Virtual School Updates

So much has been happening in our Virtual School that we cannot keep up with all the news! We hope that you have managed to take a look at our Facebook page for updates (click here) and just yesterday we published our half-term newsletter full of stories – click here to read it.

Here are just some of the highlights from the past few weeks:

Poetry

Lots of the girls have been enjoying poetry this term, not least the Year 3s who were challenged with getting outside and being inspired by nature.

Bluebells by Elsie

Bluebells dancing in the breeze,
As blue as berries & as green as trees.
What a lovely sight to see!
Bluebells come out in April or May,
And everyone comes out to dance and play.

Memories by Hollie

The oldest, grandest one I see,
The one that makes me skip with glee.
Many shades of brown there are,
It never stops, it reaches far.
It’s a mother and father to cuddle up tight.
It is there to care all day and night.
Its yellow appearance lets us know,
Its warmth and love to all that show.
The squirrels scurry, have a play,
the birds tweet and sing away.
It brings back memories, so special to me,
This beautiful, brown copper-beech tree.

We have also seen some wonderful poetry from the Year 5 girls who have been learning how to use inspiring imagery.  The girls had fun weaving personification into their work, trying out alliteration and experimenting with rhyming couplets:

Summer Breeze by Freya

Summer has woken and started to glow,
She walks up to Spring and says, ‘It’s time to go!’

Now Summer is finally in control,
With crystal blue sky, she’s on a roll.

Summer has bought us crops and wheat,
It’s a beautiful time, such a treat.

Increasing the power of the sun,
Now it’s time to have some fun.

Children are spending time on the sand,
Summer has gifted this to our land.

The sea used to be crashing against the bay,
now it’s all calm, so families can play.

Summer is glorious, beautiful and bright,
but now she has to say goodnight.

For now, it’s time for Summer to depart,
as Autumn wakes up and makes a start.

The Storm by Maya

Menacing clouds grow darker in the midnight sky
The wild, wavy wind howls
The terrifying thunder roars
The livid lighting flashes brightly
The angry storm rages
Deadly, destructive, dangerous

And the below ‘Anger’ was written by Millie in Year 6 who has thought very carefully about her rhyming couplets.

Anger is a burning flame
It appears in shock or blame
A boiling, spitting, bubbling potion
Anger is the most dangerous emotion

Anger is used when you stand up and make right
Anger is a torch in the night
A furious blade of sharpness and flare
Anger is frightening, approach it, if you dare

Anger is strong, control it you must
Keep anger away to gain someone’s trust
Though anger is a weapon and tool
A powerful feeling whether it’s big or small

Anger is scarlet red
Sometimes you regret what you have said
When you lash out, or feel like a shout
Just remember don’t let it out

Though anger can be good or bad
Though anger can make you happy or sad
Inside your pocket, tuck it away
Your own forceful feeling, to help you save the day

Writing Letters

Girls in Year 2 have also been reaching for their writing pens to write beautiful letters of appreciation to our key workers.

Meanwhile, girls in Reception were encouraged to write a letter to one of their peers and we just love this one from Sienna:

Dear Lara,

How are you? I miss you lots and lots. I wish the virus wasn’t here so we could go to school and play at school and have play dates and cuddle each other.

This is a tricky time for everyone, including the girls, but their compassion, understanding and empathy is truly wonderful.

Mud Kitchens

Girls in Year 2 were given the fun activity to create their own Mud Kitchen in their gardens as part of our outdoor learning programme. Mud Kitchens are great multi sensory way to develop creative and imaginative play and an activity that encourages communication and language too. Our girls absolutely love the chance to get messy and create treats for The Gruffalo or for a Science Lab! It also provides them with lots of fresh air and a chance to be adventurous. Here are some of the girls’ wonderful, mucky kitchens. Fancy a mud pie anyone? How about an earthworm ice-cream?

Dragons and Vikings

The Year 3 girls have been studying the book ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ by Cressida Cowell, which has been woven through many of their lessons. For an English exercise the girls were asked to design their own dragon and describe it using adjectives, verbs and and adverbs. Ella described her dragon, Warrick, as having ‘angry eyes’ and ‘a thorny, spiked tail’ and that he ‘breathes vicious, fiery flames’. Their next topic based exercise to tie in with the book was a study of vikings. They have been particularly looking at longboats and how the Viking’s masterful boat building techniques allowed them to cross the North Sea from Scandinavia to the British Isles. The girls have been completing activity sheets about longboats, learning about what they were made of, how they were designed to navigate shallow waters and how many Viking warriors would usually travel on a longboat. The girls also had fun constructing their own longboats from materials they could find around the home. Like the ones
pictured here.

Prep Art

Each week, the girls in the Prep School focus on a different Art topic. Take a look at our Art Case Study here. Last week the topic was Birds, and the girls were asked to create either a flat bird collage using layer techniques to make the foreground pop, or to create a 3D hanging bird. Here are some of their creations: