As I reflect on a very busy week, creepy crawlies of one form or another seem to loom large. I was greeted in Pre-School on World Book Day by a Very Hungry Caterpillar amongst other fabulous characters. There was a real buzz of excitement as one by one, Wobbly Bob, Puss in Boots and the Gruffalo joined us for breakfast. In the Pre Prep, excitement levels were just as high as we gathered for a parade. We were all slightly subdued into silence however as Cruella de Vil (aka Miss McDonald) arrived looking for Dalmatians! Once she had disappeared the children proudly showed off their costumes and headed back to class for a day filled with a focus on books. From sharing best loved stories to presentations from authors we read for pleasure all day. When the call came from Miss McDonald at 3pm to 'Drop Everything and Read', we were more than happy to oblige. More creatures arrived in Reception’s Zoolab workshop on Friday and this time they were very much the real thing. From the buzz of excitement that greeted me at lunch to the excellent descriptions shared by the children in assembly, I knew that the experience had been very much enjoyed. Daffodil the albino corn snake seemed very popular and I especially enjoyed hearing the children describe how she looked and felt. There were geckos and tarantula spiders in the mix too. However, it became clear that the superhero of the bunch was Phillipe the cockroach and there were fantastic tales about the kinds of extreme conditions he can survive. I must confess that I will be checking a few pockets to make sure that there are no unofficial visitors in school today!
Year 3 - As part of our science topic of magnets, Year 3 with a visit from Mr G’s Science Shows. The children were very excited with the concept of exploring different uses of magnets and investigating how to get a paperclip out of a cup of water without touching it. Mr G proved that there is iron in breakfast cereal and the children investigated magnetic fields. In topic, we have been continuing our study of the River Nile by locating it using maps and atlases. The children have been sorting facts about the river into true and false categories and using their knowledge of the Nile to correct the false statements.
We concluded our performance poetry unit by looking at Lewis Carroll’s ‘The Jabberwocky’. The children thoroughly enjoyed defining the nonsense words used and creating some of their own. We are looking forward to reading ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King-Smith next.
Year 4 - Year 4 has had an exciting week with a rather wet and muddy trip to the Chiltern Open Air Museum. They had a wonderful day learning about Anglo-Saxon life with some engaging activities. They had the opportunity to imagine themselves as archaeologists as well as dressing up as rulers of their kingdom. A thoroughly enriching experience for all.
World Book day proved equally exciting, starting the day with a costume parade. It was clear that a great deal of effort had gone into all the costumes. Children were then treated to an author workshop with Jasmine Richards where they were able to hear about her career as an author, as well as develop their own creative writing using props as a stimulus.
In English lessons the children continued with their creative writing skills by visiting the lake as inspiration for their setting descriptions imagining themselves as Grendel in his lair.
In science, children continued to develop their understanding of sound and how it travels by making their own string telephones. They discovered that the tighter the string the louder the sound.
In Maths, we have continued with fractions. This week we have looked at converting improper fractions to mixed numbers, a challenging concept. Children have been encouraged to think practically about this with an imaginary chocolate bar. Year 5 - Edge Grove pupils were keen to demonstrate their love for literature this week with the whole school celebrating World Book Day. From the Demon Dentist to Sherlock Holmes, Edge Grove was filled with an array of characters from all sorts of novels. During the day the children enjoyed costume parades and a book discussion from an author.
On Tuesday, pupils took part in a pancake relay race, showing off their fantastic pancake flipping skills! Congratulations to Sarnesfield for winning the pancake relay race competition for the entire school.
In maths lessons this week the children were looking at statistics. Some classes counted the colours and brands of various cars around the school in order to use this data for a graph. In English lessons the children continued to read ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’. Year 5 discussed how Michael’s feelings towards Kensuke had changed as the chapters progressed. There were also grammar focuses for the children this week as they looked at embedded quotations. In science lessons year 5 continued with their investigations into the universe. They created their own constellations. I wonder if your child can spot any constellations for you tonight? In French lessons children finished off their unit describing different types of food. Quel est ton plat favori? Rehearsals for Peter Pan continued this week and the children used their music and drama lessons to practise their lines and songs. In geography lessons year 5 continued to use coordinates to locate various locations on a world map. During history lessons the children were researching castles, in particular York castle. And so concludes yet another busy week in Lower Prep! We look forward to seeing what adventures this week will bring.
Year 6 - We hope you enjoyed the chance to catch up with your child’s form tutor. I know I enjoyed catching up with the parents from 6D. We celebrated World Book Day with a fantastic costume parade, well done to Darcey who wowed in her self made Maleficent costume. The internal scholarship exams took place this week for the pupils staying into year 7, we wish them all the best of luck with the results! The Peter Pan rehearsals have been going well this week, it will be great to see them in full costume for their dress rehearsals this week.
2022 Intermediate Maths Challenge - Last month 15 members of 8 Red sat this year's Intermediate Maths Challenge, aimed at pupils in Year 11. The paper involves 25 problem-solving questions and our results were excellent. 11 pupils gained awards, the second highest total won by Edge Grove since we first entered the competition 20 years ago and only surpassed by the 12 awards in 2008. Congratulations to Lucas and Ediz who gained Gold awards with Thomas, Sophie, Nathan, Roman, Jimi and Louis winning Silver and Bronze for Mehdi, Kavish and Charlie. Those with gold and silver qualify for the national follow-up round later in March.
Huge congratulations to Niccolo in Year 7 who competed in the Hertfordshire Swimming County Championship at the weekend. He managed to bring home an incredible 11 Gold and 4 Silver medals plus the award as the best swimmer in his age group. He is now extremely excited about his next challenge as this weekend, after 3 rounds of qualifying racing all over the country, he is off to Cardiff, with his Club, to represent London in the Arena National League Final - definitely an experience to treasure and remember! We wish Niccolo all the best for the National Finals.
We were very unfortunate on Wednesday with the heavy overnight rain making the pitches waterlogged and unsafe for play. This resulted in all the Year 6, 7 and 8 matches having to be cancelled. However, well done to all our pupils who took part in fixtures last week. Don't forget to check out our Match Reports here.
Photography - Photography Module this week have been learning about distorting photographs. They started with just distorting two photographs and then moved onto more. The final pieces are a little bit wacky.
Photography Elective have been working in pairs to take photographs in 10 minutes and then work together to edit them together, I hope to share the final edits with you next week.
Massive congratulations are in order for two Year 5 Ignite Fellows who entered the UK wide 'My Sustainable Community' competition earlier in the term. Kaelan S and Sophie G were announced as finalists for their fantastic models which I have attached below. Both pupils put in an amazing amount of research for their chosen design. Kaelan's model was an eco-friendly house which featured solar panels, a vegetable garden and well insulated windows. Sophie's model was of a small town that featured a 'central hub' with different sections for work, school and shops.
I'm very excited to tell you that Sophie went on to WIN the competition! She has been rewarded with a LEGO Education Spike Prime Set and a Head's Commendation.
We are so proud of both of you and can't wait to see what else you have to offer as Ignite fellows in the future. Watch the announcement here.
The Japan Society are running their 17th Haiku competition this year in which children from around the world are invited to create a haiku on the theme of ‘towns’. Children have been encouraged to look at the places around them for inspiration and any haiku connected to the theme is eligible for the contest.
Two Year 5 pupils have entered the competition with some beautiful artwork and poetry (attached below). The contest results will be announced in August 2022 and the prizes for the top 3 entries are Canon digital cameras! The winning poems will also feature in Haiku By World Children, Volume 17 which is in the entertainment programme on Boeing 787 international Japan Airline flights. Good luck Devan and Sophie!
Sophie's winning entry
We are delighted to invite you to participate in the 2022 Edge Grove Golf Day to be held on Friday 20th May 2022 at Aldenham Golf and Country Club. We would like to encourage golfers of all standards to join us. The day includes tea/coffee and a breakfast roll before you start, 18 holes of golf followed by a 2 course sit down lunch. The cost of the day is £65 per person. If you would like to secure your place on a team or submit a four ball, please click here to book your place. If you have any questions please email Sue Maughan on smaughan@edgegrove.com.