world book day. book swap and ‘come as a …...sainsbury’s vouchers 1 1 2 the winchester 2 near...
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Winchester House Pre-Prep
Manor Road
Brackley
Northants
NN13 6EE
Phone: 01280 703070
Fax: 01280 706400
E-mail: [email protected]
Important dates for your diaries:
Main Entrance
Please do not switch the buzzer off by the
main glass door on exit.
Nail varnish
Nail varnish should be removed for school.
Swimming
Please can you ensure all temporary tattoos
are removed prior to swimming lessons.
Icy Conditions
When it is icy in the mornings we ask that
children are not allowed to play on the red
area surrounding the climbing frame as it is
so slippery.
Hats and Gloves
Please ensure that your child has a school hat
and navy gloves in school. All items of
clothing need to be named.
Mobile Phones
In the interests of courtesy and our children's
safety, we politely request, that mobile
phones are not used within the building.
Pre-Prep Office
Please not that after Half Term the Pre-Prep
office will be unstaffed between 12:00 noon
and 3:00pm. The answerphone will be
checked occasionally during this time.
General Notices Please take time to read the bulletin published each week it does contain important pieces of Pre-Prep information
The Fit for School policy is in the
class handbooks which gives advice and
will help you to understand the School’s
expectations regarding when a child
should not be in school due to illness.
Permission for absences
Please could all permissions for
absences of 1 day or part of a day,
including for appointments, be directed
for the Pre-Prep to-
If the absence is for longer than 1 day
or includes Upper School siblings,
permission should be sought from Mrs
Goldsmith via Mrs Blake -
All schools have a legal obligation to
record any absence, along with the
reason, when children miss any part of
the normal school day.
Early Birds
Early Birds sessions are offered to those
working parents who need to drop their
child earlier than 8:30am. Please note
that due to limited space Early Birds
places must be booked in advance and
are for Pre-Prep children only. A
prompt 8:10am drop off is appreciated.
Start of the day
Staff have been put under pressure on
a few mornings recently to open the
door to Pre-Prep before 8:30am. The
start of the school day is 9:00am. We
open the doors at 8:30am to
accommodate those who drop off
children in the Upper School or for
those in booster groups. It also settles
children ready for a 9:00am start. The
time prior to the doors opening is
important preparation time for the
teachers for the day ahead. May we
suggest that if you are on site before
8:30am and it is cold or wet, you wait
in your car with your child.
Manor Road Gate
You will have noticed that we have
moved the pedestrian gate. Please
ensure that you use it when entering
and exiting Pre-Prep on foot. .
Child illness
Whilst we encourage children to be in
school as much as is possible we do
ask that if children need to have calpol
in the morning that you do not bring
them to school. Recently this has
happened and when the calpol wears
off the children have not been well
enough to enjoy being in school.
Wednesday 24th February EYFS & Year 1 Think Tank Visit in the Forum
Tuesday 1st March Nursery 'Come & Play' 10:30am - 11:45am
Thursday 3rd March World Book Day. Book swap and ‘Come as a Character’
Tuesday 8th March
Parent Teacher meetings including specialist teachers 4:30pm - 8:30pm.
Creche will close at 6:00pm
No Afterschool Activities (with the exception of ballet) or Tailenders
Friday 11th March Exeat Pre-Prep closes at 12noon
Wednesday 16th March Years 1 & 2 visit Juniper House
Monday 21st March No Pre-Prep After School Activities this week
Tuesday 22nd March EYFS – Easter craft morning 10:00am - 11:45am
Pre-Prep ballet performance 4pm in the Forum
Wednesday 23rd March Pre-Prep Fabulous Finish Families' Day
Years 1 & 2 9:15am - 10:15am
EYFS 10:30am - 11:30am
Thursday 24th March Pre-Prep Easter Egg Hunt
End of term at 12:00 noon
You will see in the calendar that the Parents’ Forum
meeting will take place after Half Term for Pre-Prep at
11.30 on Tuesday 23rd and will allow a visit to school
lunch after the meeting.
These meetings are an opportunity to raise queries from
parents but also an opportunity for us as a school to have
a ready- made focus group to consider new ideas or
initiatives. If you would like to be considered as a rep for
the Parents’ Forum, contact Jenny Blake on
This week in Early Years the
children have been learning
all about Chinese New Year.
They have learned the
technique of wax batik and
paper pulping in art, have stir
fried vegetables and noodles
and had a go eating them
with chopsticks. They
worked together to make a
huge Chinese dragon and
paraded around Pre-Prep
accompanied by drums and
cymbals.
Half Term is here already.
Despite the inevitable winter
coughs and colds the children
have all been working hard.
The new topics of ‘Near and
Far’ and ‘Moving along’ have
certainly caught the
children’s imagination.
On Wednesday 3rd February,
Year 2 joined Years 3 and 4 at
their Public Speaking
competition. We enjoyed
watching the Year 3 and 4
finalists recite their poems to
the audience before
performing our choral
speaking piece ‘Song Of The
Train’ By David McCord.
Year 2 also spent a a fun
morning with Miss Dodd in
the Science laboratory learning
about things that sink or float
along with how things react in
water.
Following this, they made tin
foil boats and the children had
to predict how many coins
they would hold before they
sank. The children discussed
how to make it a ‘fair test’.
Pre-Prep children have spent
a good amount of time
learning outside the class
room too. Year 1 visited St
Peter’s Church in Brackley.
Father James took us on a
tour of the church. The
children had the opportunity
to ring the bell, carry out a
make believe baptism, stand
in the altar and dress up as a
vicar. All the children came
away full of information and
had a time of quiet reflection
too.
I N S I D E
T H I S I S S U E :
So far this Term
Sainsbury’s
vouchers
1
1
Moving Along 2
The Winchester
House Way
2
Near and Far 3
A Fond Farewell 3
General Notices 4
Important Dates 4
Mini Winnies
Issue 2015-2016 #5
Date February 2016
P A G E 1
We are collecting the Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers.
Last year we had enough to buy the Jenga blocks for the
playground which the children enjoy playing with. There
are collection boxes in the main corridor and in the Year
2 building and we can collect until 3rd May. Thank you
for helping with this effort.
Moving along The Early Years children are busy looking at the different types of travel available.
There have been lots of discussions about journeys which the children have been
on. The children particularly enjoyed their trip to Brackley Fire Station where they
learnt not just about the fire engine, but
the whole work of the emergency services.
The children have also been out into
Brackley to complete a traffic survey. For
5 minutes the children counted how many
cars, vans, lorries and other vehicles they
saw pass them.
We are using the topic as a good opportunity to discuss road safety with the
children. As well as practising on the zebra crossing in Upper School and in the
main corridor, we get a daily opportunity to reinforce this message as the children
cross the road at lunch time.
The children in Nursery have loved playing in the mechanics workshop. There is
always a car to be fixed and a happy team working on it. The children charge very
reasonable rates!
The Reception children had a great time on their
visit to Waitrose. While touring the store they
learnt about the journey that the food we eat goes
on and the different food groups.
Each Half Term we will be focusing on one of the val-ues of our Winchester House Way.
Next Term our value will be:
Be Honest
Please support these values at home.
The Best Self Board is in the main corridor where we celebrate the children's
achievements.
Treat others as you would
be treated
Forgive
Share
Listen
Be honest
Be kind and helpful
Be gentle
Do your best to be your best
self
P A G E 2
The Winchester House Way
P A G E 3
In Year 1 we have thought about how to get our fallen star back into space. First we looked into air travel and made and threw our paper aeroplanes carefully measuring to see whose went the furthest. Then we interviewed an astronaut by taking notes. Having watched his space walk, we were thrilled to listen to the Radio 2 interview with Tim Peake as he was travelling at 17,500 miles an hour on the Mir Space Station. Mr Keating enthusiastically came to show us how telescopes work. Did you know that Galileo was the first scientist to point the telescopes, used to
see ships at sea, into space? Aren’t we glad he did? We have now blasted off into space and are going to investigate our Solar System.
Children in Year 2 have been a bit closer to home this term. The children tasted a range of food from around the British Isles. They then evaluated how the food tasted
on a spider diagram. The cheese from Wales was most popular. They then had a wonderful morning at Enstone Air-field. As we arrived an aeroplane was landing and the children were able to watch aeroplanes taking off. The children had a tour of the hangars and discussed various types of plane, the materials they are made from and how they stay in the air. Year 2 have now boarded their plane and are on their journey to explore India after the half term holiday.
Near and Far
A Fond Farewell It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Mrs Gow who is leaving us today for
personal reasons. We are sure you will all join with us in thanking Sally for everything
she has done for your children and her wider contribution to Pre-Prep. She has gifted
us a wonderful playground clock. Mrs Gow, we wish you all the best for the future.
Mrs Squires returns to Year 1 alongside Mrs Berrie and Mrs Leftley for the rest of the
year.