Working to a magical theme and with natural materials, walkers on the beach were amazed at staff and children enthusiastically creating a fire-breathing dragon at West Wittering.

Artist Jane Ashley-Brian found it great fun and extremely rewarding to spark the children's imagination. This led to groups designing their own magical gardens, which will be a wonderful stimulus for Years 1 and 2's individual creative writing.

The autumn weather was kind to us, enabling Mrs Hillier to lead a drama activity to end the day - 'Dragon Attack!' Children became snapping crabs and jumping starfish, to name just a few.

The close of the spring term was marked with the Lower Prep’s Easter Celebration and Bonnet Parade. Classes from Nursery to Year 2 entertained one another with songs, dances and stories celebrating Easter. Children and parents had put much energy and creativity into an amazing array of Easter Bonnets, raising further funds for the Good Shepherd Appeal and making it very difficult to decide the competition winners.

Open to teachers from other schools

Children in Years 1 and 2 revelled in the space and freedom provided by West Wittering which provided the perfect setting for a wonderful art and dance experience inspired by artist and teacher Mrs Ashley Brian and dance and drama teacher Mrs Hillier. Collecting stones of different colours, shells, seaweed and driftwood to create a collage on the beach, fascinated the children and they began to understand for themselves what has inspired artists like Goldsworthy. Stones with sparkly centres, some smooth and worn with holes in the middle, became precious treasures and brought home the amazing diversity of natural objects. Shape, colour and texture were brought to life as the collage took shape. As the clouds thinned and the sun shone, many questions were raised by the dramatically changing seascape.’ Why is the sea so blue now’? Why is it so sparkly’? ‘How does the tide go out’?

We were greeted by smiley staff in bright red T-shirts. We knew this was going to be a great day. We went in through barns of horses, chicks, pigs and a herd of alpacas to name a few and then saw the huge selection of activities in the grounds.
There were set show times that we didn’t want to miss and lots of supervised activities for the very adventurous or those requiring a more gentle experience.
Tovi and Thomas went on the stage to feed the sheep and Daisy the cow ate lots of oranges… and wouldn’t leave the stage without being given yet another orange!
Bug ride zoomed around the park and you really had to hold on to your hats, well actually the steering wheel, we were soaked by pirates shooting water at us!
Crazy golf was a challenge with the hidden bumps and curves and a variety of styles were observed to get a hole in one, from gentle swings of the club to a little helping hand or foot to secure success!
Bumper boats caused a splash and an excuse to bump in to a friend.
‘Land ahoy’ as Reception climbed aboard the big ship which was standing room only!
Lunch in our very own covered picnic area was a real treat and lots of birds followed us.
Spider towers, tractor rides and a great wooden adventure area left the children just wanting more.
We ended the afternoon with ice-lollies and we thanked the staff at the farm for their kind attention. They told us it had been a pleasure to have Alton Convent School visit for the day as all the children were very polite and well behaved. What a great day!

The Lower Prep were blessed with very fine weather for their annual sports day. All children from Reception to Year 2 took part in a whole host of different races and events, including a number of serious events, in which some outstanding times were recorded from these fine young athletes (well done Christian!), as well as the now traditional fun races, including the ‘Going Home’ race and the ‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic’. Team events, such as the grand relay and train-and-tender rounded the aft

All children from Nursery to Year 2 enjoyed a wonderful day last Thursday when Miller's Ark animals came to visit, bringing with then an array of friendly animals.
The children were able to groom a very patient pony, stroke and cuddle two very delightful goat kids and even stroke a lamb when her mother would allow! The guinea pigs were a hit with the older children who were able to confidently handle them. All the children seemed fascinated by the chickens, ducks and geese and were amazed at the difference in their eggs.
Nursery and Pre Prep were delighted with the Kuni Kuni piglets who were very accommodating and enjoyed all the attention, seeming not to mind being sat on!
One of the goat kids aptly named 'Trouble' delighted everyone with her antics. She particularly enjoyed wandering off to the adventure play area to say hello to the older children much to the amusement of the younger ones!