Berkhampstead School

The Berkhampstead

Times

2009 – 2010

9^th July 2010

Dear Parents,

How quickly time flies when we are having fun. I can scarcely believe that another academic year has come to a close and another band of Year 6 children will move off to new exciting endeavours.

These last two weeks have been very busy. The Nursery and Pre-Prep sports days were fantastic events organised by Mrs Williams-Jones and we hope to have a good Prep sports day today at the Prince of Wales Stadium. There have been many outings - to the UCAS pond, Nature in Art and the Black Country Museum.

Drama has continued to flourish over the year. I have been very impressed that we have had starring representatives at local productions in addition to our own. Earlier in the year Josh Grew had a staring role in ‘Honk’ and next week Michael, Harry, Max and Ciara from Year 5 and Ben from Year 3 are involved in Oliver at the Bacon Theatre. This week the Year 6 have performed ‘Oklahoma’ which was simply stunning. Well done to all involved particularly Mrs Mitchell and Mrs Milton.

May I thank each and every one of you for your support to Berky over the last year and have a wonderful Summer holiday. AM

PREP

A final very happy and busy week in the Prep. House matches were played on Tuesday in which all the children were involved and on Wednesday Y5 had an interesting trip to the Black Country Museum; many thanks to Mr McCreanor and Mr Titley for organising that and to parents for helping.

Y6 gave two fantastic performances of Oklahoma on Wednesday and Thursday evenings – and today is Sports Day!

We hope to see many of you at the Swimming Gala and at the Leavers’ Service next week.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement this year. We hope you all have a very happy holiday – and we look forward to seeing you again in September. JM

PRE PREP

The last two weeks of the summer term are inevitably busy and eventful and this year has been no exception. Last week, Years 1 and 2 all enjoyed watching the dress rehearsal of the Reception and Nursery Summer Concert organised by Mrs. Sallis and the Early Years team; the costumes were brilliant and we were impressed with how many songs the children had managed to learn on the subjects of ‘Pets’ and ‘Space.’ I am sure the parents really enjoyed this event too.

At the end of last week, we held our Sports Day which was organised by Mrs. Williams-Jones. It was a tremendous success and seemed to be enjoyed by all with its careful balance of speed and skill races.

This week, it has been lovely to see the children visiting their new classes full of confidence and eager anticipation. They returned to their current teachers full of enthusiasm for the year ahead.

The Year 1 children enjoyed their ‘Fun Swim’ with Year 2 last week; this gave them an idea of next year’s procedures for going off to their weekly swimming lessons. Year 1 also had a most interesting and exciting time at ‘Nature in Art’ today exploring materials and creating collages. The Year 2 children enjoyed their pond dipping trip on Wednesday where their careful scrutiny was rewarded by finding all sorts of fascinating aquatic minibeasts. Many thanks to all the parent helpers who have supported us on these trips and on other trips during the year.

The Year 2 children visited the Prep School on Tuesday in order to watch the Year 6 musical, ‘Oklahoma,’ directed by Mrs. Milton and Mrs. Mitchell; it was a fantastic show and we enjoyed every minute of it. An hour later, many Year 2s were back in the same venue enjoying the opportunity to participate in the ‘Music Taster’ session in order to choose a musical instrument to learn when they start in Year 3. Year 2’s exciting week was completed by their Swimming Gala on Thursday – an action-packed half hour of fun races enjoyed by participants and spectators.

Special thanks go to our Berky Prayer Group team of parents who organise our Wednesday Assemblies; the children really appreciate being able to dress up and participate in re-enactments of Old and New Testament stories told in a modern way by ‘Open the Book.’

Finally, we would like to wish you all a very happy and relaxing summer holiday. We look forward to seeing you again in September. GA

NURSERY

The staff and children have been enjoying the last few weeks of this term participating in a variety of events and activities.

The Early Years concert proved to be very successful. The children were fantastic and we felt very proud of them! It was lovely to see Nursery and Reception children performing alongside each other. Thanks again to the Early Years staff and Mrs Sallis for all the hard work behind the scenes.

The children loved Sports Day and it was good to see all the children participating with lovely smiles on their faces and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The children have not stopped talking about the Mum’s egg and spoon race and the Dad’s ‘bean bag’ race. I think the staff will have to get training for next years sports day!

On a more personal note I would like to thank children, parents, governors and all staff in supporting me and making me feel so welcome during my first year as Head of Early Years at Berky. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable time and I look forward to next year.

Miss Latham, Miss Bull and I would like to thank you for your continued support and the children have been a pleasure to teach. We wish them every success in Reception class or at their new school. Have a lovely holiday and see you in September. HRW

RECEPTION

Well, the last Friday of the year is here and the sad moment nears when we say goodbye to our current children and look forward excitedly to new faces and personalities in September.

As well as appreciating how much the children have grown throughout the year we have all also observed changes and growth both inside and outside the classroom during the last two weeks. Not only have all our butterflies emerged and been excitedly released into the garden but we have also been able to harvest our first crops from the newly planted garden. The children have gained so much from these ‘first hand’ opportunities. It has been a delightful learning experience for us all.

All the children enjoyed performing and competing in our concert and sports day. Many thanks go to

Mrs Williams Jones and Mrs Sallis for all their hard work in organising these successful events and to the parents for transforming their offspring into weird and wonderful aliens.

Many, many thanks to all our very supportive parents and to the PTA for funding our garden and additional outdoor equipment. You have all been very much appreciated.

We wish you and your children a very happy and restful holiday together. CP and AT

MUSIC

Last week we enjoyed a superb evening of performances in the Y6 Recital, held in the lovely surroundings of the Prince Michael Hall at Dean Close School. Pupils contributed solos and small ensembles ranging from Bach to Hey Soul Sister by Traffic and including some of their own compositions. Thank you Y6 for entertaining us all in such a variety of ways!

On Tuesday we held our annual Taster Session. 11 of our visiting music teachers demonstrated their instruments and then children were able to try out whichever they were interested in. We are looking forward to seeing the new beginners in September. If you need to hire an instrument from Colwell Music Service please check that you have a new order form (to be given out on Monday 12^th) and send that with your remittance to the Music Service not school asap. PM

MUSIC EXAM RESULTS JUNE 2010 (* DENOTES MERIT, ** DENOTES DISTINCTION)

Congratulations to all who have taken music exams this term. A terrific set of results!

Grade 1

Philip Edwards (Piano*), Sophie Wand (Piano*), Sarina Kaveh (Violin*), Ellie Rushby (Singing*), Gemma Taylor-Baggs (Clarinet*),

Lindsay Williams (Viola*), Lauren Brown (Piano**), Beth Ellison (Violin**), Hannah Wardrop (Recorder**), Sarina Kaveh (Recorder**), Grace Kent (Singing**), Molly Hage (Singing**),

Elizabeth Williams (Singing**)

Grade 2

Edward Harvey (Cello), Harry Mattock (Cello), Teigan Hurlock (Flute), Molly Caesar (Flute),

Max Huysinga (Clarinet), Sophie Wand (Violin*), Maddie McClemont (Violin*), Phoebe Barnes (Violin*), William Armstrong (Euphonium*), Milly Till (Cornet*), Jamie McClemont (Piano*),

Caroline Fitzsimmons (Cornet**), Tom Weatherley (Drum Kit**)

Grade 3

Jamie Orme (Drum Kit), Lewis McConnell (Drum Kit), Hugo Bradshaw (Drum Kit), Chloe Sullivan (Flute), Matilda McDermott-Krasker (Clarinet), Grace Kent (Flute*), Alice Bennett (Singing*),

James Wantling (Drum Kit*), Alice Chubb (Piano*), William Armstrong (Piano**), Laurence Clutson (Drum Kit**)

Grade 4

Alice Chubb (Viola), Jamie McClemont (Saxophone), Freya Martin (Violin*), Laurie Davies (Saxophone*), Hattie Wayt (Violin*)

Grade 5

Josh Grew (Piano), Caroline Fitzsimmons (Piano*)

SUMMER CAMPS

Sports Camp: Wed 14^th, Thur 15^th, Fri 16^th July, Mon 19^th, Tues 20^th and Wednesday 21^st July

Art and Craft Camp: Thur 22^nd and Fri 23 July

Places are still available on the Sports Camp and the Art/Craft Camp. If you wish to book places, please contact the school office.

MISSING ITEMS

Named blazers belonging to Joseph Anderson, Edward Harvey and Manon Dingley have been misplaced. Could you please check and if found return to school.

Sporting Times

Rounders Reports

U9 v The Richard Pate

On the 25^th June the under 9 team set out to Richard Pate’s. We won the toss and decided to field first. It was very hot but we did some good fielding. Preet was backstop, Ella was bowler, Georgina was 1^st post, Kit Kat was 2^nd, Phoebe was 3^rd and Lindsay was 4^th. The deep fielders were Corine, Roseanna, Maddie and Sarina. They were quite good and they managed to score 8 rounders. Then we were batting. Lindsay did lots of good hits and managed to score us lots of rounders. Preet did some good hits and we managed to hit 7 ½ rounders. It was then half time.

We were fielding again and Sarina managed to stump a lot of people out at 2^nd post. They only managed 5 rounders in this innings as our fielding was a lot better. We went in for our last bat knowing we had to score 8 rounders. We hit the ball really well and managed to get 8 ½ rounders this time so winning the match by 16 rounders to 13. It was a great victory for Berky and we were very pleased with ourselves. Well done, girls! Ella

Won 16-13

Matches versus St Mary’s Convent Worcester

U10 team

We lost the toss and batted first. Berky scored 9 ½ rounders with some good hitting and a few half rounders from their errors with the bowling. When St Mary’s came into bat we were all ready; Mattie was bowler, Freya backstop, Sophie W was 1^st post, Gabs 2^nd post, Ellie 3^rd , Caroline 4^th and Anna, Florrie, Lizzie and Sophie C were the deep fielders. They did a few good hits but we restricted them to only 2 rounders with our slick fielding and good bowling from Matilda and great catching from the rest of the team.

In our second innings we scored 11 ½ rounders with fantastic hitting from everyone in the team. When St Mary’s came into bat they looked more confident but very noisy. They did a couple of good hits but we fielded well and they only got 2 ½ rounders. The end score was 20 to us and 4 ½ to them. After a kitkat and some juice we went back to school. Well played, girls. Anna Shearman and Sophie Clink

Won 20- 4 ½

U9 team

Our U9 team won the toss and decided to field. Our fielding was superb and we did not make any errors at all which was fantastic. St Mary’s scored 4 rounders. We got off to a very good start with Lindsay scoring a half rounder off the first hit of our innings followed by Katerina’s 2 whole rounders with her two hits. Phoebe also scored a whole rounder. The half time score was 5 to Berky and 4 to St Mary’s – so all to play for.

In the second innings Roseanna bowled very accurately and to my recollection did not give away any half rounders with wayward bowls-great! There was some fast fielding by Sarina and careful work by Georgina playing backstop. The St Mary’s total for their second innings was 4 ½ , making a grand total of 8 ½. Our batting in the second innings was even better and Maddie, Corinne and Ella with some great running between the posts scored whole rounders. This together with various half rounders gave us a grand total of 11 ½ so winning the match by 3 rounders. Everyone contributed at least half a rounder to our final score which was a great team effort. Well done! LW

Won 11 ½ - 8 ½

Cheltenham

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