave us on 103-3 at tea.

The opening batsmen for Dean Close were nothing short of outstanding and watching them bat showed why they had been unbeaten and put on so many runs against other opponents. However, the Cheltenham Prep boys were made of sterner stuff and, within a couple of overs, both were out after two outstanding catches on the boundary. Their third and fourth batsmen began to build a partnership before both were bowled out. From here on in the Dean Close boys had to try and accelerate, but were unable to progress due to outstanding line and length bowling from the boys. Every member of the 11 bowled two overs each and it came down to the final over, with Dean Close unable to get the six runs they needed, thanks to a final death over that Ben Stokes should have been paying attention to.

An outstanding team performance from a side who have been building towards a result like this. On to Clifton next week!

For news, fixtures and updates, follow us on Twitter! @cheltprep_boys



13:00 -17:00

INVITE YOU TO JOIN IN AN AFTERNOON OF FUN

SUNDAY JUNE

12

HEADMASTER'S XI CRICKET MATCH

With a BBQ at 15:30 To take part in the Tennis, email Lucy Hill on [email protected]

If would like to participate in the Cricket, contact Tim Buttress on [email protected]

If you are interested in playing Netball, call Amy Mills on 07507 847012

DOUBLES TENNIS TOURNAMENTNETBALL MINI-TOURNAMENT


CalendarSunday 22 May 201609:30 Cheltenham College Big Bash (H): U12A VIII. Pick up 15:3012:00 Boarders' Trip to Giffords Circus (Full and Regular Flexi-Boarders Only)

Monday 23 May 2016, Week 7, 23 - 29 May00:00 Travelling Book Fair (Library)15:15 County Cup Cricket v Newent School H:1st XI. Pick up 18:0017:00 LAMDA Informal Review (Lake House)

Tuesday 24 May 201609:15 Year 2 Assembly (Assembly Hall)15:00 Lower School Summer Concert (Assembly Hall)

Wednesday 25 May 201609:00 Kingfisher Cottage Trip to Cotswold Farm Park12:45 Departure for Cricket v Clifton (A); 1st XI, 4th XI, U11A XI, U11B XI, Wanderers XI (see below), U9A VIII, U9B VIII. Start 14:15. Pick up 18:3013:00 Departure for Tennis v The Dragon (A): U13 6 pairs. Pick up 17:3014:15 Middle School House Tennis and Rounders. Pick up 16:1514:15 Cricket v Clifton (H): 2nd XI, 3rd XI, 5th XI, U10A XI, U10B XI. Pick up 17:3016:00 Tennis v Denmark Road HSFG (H): U13 12 pairs. Pick up 17:3014:15 Wanderers XI Cricket at home

Thursday 26 May 2016 No flexi-boarding available Year 3 Roman Day13:30 Kingfishers Summer Concert and Open Afternoon18:00 Athens House Year 7 Trip to Zizzi

Friday 27 May 2016 Mufti Day (Whole School) House Maths Challenge14:15 Chapel (parents welcome)15:00 Transition meeting for parents of children in Year 2 moving into Year 3 (Library)15:30 Half Term begins for children in Kingfishers: no after school care, activities or tea16:00 Half Term begins for children in Lower School: no after school care, activities or tea16:00 Bake Sale in Day End16:15 Half Term begins for children in Middle and Upper School: no after school care, activities ortea

All changes and additions to the School Calendar appear in pink.


Ted Collins 4Mikhail Shulzhenko 6Sophia Griffin 8Savannah Palmer 8Adam Emirali 9Sofia-Maria Capelastegui 12Vladimir Koveshnikov 13Andre Zamora 13

Happy Birthday to the following pupils this week!

NOTICESMaking bubbles on our visit to

At Bristol!

Documents

Prep for the Week Issue 1829