The children in the Preparatory school gave their parents and grandparents a most enjoyable concert which included a great variety of music played on many different instruments. Year 3 gave their first recorder performance as did the newly formed Prep School Brass Ensemble. There were duets on the piano, clarinet and flute and, some very impressive solos from many other instruments including the harp and guitar. At the end of the concert Mrs Ongley thanked all the children and their teachers for all their hard work and wonderful playing; parents and performers then enjoyed chatting over coffee. Thanks must be given to the peripatetic teachers who prepared the children so well for their performances.

We have been advised by the theatre that the perfomance will finish at 16.15hrs we therefore anticipate being back at school by 17.30/45

The children in the preparatory school enjoyed a music workshop on Wednesday morning with our new brass teacher who joins the school in September to work with Mr Andrews to expand the brass provision.

Mrs Stephenson is an experienced performer and teacher and she demonstrated the full range of brass instruments to the children. Some of the children were able to have a try on the instruments and one or two actually produced a sound! The workshop concluded with Mrs Stephenson performing some beautiful pieces from "The Titanic" to the "Jurassic Park". Should you be interested in your child learning a brass instrument please contact the school office.

This year’s Inter-House rounders competition could not have had a better afternoon. All of year 5 and 6 participated in representing their school house. Sporting my “naff” team names from the Pumpkins to the Artichokes, all 6 teams played against each other on the 3 pitches officiated by Miss Orbell, Mrs Bloem and me. In the early rounds, the Artichokes looked the strongest with India and Josh creating good strikes and Tom playing his part. They nearly came unstuck against a determined Penguins, who began to show good team work. The Pumpkins had the best bowler in the competition in Jo. The Anteaters showed their steely resolve by winning the final match against the too confident Penguins 4½ to 4 to stop the furry or feathery critters winning the championship, After Cherries humiliating defeat at the hands of the Cucumbers they bounced back with a run of victories especially gaining the scalp of the Artichokes, Harry C timing the ball with perfection in scoring 2 half rounders. However at the end of the competition the Artichokes secured 13 points, only with that defeat, whilst three other teams having 11 points.

Today we did a Samba Workshop and we played all sorts of drums. We learnt all sorts beats, like 1+2+3+4+, and we made a house using the sounds of the drums. First some of the class made the floor and we played on the drums, “1 2 3 4”. Some other people from the class played the wall, which was “1+2+3+4+”. Then we did the roof, which sounded like “1 ea 2 ea 3 ea 4 ea”. We worked together and I really enjoyed it. Brazil is the birthplace of Samba and Brazil is the largest country in Latin America. Later on in Latin American Week, I had a Mexican evening at home. I invited Amber, Olivia, Hannah and Lucy. We ate lots of new and different types of food from Mexico. We enjoyed salsa, fajitas, enchiladas, tortillas and guacamole. We thought guacamole was mushy peas, and we also had fried beans that looked like baby food! We had a lovely time.