Newsletter – 15 March 2024 - Chard School | Independent Prep School in Chard South Somerset

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Monday 15 March 2024

Word from the Head, Katie Hill

Last week was a busy one, with a great deal of the children’s learning inspired by our Chard Prep School Book Week focus text ‘The Tin Forest’. The staff have been delighted to meet with you all during the Parent Consultation appointments. The staff have been pleased to discuss your child’s progress and attainment and share their current targets. We hope that you found these meetings beneficial. The Parent Consultation Comments will be sent home with your child as a record of the key points that were raised in the meetings.

Horner and Monmouth have been fully engrossed in developing their skills of measurement in Maths. They have relished the fun measuring activities within their maths session, which have included measuring playdough shapes, drawn lines, paper clip chains, lego models and biscuit towers. The children have honed their skills and leant to measure these resources using rulers and tape measures. Mrs Elmer was really impressed to see the development in your measuring skills Horner and Monmouth and delighted to see you having such fun in your learning.

Pre-prep were excited to wear their lab coats to explore different materials and their properties in Science this week. The children discovered which materials were waterproof or absorbent and used this knowledge to advise the Three Little Pigs which materials they should select to build their houses. What a fun session the children had, Mrs Halford was delighted to see how carefully they used the scientific equipment in our Science Lab.

Our school was filled with smiles and laughter on World Book Day. We had characters ranging from Harry Potter to dinosaurs and dragons to princesses that arrived through our school gates. Even the Queen of Hearts and a giant ladybird arrived to! It was lovely to see the children having so much fun as they immersed themselves in text themed learning. From sharing their favourite books together to write play scripts and even performing their own mini plays, it really was a day full of book themed learning and fun!

Mrs Downing was excited to take the completed dragons that have been created by our Cerdic children to the Guild Hall to be exhibited as part of the ‘Chard Together’ exhibition. Each child has crafted an amazing 2D or 3D dragon with everything from moving wings, fire breathing and life like scales. Mrs Downing is certainly very proud of the creativity that our Cerdic children have demonstrated throughout this project.

On Friday afternoon the Pre-prep children invited their Mother’s and Grandma’s to a Mother’s Day Craft afternoon. The children served their parents refreshments and enjoyed a range of craft activities together. It was lovely to see the smiles on the children’s faces and to see them showing their Mother’s such affection and appreciation. Thank you to Mrs Battersby, Mrs Elmer and Miss Jennings for organising such a special afternoon for our Pre-prep children and their families.

This week our U11 Netball Team are looking forward to taking part in the Netball Development Day at Holyrood on Tuesday. On Wednesday the children will enjoy their final swim of the term at Chard Leisure Centre. On Thursday Mrs Orr-Ewing is running the final Mini Melody Makers session of the Spring Term for all Pre-school aged children and their families and at the end of the day Mrs Orr-Ewing has organised a Musical Recital Assembly when a number of our children will be performing. To conclude the week on Friday we are holding our half termly Open Day when we look forward to welcoming prospective parents and their families to tour our site.

Volunteer readers

We are looking for a numebr of volunteer readers to sit with our children and read with them throughout the week if you have any capacity and would like to volenteer yourself please let the school office know and we will arange a DBS for you if you do not already have one in place.

Calendar Events/Clubs 11 – 15 March

Calendar Events

Monday 11 March

Tuesday 12 March
Netball Development Day @ Holyrood, 11.00am to 3.00pm
Guest Assembly @ 3.15pm – Rev. Georgina Vye

Wednesday 13 March
Swimming @ Chard Leisure Centre – Pre-Prep 2.15pm to 2.45pm,
Prep 2.45pm to 3.15pm

Thursday 14 March
Last Mini Melody Makers, Pre-School children, 10.15am to 11.15am

Friday 15 March
Open Day
Celebration Assembly @ 8:55am

Clubs

Monday
Crochet Club – Yrs 5 – 6 – Mrs Elmer

Tuesday
Gymnastics Club – All years – The London Ballet Company
Hama Beads Club – All Years – Mrs Battersby

Wednesday
Drama Club – All years – The London Ballet Company
Art & Craft Club – Prep – Mrs Downing
Manhunt & Pirates Club – Years 3 – 6 Miss Taswell

Thursday

Friday
Music Ensemble – Years 3 – 6 – Mrs Orr-Ewing
Karate – Years 2 – 6 – Mr Hazell
Choir – All Years – Mrs Elmer
Rugby Club – Yrs 4 -6 – 8:00am – Mr Wootten

Everyday Clubs

Before Club 8 – 8.45am (included in School fees) Booking required

Pre Prep & Prep Club 3.45 – 4.30pm (included in School fees) Booking required

After School Club 4.30 – 5.30pm (£5.75 Charge) Booking required

Reminders

Please send you child to school daily with their school coat in this cold weather.
Please bring in pencil case each morning
Your child needs to bring a healthy (nut free) snack to school each day.

Lunch Menu

Please refer to week one on the MENU OPTIONS.

The Grand Easter Hamper Raffle

The Friends of Chard Prep School are excited to announce The Grand Easter Hamper Raffle, where you will have the chance to win one of two luxury hampers, packed with a variety of treats and festive goodies. The funds raised from the raffle will be used to support various school initiatives, promoting a rich learning environment for our pupils. You can purchase your tickets here.

Easter Holiday Camp

We still have places available for the Easter sports camp at Chard Prep School on Tuesday, 2nd April, and Wednesday, 3rd April, from 8:30 to 15:30. Places will be prioritised for Chard Prep School pupils. Additionally, clubs will be promoted to the wider community.

If you are interested in booking a place, please email office@chardschool.co.uk. Your place will be confirmed once payment is received.

For further details, please refer to the poster.

Award Winners

Stars of the week
Prep Star of the Week – Arabella S
Pre Prep Star of the Week – Zara B

Old Cerdics Association

OLD CERDICS ASSOCIATION – URGENT APPEAL

Calling all Old Cerdics and friends of Chard School. Please support our appeal to raise necessary funds for the school. One of the aims and objectives of the Old Cerdics Association, enshrined in the original minutes of the inaugural meeting held at the school on 1st December 1929, is for former pupils to maintain an interest in the school and help the school in many ways. These aims are being fulfilled to this very day but there is still more that can be done. As outlined in our recent News Letter, the Association has launched an appeal to raise funds for the much-needed restoration and ongoing maintenance of the School buildings where so many have treasured memories. To this end the Trustees of the Old Cerdics Scholarship Fund have already pledged the magnificent sum of £30,000 from the Fund to get the appeal off to a good start. However, the aim is to raise a further £10,000 from individual donations which would make a truly significant difference to the long-term future of the school. Please support this appeal in support of our school.

Donations can be transferred online to the OCA’s Reserve Account at NatWest, Ilminster Account No: 15008266 Sort Code: 60-05-06 Reference ‘APPEAL’. Alternatively cheques, payable to the Old Cerdics Association can be sent direct to the Chairman/Secretary of the OCA Graham Chamberlain at 2 Heywood Farm Cottages, Snowball Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 3LU