9 december 2016 1 writers and religions - … · 9 december 2016 year 6 english and philosophy,...

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www.tauntonschool.co.uk

CHALLENGE NURTURE INSPIRE

9 December 2016

Year 6 English and Philosophy, Religion and Ethics Trip

On Tuesday 6th December, Year 6 went to Cardiff to visit a reformed synagogue and the Roald Dahl exhibition at the Millennium Centre. At 8:30 we boarded the coach and headed off for the long day ahead…

WRITERS AND RELIGIONS

MORE ON PG. 10

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The Pre-Prep and Prep Courier

As we approach the final week of a very busy term, I hope to see many of you in the coming

days as we share some of the special celebrations that are planned in our approach to Christmas. We have already enjoyed the hugely entertaining and

heart-warming Pre Prep and Nursery production of Born in a Barn. Well done to all the music department, teachers, teaching assistants and key workers for working so hard in bringing the show together! I can’t wait for the fun of the Christmas Fair today, and next week the pupils and teachers will enjoy their Christmas lunches, Christingle services, House parties and of course our end

of term carol services. Please note that mince pies and coffee will be served between the two services for those parents leaving the junior service or arriving early for the senior service. I look forward to seeing many of you next week!

Duncan Sinclair

THE HEAD HAS HIS SAY... by Duncan Sinclair

What a fantastic Nativity Musical, Born in a Barn! I am so proud of how the children performed over the

last two days. Well done to everyone!

Details of how to purchase the DVD will be made available to you soon.

The children have also had a busy week getting ready for Christmas with

a sparkly craft day! See pictures on the next few pages and visit Facebook for more.

Kathy McLauchlan

NEWS FROM NURSERY AND PRE-PREP

BORN IN A BARN - THE NATIVITY STARS

by Kathy McLauchlan

https://www.facebook.com/tauntonschool/

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Click here to go to our Facebook page for more photos

https://www.facebook.com/tauntonschool/

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Congratulations to the following students who have achieved their Bronze Awards this week...

Erin Lisowski – 6WTheo Winsor – 3HMax Hole – 7MJosh Green – 7MSophie Parker – 7CHetty James – 8R

Ava Jolly – 4PMaddie Marsh – 7BDaisy Stout -7BZoe Lucas – 7BFraser Lewes – 5HHugo Marsden – 5H

Marni Gallimore – 5HCharlotte Taysom – 8RLouis Thompson - 3F

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved their Silver Awards this week...

Laura Trembath - 3FEvie Linden – 3F

BRONZE AWARDS SILVER AWARDS

CHRISTMAS SPARKLE CRAFT DAY TPPS AND NURSERY GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

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GLITTER EXPLOSIONS!

Here are a few pictures of Nursery 1 children having fun with sensory play. We mixed glitter with the oats to make a glitter explosion which was great fun to explore with our hands and bodies.

The gloop was also very popular, although we were a little cautious at first!

Bottle time is also a favourite as we can have cuddles with our key children.

Claire Jones

CHRISTMAS SPARKLEOn Friday 2nd December, four boxes of presents,

generously donated by TPS families were collected by the local Christmas Sparkle Charity. There are 5,104 children in Taunton Deane who live below the poverty line and the presents given by TPS will go someway to giving some of these children a special Christmas Day.

A huge THANK YOU to all of you.

Marian Drew

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SCHOOL CALENDARSaturday, 10th December

Thone House Boarders: Hayne’s International Motor Museum

8.30am - 9.15am - Parents’ Breakfast (Informal)*

Sunday, 11th DecemberThone House Boarders:

Christmas Shopping

10:00 - 14:00 Rock Challenge Dance Rehearsal

Monday, 12th DecemberGirls Games change to Netball

Boys Games change to Hockey

09:00 - 16:00 ABRSM Music Exams Gwyn Williams Room

11:45 - 12:30 Pre-Prep Christmas Lunch Upper Dining Room

12:35 - 14:05 TPS Christmas Lunches Upper Dining room

Tuesday, 13th December13:35 School Council Elections

Year 3&4 Parent Consultation Evening* Centenary Hall

Wednesday, 14th December08:30 - 09:00 Christingle Service followed by refreshments -

N4 - Year 2* Chapel and the Old Library

09:40 -10:50 Junior Carol Service Rehearsal Chapel

11:20 - 12:35 Senior Carol Service Rehearsal Chapel

19:00 The Nutcracker (selected Performing Arts students) Brewhouse Theatre

Thursday, 15th December11:20 - 12:30 TPS Prizegiving Assembly Centenary Hall

12:00 Nursery Christmas Lunch Lower Dining Room

14:00 -15:30 Nursery and Pre-Prep Christmas Parties Classrooms

14:05 -15:50 TPS House Parties

Friday, 16th December09:30 - 10:30 Years 3-5 Junior Carol Service* Chapel

10:30 - 11:00 Mince Pies & Coffee*

11:00 -12:00 Year 6-8 Senior Carol Service*

12:00 Pre-Prep Term Ends

12:15 Prep Term Ends

Dedication and commitment to the department, a member of Wind Band, Clarinet and Sax ensemble, Cantabile, Senior and Boys Choirs. He loves music and is an incredible role model for the younger pupils.

Jayne Hornsby

MUSICIAN OF THE WEEK: ROWAN KEYTE

Musician of the Week Dec 5th - 2016

Taunton School International Middle School is hosting a Christmas Morning at The Grange on Monday 12th December from 10.00am – 11.30 am.

If you can fit a visit into your busy schedules, please come and join us for some mulled wine, tea or coffee and delicious mince pies. Our students will entertain you with Christmas songs, instrumental music and some group singing. Parking is limited around the school, so please share transportation where possible. There is also parking available in the Kingston St Mary church car park. We look forward to welcoming you.

Festive Fun

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WEEKLY AWARDS

LEARNER OF THE WEEK OCTAVIA WOODLEY

SPORTSWOMAN OF THE WEEKISABEL HOGEVOLD

LEARNER OF THE WEEKSAM BILLINGS

SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEKALAN WANG

CITIZEN OF THE WEEKFREDDIE VERGE

LEARNER OF THE WEEKOSCAR COLEMAN

MUSICIAN OF THE WEEKROWAN KEYTE

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TS HEADS UP ON... FOCUS ON BURSARIES We’ve raised over £200,000 since

January. This spring we launched our bursary appeal and thanks to some outstanding generosity, many children whose parents do not have financial means, have been able to access an education here at Taunton School. Our parents continue to support children of all ages and we have been able to provide a wide variety of benefits including new chapel lighting, nursery and prep school improvements, as well as sports and performing arts equipment and facilities.

The School is in good shape. Our exam results are at a record high and we have set ambitious targets to improve consistently over time.

Bursaries are central to our vision to maintain high standards of excellence and increase competitive performance. Our students, from a broad range of social and economic

backgrounds, are among those who attend leading universities throughout the world and are making a difference in today’s society.

We want to support young people with passion and commitment to benefit from life-changing education at Taunton School. Thank you to everyone who has donated to the Foundation this year.

We are reaching out to OTs and friends throughout the world and this year alone, I have travelled (together with Lee Glaser, our Headmaster on some occasions) to Los Angeles, Seattle, Dubai, Hong Kong and Milan! We are a global community of Old Tauntonians, parents and friends and it is that family that supports our school. Thank you.

Nadine Latte, Foundation and Alumni Director

Singing at Dunster Castle during the Candlelight Festivities is always a very special occasion. On Friday evening 2nd December the choir sang on the great stairwell in the Main Hall which is a memorable experience in itself. The venue epitomizes Christmas with its

beautifully decorated Christmas trees, the large open fire and the hot chocolate and homemade brownie which the children get at the end of the performance.

This year was as special as ever and the choir ended the evening joyfully singing We wish you a Merry Christmas. The children sang with energy and enthusiasm and the audience enjoyed every minute of it.

Jayne Hornsby

CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT

From the Foundation: A focus on bursaries

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Gobblefunk by Rosie Imm

Now you’re probably wondering what on earth Gobblefunk is well I’ll tell you. Gobblefunk is a type of language

you would hear the BFG use so what you thought were made up words actually have meanings. My two favourite words that we came up with were melonburg and goadow.

After the workshop we went to Pratchett’s sweet shop. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had and I would love to go back again [although the Roald Dahl exhibition is shutting in January].

The tour was amazing; it made everyone a Roald Dahl genius.

Jane Burton, Head of English

The tour by Scarlett King

The first room of the tour was a room full of cardboard boxes showing things from Dahl’s life. The second room was a classroom from his childhood and inside the desks were copies of letters Dahl sent to his family. The next room showed you where Roald Dahl crashed his plane when he was in the RAF. Next it was a woodland - Dahl lived by some woods and these woods inspired the setting of ‘Danny Champion of the World’ and ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’. After that we moved on to an upside down house from ‘The Twits’. Then we went to the library from ‘Matilda’. Because she has magic powers we tried magic powers of our own and all the books started moving from the shelf! The next room was Sophie’s attic bedroom from the BFG. We were all speaking our dreams to the dream catcher. The next room was

my favourite - it was called the amazing inventions room. There was a wall full of whoopee cushions, there was a camera where you had to dress up and take a picture of yourself. Then we had to try and work out what a letter said even though

it was written in invisible ink. Finally we went in the great glass elevator and then the tour was over.

CARDIFF TRIP REVIEWSSynagogue by Amelia

Panayiotides

At about 11:00 we arrived at the Synagogue and the boys, and some of the girls, put on the kippah (a type of skullcap) that they had been given because of Jewish religion. We were then introduced to Louise and Ilene who would be doing our talk that day. We were properly introduced to the religion and we were told about Shabbat the most important festival of the religion and how they celebrate it. One way that they celebrate is that they give up mobile phones and the TV and relax.

Another way is that they have a specially made bread and a small cup of wine, or grape juice for children, followed by a large meal. It also takes place from Friday at 7:00pm until Saturday at 8:00. After that we were shown the holy scroll called the Torah and we got to try on some shawls with five knots tied onto string in each corner to represent the five books or the Torah. We were then told about how, when you turn 13, you are thrown a bar (or bat) mitzvah and about how you read out of the Torah which is very difficult as there are no vowels in the Torah so you have to use your common sense to decipher certain words. At 12:00 we were dismissed and climbed back on the bus for another ten minutes.

Year 6 recently went to Cardiff to visit a reformed synagogue and the Roald Dahl exhibition at the Millennium Centre (continued from front page). Here are the student accounts of the day....

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GETTING CRAFTYThis week, Years 3 and 4 enjoyed

some Winter Craft activity sessions, where they produced a variety of objects for display in their corridor. We had decorated ice skates (where the children had to work collaboratively to co-ordinate the design of each boot!), lollipop buttoned snowflakes, sponge printing a starry/wintery background and tissue paper-collaged mittens (topped with cotton wool for the trim!). In addition, a waddle (!) of Penguins were created from plastic drinks bottles, individual snow globes and ‘Sock’

Snowmen (filled with rice!). All-in-all, an action-packed day with lots of creativity and fun had by all. Well done, pupils!

The Junior Department Teachers

KNITTING CLUB

Mr Baker's Year 5 set 2 French class entertained the audience of the Pre-prep Nativity with some lovely French carols.

Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad and Frohe Weihnachten from the TPS MFL department!

Harper Oliver Whittaker (Year 3) proudly shows off her blanket made in scarf knitting club this term!

JOYEUX NOËL!

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On Tuesday afternoon, we had an enjoyable time listening to the young children from Year 3 play a concoction of different instruments.

They played amazingly well, having only had six sessions of learning the basic notes of the instruments. They were very sweet to watch as they were fully concentrating on getting the notes right. Well done!

Jayne Hornsby

INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCES

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NEXT WEEK’S LUNCH MENUMonday 12th

DecemberTuesday 13th

DecemberWednesday 14th

DecemberThursday 15th

DecemberFriday 16th December

Lunch: PrepChristmas Lunch

Roast TurkeyCannelloni Verdi

Cauliflower CheesePotatoes

Christmas PuddingFresh Custard

Mince Pies & Satsumas

Homemade Sausages

Beef Stew & Dumplings

Salmon & Leek Crumble

Quorn Cottage Pie

Minced Beef & Onion Pie

Barbecued Chicken

Haddock & Leek Pasta

Spiced Bean Chilli

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Chicken Korma

Fish Crumble

Sweet Potato Stew

TERM ENDS

Lunch:

Pre Prep

Fish Pie

Garden Peas

Beef Stew &

Dumplings

Green Beans

Minced Beef & Onion PieBoiled Potatoes

Carrots

Father Christmas Lunch With All The

TrimmingsTERM ENDS

DISCOVERING CHEDDAR GORGEI recently went caving with

TSIMS. It was a trip that Mrs Mawson had organised to Cheddar Gorge, which is fairly close to the school. We had the choice between going into the caves or just walking around them with a guide. I chose to go into the caves; I knew I would love it.

We had to put on some safety equipment before going into the cave. When I was putting on my helmet, a worm fell out of it! It was really

disgusting, but funny at the same time. When we entered the caves, I was really excited. First, we went crawling through the floor, and went inside a chamber. The instructor told us about safety and that we weren’t allowed to explore on our own. Then the worst part came. We had to go through a ‘letterbox’ and it was so tiny! It was really hard for all of us to fit through. Finally, we came back to the first chamber and started rolling on our sides to get back to the outside, which was one of my favourite parts.

Everyone did really well.

In my opinion, it was fun and I did most of the crawling easily. It was one of the most exciting trips we’ve done. I loved it!

Monica Echevarria-Gomez, Aged 12 from Spain

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Wow, what an exciting time Thone House have had this week. Dry Ski Slope skiing, involving snowboarding too, Christmas tree and cake decorating, Christmas decoration making, bottle flip challenge as well as sports hall fun, baking, and hosting the weekly Assembly. As ever Christmas is a busy time of year, but it has been wonderful to see Thone House embracing the opportunities. Spirits are high with the festive season upon us and for many the opportunity to enjoy a well deserved rest.

This weekend Thone are very excited about their shopping trip to Clarks Village. They will also be making their very own popcorn, involving marshmallows and caramel, in preparation for their trip to the cinema to see the enchanting film, The Trolls.

Thank you very much and festive wishes.

Michelle Coleman

WHAT A WEEK FOR THONE!

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THIS WEEK’S SPORTSaturday 3 December – U9 Tournament

On Saturday, eight of the Year 4 girls travelled to Hazlegrove to play in a tournament. The girls played four matches, getting stronger and playing more as a team with each match played. These girls have made good progress this year, gaining a better understanding of the need to both attack and defend for the team, as well as learning to use the space on the pitch more effectively – not crowding the ball so much. Well done girls.

Wednesday 7 December v Queen’s

On Wednesday all girls in Years 5 to 8, played against Queen’s, in nine different matches, their last matches of the season. The five senior teams, U12 and U13, all had a fantastic afternoon winning all their matches. The U11s fought well in close games, but Queen’s won both of those matches. The U10a team knew that Queen’s would be strong, seeing as they had lost to them in the TPS tournament last week; so a very big well done to the girls for securing a 1-0 win against a tough opposition. The U10b team, had another great match but were beaten 1-0.

Played 9, Won 6, lost 3!

The U13a team following their excellent 5-4 win over Queen’s. A high scoring, fast paced game, that saw the TPS skills, determination and fitness shine through!

Sophia, Leila, Charlotte, Kara, Esme, Hetty, Rosie, Imogen.

The U12c team ended the season with a great game which demonstrated so many skills. Unusually we were still 0-0 at half time due to some strong goalkeeping by Queen's. The half time talk focused on following up after taking a shot and having a player by the post. Within minutes we had a fantastic goal from Ailani after a super run up the pitch. Unfortunately this was quickly equalled by Queen's. The girls’

resilience kicked in and three more goals (including one from a follow up and another from a post!) from Elizabeth, Ailani and a final second goal from Grace ended in a 4-1 victory. A great way to end the season. Roll on hockey season 2017!

Player of the match: Ailani. (Mrs Hill)

Good luck to the U8s on Saturday who are playing in the last matches of the season!

HOCKEY REPORT

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FINAL RUGBY GAME OF THE TERM

Seven Taunton Prep pupils have been identified by Gary Townsend, Bristol Rugby Academy, as suitable for early inclusion in their satellite programme based in Taunton. This is the first step to representative rugby and a beginning of the long journey towards a place in a clubs academy and ultimately their professional ranks. Although this is ostensibly U14s, Gary feels that some of the TPS players will benefit from this early experience. This is a great achievement so congratulations to the following pupils:

Barney Dietz, Tom Houghton-King, Harrison Barrett, Jakarta Allen-Skinner, Mahbhir Mahmud, Teddy Woolstencroft, Oliver Tucker.

CHANGE OF ACTIVITY

Please can pupils remember that from next week activities will change for the boys and girls. The girls are going to move on to netball and the boys hockey. For the hockey can the boys please remember their shin pads and mouthguards and Astros/trainers. If you have your own stick then please bring it in. Girls will need their normal games kit, white socks and trainers.

With over 200 fixtures played this term tomorrow sees the final 8 fixtures of 2016. Good luck to all of the boys from Yr 5 to Yr 8 who are involved against King’s Hall. Some rugby will still continue next term for the older pupils playing the reduced 7s version of the game across a number of tournaments. This will culminate with the Rosslyn Park National 7s event on the last day of next term.

Congratulations to Brooke Oliver Whittaker who has gained selection for the District U13 Cricket squad in Year 5! What a great achievement 3 years early. We wish her every success.

CRICKET SUCCESS

RUGBY SUCCESS

To keep up to date with all our latest news and events why not visit our social media accounts?

This is where you will be able to find out about all of the fun stuff that is happening in and around

the school!

Taunton School Official FB Site

@tauntonschool

Taunton Prep School Twitter@TauntonPrep

Taunton School Twitter

@tauntonschool

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Lots of fun Christmas songs with dancing in the dark, lit up by our glow sticks and two lovely dancers to get us in the groove! The first half will be led by Emma Mannings from Taunton School and the second half by Hannah Carolan the choreographer from Make Performing Arts.

We are so grateful to Taunton Prep School for hosting what will be a brilliant event!

Sophy Layzell

You are cordially invited to a morning of Christmas music,

mince pies, and mulled wine at The Grange

Monday 12th December 2016

10.00-11.30

All contributions will go to The Children of the Himalayas charity and S.U.R.E. (Somerset Unit for Radiotherapy Equipment) charity

Please RSVP to Miss Sam Selley at [email protected] or 01823 703222

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9 december 2016 1 writers and religions - … · 9 december 2016 year 6 english and philosophy,...

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