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(Issue Number 9) Friday, 17th November 2017

Dear Parents The children have been “spotted” today in all sorts of interesting get-ups as we have been raising money for Children in Need. In addition to wearing casuals, the children have also had the opportunity to purchase some delectable goods from our Cake Sale – thank you to all the parents who have helped prepare them. The event has been the brainchild of Gillett House Leader Summer who approached me before half term wanting to run a fundraising event – well done Summer for your good idea and organisational skills! On Tuesday Year 1 and 2 headed over to the Warriner to take part in a Multi-skills event as part of the partnership. Special congratulations to Kahlan who was awarded a special certificate for demonstrating determination. This was all the more special as it came with a Resilient Rhino sticker – the last that Kahlan needed, meaning she has become the first child this year to achieve her Bronze level of her Learning Powers. Very well done – I look forward to awarding her the certificate at next Celebration Meeting. While Year 1 and 2 were at their sports event the school was empty apart from Foundation as Years 3 to 6 were watching a French play called “Le Château.” The play told the story of English night Sir William who has been tasked to find a new queen for Henry VIII from France. The only problem being he doesn’t speak any French, but has to learn quickly through his interactions with various French men and women. Hilarious misunderstandings ensued and the children really enjoyed the performance, as well as brushing up on the vocabulary we’ve been studying for the past couple of weeks. More on this from the Year 6 reporters later. "There was an old dragon who swallowed a knight" has been the book of the week in Foundation this week. This is a funny story based on the traditional rhyme but the dragon should not have swallowed the knight as "it's not polite!" The children have enjoyed making magic counting wands by painting sticks gold and silver and then making the number star to attach to the top. Nursery children were then given the challenge to put the correct amount of loom bands on each wand according to the number on the star. Reception children have been making multi-link castle towers and then recording how many there were in each tower on whiteboards; practising their counting skills as well as beginning to form digits correctly. The Reception children have now learnt 14 letter sounds and are confident that they can learn all 26 before the end of term. The Christmas performance rehearsals are now underway; expect to know all the songs before you come and watch. In Year 1 & 2 they’ve started to think about why we use diaries and how to record information or thoughts in them. This has helped them to understand why Samuel Pepys’s diary entries were so important when telling us information about the Fire of London. As the fire started in 1666, the children recognised that they didn’t have cameras to take photographs, so they have looked closely at some paintings by various artists of the Great Fire. They ‘jumped in’ to the paintings, thinking about what it would have been like. This helped them to continue the rest of a painting which Becca Edwards accidently

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chopped in half! Doubles and halves have been the focus in their Math lessons; they have been investigating how to share objects equally, sorting them into odd and even but also starting to quickly recall number facts. They couldn’t quite believe that if they knew their doubles to 10, then they’d be able to find out the double (and half) of almost any number, within reason… In their Science they continued to think about materials, this time venturing further afield to the senior school and into Derek Bottomley’s Maths classroom, where he had some rather strange objects for them to observe! They finished the week thinking about the different countries of the UK, this will hopefully help them gain more understanding of where London is and where it all happened!

This week has been a flurry of excitement for Year 3, as they learned all about the awe and wonder that Howard Carter felt when he discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb. This begun on Wednesday when the pupils were told the story of the tomb’s discovery, and how Carter and Carnarvon simply could not wait for the Egyptian authorities to allow them to enter… so they secretly entered themselves before the official opening! This was followed by thinking about the questions that they might want to ask Howard Carter if he were around today. This was just in time, since Thursday morning brought with it a very special time travelling visitor! Howard Carter graced the Year 3 classroom with his presence, and the pupils had the opportunity to ask all of the

questions that they had been desperate to ask him! Here, they found out that that the experience of the discovery was not all as wonderful as it first seemed to be, as the Egyptian authorities demanded ownership of the tomb. Later that day, pupils recreated the experience of peering into the tomb for the first time. They needed to crawl through a dark tunnel to find the tomb-entrance and then examine precious items through a hole in the wall with the help of a torch. They couldn’t each spend too long in the tunnel however, as poisonous gases that had built up over 3000 years could be dangerous! Once out, the pupils then needed to remember the items that they saw and then draw them. Finally, on Friday the pupils actually put themselves in the shoes of Howard Carter, as they wrote diary entries describing the emotional rollercoaster of the discovery.

It’s that time of the year again when Year 4 have been Roaming about Sibford. This week they were spotted marching to the Roundhouse where they baked bread on a stick over an open fire while discussing all things Roman. The Romanesque theme continued in pottery as children with the help of John James worked on their larger sundial which is intended for their Roman Herb garden. It’s our Celebration Meeting on Friday week (24th) and we have been busy adjusting our Biodiversity script. This task has included looking at two different villages in India, learning facts about rice blight and the importance of a

growing and eating a varied diet. In Maths this week alongside working out equivalent fractions, we have revised our knowledge of 12 and 24 hour time. Getting more practise understanding time was handy (forgive the pun – no link to the pictures yet…) as it helped us to explore “Salah” second pillar of Islam where Muslims pray 5 times a day. We thought about what we were doing at these particular times and decided it must be quite hard trying to fit in 5 prayer times into your daily schedule. We were impressed with the devotion it shows. We hope you’ll be impressed with our Hand Shadows below. We haven’t just been having fun but actually used this as a practise to design our own investigations in Science this week as part of our light topic. We all loved the “stag” but can you tell what the other two are?

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Another busy week for Year 6. Rehearsals for our Christmas performance are going well, and in particular the children seem to have really learnt the song words! Please keep learning those lines, we don’t want to see any scripts next week! As part of their Geography topic on weather, they have been looking at the causes and consequences of Global Warming (although a certain rather influential man seems to think it’s all ‘a hoax’!). In Literacy we are looking at biographies and autobiographies, and have used Mind Maps to help organise our research. Next week, we will be interviewing some visitors who have enjoyed careers in the television and film making industry. We will be thinking of some good questions which will enable us to write their biographies. We all enjoyed a travelling theatre company’s production of ‘Le Chateau’. A highly entertaining and interactive performance, in which the actors spoke in both French and English… Le Chateau! - All of year 3 – 7 took part in this interactive play… It was set in the Tudor times when Henry the 8th’s third wife Jane Seymour died and he wanted a new wife. So he sent William Babbington to try and find him a new wife. William went to the fabulous France. At first he went to a village where he met a very ugly woman called Agnes and she thought that she was going to be painted, but William was looking for a princess. Agnes showed him the way to the castle. William tried to get into the castle but they wouldn’t let him in! In the end he climbed through the window! In the room there was a beautiful princess called Catherine and her maid. There were 2 people who acted out 4 characters! William painted her portrait with children’s colouring pencils (it turned out terribly!). Here are some people’s thoughts about the play. “It was very interactive,” commented Miles, while Indris thought “It was very cultural.” Dylan found it very funny to watch and he enjoyed it. “I liked it the way that they involved all the age groups!” observed Misa. “I loved that William acted like the horse was huge but it was actually a play toy!” Ali told us. By Isobel and Ali Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Sibford School Ps. Did you know that in 2012 Children in Need broke the World Record for the longest 5-a-side football match with a game that lasted 23 hours and involved over 400 people!

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Sports Fixtures U10 and U11 Rugby v New College On Tuesday we hosted New College for two games of rugby. The U11s had an indifferent first half where they conceded several tries against a strong opposition, but turned things around in the second half with a much better display of defence and teamwork. The game finished 10-3 to New College with particularly rugged performances from Felix and Leo. Meanwhile the U10s fared better and reached half time 5-0 up and finished the match with a 7-5 victory after solid performances from Bardia and Tom. U12 Rugby Well done to Lukas, who on Wednesday night playing for the Year 7 team played in the District Cup Final. The final score was a 3-2 defeat, but Lukas was excellent throughout and even popped up to score Sibford's second try, providing us with a late chance to win the game. Poppy Appeal Thank you for your support of the Poppy Appeals this year, the total amounts raised are as follows (Senior and Junior School). Royal British Legion (Red) Senior School - £88.98; Junior School - £29.87 Peace Pledge Union (White) Senior School - £44.55; Junior School - £26.65; Sibford Gower Meeting - £33.40 Lost Property Dylan has lost his swim shorts, Lara has lost her sports jumper/top, Toby has lost his sports top, Emmeline has lost her navy blue PE leggings they are all named. Please could everyone check their bags in case they have been taken home in error. We also have a black string poppy braclet. Dates for your Diaries Monday, 20th November 2017 Cycle Proficiency Training U7-11 Cross Country Finals at Home at 1pm Tuesday, 21st November 2017 U11 Hockey – Interhouse – H at 2.30pm Wednesday, 22nd November 2017 Y3/4 Horse-Riding U10 and U11 Rugby/Hockey v Kitebrook – A at 2.45pm Thursday, 23rd November 2017 U11 Rugby Tournament v Cokethorpe – A at 12.45pm Reception and Years 1 to 4 Annual Flu Vaccination Friday, 24th November 2017 Celebration Meeting – Year 4 in the Dining Hall at 3.40pm Monday, 27th November 2017 Cycle Proficiency Training Tuesday, 28th November 2017 U9 TAG Rugby/Hockey v Kitebrook – A at 2.45pm Wednesday, 29th November 2017 Y3/4 Horse-Riding U11 Swimming Partnership Gala – H at 2pm Friday, 1st December 2017 PSFA Christmas Fayre – 2pm to 5.30pm