Yarm Preparatory School Issue 529

Friday 24th February 2017

Head’s Message . . . I have been delighted to see that many children have returned full of bounce and verve after a decent break over the half term. Tales of adventure (and rest!) have rolled off many a tongue this week. Immersion in the woods as part of Woodland Week has allowed for outdoor escapades of all kinds to take place. It has been brilliant to see a huge range of activities, beyond the bounds of the classroom, feed into the pupils’ learning in so many ways. We look forward to Woodland Week next term when we plan to be further afield in Burn Wood near Urlay Nook!

We are having a big push currently on developing independence in all of our pupils. Being able to think for yourself as well as organise and take responsibility for your belongings is fundamental to developing independence during the Prep years. A short survey of the mounds of lost property we see daily would suggest we have some way to go on this front! I therefore ask that all parents support this drive by ensuring that the children carry their bags to the playground in the morning and carry them off site in the evening.

Heads’ Challenge: : The day before yesterday, Peter was 17 years of age. Next year he will be 20. How?

Bill Sawyer @HeadPrepYarm

Visit the Prep School Pages:-

www.yarmschool.org

Cyber Bullying Raps

Yo Yo Yo my name is Joe, I don’t like cyber bullying I don’t like it at all, It makes me cringe, It makes me cry cause I had to tell my mom about this guy, He was bullying me, abusing me, It made me sad, So I hit that famous button to end it all, Just like that.

Theo G, 6L

Yo Yo Yo my name is Joe, I go on the internet, I don’t care because I’m not aware, I wasn't shy, I met this guy, He was going to try and make me die, His real name was Kie, I boasted about it at school, Now everyone thinks I am cool, But really inside, I knew I was a fool.

Max Dempsey, 6L

We are delighted that Yazdan is through to the finals of Let It Shine with his band, Five To Five! Last Saturday they performed Billy Joel’s track Tell Her About It and got fantastic reviews from the judges. The final is on Saturday at 6.45pm. If Five To five are successful, Yazdan will star in a musical, The Band, based on the music of Take That! Please vote for Five To Five! You can vote via the BBC Let It Shine homepage and phone after the performances. Good luck Yazdan!!

Yazdan is through to the finals of BBC1’s Let It Shine!

Polite Reminder: All visitors to the school site must report to Miss O’Hara to drop off any equipment or collect their child if leaving for an authorised appointment. Access to the school buildings during the school day is not permitted un-less by prior arrangement. Whilst this may seem officious, it is meant with the best intentions and to ensure the safety of our pupils. Thank you for your assistance in this important matter.

Year 4 Music—Chinese Dragons At the end of their Chinese Dragons topic in Music, Y4 worked in small groups to create Dragon dances. I was hugely impressed by their teamwork and wonderful ideas. It made for a very enjoyable Friday afternoon!

Mrs H Craven

Junior Ski Trip 2017 Last week thirty eight pupils, including nine from the Prep

School, departed from the Senior School on Saturday

morning for an eight day ski trip. After a long journey we

arrived at the village of Uderns near Mayrhofen in Austria

and collected ski gear ready for the slopes on Monday

morning. This year there was snow on the ground in the

village and not a cloud in the sky. Indeed for five days

there was blue sky, plenty of snow and amazing children

who had perfect ski conditions for either learning or

practicing known skills. The snow conditions, weather,

mountain restaurants, hotel accommodation and evening entertainment were all perfect. Fresh air,

exercise, living together and building independence skills were honed during the day on the slopes and in

the evening, when the children went either swimming, bowling or took part in a traditional Tyrolean

evening. All the children made a huge amount of progress with

the Ski Astons instructors during the week. It was a wonderful

adventure and experience and hopefully there will be more Prep

children joining us next year. Letters for the next ski trip will be

available soon; please come and see me for more information if

you are interested for your son or daughter who will be in Year 5

or 6 next academic year.

Kate Jennings

Telford Cake Sale Just before Half Term, on 9th February 2017, Telford held

their annual charity event in the form of a bake sale which

was supporting a charity for autistic children. The bake sale

took the theme of Valentines Day and the array of cakes

was really wonderful, one plate more eye-catching than the

next! In addition to the cakes, Lola Vasiliou and Poppy Faulkner ran a competition for

‘Guess the sweets in the jar’ which was won by Oscar Simmonds and Emma Foster ran

a raffle for a delightful toy dalmation puppy dog which was won by Grace Harbinson.

Huge thanks must go to everyone who supported our House Charirty event but espe-

cially to our parents who helped to bake all those delicious valentine cakes. We raised

£326.25 for our charity which was a fantastic result. Thank you to everyone from Tel-

ford House.

Komal S, 6L & Ava M, 6M

DNA makes us who we are. We get it from our parents. We were visit-

ed by Nottingham University, they came to teach us about DNA and to

also extract it from strawberries. Firstly they showed us a power point

to explain to us what DNA is. After they showed us the slide show we

did an experiment on extracting DNA. Firstly we took the top off the

strawberry and then we put it into a bag, we squashed it so it had no

lumps. We poured a glass of detergent and mixed it all up. After we

did that we got the cup and put some filter paper in it, we poured the

squashed up strawberry and detergent into the coffee filter and let it

filter. After it had about a centimetre of extract we put it into the test

tube with nothing in it.

Rosie F, 6G

Year 6 Extracting DNA from strawberries

Year 6 recently took part in a science outreach session looking at DNA. Not only was the DNA topic, supporting presentation and investigation perfectly pitched to appeal to all abilities and interests, it was also wonderful to see our more able students being stretched and challenged as they were given the opportunity to ask quite probing scientific and philosophical questions and benefit from detailed subject knowledge on DNA, inheritance and future food production methods. My favourite question was 'Would vegetarians feel OK about eating meat tissue produced in a laboratory if no animals were used or killed in the process of its production?' A super and fascinating question still to be debated for many years to come...

The children came out buzzing and it certainly was a super way to reinforce that science is great fun and also a rewarding area to take further into university and a possible career for both boys and girls.

Mr J Grundmann

DNA makes us who we are. We get our DNA from our

parents. We get the Y chromosome from our dad and the x

chromosomes from our mum. DNA is made up of 4 bases

ATCG in a certain order and it is different for everybody.

We crushed the strawberries because we needed to

expose the tissue cells because they contain the DNA and

put them in a bag with some detergent , the detergent

would separate the DNA from the tissue cells so we could

extract it. We put some ethanol into the filtered

strawberries because the DNA is separated and the ethanol

sticks it together. Adhi D, 6G

First we crushed up a strawberry to expose its cells. Next we added some washing up liquid to help separate the

DNA and then added salt to group the DNA together.

After that we put the strawberry, fairly liquid and salt into a test tube and added some ethanol and that made

the clumped together DNA float to the top. One of the ladies that came works in a lab specialising in fermenta-

tion. I asked if meat was grown would vegetarians eat it?

Samantha B, 6G

Woodland Week

My favourite part of Woodland day was making my stickman with Maya; we lashed the sticks together with string.

Eve G, 5J

Woodland Week has once again been a tremendous success with enthusiastic teachers and children alike. Activities have ranged from building fires and dens to using books as a stimulus. The children have been engrossed in activities and the end of the session is often met with a groan and “When are we coming back?”

Mrs K Jennings

My favourite part of the morning was making my stick man and decorating it with leaves.

Alice W, 4S

I enjoyed making and building dens in the free time that we had after the activities.

Paddy W, 4S

My favourite part of

the woods was

looking for an

interesting object

because it was a great

opportunity to

explore the woods.

Lola V, 4P

5B went to the woods.

We read the stickman

and then we made our

own stick man in groups.

My group was called Lady

Ga Ga. My favourite part

of the woods was

toasting marshmallows.

Annabel L, 5B

6G went down to the woods to have

our woodland day. We had to be

responsible by not running or being

silly because it was very slippery.

First, we had to collect some objects

that Mrs Mavin had told us to

collect. We also did the tent pole

challenge, cooked marshmallows

and bread and also made

spitfires/buccaneers. It was amazing

trying new things, it is a day I will

never forget.

Ammar S, 6G

Woodland Week

In the woods we made stick men but the part I enjoyed the most was weaving and creating a tepee.

Rose T, 4S

I really enjoyed making the tepee as it was a challenge weaving and I got to work with my friends.

Zeph A-T, 4S

We made stickmen out of sticks and

string because we had read “The

Stickman”. 5B had a great time. I

thoroughly enjoyed toasting the

marshmallows.

Christina F, 5B

5B and 4J went to the

woods together. We creat-

ed stick men out of sticks

that we found on the floor,

we did this because we had

read the stickman story.

Oscar T, 5B

4P went to the woods. First we

had to look for something

interesting. My favourite part was

building a stick man. We also

made teepee’s.

Teddy K, 4P

Slipping on the mud we strolled to

the senior school woods. We were

responsible by making sure we were

as a safe as possible and enjoying

ourselves. We cooked bread and

marshmallows over a roaring fire.

We made a model spitfire out of

sticks and string. It was a thriving

opportunity as I had never done it

before. Overall, I enjoyed it as it

was an extraordinary experience

and I would be pleased to do it

again. Callum N, 6G

We waded through mud to the

senior school woods. We did a

team building challenge, we had to

balance a ball on two tent poles

and move around as a team. Mr

Grundmann gave us each a piece of

dough which we cooked on the

open fire. We also enjoyed

marshmallows. In groups we

hunted for materials to build our

aeroplanes.

Danielle D, 6G

Year 6 Biographys

I have two men I admire the most in the world my Dad and my Grandpa, because of what they have both achieved from humble origins. My Grandpa was born in Luveve Township in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in a family of four girls and three boys. The country was known as Rhodesia at that time. Although grandpa’s family was poor, his parents were determined to educate all their children and grandpa remembers their father sitting them down every end of school term and asking each of his children to explain why they didn't come top of the class. He always said: “If you start school at the same time as the boy or girl who came first in your class, there is no reason why you shouldn't top the class yourself. You just need to work harder.” After completing his primary school education at Mbizo, Grandpa went on to a local secondary school, Luveve secondary school. He tells me that his favourite subjects were English and History, but he loved sports and played football, tennis, and basketball for the secondary school team. From an early age, grandpa enjoyed writing and used to charge his friends 10 pence each to compose letters for them to send their girlfriends! Grandpa told me that the naughtiest thing he did when he was 13 years old was to travel Harare – which is 300 miles from Bulawayo – without telling his family. “I wanted to be with my football team to play in Harare but my father refused me permission. But I went anyway, which was very naughty of me. I came back a week later and my parents and brothers were so relieved to see me that I was forgiven without any punishment.” After secondary school grandpa said he found a job in a local factory producing hosepipes. Although his mind was set on studying journalism the Rhodesian newspapers at that time didn't want any black journalists. Once Grandpa had saved enough money to buy a plane ticket to the UK, he left Rhodesia in 1979. In the UK he studied English literature and Economics, and then enrolled at the Polytechnic of Central London to study print and Radio journalism. While studying at the PLC one of his lecturers was impressed by grandpa writing skills that he appointed him Editor of the Polytechnic's publication, INNER CITY. His first job as a journalist was for a London-based publication, Caribbean Times. The newspaper gave him the opportunity to meet leading politicians, writers, musicians and sportsmen. Among the politicians grandpa interviewed are Nelson Mandela (the late president of South Africa), Kenneth Kaunda (the former president of Zambia). Among the sportsmen grandpa interviewed were Mohammed Ali, John Barnes (who used to play for Liverpool) and former heavyweight boxer, Frank Bruno. Grandpa has also written seven books, including three adult novels, Comrade Vs Mister, Slavery Stole my Identity and Once upon a Time in Haringey. He has also written four children's books titled: The goat who wished to be a lion, Thabo on Space mission 2000 and Thabiso and Tosin encounter with an alien. My favourite is: The elephant in my back yard. I love it because that story is about my sister (Hannah) and I! In September last year, Grandpa surprised my sister and I by giving us copies of CD's containing music he composed. He plays guitars and piano ; all self taught .Grandpa has told me that his next two projects are writing a book about Africa and making a film based on a film script he wrote two years ago. Last September grandpa started a website called Team Buntu Africa on which he publishes positive news about Africa. Although he is now 60 years old, grandpa says he doesn't feel that he has done enough and will continue working! My Great Grandpa Would be proud, Just as I am!

Nathan M, 6G

Dreaming to be a professional football player as I grew up in

Ireland since I was 4, I raced back from school every day and

played football with my older brother. As I got older I grew to

love football even more. Then I decided to join a football

team in Dublin called St Kevin’s at the age of 12. It was one of

the best football teams in the country. At the age of 14 I got

scouted and went to West Ham on trial. It didn’t work out

there but I was determined and focused to sign for a team in

England. At the age of 15 I came home from school to a

surprise. There was a letter inviting me to Leeds United on

trial for a week, after the trial I returned to Ireland and waited

to hear from them. A week went past then I had a phone call

from Leeds to say that they would like to sign me. I was

absolutely delighted! On 1st June 1992, age 15 and a half I

moved to England, I was really excited to get there and I was

looking forward to the challenges ahead. Shortly afterwards I

was homesick missing all my family, but my parents told me

everything will be fine. At the age of 18 I made my

professional debut. I played for 12 years at Leeds United and

played in the Champions League, UEFA Cup and Premier

League where I was luck enough to be selected in the Premier

League team of the season. I then moved to Spain and signed

for Levante, I played there for 3 seasons playing against teams

like Barcelona and Real Madrid. I then returned to England

and signed for Sunderland, before I moved to Reading FC and

enjoyed 3 seasons with them. We were lucky enough to win

the Championship! We celebrated this on the pitch getting

the trophy and medals with our families. I let my daughter,

Lily have my medal around her neck and come on the parade

bus. My last team was Bournemouth and I spent 2 seasons

there and helped get the club promoted into the Premier

League. Shortly after that I sadly retired and became a

football agent. I really enjoy doing this and helping young lads

on their journeys.

Lily Harte, 6G

Biography of my Dad (Roger Holmes) Introduction—My Dad Was a Fighter Pilot in the Royal Air Force and he flew in 3 major conflicts. He then became an Airline Pilot and moved to Hong Kong, here are his main events in his life... Childhood—My Dad was born on the 15th of February, 1970. He was born in Radlett which is a place near North London. My Dad started school when he was 5 years old in Farnham Common First School. After he finished middle school at 12, he did his 12+ exams, he passed and got into the local Grammar School. Early Adulthood—My Dad got his first job in Australia, he worked for a moving company to help people move out of houses across the country, he travelled thousands of miles around Australia! He then moved back to the UK he applied for a job in the RAF, and that is how he became a pilot. RAF Career - My Dad was in the RAF for 10 years, from 1989-1999, he Flew the Harrier jump jet (which does not exist today) in two conflicts and a war. The two conflicts he flew in were the first Iraq war and in Bosnia The First Iraq war: His objective was to Bomb enemy aircraft preventing the fighters affecting the Kurdish population (the Kurdish population was Iraq’s target under their leader Saddam Hussein) he had to take photographs and videos of Iraq troops and activity. Bosnia: His objective was to bomb troops surrounding a city called Sarajevo, because the troops were blocking Sarajevo, starving the population. He also flew in the Kosovo Crisis (which was the war he flew in). Moving to Hong Kong When my Mum and Dad left the Royal Air Force in 1999, my dad started to look for work, he heard that one of his friends got employed for Cathay Pacific (which is Hong Kong’s Airline). So he flew to Hong Kong to Interview with Cathay’s bosses, happily, he got a job as an Airline Pilot. They moved on the 1st January, 2003 and stayed there, when I was born in 2006, their plans of moving back to the UK were gone in an instant! In 2009, my Mum and Dad had my sister, and then the four of us lived in HK until De-cember 27, 2016 Moving back to The UK On the 27th Dec last year, my Mum, my little sister and I took off at 23:55 at night from HKIA to London Heathrow, My Dad would not make this journey until the 6th January, Now he has got a job at Jet 2, he got 99% on his exam, and he has got a happy family. Roger Holmes 1970 - Not anytime soon!

Oliver H, 6G

6G Assembly—'The Selfish Giant' based on the short story by Oscar Wilde

'By building the huge wall round his garden, the giant not only made himself unhappy but also all the children who wanted to play in his garden.

In the end the giant realised how selfish he had been and that sharing things, not only made him happy, but also made all the children happy.'

6G performed a play called

The Selfish Giant. I played

the part of Jesus/the young

child. The meaning of the

play was that we do not be

selfish and let people into

our lives.

Roman A, 6G

I had great pleasure in

participating in 6G’s assembly,

The Selfish Giant. I had great

fun learning my part. The

performance was spectacular

and I could see that everyone

in 6G really enjoyed

performing.

Jennifer U, 6G

6G performed their class assembly

The Selfish Giant. I was the grandad.

Everyone learnt their lines well. The

moral of the story was the more you

give the more you get.

Ammar S, 6G

In 6G’s assembly I was child 2. I

liked that part because the children

had to act as well as saying our lines.

The meaning of the play is not be

selfish.

Phoebe T, 6G

It was amazing doing the

assembly. When I did my

first line (which was ex-

tremely loud) the teachers

jumped out of their seats!

The moral of the story is to

share is always the best. My

favourite part of the play

was the dance.

Lily H, 6G

6G performed a play called The

Selfish Giant. My favourite

part of the play was sprinkling

the white petals on the giant

as my part in the play was the

flower/tree. What made the

play special was the meaning

behind it and we got lots of

pleasure out of it. One of the

difficulties was sprinkling the

white petals because I was

afraid that I would drop them

all at once. The meaning of

the play was not to be selfish.

Adhi D, 6G

6G performed The Selfish

Giant, we were amazing!

My favourite part was when

Rachel called Grandpa

weird. It was so funny!

Nathan M, 6G I loved doing the 6G assembly be-

cause it was very fun to do. I was

the North Wind in the play. Izzy,

Louise, Danielle and me had to do a

dance. I really enjoyed doing the

play as it is nice to perform things.

The moral of the play is to share be-

cause if you don’t you will feel sad.

Also, if you share you will feel really

good.

Rosie F, 6G

6G performed their assembly,

The Selfish Giant. My part was

child 4 which was my favourite

part of the play. Being a part

of the play was special. I did

not have any difficulties with

the play. The meaning of the

story is if you keep something,

you keep it from yourself.

Ollie H, 6G

Next Week:

Mon 27 Arkwright House Duty

U8/9 Netball and Football v Barnard Castle (home; 3.30pm start)

Tue 28 House Pancake Races

U11 IAPS Netball (Stonyhurst; 6.45am depart, 5pm return)

Wed 1 U9 Netball v Bow (away; 2.45pm depart, 4pm start, 5.45pm return)

Reception trip to Seven Stories, Newcastle

Music theory examinations

Thu 2 World Book Day

Book Fair arrives

Y2/3 transition event

VMT Parents’ Evening (Senior School; 4-6pm)

Year 5 London trip – meeting for parents (4S; 4pm)

Fri 3 James Wharton MP—visiting school

U10/11 Netball v Cundall manor (away; 3.15pm start, 5pm return)

U10 A/B Boys’ Hockey v St Olaves (away; 12.45pm depart, 2.30pm start, 5pm return)

Sat 4 Harrogate Festival begins

Mon 6 Brunel House Duty

Year 3 trip to Murton Park

Quiz Club regional heat (Prep Hall; 10-11am)

Tue 7 HMC Netball and Football (at Hymers College; 9am depart, 11am start, 4pm return)

Wed 8 Year 5 London trip departs

Thu 9 Book Fair departs

U9 House Netball

Fri 10 YPSSC meeting (9am; Atrium)

North-East In2 Hockey Finals (at Barnard Castle; time to be confirmed)

U11 Bradford Grammar Hockey Festival (tbc)

6M Class assembly PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE

Sat 11 Year 5 London trip returns

Darlington Speech and Drama Festival

Prep Celebration Assembly 3A Endeavour— Sabeeh Q. Values— Yara C.

3H Endeavour— Edward L. Values— Hajra S

3N Endeavour— Grace B. Values— Zac P.

4J Endeavour— Summer H Values—Joseph B.

4P Endeavour— Hannah M. Values— Hannah W.

4S Endeavour— Alexander C. Values— Evie B.

5B Endeavour— Yusuf S. Values— James W

5J Endeavour— Eleanor L. Values— Kiyan B.

5P Endeavour— Ben D. Values— Ameen K.

6G Endeavour— Jenifer U. Values— Louise A.

6L Endeavour— Erin S. Values— Tom V.

6M Endeavour— Miriam A. Values— Sophia K.

Head Teachers’ Awards:

Jude C., Frankie P., Naila K., Claudia C. (Year 3); Matthew L. (Year 4);

Henry P., Joshita M., Pearl L., Kyra H., William L. (Year 5); Tom W.,

Theo G., Max D., Kitty B. (Year 6).

Well done to all of the award winners!

Summer Uniform

Pupils can now begin to wear summer uniform!

Naturally, we will take into consideration the weather

but summer and winter uniform is acceptable for now.

Mr Stone

March

Thu 16th—Yarm U9 Football and Netball tournament

Fri 17th—6L class assembly

PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE

Fri 17th—Brunel charity event

Mon/Tue 20th/21st—Parents’ Evenings (4-6pm)

Thu 23rd—Year 6 trip to Durham Cathedral

Thu 27th—Jess Dunkley Dance Assembly

Wed 29th—Term finishes—no after school care

April

Mon 3rd—Fri 7th—Easter Holiday School

Thu 20th—Summer Term begins

Mon 24th—Knockout Chess begins

Mon 24th—Knockout Table Tennis begins

Coming Up: