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Life at Somerhill Pre-Prep (Lent 2 2023)

What a happy Lent term it has been in SPP! Full of exciting learning and adventures around our Creative Curriculum Topic of Toys and Victorian Times.

In Pre-Prep we have all been focussing on our Somerhill values of ‘Excellence’, ‘Kindness’ and ‘Community’. So how well did the children do in demonstrating these principles?

A quick review of this Lent half-term will put it all in perspective how amazing the SPP children are!

We have been lucky to have the wider community support our children's learning with grandparents visiting and talking to the children about the toys they played with as children. We also had a visiting Florence Nightingale Workshop and some of the classes have taken a trip to Kent Life.

World Book week was a highlight this half-term with all sorts of exciting activities planned to ignite a passion in reading and writing. Science Day brought fun, fact finding and future scientists to the table and the first fixture for our Year 2 children showed sportsmanship and excellence in our community. The Year 2 soirée was a delightful show of how hard work pays off and how confident the children are becoming. Opening up our classrooms for children in Reception to Year 2 was also a highlight.

Excellence, kindness and community oozed from all the children this term, and I cannot emphasise how proud the SPP teaching team are!
Amanda McKnight, Head of Somerhill Pre-Prep

Book Week

The children in SPP had a fun-filled week celebrating Book Week! The week's events were inspired by Julia Donaldson and various activities were planned around her well-loved stories.

Julia Donaldson

The children enjoyed meeting Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (virtually) and following a trail in the woods to find the Gruffalo.

Carousel Day

Reception to Year 2 children had great fun together during our Julia Donaldson Carousel Day. Some activities that were enjoyed included learning the Gruffalo song in Makaton, building scarecrows from 'The Scarecrow's Wedding' and measuring Superworm!

Perform Drama Workshops

The children enjoyed going on a Julia Donaldson themed adventure with Katy from Perform Workshops. They took on the role of some of her famous characters and explored her stories. A potion was created to fix the witch’s broom from Room on the Broom and the children helped the monkey from Monkey Puzzle find his mum.

Clare Luther Author

We were thrilled to welcome Clare Luther Children's Author to school, creator of The Little Paws Hotel and The Animorals series.

Her stories are told through the eyes of different breeds of dogs focusing on emotional well-being and mental health; topics include separation anxiety, fear of new experiences, perfectionism, being bullied, repeated unkindness, bereavement/ grief.

Her beautifully illustrated picture books are written using relatable, honest words about emotions, and associated physiological reactions, to help young children understand themselves better, explore thoughts and feelings, and get meaningful conversations started.

Josh was inspired to write his own book!

Book Day Parade

The highlight of the week was most certainly the dress-up day and parade. We were delighted to see our friends, and teachers, dressed up and enjoyed a boogie in the SPP courtyard. We are very much looking forward to next year's Book Week already!

SPP Book swap

The book swap shop was a great success and the children loved exchanging books and sharing recommendations.

In Saplings the children embraced Book Week with activities including making Gruffalo crumble in the Dutch oven on the fire, Gruffalo crowns, broomsticks, and magic wands. They made a giant Stickman, little Stickmen, and chocolate Stickmen! Lastly they focused on grunting sticks and mini wormeries.

Buddy Reading

As part of Book Day celebrations, Year 5 pupils welcomed Year 2 children up to the Prep for buddy reading. It was fantastic to see the boys and girls reading to each other, chatting about their books and making new friends.

SPP Science Workshops

A great day was had by all when we celebrated British Science Week in SPP. The children were delighted to carry out their own investigations, which included creating rainbows through diffusion, growing crystals, creating mazes with magnets, exploring the sense of taste, creating cress head creatures and so much more. We also thoroughly enjoyed the Silly Science workshop!

Engineering

Year 2 have been learning about everyday materials and how they are used, as well as learning about people who have developed useful new materials.

Inspired by civil engineer John McAdams and with the help of the science and engineering departments, Year 2 had a go at making their own tarmac. They made a tar-like substance using black paint and PVA glue which was mixed with builders’ sand and crushed stones. They then smoothed out the tarmac and waited for it to harden before using it to build their own road.

They also designed and made their own thaumatropes - a popular Victorian toy - and visited the engineering lab to do some drilling with Mr Leach and some of the year 8 boys.

I loved drilling with the Year 8s, they were so kind and helpful.

Little Voices

Little Voices is an after school club for budding performers in SPP. The children are taught how to warm up their voices properly, warm up their brains with drama games and warm up their bodies learning basic dance and movement. We have spent the last term learning a few songs which show off different skills and open the children up to a range of genres.

The end of term parent showcase is the culmination of all this hard work. The children were keen to put on a real show and welcomed their audience with biscuits and jazz music! With songs ranging from Les Misérables to S Club 7, there really was something for everyone, and there was an abundance of proud tears and smiles.

Pancakes

Reception had a flip-tastic time making Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. The children followed a simple recipe getting involved with all the measuring and weighing. Of course, the best bit was trying to flip the pancakes. The ceiling was definitely out of bounds. We are pleased to report that only a couple hit the floor!

Sport

Year 2 competed in their very first Somerhill sports fixture this week, playing against Sevenoaks Prep School.

The boys travelled away to play touch rugby and the girls hosted Sevenoaks at home playing hockey. Both represented Somerhill superbly well, showing excellent sportsmanship all round.

The children were very excited ahead of the event and they showcased their skills brilliantly, making it a thoroughly successful and fun afternoon for all. Many thanks to the Year 2 parents for cheering on from the sidelines and supporting the fixtures so well in fairly dreary weather!

Swimming

Swimming is an integral part of the school experience for our SPP children – we swim every week in all three terms and focus initially on encouraging the children to splash and play while learning to respect their environment and stay safe. Children get to explore the FUNdamentals of swimming throughout pre-prep and learn the basics, including floating, breath control, survival skills, aquatic skills, safe entry, sinker retrieval and on to diving. Every child learns the techniques of front crawl, backstroke, dolphin (precursor to butterfly) and breaststroke, initially with floating devices, moving on to free swimming once they feel confident.

Reception children during their swimming lessons this term

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SPA EASTER EVENT

The SPA would like to thank everyone who attended the Easter Event on March 18th and made it a fantastic afternoon for all!

Thank you to all the volunteers on the day for making this event possible. And special thanks to Samantha Coles for the wonderful trail and clues and to Suzanne Khinda for helping to make the dining hall look amazingly festive!

HAVE A GREAT EASTER BREAK!

Created By
Somerhill Stephens
Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by somemeans - "Black music violin clef sign and note on rough beige surface. G-clef. Treble clef. Close up" • tortoon - "Colorful easter egg in the nest on blue pastel color wood backgr"