Middle Department News

This week in Year 3

If you were unable to attend, you can watch the concert here

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year 3 Team

This week in Year 4

This week, Year 4 have been exploring the wonderful and diverse plant and animal life that can be found in the rainforests. As well as the more common creatures that can be found in rainforests across the world such as jaguars, macaws and boa snakes they also discovered less common but just as amazing creatures such as the leaf cutter ant, spear-nosed bat and capybara. 

House Swimming Gala

Tuesday saw the annual Year 4 Swimming Gala. It was great to see all the children take part, giving their best and, more importantly, supporting and cheering each other on to do their very best as well. Many thanks to all the parents who also came along to support and cheer on the children.

The final result was:   

1st – Stewart 2nd – Saunders   3rd – Sebright   4th – Tudor 

On Thursday, after a quick shower, the sun shone down on what was the final cricket match of Year 4. Considering the disruptions of the previous year, all of the Year 4 children have made tremendous progress with their cricket this term especially when it comes to bowling, a very tricky skill to master. They should all feel proud of how far they come this year and should head into next season full of confidence.

Year 4 (finally!) visit Chiltern Open Air Museum

Today, after a couple of postponements, we finally made it the the Chiltern Open Air Museum.  We all had a lovely day – have a look at our photos below:

Have a lovely weekend!

The Year 4 Team

This Week in Year 5

This week has been another busy one in Year 5 and already our wonderful week in Aylmerton seems rather distant!

We hope that you enjoyed seeing the photos on social media of the children on boats and beaches, clambering around rock pools, den-building in the forest and revelling in the glorious sunshine and now it is time to read some of their feedback too.

The children chose one moment or aspect of their amazing experience to share with you, without any prompting or guidance from the teachers whatsoever!

Art Stretch Session

Each week eight children, two from each Year 5 form, join me for a session to explore different themes and topics.

Today’s session was on ‘Best of British, top 10 as voted by the public’. The selection included album covers, oil paintings, graffiti and sculpture. We concluded that popular taste in art has changed over the centuries but some themes remain consistent such as love, hope, the beauty of the countryside and quintessential Britishness.

The group ordered the images as they thought the order of popularity to be before I revealed the official results. This was a lot of fun and the pupils identified that taste in art is hugely personal, accounting for the diversity of images. Each child selected their favourite and argued convincingly for his ranking to be moved to number 1!

Mrs Lynch

The pupils have enjoyed being busy in the classrooms and labs again this week, learning about a range of new topics including angles in Maths, green plants in Science and D Day in History. On top of this, they have also managed to fit in some fine performances on the cricket pitches and in the swimming pool for their annual gala.  Congratulations to every member of Year 5 for taking part in this – some close finishes and speedy swimming, but special congratulations must go to Saunders, who were triumphant this afternoon!

We are in awe of your energy, Year 5, after such a busy week last week. You have indeed shown us that you are ready to embrace the opportunities of the Senior Department!

We wish you all a lovely weekend,

The Year 5 Team

REMINDERS

Whole School Photograph

Next Monday, there will be a whole school photograph. Pupils should come into school smartly dressed in their summer uniform and with their blazer please. Please ensure that boys bring their tie to School too!

Middle Department Sports Day

Middle Department Sports Day (click to see programme for the day) is on Tuesday 28 June. The first event is due to commence at 1030 and presentations are due to finish at 1515. Lunch time is 1230 – 1315. Pupils should come to school in their PE kit. All Middle Department ASAs will not take place with the exception of Global Soccer and Middle Prep. Please let front desk know of any changes to these activities.

All pupils will be involved in every time slot for their year group. Pupils will be served lunch inside. Parents are welcome to use the lunch slot to enjoy their own picnic around the chairs and/or Haha area, between the chairs and marquee. Match teas will be served to parents following presentations and pupils will enjoy a treat too. After they have enjoyed this, pupils will be able to sign out with the form teachers and go home with parents or be collected at usual time. We will sent out a Google form next week for parents to confirm collection arrangements.

Please remember all pupils will need to be wearing their Beechwood PE kit with white house shirt, white/navy shorts, white socks and trainers. Please remember Beechwood hats, layers, sun cream and a named water bottle.

DE Photo will be onsite taking photos of  both the Senior and Middle Department Sports Days. Parents will be able to view and buy photos of their child/children on the day.

If you would like to collect your child straight after Sports Day has finished and have not yet done so, please could you indicate on the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/8hazVGp3XbVT7xNC8 

From the Middle Department Library

Small, by Hannah Moffatt

When Harvey accidentally sets fire to his headteacher’s trousers, his mum decides it’s time for a BIG change and sends him off to Madame Bogbrush’s School for Gifted Giants.

Unfortunately Harvey is not a giant, he’s just a boy on stilts, which should be fine except the giants have a habit of bashing Smalls (AKA humans), so it’s imperative for him to keep his true identity secret. Cue much mayhem and pacey peril, paired with zany illustrations.

This debut story combines hilarious antics with mystery, danger and unexpected twists to make an enjoyable summer read

Head’s Commendations

Congratulations to this week’s recipients of Mr Balfour’s Commendations: