Prep Newsletter Friday

11th March 2016

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Dear Parents,

Mother’s Day assembly

Our Mother’s Day assembly on Tuesday was beautiful. The words were

heartfelt and every child spoke clearly about what she loves about her

mother, or what is special about her mother. It truly was a lovely

occasion, with all mummys receiving a small flower gift at the end.

All of the teachers deserve a huge thank you as what you saw in the

assembly was the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Before such thoughtful words and

phrases can be spoken in an assembly, a lot of work goes on in class to

gather opinions and put together considered phrases. As you saw,

some of the girls had also produced artwork about the mother too.

The new Prep School building

Over the last couple of weeks computer generated pictures of the new

Prep School building have been on display for children and parents.

There has been much excitement and a number of questions. The

children have had the opportunity to say their thoughts about the

building and the move and their comments have been so positive and

delightful.

I am most looking

forward to the

classrooms and the

food tech room.

Independence and responsibility

Before the Mother’s Day assembly on Tuesday Mrs Hardy spoke to the

parents about the exciting developments with the new Prep School

building. She also mentioned that following the ISI inspection in January,

the report will have arrived through your post box this week. We feel

positive about the report and as with any inspection there are always

recommendations, some of which we have achieved already.

One that we need your help with is encouraging independence. The

inspection report agrees with us that Pastoral Care is excellent at St

Margaret’s, which is a huge positive. It also shows that we (staff and

parents) are (maybe too) quick to intervene with help / support / or telling

a child what to do. Through working together we can encourage every

child to increase her responsibility and independence by allowing her to

solve her own problems / work something out for herself / dress herself /

tie her own shoelaces / feed herself. The list is endless and by working

together we will teach all of our children that they shouldn’t give up or let

someone else do it; they can do it if they try hard, persevere and are

determined to succeed.

“If you feed a child you teach her that she cannot feed herself;

if you write for a child you teach her that she cannot write.”

(Old saying - anonymous)

In assembly this week all of the children have been thinking about

responsibility and independence. Every day we all have choices to do

right or wrong and we are free to make those choices. As we get older we

have greater freedom to choose what we should / shouldn’t do, what we

would like to eat or wear etc. We have to be responsible for our actions

and understand that there are consequences. Equally we have to

understand that mistakes can happen and that we should learn from

them. The children were asked to consider:

the definition making good choices

caring about yourself and others

the characteristics doing something on your own without being told

being trustworthy

being dependable

being honest

being reliable

perseverance

determination

examples keeping my desk tidy

tidying up after myself / putting belongings away

finishing work on time

focusing on the task

telling the truth

The rewards of being responsible and independent (the girls’

responses):

Self-esteem

Confidence

Understanding of limitations and how far I can push myself

Ability to solve problems

Learn to care for myself

I can become a good adult

Feeling that I have control in my life

Being accountable because I understand the consequences

It is easy to give the above examples, but I wonder how much your

daughter can put the words into practice and show she can be

responsible and more independent? Therefore as parents and teachers it

is our job to encourage, praise, support, teach, help, encourage a ‘can

do’ attitude and give our children the time (and our patience) to take on

the responsibility to become more independent.

Goodbye

We are very sad today as we are saying

goodbye to an absolutely wonderful

member of our team who has worked

tirelessly over the last 2 ½ years as our

Prep School Secretary. Mrs Daws is

known to every girl and she knows each

one. She has also been there for staff

and parents to answer a multitude of

questions, point them in the direction of

the answer and has listened so carefully.

Next week

Lower Prep Parents’ Evening sign up sheets will be available in the

Lower Prep entrance hall.

Upper Prep Parents’ Evening reply slips to be with the Class Teacher by

Monday 14th March.

Zumba performances - all the girls who take Zumba lessons on a

Tuesday after school will be putting on a little Zumba ‘show’ for their

parents on Tuesday 15th - Lower Prep 16:00, Upper Prep 16:40.

Mrs Daws has the biggest, kindest heart and she will be sorely missed

by everyone in the Preparatory School. We wish her all the very best in

her new full time job.

SponsoredSpell

Thank you so much for your

support with helping to raise

money through our recent

Sponsored Spell. You have raised

an AMAZING £1942.23. The new

Prep School Adventure playground

fundraising account now has

£7817.40.

Sainsburys Vouchers

Arabella, Katie and Angel are pleased

to report we have now collected 394

vouchers.

Mrs C Aisthorpe

Congratulations Lower Prep Star of the Week

(last week)

Reception: Mansi Year 1: Sofia

Year 2: Rebecca

Good luck to all Prep girls taking

LAMDA exams next week.

REMEMBER to rehearse your words,

look smart on the day and

☺ Mrs Lester and Miss Muir

LAMDA exams (Upper Prep) Thursday 18th March

LAMDA exams (Lower Prep) Friday 19th

March

Please see the notice below:

Congratulations to Aryana,

Year 6, who has received a

distinction for her LAMDA

Speaking in Public Grade 3

exam.

Mrs C Aisthorpe

Head of St. Margaret’s Preparatory School

Dates

March

16th Year 4 visit to Water Works

17th-18th

LAMDA exams

22nd 15:30-20:00

Rec – Year 6 - Parents’ Evening

23rd Lower Prep Environmental Day

24th

Prep School Mufti Day - £2 “Career Mufti Day” What profession would you like to be in when you are an adult? Come to school dressed for this job.

24th 14:00 Term Ends

April

12th Summer Term begins

Prep Office

08:00 – 13:30

020 8416 4501

prepoffice@smbushey.com

Reception

“

‘I enjoyed dressing up

as the Tiger who

came to Tea.’ Jasmine

‘I liked it when Miss King

read all of the special

stories.’ Emily

‘I loved it when we

showed our outfits in

assembly.’ Simran

Year

1

“

"I was Alice from Alice in

Wonderland. She saw a

white bunny and she was

surprised because he

could talk." - Evie

“I like the dress I

wore and I loved

seeing Arianna

and Dyana

because they had

tails - they were

mermaids!" -

Arianna

"My favourite book is

James and the giant

peach. I was a

ladybird!" - Tabitha

“I would like to read

Alice in Wonderland

next." - Dyana

"I was Juliette from

Romeo and Juliette. It

was a story about

Romeo and he really

like Juliette but it had a

sad ending." - Seyi

Year 2

“

We enjoyed dressing up as our favourite book characters

and sharing the book reviews we had written. These are

some of our favourite books:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by

Roald Dahl - "My best part of the

book was when Violet Beauregarde

turns into a blueberry and looks like

a balloon."

I want my hat back by Jon Klassen -

"My favourite part was when the bear

turns red because it shows how he is

feeling without words."

Florence Nightingale by

Emma Fischel - "My

favourite part was when

Florence was given

books about nursing

from Sidney

Herbert. Florence read

the books in secret and

the more she read the

more she knew she

wanted to change

things."

Year 3

“

Year 3 went to Verulamium Museum on Wednesday.

It was a rainy, grey day when we set off but everyone was very

excited to be going to the museum. History is a great favourite of

ours and so the day was one we had looked forward to for a long

time.

The handling session was really interesting. Many of the objects

we were looking at had been dug up by archaeologists just under

the museum! To think that they had been made by, and used by,

Romans 2,000 years ago was really thrilling. Mrs Mack, who

works at the museum, spoke to us about the artefacts and we

saw lots of things that we had been learning about in school.

Alessia was dressed as a Celt and given a torque necklace and a pendant to wear and Tia was dressed as a Roman lady. We then had a look around the museum and we drew some of the things that we were particularly interested in.

After lunch we

went to the

Amphitheatre.

As we walked

around it we

were sure that

we could hear

the crowd

cheering for

their favourite

gladiators!

Year 3

“

On the way back to the coach we walked around the lake. Swans,

ducks, coots and geese were all busy and we saw quite a lot of

coots making nests. We even saw 5 heron nests high up in the

branches of some trees. There was a heron sitting in one of

them. She looked very busy maybe getting ready for the arrival of

her chicks.

It was a fantastic day. We loved it!

The girls had lots to say about their day…

Isabelle – “It was

very interesting.”

Amaya – “After

the museum we

went to the lake.

It was great fun.”

Aneesa – “It was

the best day

ever.”

Alessia – “It was fun

drawing in the

museum.”

Aditi – “We had learnt a

bit about herons in a

comprehension. It was

amazing to see one. I

can’t believe we

touched things that

were 2,000 years old!”

Isabella – “I think that

even though we saw

lots of things there are

still even more to be

found under the

ground. I can’t believe

that archaeologists had

found so many things.”

Lily – “I found it really

interesting when we got to

draw the mosaics and

when we touched all the

cooking things.”

Tia – “I really enjoyed it

and it was the best day

ever!”

Arya – “It was a

spectacular trip.”

Fatima – “I was amazed

that we were standing

where a Roman town had

been.”

Year 4

“

During Book Week Year 4 created new and exciting book covers for Alice in Wonderland.

Year 5

Elif

Chop up 500g of determination

And stir in 50kg of patience

Chuwen

Sprinkle on 5 kg Love

Blend in 4.5 kg loyalty

Afrah

Carefully whip up 500kg of support

Squeeze in 10,000 drops of

tremendous hard work

Mayuri

Drop in a hint of sweetness

Mix in 1 pint of trust

Heeya

Bake the 900g of caring

Blow on 200g of sparkle

Lucy

Sift 30kg beauty

Grate in 2 kg health

Sienna

Pour in 1,000,000kg of being a

spectacular mum

Gently fry 2 kg of sensibility

Kalmaa

Add a dash of trust

Mix in 400 kg of laughter

Safiya

Simply pour a jar of hugs and kisses

A squeeze of happiness

Sara

Cut 5 kg of fashion

Beat in 200g of friendship

Tara

Pour in a cup of day dreams

And add a spray of Flowerbomb

Anais

Pour in 2 jugs of style

Whisk in 10 kg of unlimited love

Karisma

Drop in 1kg of kindness

Squeeze in a sprinkle of enjoyment

Roxanna

Tweek in an infinite amount of love

Mix 5Kg of hugs and kisses

Zara

Weigh 101 kg of unlimited love and

spread across the world

Izabella

Mix in 3000 kisses on the cheek

Fold in the 10,000 great hugs (make

sure temperature is exactly -9

degrees).

Anchale

Year 6

For this week’s Mother’s Day assembly, Year 6 prepared

the following poem about all they have learned from

their mothers.

Ruby My mother taught me about CHILD DEVELOPMENT; “If you keep looking at pictures of horses you’ll turn into one!”

Aryana My mother taught me about THE SEA: “Don’t stick around those people, they’re fishy.”

Tessa My mother taught me about AERONAUTICS: “If I tell you one more time to hoover around the budgie’s cage you’ll be grounded!”

Kalyani My grandmother taught me about COOKING: “If you talk one more time, I’ll hit you with a saucepan!”

Suzie My mother taught me about CLEANLINESS: “Don’t run inside as I’ve just cleaned, go and make a mess in the garden where your Dad just tidied.”

Dorsa My mother taught me about LUGGAGE: “You need at least 8 hours sleep unless you want to go shopping with black bags…under your eyes.”

Bryony My mother taught me about BAD LANGUAGE “For goodness sake child – don’t repeat that!”

Ami My mother taught me about TIMETABLES “If you don’t go to bed early, you’ll be sleeping during maths.”

Camille My mother taught me about ANIMALS: “Let’s do the Funky Chicken.”

Arabella My mother taught me about TEXTURE: “I prefer NOT to have egg shell in my cakes!”

Sanaa My mother taught me about WAR:

“Well this room looks like a bomb hit it!” Marina My mother taught me about JUSTICE:

“One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out JUST like you.”

Amisha My mother taught me about HUMOUR: “When that lawnmower cuts off your toes, don’t come running back to me!”

Katie My mother taught me about RELIGION: “You’d better pray that comes out of the carpet.”

Angel My mother taught me about FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT “You can have your phone back when you can pay for it yourself!”

Anjali My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE: "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I’ve just finished cleaning."

Mia My mother taught me LOGIC: "Because I said so, that's why."

Nikita My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY: "If I’ve told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

Kamand My mother taught me GENETICS: "You're just like your father."

Karina My mother taught me about my ROOTS: "Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"