Thursday 18th April

Dear Children and Parents,

Year 5 ‘Villa Borghese trip’ On Tuesday, Year 5 went on their trip to the centre of Rome, to Villa Borghese. We had a wonderful time identifying different parts of nature as well as looking at the architecture of the model Globe Theatre. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch and were able to explore the park. Miss Armitage and Miss Taylor were very happy with the children's exceptional behaviour who were a credit to the school. Here are some thoughts from the children: "The trip was fun and exciting and I learnt that the Globe Theatre is made entirely from wood." Max N, 5T "I really enjoyed looking for nature in our nature hunt and I found it interesting that there was so much green in the middle of the city." Ettore C, 5A "I enjoyed exploring the park and finding all the items on the nature hunt. It was fun to identify where the photos were and locate them on the map." Ludovica A, 5T "I liked seeing the Globe Theatre, because it is the same in London and we can see how it was made and how it looks. It is different to anything else in Rome!" Rebecca C, 5A

The Principal’s Weekly Newsletter Mr Deryck M. Wilson

Year 4L Assembly The children in 4L transported us to Hamelin, Germany, with their epic performance of 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin'. They sang, danced and recited their very own play (in their unique way) not once or twice, but three times to Key Stage 2 pupils and staff, then finally to 4L Parents. I never tired of practicing with them, or watching them make this poem come to life. I am sure Robert Browning would have been proud! The clarity of speech from the class was impeccable. They worked together as a team, to ensure they kept everybody entertained, whilst delivering an important message. Many thanks again, to our 4L Parents for the costumes. This support is invaluable and really does make a massive difference. The children looked stunning! Congratulations 4L!

Crocodile’s Library time ‘Year 2C’ The Crocodiles have been enjoying their Library time in the garden this week. They were able to relax in the sunshine while looking at big books, reading together and recounting stories with the story sacks. They are really developing a passion for books and reading!

Readathon Celebration Once again, Readathon has been a fantastic success. Well done everybody but a particular “Thank You” to Ms Crory (EYFS/KS1 Literacy Coordinator), Ms Wells (KS2 Literacy Coordinator) and Ms McDonald (Librarian) for all of the preparation. Please enjoy all of the pictures below. Many thanks to the parents of children in the Primary School for ensuring that the children came to school dressed as characters from a book. Many thanks too, to all the teachers who entered into the spirit of the day by dressing up as a book character.

Year 2T ‘The Great Fire of London” Assembly The Tigers gave a blazing performance based on The Great Fire of London in their class assembly on Tuesday. Based on a number of television shows, the cubs shared what they have learnt about the events of 1666. Congratulations on a wonderful performance that brought (but did not burn) the house down!

5A's Space-tacular Assembly! On Wednesday 17th April, 5A performed their assembly on 'Earth and Space' for their parents and teachers. The children performed with amazing enthusiasm; they were full of smiles and drama, ready to make their parents laugh! Sitting in the audience, I could see how much they enjoyed performing and I could not be more proud of every single member of 5A. Thank you to all the parents for your support at home with the costumes. Thank you to Miss Wells for her amazing contributions to our singing lessons and thank you again to the children - you were superstars! Miss Armitage

Watch this space for photographs and comments on the 5T Parent Assembly in the next newsletter.

Last week was Southlands’ Science Week and throughout the week every year group was involved and carried out their own experiments. In Nursery the children read 'The Hungry Caterpillar' and then used the fruit from the story to create artwork. The Year 6 children went down to Nursery to help out too! Both Reception classes carried out a trio of experiments investigating magnetism, forces and liquids. Year 1 and 2 classes were treated to four experiments by four different teachers, ranging from 'How far does a sneeze travel?' with Ms Easby, to 'The journey that a bee takes around a flower' with Mrs. Wilson. The children also went outside to find out what lives in the grass under our feet with Mr Thompson, and tried to recreate the Golden Gate Bridge with Ms Crory.

Science in ‘Nursery Class’

Science in ‘Reception Class’

Science in ‘Key Stage 1’

Science in ‘Key Stage 2’

In Years 3 and 4, their teachers similarly treated the children to four experiments. These included 'Tower Building' with Ms Wells and 'Save the Egg' with Mr Gray, where the children had to attempt to save an egg from a fall. Mr. Barker's groups experimented making parachutes with different materials and Ms Leach constructed ramps with the children. The Year 5 classes worked together to carry out two experiments. Ms Armitage investigated the effect of using different materials to build paper helicopters and Ms Taylor looked at how different densities of liquids effected how they separated in a container. Finally Year 6H found out how static electricity can 'magically' move objects - just like Matilda in the famous book by Roald Dahl - and Ms Cahall experimented with making different materials fly. Alongside our Science Week experiments, there was a poster competition for KS2 students. Primary staff will met this week to view and choose the winning entries and the winners were announced in assembly. Thank you to everyone who sent in a poster - they were all amazing and cover a wide range of journeys!

Outdoor learning in the senior school

Mr Blackband and the year 8 students in his class made good use of the sunshine this week to capture plants photosynthesising as part of their Biomechanics topic. You can see them preparing the leaves on plants growing in the orchard for their experiments next week.

Language in Science Building subject specific vocabulary is crucial in any subject and Mr Strang is doing a great job of supporting the students to describe the phenomena they see scientifically. Year 7 had a great time debating what was happening on a sub atomic level during a lesson in the series on "static electricity" - Were the electrons added, or removed? They used this skill to explain the experience they had when holding on to the Van der Graff generator. You will also see in the pictures that in the interests of equality, shorthaired students were given some paper "hair" to enhance the outcome!

Senior School Residential trips – London - Berlin – China Lots more photos and comments will be featured in the next newsletter.

Messages from the Administration Re-registration for 2019-2020 Academic Year Enrolments for the 2019-20120 academic years are proceeding well. Parents who want to re-register their children may still do so. The documentation can be obtained on our website or at the front desk. We encourage parents to do so at their earliest convenience, as classes are starting to be formed for next year.

Re-registration Italian Elementari & Media Classes Enrolments for the 2019-20 elementari & media programmes are now open. For more information, please contact the school office.

Do have an enjoyable holiday.