bede's prep newsletter summer 2016

Summer 2016

Bede’s Preparatory SchoolDuke’s Drive, EastbourneEast Sussex BN20 7XL

T 01323 [email protected]

BEDE’S NURSERY CHILDREN ENJOYBEACH VISITS AND BEAR-HUNTS

It’s been a busy half-term for the children of Bede’s Nursery and, with the sun more out than not, we have done our best to take advantage of the weather and have taken our learning outdoors.Our children in the Starfish room have been loving developing their physical skills by climbing through the tunnel and playing with their new animal tractor, with plenty of painting, reading and other indoor activities offering them lots of fun and variety.The children in the Jellyfish room have meanwhile developed their acting skills by re-enacting the story of ‘Going on a Bear Hunt’ – a focus text for this half-term – and also went on a magic aeroplane ride in the Role Play area.Aside from their time in the classroom, the Turtles have been balancing their outdoor activities with learning all about sun safety; they have been putting on sun cream, wear-ing hats, drinking lots of water and went on their own adventure – to an ‘island’ in their ‘boat’ – which was lovely to watch.

Further up the Nursery, the Seahorses helped out Mr Sutherland and his drivers by wash-ing the school minibuses. They had a great time, although I’m not sure how clean the buses were afterwards – and have also been

making magic potions and making spells; to do this, they have been mixing rice krispies, flour, water, buttons, feathers, glitter and anything else they can get their hands on!

Last but not least, the children in Whales and Dolphins went for a trip to the beach this week where they paddled in the water and looked for different items that had washed up in the tides. They are currently learning all about travel and holidays, with one of the mums even visiting in her air hostess outfit – and the children have loved pretending to be travel-ling on an aeroplane walking, up and down the aisle and watching out for turbulence!With all of our children who are going into Reception having started the transition pro-cess, spending time in their new classroom or enjoying visits from teachers from other schools, it is funny to think that the year has whizzed by so fast.Soon we shall be saying farewell to some lit-tle faces and hello to lots of new ones – but before that, we shall make the most of the rest of the summer!

Louise HackettNursery Manager

YEAR 3 PUPILS WRITE TO TRANSATLANTIC PENPALS

Year 3 have been practising different styles of letter-writing this year, including informal and more formal styles.The children have exchanged letters withchildren in Illinois, USA and, having written a letter about themselves and their lives in Sussex, the children were thrilled to open the transatlantic post they received in return.

Having mastered the art of a very personal style of writing, the children moved ontowriting more formal letters - this time to Bede’s Prep School’s Deputy Headmaster, Mr Purkiss.The challenge was to write persuading him to consider additional ideas (deliberatelyunrealistic) for a new playground activity. Ideas put forward included a theme park, 13-storey tree house, swimming pool with log plume as well as spa facilities with physio.Mr Purkiss was impressed with the quality of the letters and even managed to find the time in his busy schedule to reply to each of the 22 children individually.We hope the children enjoyed sharing thecorrespondence with their families and look forward to hearing who they write to next!

Sophie BalmerYear 3 Class Teacher



EDITORIAL: HELLO FROM MRS WRITER

Because every child is unique, each girl or boy needs both the support and the free-dom to find out who they are, what they enjoy, what they are good at, what holds them back and how they learn best.At Bede’s, whether in our Nursery or in the senior years, children are genuinely treated as individuals and I can say this with some confidence as in my time at Bede’s, as a parent, teacher and Head of Years 2, 3 and 4, I have seen this philosophy in action from all angles.As a Head of Year, I have been able to support and guide children through the Pre-Prep and into their life within the Prep School. There have been several changes that I have instigated or supported to make the teaching and learning experiences for our children as rich and thought provoking as possible, such as whole-class teaching through a Topic-Based approach to learning which has enabled each child to access greater and more personalised challenges.I have also introduced and developed ‘Bede’s at the Beach’ which from September will run for all children from our Pre-School to Year 4 because, simply put, children need to learn in as many different contexts as possible and, with the Downs and the Beach on our doorstep, it seems foolish to not seize these opportunities with both hands.As Mr Entwisle recently addressed in one of his weekly blogs, what happens in the early years of a child’s development has huge

impacts for what happens later; success inYears 6, 7 and 8 often comes as a resultof the work done before a child has even started to attend school, and for this reason Bede’s early years provision has been a consistent focus and source of pride since the opening of our Holywell facility in 2009.No school, however good, should become complacent and wallow in its splendours of course. Bede’s is truly a great place to be for our pupils and staff alike, but none of us stand still in our drive to make ourselves the best we can be, as individuals and as a school in its entirety. For me personally, the next step has been my recent appointment as the new Head of Pre Prep and Nursery from September, and I am thrilled about it.The Pre-Prep and Nursery at Bede’s is a buzzing, thriving part of the school which I will ensure gets even better than it already is; both Louise Hackett, Bede’s Nursery Manager, and I, with the exceptional team of dedicated teachers, nursery practition-ers, teaching assistants and all the staff that work within this part of the school will continue to strive for more than excellence, providing the children with the memorable experiences they need to feel safe and happy and, most importantly, to learn.Moving this part of the school forward will mean some changes and tweaks from September and over the next academic year, however. From September the top nursery will be called Bede’s Pre-School, for example, and more will be changing than

just the name.The children in the Pre-School will have an enriched timetable where they will integrate more with the Pre-Prep, preparing them for life in Bede’s Reception classes. They will attend assemblies, play with the Reception children on a more regular basis, attend our Bede’s at the Beach lessons fortnightly and gain reading and good work awards from me.At the bottom of all of these tweaks is the idea that the transition from Nursery into Reception should be seamless for every child, and that each individual should be given the best possible start to their years in full-time education – from the academic curriculum to the School’s rich co-curricular programme to the way we care for every child at Bede’s.During the next academic year the front of Holywell will also be redeveloped to create a free-flow area for planned activities for the Reception and Pre-School children. Once complete, this amenity will enable the Pre-Prep and Nursery team to make more of the space we have and will encourage the children to make even more independent choices about their learning.While we have clear plans, I must state unequivocally that parent voice is crucial to ensuring that any school is doing what is best for everyone, and I am profoundly interested in hearing what you have to say about the Pre-Prep and Nursery at Bede’s. I want to know what you love about it, what you would like to improve, and I would love to see more of our parents within the Early Years and Foundation Stage represented on the Friends of Bede’s too.The children at Bede’s Pre-Prep and Nursery may be small but we need a large voice, so please do come and speak to me or email if you are interested.Otherwise, I hope you have a superb half-term and that everybody gets a good rest – not least because we have four fantastic weeks of learning planned for after the break, and I want to make every single day of it count!

Diana WriterHead of Pre-Prep and Nursery



MATHS CLASSES CHALLENGE YEARS 5 AND 6 TO PUMP UP THE VOLUME

Children in Years 5 and 6 have been spending the last week studying the at times baffling topic of Volume. The topic started off with a very concrete and informal questions such as, “Can you make a cube with 12 ‘smaller cubes’?” or “Can you make a cuboid with 12 ‘smaller cubes’?” and, sure enough, the children busily tried hard to make a cube using twelve ‘smaller cubes’ and found that it was impossible. A discussion erupted about what made a cube different from a cuboid and, after a couple of lessons, the children became very efficient at working out how many centimetre cubes fit different sizes of container. That brought us to the heart of the matter: how many metre cubes did they they think could fit into my classroom?

Volume can be a difficult concept for children to understand purely by looking at pictures, so we decided to make our own metre-squared cubes and open up further discussion based around this.

The children expertly created the cubes and were amazed at the actual size and that most of them could fit inside one!Once finally created, the students quickly estimated the size of the classroom with ease and moved onto a final Challenge Question: How many centimetre cubes fit into a metre cube?With the aid of the concrete object in front of them, and armed with their prior knowl-edge of using centimetre cubes, the children quickly moved past the widely used misconception that you would multiply 1m2 x 100 to get 100cm2. As most children could visualise and gener-alise that one hundred of the ‘smaller cubes’ would not even come close to filling the metre cube, they quickly realised that it would be more beneficial to convert each dimension into centimetres first (width is 100cm, length is 100cm and height is 100cm) to give a total volume of 1,000,000cm2. Most importantly, the children were very clear with their explanations of how they tackled their tasks and now seem more than ready for my next challenges - all of which will revolve around volumes of liquid. What could possibly go wrong?

Scott Fasciolo-BarnesHead of Mathematics

LOCAL HISTORIAN CELEBRATES BEDE’S GREAT WAR HERITAGE

To mark the 100 year anniversary of the only major sea battle of World War I, Bede’s Prep School’s end of half-term assembly was given by Wing Commander (Retired) Paddy Stevens, who is also a local historian. Paddy told the children not just about Jutland but how the lives of previous Bede’s boys and staff had been affected by the war, using the ‘In Memoriam’ board in the school chapel. Paddy told the children how he had traced the names listed on the board, finding out as much as he could about each person. He then told us about a real life mystery and tragedy. On the board are the names of two brothers who attended the school as pupils. Arthur Coxe born 1895 and Cecil Coxe born 1897. Both brothers signed up, Arthur as a lieutenant in the army (he sadly died whilst fighting in 1914, aged only nineteen) and Cecil as a pilot (he also sadly died whilst attacking a railway centre in Germany).Paddy then went on to tell us was that there had been four Coxe brothers who had been pupils at Bede’s and, for reasons unknown, a third name was missing from our roll call. The eldest brother, Hugh Coxe, had joined the Royal Navy and died in 1915 aged twenty three, when his ship HMS Formidable had been torpedoed by a German U-boat.This real-life story closely resembles the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’, and it is hard to imagine a family of four boys decimated in such a way, with three sons dying one after the other. 1914, 1915 & 1916. Only the eldest brother, Knightley, survived the conflict.To close with good news, we are in the process of making sure that Hugh Coxe, the brother whose name was missing from the board, will be added as soon as possible.

Sam BrownHead of History



YEAR 7 SPANISH TRIP TO CANTABRIA

Bede’s Prep’s fifth Year 7 visit to Canta-bria started in the same way as all the others - with wall-to-wall sunshine and rising temperatures!We had the run of our small guest-house and the 20 children on the trip felt secure, comfortable and relaxed.The first day consisted of morning lessons, which prepared the children for the all-important task of purchasing an ice cream at the ‘pastelería’. A low key start after our late arrival on Sunday worked very well.Tuesday’s lessons prepared the children for their interactions with their Spanishcounterparts, and what a buzz there was. For the first time this year, our flamenco les-son and football games were totally mixed events, boys and girls doing both activities. And the boys, as we could have predicted, were as amazing at flamenco, and as absorbed in it, as the girls, who also shone on the football pitch!Wednesday’s trip to Cabárceno, the wildlife park where animals have space to roam, was a big success. It was another beautiful day, hot and sunny; it started with the sea

lion show and included the magnificent bird of prey display (and obligatory golden eagle photos) and, of course, the chance to watch the gorilla family going about their daily lives.That afternoon’s adventure was theprehistory workshop with our friendly expert Alis. He spoke in rapid Spanish to the chil-dren, and in some depth, about the role of fire in the establishment of humancommunities.Alis then enabled the children to try their hand at some different skills, continuing to assume they were native Spanish speakers, with the difference that now he gave practi-cal guidance in a technique or handling of a tool.On Friday we visited Bilbao, in the Basque region, its old quarter and the wonderful Guggenheim Museum, where we spent some time discussing an early Picasso painting of a Parisian scene.We then enjoyed a variety of traditional tapas in the old quarter, called ‘pintxos’ in Euskera, the Basque language before head-ing back to board the bus.On the last day, our guide, Ismael, ex-pressed the hope that the children would return home a little different from when they embarked on this adventure and I under-stood his hope that the experience might have sown the seed for some future element of their growing-up.Having done my share of travelling andlanguage learning, I am completelyconfident that it has.

Louise GalletlyHead of MFL

HOW DO YOU GROW ROCKET SEEDS FROM OUTER SPACE?

Year 3 have become space biologists and are embarking on a voyage of discovery bygrowing seeds that have been into space.Last September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they spent several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds have been sent to schools as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.The children received two packets of rocket seeds to plant under specific scientificregulations. The children rose to the challenge of planting their seeds while learning the rules of fair testing as they went!The purpose of this research is to see whether seeds that have been in space will grow dif-ferently to their earth counterparts.

The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable Year 3 children to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astro-nauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surroundinggrowing fresh food in challenging climates.Over the course of this term they will observe and record how the different seeds aregrowing and are looking forward to reporting the outcome of their experiment on “rocket seeds” from outer-space!



A SEASIDE SLEEPOVER

On a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon, Year 3 trooped out of the school with their over-night bags to the new bespoke boarding house, situated above the Nursery.They were the first residents to stay there, and after weeks of excitement, it was time for the inaugural Year 3 Sleepover.After the initial excitement of finding their beds, discovering who they were sharingwith, and unpacking bags, everyone set off for fun and games at the beach.First, the children created animals out of the stones on the beach – with some impressive results. After some team games and stone skimming, all sat down for a well-deserved ice-cream. We then had a picturesque walk back via Holywell, the rocks and the steep climb up to the school.

After some time playing on the field, supper was served – and many plates of pasta were eaten. The parachute then came out and we played various games, including ‘Cat and Mouse’ and the ominous ‘Washing Machine’. We then sat round the camp fire, toasting marshmallows and sharing songs

and stories. A short film followed (involving Minions), while we tucked into hot chocolate and cake.We made the short journey over to theboarding house, where it was time for a story and bed. Only the teachers seemed ready for bed at first; however the children soon realised how tired they were!

After an early start (5am!) the children were keen to continue activities so by 7am all were happily playing football, table tennis or practising gymnastics in the Sports Hall. After a quick dose of Scooby Dooand some fruit to sustain them, it was finally time for breakfast! The range at breakfast was vast – and the children took full advan-tage of it. The novelty of being able to ask for seconds (or thirds) at school, meant that all were full.On full stomachs, we all departed with happy and long-lasting memories of a very special event.

Will BryantYear 3 Class Teacher

PRE-PREP PUPILS VISITARLINGTON BLUEBELL WALK

Bede’s Prep School’s Reception, Year 1 and 2 classes recently visited the beauti-ful Bluebell Walk in Arlington, exploring the wonders of nature and helping Bede’s Senior School’s Stud and Knights House boys in their drive to raise money for The ABC Fund.In small groups, the children explored some of the interesting walks around the nature reserve and saw vistas of bluebells and other stunning flowers such as white anemones.

We all enjoyed the peace and tranquil-lity throughout the walk, and the children maximised the opportunities to learn about the Bluebell Walk by reading the informa-tion signs to one another which detailed the flora and fauna of the countryside they were immersed within.To conclude our visit, the children then popped by the Petting Zoo to see some par-ticularly cute young animals close up. They met lambs, piglets and baby angora goats, and convincing them to get back on the bus so we could leave and come home was far from easy as a result!

Rachel PotterHead of Reception and Year 1

Three children from Year 6 have been selected from over 20,000 entries to go through to the Final of the Wicked Young Writers Awards for 2016.Milly Gibson, Jake Menzies and Matilda Collins will join children from all over the country at an awards ceremony anddinner at the Apollo Theatre in London on 24 June.Only 120 children from across the coun-try have made it to this final stage of the competition, so the three should be exceptionally proud!Between them, the children’s entries covered a number of different genres: Jake wrote a poem called “The Sea”; Milly was inspired to write a horror story called “The House” and Matilda penned a thoughtful descriptive piece, “NightStep.”Judges from the competition sent their congratulations to our ‘very talented students’ and told us that ‘the quality of the entries this year was excellent so being selected as a finalist was a huge achievement’.Mrs Brundle said, “I am absolutely delighted that the children have got

through to the Finals, especially as they were picked from 20,000 entries. It was because the work of the whole group in Year 6 was so high that I entered their pieces into the competition but to have three children’s work selected to go through to the finals is truly amazing! I am so proud of them as it isrecognition on a national level for all the hard work and the passion for creative writing which these pupils demonstrate every week.”Jake, Milly and Matilda’s creative pieces will be added to this year’s Wicked Anthology, copies of which will be signed and presented to them at the award ceremony but, also, from the 120finalists, a small number of children will be picked to meet and tour with the cast of Wicked backstage and receive VIP tickets to the show.We are all therefore keeping our fingers crossed for Matilda, Jake and Milly!

To read all three stories, please visit the English department page of the Bede’s Prep website.



YEAR 6 PUPILS EXCEL IN WICKED WRITING AWARDS

YEAR 7 FRENCH TRIP TO NORMANDY

Bede’s Prep School’s annual Year 7 French Trip recently returned from Normandy in northern France, with the children having immersed themselves in all things French – quite literally, in some cases!Alongside daily lessons in the French lan-guage, the children took part in a number of exciting activities including making bread, brewing cider and a range of sports from climbing to archery to fencing.With excursions from our château to the local town of Villedieu and down the river by canoe, the children were kept extremely busy both mentally and physically.On one of the evenings, the children had the opportunity to dress up in typical French costumes, and it’s amazing how great minds think alike: almost everyone turned up in blue and white striped t-shirts, berets, and moustaches!Keeping with tradition, children were also treated to a surprise dinner that included escargots (which many of the children were brave enough to sample) before they played a number of fun games including apple bobbing and Wellington boot throwing.The day after saw the children conquering a mud-drenched assault course where they were required to commando-crawl under netting, slide into mud baths and traverse obstacles before completing the course with a Tarzan-style swing to get across the stream.Elsewhere there were treasure hunts, talent shows and a really noisy peacock - it was a week I shall never forget. Most importantly, the children immersed themselves in the language and their comprehension improved markedly throughout the week. Well done to them all!

Marie AllirotTeacher of French



A SWEET SUMMER’S SERENADE

Hearing the band performing ‘HeyEverybody’ at the start of the Summer Showcase last week captured the essence of music at Bede’s Prep.The band was made up of five children from Year 4, Toby Burdekin, Olivia Driver, Archie Nelson, Sam Noton and Amelia Williams, a wonderfully talented group of 8- and 9-year-olds who had just decided to get together to play because they love music. And it sounded fantastic: a brilliant sense of ensemble, a serious approach to getting it right and wonderful communication of the fun of making music.The Summer Showcase featuredperformances from 45 children ranging inage from Year 3 to Year 8 and presenting a wonderful array of talent on piano, drums, cello, flute, clarinet, violin, guitar, and in drama and verse-speaking.Not only are the pupils discovering the joy of music and drama, they are also developing self-confidence and the ability to communi-cate and work together.The high standards being reached by our Upper School pupils was evident in the performances from Miles Mao (piano), Elena Caprio and Charlotte Jones (singing), Josh Prince-Smith (piano and violin), Joseph Muschialli and Jem Matthews (drums) and Leo Heller (drama). It is so inspiring for our younger pupils to see pupils at the top of theschool performing with such aplomb andattaining these high standards. But of course there are also some fine performers in the Middle school, such as Nia Hooton(piano), Donnie Cecil (drums) and in the

Lower part of the Prep School too.With a team of 15 music professionals now coming into Bede’s each week to deliver individual lessons in strings, woodwind, brass, drums, piano and in singing, the breadth of music education at Bede’s is underpinned by the class-based curriculum which focuses on hands-on music-making and discovery through ‘real music’ and also by the Co-Curricular programme which will be expanding further next academic year.The beneficial effects on general cognitive development of singing, performing and playing an instrument are well documented: music is important to children and to our community. With well over half the children now learning an instrument, this issomething we have recognised at Bede’s Prep and are keen to enhance and develop.Seeing the soloists in yesterday’s Summer Showcase and all the Pre-Prep children in today’s Summer Serenade sharing their joy in making music is what it is all about: gaining confidence and having fun.

Jane PendryHead of Music

BEDE’S PREP PERFORMERS ENJOY LAMDA SUCCESS

We have been delighted to introduce the LAMDA Drama syllabus into our Co-Cur-ricular Programme this year and recently received a flurry to accreditations!LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) offer examinations in a range of performance skills, improvingcommunication, increasing self-confidence and developing social skills of our pupils. With so many enthusiastic children, we have registered as a Private Centre, enabling the pupils to be examined on the school site.The Year 3 and 4 children have studied the Verse and Prose syllabus and these Solo Introductory examinations are designed to develop basic communication skills and to introduce the learner to the LAMDA suite of graded examinations in Communication and Performance.The children selected a poem of their choice, and then studied interpretative, technical and communication skills. Thirteen children took the examination in April, from Level 1 to 3. The older pupils, from Year 5 to 8, meanwhile studied the Acting syllabus. This focused upon developing a strong speaking voice and good memory skills by learning and performing monologues and duologues. Twenty-four children took a range ofexaminations from Entry level up to Grade 3, which are designed to develop the skills necessary to communicate dramatic text to an audience.The children have worked extremely hard in preparing their pieces and we were delight-ed that they were all scored highly by theexaminer, the majority attaining Merit and Distinction grades.

Laura BurdekinTeacher of English and Drama



DANCE SHOWCASE RAISES THE ROOF

On 28 April, Bede’s Prep School’s Dance department welcomed a diverse and passionate audience to the Prep School theatre to watch the inaugural Bede’s Prep Dance Showcase.With the children dressed in full costume and fantastic lighting sup-plied by Upper Sixth Bede’s Senior School pupil Matt Jebb, the stage was set for a wide variety of performances from both our Elite danc-ers and those who attend the School’s wide variety of Co-Curricular sessions.First up, our elite performers, including Eliane Boyer, Matthew Amos and Jade Beeching, demonstrated their ballet, jazz and contempo-rary dance skills both in groups and through solos.

They were then joined by other students who attend Bede’s Prep’s many Dance Clubs to showcase their tap, street dance and musical theatre skills and their own choreography.“We hosted the event to celebrate all that the Dance department offers to the pupils at Bede’s Prep,” explained Dance teacher Nicci Miles, “as well as giving the dancers a chance to perform and gain experience of dancing in front of an audience. It gave them a small insight as to the hard work involved and what it is like to put on a production, and I am happy to report that they all seem to have enjoyed themselves!”With the performance primarily having beenstaged to help enhance the students’ confidence and give them a real sense of pride in their work, the Dance department were overjoyed with the feedback they received from family, staff and students, including a number of requests to repeat the production at a later date.“It was simply amazing and quite overwhelming. We are already booking in two performances for next year,” Ms Miles continued.With Eliane, Matthew and Jade having earned scholarships to the Legat School at Bede’s Senior School for September, and Matthew having also gained a place at the White Lodge Royal Ballet Summer School for August, the pupils have a huge amount to be proud about.Moreover, with Bede’s Prep’s new Dance curriculum going from strength-to-strength, the future of Dance on Duke’s Drive looks brighter than ever.

There is no doubt that in this busy world there are moments where some quiet contemplation is much needed. At Bede’s, we recognise that this does not just apply to adults.Throughout the academic year, chil-dren’s lives are filled with demands andcommitments, both at home and at school, which can result in fatigue and stress. That is why we made the decision to enlist the help of Lou Lovegrove, a specialist yoga teacher, who provides a completely holistic ap-proach to wellbeing, to introduce Yoga to the Co-Curricular programme.

Lou is a fully qualified yoga teacher and physical therapist with an edu-cation degree and a background in teaching dance. Her classes incor-porate the physical practice of yoga, which she adapts to suit the age and abilities of the children, together with breathing, relaxation and mindfulness techniques.Asanas (postures) are taught using traditional methods and throughgames. The children learn physical yoga in a fun environmentincluding the principles of practising peace in their thoughts and actions, showing respect to themselves and to others, and learning about their bodies and how they work.In addition to the obvious physical benefits there are educational benefits such as improved attention, self-con-fidence and relaxation and a reduction in stress too.“Yoga is a different type of physi-cal activity that may appeal to those students not drawn to the more tradi-tional sporting activities on offer,” Lou explains.“The children are taught basic and easily accessible breathing and medi-tation techniques, discussing how the breathing makes them feel and how it could be helpful to them. Whatever

their age, being able to pause, breathe and think before acting or speaking is a valuable skill.”As part of the programme, the chil-dren are also given the opportunity to ‘be the teacher’ and lead the games, which they love, building their confi-dence and self-esteem.Our flexible School day means that Yoga can be run during Options times twice a week for Years 5 and 6 and once a week for Years 7 and 8; in the long term, the hope is to expand this provision and make it accessible it to the younger and older children too.Since we started offering Yoga this academic year, the classes have grown in popularity with many of the older children benefiting hugely from Lou’s calm and tranquil approach. They love the postures and games and equally love the breathing and meditation techniques. And, of course, the relaxa-tion at the end of the class when they snuggle up under blankets!Lou herself says, “Yoga is fun, it makes you feel good and everyone can do it. I think yoga should be a daily part of school life. Who wouldn’t benefit from an opportunity to centre themselves, collect their thoughts and refine their focus?”



WANT TO JOIN YOGA ACTIVITY? SIMPLY INQUIRE WITHIN...

There was much excitement bubbling in the Year 4 classrooms on the morning of Monday 9 May, and a sea of suitcases in the library: it was time for the Year 4 resi-dential visit to the Isle of Wight!After a long journey with a smooth ferry crossing we arrived at Kingswood, right on Whitecliff Bay. The children loved their tour of the centre and couldn’t believe the amount of activities they would have the opportunity to experience. Following this, it was back to the house and bed-making in the dormitories. It is always a challenge to get a duvet into its cover, and there were those that persevered, those who gave up and, thank-fully, those who had practised at home and were able to help others!

When we had finished dinner it was off to field games and everyone played football rounders, which is rounders played with a football, together. It was good to run around after a day travelling.At bedtime all were excited to be sharing a room and chatting about what lay in store for tomorrow. After a very early start, the following morning, the children’s adventures started.

Throughout the week the children were on the go from morning to bedtime. They had the opportunity to climb to the top of the tower, hit the bullseye in archery, perfect their plate spinning skills, practise their

map reading skills in orienteering, zipwire the length of the field, abseil down from the tower, forge new friendships and strengthen existing ones. Everyone had the opportunity to support and encourage each other, helping them to succeed and celebrate.Friday came round all too quickly, and it was time to journey home. Tales of success and achievement were shared on the way, along with reflections of the many celebrations from the week.It was wonderful to witness the successes in the activities and to share the fun of playing on the beach, singing round the campfire and relaxing with friends. When one looks back, it is difficult to imagine how so many experiences and adventures were fitted into 5 days of action packed fun!

Annie Fullerand Miriam McDonell

Year 4 Class Teachers



BEDE’S PREP PUPILS COOK UP A STORM

Earlier this tem, Bede’s Prep entered a nationwide “cookathon” organised by the Children’s Food Trust.The challenge was to cook a cottage pie and the competition was aimed at getting children from around the country to learn to cook some wholesome foods.Bede’s runs four cookery clubs a week and all the children entered the competition which involved following a recipe for the dish as well as enhancing the dishes with their own secret ingredients.Each group made their own miniaturecottage pie and then at Friday assembly the Headmaster did a Masterchef-style taste challenge and announced the winner.

Mr Brewer’s Thursday Cookery Group were the well-deserved winners – and we hope one day to find out what their special winning ingredi-ent was.Commenting on the pupils’ skills, Mrs Brown said “Cookery is such an important skill to learn and it’s one of the few activities we do where children from all year groups have an opportunity to work together.“In the Activity we like to vary savoury and sweet dishes giving the children a good grounding in basic skills so they can begin to experiment in their own kitchens.”Well done to all the winners, Nathan Leonard, Matthew Amos, Natalia Garcia, Evita Byk, Luke Perring, Tom Wells, Oliver Tutaj and Kieran Brattle!

YEAR 4 ISLE OF WIGHT TRIP



NO REST FOR BEDE’S PREP’S BOARDERS!

It has been another busy half term at Meads End!Recently, we have been blessed with some lovely sunny weather (as well as a rather random snow storm) and the children have been making the most of it, with walks along the beach with Ms Corbett and her dogs, Harley and Dotty. Impressively, one Thursday recently, Mr Meier even managed to get the children up at 6.30am for a run - and we have the above photo evidence to prove it!The children have also been enjoying their Rounders matches out on the field and what has been most pleasing is the way in which all the children have participated in the games and, weather permit-ting, we are looking forward to many more next half term.Some of the boarders, have been busy preparing for Common Entrance so the House has felt a bit quieter than usual and Themba, who is also our Head Boy, has also been busy drafting his farewell

contribution for The Chronicle (and we are all looking forward to hearing Themba’s speech at Prize Giving at the end of term).Everyone at Meads End is very proud of the contribution that Themba has made to life at Bede’s Prep this year. Happily he will not be far away as he is joining Bede’s Senior School – we hope he will visit Meads End after not too long to tell us all his news!The children have also enjoyed some great weekend trips to Brighton Pier and the Sealife Centre where they were treated to a backstage tour, courtesy of Mrs Brundle’s son.Meanwhile, some of the boarders – as well as Mr Meier - have also been away this half term on school trips to France and Spain and everyone appreciated the regular bulletins sent back to the House.We are also pleased that some of our boarders have been away rep-resenting the school in Cricket, albeit in the slightly less glamorous location of Norwich. Well done!The next half term will fly by; for our Year 8 children the focus will be on exams ahead of a hectic schedule of leavers’ events and our Year 7 pupils will be off to London for a few days for a History Trip and we look forward to hearing about all their experiences.Finally, as the academic year draws to a close we will come together as a House to say sad farewells to our Year 8 leavers, Ekaterina Komissarova, Seb Watson, Archie Were, Themba Wardle, Alex Evian and Arina Lugavtcova before joining the rest of the year for the Leav-ers’ Service ahead of the Main School Prize Giving.All told, it is set to be an action-packed few weeks but that’s how we like things in Meads End!

Emma Corbettand Peter Meier

Meads End Houseparents

The U11’s have had a fantastic season so far and have made it through to the third round of the IAPS National Cup with their great play and perseverance.Against Kent College, the girls didn’t just have to battle against the opposition but also the changeable weather as during the second innings it started to snow!Nevertheless, the girls, under the leadership of Captain Lizzie Morgan, stayed focused and worked hard to win the match over 60 balls. Big scorers were Lizzie Morgan and Kirstin Orr who are both having a fabulous season at batting.In their second round match, Bede’s were glad to play at the Hollow their home turf and welcomed Russell House on a beautiful sunny afternoon.Despite losing the toss and being placed into bat, we remained calm and focused. The girls played well and Kirstin made some great rounders with excellent strikes.In the first innings, Kirstin and Milly T scored 2 rounders each along with Lizzie and Katie scoring 1 rounder each. Amelie was unlucky to be stumped at first but cameback fighting with great fielding and catch-ing on 2nd base.Atlanta, Milly G, and Naya all added a few half rounders to make the first innings 13.

Some fantastic fielding and communication saw Bede’s have Russell House all out for 2 rounders in their innings; I was impressedLizzie made great calls on the positions of the field and all girls kept the team spirit going superbly. Kirstin was accurate and fast with her throws to first base and Atlanta had 4 stumps at first base in quick succession.The second innings of batting saw some great rounders scored by Kirstin (3), Amelie (2) along with 2 half rounders, MillyTrenaman (1), Matilda (1), Naya (1). Megan scored a half along with Milly G.It was a great match and the girls took their overall total to 26 in total.The girls were quick with their decision-making and soon had all Russell House out with a stump at the square when the bases were full. Megan was strong in her posi-tion at first deep and all worked together to achieve success. A great match by all where all girls worked as a team.The girls now play Granville Prep in the third round of the Cup and if they are successful they will meet Windlesham in the quarter-finals. Good luck girls.

Sharon MuxworthyHead of Games



SPORTROUNDERS FOOTBALLU11 GIRLS ZERO-IN ON NATIONAL CUP FA GIRLS’ ACTION WEEK

In support of the FA Schools Programme Girls’ Football Action Week, Bede’s Prep recently held inter-form footballtournaments for all of the girls in the School.The events were greatly supported by pupils and teachers and the atmosphere somewhat reminded me of the London-hosted Olympics when England Lionesses played Brazil with a full Wembley stadium!The week commenced with the Year 3 Forms playing against one another with the Year 4’s taking the field next.The Year 7 Form matches were closely contested, and the eventual winners were however 7JF; Mrs Frame was very pleased with the way her tactical discussion inmorning registration paid off!The Year 6 games were another competitive set and, again, a star was born with some great finishing from Naya Lambird (6SB)who helped her form to win 1-0 vs 6FA and in the final against 6PB.Last but not least, the Year 8 Form matches were of a very good standard and thetackling by Elise Sutherland was notdissimilar to that of Steph Houghton at times!The eventual winners were 8LG, and thank you to Jake Baker for refereeing the match with great leadership and a good sense of fun.All in all, Girls’ Football Action Week was a great event at Bede’s Prep. Well done to everyone who played!



A SEASON OF SUCCESS FOR BEDE’S PREP’S BOYS AND GIRLS

Cricket at Bede’s Prep has continued in its tradition to produce some excellent results in the summer term so far. The boys have been excellent role models in the professionalism and focus they have applied to their cricket training and matches, fully integrating our fast growing contingent of young female cricketers. Captain Archie Lenham has led his team well this season enabling the 1st XI to make fantastic progress in the RCNF National Cup (formerly the JET) as well as the prestigious National Bunbury cup and the U12 and U13 county cup competitions. In the Bunbury Cup, the boys have beaten Enfield Grammar and Norwich School and will now play their Quarter Final match against the Essex Champions New Hall School at the Senior School on the 10 June. In the RCNF (JET Cup) the boys have beaten Great Walstead and Wellesley House and now look forward to playing the next round against the winners Bishop Stortford or Holmewood House. The U13s and U12s have also progressed

to the next respective rounds in the Sussex Cup where Bede’s U13s won their match against Gildredge House and the U12s won their match against Seahaven. Both will now meet teams from St Andrew’s to advance. On top of these successes, Girls’ Cricket has been equally successful with the Girls’ 1st XI winning two of their league matches against Roedean and Moira House with some excellent bowling and good batting. The development of Cricket is also looking bright with our U8 and U9 girls’ hosting Claremont in the school’s first ever U8 and U9 Girls’ Cricket fixtures.All in all therefore, there look to be plenty of opportunities for Bede’s Prep School’s Cricket teams to bring back silverware before the season is over. Any support at the upcoming matches is very welcome, and if you cannot attend in person then please do keep your fingers crossed!

Sharon Muxworthy Head of Games

BARCELONA TOUR 2016

There were so many highlights from the Bede’s Prep Barcelona tour that it’s difficult to know where to start!For the first three days, we stayed at Cambrils, in Salou; the boys thoroughly enjoyed sharing a self-contained chalet with their friends. Two coaching sessions a day, plus football pitches, basketball courts, two pools, a gym and trampolines on site, meant that there was never a dull moment!The football was, of course, fantastic. Our Espanol coaches were highly skilled and put the boys through their paces. Their skills were further tested when they faced local opposition; the boys fought valiantly and although they were narrowly defeated they learned a lot during the matches. The boys had a wonderful time at the Espanol v Athletico Madrid match and loved their tour of the impressive Barcelona Stadium and Museum.Later on in the trip, the boys relished their stroll along Las Ramblas which, as always, was a veritable feast for the eyes with street entertainers, stalls, and human statues. The city tour with our brilliant guide, Cristina, was also hugely entertaining for the boys and they enjoyed having a look around the Olym-pic Stadium and Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia.All in all, the trip was excellent, and Mr Atherton, his team of staff and parents, and the boys themselves, should be congratulated on making it such a huge success.

Alison AthertonHeadmaster’s P.A.

SPORTFOOTBALL CRICKET

I am happy to report that we are enjoy-ing a very successful term on the tennis court! First and foremost, and quite remarkably, the Aegon National Schools Championships Leagues are nearing completion and all the Bede’s teams have made it to the finals. The U13 Boys team, Oli Tutaj, Charlie Holmes, Oli Sherfield, Tom Reilly and Aron Swanepoel have played excellent Tennis in their many matches while the U13 Girls Team, Lara Elder, Lucy Drewek, Elise Sutherland and Kirstin Orr have equally bat-tled their way through. The Under 12 Girls Team of Mimi Cisotti, Esther Tuson, Amelia Entwisle and Lucia De La Fuente are finalists too, and aside from our National League successes we are having a brilliant run in the Sussex County Championships too. In the U9 Event, it was an all Bede’s final, with the Bede’s A team of Ethan Robertson, Reha Akinsolotu, Max Konderando and Archie Nelson beating the Bede’s B team of Toby Leonard, Luka Asfour, Dougie Lambeth and Lewy Lawrence in a wonderful display of excellent Tennis for their young years.

The LTA also awarded Toby Leonard the Sportsmanship Prize for fair play, which was particularly nice to see.The U11 event saw Bede’s As take the winning trophy, with the team of Charlie Holmes, Josh Sudan, Harry Mayhead and Ethan Robertson playing brilliantly in a nail-biting final against Great Walstead. In the girls’ event, Kirstin Orr, Millie Trenaman, Lizzie Morgan and Angel Janes made the semi-finals and the LTA awarded Kirstin Orr the Sportsmanship Prize, so well done to them too!In the U13 Event, Bede’s B Boys won through to the semis, so congratulations to

Josh Sudan, Joe Clarke, Finn Horne and Ben Curran, and so did the Bede’s A Girls team of Lara Elder, Lucy Drewek, Elise Sutherland and Kirstin Orr. The LTA awarded our Bede’s B Boys the Sportsmanship Prize for fair play, and although we did not win overall there was plenty there to be proud about.The Junior (Years 3-5) Parent and Child Cup also took place in May and, after a great turnout and some very exciting play, Lewy Lawrence and his father lifted the trophy!Our internal Bede’s Championships has also been taking place over the course of the term, with some fantastic battles and brilliant tennis! The winner of the Boys Junior Event was Ethan Robertson and the winner of the Senior Girls Event was Lara Elder while the Senior Boys Event champion was Oliver Sherfield.All in all then, plenty to be proud of both on an individual and team level.Wish us luck in the final four weeks of term!

Jane NashHead of Tennis



SPORTTENNISAN ACE SUMMER FOR BEDE’S TENNIS TEAMS

bede's prep newsletter summer 2016

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