Wow! How very impressive your children have been and a pure delight! The Pre Prep is already a hive of activity and it is wonderful to be at the helm of the ship, steering the children through an exciting adventure. It has been wonderful for me to spend my first week getting to know the pupils and dropping into classes as often as I possibly can. Smiley faces glow as old friends reunite to welcome new friends and the familiar buzz of purposeful learning echoes cheerfully through the corridors. For Pre-school and Reception these past few days have been all about familiarisation; getting to know each other and exploring our wonderful school environment. Little ones have been painting, riding bikes, playing in the mud pie kitchen and singing nursery rhymes, just to mention a few. I particularly enjoyed being included in the ‘Warm Up’ song with Reception! Year 1 have made an excellent start with their new routines and displaying excellent resilience already. Year 2 have delved into their new topic of Shape in maths with great enthusiasm. My office has already been graced by several little faces making an appearance to share their outstanding contributions with me, which makes me so happy.
The sad death of Queen Elizabeth II has a significant impact on us all and I can only commend your children for the kind and respectful way that they conducted themselves during our special assembly on Friday and during the 2 minutes silence which we held at 12pm. They quite simply epitomised the values we hold dear at Edge Grove! What a fantastic start Pre Prep!
Year 3 - It was wonderful to see the children returning to school this week looking so relaxed and energised. The Year 3 teachers have been blown away by how quickly pupils have adapted to their new classrooms and routines. It was lovely meeting with parents and pupils before the start of term to learn lots more about your hobbies and interests. This week the children were settling into their new classrooms and have been getting to know their new teachers. In English lessons the children were sharing their summer holiday news. They were then asked to write it up in their neatest handwriting, using all of their best grammar and punctuation. In maths lessons the children completed some multiplication and addition investigations. They found missing numbers on a grid and solved missing number equations. During their humanities lesson the children were creating their own ‘Stone Age’ inspired art work. They used items such as cubes, pine cones and sticks to create their own ‘Stone Age’ models. The children thoroughly enjoyed their art lesson this week and had their first visit to the brand new art rooms in the Rose Garden. The week drew to a close with the sombre news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Year 3 demonstrated great maturity and courtesy as they attended a special memorial service in her honour. After this assembly the pupils shared facts and stories about Queen Elizabeth. Next week year 3 are looking forward to creating letters and poems inspired by her reign.
Year 4 - We were delighted to welcome the children back to school this week. The children have immersed themselves fully into all tasks and activities and have shown a real drive and enthusiasm for learning. Most children have completed their lexiles and have now selected their first book of the year. We encourage your child to read this book to you and use the questions on Google Classroom to enhance their reading comprehension and inference skills, a huge focus in Year 4. The children have enjoyed learning about the area of rectilinear shapes and completed a number of practical activities to consolidate their understanding. Year 4 took part in our memorial service for the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and they demonstrated great respect and courtesy as pupils and staff shared stories about the Queen.
Year 5 & 6 - The school has once again been filled with energy and enthusiasm and it has been fabulous to catch up with all the pupils again after a long summer break. The Year 5’s have adapted well to the demands of moving around the school site and now seem settled and confident in knowing what’s expected of them moving forwards. A big welcome to our new pupils this year. We hope you feel very much at home with us at Edge Grove.
The pupils have really thrown themselves back into life at Edge Grove, within their lessons and on Friday our Year 6 girls travelled to the Olympic Park, received coaching from the Head of Hockey at Haileybury School and took part in a tournament against local Prep schools. A fantastic experience!
I want to finish this week’s newsletter entry praising the mature attitude that was demonstrated by our Year 5 and 6 pupils after the news of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. They listened with respect in the assembly held on Friday morning, with some pupils having the confidence to speak aloud to the whole school to recount stories of themselves and their families that linked to Queen Elizabeth. Well done all.
We were very excited to welcome ‘Thinkers in Education’ into Edge Grove this week for a carefully planned STEM workshop for all Upper School pupils. Encouraging creative and critical thinking, cornerstone character qualities that we seek to develop through the Edge Grove Baccalaureate, this space-themed workshop allowed teams of pupils to represent rival nations in a race to reach and explore Mars safely.
The Year 7 and 8s were put through their paces and had to collaborate on a range of challenging activities including space buggy design and construction, sample testing and space/ time predictions.
The winning team will be revealed in next week's newsletter!
For more information, please see their website here: Target Mars: The Space STEM Adventure
It has been wonderful to see all the pupils back in school this week and the effort and enthusiasm at Games lessons has been amazing. We are very much looking forward to an excellent term of fixtures and we are looking forward to seeing as many parents as possible coming to matches to support the pupils. Firstly, congratulations goes to Albert and Caitlin who have been announced as our Captains of Sport for this academic year. They are true sporting role models at Edge Grove and we are proud to have them as our Captains.
We are starting this week with our Year 5 to 8 Inter House matches. The Year 3 and 4 Open Games session on Friday 16th September has been postponed until Friday 23rd September. This is an opportunity for parents to come and watch a training session and then meet Mr McManus and Miss Lloyd to discuss any questions that you have about games. Please check the Information Letter and sign up via the Google form if you are planning on attending.
Finally, on behalf of all the PE and Games staff (and there's a lot of us!) we are very excited about the new term ahead and we look forward to much fun and many successes on the sports field. During inset the Games staff enjoyed a hockey and football coaching inset and we can't wait to apply our knowledge and enthusiasm this term!
Music - It has been lovely welcoming pupils back to the music department this week. Peripatetic lessons begin Monday 12th September so please make sure you have checked The Source for your child’s music lesson time. We have already begun preparing for the Harvest Festival and Pre Prep and Years 3 & 4 have enjoyed learning material to perform in the Harvest assembly.
We look forward to beginning Matilda rehearsals tomorrow and having all music ensembles begin over the coming weeks.
Drama - Congratulations to the following who all passed their LAMDA exams with DISTINCTION: Entry Verse & Prose ALL PASSED WITH DISTINCTION Tilly Eleora Anaiya Monika Aariya Radha Tommaso Maya-Rose Ioni Anna Abbie Shadmehr
Grade 1 Verse & Prose ALL PASSED WITH DISTINCTION Moloboluwarin Thirza Deeksha Zuhan Genevieve Annabelle
Grade 2 Verse & Prose ALL PASSED WITH DISTINCTION Miriam Devika Zuriela
Grade 3 ALL PASSED WITH DISTINCTION Devan Tara
