FROM THE HEAD MASTER
CAPTAINS OF SPORT
I am delighted to announce this term’s Captains of Sport: Captain of Hockey – Felix McAra, Vice-captain – Theo Ryan and Captains of Netball – Florence Campion and Olivia Woollcott-Price.
It was good to see their respective teams start on Wednesday with some really entertaining matches and convincing wins against Maidwell in the hockey and Repton in Netball. I wish them and all the players all the very best for the season ahead.
CRICKET
I was pleased, too, to hear how well the U13A Girls Cricket team did in the preliminary county round of the ECB Girls’ Indoor Competition, beating Northampton School for Girls then Moulton and finally Caroline Chisholm School. They now qualify for the County finals to be played in March.
HISTORY WEEK
Next week was due to be ‘History Week’ with special activities laid on with the focus being Scottish history. However, with Mr Kennedy being away from school at present, History Week is postponed until a later date.
On the subject of Mr Kennedy and following my letter to prep school parents, I know he and Mrs Kennedy have been so very touched by the many messages of support with parents and children passing on their best wishes. I know this has been very heartening for them both.
PARKING
Please can I make another plea to parents not to drive round to the Underwood in the mornings at drop-off time, as this is the staff car park area and there are often hold-ups owing to parents doing a 3-point turn in the middle of the car park. Children should carry their Games kit down from the top car park. Thank you, as ever, for your support in this matter.
CROSS-COUNTRY RACES
Monday sees us hosting our annual Spratton Hall Cross-Country Relay races. With several other schools visiting, the car park is likely to be a busy one therefore on Monday afternoon. I do wish all the very best to our own cross-country teams. I am sure all the practice they have been putting in will come to fruition.
PANTO SEASON
Finally, I would like to wish all the best to Mr Bradnam and Ms Bianco as they start their run of pantomime performances at Rugby Theatre this weekend. I am sure they will enjoy performing and, no doubt, the children going over to watch will thoroughly enjoy it, too. They will certainly see Dame Bradnam in a whole new light!
Thank you
Simon Clarke
PRE-PREP
KUNG HEI FAT CHOI!
As families all over the world prepare for the Chinese New Year celebrations taking place this weekend, it has been an exciting week in Pre-Prep too. As we approach the Year of the Rabbit, the children have enjoyed exploring some of the many traditions and features of this colourful, fascinating and very special festival. In Reception, the children have completed numerous activities including carefully cutting and folding beautiful red and gold lanterns, using technology to enjoy a cockpit view of an imaginary flight to China, and even venturing across the school fields to build The Great Wall of Spratton Hall! The best part for many, however, was munching on prawn crackers and slurping up bowlfuls of wiggly, rice noodles as a celebration treat.
EXPLORING FAITH – A CHRISTENING IN YEAR 2
Exploring events, stories and festivals within different faiths is something the children are always intrigued to learn more about. As part of Year 2’s topic on Special Celebrations in Christianity, the children visited St Andrew’s Church in Spratton on Tuesday, where they took part in the re-enactment of a Christening ceremony. Reverend Twigg carefully explained the symbolism behind each aspect of the service – parents and godparents were chosen, and a very well behaved baby doll was gently lowered over the font and given the name ‘Poppy Hall’. Once back to Pre-Prep, the celebrations continued with slices of christening cake being enjoyed, whilst baby Poppy was passed around for cuddles!
UPCOMING STUDY VISITS
Next week brings the excitement of two trips out. Year 1 are heading off to explore the Egyptian exhibition at the New Walk Museum, Leicester, whilst Year 2 will be tantalising their taste buds, and learning more about the ancient Maya culture, with a trip to Cadbury World.
Year 1 are certainly immersing themselves in all things Egyptian at present. Beautiful, multi-collared collar necklaces were made this week and, as I type, the children are taking great delight in singing some rather gruesome songs about making mummies – something to look forward to in their assembly later on this term!
PRE-PREP PUPIL ACHIEVEMENTS
Congratulations to Willa Mercer (RG) who has achieved her 5m swimming award and to Kai Patel (RY) who has gained his Level 1 swimming certificate.
Very well done to Jai Chavda (1N) who gained a Gymnastic Superstar Award.
Congratulations to the following children for their achievements, effort and skill in Skiing – Matilda McAra (2A), Alex Schwartz-Jones (2L) and Alicia Szechenyi (2M)
A final well done to Dakshan Premkumar (2M) who achieved recognition for his performance skills in a televised Tamil Sangamam Pongal event.
MUSIC
YEAR 8 INFORMAL CONCERT – TUESDAY 31ST JANUARY
The Year 8 Informal Concert is always a lovely evening when the musicians in the year group get to show us their musical talent. All members of Year 8 who play an instrument/sing are invited to perform. A letter containing further details was sent out this week to all those involved. Please return the e-reply as soon as possible.
UPPINGHAM ORCHESTRAL DAY – THURSDAY 9TH FEBRUARY
The Concert Band and all members of the String Orchestra who are Grade 2 standard and above, have been invited to take part in this excellent day of music-making. A letter was sent out this week by Clarion Call to all those invited containing further information. Please submit your e-reply as soon as possible.
ART
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Hannah Marchant Year 7 is Artist of the week for her wonderful still-life drawing in soft pastels of bottles and a teapot and cup, showing excellent measuring and light reflections.
ART ROOM NEWS
The Art room has been very busy this week at lunchtimes and morning break with pupils finishing off artwork, Year 8 working on their canvases and 22 pupils rushing to finish their painting for the Rugby School Art competition.
NEWS
TIMES TABLE ROCK STAR BATTLE
This week the prep school children have been taking part in a whole school Times Table Rockstar Battle! Traces of Back In Black and Master Of Puppets echoed from classrooms as Y3 took on Y4, Y5 battled Y6, and Y7 fought against Y8. Answering times tables questions as quickly as they could, pupils earned one point for every correct answer given, with final scores averaged out against the number of pupils in each year. Over the three-day battle, Spratton Hall pupils answered an astounding 216,907 questions between them, a truly staggering effort! The final results will be announced in Monday’s assembly, along with the top 3 highest scoring pupils in each year group. Well done to all the Rock Heroes and Wannabes alike. 🤘”
EQUESTRIAN CLUB – NEW MEMBERS WANTED
We are looking to welcome new people to the Spratton Hall equestrian team, all levels of ability are welcome. We are a team of giggles and laughter, if we fall off we get back up and we give each other a high five. It’s loads of fun because at the end we get chocolate brownies, these are the parents’ speciality! After school or at the weekend we have training sessions with our friends. So please, if you have your own pony, we would love to welcome you to the equestrian team. If we try hard enough we can qualify for the NSEA championships at Hickstead.
Chloe Spencer 5J
To find out more, please contact Fi Spencer – 07868 970634
CAKE SALE
This week’s Cake Sale in aid of Rainbows raised £330! Thank you to the Year 8s for running it so smoothly and to everyone who baked or donated a cake.
CANCELLED CLUBS
Art Club and Sewing and Knitting Club are cancelled next week (24th Jan) due to the Year 4 play.
LOST PROPERTY
The following items are currently being sought by their owners:
Theia Hawkyard – missing blazer
Florence Labrum-Morren – missing PE jumper
Zara Bushell – missing tracksuit top (unnamed) but has a gold-coloured bracelet in the pocket
FOUND AT SCHOOL
Please collect from the School Shop
MARY ‘PROP’INS
Rehearsals are in full swing for this terms’ performance of Mary Poppins.
To make sure that the actors have the proper props, Mr Williams respectfully requests the loan of any of the following items:
Please email jjw@sprattonhall.com if you can help.
Thank you!
- Several flat caps
- Old-fashioned pyjamas – One Y7 boy and one Y8 girl
- Edwardian style men’s jackets (with lapels), coats, Argyle/Fair Isle style tank tops or black/brown trousers – to fit Y7/Y8 boys
- Edwardian hats Derby, Homburg, Bowler etc. to fit Y7/8
- Lady’s carpet bag or similar
- Large artificial potted plant
- 2x large old-fashioned medicine bottles or similar.
- Traditional kites
- Plastic antique-style vase
- Photo locket necklace
- Vintage messenger bag/pouch
- Small cloth ‘birdseed’ bags
SATURDAY MATCHES
If for any reason your child is poorly on the day and cannot play, please:
Call Mr Barnard on his work number – 07887 625552
Email Miss Blason – slb@sprattonhall.com
NATIONAL ONLINE SAFETY GUIDES
As part of our commitment to improving the safety of all our pupils online, we are pleased to be able to announce that all parents can sign up to a very useful online website run by the National Online Safety group.
The resources include courses (presented by Myleene Klass), online video resources and weekly guides covering a huge range of topics, including:
- Online Relationships
- Fake Profiles
- Online Bullying
- Online Identity
- Screen Addiction
- Social Media Platforms
- Age Inappropriate Content
- Copyright & Ownership
- Fake News
- Online Fraud
- Online Reputation
- Games & Trends
To create your account, visit https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/spratton-hall-school
and complete your details. When you’re set up, you’ll be able to set ‘Parent/Carer’ as your user type.
Any particular issues or queries with logging in, please contact me on bjm@sprattonhall.com
CALENDAR
Please be aware that our online calendar will have the most up to date information on sport, trips and events, while SOCS will have current fixture information.
(Click on the links below to see this week’s updates)
