Prep Newsletter Friday

5th February 2016

tf

Dear Parents,

‘Alice in Wonderland’ Upper Prep production

Millions have read the books about her, songs have been written about

her, the Royal Mail produced stamps in her honour and films have been

made about her. Who am I talking about? Well of course, it’s ‘Alice in

Wonderland’ who this year is celebrating her 150th birthday! Therefore

on 4th and 5th May the Upper Prep will be performing their musical

version of her story.

Excitement abounds as children are learning lines and jokes to perform

at their audition next Thursday afternoon. By home time on Friday 12th

those with speaking parts will have their scripts and will be encouraged

to begin learning their lines as there will be only 7 school weeks to

rehearse before we perform. Audition scripts were available on Monday

this week for children to learn.

Spring Music Concert

Last night’s concert was full of variety with the Prep School Choir

singing four traditional English songs, the year 2 violins playing three

pieces they have recently learned and the Prep School Orchestra

entertaining us with a Celtic Suite. Our soloists were all fabulous,

displaying confidence (hiding their nerves) and for some a maturity

grown from much practice. There was a variety of performances from

those who have only been learning their instrument for a year to those

who are currently grade 4 / 5 standard. The concert was a pleasure and

we are all very proud of all of the girls. The soloists were:

Ami Y6 – Violin Kalyani Y6 – Vocal Remi Y4 – Trumpet Anqi Y3 – Piano Afrah Y5 – Violin Tessa Y6 – Vocal Elif Y5 & Priya Y4 - Flute duet Lili Y4 – Viola Chuwen Y5 – Piano Camille Y6 – Oboe Sienna Y5 – Piano Heeya Y5 - Vocal

Next week:

Our next Lunchtime Concert is on Monday and the children who are

playing took home a letter last week. These concerts are aimed at

encouraging confidence in those who have recently started instrumental

lessons. Playing to an audience can be quite daunting, so hopefully the

audience, being made up of the performer’s friends and family will be

comforting and inspiring.

The girls are all so excited about the Valentine’s Parties on Thursday. A

letter was sent out in the bags last Friday explaining what the girls need

and about the collection arrangements.

On Friday we will be dressing up for another

Mufti Day. The Lower Prep children are to

wear sensible home clothes and the Upper

Prep children may wear onesies. Please

ensure that your daughter wears her school

coat, hat and gloves due to the cold weather.

Mrs C Aisthorpe

Head of St. Margaret’s Preparatory School

Congratulations Lower Prep Star of the Week

(last week)

Reception: Priyani & Siana

Year 1: Aahna

Year 2: Sia

Swimming Gala Report by Katie

On Monday we had a swimming gala against Northwood College at

home with Years 3, 4 , 5 and 6 taking part. Unfortunately we lost 62-90

overall but a very special well done to Year 3 who won their races.

Everyone did their best and swam extremely well.

I have collected some comments from the girls who swam:

“Everyone was cheering everyone on and we all swam really well.”

Camille

“It was really fun and everyone swam really well.” Melina

Commendation

CONGRATULATIONS to…

Zienna, Y3 Anya, Y4 Ishiya, Y4 Priya, Y4

Kaiyana, Y4

February

8th 13:00-13:30 Upper Prep Lunchtime Concert

11th 15:30-16:45 Lower Prep Valentine’s Disco - £3 (no Co-Curricular Activities)

17:00-18:15 Upper Prep Valentine’s Disco - £3 (no Co-Curricular Activities)

12th Mufti Day - £2 Half Term commences

22nd Term recommences

22nd-26th

Prep School Sponsored Spelling Week

25th 09:30-12:00 School at Work Open Morning

29th-4th

Prep School World Book Week

March

1st

St David’s Day- girls may come to school wearing their Rainbow/Brownies/Guides/Beavers/Cubs/ Scouts uniform.

1st Year 6 visit to Lincolnsfield Centre (school uniform)

2ns 13:30-14:00 Upper Prep Inter House Spelling Bee

3rd Year 5 visit to St Albans Abbey

4th Prep School “Dress up as your favourite book character”

7th 16:15-17:20 Years 5 & 6 Netball v St Hilda’s (Home)

8th 09:00-09:45 Mother’s Day Assembly, Senior School Hall

10th Lower Prep Environmental Day

16th Year 4 visit to Water Works

17th-18th

LAMDA exams

Dates

Reception

“

This week we

designed and made

our very own

fairytale homes

using lots of types of

artistic techniques.

invitations, made

beautiful tiaras and

held a fantastic

‘Cinderella Ball.’

Year 1

“

Year 1 have been investigating the properties of

3d shapes as part of our topic 'Homes &

Houses'. We used nets to make models of

different buildings, and then used the buildings

in our model village

Year 2

“

Year 2 enjoyed a fabulous

outing to the National

Portrait Gallery and St.

Paul's Cathedral. We saw

portraits of King Charles II

and Samuel Pepys and

admired their fine clothes

and wigs. We then

skipped a few hundred

years to the Victorian era

and saw how fashions had

changed. The short length

of Her Majesty's dress

would have shocked the

Victorians - it only came

three quarters of the way

down her legs and she

was showing her ankles!

At St. Paul's we saw statues that had been burnt in the Great

Fire of London, acted out part of the story (wearing some very

fetching head gear) put out an imaginary fire with leather

buckets and sat where no one else is allowed to sit! We

remembered so many of the things we had learned and were

so well behaved that Miss Pares and Mrs Newall were very

proud of us :)

Year 3

“

Year 3 have had another exciting

week.

Last Wednesday Tricia came in

from the Watford Schools Trust.

She gave a lesson on Jesus

calming the storm. All the girls

then made a wonderful moving

picture of what happened

showing the boat and then a

moving background of the storm

and the calm.

This week we are studying Data

Handling in Maths. For the initial

lesson the girls had to collect

data to put onto their graphs

from a tube of Smarties. We all

knew that Maths is fun but now

we have found out that Maths is

also delicious!

In Year 4 we learnt about

the artist Kandinsky. We

studied his artwork and

the bright colours he

used. Our main focus was

to learn how to use a

paintbrush with accuracy,

staying within the given

lines. Our artwork is now

bright and colourful and

we are all very proud of

our Kandinsky circles.

Year 4

“

Year 5

In our Geography lessons

the girls have been learning

about the different climate

zones in the world. They

know the difference between

the weather and the climate.

They have used a globe and

a torch to observe how the

sun shines directly over the

equator and then at an

oblique angle towards the

North and South Poles. We

have made a class display to

record the information.

Technology

In Year 6, the girls have weekly Technology lessons. The class is split

into two groups; completing both Food Technology and Design

Technology for half a year each. This week the girls completed their

first subject and have been reflecting on what they have learned.

Those participating in Food Technology have made various treats

including milkshakes, cupcakes, fruit kebabs, cookies, pizzas and pasta

salad. They have especially enjoyed experiencing lessons in the Senior

School.

Year 6

Food Technology is so

much fun because it puts

you in the position of an

adult so you learn how

much time and effort they

put into cooking.

Ami

The trickiest part

was when I had to

saw a hole onto

the wood because

you had to be

careful not to press

down too hard.

Aryana

My favourite thing

about Food

Technology was

that we were able

to eat the food!

Hannah

The part I enjoyed the most was

when we painted our frames. I was a

bit scared at first because I didn’t

think it would turn out well, but it did

and because of that I am happy.

Angel

I enjoyed

cooking with

my friends.

Sanaa

In technology I have learned you

have to be patient, otherwise you

won’t get the result you wanted.

Amisha

The group enjoying Design Technology learned

how to cross stitch and made a photo frame which

incorporated the following skills: sawing wood,

using sandpaper to get smooth edges and use

acrylic paint to ensure a pleasing design.

tf