From the Headmistress
The sun is out and keeping us refreshed to the end of term!
I cannot believe that there is only a week to go before we break up
for April Fool's Day, Easter egg hunts and exam revision for the Year
8s and plenty of reading and reflection for the younger years. It's
been National Science week this week and Young Felstedians have been talking to their Tutors about their reports and setting targets for
going forward. Do encourage them to talk to you about these.
You will also be delighted to read of the many activities that have kept us busy this week. A special well done to our U11 National Hockey Finalists!
Whilst things have been so much better in the car park, please could I
ask for a sustained effort until the end of term. I will be asking
for your children's support in this in the interests of safety.
We will teach them a watchdog role in assembly through the following:
. Don't hold a mobile phone whilst driving!
. Don't drink and drive!
. Don't park on corners! (ie by Deacon's House just before turning
down to the Astros as this is unsafe)
You will also perhaps have read about the little boy who died as a result of inadequate action on the part of his school due to a lack of knowledge about asthma. You will be pleased to learn that our First Aid Policy covers this and our staff are suitably trained. We are also very fortunate to have a well staffed Medical Centre across the road.
Parents of asthma sufferers : if you haven't returned your asthma card to Matrons please do so.
World Class Tests
Congratulations to the following students for their achievements in the International World Class Tests. Once again Felsted Preparatory School pupils achieved exceptional results in the World Class Tests.
Age 8-11 World Class Tests - Tom Beale, Leo Jewell, Samuel Barratt, William Barker, Luke Bury, Peter Riddell, Hannah Barratt and Lara Peck.
Age 12-14 World Class Tests - Dominic Sheehan, Sarah Lewis, George Watkinson, Ollie Williams and Sam Mitchell.
Particular congratulations go to Hannah, Lara, Ollie and Sam for achieving Distinctions, reflecting an outstanding level of performance.
For more information on World Class Tests visit the following website www.worldclassarena.org
Sports Results
Chess - following a winter of enthusiastic chess playing, the following children have qualified for the Area Megafinal of the UK Chess Challenge:
Oliver Craig (Year 2), Evie MacLennan (Year 3), Samuel Hart (Year 3), Noah Mitchell (Year 3), Tom Gallian (Year 4), Harry Nicholls (Year 4) & Christian Lewis (Year 5)
The Megafinal will be played in May at a school in East Anglia, and
winners will qualify for the Southern Gigafinal at Wellington College
in July. The Year 3-6 chess champion will be announced at the end of term.
Mr B P Hays
U11 BOYS GET BRONZE IN NATIONAL HOCKEY FINALS!
U11 Boys' Hockey - the U11 A team came =3rd in the IAPS National Competition at Bristol. They won their league by goal difference (just one goal!) to The Abbey, Woodbridge who came 2nd but then went on to win the Championship!
In the quarter finals we beat Foremarke Hall 1 - 0 and in the semi-finals we lost 0 - 3 to Queens College, Taunton. An excellent performance by all the team - they played some top quality hockey.
Mr B E M Evans
Boys' Hockey Results
U11 v Bishop's Stortford:
E team lost 1-2
F team drew 0-0
An enjoyable afternoon of hockey, with good skills demontrated by all!
U13 v Bedford:
2nd XI lost 3-4
3rd XI won 3-0
4th XI won 4-1
U11 East Championships
A very enjoyable and energetic day. The boys played some superb hockey. the team came 3rd with lots of complements from the other coaches about their hockey. Many thanks to all the parents who came to support.
Netball
NATIONAL IAPS COMPETITION - U12 came =3rd, U13 lost out on 2nd place by 2 goals!
v Kimbolton - 6 March - as the teams did not have the A team players because they were resting after the IAPS, the U11A team stepped in, and were the only team to win. Well done!
v Greshams - due to injuries and general unavailability, the U11A team played again as an U12 team and won together with the U12A. The three other teams lost.
In the U11 and U10 matches, the U11B won convincingly, the U10A lost by a narrow margin and the 2 teams lost.
v Haileybury - the U13A team were soundly beaten but the U13B team had a close game and lost by 1 goal in the final seconds.
IAPS U13 Tournament - despite being VERY tired after the Hockey East Tournament the girls played with real determination and gave their all. They came 5th and were a little disappointed in our own home tournament.
v Orwell
U12A v their U13B - lost 11-14
U13C - lost 6-10
U11B - lost 11-15
U11C - lost 1 - 9
Miss Durbin
GIRLS' EAST OF ENGLAND HOCKEY - the U11 girls fought hard against tough opposition in the U11 Girls' East of England Mini Hockey Tournament. They came fourth beating St Faiths and Bishop Stortford into fifth and sixth place. They beat the eventual winners Town Close 4-1 in the round robin competition!
The U13 girls played in the East of England tournament on Tuesday and played to the best of their ability. They won 2, drew 1 and lost 3.
Mrs C A Lee & Mrs H J Hancock
News from Stewart House
The pupils of Stewart House performed to a packed Ross Hall at the Spring Concert on Thursday afternoon. For many it was their first public performance, but they played, danced and sang with great enthusiasm, enjoyment and confidence. It was wonderful to see the budding talents of so many children and everyone enjoyed the varied programme.
Thanks to all the music and dance teachers for all their dedicated work, and to Mrs Randall who organised the concert.
On Friday everyone arrived at school in sporty outfits and contributed to the collection to support Sports Relief Day. There was also a raffle in aid of the day, organised by Mrs Nikki Bennett. We were delighted that Stewart House was able to raise £374 for Sports Relief. Thank you to all the parents who contributed prizes for the raffle. All the pupils and staff went for a run round the playing fields during morning break- not quite a sponsored mile, but far enough for most of us!
Year Two pupils were given a special science lesson on Monday, taught by some Year 8 pupils. They watched a power-point presentation made by the older pupils, and were given a lesson on vertebrates. The instructors also brought a selection of animal bones and some newts in a tank for the children to see. The year 2 children enjoyed the novelty of having a lesson from other pupils and found the lesson fun and interesting.
The Stewart House Loo Appeal is coming to an end this term. We have been collecting small change in our ‘Spend a Penny’ campaign, with the aim of raising enough money to enable Water Aid to build a sanitation block in a school in a third world country. We are delighted that we have more than doubled our target of £390 by raising £847! Again, our sincere thanks go to all the families and friends who have contributed so generously to this project.
Gold Book Awards were awarded this week to William Barker, Harry Gallian, Archie Pritchard, Douglas Gibb, Holly Pilcher, Freya Donald, Cosima Dixon-Smith, Katie Harwood, Jack Phillips and Ossie Pelossi. These were given for improved work and effort in class and PE lessons, kindness to others and exemplary behaviour.
Congratulations to all the children for their achievements!
Mrs Jane West
Ffrome Court News
1st Place for Felsted U9 Boys' Hockey Tournament :
v Barnadiston W 2-0
v Town Close W 2-1
v FKS W 2-0
v New Hall W 3-0
v Kingshott W 2-0
3rd = for the U9 Girls :
Year 3 & 4 Concert
The Year 3 and 4 Spring Concert was a tremendous success. Watching the whole of Year 3, and many of Year 4 play the violin, viola or cello was a true delight – the concentration on the children’s faces proved just how hard they have all worked to play their instruments. They impressed their parents with their immaculate performance skills and with their intonation. The Year 4 soloists performed with confidence, demonstrating their skills on the piano, clarinet, drums, guitar, saxophone, violin and cello.
After a highly amusing scene from ‘Horrid Henry’, from Hunny Clark and Shola Akindayini, the Year 3 and 4 choir and Chamber Choir combined to sing the story of Jonah and the whale, in ‘Jonah Man Jazz’. This was very well performed and received and the children deserve real credit for tackling such difficult repertoire.
We are very lucky to have such musically talented children coming through the school. They all have the potential to be excellent ‘Felsted Musicians’! We thank you for your encouragement for them to learn an instrument, for sitting with your children giving them structured practise time and for your support of music at Felsted.
Spring Lambs Visit Years 3 & 4
Mrs Stonham kindly brought in two new born lambs for the pupils of
Ffrome Court to look at and handle. They learnt of their care and how
they were turned out in the fields to leave a happy life in open
pastures from a few days old.
News from Courtauld House
Congratulations to Gregory Flack who recently competed in the Karate Championships. In the British Karate Kyokushinkai National Kata Championship (Junior U16) Brown Belt calegory Gregory achieved 1st place. In the junior high grade team (3 juniors together) he also achieved 1st place.
DEO SIMCOX continues to make us proud in Courtauld House by following his dream of being involved in the entertainment world. He is
currently involved in recording for a television animation series
"The Hive" doing voice overs for this, and has recently successfully
auditioned for a part in "The Inbetweeners" due to film over the
Easter holidays for screening on Channel 4. We wish Deo the very best with this and all future work.
Murray Lawson has written a book review - to read this item please click here.
Mr M C Stringer
Years 7 & 8 Trip to see ‘Warhorse’
At 5pm on Friday 12th March a gaggle of Year 7 and 8 pupils, accompanied by 7 eager members of staff boarded a Don’s of Dunmow coach for the New London Theatre in Covent Garden. After the usual round of ‘I feel sick, I need to sit at the front’ (Miss Mitch you know who I mean) 38 pupils tucked into what can only be described as a feast of Haribo and after some savvy I Phone negotiations from Mr Harries, the coach aptly navigated itself into the heart of the city with plenty of time to spare.
The streets of London were teaming with Friday night, end of the week celebrations and all 7 members of staff were overjoyed to be spending it with 38 pupils. In fact all pupils showed exemplary behaviour as they found their seats, armed with plastic cups spilling with sweets (no rustling see!) and set about enjoying the first half of a sell out West End show.
With a full house there was plenty of expectation for the actors on stage, and the first half passed swiftly with pupils and staff in awe at the clever set design and musical interpretations on stage. By far the most captivating aspect of the first half was the majestic, life size horse puppets that were deftly manipulated on stage to represent real horses in the First World War. Teachers and pupils alike were amazed at the way in which they were used to physically carry actors into battle and how effectively a war scene was portrayed. By the end of the first half, all members of the Felsted crew were shocked at how life like the horses were and eagerly returned to their seats for the second instalment.
Opening with a renewed sense of energy, the audience were kept on the edge of their seats as to the fate of the main horse ‘Joey’ and his true owner, Albert. Showing the realities of trench warfare the second half passed in a teary blare as the audience were presented with the death and sacrifice that many had to endure. By the end of the performance and in the words of Miss Mitch, ‘tears were literally rolling off my chin.’ And I do believe that a stifled sob could be heard from even Mr Stringer’s seat…
We began a pensive journey home, thinking about the images that the show gave us, but all pupils agreed that it was a must see show.
Thanks must go to Mr Stringer, Mrs Green, Miss Mitch, Miss West, Mrs Feldman, Mr Harries and Mr Finch who met us from the coach and quickly manoeuvred the boarders to bed. A quick pick up from parents ensured that all were safely home to dream of majestic horses and magnificent acting.
Mrs A C Burgess
End of Term Schedule
Wednesday 24 March
3.45(Y3-6) / 4.00 (Y7&8) All Day-Pupils Depart ((unless waiting for School Transport at 5.45pm)
4.00-700pm - Choir Trip to Freeport (Bowling & Meal)
Thursday 25 March
All Year 3 pupils are required to stay until 5.45pm
Friday 26 March
12:00pm - Years 3-6 + elder siblings depart for Easter Holidays - Main Car Park
12:15pm - Years 7&8 depart for Easter Holidays - Courtauld House Car Park
