Newsletter – 6 October 2023 (copy 01) - Chard School | Independent Prep School in Chard South Somerset

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Friday 13 October 2023

Word from the Head, Katie Hill

The children have enjoyed an action packed week of learning this week. In ICT Monmouth and Wyndham Classes have been designing backgrounds in Scratch 1.4, meanwhile Lower Cerdic and Harris have had fun working on animation and 3D game design in Kodu. Our Upper Cerdics have been learning about digital storytelling using Scratch 3. Mr Goodman has been really impressed with the application and focus of his classes. In History this week Harris have been exploring Stone Age tools. The children were excited to handle and explore the ancient implements and had fun trying to detect what each tool might have been used for.

On Tuesday our UC children attended a workshop led by the Lord’s Larder. The children were proud to deliver the Harvest Donations that we had collected as a school community and were interested to learn exactly how the food bank works. To truly appreciate the role that the Lord’s Larder plays in the community, the children worked in pairs to source and pack a food parcel. Upper Cerdic were a credit to our school as they worked to assist the charity and gained a true understanding of the vital role that the Lord’s Larder plays within the local area.

On Wednesday the whole school were thrilled to discover that the staff had organised a Celebrating Differences morning for everyone. The children were arranged into four learning teams with each team comprising children aged 4 – 11. Throughout the morning the teams rotated through four different workshops. The children became creative and experienced how tricky it is to paint using your mouth or your feet, they began to understand how it might feel to be visually impaired as they experienced ‘Blind Football’ which they were able to play with the help of their trusty guide. Each group explored the choices that we all make in selecting different foods in a food tasting workshop and learnt that a person’s appearance or physical abilities do not need to affect their fashion style choices. It was lovely to see the children working together and truly being immersed in some key learning relating to our termly theme of Celebrating Differences.

After school on Wednesday our Cross Country Running Team were excited to compete in their first Stockland Race of the year. Despite the conditions being wet and muddy underfoot the children impressed with their first run of the season. We are looking forward to receiving the official race positions of our runners imminently.

This week in Science Wyndham and Harris used sweets to create models of sedimentary and igneous rocks. They were intrigued to observe the layers in sedimentary rocks and had fun trying to replicate this with their sweets! They were fascinated to see how heat changed one of their rocks to represent a metamorphic rock. At the end of the lesson the children were delighted to tuck into one of their ‘rocks’!

Our Symes children are loving ‘Drawing Club’ this term! Mrs Battersby is running these sessions with our youngest children weekly and has been excited to see the progress the children are already making. From being inspired by a story the children then begin to draw from their imagination, be it the character, setting or even an event. Mrs Battersby then writes a magic spell, resulting in something magical happening in their picture. This has in turn sparked the children’s imagination and inspired them to begin to write too. Mrs Battersby has been delighted to see the progress that the children are already making.

On Thursday we were pleased to host St. John’s School, Sidmouth for an U11 Girl’s Hockey Match. The two teams played well on our astro pitch in the glorious sunshine and our Chard School team were delighted to score a number of goals. It was lovely to see the two teams mixing so well after the match as they tucked into their Match Tea. Thank you to Miss Taswell for organising the fixture and to the FOCS for organising the Match Tea for the two teams.

Next week on Monday Pre-prep are holding their Phonics Workshop at 8.50am and after school the FOCS are running a Cake Sale. On Tuesday Father Julian Laurence is coming in to lead our Guest Assembly and our U9 Cricket Team are playing in the Area Cricket Development Tournament. On Wednesday Mrs Battersby is looking forward to welcoming Pre-school aged children and their families to our new ‘Tiddly Peeps Toddler Group’. On Thursday Mrs Orr-Ewing is running Mini Melody Makers and on Friday Pre-prep cannot wait to return to ROAM for Forest School.

Calendar Events/Clubs 9 – 13 October

Calendar Events

Monday 9th October
Phonics Workshops for Pre-Prep Parents @ 8.50am – 9.50am
FOCS Pre-Prep Cake Sale @ 3.30pm

Tuesday 10th October
U9s Development Cricket @ Holyrood Sports Hall, 1.00pm to 3.00pm
Guest Assembly – Father Julian Laurence

Wednesday 11th October
Tiddly Peeps, Pre-school children, 10.15am to 11.15am
Swimming @ Chard Leisure Centre from 2.15pm – Whole School

Thursday 12th October
Mini Melody Makers, Pre-School children – 10.15am to 11.15am
NHS Vision Screening for Reception children @ 13.30pm

Friday 13th October
ROAM Forest School @ 9.15am – 3.00pm – Pre-prep Classes
Celebration Assembly @ 3.10pm
HALF TERM begins @ 3.30pm

Clubs

Monday
Circuits/Manhunt & Pirates Yrs 3 – 6

Tuesday
Football Club – All Years

Wednesday
Manhunt & Pirates –Reception -Yr 2
Juggling Club – Yrs 4 – 6

Thursday
Latin Club – Yrs 4 -6

Friday
Music Ensemble – Yrs 3 – 6
Karate – Yrs 2 – 6

Everyday Clubs

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

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

As a matter of safety, please ensure that you always shut our school gate behind you.
Please ensure that your child brings a named water bottle to school daily.
Following our school ‘healthy snack’ guidelines, please send your child to school with a ‘healthy snack’ each day. Please remember that we are a nut free school.

Lunch menu

Please refer to week three on the MENU OPTIONS.

Congratulations to our award winners

Stars of the week

Pre Prep – Wilfred L
Prep – Emily W

Mr Sills book recommendation

Art Shaped
Learn how to teach children to create everything from rainforest scenes to robots with these innovative, easy-to-follow ideas from 3D art expert Darrell Wakelam. These low-cost projects use readily available materials to create exciting models, masks and sculptures which will inspire children. This book enables you to develop children’s techniques and skills through high-quality, eco-friendly art projects while encouraging them to be creative, use their imagination, and mArt Shapedost importantly, have fun.

Friends of Chard School

Cake & Treats Sale:
A friendly reminder from Friends Of Chard School: Please remember to bring your money for the cake sale on Monday.

Cinderella Pantomime Details
Date: Friday 8 December
Time: 11:30 AM – Departure from Chard School
Payment: £15 to be transferred to the Friends of Chard School bank account as provided below, or you can make cash payments in person to Mrs Mason.

Friends of Chard School Account Details:
Sort Code: 30-92-40
Account Number: 00191832

Old Cerdics Association

Into October and half-term just around the corner already. So good to see so many happy smiley faces enjoying the early Autumn sunshine at our wonderful school these last few weeks.

The first major school event of the term before the run up to Christmas is the Remembrance Service in the school chapel on Friday 10th November at 9.30am; a day earlier than usual as Remembrance Day falls on a Saturday this year. Always a most poignant occasion as we remember those former pupils, Old Cerdics, who gave their lives for their country in two World Wars; many of whom would have chosen the armed forces as their life’s career and would not have been long out of school. Their names are recorded in perpetuity on the Rolls of Honour in the chapel and by tradition are read out at the service by an Old Cerdic. This year will be no exception. All Old Cerdics living within easy reach of Chard are welcome to attend this event.