Good morning, Prep School family,
Welcome to Monday!
I hope this Bulletin finds you safe, well and rested after a lovely weekend.
My weekend was fantastic – we managed to celebrate my dad’s birthday – outdoors, with a picnic as planned, and not a single drop of rain. The weather was glorious. We all had a lovely time being together (socially distanced, of course) but it was just so good to be able to be together as a family again. My dad is over 70, so he has been staying very safe in lockdown and hasn’t really been out of his house, except to walk the dog for nearly 14 weeks. He was so happy to be able to get to my brother’s garden and celebrate his birthday in style. We nearly had a bit of disaster with the cake I made – it was completely stuck to the tin, thank goodness the icing covered the areas that I had to hack at to get it out! It tasted good though and that is the main thing! Thank you, Mrs Griffiths, for the recipe!
I am looking forward to being in school today and seeing everyone again. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Zoom lessons on Friday and it was great to catch up with Yr5P and see Yr2 have a virtual Pizza Express visit thanks to Mrs Tidman and Mrs Griffiths – so many happy faces! My tummy was rumbling watching them create some amazing pizzas! I wasn’t so sure on some of the topping choices though Yr2, but at least no one added tuna to a pizza – that would be completely disgusting!
Your teachers and I have been really busy planning lots of exciting things for us all between now and the end of term. We know that this is the ‘fun’ term with all the super events that usually take place. Obviously we cannot do them all due to the restrictions in place and some of the events will look different to normal but they will still be brilliant! I will write to your parents this week with further details of these and then I will tell you all about them in a Bulletin later in the week.
This week, I also have the privilege of judging a writing competition. I don’t know if you know but Highclare School is part of a school’s association called The Society of Heads. It is like a club that schools are part of and they offer lots of things to teachers and Head teachers like training courses, webinars, competitions for us to enter as a school etc. It is like the ISA but different! I am also privileged to be part of the Junior Head’s Committee and we usually meet in London once a term to discuss school related things. Last time we met, I was asked if I would judge the writing competition that they run for prep schools. I said yes and then with lockdown and everything that has happened since March – I completely forgot all about it! Then on Friday, an email arrived for me with all of the entries on. Now you all know that I love reading, so I cannot wait to be able to sit down and read all the wonderful short stories that have been written. I will let you know how I get on – I’m am not sure I will be able to pick a winner though – I had a quick scan through on Friday and some of them blew me away!
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 Monday 15th June:
Life skill of the day: Can you do some baking?
Day of the year themes: ‘Nature Photography Day’, ‘Lobster Day’, ‘Magna Carta Day’ and ‘Smile Power Day’
And don’t forget it’s also ‘Care For Your Grandparents Month’ and ‘Audiobook 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: There is a food that you don’t like, but someone else does. Is that because it tastes different for you, or because you don’t like the taste and the other person does?
TOPS activity of the week: This is the last week of the 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: “All it takes is one good person to restore hope” Pope Francis
Joyous June calendar task: Rediscover a fun childhood activity that you can do today.
Sleeps til Santa: 192
Have a magic Monday,
Mrs Bennett
