Extra-Curricular Clubs Fair
Next Friday 31st March we are going to have our first 'Extra-Curricular Clubs Fair', where the pupils will have the opportunity to find out about and sign up for clubs in the Trinity Term. Click here to view the list of clubs available. We would really appreciate it if you could have a conversation with your child to direct them as to which clubs they should sign up for next Friday. If you feel it would be helpful for them to write down the clubs they should sign up for before next Friday that would be a huge help - click here. Once we have collated the registers we will confirm with pupils the clubs they have signed up for. This will also ensure we have accurate registers. The clubs will commence on Tuesday, 25th April. To assist our musicians, I can advise that next term's commitments for the instrumental ensembles are as follows:
Fiddle Fiesta 26th June
String Group, String Quartet
Windband Day/Concert 27th June
Brass Group, Clarinet Group, Flute Group
Staffing
I am delighted to announce that Jonathan Dean has been appointed as Head of Sport & PE from September. Mr Dean joins us from Montsaye Academy where he is Director of Sport and PE. He has represented his county in football, gained county representative honours in both Rugby Union and Athletics, cycles and is a passionate skier. Mr Dean, who comes with outstanding references, will be with us for a few days next term to meet the pupils as part of his handover.
I am also very pleased to announce that Chris Pickett will be joining us as Acting Deputy Head, Pastoral whilst Mrs Claire Petrie takes her maternity leave. Mr Pickett, who has been on a sabbatical this year, is Head of History. We look forward to welcoming both of them to their new posts in September.
Finally…
I am looking forward next week to congratulating the pupils who are joining me on Monday and Tuesday for the “Headmistress’ Mystery Treat”. Pupils are nominated by their Form Tutor for being exemplary in upholding the WPS code of conduct and having set and achieved their goals. It gives me great pleasure to recognise and acknowledge these pupils. Next week will be another action packed one with our Final Awards Assembly and the Club singing competition. The competition is as much between the pupils as it is the staff! Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Sue Knox
Headmistress
Pupil Reports
At the end of this term you will receive a report detailing your child’s effort for Lent term and the progress they have made in each subject based upon their individual target and the WPS standard. The WPS standard aims to provide you with context about your child’s ability in relation to age expectation at WPS. Pupils in Year 8 will also receive subject comments from their teachers.
Here is a sample of some of the highlights of the Prep School's curriculum from this week including reports from Mrs Simmons, Miss Kingstone, Mr Dennis, Dr Fordham and Mrs Drye:
Year 4 Activities
It has been another busy week for Year 4. On Tuesday they visited the Pre-Prep to watch the Year 3 play - The Blue Crystal; on Wednesday they were making sparklers in the Science Lab using bunsen burners for the first time and on Thursday they were entertained by Steve Cole the author of over 150 books, some of which were very familiar to us, including, Astrosaurs and The Young Bond.
The competition on TT Rockstars has continued this week with many improving their times tables recall speed and although the top ten positions have been fluctuating daily, I can report that this morning the top 5 were:-
1st Finn Davern (Rock Legend) ave. 1.38 seconds per question
2nd Sulaiman Ali (Rock Legend) ave. 1.42 seconds per question
3rd Thomas Fry (Rock Star) ave. 2.28 seconds per question
4th Thomas Ravest (Rock Star) ave. 2.29 seconds per question
5th Jack Malton (Rock Star) ave. 2.33 seconds per question
Well done to all those who have worked hard practising times tables this week.
The Year 4 pupils were set the challenge of finding out what an Anglo-Saxon village looked like and what it would have contained in order to
design and build their own including all the resources that the villagers would need to survive. They earned points for each of the following sections: what the village looked like, the resources they included, whether they had labelled each section saying why it was included and how well they worked together as a team. They all enjoyed the task and got fully involved with making everything from trees to churches.
Year 7 Tudor Day
The Prep School was pleased to welcome back History off the Page for our annual Year 7 Tudor Day. On Tuesday, 21st March, a wide range of Tudor activities took place, from candle-making to embroidering initials, as well making their own soap and discussing rumours about Henry VIII. In the afternoon, pupils feasted, sang songs, danced and performed plays as part of a lavish banquet. Many thanks to the parents who came to help.
Year 8 Geography Trip
On Wednesday 15th March 2017 we took 72 Year 8 students on a residential trip to Dorset, to study coasts as part of their Geography studies. We spent the afternoon exploring Lulworth Cove, Stair Hole and Durdle Door. We learnt about the geology of the coast and the effects of erosion. After arriving at the PGL site at Osmington Bay, we had a tour of the facilities before dinner and an evening activity entitled 
“Passport to the World”, which involved students finding geographical clues and answering questions around the site. On Thursday, we spent the morning in Weymouth examining some of the Human Geography features of the settlement and why its situation on the coast is so important for the town. After eating lunch on Weymouth beach, we travelled to Chesil Beach. On the beach, students conducted various methods of data collection, including beach profiling, Longshore Drift measurements, pebble analysis and wave counts, before learning more about the coastal defences in place. Students gathered lots of data and information that they will be able to use in their forthcoming assessed write-up. In the evening, we used the computers 
on site to draw beach profiles and start thinking about their findings before some free time (where many students played basketball and other sports). On Friday morning, we woke to sunshine. Students got hands-on searching for fossils on Osmington Bay beach. Some students even found some impressive ammonites! In addition to the academic side of the trip, students also had a go at abseiling, before having lunch and travelling back to school. All in all, a very successful trip. Thank you to all the staff who attended the trip and made it a success and well done to the students on their behaviour. They were superb ambassadors for the school, following our high expectations and treating each other and the environment respectfully. They should all be praised on how they conducted themselves.
Pun and Laughter with Steve Cole
Writer of over a 100 books and plays, “author” Steve Cole came to give three adrenaline fuelled presentations to the whole of the Prep School. It 
was akin to having Michael McIntyre in the Hall! He began by entertainingly informing Years 7 and 8 about a catalogue of fascinating inventions he unearthed during his research into the 1930’s for his four Young Bond books: Shoot to Kill, Heads You Die, Strike Lightning and Red Nemesis (out in May). During the day, the theme of “chucking imagination” at real life dominated; he encouraged pupils to take what they know and to “squash” it with something unusual (like superpowers or alien life forms) and see what emerges. His humour was wildly infectious, whether when relating the story of his disgust of salad and the terrifying tank-like figure of his childhood dinner lady or how early underwater photographers blew up a boat in order to provide sufficient light with which to take a colour image. Aged 6, instead of writing a normal diary entry for his teacher, he related the tale of a Sunday afternoon in which deadly dustbins attacked his house. Her encouragement started him on his career, and he continues to be astounded that he is paid to do something he loves (even if it means he sometimes has to write for 48 hours at a time and once suffered from repe
titive strain syndrome for two years!). As a writer for Dr Who, he also loves time travel, which leads to manifold possible scenarios for a writer. He advised the children to investigate the possibilities as he has done in Secret Agent Mummy, with his Egyptian sleuth popping up wherever or whenever he decides to set a book. Word play also abounded, with puns adding to the fun and laughter, in a reading from Incredible Ink. He even played the ukulele. What a lot of fun was had by all, another great way to spend an English lesson.
Mrs Owen
Deputy Head - Curriculum
Graffiti
Last week, we had an incident of graffiti in the girls' toilets in the Bedford Block where there was an offensive message written about a member of staff. All girls from Years 5-8 were spoken to about this. Unfortunately we have had more graffiti written in the same toilets this week and so I have invited our local police support officer in to address the girls on Monday next week. I am hopeful that a clear message from a police officer should act as a deterrent in future.
Mobile Phones
I write to remind parents that the Prep School maintain a strict rule against the use of phones in school. Phones may only be brought into school when there is a clear and obvious need i.e. pupils travelling to school by bus or train. In this instance, pupils are asked to deposit their phone in to the Prep Office for safety and then collect at the end of the school day. Please could I ask that if you know your son or daughter is bringing their phone to school that, in accordance with our handbook, you advise the Prep Office, preferably by email prep-office@wellingboroughschool.org, to ensure that the phone is registered. It would be most helpful if you could also include the telephone number of the phone, which could be useful in the event of it being lost.
- A pupil who needs to communicate to parents during the school day has free access to the school phone from the Prep Office.
- The Clarioncall e-mail system enables the school to communicate accurate and instant information to you, for example regarding trip or ‘away match’ pick-up times and important forthcoming events.
- The Late-Prep telephone number is 07887 911046 and can be contacted between 4.00pm-6.00pm to update waiting pupils in the event of lateness or to ask for pupils to come down to the collection point to save you leaving your vehicle.
Mrs Petrie
Deputy Head - Pastoral
ABRSM Exams
Candidates for this term's ABRSM exams should have received details of their exam time by post. Schedules are also displayed in the playground and in the Music block. Candidates should arrive 15 minutes before their exam start time, and must remember to bring their music (including piano accompaniment music where applicable) and their instrument. All music must be original publications; photocopies are not permitted.
Year 5
Year 5 pupils should remember to take their brass or wind instrument home at the end of term, so that they can practise over the Easter holiday, in preparation for next term's Windband Day.
Music Lesson Timetables
To view next week’s timetables of individual lessons, which are also displayed just inside the main entrance to the music department, click here.
Mr Leutfeld
Head of Music
Sports Fixtures Week Commencing 27th March 2017
Wednesday 29th March
Club Football
Seniors (Yr 7 & 8) – 2.30 KO
Juniors (Yr 5 & 6) – 2.30 KO
Club Netball
Seniors (Yr 7 & 8) – 2.30 KO
Juniors (Yr 5 & 6) – 2.30 KO
Sports Results
To view this week’s results please click here.
Mr Irvine
Head of Sport and Extra-Curricular
Country of the Day
To continually improve location knowledge in the Prep School, here is a daily challenge from 6LW. Your focus for each day is to locate the country on a map! If that is too easy, there are some extension questions too…
Daily challenge:
Monday 27th March - Croatia
Tuesday 28th March - Congo
Wednesday 29th March - Zimbabwe
Thursday 30th March - Taiwan
Friday 31st March - Chile
Extension questions:
1. What is the capital city of this country?
2. What does the flag look like?
3. How many people live in this country?
4. What are the most notable features of this country?
Dr Fordham
Head of Geography
Easter Sports Camp
Monday, 3rd-7th April
Lots of sport and lots of fun! Early Booking and Sibling Discounts available – don’t miss out! For more details and a booking form click here.
Mrs Petrie
Camp Leader
Sainsbury’s Active Kids
Sainsbury's have launched their Active Kids vouchers scheme which runs through to 2nd May. We have been collecting vouchers for many years now and have exchanged them for a number of sports items for the pupils. Any donations will be greatly appreciated and these can be handed in to the Prep Office.
Information to parents
To view copies of letters sent by Clarioncall and weekly team sheets please click here to be redirected to Parents Login. If you do not know the login details please email prep-office@wellingboroughschool.org.