BUZZ By the pupils. For the Community.

LENT TERM 2015

CRANLEIGH PREPARATORY SCHOOL

THE

Get inspired,

read a book

On Monday the 9th of March, during World Book Day, the First CPS Spelling Bee took place in the Wyatt Hall. Confident spellers in Forms One to Five took part in a three-round competition, with overall points adding to the house points total at the end of the term.

In the first round, each of the competitors had 30 seconds to answer as many ‘Red words’ as possible. Lara S, in Form 2, said she “enjoyed the Spelling Bee and particularly loved the red word test,” which she said was easy.

The second-round was built up of a ‘Where did this word originate from?’ The purpose of this round was to work out which language a particular word was from. We learned, for example, that the word caffeine has German origins from ‘kaffee’ meaning coffee, as well as a French link with ‘caféine.’ This round proved to be the most difficult, as there were many obscure answers.

The third and final round involved random words being called out and each house representative in their year group would have to spell the word out loud. Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to the ‘Spades Spellers’ who won the competition.

By Alessandra J, 5B

Abc - Spelling Bee! By Ambrose W, 5F

Cranleigh Prep’s School’s celebration of World Book Day is always a highlight of the school calendar and this year was no exception. Learning about “books to inspire me” was the theme of this year’s event and inspired we were!

This year we were lucky enough to have TWO authors come to speak to us. Andy Mulligan, author of Trash and ‘Author in Residence’ at Cranleigh School, inspired us with his fabulous book about a dumpsite boy and made us all dream of writing a Hollywood blockbuster, as the movie based on the book is sure to be. Paul Geraghty, author of 20 picture books, inspired us with his amazingly funny stories and beautiful illustrations. How many of us can remember the name of the snake, whose sur-name was Johnson? As is an annual tradition at CPS, Mrs Fenton prepared a quiz for each form on World Book Day. This was based on the pupils’ knowledge of books and their characters, proving tricky for even the keenest of bookworms. Mrs Fenton explained, “The point of this quiz was to prove that the movies were made from the book, not the other way round.”

Not willing to be outdone by Andy Mulligan’s talk of the “big screen,” the staff at school joined in with the day, starring in a video of their own. In the film, they read bits from books that inspire them and told us why. Motivated by all the talk about books, pupils then all got started writing our own future best seller. Who knows? Maybe the next Harry Potter?

1. How long have you all worked here?

Matron Beever has worked here for 14 years. Matron Chitty, Finch and Browning have worked here 5 years and Matron Thompson has worked here for the longest - for 16 years!

2. What was the worst injury you have had to deal with?

Matron Chitty had to deal with a sliced shin which sounds pret-ty nasty! They all also said that ‘all the sick is awful’ and makes them feel sick too. Matron Finch had to deal with Joss T’s bro-ken arm; she got to go in the ambulance with him!

3. What is your favourite time of day?

Matron Thompson’s favourite time of day is when she puts all the boarders to bed. Matron Browning likes mornings as she gets tired in the evenings when she works here.

4.What days do you work?

Matron Chitty works Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Matron Beever works all week. Matron Thompson works here Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Matron Finch works here every day except Tuesday, and Matron Browning works here Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

5.Which Form do you prefer?

Matron Finch, Beever and Chitty all said Forms 1 and 6 as they like to “nurture them” in Form 1 and see how they turn out in Form 6. Matron Thompson also said Form 6 was her favourite.

6.What is the funniest excuse for something?

Matron Finch said that a boy ran up the stairs to say he broke his leg! Matron Browning said that once someone forgot their team shirt and their excuse was that they left it on their private jet after a weekend trip to Monaco!

7.What is the funniest thing a Matron has ever done?

Apparently, Matron Beever went “cart wheeling down the cor-ridor wearing a swimming hat!” Now that would have been funny! Also, most of the Matrons said that Matron Finch was hilarious in the recent foam party.

8. Who is the strictest matron?

All the Matrons said that every Matron “has their moment,” especially when people do not label their clothes!

9.When do you get the most children up to see you?

Many of the Matrons said that they get the most children up to see them just before house cross country and they make up

excuses to get off of running the long painful race.

10. How can you tell if a child is ‘faking?’

Matron Beever said “very, very, very easily,”and Matron Finch said she knows who ‘the regulars are ‘and she knows how to distract them so she knows whether they are faking! Matron Thompson said she can not tell because some of us are very convincing actors!

PAGE 2 THE BUZZ

AN INTERVIEW WITH…. THE MATRONS

From left to right: Matron Browning, Finch, Beever, Chitty and Thompson.

By Amelie L-P, 6Ha

I interviewed all the Matrons: Matrons Beever, Chitty, Finch, Browning and Thompson. Our Matrons are all ‘oh so lovely’ and I wanted to find out more about the wonderful work that they do for us.

During the Christmas holiday, 31pupils from Form 6 went on the best holiday they could wish for... to South Africa.

On the 11th December, full of excite-ment, we set off to Heathrow Airport for a 10 hour journey to Johannesburg. Upon arrival, and after a long delay at Johannes-burg Airport, we set of to Cape Town, where we soon settled into our bunga-lows. This was to be the first base for the next week. During this time we had the time of our lives: we surfed, climbed Table Mountain, wake boarded, moun-tain biked, shopped, swam with pen-guins, sun bathed and enjoyed all the beach activities available. Sleeping in groups of five pupils per bungalow was great fun. We all loved having the free-dom of living in our own shared houses. Loving the domesticity, some of the boys even took to washing and ironing their own clothes! Everyday, we ate at the Beachcomber Bistro for breakfast and dinner, except for our last night, where we ate at the ‘posher’ part of the restau-rant (The Galley), as a special treat.

PAGE 3 LENT 2015

South African Adventures By Charles H and Henry M, 6Ho

We even had desserts that were ‘generously funded’ by anyone who was late or left their clothes lying around.

After a week of being at the beach, we set off on an eight-hour journey to Namibia. Crossing the border was slow, as we had to stop at the control for about an hour, to complete lots of forms. Once released, we set off on the coach (which looked like it was eight hundred years old) and arrived twenty minutes later at Base Camp. We started our evening with a delicious steak meal before settling down under the stars; what a fantastic way to spend our first night in Namibia! Break-fast started the following morning at 8 a.m. and this was the last chance to pur-chase food before our 4-day river adven-ture.

On Day 1, we set off down the river and experienced many rapids and rocks. That night, we again slept on the floor under the stars.

It was on the afternoon of the second day, tragedy struck! While going down ‘Baby

Sjambok,’ Charlie P and Piers V hit a rock and capsized. Charlie caught his leg between the boat and the rock and needed to be assisted by the river guides. Finally the boat cracked and Charlie was freed. He was whisked away to hospital and spent the next few days at base camp recuperating. The next day, we faced the Sjambok, the biggest rapid on the river; this time, happily, no-one capsized.

After a relaxing fourth day paddling, we arrived back at base camp, exhausted but having had the time of our lives.

Our journey back to England started at 4a.m. was a very early start for us all. We slept for most of the return journey and at 7.00 a.m. the next day, we ar-rived back at Heathrow Airport.

It was the end of a unforgettable trip. Thank you to Mr & Mrs Storey, Mr & Mrs Manning, Mr Halstead and our par-ents!

OUR NEW GAPS

Our new gaps this year are Miss Jade Von Holdt and Mr Andries du Toit from South Africa, and Miss Lilli Ben-nett and Mr Ed Berry from Australia.

They are all enjoying getting to know everyone, especially the boarders. Miss Jade really enjoys ‘Movie night’ and Miss Lilli enjoys ‘tuck’ and Food Tech lessons.

Mr Andy really enjoys a ‘Full English breakfast’ on a Friday and Mr Ed enjoys supervising games on the Astro, so that he can join in!

PAGE 4 THE BUZZ

Mr Reader swoops across to CPS!

Recently Matthew W, Charlie P and Joshua M interviewed Mr Reader, Head of Cranleigh School as they were intrigued to find out more about his interest in Ornithology (Bird watching).

Mr Reader’s fascination with Ornithology began when he was nine years old. He joined the Young Ornithology Club and with this received magazines about birds. He was hooked from then on. The Nuthatch, a bird with brightly coloured plum-age, an interesting shaped bill and a piping call is Mr Reader’s favourite bird. On the subject of unusual birds, he found the Secretary bird the most extraordinary. It has long legs like a Crane, the body of an Eagle, a huge crest on its head, which makes it look rather evil, and it hunts along the ground. If you like Birds of Prey, Mr Reader is a trustee of the Hawk and Owl Trust which he recommended all eager birdwatchers to join.

Identifying birdsong takes lots of practice, but Mr Reader can recognise forty. He explained that birdsong is more tuneful than a bird’s call of two to three notes. A single cheap is used as a warning to other birds and the bird will often fly low. His particular favourite birdsong is the ‘harmonic Robin.’

To help see which bird is flying above (on the wing), he looks at the silhouette of the bird. He notices if it has a rounded or square shape tail and questions whether it is the right time of year and likely environment to spot the type of bird. Finally if you are unable to work out which bird it is, he suggested downloading an RSPB App onto the Ipad, which also helps give more information, as well as listening to the birdsong.

Places Mr Reader recommends to bird watch locally are:

Behind the Woodland Gym and Gatley’s Pond at the Cranleigh School; Winterfold, where you can spot Nightjars; Sydney woods in Alfold, and Horsham, where Red Kites are often seen.

Other super places in Britain worth visiting around the coast which de-lightful for ornithologists are: Chichester Harbour where Egrets can be seen; Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire; Wales and Farne Island in

Northumberland.

For those who wish to bird watch, he suggests you try looking in trees, woodland and hedgerows.

You can always look in your garden where you may see: Blue tits, Great tits, Coal tits, Robin, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Sparrows, Magpies, Wood pigeons and Doves. Also, to encourage birds to visit your garden, try hanging feeders in the garden, but watch out for squirrels!

Thank you to Mr Reader for giving up your time to come and chat to us.

Boarding

Fun this

term By Amelie L-P, 6Ha

This term the boarders have had two really exciting activities to participate in.

Firstly, we all went caving at Say-ers Croft. We were split in to 4 groups and each group went at-tended on a Thursday evening for their activities session. Some peo-ple were really scared that it would tight and claustrophobic, but it was really fun wandering around the

caves which were made from plastic.

Also, we had Boarders have got talent which was really good fun! Nearly every boarder performed; from sing-ing and dancing as well as poetry, jokes and music. Ezra M ‘wowed’ us all with his knowledge of gems, but in the end it was Rye E who won the show, singing Let It Go from the film Frozen.

PAGE 5 LENT 2015

This term we had a visit from Mrs Marshall and we learnt all about chocolate; how it is made; where the different cocoa beans come from; fair trade for the farmers; the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate and, most importantly, how to taste chocolate properly.

We found out that the farmers often don’t get enough mon-ey for what they do. By buying Fair-trade chocolate,we help to support the farmers. With more money, they would be able to buy more clothes and shoes, improve their houses and send their children to school.

Martial Arts Master

By Charles H, 6Ho

On Sunday 8th of March, Jack B was awarded his Korean martial art Choi Kwang Do black-belt.

After four years of dedication and hard work every Friday evening and on Sun-days, he took his hour and a half grad-ing exam. He passed with flying colours and is now working towards his next belt, the black belt with a yellow stripe.

Recently, we interviewed Mr Brendan Law who is currently

Headmaster at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi. Mr Law used to be Head

of Westbourne House School, who we often play sporting

events against. We asked Mr Law why he was currently visiting

the UK. He explained that he was in the UK because he was

interviewing new teachers, as he is currently in the process of

increasing the number of staff in Abu Dhabi. He is hoping to

raise the population of the school from seven hundred and five,

to one thousand by September 2015! We then went on to ask

him about the differences between the two schools. He ex-

plained that in Abu Dhabi, between the children, there are 48

different nationalities, whereas it’s a lot less culturally diverse

at Cranleigh UK.

He then went on to explain the different houses in Cranleigh

Abu Dhabi. The house names are comprised of Arabic names

(Zaeem, Sadeeq, Al Sharaf, Etihad) He also said that Cranleigh

UK has boarding whereas Abu Dhabi is still in the process of

developing the boarding structure. Mr Law told us that he is

expanding the school and planning to build 52 new apartments

for staff accommodation.

The conversation turned to food and we asked Mr Law what his

favourite dish was at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi. He told us that the

caterers there make “sensational Lebanese food.”

When we asked Mr Law what his favourite thing about

Cranleigh was, he replied straight away that it was home-

ly and very friendly. If Mr Law had one thing to change

about Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, it would be not having any

building delays when developing the superb school.

Many pupils are interested if there will be any exchanges

between the two schools. Mr Law remarked that there

would definitely be exchanges, and maybe some joint

sporting tours. They are in the process of discussing the

matter. Mr Law made it very clear that anyone on holiday

in Abu Dhabi is very welcome to visit and he would love

to see more Cranleigh UK pupils visiting soon.

An update on Abu Dhabi by Head, Brendan Law

By Hebe B, 6S and Freya J, 6Ho

A Tasty Talk for Form 3

By Matilda B, Felicity B, and Izzy J, 3ZB

PAGE 6 THE BUZZ

The budding musicians of Cranleigh prep school

By Ella J, 6Ho and Hebe B, 6S

National Choristers and National Musicians Inter-house Music Competitions

Over the course of three weeks many people in the school took part in the inter house music competition. Students went through the heats in their music lessons and the best were selected for one of four finals. These were the four finals and the results:

Woodwind and Brass House Music Final: Jasmine D (Senior Woodwind), William G (Senior Brass), Lottie W (Junior Woodwind and Brass).

Vocal House Music Final: Ella W (Junior Singing), Ben M (Form 5 Singing) and Maya M (Form 6 Singing).

Strings and Guitar House Music Final: Katherine E (Junior Strings), Noah C (Senior Strings) and Richard C (Guitar).

Piano and Percussion House Music Final: Jemima P (Percussion), Kate W (Senior Piano), Edward T (Junior Piano).

Teachers, parents and students all agreed that the level of music was incredibly high with everyone having an amaz-ing ability to stand in front of their peers to sing or per-form. Hopefully, the level at which pupils were perform-ing will continue to impress!

Cranleigh have had high musical success in the last term with Francesca D, Jack C, Kate W, Ella Wand Heather A securing places in the National Children’s Choir, Kate W gaining a place in the National Youth Girls’ Choir and Jasmine D getting into the National Children’s Wind Sinfonia.

Furthermore, Fleur M triumphed at the Arun Young Musicians Festival. After successfully completing the first round of the festival on 1st November, Fleur was invited to perform at the Gala Finals Concert. As a re-sult of her stunning performance, she was awarded the Paul Blackwell Trophy for Young Vocalists (12 years and under).

Continuing with the success of singing throughout the

school Cranleigh Prep School Chamber Choir sang in a

charity concert at St Nicholas’s Church and in London

at the Brandenburg Choral Festival, receiving lots of

praise and many compliments.

Form Four practise their

journalistic skills

Form 4 have been showcasing their writing talent by producing newspaper articles.

We began by researching our chosen topic and what a diverse bunch we are! The subjects chosen

ranged from ‘Ebola’ to ‘Politics’ and from ‘Charlie Hebdo’ to ‘Obesity.’ Once we were armed with our facts , we collated our infor-mation into an article on a computer program

called Publisher; a clever program which allows you to create realistic newspaper articles.

We really enjoyed the whole process and were thrilled with the finished articles. Mr Carne was very impressed with the overall standard but was

quick to point out that the article focusing on obesity was not based on him!

I think there is a lot of talent in Form 4 and we have many budding journalists in our midst.

Watch this space!

By Freddie M, 4C

PAGE 7 LENT 2015

Can you pop all three balloons?

By Mattie W, 2S

Can you move the shark and gobble up the

octopuses?

By Sasha P, 2R

Can you move the snake to gobble up the eggs?

By Rory G, 2S

Can you use the keys to move the spaceship

around the snow maze?

By Evie M, 2S

Form 2 have been introduced to coding in their Computing lessons this term. They have been challenged to design, create and publish their apps. If you have a QR reader app on your smartphone or tablet device, you can scan these QR codes to see them work.

A QR code (Quick response code) is a two-dimensional barcode. It is a machine-readable optical label, that contains infor-mation about the item to which it is attached.

How are you going to discover what Form 2 have been doing in Computing?

Form 1 Rainforest Poetry

Frog

Golden staring eyes as round as a sphere,

Webbed feet climbing onto a tree,

Pitted green skin as if it were a small lime,

Gently smiling mouth

with its wet tongue lurking inside.

By Emily W

Bee

Delicate glossy wing flapping,

Hairy legs like a bush,

Lined curved eye similar to soot,

Fluffy coat as soft as a pillow.

By Archie H

PAGE 8 THE BUZZ

‘The Buzz’ is printed on recycled paper

House Cross Country

By Freya J , 6Ho

On the 30th of January, House Cross Country took place. All the houses were out battling in the mud to try and win house points. There was a minute silence at the beginning of the race to remember Austin Neve. Many parents braved the cold weather to support the event and we were grateful for their support.

Lower School set of first to run their 1km race. The older years were very supportive and cheered them on throughout the race.

While the Lower School children went to the Keppie Area and enjoyed a cup of tomato soup the middle forms where lining up. Everyone in the Middle School was buzzing. Many were heard saying they ‘needed the toilet’ and where ‘tired already’! It was very tense race once again!

Finally, the Upper School piled into the starting lines. When the horn was pressed a surge of chil-dren sprinted out and started the mammoth 3km. Many complaints where heard but everyone pulled through. A huge thank you for Mr Man-ning for organising it; I am sure everyone enjoyed it really!

The top 6 runners in each year then represented

the school at the Eagle House Cross Country,

where the U13 boys and U11 girls came 1st in

their age groups and the U13 girls came 2nd. CPS

had many great individual results. Well done!

Horse Riders Jump

For Joy

By Zoe B, 6Ha and Lila M, 6W

The riders did themselves proud at the Nationals, with one team tak-ing the silver position and the other team with the bronze. The Mini Arena Eventing team also finished with a bronze position. Their Nov-ice and Intermediate counterparts made the final line-up of the top eight teams. Lila M took sixth place individually in the mini event. Will M, Freddie M, Issy H and Jess E are going to be a force to be reckoned within the Mini Team, even though they just missed out in

placing in the Nationals this time round. Katie L, Jess E, Amy Sand Lila M took second place for the A team in the Novice Competi-tion and Lila also took a seventh place individually.

An exciting start to our term was the Guildford & District Champi-onships in January, and here we came together as a whole team with Cranleigh Senior School. This year CPS took a young team from 7yrs –U13yrs and many swam ‘up a year.’ A special well done to James M who swam up 2 years! Here we won the Overall Mixed Schools Championships Shield; the title was last taken by CPS 14 years ago. The U10 Girls also won the Overall Girls U10’s Trophy, the U11 Girls who came 3rd and lastly the U11 Boys placed overall 2nd.

Our second gala in February was against one of our main IAPS competitors, Feltonfleet, who we beat 212 to 134. CPS won 26 races out 27, a fine achievement.

Next, we took a young CPS team the Surrey Individual Champion-ships. This event involved the CPS Middle and Senior school and Cranleigh School Seniors. Swimmers over the age of 12 had to swim 100m races. The big test came when we hosted the IAPS Pre-liminary Regional Rounds, where 6 other schools attended with 100 children participating. The results will be released at the end of March for those who have qualified for the Finals on 9th May.

Coming up soon is the Independent Schools Bath Cup; Schools Bi-

athlon Championships (at the Olympic Aquatic Centre) and our last

away gala against Highfield. We couldn’t have managed our success

this term without some exceptional swimming from our younger

squad. However, we must thank the team as a whole for all their

enormous efforts and a special thank you to our U13’s for setting

such an inspirational example of “hard work equals great success.”

Swimming success

By Maya M, 6Ho and Max F, 6S

Swimmers who won the Mixed Schools Championship Shield