From the Head Master
I am writing to you from London where I am enjoying a couple of days with Year 8 as part of their post-CE programme. Yesterday, we enjoyed climbing the Dome of St Paul’s Cathedral followed by a visit to Covent Garden, a meal in Pizza Express and then the West End show ‘& Juliet’. This morning, we have a little bit of shopping time on Oxford Street before we head to the Warner Bros Studios for the ‘Harry Potter Experience’.
Scholarship Success
I am delighted to announce that, following her outstanding Common Entrance results, Taylor Lyon has been awarded an Academic Scholarship to Kimbolton. Many congratulations indeed to Taylor. This now brings to a close the scholarship season for another year and I must congratulate Year 8 who have achieved 17 between them. I must also pay tribute to those who entered for a scholarship but were unsuccessful. Those children should remember that even being put forward for a scholarship is a fine accolade. Very well done to all!
Rugby School Poetry Prizes
I was very pleased indeed to hear that two of our Year 5 pupils have been most successful in the Rugby School Poetry Competition. Thomas Greany has been awarded 3rd prize overall for ‘The Circle of the Moon’, and Zac Smith was highly commended. Congratulations to them both.
Activities Week
The children are so very excited about Activities Week next week where the whole of the prep school comes off timetable and focuses on a particular theme for the week.
For Year 3, this is ‘Oceans and the Environment’; Year 4 are focusing on ‘Animal Conservation’; Year 5 ‘The Duke of Spratton Hall Awards’ (based on the Duke of Edinburgh Award); and Year 6 and Year 7 both have intriguingly named themes: ‘Action Stations’ and ‘Facing Your Fears’ respectively. Year 8 are heading to Wales for the entire week on Outward Bound.
I am sure all the children and staff will have a most splendid week.
Sports Day
I thoroughly enjoyed Senior Sports Day on Wednesday afternoon. It was a super afternoon of athletics in excellent weather. Many congratulations to Drake for being victorious on the day. I am extremely sad to miss the Pre-Prep Sports Day later today, as I will still be in London with Year 8.
Head Swap
I thoroughly enjoyed my day as a pupil on Monday. With my school uniform on and bag packed, I headed up to 5W where I was looked after extremely well by my fellow pupils. Miss Spencer, our new Head for the day, appeared to have a brilliant time too, from leading management meetings, taking assembly, sitting in the staff room at break-time, meeting governors, observing a lesson and giving tours of the school. Very well done Miss Spencer – and thank you for giving me my old job back on Tuesday!
Thank you
Simon Clarke
MUSIC
Summer Concert – Tuesday 5th July
All of our music ensembles and choirs will be performing. A letter will be sent out next week via Clarion Call containing further details. Tea will be provided for all performers and for all siblings that request it.
Music Practices and Individual Lessons
There will not be any music practices (Jazz Band, Senior Choir, Junior Song, Concert Band etc) next week during Activities Week. Individual music lessons will continue as normal for most teachers.
Instrumental Lessons
Instrumental lessons are available on all orchestral instruments as well as drums, piano, guitar and singing. Individual lessons are available on all instruments. Pupils in Years 3 and 4 also have the option of choosing a shared instrumental lesson which are taught in pairs. Shared lessons are offered on orchestral instruments only (subject to availability). They are not available for singing, guitar, piano and drums. If your child is interested in starting music lessons, please contact Miss Morrell at ncm@sprattonhall.com.
ABRSM Exam Results
Congratulations to all those that took an exam this term. Please log in to your ABRSM account to view your child’s mark sheet. Results can be found by clicking this link.
HOUSE COMPETITIONS
YEARS 6-8 SPORTS DAY
| GIRLS | BOYS | OVERALL RESULT |
| 1st Drake | 1st Raleigh | 1st Drake |
| 2nd Frobisher | 2nd Drake | 2nd Raleigh |
| 3rd Raleigh | 3rd Grenville | 3rd Frobisher |
| 4th Grenville | 4th Frobisher | 4th Grenville |
TABLE TENNIS
| 1st Grenville |
| 2nd Frobisher |
| 3rd Raleigh |
| 4th Drake |
ART
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Artist of the Week goes to Honor Lindsay in Year 7 for her beautiful horse painting.
DRAMA
Well done to Year 7 who pulled out all the stops with terrific comic timing throughout their play last night, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Northants Madness’.
HEAD SWAP
On Monday, following the May Ball auction, Charlotte became Headmistress of Spratton Hall for the day! She had a packed schedule including carpark meet and greet, Senior Management meeting, giving out awards in assembly, decision making in her study, lunch queue duty, staff meetings, observing lessons, giving a tour of the school, zoom Governor meeting and reading to reception. She performed her tasks with confidence and gained an insight into a day in the life of Mr Clarke. Meanwhile, Mr Clarke spent the day with 5W in Art, Computing, Science, Music, RS, Maths and Games!
GEOGRAPHY
Year 6 have been creating contour/layer shading models as part of their lesson on looking at how height can be shown on a map.
TEMPORARY SCHOOL SHOP OPENING HOURS
Due to appointments for new pupils, there will be some changes/reductions to the school shop opening hours for the next three weeks. Please see details below for each week:
If you do experience difficulty visiting the shop during these times, please email schoolshop@sprattonhall.com with your order.
w/c 27th June Opening Hours:
Monday 27th June: Closed – appointments only
Tuesday 28th June: Closed
Wednesday 29th June: 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Thursday 30th June: Closed
Friday 1st July: 8.00am – 9.00am
w/c 4th July Opening Hours:
Monday 4th July: 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Tuesday 5th July: Closed
Wednesday 6th July: 8.00am – 9.00am
Thursday 7th July: Closed – appointments only
Friday 8th July: Closed – Speech Day
LAMDA EXAMS
26 Certificates landed in my post box last week, all bearing wonderful results from the last Lamda exam fest! If you were lucky enough to be able to see the children do their ‘stuff’ in the Hunter Hall after the gruelling exam day in May, then the results won’t be much of a surprise. The hard work, great good humour and wonderful spirit the children have shown, in what was a very short time between Lamda exam sessions, has been properly rewarded and I am really proud of how well they have done across the board – from the youngest to the oldest.
For those who took two exams (with only three months between sessions) a special accolade to you. There were no complaints as to the amount of work (well, almost none!) which overlaid time spent on school exams, productions, sporting fixtures etc and kept them a very busy, crew indeed.
A couple of standouts: Tae Ballantyne and Isabella Smith – who not only had the demands of Matilda last term, but also CE this term, and achieved their Grade 5s. Ben Beaumont: Two exams, achieving high 90s in both whilst taking a large part in the Drama Club play and in his group outside school. In truth, they were all standout and so, huge congratulations to all of them!
| ACTING G1 SOLO | ACTING G2 SOLO | ACTING G3 SOLO |
| Toby Blake – Distinction | Florence Morgan – Distinction | Zayn Shah – Distinction |
| Yusuf Sadiq – Distinction | Teddy Blake – Distinction | |
| Shyla Pal – Distinction | Sophia McDonald – Merit | ACTING G3 COMBINED |
| Elliot Glason – Distinction | Cecilie Jackson – Distinction | |
| Maisie Gowling – Distinction | ||
| ACTING G1 COMBINED | ACTING G2 COMBINED | Clemmie Harrison – Distinction |
| Leilana Patel – Distinction | Nathaniel Benn – Distinction | Evelyn Labrum-Eggleton – Distinction |
| Elliot Briggs – Distinction | Archie Gowling – Distinction | Ben Beaumont – Disinction |
| Jehan Jasinarachchi – Distinction | ||
| SHAKESPEARE LEVEL 1 | SPEAKING VERSE & PROSE G2 | |
| Joe Griffiths – Distinction | Joe Griffiths – Distinction | SPEAKING VERSE & PROSE G3 |
| Teddy Blake – Distinction | Jaypaul Sehmi – Distinction | |
| ACTING G5 COMBINED | Cecilie Jackson – Distinction | |
| Tae Ballantyne – Distinction | Ben Beaumont – Distinction | |
| Isabelle Smith – Distinction |
Please note Lamda lessons will be on next week for all pupils who are here! Please let me know if your child isn’t attending because of trips etc.
Kate Calnan
MANAGER OF SCHOOL SHOP
We are looking for somebody to step into the shoes of the Shop Manager who will be leaving at the beginning of the next school year. Ideally, it will be a parent or a former parent with a few hours to spare each week. We would like the shop to be open three times a week, two afternoons to include a Monday, and on a Friday morning during term time. Additional hours will be needed at the end of the summer term and during the summer holiday. Some flexibility will be required regarding the exact working hours. The role involves keeping the shop in order, controlling the stock, answering emails and assisting with uniform orders. If you are interested in applying, or require any further information, please contact the Bursar, Mrs Clare Cull, on 01604 847292 or email bursar@sprattonhall.com
PRE-PREP
‘Moving On Day’ brought with it much excitement on Tuesday – you could almost feel it fizzing in the air! Our Year 2 children headed off confidently to the Year 3 Block, without even a backward glance, and spent their morning discovering many of the new privileges that being in the Prep School brings. Their return walk back to Pre-Prep later in the afternoon was a rather jubilant one, with the children eager to share which of the four houses they had been allocated to. Meanwhile, for our current Reception children, being in Year 1 for the morning brought with it two insurmountable treats that appeared to shape their entire Moving On experience – stepping over the yellow line in the playground and holding a tray in the dining room! When the children were recalling their most memorable moments of the day, all other activities simply failed to compare.
It is not every morning that my day in Pre-Prep starts by watching two inflatable kangaroos make their way across the playground – but it did on Wednesday, as Year 2 celebrated ‘Australia Day!’ The children all arrived wearing their hot weather clothes (which was rather fortuitous as the sun actually did bake down on us all day!) complete with sliders, sunglasses, and sun hats. A fun-filled day was then spent immersed in Australian themed activities, from designing, decorating and playing digeridoos, to assembling fresh fruit Pavlova’s to follow their outdoor barbeque lunch. A safety worry flickered through my mind when I asked a child what their favourite part of Australia Day had been – the response was “flipping burgers on the bar-b”! Fear not, there were no hot coals or kitchen utensils in sight – it turns out that, ‘flipping burgers’ is part of the children’s ‘Australian Outback Adventure’ obstacle race, which they had been practising in readiness for Sports Day this afternoon! Phew!
On Thursday, Year 1 showcased their talents by entertaining family and friends with a selection of familiar tunes, skilfully and enthusiastically performed on their ocarinas. It was a foot tappingly brilliant performance and a complete joy to see the children’s confidence and enjoyment shine through. This had been preceded earlier in the day, by an informal concert from our Year 2 Ocarina Club. Since the Autumn term, this lunchtime club has gathered together each week around Mrs Fountain’s piano, to continue their love of ocarina playing. So proud are we of the children’s commitment and enthusiasm, that Mrs Fountain declared an informal concert for parents was a must! We do hope that you enjoyed it.
Finally, following a week of glorious sunshine and clear skies, it is fingers crossed for our Pre-Prep Sports Day this afternoon, as we mentally will those dark clouds to move on. The children have been practising their sporting skills and, hopefully, there will be much running, giggling and waving happening along our running track later on today.
Mrs Sanchez
Pre-Prep Pupil Achievements
Many congratulations to two amazing dancers – Ahana Diu (RB) who gained a medal for her effort and skill in Dance, and Sophia Roseveare (2H) who also achieved a medal after appearing in a Dance Show.
Very well done to Bethany Lofts (1N) for gaining her Level 1 Swimming Award.
Congratulations to Dakshan Premkumar (1N) who won ‘Best Student Award’ for his poetry performance at Tamil School.
Further congratulations to Giles Bushell (RY) who gained a much-coveted Blue Peter badge for his drawing skills.
Final congratulations go to Seb Wigley (2H) for gaining his blue belt in Karate.
Pre-Prep Forthcoming Events
Tuesday 28th June, 4pm-6pm – Pre-Prep Parent/Teacher Meetings (to make an appointment, please see my letter emailed to parents on Monday)
Wednesday 29th June, 2pm – Reserve Pre-Prep Sports Day
Thursday 30th June, 4-7.30pm – Pre-Prep Parent/Teacher Meetings (to make an appointment, please see my letter emailed to parents on Monday)
Thursday 30th June, 3pm in the Hunter Hall – Year 2 Final Assembly (All parents, family and friends are welcome to attend)
Friday 1st July, 2.15-3.30pm – Teddy Bears Picnic for incoming Reception children
NON-SCHOOL EVENTS
Watford Village Classics Fun Day – Sunday 26th June
Please follow this link for further details.
