Mrs Bennett’s Bulletin, Wednesday 10 June 2020

Posted: 10th June 2020

Good morning, Prep School,

Whoop! It’s Wednesday!

So yesterday was a busy and eventful day. We hosted our, and Highclare’s, first ever virtual Open Morning – which was a great success. We were able to showcase the school to many potential parents, who were exceedingly impressed with what we were able to show them. It is really hard at the moment as we cannot welcome visitors through our doors and show them, in person, our wonderful school. They do not get to experience the super teachers or amazing pupils that they would normally come into contact with on a tour or regular Open Morning. We did, however, show them many pictures of you all doing the things that you may do in a day – lessons, playtimes, fixtures, productions, clubs, sports, music etc. There were a lot of amazing photos! We also had our Head Boy and Head Girl of Highclare St Paul’s speaking about our sporting, musical, academic and pastoral provisions. We were then able to answer lots of questions about Highclare Prep. It made me so proud to talk about our wonderful school and celebrate all of your successes with others.

Then, just as we had just got back into the classrooms after lunch, we had invasion of the bees – part 2! Now, I thought we had a lot of bees last Tuesday (remember, the day I saved Mrs McGoldrick’s life by being stung instead of her?) but today was something else! They were everywhere. On the EYFS playground, on the field, on the roof, on the walls. . . everywhere! I have never seen so many teachers shut their windows so quickly! It must be something about Highclare on a Tuesday that bees like. So again, we called our new friend the beekeeper, who duly came out and had a look at our bees for us. Amazingly, it was a brand new swarm, not the old ones returning. I have never seen one swarm of bees in my life and within a week, I have seen two. There were so many bees, that we had to call another beekeeper to come and help with the removal! I have to say that the beekeepers were so brave. The bees had settled in multiple nests in one of our tress at the back of school (see the attached photos – you might need to zoom in to see them in detail) but the beekeepers just went into the tree and cut off the branches with the nests attached and put them into boxes to take to his colonies in Leicestershire. It was fascinating to watch – Mrs Quigley and I stood (a long way away) and watched him removed one nest. I have again attached a photo for you. I am now hoping that the bees are very happy in their new hives but also that we don’t have another invasion anytime soon! If we do, we will be able to make a trilogy!

After all of this excitement, I finally had a cup of tea and a piece of Mrs Harris’ birthday cake! Delicious!

Before I leave you today, one quick plea. If you are in choir, on either site, Miss Broder has set you a task to complete on the VLE by the end of this week. If you do it and submit it to her, you will get 5hps each. It is really important that you do this for us, please. More will be revealed very soon. I thank you in advance for this.

So each day I promised I would be sending you a life skill task to complete and also a joke, poem, picture, fact or reflection. Here we go for Wednesday 10th June:

Life skill of the day: Can you help make your family meal this evening?

Day of the year themes: ‘Iced Tea Day’ and ‘Ball Point Pen Day’. June is also ‘Great Outdoors Month’, ‘Country Cooking Month’ and ‘International Mud Month’.

Thunk of the day: Remember, Thunks are unusual questions that are designed to make you think. There are no right or wrong answers -just your answer. The only rule is that you must be able to justify and explain your answer. You cannot just say the first thing that comes into your head. Really think about the question and discuss with your family!

Question: If I tell a joke that needs to be translated, who makes the other person laugh – me or the translator??

TOPS activity of the week: This is a two-week task. . . Can you think of the seven continents of the world and identify a major landmark from each e.g. Europe – Buckingham Palace. Can you then recreate these landmarks? You could bake them, make out of Lego, paint, dress up as them, make out of toilet rolls. . . use your imagination, there are many house point on offer for anyone that can achieve this!

It can be an individual or a family effort. I would love to see these photos once you have done and I will share on social media!

Quote of the Day: “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill

Joyous June calendar task: Take a photo of something that brings you joy and share it – I have attached mine for you! I couldn’t decide so you have a few – Amelie and Arthur (standard!), Mr Bennett (of course), My dad (my hero) and the crazy team I work with daily (sorry Miss Jones)!! I would love to see your photos!

Sleeps til Santa: 197

Have a wonderful Wednesday,

Mrs Bennett 😊

Highclare School is proud to announce its newest Sixth Form Scholarship

Our Sixth Form Pre-Med Scholarship is now live for applicants to Highclare Sixth Form from September 2024 onwards.

The scholarship provides a bespoke programme for students aiming to enter university in September 2026 with a research-science based degree.

For more information email admissions@highclareschool.co.uk