Newsletter - Summer Term - 04.06.18
The revision has been completed, the ‘Quiet Please’ notices are ready to be posted around the school and the familiar hush of exam week will descend in the coming days. By contrast on Saturday, the roar of the crowd will spur on our pupils for all the fun and cheerful competitive spirit of Sports Day. Thank goodness a refreshing half term break beckons!
Some great sporting victories seal this first half of term, where the fixture card has seen so many disruptions and cancellations courtesy of the weather. And what’s the connection between our Mighty Thirds cricket team and Kentucky Fried Chicken? Read on to find out!
Over in the Pre-prep, excitement builds for their concert this Friday and we can expect their customary energy and enthusiasm to be displayed for what is sure to be a superb event.
Academic News
Our very best wishes for success go to all our exam candidates throughout the school in the coming week.
Sports Round-Up
Cricket
1st XI v Ashdown: match drawn
Mr Walker reports: “Wednesday was a difficult afternoon. Losing our co-captain for the game (and the remainder of the season) was (and is) a huge blow. Sam’s runs, fielding and bowling will be hugely missed and I’m sure you will all join me in wishing him a speedy recovery from a broken foot.
Such a shame that this young man only played 14 games for the 1st XI. The only positive I can find in this news is that he will remain at the top of the batting averages, probably for a long time!
I thought we bowled well up front and fielded well to restrict Ashdown to 91-5 from their 27 overs. Indeed, after 8 overs they were 14-2. Credit to their opener, who batted through the innings to finish on 47*.
Our change bowlers weren’t quite as tight as they have been, so we were set a target of 92 to win from 23 overs, maybe 15-20 more than I’d have liked on a pitch which was variable, to say the least.
At 42-5, having lost all our senior batters, I have to be honest and say that I requested we declined the opportunity to play a scoring shot for the remainder of the innings. In doing so, a few players had some good square time, which has given them experience and confidence. Jules & Digby shared 57 deliveries to save the game, Match DRAWN”.
2nd XI v Ashdown: won by 40 runs
A thoughtful response from Mr Butler: “A good batting performance but then we did our best to try to lose a game from a strong position. In the end we won thanks to Arthur’s bowling but we need to be less excitable in the field and more focused”. Men of the Match were Christopher, (49 runs) and Arthur, with a 3-wicket hat-trick.
2nd XI v Cumnor House: won by 7 runs
Mr Butler reports: “A tense match to finish the season. We scored an impressive 120 for 2 in our 20 overs. With huge boundaries that score should have been more than enough but Cumnor took advantage of sloppy fielding to get within 7 runs. Nevertheless, a win is a win. A good season overall, we won 3, drew 1 and lost 1. Well done the whole team. Christopher topped the batting, Isadore was the pick of the bowlers and Kit was an excellent captain and wicket-keeper. Well done!” Men of this Match were Kit (batting, 33no) and Alan, bowling (0-1)
3rd XI v Ashdown (away): won by 32 runs
On Wednesday the Might Thirds travelled away to Ashdown and played a game of 20/20 for the first time this season. We batted first and made 104 in our allocated time although it has to be said that most of those runs came from terrible bowling by our opponents who gave us lots of wides. Our batting was inconsistent, with Pablo hitting two glorious fours off his first two balls and then being out to the third ball. John was also run out far too early and only Rafferty looked capable of hitting the ball consistently.
However, the bowling and fielding was a completely different part of the game and the errors made by our opponents were not repeated. Pablo bowled well as did Nick and Matt. The fielding was tight with a lovely catch being taken by Johannes behind the stumps and with run outs as well the full range of good cricketing skills was on display. As we entered the final three overs Ashdown had only 50 runs and in a gesture of uncharacteristic benevolence Mr Hopkins decide to give them a few runs by allowing Leo to bowl…. Ashdown ended the day with 73 runs to give Cottesmore a well-earned victory. Man of the Match went to Pablo for some outstanding bowling.
3rd XI v Ashdown (home): won by 5 wickets
On Saturday we entertained Ashdown again at home with nothing to lose after the previous victory. With Mr Ellis umpiring and Mr Hopkins watching from the side lines, the team produced an even better fielding and bowling display, including two magnificent catches from Juan. On our smaller pitch, Ashdown manged 81 in their 20 overs and at tea we were confident that the match would be ours.
Unfortunately, no one had told Ashdown that their job was to lose and they vigorously attacked the Cottesmore batting order, dismissing several of the opening batsmen very easily and cheaply. Pablo went first ball, Johannes lasted not much longer and Mika, the new captain, proved that he isn’t an opener. Fortunately for us the middle order batsmen reasserted themselves, notably Rafferty and Juan and unfortunately the lesser Ashdown bowlers again gifted us the match with a succession of wides.
Matt came in with one run required and confidently drove the delivery back through the vee to seal our second emphatic victory this week. Afterwards, Mr Ellis tried in vain to dampen the euphoria and talk of an unbeaten season with one match to go. This team have been successful but their success has often stemmed from the failings of their opponents and they have a lot to do in training if the fabled visit to KFC is going to happen. This didn’t faze Pablo at all as he put his arms around Man of the Match Juan and exclaimed “Hey guys, smell the chicken!”
Colts A v Ashdown: won by 6 wickets
“A fantastic win off the last ball to cap a great ‘team’ effort to beat a stronger batting outfit with an excellent opening partnership between Will P (31) and Humphrey (23). This team is really developing well”, was the verdict from a very happy Mr A-B after the match.
Colts B v Ashdown: won by 7 wickets
Cottesmore won the toss and chose to bowl first. A fine opening spell from Henry saw the opposition finish the first over on 0 – 1 and their progress was equally as hesitant throughout the opening half of their innings as the Cottesmore bowlers continued to take wickets. Eventually, after a change of wicket keeper to allow all eleven Cottesmore players to bowl, Ashdown finished their 20 overs on 75 for 7. The excellent Cottesmore bowling was supported superbly by the team’s fielding, highlighted by 2 run outs.
The Cottesmore innings started slowly but strongly with Rufus B-T & Archie taking the score to 23 - 0 after 7 overs, before Archie was unlucky to be brilliantly caught close in to the bat. This brought the captain, Rufus LO to the crease and, after some initial nervous moments, he batted with calm assurance to see the team past Ashdown’s total with an over in hand. Rufus was supported superbly by Rowley and Calixte, who also batted with intelligence and skill.
A superb win for this ever-improving squad of boys, with Man of the Match going to the captain Rufus LO for excellent bowling, batting and leadership.
Rounders
U11 v Ashdown: lost 19-13
Miss Eddie reports that the girls started strongly, trying very hard in batting and with some great hits from Rose and Layla. There was an unfortunate early out from a couple of the girls, but they kept the fielding tight, making it hard for Ashdown to score.
The half time scores were 5.5 Cottesmore and 7.0 Ashdown. The girls came back fighting with a batting score at 7.5, including some great batting from Gesi and Freya. We tried to keep our fielding tight, but Ashdown hit for the brambles and scored 12. The final score was 19-13 to Ashdown.
Pre-prep news
The countdown is on! The Pre-prep summer concert takes place on Friday and the coming days will be filled with anticipation and excitement. The concert begins at 2pm in the hall and there will be tea afterwards, to which everyone is warmly invited.
Here’s the latest class news;
Reception
This week the youngest children in the Pre-prep will be consolidating their phonic knowledge and working on their letter formation. In ICT they will be making a postcard in using a program from the BBC and in Maths will be practising counting in 1s 5s 10s to 100 and consolidating their subtraction methods, practising writing using the correct symbols.
The children will be remembering the days of the week and months of the year and learning a little about time, making their own watches. They will be writing a speech bubble after sharing the book ‘Rover’ and sharing some poems on the theme of the beach. For their artwork, the Reception class will be making beach huts and discussing sun safety. They are all very excited about concert rehearsals in readiness for Friday, as well as enjoying celebrating their own and others’ achievements.
Year 1
This week in Creative writing Year 1 will be looking at speech bubbles and how to use them in written work. They will also be looking at poems and writing some poems of their own. Phonics Play will feature on the computer to help revise initial sounds and spellings will be ‘ch’ words. In Maths the children will be revising double numbers and also revising tens and units and continuing their work on measurement and weight. They too will be busy rehearsing for the summer concert!
Year 2
For the remaining weeks of the term Year 2 will follow on from their work on the artist Claude Monet by looking at secret gardens. This week they will start to read an abridged version of the text ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The children will be looking at character descriptions of Colin, Mary and Dickon as well as comparing the settings of India and Yorkshire using descriptive language and similes. If the weather is good they will be taking their sketch books out into the grounds for observational drawing and design planning for their own secret gardens.
In Maths Year 2 will add and subtract 2-digit numbers to and from 2-digit numbers using partitioning; subtract 2-digit numbers by counting back in tens and ones; and add two 2-digit numbers by counting in 10s.
Year 3
During English lessons this week pupils will continue to use The Promise by Nicola Davies as their stimulus. They will extend sentences using subordinating conjunctions and will also discuss the features of persuasive language before planning a persuasive letter. In Maths the focus is angles. The children will measure right angles and will identify angles that are less and greater than a right angle, before identifying horizontal, vertical and perpendicular lines in shapes.
During History lessons Year 3 will continue to learn about the life of children in Tudor times. In Science they will learn how light is reflected from various surfaces and in Art they will begin to learn about Pop Art.
Dorm Doings
The celebratory stay ups just keep on coming and last week saw another one, as we try to keep pace with all the scholarship awards!
Sunday Fundays
There are high hopes for a fine day this Sunday when a there will be a super choice of outdoor games and activities, including ‘Capture the Flag’, the water slide and much, much more!