Before half term, Pre-School went on their first adventure to the local green for an Autumn walk and pumpkin hunt. The children walked beautifully to the green and once there, they enjoyed hot chocolate, a biscuit and then got to find their very own pumpkin to take home ready to decorate or make soup with.
Reception children were welcomed into class with a little bit of a surprise shock during the last week of half term! There were some vegetables that had been trapped… Some were tied to the door, some were upside down and some had wool wrapped all around them! But who had done this to them? The Evil Pea! A letter from Supertato read that he was away at the moment and he needed the children to help by making a wanted poster for the Evil Pea so everyone knew to watch out for him. The children were animated in making their posters with some beautiful mark making and writing.
In Year 1, the children thoroughly enjoyed their science lesson on ‘Materials’. They worked collaboratively as a team to build their own houses for the three little pigs. They used a range of materials, tools and equipment to help create their structure. The real challenge was to keep the model standing upright especially when the big bad wolf tried to huff, puff and blow their houses down.
Year 2 were especially excited about learning their times tables. They used songs, colourful counters and chanting to try and recite them without looking! They have also been playing times table rock stars which has been a real hit as they have loved winning coins! In art they used tissue paper and glitter to make fireworks to layer over a Big Ben background ready for fireworks night.
The children had a very creative week at Forest School. They built obstacle courses, made rainbow stick people, created games from conkers and constructed miniature houses from natural materials. This half term will be much colder so please remember to send your children with plenty of layers to keep them warm.
Year 3 - The final week of half term started with an influx of generous harvest donations from the children. Thank you parents for your kind contributions. We thoroughly enjoyed the Harvest Festival service that took place on Wednesday. Well done to all the pupils who were involved.
Pupils have been busy creating their Christmas cards ready for the FOEG to send off and the music and drama departments have started to prepare the children for our Christmas pantomime. I am sure you too will know the words to all the songs by the end of the term!
Year 3 spent the week completing assessments for both maths and English. Well done to all of the children who have improved their lexile score.
In forest school lessons the children have had great fun creating their own musical instruments out of woodland items. They were then using these musical instruments to form bands. Watch out X Factor!
During humanities lessons the children enjoyed discussing Stonehenge. They were challenged to find its location on a map of the United Kingdom. In design technology lessons the children were busy creating puppets and pop up cards. Year 3 have loved visiting the design technology rooms for their lessons.
The sun was shining for matches this week as the Year 3 boys (and some girls) played football against Kingshott. Thank you to all of the parents who arrived to show their support.
Year 4 - Year 4 had an amazing end to the half term. We have been extremely impressed by the number of house entries for the various competitions and thank you for the efforts you have also put into this.
It was a busy week of assessments and we were pleased to see that many children have improved their lexile scores. Reading is at the heart of learning so please remember to keep up the reading at home!
In maths, we have been focusing on addition and subtraction. The children are using the column method but are also solving word problems with exposure to a range of words that mean the same as addition and subtraction.
The children have amazed us with their enthusiasm and energy during rehearsals for the Christmas performance and they were very excited to receive their roles. They have now been provided with their scripts and we can't wait to see it come to life.
Year 8 English - War Poetry - In English last half term, Year 8 were immersed in the poetry of World War 1: from the battlefield, the home front and the grave. Year 8s explored and analysed a range of pro and anti-war poems, identifying and discussing language techniques and devices that poets have employed to create powerful images, as well as recognising the impact of structure.
The unit culminated with students taking on the challenge of composing their own anti-war poem. A range of powerful poems have been composed and these have been beautifully hand-written on opaque overlays mounted on accompanying charcoal scenes depicting images from the poetry. These will be on display in the Apthorp Hall on November 11th.
Shona and Emilia visited Reception Beech recently to support their learning through play. Here is what some of the Reception children had to say about what their special highlights were:
"playing hide and seek" “showing them around the classroom”"reading the superhero story" "showing them Lego" "talking to them" "sharing the water bottles" "reading stories to them"
Thank you Shona and Emilia!
We had a fantastic football tour to Spain over the half term with 19 Year 7 and 8 boys joining Mr Wallis and Mr McManus on a trip of a lifetime. We flew into Barcelona on Monday afternoon and after a quick trip down the coast to Salou we arrived at our hotel. We then had a walk to the beach to enjoy the amazing weather. On Monday night we joined the other British schools for a quiz before settling in for the night.
Tuesday was a busy day with a Masterclass football training session in the morning before going back to the hotel for lunch and a swim in the sea. We then went to play our first fixture against a local Spanish team. We did not start the match well conceding an early goal; however the boys fought back well and dominated the game without being able to score. We did manage to equalise with 5 minutes to go and rather than settling for the draw, we went all out to push for the win. In the dying seconds Niccolo scored a screamer in the top corner for Edge Grove to run out 2 - 1 winners.
On Wednesday it was back to Football Salou training grounds for another coaching session before we played two matches against Durston House who were the other British team on tour. We dominated the first match to win 3 - 0 playing some excellent football and then won the second match 2 - 1 having again been 1 - 0 down. On Thursday we went into Salou town centre to go on the Bosc Aventura high ropes course which was fabulous before we went for a celebratory lunch at McD’s!! We went for our last visit to the beach before enjoying a fun evening in the hotel playing pool and enjoying each other's company.
We left Salou on Friday and travelled up to Barcelona for a tour of the Nou Camp stadium. After an al fresco lunch in the gardens surrounding the old Olympic Stadium, we took a tour of Barcelona visiting La Sagrada Familia and Las Ramblas.
It was a great tour and the boys should be commended for their excellent behaviour and the brilliant football played as we ended the tour undefeated. Well done all!You can read two reports from Niccolo and Jamie here.
Music - A huge well done to all musicians who participated in the all-comers platform. You all did a tremendous job which made for a wonderful, musical experience to end half term. It was joyous having pupils right from Year 1 to Upper School perform.
We look forward to resuming Bah Humbug and Matilda rehearsals this week!Berkhamsted School would like to extend an invitation to our pupils to two exciting feeder school events. Both events are open to budding musicians and singers in Year 5 and above:
The Big Sing is open to pupils at our feeder schools who are in Year 5 and above. Pupils should be having singing lessons or be in their school choir. Details of the event are as follows:
Date: Tuesday 8 November 2022
Timing: 16:30 - 19:00
Location: Centenary Theatre, Berkhamsted Girls School, Kings Campus, Kings Road, Berkhamsted, HP4 3BG
The event is free to attend. Refreshments for pupils will be provided. Parents can drop their children off and return for a short concert at the end of the workshop. The concert for the Big Sing will begin at 18:40.
Please register pupil's attendance through this link.
A fun Orchestral Workshop and Performance for Prep, Senior and Sixth Form Students who play Orchestral instruments at grade 2 standard or above.
Date: Monday 14 November 2022
Timing: 16:00 - 18:30
Location: Deans' Hall, Berkhamsted Boys School, Castle Campus, Castle Street, Berkhamsted, HP4 2BB
The event is free to attend. Refreshments for pupils will be provided. Parents can drop their pupils off and then return for a short concert at the end of the workshop. The concert for the Big Sing will begin at 18:15.