Friday 9th October 2015: Issue No. 25 That was the week that was!
Matters of the Moment The Friends Flu Vaccine Just a reminder For those parents wishing for their child to receive the flu vaccine, please see the attached letter and complete the form to be returned to Emma Easdale by 2nd November. CAKE SALE Friday 16th October Half term PLEASE, PLEASE support us by baking some cup cakes, biscuits or something delicious for our cake sale next Friday 16th October. Please remember all cakes must be nut-free. Many thanks French Years 4, 5 & 6 From now on, pupils (and parents!) can access their French spellings through Quizlet. This is a fully interactive, fun and effective way to learn and practise language covered in lessons. Accessed from any computer or tablet, pupils will be able to compete against each other or just enjoy the games on offer. The spellings specific to your child s class will be updated weekly and they will also be able to check the pronunciation. How to access Quizlet: Search Quizlet on your search engine. Choose Quizlet.com. Type gcubitt in the search box. Find your class. Practise your latest set of spellings! C est facile! Pupils can also create their own account, which is free of charge. This will enable me to visualise league tables of our best spellers! Thank you for your support, Mrs. Cubitt Cakes can be left in the office on Friday morning - make sure tins and containers are named. Thank you! Bonfire Night Saturday 7th November Brettenham Village will again be hosting the annual Bonfire Night in Brettenham Park and the Friends of OBH will be serving hot dogs, delicious home-made mulled wine and hot soup. As this is a Brettenham Village event, there will be a charge of 5 for EVERY- ONE coming through the gate. 5 years and under go free. Gates open at 5:45pm. Lighting of the bonfire at 6:15pm. Fireworks will start promptly at 7.00 pm. Do come and join everyone in the fun!
Middle School News Twitter It has been a busy and hard working week in the Middle School. Congratulations to the U9 A and B boys who took part in the hockey tournament at Framlingham College on Wednesday. Both teams performed strongly and Mr Swiney and I were very proud of the boy s behaviour both on and off the pitch. The U9 girls played away at Culford and enjoyed playing different teams leading to a win and a draw. I am sure there will be many more scoring opportunities to come. Last Friday, all the U9 girls and boys travelled to Brandeston and Framlingham for a very happy afternoon of hockey and netball. A particular well done to the U9 C boys hockey team for winning their first ever match. The Year 3 children have been thinking about autumn and wrote some wonderfully creative hedgehog kennings. Here are some of my favourite lines: A woodland runner: Joseph Bates A winter hibernator: Archie Miller A spectacular swimmer: Maya de Silva A slimy slug scoffer: Cordelia Udy A camouflage blender: William Roberts A tunnel traveller: Hugo Harrison A slug demolisher: Jonathan Etherington Rehearsals are going well for the junior production of Mr Humbug Sees the Light. It would be really helpful if you could continue to practise your children s lines over half term so that we can be script free in the second part of the term. The performance takes place at 6.30 pm on Friday 4 th December. We are looking forward to seeing many parents from Year 4, together with any parents, who would like to come along, to the Future Schools evening next Tuesday 13th October at 7.00 pm in the Drawing Room. Have you been following @OBHSchool? Photos and updates are now being posted throughout the week get tweeting! Year 8 Geography Trip What a brilliant field trip the Year 8 experienced in London this week. The weather was kind and we were treated to a fabulous tour of East Village in the Queen Elizabeth Park. Thanks, once again, must go to Georgie and Mr Goswell for making this trip possible. Also our gratitude to Mr Paul Goswell, and his colleagues, who made the children so welcome on the day and offered such an informative and enjoyable insight in to this crucial new urban development. Seeing this development first hand, gave the pupils the chance to appreciate planning and construction implications, and to understand the important issues relating to the sustainability. Russell Barrett Mrs. Warren
From the Music Department... Oakham Music Trip Evening Recital by Sarah Gallop On Friday evening last week our Senior Choir and parents enjoyed an excellent concert given by OBH singing teacher, Sarah Gallop. Sarah s performance was, of course, stunning but it was also wonderful for the Senior Choir to give their first performance of the year, which was the classic song Windmills of Your Mind. It was so good to see the children give such a proficient first performance and has given much hope for future plans for the choir! Informal Concert What a marvellous Informal Concert on Monday this week. Now that the Old Gym has been painted it really is a wonderful performing venue and the children who performed did so to a very good standard. There was a lovely atmosphere in the concert so thank you very much to all parents who came to support but most importantly well done to the performers: Maisy Webster, Magnus Kelly, Shiyao Liu, Emma Buckle, Cecilly Jewers, Emily Banks, Freddie Harrison, Sam Harrison, Charlie Harrison, Scarlett Simmonds, Ash Rigby, Ella Pryke, Ilyssa Hills and Fenella Jewers On Tuesday this week Claudia Harrison, Jamie Dilnot and Freddie Garfoot travelled to Oakham School to take part in the annual Prep Schools Music Day with the theme of Space Travel! Performing music such as Thunderbirds and Star Wars, it was an absolutely wonderful day for our musicians and a great experience to play in a band of over 150 musicians along with another 200 singers! The Oakham School Music Department really know how to put on a good show and it always astounds me how amazing the music sounds after just one day s rehearsals. Well done to these children and I look forward with much anticipation to the Uppingham Orchestra Day next term when we will be taking along some of our string players as well. Informal Concert Tuesday 13th October The Informal Concert on Monday was so oversubscribed (which is wonderful!). We have another concert next Tuesday, 13th October. The children performing beginning at 5.00 pm, will be: Alexander Meredith, Charlie Martin, Henry Luttman-Johnson, Bryce Surguy, Flossie Myers, Maisy Webster, Freddie Garfoot, Thomas Gregory, Sam Harrison, Freddie Ackroyd-Cooper, George Whitelaw and the eagerly anticipated first performance by the Percussion Ensemble.
News from the Boarding House... Boarding has been lots of fun this week. On Saturday night many of the children took to the stage for OBH Has Got Talent. There was a variety of acts and many chose to dance, sing, play musical instruments, act impressions and telling jokes. It was a trio of girls called 3, 2, 1, Go all the way from Spain that impressed our panel of judges which included Sir Tom Jones, Mr Simon Cowell and Cheryl Fernandez-Fersini with their choreographed dance to Cheerleader by OMI. Congratulations Liliana, Alejandra and Carla (and Ines who helped to choreograph it). Thanks need to go to our hosts and our judges and especially Mr Dunham for the amazing staging, lights and sound system organisation. Lots of the children were super helpful disassembling the stage later on Sunday which was appreciated by all the staff. Sunday morning was a visit to Brettenham Church for the Harvest Festival where the children sang and performed the readings beautifully. Many parents and grandparents popped back for coffee and tea and it was lovely to see you all. Thank you to everyone for all the Harvest festival donations received which have been given to Stowmarket Foodbank. On Sunday afternoon Mr Miller organised a game of Capture the Flag and several games of Manhunt with Mr Dunham and Mrs Cubitt. The pupils were all suitably exhausted and then had some down-time in the evening. Those who still had energy played Dodgeball! On Monday night it was a trip out for dinner for the winners of the Dorm competition. Maud and Pankhurst won this rather lovely treat and it was a pleasure to take you all to the Sudbury Pizza Express. My pizza was rather yummy and the comments on the return journey echoed this. Thank you Pizza Express Sudbury! We are looking forward to a restful half term and hope you all have a great break. We look forward to seeing many of you at the OBH Bonfire and Firework event on Saturday 7 th November.
Pre-Prep & Nursery A Note from Mrs. Cross It was lovely to see parents at our Coffee Mornings earlier this week. We have been very busy this week getting ready for our Harvest Festival so hope you enjoyed our little service in the church today. Stars of the Week Huge Congratulations to: Year 2 George Roberts Year 1 Charlie Hearn Reception Tabitha Banks Nursery Sam Gosling Year 2 enjoyed writing their own Autumn thoughts and poems and did a very good job of reading them clearly. Year 1 had fun writing about fruits and vegetables using alliteration. Reception and Nursery children looked great dressed up as scarecrows for their Dingle Dangle song. Thank you for the wooden spoon scarecrows. We have enjoyed seeing how different they all look and love the creative ideas of each family. Mr O Sullivan will be coming down to Pre-Prep on Monday for the very difficult judging job. Certificates and stickers will be awarded for every scarecrow plus some special prizes. We will also be judging our Extreme Reading competition next week and we have a new initiative of a weekly Golden Book for each class. Our stars of the week this week were George in Year 2, Charlie in Year 1, Tabitha in Reception and Sam in the Nursery. Well done everyone. Thank you as always for your continued support. Enjoy your weekend, Best wishes, Mia Cross and the Pre-Prep Team
What we have been doing this week. Baby & Toddler Year 1 This week Year 1 read Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems, a story about a little girl who left her favourite toy behind. Year 1 brought their own favourite toys into school to take part in lessons and discussions. Just a reminder that on every Tuesday during term time between 10.30 am and 11.45 am we run a regular Baby & Toddler group if parents know of any new mums with tinies and not so tinies, they are very welcome to join in the fun! Benny joined us for lunch and the toys all enjoyed a picnic on the classroom carpet.
Sport.The Girls.. U!13 Girls Hockey Another great week for the U9 s.. The under 9's had a wonderful afternoon of netball at Culford on Wednesday. Culford mixed all 20 of their girls in to 5 teams and we played a mini tournament with them. With a shooting combination of Cecilly Jewers and Jemima Banks we had an amazing win 3-1. Following the England Netball High Five rotation rules, everybody changed positions, however against a strong defence we lost by just one goal. Finishing second in our group meant we played first placed team in the other section. Excellent mid court attacking from Madison Haworth-McKenna and support from defenders Lottie English and Ilyssa Hills enabled good opportunities for the two Shooters, Maya de Silva and Jemima, who scored a goal each to put us through to the final! Continuing the correct rotations, Ilyssa was on form in the shooting circle to give them a 1-0 lead, however Culford s determination in attack meant that they to scored, giving a final result of 1-1. All of the girls worked amazingly hard and were putting into practice the change of directions and positive moves that we have been working so hard on in games sessions. I am a very proud coach!! Excellent work girls! U13 A Hockey v Brandeston Hall This week we faced Brandeston Hall and found them to be a tough opposition. At the end of the first quarter OBH were 1-0 down, and still sizing up the opposition. One member of the team said I m not sure how this match will go? After the restart, the OBH girls quickly found their stride, but were caught out by some very strong attacking moves from Brandeston and conceded another goal. The girls did not let this get them down and by half time OBH had scored a goal of their own. At the opening of the third quarter we were the stronger team and were unlucky not to score another goal. Brandeston were quick to respond and then the flood gates opened, with another 3 goals conceded. Despite this, the team continued to play with huge commitment and scored their second goal. Unfortunately, Brandeston responded with 2 more goals. Final score 7 2 to Brandeston.
The Boys.. U9 Sport U12 Rugby Tournament at Finborough A wonderful day was greeted with some wonderful rugby. The boys were excited and started with a solid win against Norwich school (10-0). The boys then scored five tries against Bury Rugby Club before playing our toughest game against St. Joseph's. George Whitelaw outpaced their defence to score in the corner before the mighty George Strutt performed heroics on our try line holding up the opposition before the final whistle. Having won our group we played Bedford School in the 1/4 finals. We again put in some terrific tackles but unfortunately lost 5-0. The afternoon then began to heat up as we played in the semifinals of the Plate competition. Again we were drawn against St Joseph's. They were upset the last time we played them so the boys had to be stronger and ruck and tackle harder. This was really where the team spirit showed through. There were some devastating hits going in, in particular on Ash Rigby and George Strutt. However by the time the match finished the boys had won 10-5. Storming efforts from all the boys and the ever excitable parents on the sideline saw us overpower Finborough in the Plate final by which time the boys had left nothing in reserve and they were delighted with their achievements. When called together by Mr Miller after the final whistle and handshakes, the boys were quiet and Mr Miller was speechless. Therefore Charlie Richardson came up with his summation which was simply "WOW"! U9 A & B Boys Hockey Framlingham Tournament The boys were very excited at their first big tournament of the season. They all worked very hard in their respective matches. The U9A were delighted that they beat Orwell 2-0! However, despite all the boys best efforts on the day, both A & B teams came a respectable third in their groups. The plain and simple truth of the day was that team spirit and commitment of the boys won them their honours at the end of the day. Well done boys Well done to all the boys and keep building your team spirit and believing in one another whenever you play team sport.
And finally. As we approach half term the children are all working at full pace. One of the most enjoyable parts of my role is being able to reward children who have consistently worked hard in lessons with a bluey. There is an excellent focus on academic work during the day and the new prep routine is giving the children a more disciplined and better supported introduction to independent study. A work hard then play hard philosophy is very definitely developing. A great deal is going on over the coming days but a few quick reminders: I will be holding a future schools talk on Monday evening at 7.00pm in the Drawing Room. Whilst mainly directed at Year 4 parents, any parents are more than welcome. The idea is to guide you through the ever changing process of choosing the right school for your children, and what steps you should be taking and when. Another quick reminder that Andrew Baker, who joins us in January as Deputy Head Pastoral, will be in school for much of next week so please do introduce yourselves,. It is also a very busy week of fixtures with Orwell Park matches featuring very heavily across Tuesday and Wednesday. The 1st XV are lucky enough to be playing their match against Orwell on The Close at Rugby School the birthplace of rugby where William Webb Ellis first picked up the ball and ran with it! I am sure it will improve the boys and make for a very memorable day. Have a good weekend. Tom O Sullivan