A leading independent prep school in Somerset, offering excellence in education for 2-13 year olds
Welcome back, everyone. The Headmaster’s Assembly this week featured a whistlestop tour of the Easter story via food – bread and wine, simnel cakes, hot cross buns and Easter eggs, which are eaten as a symbol of hope and new life. On that note, we’re looking forward to the start of our new summer term activities programme, featuring Tinker Club, Speech and Drama, Comic Club, Pinhole Photography, Swimming and Round the World Cookery to name a few. It’s good to be back!
To celebrate Pi Day (3.14), pupils took part in a range of fun activities with Mrs Crane (did you know that 3.14 spells PIE in the mirror? Us neither!). Shout out to our amazing catering team for a delicious lunch (pie, of course), and congratulations to Euan who won Mrs Crane’s break-time challenge by reciting an impressive 82 digits of pi from memory. Wow! Many thanks to Mrs Crane for spreading some Pi-based joy throughout school.
Friday’s House Poetry Recitations Competition saw pupils in Years 1-8 battle it out for the coveted House Poetry Cup. Following a bevy of standout individual performances and some excellent House recitations, Brendons reigned victorious overall (although were pipped to the post in the House performance by Mendips’ brilliant and original rendition of ‘I’ll Be There For You’ by David Crane and Marta Kauffman). Huge congratulations to all the pupils who took part, with a special mention to EYFS for their brilliant pirate song and to Year 5 for entertaining the audience with French and Latin poems, too! Our biggest thanks go to guest judge, Louise Troup from Sherborne Girls, our Head of English, Mrs Byrne, and our amazing House staff for their unswerving inspiration and support.
World Book Day at Perrott Hill! From James Bond to Gangsta Granny, the grounds are brimming with brilliant book and film characters today. A special mention to our Year 7s for their timely debate, ‘This House believes that children should not be forced to wear school uniform’ – we bet you can’t guess who won! Full story to follow next week…
On Friday, the Year 5 girls took over the top floor for their Loft Night, featuring a film with tuck and lots of laughter. Big thanks to Dr L-C and the boarding team for a brilliant evening. On Saturday, Years 6-8 descended for their activity weekend with Mr Edgar, Miss Hand and the Grads, which included games in the dark and paintballing. Full story and pics coming soon…
Year 3 have been learning about how Athena came to be the patron goddess of Athens in their classical civilisation lessons with Dr Longley-Cook. Last week, they reconstructed the pediment of the Parthenon which shows the contest of Athena and Poseidon for the city. labor magnificus, omnes!
In the run up to Valentine’s Day earlier this month, Year 1 looked at the work of American artist, Jim Dine. Jim’s vast body of work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (including etchings, letterpress and linocuts), sculpture and photography, with ‘hearts’ featuring as a theme in many of his works. The children were inspired to explore different colours and textures to create their own hearts – and Mrs Palmer was blown away by their work!
Congratulations to our Year 7 pupils for their fantastic contributions to this year’s Public Speaking Competition. Pupils were asked to imagine that thirteen famous men and woman, whose lives have left a significant legacy, were travelling together in a hot air balloon. Only hours into the flight, a mechanical fault is detected causing the balloon to lose height. Each ‘passenger’ has to argue to save his or her life – and the benefit of their life’s work and discoveries. The finals were held on Thursday and it’s congratulations to Daisy, who won the debate speaking as Martin Luther King, followed by Rose as Rosa Parks and Evie as Aneurin Bevan. Very well done to you all and a huge thank you to our adjudicator, Mr Richard Pyman of Sherborne Prep.
Ahoy, me hearties! Our Nursery and Reception children battened down the hatches in true swashbuckling style before half term, as they enjoyed their very own Pirate Day. As well as donning their finest eye patches and parrots, they went on a treasure hunt around school (which included trips to the Science Lab, Surgery and Headmaster’s Study!) and had great fun at their pirate-themed Forest School afternoon. Many thanks to our wonderful EYFS staff for a fantastic day of learning.
Many thanks to David and Ruth Wilkins at Rampisham Hill Farm & Mill for a brilliant tour of their newly-installed woollen mill on Wednesday. Year 4 pupils gained a fascinating insight into the many stages of wool production (from washing to spinning and all points in between) and they were lucky enough to see their super flock of Dorset Down sheep and lend a hand feeding the ewes! A fantastic trip; our biggest thanks to you both.
