Dear Parents,
Year 6 pupils have been back in school for almost three weeks now; it has been fantastic to have them back and I am delighted at how smoothly it has gone. We are very much looking forward to welcoming back Years 4 and 5 next week, Year 3 the week after and then Years 7 and 8 for the last week and a half of term (specific details will be sent to the parents of children in these year groups). I am really pleased that every pupil is going to have the opportunity to be physically back in school before we break for the summer.
There are a number of constraints we have been working around in order to ensure the school is COVID-secure. Given the size of the site, we are limited as to how many pupils we can have in the building at any one time. At present we are unable to use Regents’ Park (which has a significant impact on how we safely manage break-times). We need to increase the number of classes we run in school to ensure groups don’t exceed 15 pupils and we can’t provide lunch en-masse in the traditional way. We still need to provide an online service for those children and families who are unable to come back into school. Furthermore, not all my staff are in a position to be able to return to work just yet.
We explored a number of models, for example: having children in for two or three full days each week, having some year groups in one week, and others in the following week. However, the half-day model seemed best from an educational perspective. It allows children to receive regular, daily core lessons in Mathematics and English whilst doing their pre-recorded lessons from home. I fully appreciate though that this may cause logistical issues for some families, and I ask you to bear with us as we trial this model for the remainder of the term.
We will of course seek your feedback and views as we plan for September. Our plans need to be fluid, and we may well change the model based on our observations as to how this works and your feedback. However, please can I ask for your patience and understanding for the time being whilst we assess how this works. As we will continue to work on our plans for September over the summer, there will be no key worker provision.
It is that time of year where we sadly say farewell to a number of teachers who will be leaving us at the end of the academic year.
Ms Nicola Swales joined us in September 2018 as Assistant Head (Teaching and Learning) before taking on responsibility for the Upper School from September 2019. Nicola leaves us to become Deputy Head Teacher at Notting Hill Prep. I would like to thank Nicola for all her hard work these last two years. I will personally miss her counsel, solution-focused attitude, keen interest in pedagogy, and her unflappable positivity!
After seven years here, Mr Kian Malone leaves the Year 4 team to pursue interests elsewhere. The school has been a big part of his life over the course of these years, and we thank him for all his hard work.
Ms Charlotte Watson leaves us as Head of Girls’ Games. We will miss her boundless enthusiasm and willingness to throw herself into school life. The girls’ sport has flourished under her leadership and we wish her all the best as she takes on a promoted post at St. Hilda’s in Bushey, which is much closer to home. Also leaving the PE and Games department (for the third time!) is Lisa Todd, who has been with us for three years. I would like to thank Lisa for the energy she puts into all her work. I know I speak for many pupils when I say we will thoroughly miss her ‘Wake-Up ad Shake-Ups”. Lisa is returning home to Australia.
Dr. Netty Purchase will also be moving to Australia this summer in order to marry James, her new partner. We wish them both the very best. Ms. Sara Encinar will be leaving us to continue her teaching career in the secondary sector.
Ms Lily Frederick sadly leaves us after just two terms to take on a full-time SENCO role at Halcyon International School, and Ms Mohinini who has been with us on a temporary one-term contact also leaves at the end of this term. From the Learning Assistant team, Cristina De Nieves Lopez (who has been on maternity leave for most of this year) leaves us to pursue a career as a Languages teacher and Ms. Fatmire Bunjaku leaves us to pursue interests elsewhere.
We look forward to welcoming a number of new colleagues to the team next academic year.
In September, Ms Penny Lee will be stepping down from her role as Assistant Head Teacher (Middle School) in order to focus on her safeguarding role and her English teaching. Mr Aidan Taylor will take over from Penny as Assistant Head Teacher (Middle School). Aidan studied at UCS before reading French and History at Nottingham University. He is currently Assistant Head Teacher at St Ann’s CE Primary where he has been since 2017.
Mr Raymond Irving joins us to fill the newly created post of Assistant Head Teacher (Co-Curriculum). He will have oversight of Sports, Music, Drama, the Arts and our clubs provision. Raymond is currently Assistant Head Teacher at the Horizon English School in Dubai. In addition to his role on the SLT, Raymond will be teaching PE and Games. Also joining the PE department will be Miss Amy Coad (as Head of Girls’ Games). Amy has been working at Shrewsbury International School in Bangkok for the last two years. Prior to this she was working in London and in Kent following her graduation from Canterbury Christ Church University.
Miss Céline Maillard joins us as Head of Languages. Celine studied French and Italian at Oxford University and has taught at Highgate School and most recently at Sussex House Prep School.
There will also be some internal changes. Mrs Catherine Ralph who has been teaching English here since September 2019 becomes Assistant Head Teacher (Upper School), Mrs Veronika Shelley (Assistant Head Teacher Lower School) takes on responsibility for teaching and learning across the whole school and Ms Sonia Gomez will become Deputy Head of Learning Support. Mr Laurie Power, who joined us in January 2019 on a two-term contract will be staying on, although in a new capacity; he will be joining Ms. Rodgers in the Science department.
With best wishes,
James Stenning
@NBHPrepHead
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YEAR 6
On Monday, all Year 6 students, at home and in school, will be having a bushcraft day (to make up for their trip being cancelled)! There is an exciting programme of activities for all pupils, with in-school children taking part in fire lighting, shelter building and bracelet making. The at-home children will be cooking, den building and finding north using a shadow stick. Click on the links to view the activity sheets.
YEARS 7 & 8
As we move into the end of term, we are delighted to be able to offer Years 7 and 8 the opportunity to come back into school for the final week. Due to government restrictions, and to ensure that all of our school community is safe, we are able to offer the following programme.
Pupils will be in their normal classes and will be with one teacher only during their time in school. Morning sessions will run from 9:30-12:00 and afternoon sessions run from 13:15-15:45. Pupils should not bring any items from home into school.
- Monday 6th July: Year 8 to come into school in small groups to collect personal items (groups will be communicated to parents via Ms Swales)
- Tuesday 7th – Thursday 9th July: Year 7 in school for the morning (9:30-12) / Year 8 in the afternoon (13:15-15:45)
- Friday 8th July: Year 8 Leavers’ Assembly 11:00-12:00 (this will be streamed live to parents via Zoom).
It is hoped that this programme will give Year 8 a chance to finish their time at North Bridge House with their friends and teachers with at least some sense of normality.
LONDON MATHS WEEK
From 19th to 26th June, North Bridge House Prep will be taking part in our first ever London Maths Week!
This year we will take part in two competitions: Sumdog and London Rocks! Classes from across London are taking part (there are currently around 1350 classes signed up), with the average number of correct answers for each class used as a score. There are also competitions for individual students. There will be certificates and prizes being given out to those who come in the top 3 daily and at the end of the competition. Details of the prizes are below.
Sumdog Prizes:
The overall 1st place class will receive a Maths Week London trophy. Each pupil in the winning class will receive an app store voucher, either for Android or iOS. 2nd and 3rd place classes will receive medals. The top 3 pupils across London will receive medals and app store vouchers.
The top class each day will receive a printable daily winner certificate (a class can only be the daily winner once during the contest). All pupils who have answered 100 questions will receive a virtual item for their Sumdog house. This item will be delivered automatically as a gift to their account.
London Rocks! Prizes:
An exclusive avatar background will be awarded to:
- Top 3 highest scoring pupils out of all Primary Schools.
- Top 3 highest scoring pupils out of all Secondary Schools.
- Pupils within the top 3 winning maths classes overall out of all Primary Schools.
- Pupils within the top 3 winning maths classes overall out of all Secondary Schools.
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YEAR 3
Congratulations to our Stars of the Week:
3Colledge: Apostolos M
3May: Michael (Misha) K
3Truesdale: Alexa C
3Gomez: Seba C
3Purcell: Shiv C
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Well done to Finley in 3Gomez for accomplishing his green belt!
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Milo and Eliza in 3 Colledge
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Year 3 have been writing some more fantastic newspaper articles. They have worked hard to include an interesting topic, lots of facts and quotes in their writing. Keep up the excellent writing, Year 3!
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Benjamin and Seb M in 3 Gomez
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Elsie and Charlie in 3 Truesdale
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YEAR 4
Congratulations to our Stars of the Week:
This week, the Year 4 teachers have decided to award the Star of the Week to their entire classes. We have been so impressed with how all of the pupils have coped with doing their assessments online this week. The children have shown such patience and self-motivation when faced with challenges such as completing their tests in a new format, technical issues and the odd tricky maths and English question! Well done, you are all such superstars Year 4!
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4 Truasheim have continued to work wonderfully online - sharing their stories, ideas and things they are learning about. This includes:
- Emilio watching his tadpoles grow and learning about the life cycle of a frog, as well as interviewing his great grandparent about their experiences in London during WW2 (top and bottom left)
- Sofia exploring the world of virtual reality and creating her own bug collection (top right)
- Cassidy and his brother learning to rollerblade (top centre)
- Edoardo entering his photo ‘Alone’ into the National Gallery competition! (bottom right).
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This week Year 5 chose their favourite creative writing piece from their online English classes so far and wrote them up into these beautifully presented masterpieces. Well done to Olivia, Louis and Zack whose work is pictured above and below.
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Dr Purchase's Year 6 bubble (Purchase Bubble) have started the Bedroom project and this week they were tasked with making the largest cube they could from a piece of squared paper. They really enjoyed themselves and persevered in what was quite challenging task.
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YEARS 7 & 8
Congratulations to our Stars of the Week:
Leo M (Niniane) and Charles R (Guinevere) for their excellent engagement in the Year 8 Post CE programme.
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Rishad in 7/8 Merlin has been creative with his designing again, keeping his sights on being an architect one day. His little brother requested he made a plane this time. He used Plus Plus building blocks but designed the plane himself.
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This week marked the end of the Year 8s' Common Entrance exams, and the beginning of their post exam programme. It has been a challenge moving from our exciting ‘in-school’ programme to online, but the staff have done a wonderful job of pulling together to facilitate this. After being introduced to some of their projects, including a remote drama performance of a Star Wars themed Shakespeare play, and ‘Covid -19’ comic strip, the Year 8s threw themselves into their well-being day on Tuesday. This included an introduction to yoga from Miss Swales, a live drawing lesson with tattoo artist Rebecca Vincent, and mindfulness with Miss Pizzi. Wednesday brought a ‘Psychology for Success’ workshop with Dr Isabel Yorke, and the chance to ask top fitness coach Benjamin Naylor about how to reach their goals. Thursday’s excitement was a morning with Lella Kirland, who works for the Halo Trust and has just returned from three years removing landmines in Myanmar and Laos – the boys were challenged to think about the logistics and costs involved in a project like this and to create a proposal for funding. Their week of live lessons was rounded up with Mark from Oyster Diving, who spoke with them about diving with sharks. What a week!
Here are some of their drawings from their session with Rebecca Vincent:
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Year 8 Hovig has become somewhat of a local phenomenon in his neighbourhood, keeping everyone entertained with his regular concerts. Sunday's show was hugely appreciated, with Hovig being joined by fellow resident musicians: a pianist, an oboist, a violinist and a vocalist.
Given the younger fan base that the concerts are also drawing in, Hovig is now arranging another show for the little children in the residency, so that they too have an opportunity to play music and perform to one another.
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Here Hovig is offering his violin to a little boy who is desperate for his own instrument after being inspired by Hovig's music. Keep spreading the enthusiasm, Hovig!
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Check out this amazing work by Cassidy C in 4 Truasheim. He took the music lesson on rhythms and ran with it, creating all the parts to Che Che Koolay by himself using different instruments and singing too. Really brilliant work!
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Emilio N in Year 4 (Sunset)
Aiden E in Year 5 (Cardboard house)
Kai G in Year 7 (Comic book)
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What a week it’s been in PE!
The Year 6s at school have being practicing cricket, table tennis, athletics and tennis. Just in case they had some energy left to burn, they got stuck into some circuit training too (6Cooper worked particularly hard)!
Our online learning is also going strong, with a big push towards improving our athletics. In Year 4 we’ve seen some incredible sprint starts from Cassidy, Max and Andre. In Year 3 we didn’t let the weather get the better of us; Mr Lockwood set the challenge of some egg and spoon races. The children have also been honing their shot put skills. Sebby and Leo set up a circle in the garden and Apostolos showed us some excellent technique. Well done Harriet and Clelia for getting the whole family involved and great effort from Seraphina for throwing on a coat and getting out there no matter the conditions.
Finally, the home workouts are still going from strength to strength, whether in the morning for Year 5 upwards or afternoon for Years 3 and 4. Masha continues to show an outstanding work ethic and will surely return to school with an outrageous level of fitness.
Here’s this week’s list of Sports Personalities of the week. A huge congratulations to them all from the PE team.
- Year 3: Clelia C – Outstanding work creating the javelin throw and fantastic technique to go with it.
- Year 4: Masha R – An amazing video following along to Mrs Watson’s afternoon workout.
- Year 5: Oscar A – Always being enthusiastic during the wake-up/shake ups.
- Year 6: Oliver F – Getting the furthest throw during our shot put lesson; a whopping 9.90m!
- Year 7: Aidan D – Achieving the top score on the athletics quiz.
As always, we love to see the pupils getting stuck into our PE sessions and workouts. We hope they continue to post them on their PE channels so we can celebrate their progress and successes. Here’s a sample of this week’s action shots:
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You can now view previous newsletters here.
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