FROM THE HEAD MASTER
Scholarship Success
I am delighted to announce that Year 8 pupil George Smart has been awarded an Academic Scholarship to Stowe. This is a fine achievement and a fitting reward for George. Many congratulations to him.
Former Pupils’ Success
A couple of weeks ago, I was pleased to pass on the news that two former Spratton pupils who went onto Oundle were offered places at Oxford University. I was so pleased to hear this week that two more former Spratton pupils now at Rugby have been offered places at Cambridge. Many congratulations to Charles Swinfen who will be reading Land Economy and to Milo Coker who will be reading Music.
LAMDA results
The LAMDA results recently announced are so very impressive. The children have clearly worked extremely hard and thoroughly deserved those excellent results, which you can see elsewhere in the newsletter. Well done!
SHSPA Spring Extravaganza
Our rather wonderful Parents’ Association are organising a very special Family Fun Day to take place on Sunday 19 May from 12-4pm. The day will involve games, music, entertainers and plenty of treats. More details next term but, for now, please save the date.
Cross-Country
Our pupils have been involved in two events over the last few days. On Saturday, it was the County Cross-Country Championships, where 23 of our pupils ran with a good number making it through to the next round representing the whole of Northamptonshire. On Monday we hosted our own annual Relays event with 15 schools taking part. Our pupils did extremely well with three of our teams coming 3rd and the other coming 4th. It was impressive to feature so highly in all four races. Well done to all of the runners and, of course, to Mr Canty and Mrs Williams, their ever-present and enthusiastic coaches.
STEM Week
It has been a fantastic, fun-filled but educational week of STEM activities, including ZooLab visiting on Monday with an array of exotic creatures, bottle rockets being fired off in the playground, the Year 8 trip to Bedford School’s Observatory, some pupils attending the BETT Show in London yesterday, and the Royal Institute Science Shows taking place today. I am sure the children have enjoyed it throughout. Huge thanks to Mrs Williams, Head of Science, and to all members of staff who have contributed.
Thank you.
Simon Clarke
PRE-PREP
Spring Term Topics Unfold!
Moving between the Pre-Prep classrooms may be a scoot across the playground or a quick nip upstairs, but as the children’s new topics unfold, it can feel like travelling from one time and place in the world to another.
Year 1 can be found unearthing pretend fossils and practising their palaeontology skills as they discover more about the prehistoric world of ‘Dinosaurs’. In contrast, Year 2 are either imagining the icy chill of the Antarctica in their topic, ‘Pole to Pole’. Meanwhile, in Reception, my nerves have been in tatters due to the sudden bursts of ‘nee-naw, nee-naw’ coming from the middle area, as the children delight in singing their firefighter song, linked to their new topic, ‘Helping Hands’.
Reception Need Your Help…
Staying on the theme of the Reception topic, ‘Helping Hands’, the children of RY and RG have been exploring different areas of the school, as they learn more about the people who help us at Spratton Hall. Mrs Woodman welcomed the children’s smiley faces into the School Office, Matron had quite a gathering in her room and even the doors to the Estates Team’s shed were thrown open. Squeezing onto Mr Clarke’s sofa in his Head Master’s study certainly made for a memorable visit too!
In a bid to learn more about the many helping hands that surround us in the world, Reception would now like to hear from any parents who would be happy to speak to the children about their jobs and what they entail. All professions would be absolutely welcome … although, having said that, the children are particularly keen to hear from any astronauts, deep sea divers (only mermaids need apply!) and anyone whose job involves rescuing people or animals whilst wearing a cape!
Please do make contact with either Mrs George or Miss Yeo, as they would love to hear from you.
STEM Week Excitement
Could you construct a stable, freestanding tower in 20 minutes using just masking tape and balloons? Or, how about designing a balloon powered car … what would you do to ensure that it travelled further than anyone else’s? Given just 3 sheets of paper, scissors and sellotape … could you make a paper chain longer than anyone else’s (without asking for any more paper!) These are just a few of the fabulous Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths challenges that the children have been enjoying this week.
This afternoon, Pre-Prep are looking forward to a special STEM show, put on by the Royal Institute of Science – the magic of science in action, we can’t wait!
Pupil Achievements
Congratulations to the following children for their swimming achievements – Octavia Podesta (2L) Level 4 and 20m, Austin Marriott (1S) Level 1, Aya Wilson (1N) Level 3 and 10m, Eliza Foster (RG) Level 2, Arthur Foster (2W) Level 3 and Jai Chavda (2L) Level 4 and 20m.
Further congratulations go to Austin for graduating the Bambino class in Go-Karting.
A final well done to Orion Adam (2L) who received a special badge for achieving his black belt in Tae Kwondo.
Fiona Sanchez
Head of Pre-Prep
MUSIC
Year 8 Informal Concert – Tuesday 30th 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 are welcome to come and support.
Termination of Music Lessons
Please be aware that, if you wish to cancel music lessons from the start of the Summer term, notice must be received by February half term.
ART
Artist of the Week
Artist of the Week goes to Archie Bateson for his self-portrait inspired by the artist Rene Magritte. Such a great, fun idea painted with detail and care.
Year 8 Fashion Show
All of Year 8 should have finished their self-portraits by now and be starting to plan and design for the Year 8 Fashion Show.
Anyone who has not yet finished can come to the Art Department during Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday lunch times to finish with the help of Mrs Moreton.
STEM WEEK 2024
We have had a very busy and enjoyable STEM week. It started with a visit from ZooLab for Years 3 and 4. The pupils learnt about biomimicry and met a royal python, some rats, hissing cockroaches, African land snails, a tarantula and a frog. Mr Bradnam and Mrs Williams took Year 8 for fascinating visit to Bedford School’s Observatory on Tuesday and Mr Canty delighted pupils with bottle rockets that flew higher than the pre-prep building on the playground. In assembly with Mr Clarke, we played the Masked Scientist and learnt about some well-known and not so well-known scientists. Thursday was a trip to the BETT Show with some of the Digital Leaders, Mr McKenna and Mrs Williams. The pupils had great fun trying out eSports, Virtual Reality experiences and finding out about the future of technology in education. The week finished with Energy Live science shows by The Royal Institution for the whole school on Friday. A great way to finish off a fun-packed week. The pupils have also loved seeing all the old tech in the FDT room. Thank you to all pupils and staff who brought items in.
Year 8 Visit Bedford Observatory
On Wednesday evening, as part of STEM week, 15 Year 8 pupils visited Bedford School to be treated to a show in their Planetarium and to see their large telescope in action. As always, the knowledgeable Mr Guise, who presents the show, filled our heads with facts and figures about space. Mr Bradnam always learns something new, even though he has been visiting for 20 years, and this year’s fact is that all the gold on Earth originates in supernovas from other stars, blasted out into space. We also got to look at and sniff an 11 billion year old meteorite (it is pure iron so smells metallic!) Unfortunately, the skies were cloudy, so we were not able to do any live viewing through the telescope, but we were still presented with previously captured images of planets, galaxies and nebula. A fascinating trip for all, as always.
SPORT
Spratton Hall Cross-Country Relays
This week saw the annual Spratton Cross-Country Relays take place with over 200 children attending from 14 other schools. It was a busy afternoon indeed and we secured 3rd place in the U11 Girls, U11 Boys and U13 Girls races and 4th place in the U13 Boys.
Well done to everyone who took part.
LAMDA
Well done to all those who took LAMDA exams recently, gaining some great results!
TOWNSEND LIBRARY
We welcome our new Librarians for the Spring Term – Thomas, Mimi, Florence, Amelia, Amber, Ginny, Teddie and Josh.
LOST PROPERTY
Edward Pett – school coat age 9-10 with named tag in pocket (was in entrance to Drawing Room on Wednesday at Breakfast Club)
