Dear Parents,
It has been a particularly fun-filled final week of the half term, kicked off by our Middle School Disco last Friday. The Lower School also had their disco the Friday before and all pupils had a fantastic time. I would like to extend a huge thank you to the Parent Reps who organised this event.
You might have noticed that the ground floor corridor is housing our ever-growing pupil art gallery. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the display take shape and, as you will see from the photos below, there is some fantastic artwork on display. If you get the chance, please do take a moment to have a look at the outstanding work the children are producing.
Today, the majority of 11+ and 13+ offers will go out to parents of Year 6 pupils. As a year group, the children have worked exceptionally hard this year, and I hope they enjoyed their day out today! I am delighted with the fantastic senior school offers that have been received, and I look forward to sharing this information with the wider parent community in due course. I would also like to thank Ms. Vivian, our Future Schools’ Co-ordinator for all her hard work in managing this process. You will see information below about a Year 7 and 8 curriculum presentation for current Year 6 parents.
As we come to the end of a very busy half-term, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to complete the Voice of the Parent survey. I have read through every single one of your comments and have spent time reflecting on them with the team here at the Prep school. Your responses matter enormously to us and help us identify what we are doing well and where we need to improve, and I have enjoyed meeting with a number of you on the back of your comments.
I am delighted to say that overall the feedback was very positive. It was an honour to read your thoughts on what makes our school special. There are hundreds of these such comments, so I have selected just a few to share with you below:-
Teaching and learning
There were some wonderful comments about the teachers at our school. I am in the process of passing any individual comments on to them directly. Please know that these comments mean a lot to them, so thank you.
There were several comments around the changes to the curriculum, some relating to how positive this has been and how this is a step in the right direction. For some parents, it has felt as though there has been too much change too soon. I have responded directly to parents who have specific concerns here and ensured that we have the correct processes in place to ensure all our children thrive.
Our focus at NBH is on ensuring that children have a balanced education, ensuring academic rigour alongside happy, confident children who are proud of their achievements and own personal best. We strive to have a school day that balances learning inside and outside the classroom and it is wonderful to see how many children enjoy the many extra-curricular activities on offer, before, after and during the school day.
Many of you felt that the preparation for future schools is excellent and this is something we constantly work on, continuing our strong links with leading senior schools and supporting the priority entry into NBH senior schools, depending on the journey that you have chosen for your child.
Leadership and management
The scores and comments in this area were very positive and up on last year and you reported that you find our school warm, welcoming and well run.
Communications
There were some comments around communications relating to consistency and response rates. I do feel that we have put significant measures in place to tackle this. Our parent-run working communications party now meet regularly and are working to ensure we are the best at getting better in this area. Additionally, we have made some significant changes to Firefly, and I hope you find the new layout and parent landing page much more navigable. Our weekly newsletter is also proving successful with 70% of you reading this every week.
If you would like to discuss any of the areas I have summarised above or you would like to discuss your own responses in more detail, please do not hesitate to make an appointment to meet with me. The survey is a useful tool for us all but please note that you do not need to wait for the surveys to speak to me: my door is always open.
I wish you all the very best for a restful and enjoyable half-term break.
James Stenning
@NBHPrepHead
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Please click here for the full school calendar.
NB - Technical issues have now been resolved and the calendar is now mirrored on the NBH App.
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ALL YEARS
SEN/Learning Support Coffee Morning
Parents/Carers are invited to a second Coffee Morning to meet with Mrs Probst and Mrs Shelley, the school’s Learning Support team, taking place on 27 February at 8:45am. They will be talking about the SEN procedures at NBH Prep, for example the identification, the various assessment methods, interventions and support strategies across the school phases. Please click here to register your interest.
Breakfast and Teatime Clubs
Depending on the levels of interest in the Summer term, we would like to offer extended wrap around care that includes:
Breakfast Club: 07:30 - 08:15
Teatime Club 17:00 - 18:00*
In these clubs children will be provided with a healthy balanced breakfast in the morning, with a choice of fruit, cereal and toast, and a light evening tea.
The cost of these clubs would be charged per use at £10 per session. Please complete the form here to register interest.
*please note from 16:00-17:00 children would need to be in another extra curricular club or attend homework club.
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YEAR 3
Curriculum Overview
Please see here for details of the forthcoming half term’s maths, English, science and humanities topics.
YEAR 4
Half Term Homework
Over the half term break, the children have some optional homework tasks to complete. Please see this Firefly page for more information. We would like to encourage as many children as possible to enter the World Book Day competition! We look forward to seeing your entries.
First News/The Week Junior
If you have any old/spare copies of First News/The Week Junior, please can you send them in. We will keep them in the classroom and add them to our reading resources. Many thanks in advance.
Cuffley Camp Residential Trip
Year 4’s residential trip to Cuffley Camp will take place on Monday 22 June until Tuesday 23 June 2020. Please read the trip letter here for more details and use this link to complete the electronic form to sign up your child for the visit. We ask that you complete the form by Friday 28 February 2020. The information brochure, found here, provides an overview of the centre and an example itinerary. The school’s bank details (for paying the deposit) can be found here.
Curriculum Overview
Please see here for details of the forthcoming half term’s maths, English, science and humanities topics.
YEAR 5
1:1 devices in Year 5
The students in Year 5 have had a great start to using their devices, including learning keyboard shortcuts, how to create bookmarks on an internet browser, and working on assignments through Microsoft Teams. Please note that students will still be completing work in exercise books when tasks are not set on their tablets. We are ensuring the students are still being prepared for their for 11+ assessments alongside the development of their 21st Century technology skills.
We’d like to re-iterate that while the devices remain the property of the school, the students are being taught to be responsible for them while in their care. These devices must remain in school at all times, which allows them to be charged over night. All students have digitally signed an Acceptable User Agreement, which can be found here for your reference.
Homework may occasionally be set on Teams. You may download the app through https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads or access it via www.office.com. To log in, students need their email address which is their firstname.surname@students.northbridgehouse.com and their password which most of them now remember, but can be found in their homework diaries.
With regards to accessing Firefly, students will need to use their original email address to log into Firefly. The handle for the email address they use for Firefly ends with @nbh-student.co.uk . As part of the 1:1 device pilot, students have been given a new email address (as mentioned above).
If you have any questions, please email dillie.baria@cognita.com
Trip to Tate Modern
As part of the Year 5 Art curriculum, the students are destined to visit the Tate Modern on Wednesday 26 February. Please see the trip letter here for more information.
YEAR 6
Bushcraft Residential
This coming June, the Year 6 pupils will be attending their annual Bushcraft residential. Please find the trip letter here, a permission form will be sent out shortly. More information can be found in the Student and Parent Pack here.
Information Evening: Year 7 and 8 for current Year 6 parents
For those parents interested in the Year 7 and 8 (Upper School) programme at North Bridge House, there will an information evening on Tuesday 25 February at 6pm. Nicola Swales (Head of Upper School) will be presenting on the curriculum and life in the Upper School. If you are planning on attending please indicate your interest on this form.
There will also be a talk from Mr Stenning, taking place at the same time, tailored specifically to parents of girls who are potentially interested in keeping their daughter at Prep School for Year 7 and 8. If you would like to attend this please RSVP to Alison Miley Registrar at alison.miley@northbridgehouse.com.
YEAR 7 & 8
Reports
You will have received a report today for your son. This is a new type of report, which has been created as a direct result of the recent assessments to give a snap shot of their current attainment. Hopefully this will be useful in identifying potential areas for progression and focus moving forwards.
Homework
This is the guidance that has been given to staff regarding half term homework for the February half term. Tasks will be set on Firefly.
Year 7: Half term homework may be set if necessary. It is important that the children have a break, but if something has been highlighted in the tracking assessment and they need to catch up then learning may be set.
Year 8: Structured revision will be set in most subjects.
Post Common Entrance 8-10 June
Thank you to those people who have responded to the survey in last weeks newsletter. There was not a clear preference for either, so pupils may take the time off if they wish, but a structured programme of, probably, community outreach will be taking place for those who will be in school.
Trip to the Jewish Museum
On Thursday 5 March, Year 7 will be going on a trip to the Jewish Museum in Camden to participate in a workshop making Challah, whilst learning about Judaism and some of its traditions. There is no charge for this and it will take place during school time. Packed lunches will be provided by school, but if pupils bring their own then please note that it must be vegetarian (fish is fine, but no shellfish).
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Book Week 2020
This year we will be celebrating Book Week at North Bridge House from Monday 2 – Friday 6 March. Over half term pupils have the perfect opportunity to get started on their entries for this year’s competitions! Their teachers have shared all the details with them already. You can also find details on the Book Week 2020 section of Firefly.
During Book Week we will be holding a variety of activities in school to celebrate and encourage a love of reading. World Book Day, Thursday 5 March, will be a Dress Up Day, where we invite pupils to come to school dressed as a favourite or memorable character from the world of books, so please get thinking and making! We encourage the children to repurpose things they already have and make, rather than buy a costume for this day. You might want to look here for inspiration.
We thank you in advance for your support in making Book Week a success: to celebrate and encourage a life-long love of reading in our school community!
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5 Soni - collected the most merits this week
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Congratulations to our Stars of the Week:
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Year 3
- 3Colledge: Anotonella T
- 3May: Harriet M
- 3Truesdale: Elsie S
- 3Purcell: Lara S
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Pobble writer of the week
- 3Colledge: Rufus M
- 3May: Liv C
- 3Truesdale: Siana P
- 3Purcell: Elsie E
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Year 4
- 4Polglaze: Sophie K
- 4Foster: Saisha M and Jody W
- 4Barrett-Brown: Dante B
- 4Malone: Masha R
- 4Truasheim: Aru K
- 4Power: Tom M
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Pobble writer of the week
- 4Foster: Tamara E and Dhanraj B
- 4Barrett-Brown: Benjamin Y and Lara T
- 4Malone: Raphael G and Liya E
- 4Truasheim: Nico G
- 4Power: Tom M
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Year 5
Chosen by form tutors
- 5Purchase: Sunny L
- 5Soni: Isla C
- 5Sassery: Avishag T
- 5Lianou: Lucas C
- 5Delaney: Andrew C
- 5Knibbs: Louis M
Merit achievements
Most merits (individual): Adianne GS, 5Sassery
Most merits (collectively as a class): 5Soni
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Student Art Gallery
Above is a photo of our new Student Art Gallery! We are displaying works from all year groups and the artists are awarded with a certificate when their work is chosen to be exhibited.
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Eco Warriors – Sustainable Thinking
This week our Eco-Warriors focused on finding out how sustainable our school kitchen is. Rita, the head of our kitchen, very kindly agreed to come and talk to the sub-group of Eco-Warriors tasked with exploring this aspect of the school. We had a very productive meeting and learnt that the kitchen is already trying hard to be more eco-friendly using materials that are either recyclable or made of plastic that decomposes. The sub group showed this items to the Eco-Warriors at our last meeting. Rita also told us that the kitchen is exploring ways of getting all the food waste collected and sent to a company that will generate electricity from it.
A number of other ideas as to how both the kitchen and the school could be even more eco-friendly with regards to food were discussed such as: encouraging all students to throw away less food at lunchtimes; not including packets of crisps in our packed lunches and encouraging all students to bring snacks that are not wrapped in plastic or aluminium for break. We are going to work together to think of the best way to achieve these goals.
As parents you can support us in our campaign by talking to your children about thinking about how much food to take at lunchtime and sending them into school with snacks that do not create plastic waste. Thank you!
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Morning Running Club
With the morning’s getting lighter we’re excited to be starting up morning running clubs again, commencing 24 February.
- Year 3-5: Tuesday mornings
- Year 6-8: Friday mornings
Please note we will meet at NBH reception at 7:30am to start and the club will finish at 8.20am in time for morning form.
Children will need to be in their PE kit. They will be given time to change into their school uniform before lesson 1.
If you would like your child to attend, then please email charlotte.watson@cognita.com to register your son or daughter, all abilities welcome!
Games & Fixtures
Boys
Last Wednesday our year 7 & 8s took on Notting Hill in both rugby and hockey fixtures. Our rugby boys had a convincing 25-0 win while in the hockey, we enjoyed a 1-1 draw with William C scoring and Jasper W scooping the player of the match award. In the other game a special mention must go to Suleimaan R who put in a tireless display throughout the contest.
Girls
North London Collegiate netball tournament
On Saturday 8 February, the year 6A netball team played in the North London Collegiate Netball Tournament. The girls excelled as came third in division 2. The girls should feel very proud as the tournament consisted of twenty-five North London Prep Schools. A special mention has to go to Lara A for winning Most Valuable Player for her fantastic defence.
Year 6ABCC Hockey Fixture vs Notting Hill
Year 6 students braved the blustery winter winds to score many goals. It was a great afternoon for hockey a special mention must go to Sophie P for her power and speed in the centre forward position which helped score four goals. Mr Cooper was particularly impressed with Emily H for her outstanding defence ensuring not to let balls past her. Well done, girls!
Players of the Match: Sophie P, Amaya G, Emily H and Yasmine T.
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Entering the School
Please note that on arrival to school and whilst waiting to enter the building, both pupils and parents/carers need to leave a clear pathway through the middle of the pavement for members of the public to navigate their way through.
Student Information
If your family situation has changed and a contact for your child now has a new address, please fill in the changes on Firefly or alternatively email prep.reception@northbridgehouse.com to add to SIMS. This is to ensure we have all the correct details in case of an emergency, and for the postage of duplicate school reports.
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You can now view previous newsletters here.
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