BUSY RECEPTION : 1) Hair-raising fun with Mr Rodriguez. 2) Leap of faith on Sports Day. 3) Angelic performances at Christmas. 4) Spring tidy up in the garden. 5) Duckling delight.

YEAR 1 : 1) Celebrating Burns Night with Scottish piper extraordinaire Mr Gunn. 2) Candle making after a visit from the ‘Bee Lady’. 3) An arresting visit from Sussex Police. 4) A peek at the crime scene during British Science Week. 5) An instrumental tour de force at a pre-prep concert.

YEAR 2 : 1) Exciting times at forest school. 2) Transported back to yesteryear at Brooklands Museum. 3) Packing a punch at Karate Club. 4) Scientific discovery at West Wittering beach. 5) The Christmas Nativity takes centre stage.

YEAR 3 : 1) Running Club put their best feet forward. 2) In character during the performance of Wind in the Willows. 3) Back in time at Butser Ancient Farm. 4) Hitting the heights at Sayers Croft. 5) Working together during the Great Smoothie Challenge.

YEAR 5 : 1) Paying their respects on Remembrance Day. 2) In full voice during the Christmas carol service. 3) Taking a step back in time at Winchester City Museum. 4) Working together to erect their tents during the campout. 5) Melodic harmonies during the House Shout.

YEAR 6 : 1) In the pink belting out hits during HighFest. 2) A close encounter of the Jurassic kind at the London Science Museum. 3) Blazing a trail during the annual inter-school cross-country championship. 4) On a geographical quest at Flatford Mill. 5) On stage performing The Lion King.

YEAR 7 : 1) Festive feel on Christmas Jumper Day. 2) With an amazing exhibit at the Natural History Museum. 3) On stage during the HighFest music extravaganza. 4) A time for sombre reflection on Remembrance Day. 5) Snow White and six dwarves on World Book Day.

YEAR 8 : 1) Grease was most definitely the word for our talented leavers. 2) Friendships endure over house rivalry on Sports Day. 3) Browsing for potential reading material at the annual book fair. 4) Wartime studies brought to life in northern France. 5) Pembrokeshire was the destination for a week of adventure, team-building and fun on the Welsh coast.

Reception this week explored the story ‘Commotion in the Ocean’ and used it as inspiration to write about an exciting ocean setting. The children focused on using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops to structure their sentences correctly. The children really put a great deal of thought into their work, using their phonics knowledge to describe sea creatures and underwater scenes with confidence.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

Year 1 were tasked with finding out everything they could about wind. The inquisitive children discovered that wind is a form of weather before exploring wind direction and strength, as well as what causes wind and they were particularly interested to discover that the sun is the root cause of wind. Having learnt what equipment was needed to measure wind speed, Year 1 were fascinated by windsocks and how they are used to help pilots navigate and land aircraft safely. As a result, the children used their creative skills to make their own colourful windsocks before hanging them up in the playground to observe which direction the wind was blowing.

Kathleen Salusbury, Year 1 Class Teacher

In Spanish, Year 2 have been expanding their vocabulary during the summer term by learning the names of different fruit. After successfully identifying the various types of fruit and marrying them up with the correct Spanish word, the children learned phrases such as ‘me gusta comer manzanas y bananas’ – I like to eat apples and bananas – courtesy of a fun song that they insisted on singing whether they were in a Spanish lesson or not!

Leana Staring, Year 2 Spanish Teacher

Year 3 had the opportunity to further develop their essential skills thanks to a team-building activities trip to Sayers Croft. As they climbed through narrow caves, the children worked in pairs to help each other along the dark tunnels. A seemingly easy boulder course proved to be more of a challenge and an endurance task where Year 3 were not only determined to reach the top but also persevered to tackle the trickiest boulder which jutted out above their heads. And a challenging low-wire adventure course allowed Year 3 to show off their problem-solving and leadership skills in order to plot their way safely around the course. With spirits high, there was a buzz of excitement back at school as the children recalled their experiences and how they used their essential skills to overcome obstacles.

Henrietta Platt, Year 3 Class Teacher

When the summer weather arrives, there is nothing nicer than taking music lessons into our wonderful grounds. Having learnt primary and secondary chords on the keyboards over the last couple of weeks, Year 5 continued their work on chords, but this time on ukuleles. Working in groups and helping each other along, the children learnt the finger combinations for a raft of chords useful for performance, as well as writing their own songs. It was a real treat as the lovely sound of ukuleles filled the air by Chapel Field and created a wonderful environment under blue skies.

Jess Harman, Year 5 Music Teacher

After several weeks looking at the Buddhist eightfold path which leads to nirvana, 6DL tackled a real-life situation applying the practice. Looking at how following the Buddhists’ wisdom could help on the path to forgiveness, the children grappled with questions around what the right thing to say would be, how to ensure they are following the right action and considering how mindfulness could help.

Zoe Thesiger-Pratt, Year 6 PRE Teacher

In maths this week, Year 7 were tasked with working out the circumference of a circle. The children were introduced to the formula and applied it to a range of problems involving both the diameter and radius. To help them, Year 7 were encouraged to apply their knowledge to unfamiliar tasks, including calculating the perimeter of sectors. The children quickly grasped the method for finding circumference and showed great confidence when tackling higher-level problems. They demonstrated resilience and enjoyed the challenge of applying their skills to new contexts.

Danny Parkinson, Head of Maths

Year 8 welcomed the Right Reverend Dr Jonathan Frost, the Bishop of Portsmouth, to the school’s annual confirmation service in the Chapel. Seven girls had prepared wonderfully for this event, learning key Christian principles and the purpose of confirmation in the weeks leading to it. It was another stunning service with beautiful hymns sung with a real sense of passion. Bishop Jonathan reminded the seven confirmands that God knows them each by name and calls them closer to Him. The afternoon concluded with a wonderful tea for all the families and friends who came to support the girls.

Ian Nicholas, Deputy Head (Academic)

Year 1 needed a little help from Mother Nature this week as they investigated shadows in science. The children displayed admirable resilience and perseverance as they had several failed attempts to see how the sun moves during the day – because there was too much cloud and no sun! When the sun finally did make an appearance, the children placed water bottles on blank paper on the ground outside and marked the shadow created by the position of the sun. This they did several times to get a clear idea of how the position of the sun changes throughout the day.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 2 have been busy learning how to set up an experiment to find out what plants need to grow. They have been making predictions and setting up fair tests. The children considered many ideas before deciding that some plants would be tested without light, some without water and some without soil. Of course, we have our control group that has all the elements we think a plant needs to stay healthy. Watch this space as we observe over the next few weeks to see which plants will thrive.

Kerri Wilkes, Year 2 Class Teacher

In maths this week, Year 3 were tasked with finding a non-unit fraction of a set amount. Working logically to solve the multi-step problems, the children learnt that the key was to divide the whole number by the denominator of the fraction and then multiply the result by the numerator, therefore linking their knowledge of times tables. To help them, Year 3 created and used bar models to support them in their calculations.

Rebecca Lane, Year 3 Class Teacher

Teamwork, problem solving and leadership skills came to the fore this week as Year 5 camped out under the stars. Working together in small groups, the children were tasked with the tricky job of pitching their tents on the golf course on Thursday night ahead of a session of bushcraft in the woods next day. Faced with sometimes unwieldy and heavy canvas, tent poles, guy ropes, tent pegs and mallets, Year 5 considered the best position for their tents before strategically pitching them. Natural leaders surfaced during the process while the groups quickly realised that everyone needed a role in order to pitch the tents quickly and efficiently.

Jo Gordon, Year 5 Class Teacher

In drama, Year 6 are learning about the Japanese style of theatre called kabuki. They began by listening to the story of The Meditator, which includes the characters Ukyo, Taminoyi and The Servant, before learning four stage-fighting techniques. Getting to grips with slapping, punching, hair pulling and the stomach kick, the main objective was to perform these techniques safely and with total conviction. Year 6 learnt to ‘hide’ the trick from the audience with correct body positioning and how to use the actor’s action and reaction to gain the desired effect. The children used these techniques effectively to create their own fight sequences which linked these movements together. And despite how realistic it looked, no-one came to any actual harm during the lesson!

Sarah Baird, Head of Drama

With Year 8 busy exploring west Wales, Year 7 took centre stage on the cricket pitches this week. While the boys and girls had a mixed bag of results, with several hard-fought wins and several battling defeats, they were all linked by the common thread of giving their all for their teammates while putting into practice everything they have learnt in their PE and Games lessons in terms of batting, bowling and fielding techniques. And while things haven’t always gone their way in matches, the children have shown great perseverance and a will to win all season. With the end of the season now in sight, Year 7 can look back on their efforts with great pride.

Richard Dunn, Head of Cricket

After a week of academic focus in the form of their Common Entrance exams, Year 8 travelled to St David’s Bunk Barns for a week of activities in sunny Pembrokeshire. The children have thrown themselves into various wet and dry activities, ranging from surfing and climbing to kayaking and coasteering. The confidence and collaboration of the children has been exceptional, and it has been delightful to see the children enjoy time in Wales. The sunshine certainly helped early in the week but while the rain that came on Thursday certainly dampened some clothing, it failed to dampen any spirits. The cohort were great ambassadors for the school and themselves and it has been a pleasure to support them in adding yet more fond memories of their time at Highfield and Brookham.

James Figgis, Head of Year 8

In maths this week, the Reception children have been exploring 2D shapes. They have learnt to identify the properties and name the shapes through simple songs. In addition, they have been introduced to the concept of composing and decomposing shapes, working effectively in small groups to combine simple shapes to form new ones.

Rosie Snagge, Reception Class Teacher

This term in Digital Literacy, Year 1 have been navigating their way around keyboards. Despite being more used to touch-screen devices, the children proved very adept at locating the letters and weaving their way round the ‘qwerty’ keyboards. Armed with their new-found skills, Year 1 were tasked with producing a ‘missing teddy’ poster, using capital letters to begin sentences and exploring the toolbar to add bold type, to underline key words and highlight text.

Kathleen Salusbury, Year 1 Class Teacher

With their final concert of the academic year fast approaching, Year 2 have been working hard on their ensemble skills. Following successful recorder taster lessons, the children worked to perfect their performance of Brian Boro’s March, followed by their vocal and percussion arrangement of Sky Full of Stars inspired by the version in Sing 2. Cementing their musical understanding of rhythm and dynamics, the children have enjoyed the effect that whole-class performance can provide.

Jess Harman, Year 2 Music Teacher

Year 3 took part in an exhilarating orienteering expedition around Queen Elizabeth Country Park, where they worked together to navigate an ordnance survey map. Deciding which path to take, as they climbed up the steep hill and into the enticing forest near Petersfield, gave the children a valuable opportunity to work as a team and develop their leadership skills. After lunch, the children recapped their prior learning in Science when they participated in a range of engaging seed-dispersal activities, emulating explosions, droppings and the wind.

Henrietta Platt, Year 3 Class Teacher

In Topic this week, Year 5 explored the island of St Lucia in the Caribbean. Tying in nicely with their English class text Windrush Child, the children were tasked with finding similarities and differences between the island nations of the Caribbean and the UK. Using classroom resources and personal knowledge, the children worked together to answer specific questions relating to the island of St Lucia, focusing on industry, weather, climate, geography, culture and diversity in order to make direct comparisons with life in the UK. Year 5 are adept at using their atlases and can identify physical and political maps and know which to use for specific tasks.

Steph Turner, Year 5 Class Teacher

Year 6 this week ventured to Flatford Mill in Suffolk, engaging in fieldwork to embellish their theoretical knowledge with practical application. From pond dipping and searching for wildlife to navigating around the local area, the children were brilliant ambassadors of Highfield and Brookham over the three days and gained some amazing practical geographical experience to underpin their work in the classroom. Night walks and campfires were also big highlights for Year 6, who showed great maturity and spirit throughout their fascinating trip to East Anglia.

Simon Gunn, Year 6 Class Teacher

The exam and revision period can feel very daunting for some children and requires them to call on all their positivity and self-belief in their ability to achieve. As a result, it can be hard to know where to start with revision, especially in a language where there is seemingly so much to learn. But, as Year 7 discovered, games and songs are great way forward in the quest for knowledge. This week in French, the young linguists requested ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’ as well as ‘Simon Says’ to revise the body parts. For a more general vocabulary revision game, Year 7 played a version of the old TV show Going for Gold, which some of you will doubtless remember. The children loved it; digging deep and picking out words safely stored in the back of their minds while discovering which areas need a little more attention.

Jo Longshaw, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

This week has seen our top year group complete their academic journeys at Highfield and Brookham, as the majority sat their final exams. Throughout the week, Year 8 were exemplary in their efforts, and their determination to produce yet more evidence of the progress that they have made throughout their time with us. Their resilience to battle through a busy week was commendable but the togetherness the group showed this week has been a pleasure to observe. While there have surely been some nerves, these were rarely seen, and the positive outlook by the cohort has been amazing. We are hugely proud of their efforts and now they have a short wait to discover the results of their endeavours. Now the focus turns to the children’s residential trip to Pembrokeshire and the highly-anticipated Year 8 production.

The Reception children had a wonderful time exploring the forest with their mothers during forest school. They delighted in making clay faces on trees, crafting nature crowns and cooking jam toasties over an open fire. Their excitement was evident as they eagerly listened to instructions, shared ideas and supported one another, building strong listening and teamwork skills. The children also enjoyed showing their adult around the forest, making it a truly enriching and memorable experience for all.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

Year 1 have been diving deeper into their learning on fractions this week with a big focus on quarters. Using their creativity skills, the children explored how to divide different shapes into four equal parts. The children continued their learning, using their problem-solving skills, as they tackled the challenge of sharing objects into four equal groups.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Teacher

This week, Year 2 took their learning beyond the classroom with an enriching visit to Portsmouth Synagogue. The focus of the trip was to develop respectful understanding around different beliefs and to learn specifically about the Jewish faith. The children showed excellent listening skills as they listened attentively, asked thoughtful questions and demonstrated genuine curiosity throughout the visit. They returned to school with an awareness of the Jewish faith and able to make links to Christianity.

Charlie Millsom, Year 2 Teacher

In literacy, this week, Year 3 were learning how to describe animals, thinking about specific elements of the animals, for example. beak, talons etc. Using their internal bank of creative language and combining it with given adjective and verb word banks, Year 3 painted an imaginary picture of their chosen animals. They have created a bank of ideas which they will collate into a poem about an animal.

Rosie Statham, Year 3 Teacher

As part of our Enrichment programme, the Year 5s thought it would be a lovely idea to collaborate in the making of a quilt for the Beehive. Each pupil in the Year group has (or will have by the end of this term) sewn their own design, including hearts, stars and letter initials, onto small pieces of fabric using a running stitch technique. At the end of term, these sections of fabric will be sewn together to create one large blanket which will be donated to the Beehive.

Rosie Dachtler, Year 5 Teacher

Year 6 have been learning about the Buddha and what its characteristics are. This week, 6SG learned how to draw the Buddha. After completing the features, hair, neck and shoulders they carefully started, adding a warm or cool colour scheme to the background of the drawing. Using their listening skills, the children worked to  include all the characteristics of a Buddha. The children produced some beautiful drawings of Buddha, which displayed snail hair, droopy ears, a third eye, a peaceful expression and beautiful colouring.

Tamsin Pearson, Year 6 Art Teacher

This week in PRE, our Year 7s considered the concept of heaven as part of their topic on life after death. They explored both sacred and secular beliefs and reflected what happens after we die, sharing their own ideas and respectfully comparing beliefs across religions.

Zoe Thesiger-Pratt, PRE Teacher

Year 8 recently took their first exciting step towards their upcoming production of Grease with a lively and inspiring drama workshop focusing on characterisation. Mrs Wilson shared her first-hand experience of performing in the West End and her stories gave the pupils a vivid sense of the energy, commitment and fun that go into staging a professional show. Following this, the children got on their feet to learn the choreography for You’re the One That I Want, embracing the challenge with enthusiasm and positivity. Performing together helped boost their confidence and gave them a taste of the teamwork and spirit they’ll need for their upcoming production.

 Susannah Wilson and  Ed Elgood LAMDA Teacher and Year 6 Teacher

Reception this week revelled in the sunny weather, immersing themselves in a variety of engaging activities in the shared area that promote independent learning, teamwork and problem-solving. During water play, they explored the concept of capacity by transferring water between different containers, using language such as ‘full’, ‘empty’ and ‘more than’ to describe their observations. The children also investigated the concepts of floating and sinking, making predictions and testing their ideas to develop early scientific thinking and reasoning skills. In addition, Reception worked together to solve practical challenges, such as how to move water from one place to another, which fostered collaboration, communication and resilience. It was wonderful to see their curiosity and confidence grow through these hands-on learning experiences.

Rosie Snagge, Reception Class Teacher

As Year 1 are now experts at knowing where their food comes from, the onset of this week’s warm sunshine meant they could begin planting their own food. Having already worked together to identify as many wild and garden flowers as they could around the school grounds, the children eagerly set about planting out some runner beans, which they had been carefully nurturing in the classroom. The children took it in turns to dig small holes in their vegetable patch in which to plant their seeds before carefully adding a little water and marking the area with a named stick. The rest is now up to Mother Nature, but the children have promised to keep a close eye on their special beans.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

With the cricket season now upon us and Sports Day looming large, Year 2 this week focused on their overarm throwing technique in PE. The children began with a technical warm up for throwers which included specific stretches for the forearms, upper arms and shoulders. Year 2 were then taken through the key points of a successful overarm throw, such as maintaining good balance, standing sideways on, taking aim with the weaker arm pointing straight ahead and focusing on a smooth, controlled arm swing and follow through to the target. The children then got the opportunity to practise what they had learnt with a friendly ball throwing competition, which produced some impressive results.

Jo Gordon, Assistant Director of Sport

Having learnt the basics of cricket in PE, Year 3 got the chance to put their skills to the test with a series of matches against Westbourne House. Despite playing in a cold wind, the children  showed huge amounts of enthusiasm as well as ability, and particularly enjoyed playing as a team, supporting and encouraging their teammates throughout. There were some amazing efforts with both bat and ball to complement energetic fielding, while all the children got the chance to try their hand at each discipline. Despite being early in the season, it’s already clear to see that Year 3 have a great deal of potential among their ranks.

Sergio Heredia Rodriguez, Year 3 Cricket Coach

This week in Latin, Year 5 were reviewing numbers. As with every new aspect of language, the emphasis was on ensuring that the rules of translation remain at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Mrs Durrant kindly created a helpful paperchain of numbers to assist with the mental acrobatics required to answer a series of sums, switching between the familiar numerals and their Latin words. In addition, the often-asked question of ‘who speaks Latin?’ was addressed – with a discussion of events last week in Rome when the billion-plus Catholics and even more interested television viewers listened to the announcement of the new Pope in joyous (and grammatically correct) Latin.

Alex Walker, Head of Classics

As part of their summer term topic on ‘Crime and Punishment’, Year 6 this week headed to the Tower of London to explore a real site where prisoners were jailed and punished. This was an introductory journey into their new topic and the children had to take on a lot of new information and listen to stories from a broad range of British history, from 1100 up to the 20^th Century. Year 6 were engaged and enthused throughout a fascinating day, asking many questions and gaining a firm understanding of the crime and punishment topic before they delve into it in more detail after the half-term break.

This term in Drama, Year 7 are exploring the topic of building a character. This involves working on developing their voice, body language, facial expressions and understanding their character’s motivation. To help them with their topic, the children were tasked with creating characters for a session of improvisation. Working in small groups, they were given minimal information (such as someone being interviewed for a job or three people waiting at a bus stop) and had to decide quickly how best to portray characterisation. Year 7 explored multiple options for their characters’ motivation, tone of voice and body language to create short scenes, with collaboration key to staging an effective performance.

Sarah Baird, Head of Drama

Year 8 this week took a trip to London to delve further into the history of medicine, to underpin their classroom studies ahead of the Common Entrance exams. The trip took in a fascinating lecture at the 19^th Century Old Operating Theatre and a walking tour around some related spots around the capital. Located in the garret of St Thomas’ Church in Southwark on the original site of St Thomas’ Hospital, the children discovered that it is now a museum of surgical history and one of the oldest surviving operating theatres which was used in the days before anaesthetics and antiseptic surgery. Year 8 also toured the herb garret used by the hospital’s apothecary to store and cure herbs used in healing and got a close look at a collection of artefacts revealing the horrors of medicine before the age of modern science.

Katy Warner, Year 8 English Teacher

Inspired by reading the lovely book Handa’s Surprise, Reception had the delightful experience of tasting exotic fruits such as mangoes, figs, pineapple and papaya at forest school. Having correctly identified each fruit in turn, the attentive children paid close attention to the description of each fruit’s texture and flavour before sharing their thoughts and preferences in a taste test, through either a thumbs up or thumbs down. Needless to say, most thumbs were pointing skyward!

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

In their science and topic lessons, Year 1 have been focusing on the process of turning plants into food. Having dissected a flower to get a close look at all of its key parts, the children embarked on a fascinating discussion to establish the role each part plays. After gaining a sound understanding, the children then got creative to produce their own 3D flowers with all the parts clearly labelled.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

In art this week, Year 2 engaged in learning a new decoupage technique, which involved tearing, sticking and collaging. This activity was integrated into their ongoing study of oyster shells, onto which the children carefully stuck their colourful tissue paper to produce effective and vibrant artwork. By the end of the session, during which the children were fully engaged in their task, the children experienced new ways to create pattern using different materials.

Kim Martin, Year 2 Art Teacher

Within their summer term topic of ‘Life Below Water’, Year 3 considered various impacts humans have on coral reef ecosystems. After listening to David Attenborough’s message on the eve of his 99th birthday about the vital importance of our oceans, the children created posters about the significance of coral reefs and the threats that they face. Considering two key coral sites – The Maldives and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the children used personal knowledge and classroom resources to draw attention to these threatened areas and consider ways in which the coral can be restored to better health.

Henrietta Platt, Year 3 Class Teacher

In maths, Year 5 were tasked with calculating angles on a straight line and around a point. Working in pairs and sharing ideas, the children consolidated their knowledge of calculating angles while solving a loop puzzle. Once angles were calculated they had to find the corresponding clue that led them to the next question. As always, the activity ended up being highly competitive, with two teams eventually completing it at exactly the same time.

Danny Parkinson, Head of Maths

In geography, Year 6 refreshed their map work skills, focusing on four and six-figure grid references. They engaged enthusiastically with challenging tasks, demonstrating determination and resilience. With the group showing improved accuracy and confidence in locating features on maps, it was another great step forward in both geography and orienteering. A fruitful lesson also included a presentation aimed at finding a suitable spot within the school grounds for ‘Benny the Bench’, with diligent pupils taking into account aspect and microclimates.

Simon Gunn, Year 6 Geography Teacher

In English, Year 7 continued working on their set text, Susan Cooper’s King of Shadows. Set in Elizabethan England, protagonist Nat travels back in time to experience Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. In the classroom, the children successfully analysed a section of the novel to produce an extended comprehension answer. Year 7 will now use the novel as a starting point for many pieces of work, and their work has very much whet their appetite for an exciting trip to The Globe in two weeks’ time.

Lucy Hendry, Year 7 English Teacher

The new cricket season may only be at the fledgling stage, but Year 8 have already put in some encouraging performances. The boys and girls have been working hard during PE and Games lessons to refine their batting, bowling and fielding techniques, with skills built up and polished over a number of years at Highfield and Brookham, and this was evident during some excellent matches against Farleigh on Wednesday and in the girls’ win against Great Walstead in the IAPS Girls’ Cricket Championship on Thursday. But aside from improving their on-field skills, the children also demonstrated a genuine and heart-warming desire to support and encourage each other during matches, something they needed no encouragement to do.

Richard Dunn, Year 8 Head Cricket Coach

Early this week in our Literacy lesson, the Reception children busily prepared for our exciting school trip to the zoo on Thursday! To spark their imaginations and build excitement, we constructed our very own imaginative maps. The children were encouraged to think creatively about what animals they might discover and where they might live. Using a mixture of drawing, discussion and phonetic writing, each child designed their own zoo layout and began labelling enclosures and features using their developing phonics skills. Ask your child to tell you about their zoo map – what animals did they include and where did they place them?

Rosie Snagge, Reception Teacher

This week, as part of our topic on where food comes from, Year 1 learnt that all food comes from plants or animals and must be caught, farmed or grown. As we always enjoy chopping and eating peppers and tomatoes during our Continuous Provision, we decided to plant some pepper and tomato seeds. The children learnt that plants need warmth, water and a little love to grow. With the glorious weather this week and the water and love our Year 1s are providing, we are hoping for a bumper crop later this term.

Kathleen Salusbury, Year 1 Class Teacher

Having been inspired by Spring from the Four Seasons by Vivaldi, Year 2 honed their creativity skills by composing pieces. They used notes from the C major scale (C, E, G) to create a short motif on xylophones, then played and recorded it on a midi keyboard using GarageBand, adding a string section drone on C and G. The class took turns playing their motifs live over the track with their xylophones, creating the gentle effect of a stream on a sunny spring day. As part of our Year 2 instrument taster sessions, some of the children also had the opportunity to experience cello, violin and recorder with our specialist teachers.

Jessica Harman, Assistant Director of Music

Year 3 have been focused on describing the functions of different parts of a flowering plant and their role in photosynthesis. They used one of their Essential Skills, speaking, during the topic as the children referred to previous learning and shared their understanding of what plants need to thrive, making connections between their science and Essential Skills curriculum. They practised teamwork, collaborating on planting seeds and selecting the best spot for their plants in the classroom. They planted basil in recycled plastic bottles, exploring a non-traditional method of self-watering, which reduces the need for constant care.

Rebecca Lane, Year 3 Class Teacher

This week, Year 5 have been learning about the wood joinery method known as the Mitre Joint, while working on a project to design a birdhouse or picture frame inspired by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Design movement. The children created a paper mitre joint to help them understand the accuracy when measuring and cutting. The task also gave them the opportunity to explore decorative techniques and consider how design has evolved.

Jamie Dew, Head of DT

Year 6 used their speaking and listening skills as they read the story, Holes. There is no doubt that patience has also been needed as many children were desperate to read on and find out what happens in this exciting story! Through small group read-aloud sessions, pupils sharpened their pronunciation, fluency and vocabulary and strengthened their comprehension and memory. Reading aloud also helps build confidence and self-esteem and fosters a genuine love for reading. Oracy is crucial for overall development and success and enhances communication and literacy skills.

Vivienne Liddell, Year 6 Teacher

This term, Year 7 geographers are shifting from physical geography topics to human geography, exploring people’s relationships with places both individually and globally. This week we started the first topic, which revolves around population and seeing the world’s transition to a global population of over 8 billion people. We have also looked at where the United Kingdom fits into this, and on a smaller scale Liphook.  It is a theme that allows plenty of discovery as well as classroom discussion and debate. They’ve engaged enthusiastically with the topic, which helps them reflect on their own place in the world.

James Figgis, Head of Upper Prep

This week, Year 8 pupils learnt about body proportions and were amazed to discover that the head fits into an adult body eight times! They then explored the importance of gesture drawing and thoroughly enjoyed creating timed sketches of their peers using different drawing materials. Pupils also applied their problem solving skills by counting how many times the head fitted into their figure drawings. They produced some fantastic sketches and gained a clear understanding of the benefits of quick, loose drawing.

Tamsin Pearson, Year 8 Art Teacher

The Reception children thrived in the outdoor area this week by engaging in activities that tested their problem-solving skills, such as figuring out how to build a sturdy sandcastle or transporting water to make a mud cake. They showed real desire to succeed by sharing ideas and working together to overcome challenges. Constantly curious, the children even poured a little water onto the ground to see what would happen and worked out how they could divert the stream of water to create different patterns.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

Excited about their forthcoming summer term topic ‘where does our food come from?’, Year 1 headed to the Rural Life Living Museum at Tilford. The children were enthralled by the wonderful volunteers at the open-air museum of country life who told them tales of the past. They then got the chance to get hands-on, working together to turn over the soil before planting potatoes and beans, and taking turns to milk the cows. It was an amazing voyage of discovery for Year 1, who will get to add to their new-found knowledge on food and farming after the Easter break.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

Rounding off their spring term work, Year 2 took a close look at the Easter story and Christian beliefs. Reading with Mrs Hunter, the children learned that Easter is a key Christian festival which commemorates Jesus’ resurrection from the dead three days after his crucifixion, signifying victory over death and offering hope for eternal life. Working in pairs, Year 2 followed the story in their own children’s bibles before asking intelligent questions at the end. They rounded off their work by designing some amazing Easter eggs filled with love which they dedicated to their families and friends.

Charlie Millsom, Head of Year 2

As part of the learning journey surrounding nutrition and the importance of looking after our bodies, Year 3 invited their parents to join in with some ‘morning movement’. Choosing between an invigorating yoga session or an energetic run the children happily took the initiative, doubtless empowered by the family affair. And how did Year 3 feel afterwards? Ready to approach their day with calm energy and determined focus.

Rosie Statham, Head of Year 3

In PSHE this week, Year 5 were challenged to learn to recognise gender stereotypes, and the problems associated with them. The children discussed key questions such as whether labelling toys ‘for boys’ or ‘for girls’ put them off playing with them and who a particular advert was aimed at and why, and they were challenged to consider why they made certain assumptions. After maturely sharing their views and taking on board the opinions of their classmates, Year 5 designed a poster to appeal to both boys and girls as they explored gender stereotypes.

Robert Grech, Year 5 PSHE Teacher

Year 6 this week took a deep dive into their latest maths assessment, highlighting any areas that they felt they needed a little extra help with. It also gave them the opportunity to set some mathematical targets for the summer term. The children will be working on percentages when they come back after Easter and were encouraged to get a head start on the topic during the holidays.

For the last English lesson of the term, 8A settled in the library to enjoy some well-earned reading time. Year 8 are close to completing their two-year reading certificates and are now at the stage where they have to challenge themselves to read widely and outside their usual comfort zones. This week, the children were tasked with working independently to select books to fill in any gaps in their folders. They also know the importance of maintaining the habit of reading for pleasure in the holidays despite the pressures of exam revision, so this gave them a moment of peace to enjoy a good book in the hectic environment of the last few days of term.

Katy Warner, Year 8 English Teacher

This week in forest school, our young explorers embarked on an exciting journey to learn the art of fire lighting. Using a flint, Vaseline (affectionately labelled ‘dragon snot’ by the children), and dragon tissue (cotton wool), the children demonstrated remarkable perseverance to create a spark. The joy and sense of achievement when they finally succeeded was truly heartwarming. Alongside this fiery challenge, the children also engaged in building dens, climbing trees and delving into the wonders of the mud kitchen. These activities not only fostered their creativity and resilience but also provided endless fun and learning opportunities.

Rosie Snagge, Reception Class Teacher

Year 1 have been learning how to help bees. The children know that bees are important pollinators and have decided to create a bee-friendly garden in school. They worked as a team to write a set of instructions which explain how to create the garden before piecing together a colourful picture using paint, tissue paper and coloured paper to promote their bee-friendly garden. We hope to then share our instructions with our friends and family so that they too can help the amazing pollinators in our community.

Kathleen Salusbury, Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 2 continued their voyage of discovery in the world of maths by learning more about the division symbol and how it means sharing into equal groups. Compared to addition and subtraction division is more difficult and the children showed great determination and resilience while tackling this challenging new concept. The children persevered during their independent application to translate pictorial representations into equal groups and also write number sentences to go alongside them.

Rachael Berry, Year 2 Class Teacher

In the wake of last week’s Great Smoothie Challenge, Year 3 were this week tasked with reviewing all aspects of the popular DT project. The children were encouraged to think about how they faired on the day of the competition, whether they were successful or not. They reviewed how effectively they worked in their teams in the production and marketing of their fruity products and how leadership skills and qualities shone through. Year 3 also looked at the process as a whole to highlight any problem areas that they felt they could have improved upon.

Kim Martin, Year 3 DT Teacher

St Edmund’s were the visitors as our U10 girls played their penultimate round of matches of the current football season. Playing with bags of confidence under blue skies, the A team had the lion’s share of the possession but were unable to turn their dominance into goals, thanks in no small part to exceptional goalkeeping from the St Ed’s shot-stopper. The B team played well as a cohesive unit and were rewarded with a nice goal from Ava K while the U10C team showed great resilience and teamwork throughout to breach the St Edmund’s backline twice courtesy of Grace H and Alessia P, who was named player of the match by the opposition for the third successive game.

Year 6 joined forces with Year 5 to stage six amazing performances of Pride Rocks this week. Eight key skills underpin the curriculum at Highfield and Brookham – listening, speaking, aiming high, teamwork, creativity, staying positive, problem solving and leadership – and all eight skills were central to the successful staging of this middle prep production. The children faced speaking publicly on the stage, taking guidance from their director and getting creative with the movements and actions of their respective animals from the Prideland. Year 6 also had to find ways to seamlessly enter and exit the stage surrounded by more than 100 fellow pupils in a tight space, take the lead by embracing their characters in voice and body, work together to perform as an ensemble, stay positive when their energy levels were dipping and aim to make each performance better and better. This they achieved in spectacular style, as witnessed by the beaming smiles and joy on the faces of 105 happy and confident young performers at the end of each show.

Sarah Baird, Head of Drama

In Spanish, Year 8 have this week been learning core vocabulary to describe environmental problems. The children were extremely focused as they constructed sentences describing some of the serious problems affecting our planet such as global warming and deforestation. And their determination paid as they managed to recall and employ the target language effectively in their written and spoken language.

Annabel Keville, Year 8 Spanish Teacher

Faced with four suspects in the case of chocolate missing from Mrs Cryer’s office, Reception headed to the crime scene armed with magnifying glasses and keen observational skills to figure out who was guilty. But was it Hansel, Red Riding Hood, Jack Beanstalk or Goldilocks? The children used their key curriculum skills to find out…

Year 1 welcomed the opportunity to channel their inner detective during British Science Week. Having plotted a crime timeline and listened carefully to audio clips which shed some light on the four suspects in the case of Mrs Cryer’s missing chocolate, Year 1 worked tirelessly to rule out the suspects one by one.

With so many clues at the crime scene – Mrs Cryer’s office – Year 2 got their chance to tap into their forensic expertise to generate some leads in the case of the wandering chocolate bars. They took time to search the scene with a fine-toothed comb before carefully noting down any intriguing findings.

Whodunnit? That’s exactly what Year 3 were tasked with finding out in the baffling case of Mrs Cryer’s missing chocolate. Fingerprints found all over the crime scene seemed like an excellent opportunity for the children to break the case wide open during their British Science Week investigation.

Year 5 scoured all areas of the school as the hunt for the cheeky chocolate snatcher was stepped up. They left no stone unturned as they hunted for further clues in the sports hall and quizzed staff in the dining room before turning their attention to putting all of the pieces together and confidently and precisely presenting their findings to their classmates.

Year 6 headed to the Science Museum in London to mark British Science Week. The children got the chance to engage with science in a fun and interactive way, fostering curiosity and sparking an interest in STEM-related fields through hands-on experiences.

As part of British Science Week, Year 7 made a beeline for London’s Natural History Museum. The visit gave them a deeper understanding of the natural world, evolution and science through hands-on experiences and curriculum-linked activities. It also gave them the opportunity to see the impact of science on their lives and how we, as a species, have learned from the past.

Year 8 were this week swept up by forensics fever as they tracked down the killer of poor Stan the skeleton. The stalwart of the science department was found prone on the floor of the biology lab, prompting a flurry of forensic activity during British Science Week as the young sleuths had to decide which one of six members of staff had done the dastardly deed. And make no bones about it, Year 8 soon had Stan’s killer bang to rights!

When writing about the weather in Drawing Club, we encouraged the children to aim high by using descriptive language. They discussed how the sun feels warm on their skin or how the rain sounds as it taps on the window and thought up interesting adjectives to describe the feelings or sounds. The children enjoyed drawing the different weathers and talking about them with their friends.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

Throughout their music lessons in Year 1, the children have been learning about the elements of music. This half term their focus is rhythm. In the lesson this week they learnt to play a new game called Rhythm Detective where one student is the rhythm master (leading the rest of the class in changes of body percussion patterns) and another is the detective (tasked with finding out who the master is). It was a great way for the children to be creative as well a working on their leadership skills. From here we will start to learn different rhythmic notation and expand on our musical vocabulary.

Jess Harman, Assistant Director of Music

In Numeracy this week, the children learnt to calculate with money to find the total cost of given items. Aiming high on this task, the children worked carefully, taking their time and paying attention to detail so that they counted accurately. The children solved simple problems using this practical context involving addition and subtraction of money of the same unit. The children learnt that by working carefully, methodically and patiently with their partners and using equipment to support their calculations they achieved greater accuracy and success in their calculations.

Shirley Jervis, Year 2 Class Teacher

Year 3 eagerly explored friction in science when they undertook a ramp investigation to compare how things move on different surfaces. After conducting a fair test measuring the time it took an object to slide down a variety of surfaces, the children used their problem solving skills by recalling prior learning to create a bar graph with the data they had collected. In order to relate the science to everyday life, Year 3 thought about how it feels to ride their bike on different surfaces, why a ten pin bowling alley has a polished floor and what we can’t  do without friction.

Henrietta Platt, Year 3 Class Teacher

Year 5 pupils have been focusing on compass points and map symbols in their Geography lessons this week. Once familiar with the eight direction points, they were tasked with guiding each other to various places around Liphook. Each pair had an OS map of the village and took turns to use directional language to instruct their partner on how to reach places such as the playground, local school and supermarket. Having a good grasp of the compass points will stand them in good stead when it comes to orienteering practise next year.

Kelly Reed, Year 4 Class Teacher

Following on from learning present tense conjugation earlier in the term, our Year 6 linguists are taking their knowledge a step further by applying the same rules to reflexive verbs. We are using similar language across Latin and modern foreign languages, such as French and Spanish, to help pupils with these important concepts – the times tables of language learning – and they are coping well. Year 6 have shown great aptitude in understanding how reflexive verbs work, using both the verbs and sequencing words to put together interesting paragraphs about their daily routines.

Jo Longshaw, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

Year 7 are firmly settled in Pompeii this term in their Latin lessons. This week they have been drawing on their teamworking and problem solving skills to produce fluent translations of the stories of life in the Roman baths and amphitheatres. By using the language detail (grammar and vocabulary that has stood the test of time) they were asked to translate and then together tell the story from beginning to end, starting with discus throwing mayhem in the grounds of the baths and ending with a story of Christians thrown to lions and the benefits to longevity of removing a thorn from the beast’s paw!

Alex Walker,  Head of Classics

In PE this week, Year 8 took to the pool with a view to understanding passing techniques in the skilful sport of water polo. The children learnt that playing as a team was the most effective way of achieving common goals such as making ground in the pool or scoring goals, while adaptability was key in order to outmanoeuvre the opposition with unexpected plays or find unique ways to score goals. Year 8 loved learning the concept of effective passing, from unopposed to a conditioned game-play format, which created a natural progression and an increase in difficulty.

This week, the inquisitive explorers in Reception have been using their creativity and observational skills to delve into the fascinating world of weather. They began by reading The Little Raindrop, which sparked their imaginations and set the stage for an outdoor adventure. On their way to forest school, the children eagerly discussed the various weather patterns they observed. From the gentle rustling of leaves caused by the wind to the pitter-patter of raindrops, every moment was an opportunity to learn and connect with nature. Back in the classroom, the children used their target cards to write about the story in full sentences. Their enthusiasm was evident as they shared their thoughts and reflections, demonstrating their growing writing skills and understanding of the weather.

Rosie Snagge, Reception Class Teacher

Continuing their spring term theme looking at the important role bees play in helping safeguard the future of the planet, Year 1 took their studies into the art room. The children are currently looking at recycling and reusing, making bees from old coffee tins and plastic milk bottles. They have also been looking at collage as a way of creating artwork and ways of applying colour using their fingers rather than a paintbrush. As they, experimented with paper and card to create a colourful picture featuring flowers to accompany the tin bees, the children got the chance to be creative with their ideas and concepts.

Kim Martin, Year 1 Art Teacher

Year 2 this week took to the sports hall in PE with the aim of increasing their strength and improving their agility. The children made full use of the specialist teaching at their disposal to learn and hone their jumping techniques, especially on the springboard. The children loved using the gymnastics apparatus, and their obvious excitement and high energy levels allowed them to  express themselves freely.

Charlie Millsom, Head of Year 2

Year 3 explored relative calculations in maths this week, using their times tables knowledge and understanding of multiplying by ten to work out challenging questions such as 3×40 or 6×50. The children made full use of classroom resources and called upon prior learning to explain how we can use times tables facts to work out multiplication questions involving larger numbers. By the end of the lesson, Year 3 had practised and gained confidence using the mathematical vocabulary of multiplying, relating and grouping to explain their understanding.

Rosie Statham, Year 3 Class Teacher

Year 5’s lesson objective in Spanish was to learn a variety of adjectives to describe towns and cities while recognising how adjective endings have to agree with the noun. The young linguists listened intently and spoke effectively and with confidence throughout while pronouncing different Spanish words, skills which they used to good effect in a translation game before successfully translating each other’s sentences into English.

Annabel Keville, Year 5 Spanish Teacher

History was brought to life for Year 6 this week courtesy of a fascinating trip to Hampton Court Palace. As part of their curriculum work looking at prominent women in the time of the Tudors, the children got the chance to experience the life and times of the monarchy, particularly Henry VIII who famously had six wives. Year 6 learned about the history of the royal palace in the borough of Richmond upon Thames and showed their inquisitive nature by asking considered questions. The children gained a greater understanding of how the Tudors lived and the events that connected the lives of the characters they are studying in the classroom, and they hugely appreciated being able to walk in the footsteps of kings, queens and even Shakespeare.

Ed Elgood, Year 6 History Teacher

Year 7 have been working towards a secure understanding of how to calculate a percentage difference, linking it closely to real-life examples of profit or loss. The whole topic of percentages has been the focus in recent weeks, with a specific consideration for the value and benefit of showing methodical working out to help reach the correct solution. The children have recognised the increased likelihood of accuracy in their work when applying logical and methodical working out to solve percentage problems.

Ian Nicholas, Year 7 Maths Teacher

Year 8 have this week embarked upon their topic focus of safe and respectful relationships. This work gives them the chance to dive a bit deeper into pondering what makes a relationship healthy, as well as being considerate of differences within respectful relationships. During their first lesson, there was a real emphasis on tolerance and kindness as the children found appropriate and sensitive ways to discuss the work.

Zoe Thesiger-Pratt, Head of PSHE

Reception have been learning about different artists this term. Having been inspired sufficiently by the colourful styles of the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol to imitate their work, the children were asked this week to consider what it would be like to paint a picture without using their hands. Fascinated by the prospect, the children decided to give it a go, clutching paintbrushes between their toes and taking great care to produce some amazing abstract work. It wasn’t easy controlling the paintbrushes – or avoiding getting paint all over the floor – but the children showed great determination and were left delighted by their artistic efforts.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

This week, Year 1 embarked on a storytelling project in literacy. After spending the term learning to use similes and alliteration within their writing, the children began putting their new-found knowledge into practise. They began their project by reading the story ‘Our Tower’ by Joseph Coelho while clutching homemade ‘magic sticks’, similar to how the characters in the story use special objects to unlock hidden worlds. The children took great care to weave coloured wool around sticks found in the playground before discussing as a group where in their classroom they might find a magic portal.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

Fire has been the major focus of Year 2’s forest school activities this term. The children first learnt how to be safe around fire, before looking at different ways to build and light fires. They practised a tipi-style fire lay and maintained a flame using the correct size wood, as well as making char cloth to use in subsequent lessons to light the fire. The final lesson in the learning unit saw Year 2 work together to build one large fire in order to cook drop scones; taking care when helping the teachers ladle mixture into hot skillets for cooking over the fire before getting the chance to sit down with friends and savour the lovely warm scones. While waiting for the scones to cook, the children made full use of their outdoor learning space to whittle sticks, build dens and make bug hotels.

Tying in perfectly with their spring term topic on the life and times of the Mayans, Year 3 linguists have this week been researching Spanish-speaking countries in Central America. Working in small groups, the children were tasked with finding out as much as they could about countries that evolved with the arrival of the Spanish. The children used classroom resources such as reference books and their Chromebooks to discover the capital cities, populations, places of interest and the typical fare of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua; diligently putting together a presentation which they shared with their peers. Everyone was captivated by the impressive findings, which ranged from sandboarding down active volcanoes (Nicaragua) to the second largest coral reef system in the world (Honduras).

Leana Staring, Year 3 Spanish Teacher

In digital literacy, Year 5 have been grappling with statistics in Excel. The children have been paying particular attention this week to icons on the toolbar, renaming worksheets, copying and pasting data between worksheets, using the AutoSum button, and putting borders around cells. The ability to work carefully through the instructions was key as the children delved into new areas of an application that they will find extremely useful going forward. As a result, Year 5 gained a deeper understanding of the spreadsheet programme which is designed to organise, format and calculate data using a grid-like structure, allowing users to input, manipulate and analyse information through various functions.

Richard Dunn, Head of Digital Literacy

In drama, Year 6 continued rehearsing for their forthcoming production of Pride Rocks, focusing on the rhythm, concentration and energy they need to bring the performance to life. The children played a clapping and name game to work on these key skills, which were then transferred to their choreography as they ran through the ‘stampede’ scene. The ability to listen carefully to the flow of the music and work together on their timing was paramount as the lions and lionesses prowled through Pride Land, combining movement with song as the children gave a stirring rendition of They Live in You. Year 6 successfully staged another two scenes, but with only four weeks to go until their performance the pressure is now on to learn their lines and make full use of their rehearsal time.

Sarah Baird, Head of Drama

In art, Year 7 have this week been learning about one-point perspective drawings in an urban setting. The children showed great resilience when trying to master the technique and produced some excellent work as a result. Some children decided to challenge themselves further by attempting two-point perspectives as they created their urban scenes. Year 7 really enjoyed adding their favourite shops and restaurants to their cityscapes while also considering environmental issues, with panels, charging points, vertical gardens and roof-top gardens with bee hives among the popular additions.

In DT this week, Year 8 have been gaining a practical understanding of three key tools as part of their anglepoise desk lamp project. Using marking gauges, mallets and chisels, the children discovered that patience and precision were essential when measuring to ensure an accurate mark. As well as gaining excellent experience using marking gauges, Year 7 also gained more of an insight into the cross-lap join and how important precise alignment is.

Jamie Dew, Head of DT

In their Spanish lesson, Reception have this week been busy reinforcing their understanding of key vocabulary, including numbers, colours, parts of the body and different types of vehicles. Through interactive activities such as songs, colouring in and games, the children were able to recall previously learned words in an engaging way. The games strengthened vehicle recognition through visuals and sound while the colouring enabled the children to revisit numbers, colours and different vehicles creatively at their own pace.

Sergio Heredia Rodriguez, Reception Class Spanish Teacher

In topic, Year 1 have been continuing to examine ‘why bees are so brilliant’, and this week the children learned that bees are important because they are essential pollinators. Year 1 were  challenged to work together to make some delicious apple and honey cookies, carefully following the recipe every step of the way and considering which ingredients, if any, bees were responsible for. Having sampled the delicious cookies straight from the oven, the children were unanimous in their decision that bees played a big part in their culinary endeavours by producing one key ingredient – the honey!

Kathleen Salusbury, Year 1 Class Teacher

In English, Year 2 were tasked with learning and applying a new weekly spelling rule. The children worked in pairs to create words that featured the ‘or’ sound but contained the letters ‘al’ or ‘all’, for example ‘ball’, ‘walk’, ‘always’ and ‘altogether’. Their creativity really came to the fore as they made up short sentences and poems using as many of these words as they could manage. Using a range of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic strategies, Year 2 actively engaged and enjoyed learning their spellings and applying them in a creative manner.

Shirley Jervis, Year 2 Class Teacher

Year 3 became Mayan traders when they learned about the differing landscapes of Central America in order to understand what made the ancient civilisation thrive. Developing their geographical skills, the children discovered how the regions were sources of different goods and what items the Maya traded. For each group or ‘region’ to flourish, the importance of teamwork was necessary so that they exchanged their goods for a wide variety of items. By the end of the lesson, there were a number of trades being made which showed great initiative and resourcefulness.

Henrietta Platt, Year 3 Class Teacher

Terry Gilmour, a former professional rugby player for the Queensland Reds in Australia and now Head of Rugby at Marlborough College, passed on his vast experience and expertise to the Year 5 boys this week. Mr Gilmour focused on training drills and match-play situations during his visit, and the game of ‘Boom Touch’ was a particular favourite with the boys as it taught them to hold their width on the pitch and exploit space as well as developing a positive, one-on-one tackling technique. Mr Gilmour was instrumental in the coaching of Cadan Murley, who got his first cap for England against Ireland last weekend, and he inspired the boys as he shared a few of the ups and downs that Cadan faced on his journey to becoming an international rugby player.

Dan Bather, Director of Rugby

Year 6 have this term been looking at different separation techniques in science. This week, the children used their understanding and prior knowledge from previous lessons to help them create a series of experiments to separate salt from rock salt, including crushing, dissolution, filtration and evaporation. Year 6 worked in small groups during the experiments, with natural leaders coming to the fore as they discussed the particular techniques to be used before logging their findings.

Oliver Hamilton, Head of Science

In music, Year 7 are learning about notation and graphic score this term. The children have learnt that notation is a system used to represent music through written symbols, indicating pitch, rhythm, dynamics and other musical elements while a graphic score is a visual representation of music that uses non-traditional symbols, shapes and images that allows composers to convey more abstract, experimental or unconventional musical ideas. Armed with this knowledge, Year 7 will use the Line Rider programme to create a sledge run to which classical music will be added.

John Mühlemann, Director of Music

In Latin, revision was in the air this week as Year 8 were busy preparing for their mock exams. This meant reviewing the all-important grammar and helping each other go over vocabulary. Latin continues to demand attention to detail and the accurate placement of all the information in the right order, so for next week’s exam candidates there has been the opportunity to have a practise run and reflect on where gaps might be and to fill them. Through building confidence and independence, Year 8 have given themselves every chance of success in the exam room.

Alex Walker, Head of Classics

Young artists in Reception loved learning all about famous painter Vincent van Gogh, focusing particularly on his style of painting. Having heard how van Gogh was a post-impressionist painter who expressed his emotions through bold colours and expressive images, the children set about replicating his Sunflowers masterpiece, mixing colours to create different shades of yellows and browns. It was wonderful to see the children so absorbed in their painting, putting their creative talents to the test as they produced their very own masterpieces.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

Year 1 have this week had a busy and productive time at forest school. While our woodland is a wonderful place for the children to learn, explore and play, there are obvious dangers, and the children first discussed as a group the importance of following forest school rules so that everyone can enjoy their natural surroundings safely. This was especially pertinent as the children used sharp tools for whittling sticks and learned how to build, light and maintain a fire. Year 1 then worked together in small groups and swapped ideas on how best to produce a safe haven for minibeasts in the form of a bug hotel; considering factors like location and stability of the structure and materials needed to attract different insects, such as dead wood, twigs and leaves.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

In PSHE, Year 2 have this week been considering how they can work together most effectively to overcome differences of opinion. Tasked with creating a dream bird for their ‘garden of goals and dreams’, the children discussed various elements of the project, such as what type of bird they should use and what colour it should be, in order to reach an agreement and move the project forward. The children approached this in a mature way, gaining an understanding of compromise and how working as a team, pooling ideas and accepting other people’s opinions can pay dividends.

Charlie Millsom, Year 2 Class Teacher

Year 3 have turned their attention to cross-country running in PE. Similar to other activities on the curriculum, cross country requires a mixture of pacing, endurance and resilience in order to achieve success. Runners must adapt to different terrains and weather conditions to ensure it is a physical and mental challenge. This week, the children have been developing their understanding of pacing to ensure they are running efficiently and are able to sustain their energy throughout the course, running together in small groups to ensure that they stay in a bunch in order to maintain an even pace.

Ryan Underwood, Year 3 PE Teacher

In French, Year 5 have been focusing their attention on their surroundings and where they live. This week, the children tackled some complex phrases to describe their local cities, towns and villages; phrases which used different clauses within their language to make them sound more fluent and add flare to their work. Year 5 really rose to the challenge, spoke well and tackled the written work with independence and gusto.

Jo Longshaw, Year 5 French Teacher

This week in PSHE, Year 6 have been pooling their ideas while considering relational boundaries. The children faced a series of tasks that led them to recognise how individual boundaries are constantly changing depending on who the relationship is with. For example, a parent, friend or classmate wanting or initiating a cuddle could be viewed very differently in terms of being appropriate. Year 6 discussed how these boundaries might be communicated in order to best look after ourselves and the importance of consent in any relationship.

Zoe Thesiger-Pratt, Head of PSHE

Accuracy is of paramount importance in design technology projects, and Year 7 have this week been hands on with dovetail saws and try squares in order to make their work as precise as possible. The children learned that the dovetail saw is primarily used for making small, precise cuts while the try square is a tool used to mark and check 90-degree angles on wood. Handling these tools and honing their techniques really paid off as Year 7 worked on their decoupage coasters.

Jamie Dew, Head of DT

In digital literacy this week, Year 8 have been delving into the world of online peer pressure. Using dialogue and discussion, the children learned exactly what peer pressure is and gave examples of how it can happen online. They identified pressure tactics on platforms like social media, strategies to resist negative pressure, the importance of setting boundaries, and knowing when to seek help from trusted adults. Year 8 also considered how a good friend should behave online and pondered what advice they could give to other people to help them resist online and offline peer group pressure.

Richard Dunn, Head of ICT

In maths this week, the Reception children have been exploring the concepts of ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’. Using a variety of resources, such as counters, ten frames and number cards, they worked both independently and in small groups to compare quantities. In doing so, the young mathematicians actively engaged in discussions, using mathematical language to describe their findings while having fun embellishing their counting and comparison skills. This interactive approach helped them grasp key concepts in a meaningful and enjoyable way.

Rosie Snagge, Reception Class Teacher

Year 1 have been working hard on their front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke techniques this term. The more adept swimmers among the group have moved up into the deeper end of the pool but all of the children are notably gaining in confidence. Having got to grips with the mechanics of the three strokes, the children have been learning how to refine their techniques in order to swim faster. Listening to their swim coaches has been key to this and has allowed the children to make positive progress in the pool.

Sharon Simpson, Head of Swimming

In phonics, Year 2 were challenged to expand their spelling knowledge, specifically tricky words of two or more sounds that ended with the letters ‘ure’. Carefully segmenting the words using their ‘Fred Fingers’, a technique which helps children learn to spell words by breaking them down into sounds, Year 2 were delighted to form words such as ‘picture’, ‘mixture’ and ‘temperature’. They initially doubted their ability to do it but were left with a real sense of pride at being able to stretch their spelling and language learning.

Rachael Berry, Year 2 Class Teacher

As part of their current topic, Year 3 developed their historical questioning skills to find out as much they could about Mayan city states, from nothing but pictures of ruins. Using myriad classroom resources, including reference books, the children charted the likely layout of the cities before sketching them, noting particularly the higgledy-piggledy layouts as the civilisation grew and prospered. Once the designs are finished, Year 3 will be tasked with the project of building their Mayan cities.

Henrietta Platt, Year 3 Class Teacher

In English, Year 5 continued to explore the story of Street Child, an impactful book written by Berlie Doherty which centres upon a young orphan’s battle for survival in Victorian-era London and inspired the creation of children’s homes by Dr Thomas Barnardo. Year 5 were tasked with paying particular attention to descriptive vocabulary within the story and challenged to write about how the main character, Jim Jarvis, felt about seeing the circus leave town; the circus having initially offered him an escape from his harsh living conditions on the streets of London. The exercise gave the children an excellent opportunity to think about the very real issues surrounding homelessness.

Steph Turner, Year 5 English Teacher

In Spanish, Year 6’s objective was to learn different verbs associated with everyday household chores such as washing up, vacuuming, and putting the rubbish out. To do so, the children took part in a challenging memory game where they had to translate the Spanish verbs into English. The children courted accuracy, understanding and speed – as they were competing against each other – and tackled some difficult language with a good degree of success.

Annabel Keville, Year 6 Spanish Teacher

Year 7 are currently looking at the beginnings of the British Empire. The challenging topic of slavery was in the spotlight, and this week the shipping of slaves from Africa to the Americas was examined. Through reading the sources of the time and through thoughtful discussion in class, the pupils gained a mature understanding of this emotive topic. A constructive session demonstrated the children’s ability to analyse through the use of sources as well as understanding a complicated and brutal element of history with empathy.

Alex Walker, Year 7 History Teacher

Our Year 8 rugby players secured two fine wins against Parkside on Wednesday. Five tries from the irrepressible Jack H and further scores from Igor S and Jaime B saw the U13A team secure a superb 35-20 win, while Caelan M (2), Jack H (2) and Torrance H all crossed the whitewash for the U13B team en route to a battling 25-10 victory. Both teams showed real grit and determination on a bitterly cold day, giving their all for their teammates, and their togetherness and tenacity paid huge dividends.

Oliver Hamilton, U13 Rugby Coach

Reception have leapt back into gymnastics with huge enthusiasm this term. During their lessons, the children learn and consolidate the hugely valuable fundamental movement skills that underpin the sport that they will play for the rest of their lives. Gymnastics offers the children the chance to explore independently their own bodies, gain awareness of space and force, build confidence in exploring their own movement boundaries, and build on their understanding of physical literacy. This week, Reception have worked on improving shoulder and core strength; key components that children need to develop the fine motor skills that will also help them in the classroom.

Jess Oecken, Head of Brookham Sport

For their first Spanish lesson of the spring term, Year 1 began a new topic looking at ‘las partes del cuerpo’ – or parts of the body. The children displayed a real desire to learn as they immersed themselves in the Spanish language by listening carefully to new words before repeating key vocabulary. And they ended the lesson by beginning to learn the words to the Spanish equivalent of the catchy song ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. Supporting language development in a playful environment that includes songs and rhymes advances and promotes strong language skills.

Leana Staring, Year 1 Spanish Teacher

In science, inquisitive Year 2 have been learning all about different materials, such as wood, plastic, glass and rubber. The children were tasked with discovering what specific materials were made of and observing their characteristics, for example its colour, texture or smell, as well as deciding if the material was durable, flexible, waterproof or transparent. This gave the children an excellent understanding about everyday materials that they might find at home and at school. Working in pairs, the children were then challenged to find a selection of different objects around the classroom in order to identify the types of material they were made from. They then carefully drew a table in their exercise books and charted their findings.

Shirley Jervis, Year 2 Class Teacher

Inspired by Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Jasper Eaglesfield’s Fanfare for a New King, Year 3 set about working on their own majestic entrance music this week. Using only three pitches and working collaboratively to achieve a shared rhythm, they all performed with a clear sense of occasion. Showing a solid grasp of pitches and using xylophones and drums, Year 3 worked out their rhythms and their timing effectively in small groups to produce some dramatic and inspirational work.

Jess Harman, Year 3 Music Teacher

In art this week, Year 5 took inspiration from intricate Islamic clay tile designs. The children were tasked with finding creative ways to build a design using 2D shapes to form an Islamic-style pattern, which strongly features symmetry, repetition and mirroring of circles and polygons to create a sense of harmony. The design process linked to maths, through use of geometric principles and patterns, and PRE as Year 5 learned about Islamic faith and how geometric and floral designs represent Allah. Such cross-curricular links really help to embed knowledge as it gives more meaning and relevance to the subjects and skills the children are learning.

Olga Houghton, Head of Art

The Year 6 boys enjoyed an epic afternoon of rugby against Westbourne House this week. Three teams racked up 23 tries between them in a series of competitive games in which teamwork and camaraderie really shone through. The young players showed incredible determination and resilience as they continued on an upward curve thanks to effective coaching and training since the rugby season began. To underline the point, the U11B team demonstrated their strength and power in attacking plays and rucks throughout and were rewarded with a try in the final minute. Togetherness and fighting spirit across all three teams truly shone through and the boys are already looking forward to their next set of fixtures.

Simon Gunn, Year 6 Rugby Coach

Determined Year 7 were this week given the opportunity to ‘excel’ in their mastery of a well-known software application. Using data provided, the children had to work out the best way to present this data and interpretate it. This involved creating a chart, deciding on the layout and style, and adding titles and data labels. Some found this easier than others, but it was incredibly heartening that there was always someone willing to help out a classmate when required. In an effort to get our pupils ‘real world’ ready – 66% of office workers use Excel at least once per hour and 38% of office workers’ time is spent using Excel – we want our pupils to be part of the 48% of people who have, to date, received at least some formal Excel training.

Richard Dunn, Head of Digital Literacy

With this summer’s big production in mind, Year 8 this week learned of the importance of trust and co-operation. These two elements are crucial in any drama production to help it flow and the children were tasked with demonstrating trust and sensitivity, carrying out tasks with enthusiasm and a high level of proficiency, and working effectively as part of a team. By taking part in different activities designed to encourage camaraderie, such as communication chair circles, sensing the walk and the Eldridge chair game, the children displayed excellent levels of togetherness and understanding. By the end of the lesson, the children were comfortable using eye contact, were communicating effectively in their groups and overcoming obstacles by calmly discussing the options available.

Sarah Baird, Head of Drama

The children were excited to be back at forest school this week, particularly to see how the landscape has changed since they’ve been away. Now that we have moved from autumn into winter, the children really enjoyed looking through magnifying glasses at frosty surfaces and icicles in small groups before discussing as a class how they are formed and what will happen to them. They then put their foraging and engineering skills to the test to build dens which could provide welcome shelter for people or animals out in the woods.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

Year 1 have had a fantastic first week back at school after the Christmas holidays. Keen to put their prior knowledge of number bonds into practice, the children explored the composition of the number ten. Once children have learned their number bonds to 10, they can then apply these to number bonds to 20, number bonds to 100, decimal numbers and beyond, as they allow children to look for and spot relationships between numbers. The children then practised counting up to 20 before considering the numbers in relation to 10 using the symbols for ‘less than’ and ‘greater than’ to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the topic.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

Working on their spring term flight topic, Year 2 were challenged to find out as much as they could about the pioneering Wright brothers and the impact they had on aviation more than 100 years ago. Using classroom resources with their learning partners, the children discovered that Orville and Wilbur Wright invented, built and flew the first working aeroplane in 1903 before charting how, with the onset of technology, the aviation industry has changed through time. Faced with an array of different aircraft, the children pieced together a timeline of events to show just how air travel has changed over the years, all thanks to the initial efforts of the Wright brothers early in the 20^th Century.

Charlie Millsom, Head of Year 2

In literacy this week, Year 3 tackled a shelter-building project as they created sentences of three – in other words, using adjectives, adverbs and punctuation to turn three small sentences into one longer sentence. Focussing on three key elements needed to build the perfect shelter – such as site, resources and shape –the children worked in small groups to consider how best to sum up their written plan in one coherent and expressive sentence. And having mastered their work on paper in the classroom, displaying an excellent understanding of sentence structure to make their work more interesting, the children got to test out their theories as they took to the woods to build the shelters.

Year 5 historians were challenged to consider the modern-day portrayal of the Vikings and whether or not it is fair and accurate. The children worked together in small groups to discuss what they knew about the public image of the Vikings before being placed in pairs to consider whether a range of statements were likely to be true or false, offering compelling arguments based on their own understanding of the Viking people acquired through books and online research. Year 5 demonstrated great maturity and a flair for critical thinking as they debated common perceptions surrounding the Vikings.

Robert Grech, Year 5 History Teacher

In geography this week, Year 6 investigated the difference between weather and climate. Working effectively in groups of three, the children not only used specific, detailed vocabulary to determine the key difference between the two words but also transferred their maths skills when tasked with labelling different climate graphs. Year 6 then explored the various types of climates around the world, including tropical, arid, temperate and polar climates, each with its own unique characteristics and weather patterns.

Simon Gunn, Year 6 Geography Teacher

7B1 kicked off their new PSHE topic of positive relationships by challenging themselves to see how many different types of relationship they could think of. From teacher-pupil and brother-sister relationships to online gaming friends, the list was long. Recognising this served as a springboard to consider the different qualities required for each relationship to be healthy and how we might begin to see warning signs when they are not.

Zoe Thesiger-Pratt, Head of PSHE

Having learned to talk on the subject of healthy eating toward the end of last term, Year 8 began the new year expressing their thoughts on other aspects that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. The children had to persevere and show resilience as they came across more complex vocabulary, but this is a lovely opportunity for the children to really speak passionately and express themselves on a topic which also links to other areas of the curriculum.

Jo Longshaw, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

Our Reception children were thrilled to have a special visitor this week. The children were eager to meet Santa and had a list of questions prepared to test his authenticity. Santa, ever patient and wise, answered each question with a twinkle in his eye, convincing even the most inquisitive of our little ones. Impressed by their excellent behavior, Santa rewarded the children with a small gift, with strict instructions not to open it until they got home. The children displayed excellent self control to not immediately rip the wrapping paper off!

Rosie Snagge, Reception Class Teacher

Year 1 so enjoyed their final forest school session of the term. Wrapped up warm in their Christmas jumpers, the children were eager to explore the winter wonderland. To warm up after their outdoor adventures, the children enjoyed a delicious treat: homemade pancakes cooked over a campfire. A perfect way to end a fantastic term and get into the festive spirit.

Kathleen Salusbury, Year 1 Class Teacher

Year 2 took to the stage this week for their annual Christmas performance, “A Midwife Crisis.” This hilarious and heartwarming musical reimagined the classic Nativity story with a comedic twist. The story centres around a very busy midwife who, despite her hectic schedule, is determined to attend the birth of the King of Kings. A flustered midwife and her long-suffering donkey navigate their way to Bethlehem. The opening number, “What a Commotion!” perfectly captured the energy of the performance. The children performed with incredible confidence, pride and Christmas cheer, bringing smiles to the faces of the audience. A special highlight was the heartfelt acknowledgment of our NHS midwives, emphasising their crucial role in bringing new life into the world and supporting families. Their dedication and care were celebrated, reminding everyone of the invaluable service they provide, especially during the holiday season.

Charlie Millsom, Year 2 Class Teacher

Our Year 3 pupils truly dazzled at this year’s Pre-Prep’s Got Talent show! As the oldest year taking part, they stepped up to the challenge with confidence and flair. From soulful renditions of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to impressive ukulele skills, magic tricks and hilarious comedy routines, our Year 3 stars showcased a wide range of talents providing many ‘golden buzzer-worthy’ moments.  Performing in front of an audience takes courage and our Year 3 pupils should be incredibly proud of their achievements and for being such fantastic Pre-Prep ambassadors.

Henrietta Platt, Year 3 Class Teacher

Year 5 joined forces with Year 6 to create a truly magical Carol Service in the Chapel. The service began with the timeless classic “Once in Royal David’s City” and concluded with the beloved hymn “O Come All Ye Faithful”. The highlight of the morning was undoubtedly Year 5’s captivating performance of “Colours of Christmas”. Their voices filled the chapel, enchanting the congregation of staff, parents, grandparents, and siblings. The performance was made even more special by the accompaniment of our exceptional Chamber Orchestra, elevating the music to new heights.

Jessica Harman, Deputy Director of Music

On Wednesday, our Year 6 pupils embraced the festive spirit with their dazzling Christmas jumpers! From minecraft and reindeer to Santas and penguins, the creativity and festive cheer were truly inspiring. We even had a surprise appearance from a Christmas turkey!

Ed Elgood, Year 6 Form Tutor

Year 7 savoured a sumptuous Christmas lunch on Wednesday, courtesy of our extraordinary catering team. Marco and his talented crew cooked up a storm, preparing a phenomenal feast featuring 75kg of turkey breast, 800 pigs in blankets, 5kg of homemade stuffing, 30kg of carrots, 30kg of petit pois, 20kg of roasted parsnips, 20kg of button brussel sprouts, 90 litres of gravy and a massive 100kg of roast potatoes. But no partridge in a pear tree! The children delighted as they pulled crackers and shared a few giggles over the cheesy Christmas jokes found within.

James Figgis, Head of Upper Prep

The festive season at Highfield and Brookham culminated in a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Joined by their Year 7 counterparts, Year 8 delivered a captivating performance alongside the Chapel Choir. The service was further enhanced by the exceptional musical contributions of renowned organist and composer Clive Osgood. Acclaimed conductors Thomas Lydon and Robert Lewis also joined the Chapel Choir. Five of the nine lessons were read with confidence and poise by Year 8 children, showcasing their maturity as the oldest pupils in the school. The entire service was a testament to the hard work and dedication of the children, staff and the talented musicians involved.

John Mühlemann, Director of Music

Weeks of dedication and hard work paid handsome dividends as Reception took centre stage with their amazing Christmas performance. Each child took time to learn not only their spoken lines but also the words and accompanying actions of the songs that helped make A Little Big Nativity so special. It was a true team effort, with the children supporting each other and working together to create a memorable performance for their families. Their enthusiasm and bright spirits shone through, making it a magical experience for everyone involved.

Rosie Snagge, Reception Class Teacher

What a wonderful performance the Year 1 children put on for their parents. They have worked extremely hard over the last few weeks to learn their lines, create the props and recreate the Christmas story. The children used nice clear voices to sing and speak their lines while also gaining an early understanding of what it takes to be a performer. We are extremely proud of each of the children for producing such an amazing play.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

In art, Year 2 this week continued their nature theme by looking at press printing and leaf designs. Inspired by artist Andy Warhol, the children studied examples of his ‘Pop Art’ and decided to use similarly bright colours in their own work. They also gave a great deal of thought to their leaf designs and the layout of their artwork, with six separate tiles being produced in different colours to form one big picture. The result was an impressive series of pictures which Andy Warhol would no doubt have been very proud!

Kim Martin, Year 2 Art Teacher