Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

EDGE NEWS Monday 9th March 2020 Spring Term - Week 9 Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Headmaster's Introduction Midway through a busy term, it is always good to pause, reflect and assess, taking stock of what is going well and what can be improved... Dear Parents

Midway through a busy term, it is always good to pause, reflect and assess, taking stock of what is going well and what can be improved. In reality, busy terms do not always allow this luxury but Saturday’s Open Morning was the perfect opportunity.

Traditionally, our Spring Open Days are always slightly quieter, but not this year. With over 140 families booked in by mid-February, we had to declare ourselves ‘full’ and turn the booking system off – something which goes completely against my natural instincts but a reminder that Edge Grove is seen as a destination school by so many and with most families visiting due to word of mouth.

The school gleamed and the grounds, classrooms and other areas all looked fantastic. However, facilities are only one aspect of any school and as ever and quite rightly, it was our pupils who were the stars of the show. I talk often about how our distinctive teaching and learning and wider provision of opportunities builds confidence and xe cellent communications skills in our pupils. The positive feedback from touring parents on Saturday was tremendous evidence of this and I couldn’t have been more proud of how our Upper School children conducted themselves and demonstrated such pride in their school. The visitors, without exception, were fulsome in their praise and very impressed with the levels of maturity and articulacy they saw.

As I made my usual early morning rounds to check we were completely ready, it gave me the perfect opportunity to visit every classroom and see the learning on display. As you know, we don’t go in for immaculate display boards with 18 identical pieces of work double mounted in rows – where is the benefit for our pupils in that? eW believe in dynamic working walls, with the learning displayed everywhere. This allows children and teachers to use the classrooms as a valuable resource which can then change and develop every day ensuring high levels of progress. It also allows visitors, such as me, to see exactly what learning has taken place and the methods used, consistently across the school. Needless to say, what I saw was impressive and confirmation, if needed, that our teachers are truly masters of their craft.

My final reflection of Saturday’s Open Morning is how lucky we all are to be part of such a strong, positive and cohesive community. I am grateful to the current parents who came to speak to our visitors, to our wonderful team of ‘Martins’ who ensure the school (and car parking) operates so smoothly and to the pupils and teachers who bring so much energy, enthusiasm and dynamism to everything they do. Thank you!

Congratulations to the U11 Basketball team who won the Plate Final in the IAPS National Championships on Saturday and to the U13 team who reached the Semi- finals in their age group. This week continues apace with something happening every day – please keep a close eye on the calendar!

Best wishes

Ben Evans The school gleamed and the grounds, classrooms and other areas all looked fantastic. However, facilities are only one aspect of any school and as ever and quite rightly, it was our pupils who were the stars of the show. Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

CALENDAR What's on this week CALENDAR

For fixture information see the Information Letter

Tuesday 10th March Netball Triangular v and Belmont, U9 & U8 Ignite Quiz Club General Knowledge Inter-School Championship, Pre Prep and Pre-School Parent Consultations, 5.00pm-8.00pm Emmanuel Centre Westminster, Years 3-6 by invitation, 12.00-1.00pm Pre Prep and Pre-School Parent Consultations, 5.00pm-8.00pm Friday 13th March Ensembles Concert, Theatre, 5.30pm Beechwood park 7-a-side Festival, U11 Lower School Rush Hour Concert, Apthorp Hall, 4.30pm Wednesday 11th March Exeat begins at 6.00pm, School closed Year 3 Mr G Materials & Magnets Workshop, Apthorp Hall, 9.00am-12.30pm Multi Sports Afternoon v Orley Farm, Year 7 & 8 Saturday 14th March Rugby v Aldwickbury, U12 Exeat (School closed) Rugby v St Columba's College, U10 & U11 Netball v RMS, U13 Sunday 15th March Netball v Duncombe House, U11 Exeat (School closed), Boarders return 6.30pm Netball Festival at Haileybury, U10

Thursday 12th March Monday 16th March Rugby v St Columba's and Aldwickbury, U9 Inter-Schools' Cross Country Event at Haileybury, U9, U11 & U13 Rugby v Orley Farm, U8 ABRSM Examinations, Theatre Table Tennis v Locker's Park Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Pre Prep News Pre Prep News Back at school, World Book Day was of course a Gill Emmerson highlight of the week, not only because we got Head of Pre Prep the opportunity to dress up but because of the wonderful story sharing we enjoyed. The idea that each class could win story share points by This week our Flourish Focus is ‘Keep Learning’ sharing books with each other and friends from and I was doing just that at the IAPS Pre Prep and across all year groups in school conjured up some Early Years Leaders’ Conference in Nottingham magical moments. last week. The keynote speakers stimulated debate on wide ranging topics such as the hidden numbers Year 2 girls looked towards International of girls with autism, gender and outdoor learning Women’s Day and were inspired to find books and what makes a mentally healthy school. In which detailed the lives of women who have addition to the lectures, there was time to meet somehow made a difference. The Pre Prep staff colleagues from similar schools all over the country were of course fully on-board with the idea of to share ideas, discover new resources and develop dressing up and immersed themselves with their a network of support. The pupils were fascinated customary enthusiasm and dedication. to hear in assembly that Mrs Emmerson had been away from school spending time in a classroom and Although the conference was excellent and I I know that many parents set that example by certainly learned many new things, the children studying themselves. We set out to nurture a provide the opportunity for us to keep learning lifelong love of learning Edge Grove, to ignite that every day as we tap into their thirst for spark that radiates the message that we can never knowledge, for example this from Reception...did know everything and always discover something you know that a narwhal's horn is actually a fascinating if we open our eyes and our minds. tooth? Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Lower School News Ask your child which headline they chose for Lower School their newspaper report. A popular game (shown in the photos) at the beginning of the week was News played in English, it encouraged use of subordinate conjunctions. Samantha Robinson Head of Lower School In English, year 3 have continued to look at Fantastic Mr Fox and have begun planning and writing their own versions with characters such as This week the Apthorp Hall was filled with Harry Crafty Mr Crocodile and Marvellous Mr Mole. In Potters, Pippy Longstockings, Gangster Grannies maths, the children have continued to compare and other book characters to celebrate books and convert units of measure to allow them to and the joy of reading as part of World Book Day. move on to adding and subtracting lengths. Why The children had a wonderful morning sharing costumes, with a particular highlight being Mr not try asking your children how many mm in 5cm stories with pupils from year 2 and year 6. Maranzana dressed in an inflatable caterpillar or, if you’re up for the challenge why not ask how Afterwards all of the Lower School pupils costume. Can you guess which character he had many mm would be in 10m? paraded around the hall showing off their come dressed as? In Maths lessons children revised their skills in using formal methods for all four calculations, and in science, year 4 continued their electricity investigations discussing appliances and whether they use mains or battery electricity. There was some cross curricular learning in English lessons as the children researched Benjamin Franklin. They then used their research to produce a newspaper article documenting his discovery of electricity. Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Middle School News height this week, or more In RS, year 6 have been exploring the importantly how height is recorded story of Moses and the Plagues. Middle School News on a map. We are using contour lines They have created and performed a to work our way around Hogwarts drama in groups to visualise and Kate McManus and reviewing spot heights and express what the Israelites went Head of Middle School shading techniques. We have through and what God did to help. discussed why it is important that Afterwards, they have put on their height is shown on a map and I have director’s hats and written notes on Year 5 maths Green set are At the start of the week, Mrs enjoyed telling them all about my how they’d produce this as a film. continuing with converting fractions Thompson’s Year 6 Blue set were disastrous DofE trip when I was at Get the hail machines and boxes of but this week they are focusing on challenged with a 13+ Paper 1 school that resulted in us climbing a frogs ready! mixed number and top heavy assessment. It was great to see the small mountain due to not paying fractions. Children were shown children rise to the challenge and attention to the contours on our Year 5 have been making masks and mixed number fractions as bar answer questions that included 13+ map! they will be preparing their mask models to help visualise the curriculum. It was lovely to see them ready for painting. They will then conversion but have then focused on use prime factor trees that they Year 6 are embracing our unit on trace their mask design onto a piece practising the method- step by step worked on in Week 7 to great effect. global trade. We had some really of silk. formulae. Children quickly realised Moving forward, children will recap interesting discussions last week on that if you times the denominator by divisibility rules so they can quickly the exploitation of workers in poor In History this week year 5 looked at the whole number and add the establish factors of larger numbers countries and this week we are the rule of Oliver Cromwell and then numerator you get a top heavy and use their factor tree knowledge looking at how the UK makes its had to decide whether he was a hero fraction. Conversely, if you divide the to calculate highest common factors money. The children will be or villain. Many were undecided but numerator by the denominator you and lowest common multiples, topics combining geography and maths to the majority found him to be a villain. work out the whole number and its that appear on all school papers. produce some bar graphs reflecting Very interesting but he was a remainder (written as a fraction) - the UK’s exports and the amount of controversial figure. mixed number fraction. Year 5 geography are looking at money they generate. Year 6 meanwhile have been concluding their work on World War I with a look at the Russian Revolution and the entrance of the Americans. We also featured Private Tandy, the soldier who had a certain Adolf Hitler in his sights but refused to shoot an unarmed man. If only?

In year 5 English we have been exploring the thoughts and feelings of a character in ‘The Iron Man’ through a hot seating activity. They took turns coming up to put their character in the hot seat and answer through their perspective. Meanwhile, the audience thought of targeted, open questions to ask. They explored the value of open vs closed questions and used the behaviour for learning ‘Be Prepared’ to ready themselves for Monday’s diary entry lesson! Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Upper School News Team Building Day. The children were faced with a variety of challenging team tasks, requiring Upper School them to demonstrate their skills of communication, creative thinking, active News listening and adaptability. The Outdoor Education team from who Anna Warren delivered the activities were very impressed with Head of Upper School their maturity, resilience and cooperation, and look forward to seeing them at the start of year 8 to see how much more progress they will make. The 2020 Edge Grove Baccalaureate Conference was launched to year 8 this week, and the pupils have started to think about their research titles. This year’s theme, ‘Global Futures’, prompted a number of potential ideas to explore, including transport, the economy, warfare, medicine, technology, climate change and education. This is an important and exciting high-level challenge for Our year 7s escaped the wild, wet weather this our year 8 pupils to be embarking upon, and we week, and sought refuge in the warmth of our look forward to seeing them embrace this beautiful Library. Dr Letters has introduced them opportunity. to some new titles which the Library has just acquired. We encourage our senior pupils to visit Congratulations to year 7 who, on Monday, Dr Letters whenever they need some support successfully completed the second part of the and encouragement when selecting a new book Outdoor Education module of the Edge Grove to read - it can take a while as we have so many to Baccalaureate in their Outdoor Education and choose from! We enjoyed an exciting World Book Day on Well done to Riley who performed at the Royal Thursday and it was an absolute pleasure to Festival Hall on Tuesday night as part of the observe year 7 and 8 reading to pupils in the Rotary in London Youth Makes Music 2020 Middle School. Well done all! event. Riley's highlight of the evening, apart from performing at one of the world's best known venues of course, was meeting other talented performers as well as being praised backstage by Bill Turnbull himself! A truly wonderful evening to remember.

In Geography this week another set of year 7 pupils tackled their fieldwork in the ainr down at the lake. They enjoyed learning about how to use their equipment effectively, showed brilliant organisation skills, and worked efficiently as a team. Excellent work! Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Boarding News After a busy weekend it was lovely to see new to the Sports Hall to run around. faces at our Boarding Dinner on Sunday evening. A great time was had by all and we all look Friday night saw the return of our Jump In activity forward to the next one. night. The children (and staff) had a great time on the trampolines for an hour and then followed it up Monday saw the first affleW Night of the eary in with a great dinner at McDonalds. With a late the Grub Hub, with Miss Hughes and Miss Mille night and an early morning the children either making a production line ready for the children. went home or stayed at school for a very There were a lot of happy chocolate-y faces as the successful Open Morning. We look forward to end of the evening! another busy week in Boarding!

Tuesday morning was a busy morning stripping beds so both South and North dorms stepped in and made their own duvets and pillows to help. Well done to all of the children for such a good effort and that is another life skill learnt!

Wednesday saw our first ve ening of Quick Cricket run by Mr Wagstaff which was great fun as well as badminton and table tennis. It was great to see so many children running around after a busy afternoon of lessons and sport.

Thursday night we had two activities going on - four boarders had a game of Warhammer up in the Art Room and the rest of the children went across Upcoming Boarding Activities

Week 9

Monday 9th March Boarders' Choice

Tuesday 10th March Boarders' Choice

Wednesday 11th March Football Tournament

Thursday 12th March Cupcake Decorating

Friday 13th March Exeat

Week 10

Monday 16th March IT Room Activity

Tuesday 17th March Chess & Cards Tournament

Wednesday 18th March Boarders' Choice

Thursday 19th March Dodgeball

Friday 20th March Inflatables Activity Evening Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Sports News For all Match Reports click here and don't forget to follow Edge Grove Sport on Twitter @EdgeGroveSport.

U10A Rugby team fight for Netball success for Daisy a well-deserved draw against Westbrook Hay Well done to Daisy who represented Turnford Netball Club at the weekend in What a game of rugby!! It was great to the ENG National Finals. They played eight finally play against a strong school and the matches and were just narrowly beaten in boys showed real bravery playing against the final. A fantastic result being the some very, very big boys. Edge Grove second best team in the country. defended well and put the opposition under excellent pressure.

Click here to read to read the full report. Recycle your old football boots!

Please don't throw away your children's old or outgrown boots as we would really appreciate sending them to Africa to the Amigo Football Academy in Rwanda, in conjunction with the charity Msaada. Mrs Mattiucci (parent) is collecting donations of football boots of all sizes but preferably UK 4 - 7. If you would like to donate some boots please bring them to reception for us to pass on to the charity. Thank you for your support. Why not go and support Miss Evans and her Saracens team play Harlequins in a top-of-the-table clash at Allianz Park on Saturday 18th April at 3pm. There will be live music, dance displays, Saracens Mavericks Netball and Middlesex cricket masterclasses. There is also the opportunity to have a hospitality table in the Fez or Tulip club. Visit saracens.com/ the-duel/ or speak to Miss Evans for tickets and more information.

It promises to be a fantastic family day out! Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Awards Academic Commendations, Commendations and Golden Moments 28th February - 5th March 2020 Oyetunde, David-Andrew 4TC Pearson, Lottie 6C Amin, Kieran 7KM Bhimjiani, Aaryan (Arry) 8K Click here for this week's Academic Nikolaeva, Sofia 5C Steven-Jennings, Emily 6C (2) Commendations, Commendations and Golden Beer, Daisy 7KM (2) Hathaway, Etienne 8K (2) Moments or see the full list below: McManus, Connor Ray 5D Kasonga, Funsho (Nathan) 6E Harris-Eze, Kenechukwu (Kene) 7KM Levy, Joseph 8O Academic Commendations Martin-Jenkins, Missy 5E Rodrigo, Dinil 6E Orriss, Declan 7KM Zaveri, Sophia 8T Kifleyesus, Kellan 3D Gubler, Oliver (Ollie) 5N Maragh, Gabriel 6GT Pinkerton, Amber 7KM Commendations Mahmood, Jannah 3D Kachhela, Shay 5N Tailor, Roshan 6L Williams, Javan 7KM Bartlett, Anabelle 3D Hopkins, Evie 3J Arumugam, Lakshman (Lucky) 5S Shah, Devika 3D Benson, Miles 7D Bilgora-Kelly, Harry 7M (2) Chavda-Patel, Amara 3D Cox, Oliver 4M D'Cruz, Nathan 5S Christofis, Emilio 7D Lawson, Zoe Grace 7M Presto, Ren 4M McKim, Luke 5S Johnson, Nia 7D Pappoe, Caleb 7M Koffman, Tyler 4T Meier, Oliver (Olly) 5S Kyte-Ogunnubi, Temi 7D Gray, George 7W Adiele-Ogbor, Isaac 4TC Sander, Liam 6A Lake, Sophia 7D Prince, David 7W Bulmer, India 4TC Shaw, Stephen 6A Niu, Zhenyuan (Terry) 7D Samuel-Napier, Ethan 7W Kim, Andreas 4TC Alsaghir, Raneem 6C (2) Patel, Nikhil 7D Asaria, Ali 8K Draper, Sienna 3J Patani, Aarav 6GT Eledan, Joseph 3D Samra, Arjan 3D Foladara Bajomo 6E - Reading to a reception class Davies, Emin 4T Salzman, Mila 6GT during her lunchtime break. Fraser, Oliver 3D Shah, Amaya 3D Pal, Vihaan 4T Tilbury, Jemima 6GT Jesse Robey 6E - Jesse was extremely kind to Gami, Devan 3D Shah, Avi 3D another child who he found in distress and sensibly Pullen, Emily 4T Tailor, Roshan 6L came to find me. Guard, Rose 3D Wevers, Robert 4T Golden Moments Fynn Dzivenu 6GT - Fynn trialled carrying his epi- Hancock, Holly 3D pen around as an experiment for the nurse and Rainbow, Dominic 6C Caitlin O'Keeffe 5M - Collecting and handing out Edge Grove. A daunting and hugely Howard, Darcey 3D the books in reading without being asked. Very important responsibility. He was outstanding at Sutcliffe, Theodore (Theo) 6C sensibly too! Kifleyesus, Kellan 3D Khoroshaev, Roman 6E Jamie Prince 5M - Thank you for handing out the Mahmood, Jannah 3D (2) geography books today. Aheer, Kishan 6GT (2) Maslowicz, Zak 3D Charles (Charlie) Bulmer 6A - I have given Charlie a Alsafi, Davin 6GT Golden Moment after visiting my Reception class Nursiah, Esmé 3D yesterday. He spent some time with us Bennett, Monty 6GT during Games where he interacted with the Pal, Riana 3D children and then read them two stories. The Faridrad, Joshua 6GT children then went on to ask him questions about Pinkerton, Alexander (Alex) 3D the Prep school and Charlie was able to answer Fazzini-Jones, Lucia 6GT them in an age appropriate way. Thank you Charlie Rosen, Henry (Harry) 3D for visiting us. doing so and must be commended on his maturity and efforts with such a critical task. Well done Declan Orriss 7KM - Thank you for putting the Fynn! chairs down.

Lucia Fazzini-Jones 6GT - Lucia came to visit my Gray French 7M - For putting another pupils shoes class today and read two books to them for World into their bag so that they did not get wet during Book Day. She was great and the children really games. enjoyed listening to her. Harry Harris-Lannon 8T - For offering to clear up a Deborah Oyetunde 6L - Tidying up after others so squashed pear that everyone else was ignoring! our classroom was lovely and neat. Thank you Deborah! Daniel Oyetunde 8T - For offering to clear up a squashed pear that everyone else was ignoring! Kian Dalwood 7D - Kian came to visit my class today and read two books to them for World Book Day. He was great and the children really enjoyed listening to him. He then decided to come back during his lunchtime break to read some more with a small group of children.

Nathan George 7KM - Nathan offered to polish everyone's shoes in boarding, he did three, I thought that it was enough. He also did a very good job of it.

Kenechukwu (Kene) Harris-Eze 7KM - Thank you for putting the chairs down this morning. Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Upcoming Events Flourish Parent Workshop, FoEG events and more... to invite Pre Prep parents to join the next discussion Flourish Family Focus where we will explore the topic of positive (Bitesize coaching sessions) discipline. This will take place at 8.45am in the Wellbeing Centre. If you would like to attend please email [email protected] to reserve your place. Positive Discipline Wednesday 18th March, 8.45am-9.45am

A parent’s role is to prepare their child to move forward in life confidently and independently. It is a role which requires myriad skills and is constantly evolving. Flourish Family Focus is part of Edge Grove’s Flourish programme - a series half-termly bitesize coaching sessions for Pre Prep parents which offer regular opportunities to gain insight into, and explore common parent insight into, and explore common parenting challenges. These empowering sessions focus on raising awareness, self-awareness and, most importantly, provide solution-focused strategies, tips and techniques to assist confident forward movement.

Following on from Effective Praise, the first in the series of bitesize coaching sessions, we are pleased

Click here or press enter for the accessibility optimised version

Thank you for reading EDGE NEWS EDGE GROVE SCHOOL Village WD25 8NL Email: [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0) 1923 855724

Cookies Terms Privacy POWERED BY