Sport, successes and smiles

This week saw Chinese New Year and the commencement of the Year of the Snake. The Chinese New Year, also known to some as the Spring Festival, heralds the end of winter and for many of us January can seem to go on for far longer than any other month. So a change of season/month/year is welcome. But despite some soggy weather we were proud to host the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) Under 11 Netball Qualifier Event this week and were joined by 14 Prep Schools. All the girls played valiantly and respectfully. Sport provides almost unparalleled opportunities for personal growth for our young people especially in team sports where your conduct, attitude and performance impacts on your team mates. Team sports allow pupils to develop the ability to communicate well (especially listening to others), to anticipate, to adjust, to rely on others and to dig deep. We learn more from our losses then we do from our wins, but every eventuality provides an opportunity to develop your character.

At the start of the week I was able to congratulate Sky in Year 5 for receiving a Head’s Award for his fantastic creative writing. Mrs Roberts, his Form Teacher nominated Sky for his ability to create suspense through his writing. I thought you might enjoy reading it for yourselves.

“My brown hazel eyes saw it. They were shaking. I was in the middle of nowhere. My body slowly moved. I was trembling so much I thought I would fall over. The sound of my walking made crunching noises like stepping on crisps. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! There was an old oak door, dust flew onto my face. The door slowly opened. CCCCCCRRRRRREAAAAAAKKKKK! 

My heart was beating insanely fast like drums ‘ba boom! ba boom!’ Making my veins feel weird and my blood moved fast, I could feel it. A creepy noise of steps came from the distance. There it was… Tap! Tap! Tap! My head slowly turned. I wanted to sprint but my pace, it was too slow. Suddenly a trap door opened. I fell…”

This week also saw the official awarding of badges to our youngest School Council made up of pupils from each class in Reception through to Year 2. I look forward to working with them this term and being inspired by their ideas for the school.

We look forward to hearing about the Year 5’s adventures in Belgium as they set off very early this morning for a long weekend at the European Space Centre. More on that to follow next week.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Alice Goodfellow