Earlier in the month the Lower Sixth English Literature A level group went to London for a day at Shakespeare's Globe based around the work they are doing on "King Lear". There they had a talk from the Chief Examiner (who also happens to be one of their English teachers) after which a professor from London University spoke about the way a Shakespeare play has to be edited from various sources and how we can never be totally sure what the writer's original intentions might have been. This was followed by a tour of the Globe and practical workshops with Globe actors based on "King Lear". Our girls had the chance to work with students from other schools and colleges, delegates having come as far afield as Edinburgh and Switzerland.

The last few weeks of the Spring term were marked by tremendous enthusiasm for independent research and learning as Upper Prep children worked hard on the presentations, prose and poetry for their ESB exams. Our pupils once more excelled themselves, with a record number of children (38!) achieving the top, Distinction grade. Nearly everyone achieved a Merit or better and 83% scored at Merit Plus or above. One of the highlights of Open Day was the opportunity to hear again some of this very polished work, which does so much to enhance our English curriculum and the children’s broader educational experience here.

At 9:45 today, Mrs Charles came to our class and read us a story. The story was about a king who loved gold. He got a wish from a god. He wished that everything he touched turned to gold. He got warned by the god, but he did not listen. He went around testing his new power. He touched chairs and tables, anything he saw, but when he tried to eat, a lump of gold got stuck in his throat, and the same happened when he drank. One day his little girl, who he loved so much, came running at him. She put her arms around him, but it was too late, she had turned into gold. The king was so upset he was in tears but his tears did not turn to gold. He was warned but did not listen. He was on his knees begging to the god. He had to go into a stream and when he did, everything turned to normal. He never forgot how greedy he was.

I was one of ten Year 6s that read to the Year 2s. It was really fun! We read The Enormous Turnip and The Elves and The Shoe Maker to them. They acted it out and we took it in turns to read. It was really good.
Later we went into the Welsford Hall to do some dancing with Mme Hoyet, who teaches Spanish in the Senior School. We danced to La Bamba and in the end even Mrs Wilson joined in! There is an English version and a Spanish version. Mme Hoyet said that it means that you have to have a little bit of grace. It is a really famous song and we all knew it. It got us very hot, although it was worth it!

On Wednesday we had a story that was read to us by Mr Hoyes. He read a couple of stories to us one of them was Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, that was my favourite. I really liked him reading Great Expectations because I think it was a wonderful story and he put a lot of expression into the story so you could see it in minds eye. After that we got given a poem. The poems we got given were originally stories that had been made into poems.
Then a bit later on we were taught some Spanish with Mrs Swann we learnt a lot like: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, sies, ocho, nueve, diez. And we also learnt that oi! comes from oiga meaning come over here and talk to me.

Year 5 had studied the illustrations of Beatrix Potter and had made their own sketches based on these. They used watercolours to paint the sketches, trying to imitate the way that Beatrix Potter had painted her pictures. In English, the children researched the life of the author and produced an information booklet.

On Wednesday 12th November, Year 6 went for a stroll in the school woods to look out for some amazing autumn flora and fauna. We used our senses to create poems and prayers about the autumn season. Everything was beautiful. The colours were absolutely gorgeous. There were flashes of ruby red, gleaming gold and rich deep browns. We used great adjectives to describe the crushing leaves and the rest of the scenery. Everything was utterly stunning and we would love to do it again.