holmwood house newsletter ... · world book night authors past and present, including matt haig,...

Chitts Hill, Lexden, Colchester, Essex, CO3 9ST

FROM THE HEADMASTER . . .

Spring Term, Week 10

www.holmwood.essex.sch.uk

Happiness is the key to progress

Tel: 01206 574305

Thursday 24 March 2016

HOLMWOOD HOUSE

NEWSLETTER Chitts Hill, Lexden, Colchester, Essex, CO3 9ST

FROM THE HEADMASTER . . .

Tel: 01206 574305

In recognition of their demonstration of

one or all of the Golden Rules, the follow-

ing children have received Golden

Awards this week:

Reception:

Evangelos P

Heston K

Jesse L

Year 1:

Alexandra B

Blake R

Edward R

Ruby P

Year 2:

Leo M

Noah K

Fen J

Year 3:

Gus S

Harry S

WELL DONE!

GOLDEN AWARDS

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Tuesday 19 April

8.30am Term begins

Friday 22 April

Panoramic School Photograph

Leavers Photographs

Pre-Prep Well-y Never entries in at

collection time

Saturday 23 April

from 10am Well-y Never entries in to

Jubilee Hall

PUPIL NEWS . . .

school. Always a

winner! Thank you for

your generosity.

Our congratulations to

Rosie B for gaining a

M i l l e n n i u m A l l -

Rounder Scholarship to

Brighton College.

Wishing you all a very

Happy Easter, a restful

h o l i d a y a n d a n

opportunity to reflect

upon a super term.

Best wishes,

Alexander Mitchell

Headmaster

Dear Parents,

It is with some

astonishment that we

find ourselves at the end

of term! Perhaps it's age

but time seems to be

passing more and more

quickly! Our youngsters

have enjoyed an

incredibly rich term of

activities, learning,

sport, performances and

special events. The two

major productions earlier

this half term seem an

age ago but were key

linchpins of the Prep

School experience. I

was thrilled to see the

Pre-Prep children so

proud of their work at

Saturday's Pre-Prep

Open Morning. Their

parents and grandparents

were led through each

and every page of their

books and folders from

the year so far.

Thank you for supporting

the various charity events

along the way. Air's

Charity Sale last Satur-

day and Land's day on

Tuesday have raised huge

sums of money for local

causes. I am so pleased

that the children are

developing their social awareness and understand

that there are people less

f o r t u n a t e t h a n

themselves. We look

forward to Water's

charity day after the

break.

My thanks to all the staff

who have worked their

socks off this term to

ensure Holmwood House

is indeed a happy

place. And an even

happier place it was

today when the Friends

of Holmwood House

presented Easter eggs to

every child in the

We celebrated the Shadows’ offi-

cial Holmwood birthdays this week

with an amazing cake made by

Peta in the kitchen!

Three Holmwood House pupils entered the Inter Schools One Day Event at Poplar

Park organised by Woodbridge School on 20 March. Hebe W rode in the 80cm.

Holly H and Emma d’A rode in the 90cm. Holly was 11th in her section and

Emma was 8th individually riding a double clear. Well done girls, a great achieve-

ment.

HOLMGROWN . . .

Page 2 Thursday 25 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

PRE-PREP OPEN MORNING . . .

FOHH . . . Further to the email that was sent out this week we would like to remind parents about two events being run by

Friends of Holmwood House. The clay pigeon shooting event on Saturday 14 May from 9am - 12 noon. This will

be a fun, relaxed, social, sporting activity and an opportunity to see and meet fellow parents. To be held at Birch

Estate (10 minutes from Holmwood House).

And we are delighted to be holding another golf challenge; this time at The Essex Golf and Country Club on

Saturday 21 May. Bacon rolls and coffee available from 9am with first tee off time at 10.30am. It is an 18 hole

county course. A 2 course lunch is included. It promises to be a great day of golf played in a relaxed and friendly

atmosphere.

Places are limited for both events and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Finally, a reminder that there will be a second-hand uniform sale held in the old school shop (near the Music School)

on Thursday 14 April from 10am until 11am.

Over the past 7 days Mr Mitchell has reminded everyone to get designing their welly over Easter for our Produce

Show launch event, 'Well-y Never!' We can't wait to invite everyone to look at the entries next term and pick their

winners!

Don't forget, now is the time to get started planting if you haven't already done so. There are many seeds that you

can start off in small pots on the window sill - for example, why not try growing some chilli plants?

The Year 5s and 6s planted herbs this week in old food tins from the school kitchen and they will be decorating the

pots over the holidays at home (and hopefully keeping their seeds well -watered!).

And finally - before you dig all those weeds out of the garden that have taken hold over the winter......there is a 'weed

to be proud of' category in this year's Produce Show - we are expecting a significant number of entries for this one!

On Saturday, Pre-Prep opened its doors and welcomed all the parents of Years R - 3 to come and view their

children's work. It was lovely to see so many children proudly showing and explaining all the amazing things they

have been doing. No wonder all the children (and teachers) are so exhausted!

Remember ....... Keep Reading .... Mrs Apperley, Librarian

YEAR 3 & 4 EASTER ART FUN . . .

Page 3 Thursday 25 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

LIBRARY NEWS . . .

James Campbell, children's comedian, storyteller and author of the hilarious Boyface series, is running a Writing

Day on Wednesday 6 April at The Avenue Theatre, Ipswich for children aged between 8 and 11 years who really

love to write. Places are limited as James likes to give the children lots of individual attention. To book a place

please email bookings@thejamescampbell.com.

World Book Night 2016 falls on Saturday 23 April; Shakespeare’s birthday and the 400th anniversary of his death.

There will be an event at the British Library; a special gala evening beginning with a stellar panel of authors and

other guests each discussing the place of books in their lives and reading from some of their favourites. Cathy

Rentzenbrink, author of last year’s Sunday Times bestseller The Last Act of Love, will chair the panel featuring

World Book Night authors past and present, including Matt Haig, Dreda Say Mitchell, S J Parris, Holly Bourne and

Sathnam Sanghera. World Book Night’s flagship event will showcase its core values in one evening: to inspire more

people to read more, encourage them to share their enjoyment of reading with others and celebrate the difference that

reading makes to all of our lives. The gala evening then continues with a ‘Late at the Library’ event with special

guests, performance, music and food and drink in the entrance hall and entry to the exhibition Shakespeare in Ten

Acts.

In addition to the event in London, World Book Night will host high-profile regional events at public libraries

nationwide. Pan Macmillan are celebrating World Book Night with the first Big North Book Run at the Great North

Museum in Newcastle, with World Book Night and Quick Reads authors Ann Cleeves and Lucy Diamond, while

World Book Night author J. Paul Henderson will be inspiring students at Oldham College. At Peterborough Central

Library, author Tim Wilson will discuss the Brontë sisters, and Verbal Arts Centre in Derry, Northern Ireland will

celebrate World Book Night as part of their Reading Rooms programme. Hundreds of other giveaway events will be

happening all over the country and will be announced and promoted on the World Book Night websites.

Page 4 Thursday 25 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

PRE-PREP EASTER FOREST SCHOOL . . .

This week the Year 1s celebrated with a

special Easter Forest School. We toasted

marshmallows on the bonfire and had to be

very responsible and listen carefully to the

instructions that we were given. We made a

rope swing, tried to spell our names using

forest school lettering and sat around the fire

with hot chocolate and told stories.

Page 5 Thursday 25 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

PRE-PREP . . .

This half term each pupil in Year 3 has prepared and

presented a talk on a country of their own choice. The

presentations were most informative; the children had spent

a great deal of time researching and rehearsing their talks.

Year 3

Year 2 spent an afternoon looking at pond life around the

school and made amazing discoveries included different

types of snail, water lice, caddisfly larvae, cyclopods and

newts.

Year 2

Reception

This week the children had fun learning

about odd and even numbers using

chocolate mini eggs!

SCIENCE . . .

Page 6 Thursday 24 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

Year 5 have spent a lesson and a prep working on a presentation about a subject we have covered this year. Two of

them wanted to present their work to S8 who kindly took some time out of their busy schedule to come and be the

audience. Joshua R spoke about ‘The Seasons’ and explained that they are caused by the tilt of the Earth and the

amount of sunlight hitting an area. Ava M produced a fantastic poster on ‘The Solar System’, she spoke clearly and

had some very interesting planet facts! Well done to both - they were very nervous as they were talking to their pupil

Heads of Element.

Year 7 have been conducting an experiment to find out which biscuit contains the most energy. They have been

combusting 2gs of biscuit and using it to heat 20ml of water. The group of 5 have worked out the apparatus needed,

set up a safe working area and checked each other’s work. They have all followed the same agreed method to ensure

a fair and reliable test. The results were put into the equation to find out which biscuit

has the most energy per gram. 4.2 is the value of the specific heat capacity of water, in joules per gram per degree

Celsius, i.e. the number of joules taken to raise the temperature of water by 1°C. We found that the biscuit with the

most energy was a bourbon!

SCIENCE . . .

Page 7 Thursday 24 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

Holmwood Science Week at the Olympics

Monday 25 – Friday 30 April 2016

Year 4

Olympic Rings in

Bubbles

Year 8

Fitness

Challenge

Year 5

Fastest Parachute

Drop

Year 7

Fitness

Challenge

Year 6

Forensic Scientists in

Rio

Just a few of the Prep School activities taking

place during Science Week next term.

Rio 2016

Page 8 Thursday 24 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

BOARDING . . . On Monday evening the boarders had a great time making delicious Easter goodies!

And on Tuesday evening they enjoyed

playing football and sleeping bag

wrestling. As you can imagine, they

were suitably exhausted and slept very

well!

Page 9 Thursday 24 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

EAST ANGLIAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS . . .

With perfect running weather and dry ground underfoot we were set for a great day.

This year the hosts, Woodbridge, reversed the normal order of play starting with the

Under 13s. Phoebe R had lost her team mates to other commitments but was deter-

mined to run as an individual and managed a very impressive 8th place. This was

followed by our dedicated Year 8 boys who ran so well as a team that they came 3rd

place overall with Jude S and Ethan S scoring 10th and 12th respectively. Our Under

12 boys were down to two runners on the day but were not disheartened and gave the

course their best shot. Matthew B finished a very strong 4th and Ben N came middle

of the pack. The Under 11 girls were unlucky not to be placed as a team or achieve

any top ten places but were very proud of their running with Kaela S, Freya J, Maisy

H and Eve J all showing great teamwork and true sportsmanship. Another great result

for Hamish I who came 4th in the Under 11 boys with Daniel RP and Cedd R not far

behind. The Under 10 girls came 3rd place overall and had a large field of runners to

contend with. Alexandra BC came in a terrific 4th place with Millie M, Ava M and

Ilayda H all keeping the scores low enough to ensure their team success. Our greatest

achievement of the day was Henry D winning the Under 10 race in a well executed

and tactically run race. His team mates Hector BP and Jude S ran their hearts out and

were unlucky not to achieve team success.

Overall, a fantastic day with good results and a wonderful atmosphere of true

sportsmanship mixed with grit and determination. Very well done to all those who

took part.

Page 10 Thursday 24 March 2016, Spring Term, Week 10

SPORT . . .

TEAM WEEK

OF

THE

The Team of the Week is the

U11A Football (undefeated)

WELL DONE!

For up-to-date match fixtures and

cancellations, please visit the Sports

Fixtures page of the school website.