Newsletter - Summer Term - 20.06.18
After the competitive spirit and friendly rivalry of Sports Day, the final sprint is on for the end of term with just a few hurdles to clear along the way.
Outdoor learning at home and abroad will characterise this final leg and Cottesmorians have a wealth of new learning opportunities ahead of them.
Academic News
A superb set of Common Entrance examination results, in conjunction with this year’s impressive tally of scholarships bear witness to the incredible amount of hard work undertaken by our pupils and their teachers. Well done everyone.
Arts Week
The popular Chicken Wired Worksop makes a welcome return in a week packed with new activities and experiences.
The Remove
Our senior pupils are taking part in an outward-bound adventure this week, where they will learn new skills and push themselves to scale new heights. At the same time, their preparation for public school life continues as they will hone important skills including team building.
This journey of self-discovery and adventure at the Mill on the Brue in Somerset is an important part of their transition. We expect them to return invigorated and ready for their production of the Leavers’ Play — always a high point on the end of term calendar!
Sports Round-Up
Sports Day
A wonderful day was enjoyed by all, with the Marching Band opening proceedings with their traditional mix of favourites old and new. As ever, friendly camaraderie prevailed and it was a delight to welcome family and friends to what is always a happy occasion.
Well done to every single competitor for doing their best; not everyone can win a medal or break a record, but the famous Cottesmore energy and enthusiasm was much in evidence.
Swimming
A big ‘well done’ to our swimming squad, who finished 4th in the IAPS swimming championships.
Pre-prep news
The Year 3 taster day and boarding sleepover on Monday and Tuesday was an unqualified success, with the top year group in the Pre-prep now all set for September and life in the Prep school. Watching England’s opening world cup match victory with hot chocolate was a huge added bonus!
The children have returned from the half term break excited to see their friends and to engage in school activities. There was terrific parental support at the summer concert; it was a wonderful afternoon and the children performed happily and confidently.
An exciting week began with 'move up' morning and ends with a beach trip on Friday. More excitement follows as preparations continue for the Pre-prep sports day on the field at 2pm on Friday 29th June.
Here’s this week’s class news:
Reception
In Maths the children will practising counting in 1s 5s 10s to 100 and learning about measurement of height, length and weight. They will be continuing their learning about beaches to include safety around the sea, rock pooling and sea creatures they might find. Sharing some interesting books will further engage their interest and prepare for the beach trip by making lists and looking at sand sculptures.
Year 1
This week in Creative Writing Year 1 will write stories about the beach, using lots of describing words. Phonics Play on the computer will help to help revise initial sounds and spellings will be words ending in ‘wh’ words.
In Maths the children will be revising addition and subtraction with numbers up to 100, as well as revising Time and Money work. Castle art and craft will be completed this week and everyone is looking forward to the beach trip on Friday.
Year 2
This week Year 2 will start to make a booklet entitled ‘My time in Year 2’. They will write about their favourite lessons, their achievements, school trips, their memories, their thoughts about forest school, and of course, what they are looking forward to doing in Year 3! On the front of the booklet will be an observational sketch of the school.
In Maths the children will be counting in 3s, recognising numbers in the 3 times-table; writing multiplications to go with arrays and using arrays to solve multiplication problems. They will also be revising their knowledge of the 2,5,9,10 and 11 times tables. They are looking forward to spending time in Year 3 on Tuesday and to the swimming gala on Wednesday.
Year 3
Year 3 have a very busy and exciting week ahead of them. They have already enjoyed the chance to experience boarding in the Prep school, followed by move up day. They will be showing off their swimming skills in our gala on Wednesday and are certain to have fun during the trip to the beach on Friday.
In English Year 3 they will continue to focus on persuasive writing. They will first complete their letters persuading people to plant acorns. After this they begin to look at The Journey by Aaron Becker, which is a story without any words. They will add text to this practising using literary techniques such as extended sentences, conjunctions, metaphors and similes. In Maths their focus continues to be shape and space. They will first practise identifying horizontal, vertical, parallel, and perpendicular lines in shapes. They will then draw 2D shapes accurately according to a description.
Year 3 are also going to look at the differences between modern and Tudor towns and will then locate the countries and oceans Tudors explorers such as Francis Drake travelled to and discovered. In Science they will explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal. In Art they will paint their interpretation of Warhol’s Campbell soup painting.