This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Message from the Preparatory School Headmaster
Dear Parents,
It was a pleasure on Thursday to welcome so many of you to our first Parents’ Forum for nearly two years. Listening to all stakeholders within a school community is paramount to the continuing success of our School and I was delighted to hold such positive discussions over many elements of School life. Thank you to all those who found the time to attend what proved to be a hugely successful evening.
In tandem with that very same listening approach, the School Council are busily preparing a presentation that they will be making to me in the coming weeks. I am assured by Mrs Payne that they have so many great ideas that they would like to propose, however I was disappointed in her discouragement of the idea of a Rossall Roller Coaster!
Despite the rather damp weather, last weekend’s open day was truly a wonderful affair. Having so many current and prospective families show such interest in Rossall was superb and I was delighted to meet with so many wonderful adults and children. We are all exceptionally proud of the school we are creating and this was especially obvious in the feedback I received about our truly wonderful tour guides. My thanks to all the children and teachers for all they do that makes Rossall such a special place to be.
Rossall Rotation continues to be a big hit for the children, as they enjoy the many facets of our curriculum enrichment program. I know that the Year 4s are desperately looking forward to their farm visit to Farmer Parrs next week, and the Year 1s have been thoroughly enjoying their Coding, by programming and giving instructions to Mr Turner! Add in the amazing Baking for Year 6, the Beach and Forest School visits, and the trips to the Astronomy Centre, and it is little wonder that the children are going home thrilled by the activities they are taking part in!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mr M Turner
Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery
Rossall v Kirkham at Rossall
This Wednesday Rossall hosted two hockey matches against our neighbours Kirkham. We had 17 very excited girls from both Year 5 and Year 6. Many of the girls were making their Rossall debut.
Rossall Reds showed a great deal of determination and played as a team, creating many scoring opportunities. Kirkham were strong, but we more than held our own in our first match of the year. Betsy managed to capitalise on a beautifully created chance and scored her first ever Rossall goal! The defence were disciplined both in and out of goal. The final result was 2-1 to Kirkham, and we are already looking forward to the Giggleswick matches next week.
Rossall Whites then took on the same Kirkham team. Although Rossall lost this match, it was fantastic to see all our girls play with such passion and dogged determination. There were also some fantastic individual performances and our attitudes remained positive throughout.
Jessica, Charlotte and Ava were outstanding in goal too!
Well done to all of the girls!
The Rossall Rhinos Rugby Team on the Rampage at Kirkham!
The U11 Rugby team could not wait to play their first away fixture of the new season at Kirkham this week, and the camaraderie that comes from team sport was wonderful to see as we departed Rossall and arrived at our destination.
After our success against Giggleswick two weeks ago, the Rhinos were keen to build on their performance, and certainly had the opportunity with three matches against Stonyhurst, AKS and Kirkham.
Our first match was against an experienced Stonyhurst team, who were strong in the tackle and quick to pounce on any loose play from Rossall. However, the Rhinos responded, matching Stonyhurst with some fine rugby and scoring some excellent tries. In the second match versus AKS, Rossall played some scintillating rugby and recycled the ball quickly to set the backline into space and take their play to another level.
Our final game was against our hosts, Kirkham. Rossall began superbly, passing the ball through the hands and attacking at speed and scoring the try of the day. The progress that the team made throughout the afternoon was incredible, and the quality of rugby and teamwork was a joy to watch.
Well done, Rossall!
Year 6
Year 6
Year 6 have travelled back in time this week to 1939 and the start of the World War 2 conflict. We have studied how Hitler rose to power, as well as learning how the British Prime Minister changed from Chamberlain to Churchill as the war progressed.
The class have enjoyed creating some striking artwork on the ‘Blitz’ and learnt how children had to be evacuated from the cities during war time to safety in rural areas. Our book ‘Star of Fear, Star of Hope’ has inspired the children to produce emotive writing about two children who are separated during war time because of religion, and we have researched the life of Anne Frank and how her family had to hide from persecution.
On a brighter note, the class loved their visit to the Cookery Department, where they used limited rations, just like in World War 2, to create a delicious apple crumble. Well I think they were delicious; no-one was willing to share!
Year 5
We enjoyed better weather towards the end of week and found moving around the school a far more pleasurable experience!
The children have continued to work hard to master Place Value, we are now working in the millions, a lot of zeros to navigate!
Year 5 have been learning all about rivers and waterfalls this week in our Geography lessons. The children have coped well with some new language and are now authorities on meanders, depositions, erosion and how oxbow lakes are formed. We have all learned a great deal! Year 5 are now working in information leaflets using the ICT Suite about some of the amazing waterfalls in the world.
Annie has finally persuaded someone to build her a barrel so that she can achieve her very daring dream of going over Niagara Falls, who knows what the outcome of that will be?
In Art our Totem Poles are looking lovely and the children are thoroughly enjoying the experience of working in the Senior School Art room with Mrs Cox.
Year 4
I think I may have some budding teachers or perhaps actors and actresses in my Year Four class. Whenever the opportunity arises I enable the children to step into my shoes and teach the rest of the class. The skills they learn from this exercise act as a stepping stone to the presentations and interviews they will undoubtedly experience as they transcend through the school and beyond.
Our eggs-periment (groan) offered such an opportunity and after waiting patiently it was finally time to reveal what had happened to the eggs immersed in various solutions. The class were ready and waiting for an egg-citing lesson and egg-static to find out about the disappearing eggshell. Twelve children presented the results and they did egg-ceptionally well entertaining the class with their egg-cellent teaching skills.
In English, we have continued reading the story ‘Gorilla’ and role-played various scenes which involved eating bananas in a café and watching ‘SuperGorilla’ in the cinema. We have also been getting to grips with fronted adverbials and writing diaries about what it would be like to go to the zoo with a gorilla. Many also named the gorilla in the story by making up a name they thought suited his personality and characteristics ranging from Ivan to Mr G. Rilla.
In History, we delved deeper into the lives of Anglo-Saxons and designed a village from the raw materials available at the time. The children thought carefully about how to make their village as historically accurate as possible. However, I’m not so sure they had dodos roaming around the settlements of England during this time. It did nevertheless lead to an interesting discussion about the bird, its life on Mauritius and the responsibilities of mankind to protect endangered species. The class certainly keeps me on my toes with their curiosity about the world and their passion for its future.
Why did the egg go to school? To get egg-ucated.
Why was the egg late for school? Because he wasn’t ready for his eggs-ams
Wishing you a happy Fry-day!
Year 3
Year 3 have had a fun week of investigating and hands-on learning.
In Maths, we did an investigation into how exchanging works when we are adding/subtracting with 3-digit numbers and have applied that to our Maths learning all week.
In Science, we explored muscles and made our own working model of biceps and triceps to show how muscles relax and contract.
In English we are soon to start our final writing task of our Seal Surfer unit, focussing on letter writing with paragraphs.
For our Topic we learnt about erosion and how the weather and waves cause the coastline to change, creating our own erosion comic strips. Top it all off with a fun Art lesson painting the sea with water colours, it’s been a fun-filled week of learning! High five to you all, Year 3!
This week’s Year 3 certificates go to Eryn and Archie for perseverance in their Maths when learning to add and subtract with 3-digit numbers!
Year 2
The wild and windy weather hasn’t stopped Year 2 from doing some amazing learning this week!
The highlight of the week was definitely having a visit from Mrs Turner, our Head of Health and Wellbeing. The children asked Mrs Turner lots of curious and interesting questions and therefore we learned lots about the job of being a School Nurse.
We were also able to make some comparisons between modern nursing and when Florence Nightingale was a nurse. We learned how to bandage each other’s arms and we were able to look at a blood pressure and heart rate monitor – the children are very excited to use the bandages and their new knowledge in our next Topic lesson.
In Maths this week, we have started our new unit on addition and subtraction. We have been looking at number fact families and finding the four calculations associated with each number family. We used this knowledge to help check our answers were correct. We also focussed on using a number square to help us with our addition and subtraction.
In Science, we have been focussing on healthy living this week. We have learned about different food groups and created our own healthy lunchbox.
Year 1
In Year 1 we have enjoyed investigating objects that float and sink. We have made predictions about the different objects and what would happen when we put them in the water. This has got us thinking about what would be the best materials to use when we make boats next week. We have been set a challenge to help return the penguin from our class book back home to the South Pole, and will be designing and making our own model boats.
In Maths we have started learning about place value and using part-whole models to show how there are different ways to make a number.
In Language we have continued reading our book ‘Lost and Found’. We have looked at information books and the internet to find out facts about penguins. We found lots of interesting facts that we didn’t already know, like the daddy penguins look after the eggs whilst the mummy penguins look for food. We have also written some fantastic sentences to describe the storm the characters encounter as they are travelling to the South Pole, and how the boy and the penguin would be feeling.
Reception
When you’re out and about with children, we aim to enable them to take risks, not prevent them. Risk taking is good for children: taking risks is exhilarating, and children want and need to take risks. Our role as adults is to make sure we enable this, without placing them in actual danger.
It’s essential to evaluate the hazards honestly, not just focusing on the worst-case scenario, but also considering the likelihood of serious injury and what children will gain by participating in the activity. This is called the ‘risk benefit’ approach to play, and in the UK it has been developed and recommended by the Play Safety Forum, the Health and Safety Executive, and even the Department for Education.
The Reception Class have loved taking risks and being out and about around our fantastic campus this week. We have climbed up mountains (well, they were mountains according to the children), explored very long wavy grass, looked for a little pig in the blown down house made of straw and cautiously ventured near the monster’s cage! The physical skills children can practise, the excitement, the connection with natural materials and the ‘real world’ around them, developing strength, coordination, agility and body confidence is amazing.
The positive language we use with the children and encouragement to talk through their decision-making, builds confidence throughout all our activities. We have plenty of time to play, whether it’s in the playground, Secret Garden, the beach or on the fields. Being generous with our time is one of the most important things we can do to help children become more active and more body confident. Some of the cautious ones at the beginning of our expedition were the ones running and rolling down the hills and wanting to be the leader next time!
Risky outdoor play has always been an integral part of childhood, and we must remember that the biggest risks to children are in their own homes and travelling in vehicles, not on the playgrounds and fields of Rossall School.
Nursery
The Sanderlings have enjoyed exploring their senses this week. We have played with mirrors, putting our sense of sight to work. Exploring the sense of hearing we listened to the sounds of nature when exploring the grounds. Smell was next while we played with scented cloud dough. Eating lunch every day we explored taste and finally we got messy with the sense of touch exploring paint with our whole bodies.
Senses are very important for babies. If one sense is less developed, another sense will take over. Offering a wide range of activities and objects that call upon all senses is what we do every day.
Sandpipers have been creating their own play dough and learning that one material can be used to make another. We enjoyed mixing the flour and water together, taking risks whilst using the jugs, adding the food colouring and watching it change from a dull white to a vivid red.
The Preschoolers have started noticing the world around us is changing. We have been on autumn walks collecting the fallen leaves, conkers and sticks on our travels around the School. The weather has been good this week allowing a trip to the beach to find dinosaurs! We stomped there and back in the hope the dinosaurs would join in, but once we were at the beach we only found eggs and realised the dinosaurs hadn’t hatched yet. Maybe they will join us next time.
Award Winners
Year 6
The 6S Award Winners this week are:
Jasmine- Outstanding interest and Creativity in Science
Isabelle- Excellence in All Areas of School
The 6R Award Winners this week are:
Gabriel- Excellent Standards in all subjects and supporting others
Henry- Hardworking and conscientious approach to all lessons
Year 5
Awards this week go to Emily and Reuben for always doing the right thing and working incredibly hard.
Year 4
Our awards this week go to Grace for always being helpful and kind, and Karanjot for excellent work in English.
Year 3
This week’s Year 3 certificates go to Eryn and Archie for perseverance in their Maths when learning to add and subtract with 3-digit numbers!
Year 2
Well done to our award winners: Zach – for showing great perseverance in all his learning and Roman – for super Maths work.
Year 1
The certificates this week were awarded to Junior for working hard in Maths and helping his classmates when they get stuck, and Oskar for persevering with his writing in our Language work. Well done!
Reception
This weeks certificates of achievement awards go to Olivia and Bow. Both girls have showed perseverance In all activities and eagerness to join in with everything on offer in the classroom.
