On Friday 2nd May, 3B gave an assembly about Mary. Some people read about Mary’s life and some held up pictures. Then we had a procession to crown our lady. Jemima and Jessica led the way to the Statue of Mary, carrying flowers. Jamie Simmons carried a cushion with a crown of fresh flowers. Everyone else sang ‘Bring flowers of the rarest’, while we walked up. Lucy picked up the crown of flowers and placed it on Mary’s head. We finished with a prayer to Our Lady.

Lucy said “It was lovely to take part, but I thought the statue would fall on me because from where I was standing it looked really tall, so I thought ‘Oh no, how am I going to this.” Jemima said, “It was very good and we had to walk very slowly and I felt a bit nervous. I took the flowers up and I felt O.K. It was a nice presentation.”

Last week’s Prep School literary festival passed very well. It has been a real pleasure to hear pupils in Years 4 to 6 getting to grips with Shakespeare, from the Dream to Romeo and Juliet, with a little Hamlet along the way. We continue to raise the profile of reading, with a few posters from the National Literacy Trust’s “Reading Champions” campaign up around the school - I’d encourage you to take some time over the long bank holiday weekend to not only listen to your child read, but also let them listen to you read, and perhaps chat a bit about your favourite books, now and in the past. Mrs Wilding’s book fair proved very popular, and I’d like to record my thanks to her for the extra time she spent away from writing and researching to run this; we are very fortunate to have her expertise on hand, and if your son or daughter is ever lost for ideas of what to read next, a visit to our Prep School library would be highly recommended. We were pleased to welcome two librarians from Alton to the Lower Prep last week, and we’ve been invited to display some of our pupils’ work in the library next month; encouraging your child to make use of the local library can do much to promote a love of reading, as well as independent learning.

This year's Scholastic Book Fair was a great success! After the pupils all visited the fair on Monday and Tuesday, we were delighted to see lots of children bringing mums and dads in to browse the books after school throughout the week. An excellent range of titles was on offer, together with a few posters and toys, capturing children's interest from Early Years up to Year 6. Mrs Wilding's talent for matching the book to the child proved invaluable and lots of pupils went home excited about their purchases with a renewed enthusiasm for reading.

Welcome back! By the sound of things, the children generally seem to have had brilliant Easter holidays and have returned to school refreshed and excited about the term ahead.
Last term’s Good Shepherd appeal raised in excess of £2200 for the Catholic Children’s Society. It was lovely to see the children making such good use of their time and talents through the variety of fund-raising activities they took part in - details of some of which follow.
I enjoy hearing of children’s achievements outside as well as inside school, and we’re always pleased to recognise these in assemblies. For example, Eleanor in 6W has recently been awarded a Cambridge University certificate in Egyptology, after attending a residential course in Cambridge; Aislinn (also 6W), won this year’s war games tournament in Sheffield, playing against adult opposition in each of five rounds. In school, Joel (6S) took part in the Mathematical Association Primary Maths Final, and won a silver medal (missing gold by one mark), placing him 52nd in this national competition; he will receive his medal on presentation afternoon (24th June).

Our fundraising for this year’s Good Shepherd Appeal on behalf of the Catholic Chidlren’s Society reached its climax on the last Friday of term. At lunchtime, the prep school joined the senior school for a simple, frugal lunch of bread, cheese and fruit. Later on in the day, the Welsford Hall was transformed as the Upper Prep set out the stalls for their businesses, which had been in preparation throughout Lent. Staff, parents and younger pupils were hugely impressed by the variety of business ideas that the children had come up with, with sweetie kebabs, cakes baked to order and chocolate fountains attracting particular interest.

Natalia, Lucy and Emily, assisted by Natalia's sister, Ursula, are regular church goers at St Lucy's, Medstead and came up with the idea of running a cake stall at the monthly coffee morning, which Mrs Bird was covering this month. So, after getting the OK from Sister Mary and having designed a poster to advertise the stall last week, they got down to the serious business of cooking, decorating, selling (and tasting!). Emily drew up a price list.

The girls raised the magnificent sum of £45 between them (which is fantastic as there were not that many people this month). Emily was very particular at collecting the correct cash and challenged one of the parishioners quite vociferously (but politely) regarding his adding up - fortunately, she was right! She has also spent a lot of time afterwards counting all the money; obviously she is going to follow her parents' footsteps and become an accountant!

Dear Parents,

I was pleased that lots of our boys’ parents were able to attend Wednesday’s Transition Evening to discuss the process of choosing and applying to senior schools and preparing for the entrance exams, as well as having a chance to look through prospectuses and entrance papers. Good boys’ education is, I’m sure, about good education; we pride ourselves here on treating our pupils as individuals, meeting them where they are and tailoring our provision to their needs, talents, enthusiasms and aspirations. Part of this, of course, results in a curriculum which offers much to excite and interest the boys as well as the girls, together with our co-curricular programme that takes in lots of extra sport: football, rugby, cricket, karate, badminton, basketball, mini-tennis, running etc, as well as computing, chess and two Latin clubs, and visits to the likes of Intech, the Science Museum and Britain at War. More importantly, we are a school that places great value on the relationships between our pupils, with good friendships and mutual respect between older and younger pupils, be they boys or girls. I’m sure that this equips our pupils to move on to their senior schools with not only a love of learning, but also a sense of integrity, responsibility and strength of character.

Mr Berry's slides from 5th March 2008, together with links to other resources.

Science Week here in the Prep School has been an undoubted triumph. As a mathematician, and thus almost a scientist, it has been a real delight to me to see the way the week’s events and activities have captured the imagination and enthusiasm of our children. A deep and abiding interest in the world around them is something I’m keen to see all our pupils develop, and an understanding of scientific method and ideas is going to be crucial for the children as they grow up in an increasingly technological society.