FROM THE HEAD MASTER
Scholarship Success
I am delighted to announce two further scholarships. Jaypaul Sehmi has been awarded a Music Scholarship to Stowe – a fantastic achievement and thoroughly deserved. Elsa Miles has been awarded a Sport Scholarship to Uppingham – another fine achievement, and capping a week where her 1st VII Netball team played so well and enjoyed two strong victories.
Cross-Country
Huge congratulations to our five pupils, Cee-Cee Guest, Bessie Sanders, Elliot Glason, Isabella Szechenyi and Henry Sandall, who made it through the various rounds to represent the whole of Northamptonshire in the East Anglia Cross-Country Championships. This is such a tough race with well over 100 talented young runners, many of whom run for clubs. All five children did extremely well and should be proud of their achievements.
Very well done too to all of our Years 5 and 6 children following the House Cross-Country on Monday. Congratulations to Grenville for winning the boys and Frobisher for the girls.
Year 3 Play
What a fantastic evening of entertainment Year 3 gave us on Tuesday with their production of The Last Monster in Scotland. It was such a fun performance with great acting, movement and I thought particularly lovely and tuneful singing. Very well done to all the pupils and, of course, the members of staff involved.
Wall Repair
Further to my brief email of last week alerting you to the fact that the wall is being repaired between the coach bay and the car park, as is often the case with these things, the repair work is going to be a little more extensive than we first thought so will be going into the next half of term.
Fire Drill
We held a regular fire drill today, but, as we often do, there was an additional test thrown in during the drill – some ‘real’ deliberately set-off smoke. This is to keep pupils – but predominantly staff – alert and able to adjust during a real-life situation. I am only informing you just in case the children come home and say there was a fire at school today!
Half Term
The children are to be congratulated in getting through the last month or so of what can be a bit of miserable January in such good spirits. When we return a week on Monday we will find ourselves towards the back end of February as well and enjoying lighter mornings and evenings. I do hope you and the family have a fantastic week.
Thank you.
Simon Clarke
PRE-PREP
Children’s Mental Health Week
From soothing creative activities to lively Dough Discos, the children have been enjoying ways of keeping their hearts and minds healthy and happy. With a focus on ‘our voices matter’, we have also helped the children to recognise that no worry or emotion is ever too small or too silly to share. To help open up conversations at home about mental well-being, there are some beautiful and well-written children’s stories available to snuggle down and share with little ones. The Booktrust makes some wonderful suggestions here … Booktrust – Supporting a Healthy Mind
Year 1 Dinosaur Discoveries!
The children in Year 1 are absolutely getting their claws into their Dinosaur topic. Excitement levels spiked this week when a huge golden, scaly egg was found nestled in leaves in the forest school …questions flew around about where it had come from. Luckily, down to the quick thinking of Miss Siddons and Mrs Smith, who had tucked hidden cameras up in trees around the school, all was soon revealed when a video snippet showed a colossal Diplodocus tearing leaves from trees in the school car park! The cameras are still activated and I am sure the children will let you know if there are any more sightings.
Kung Hey Fat Choi ~ Happy New Year!
Families all over the world are preparing for the Chinese New Year celebrations taking place this weekend and it has been a week of festivities in Pre-Prep too. Orion’s mummy showed all of Year 2 how to fill and fold their own delicious dumplings, whilst Micah’s mummy spoke to Reception about the many colourful and fascinating traditions linked to the new lunar year. Venturing out onto the fields, RG and RY then delighted in building ‘The Great Wall of Spratton Hall’, before slurping up bowlfuls of wiggly noodles as a celebration treat.
This afternoon, Year 2 are presenting a Chinese New Year Assembly, complete with songs, music and flickering lanterns – a glorious culmination of everything the children have been learning about, and a perfect end to a busy week.
Pupil Achievements
Congratulations to Clemence Chambers-Hall (2W) for achieving both her Level 2 and 3 Awards in Gymnastics.
Very well done to Robyn Scott (1N) for gaining her Level 3 and 10m Awards in Swimming.
Fiona Sanchez
Head of Pre-Prep
DRAMA
Well done to Year 3 who put on an outstanding show on Tuesday evening with their performance of ‘The Last Monster in Scotland’.
MUSIC
Uppingham Orchestral Day
We had a fantastic day at the Uppingham Orchestral Day yesterday. Our musicians joined pupils from 19 other prep schools to work on a selection of pieces under the guidance of the specialist Uppingham music staff. The day finished with a concert to parents. It really was a wonderful day of music making.
Informal Concert Years 3-7 – Monday 26th February
We are looking forward to the next Informal Concert which will be for musicians in Years 3-7. The programme is currently being finalised and letters will be sent out, on the first Monday after half term, to all those invited to perform.
Termination of Lessons
Should you wish to terminate your child’s individual music lesson from the Summer term, notice must be received before February half term.
CHELTENHAM COLLEGE MATHS COMPETITION
CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH WEEK
Year 8 Wellbeing Ambassadors introduced the children to UK’s Mental Health Awareness Week with an assembly focused on ‘My Voice Matters’. All age groups have been able to engage in different activities throughout the week, to broaden their mindfulness skills. These have ranged from window cleaning to creating themed clay times, meditation to comedy corner, cards with contemplation and painting or walking. A ‘My Voice Matters’ project will be prominent in the Bickley Building and children shall be able to see their artwork collaboration hung in school with pride.
ART
Artist of the Week
This week we have three Artists of the Week!
Byron Dayman 6S – for his fantastic black and white boot with a Chinese Dragon on it
Jessica King 6W – for her amazing Italian themed boot
Priscilla Leung 6S – for her beautifully modelled red heeled ceramic shoe with yellow dragon wrapped around it
Well done everyone.
HOUSE COMPETITIONS
Years 5&6 House Cross-Country
Girls: 1st Frobisher, 2nd Raleigh, 3rd Grenville, 4th Drake
Boys: 1st Grenville, 2nd Drake, 3rd Frobisher, 4th Raleigh
Junior House Humanities
1st Grenville, 2nd, Raleigh, 3rd Frobisher, 4th Drake
SPORT
East Anglia Cross-Country Championships
Congratulations to the 5 pupils who represented the Northamptonshire County in the East Anglia Cross-Country Championships last Saturday. It was a fantastic opportunity for our talented young runners to take part in. The standard at the event was well beyond school level but this did not deter our runners from giving 100% effort and determination, right through to the finishing line.
Well done to Cee-Cee Guest, Bessie Sanders, Elliot Glason, Isabella Szecheyni and Henry Sandall.
They all came home within the top 50 places out of 100 potential runners in each race and performed higher for the
Northamptonshire County in this event than in the previous County Championships earlier this season. They should be very proud of what they have achieved. They were fantastic ambassadors for Spratton.
HOME CLOTHES DAY
Thank you for helping us to support the RNLI today with your Home Clothes Day donations.
SAVE THE DATE!
MEDICAL
Head Lice
As this is a problem throughout the school at the moment, please could you take the time to check your child’s hair and treat accordingly. PLEASE TREAT CHILDREN AT HOME BEFORE ATTENDING SCHOOL.
Head lice are wingless insects that live on the scalp and neck. They are grey or brown, have six legs and when fully grown are about the size of a sesame seed. Females attach their eggs to your hair close to your scalp. The eggs hatch about 7 – 10 days later and it takes 10 days for them to be adults and laying new eggs.
When the lice hatch they leave empty shells called nits attached to the hair. Nits are white and you may mistake them for flakes of dry skin. Nits stick to the hair and you won’t be able to remove them with normal shampooing.
You can only get head lice through head to head contact. They cannot hop, fly or swim. Although head lice maybe embarrassing and sometimes uncomfortable, they don’t usually cause illness. However, they WON’T clear up on their own and you need to treat them promptly.
Treatment of head lice
There are many treatments available including:
- Insecticides – e.g. Full Marks liquid or Derbac M
- Wet Combing with special fine toothed comb
- Non–insecticide based products – e.g. Hedrin
Insecticides and Non-Insecticides
When using these products for treating lice they are available as lotions, liquids and shampoos. Always follow the instructions carefully. Usually the insecticide lotion should be rubbed onto scalp and hair, left for approximately 12hrs before you wash it out. Then comb using a fine toothed comb. This process should be repeated after 7 days to kill any new lice that may have hatched.
Wet Combing
This is a method of removing lice with a fine toothed comb. You need to spend 20 – 30mins combing through the entire head of hair. It is easier to remove the lice and nits if the hair is wet and conditioner still on hair. The process needs repeating every 3 days until there have been 3 consecutive sessions without seeing any lice.
Many thanks
Matron
