bede's prep newsletter - autumn 2015

Issue 2316 October 2015

BEDE’S GOES BONKERS FOR BOOK WEEK

Bede’s Preparatory SchoolDuke’s Drive, EastbourneEast Sussex BN20 7XL

T 01323 [email protected]

Bede’s Prep School went bonkers about books last week, including gen-res of romance, humour, adventure, horror, fantasy and sci-fi. The children threw themselves into the busy programme events which included visiting authors, treasure hunts, competitions and character costumes.Early in the week, acclaimed children’s author William Hussey inspired Year 7 and 8 with spooky readings from his horror stories while Year 3 and 4 chil-dren were taken on a reading adventure with the successful travel writer and children’s author, Stephen Davies. On Thursday, the children of Years 5 and 6 were then let into the ‘Seven Secrets of Story-Writing’ with the extremely charismatic Andy Clover, a BAFTA award-winning comic writer.

The competitions, cunningly created by our Head of English and Drama, Gail Brundle, had everyone flummoxed. For three days, the children scoured the school for a small unicorn, a magnifying glass and a miniature bunch of roses with daily clues given to get the grey cells working. Toby Burdekin found the roses, Josh Swanepoel found the unicorn and Luke Burdekin found the magnifying glass with the help of Elise Sutherland; they then reaped their rewards at the Book Week Assembly last Friday. Every day also saw the Book Week board adorned with a new clue which helped to solve an anagram leading to the name of a character and book. This challenge was eventually won by Lilianna Jones in Year 8... (continued inside)

YEAR 4 RAISE FUNDS FOR MACMILLAN

Friday 25 September, saw a queue of pupils arriving at the Dining Hall, delivering their cake donations during registration for the Macmillan Coffee Morning. The volume of cakes donated was staggering, as was the beautiful decorative designs on many, giving all those setting up a positive feel for how the morning would progress. Year 4 were ready and waiting for the sup-portive and generous families and friends who arrived at 9.15am. The coffee flowed and the children sold cake after cake to our visitors, and at First Break the support from the rest of the school was amazing.

Generous donations were made, the cakes disappeared quickly and, in the process, we raised nearly £450 (£449.47) for Macmillan cancer support!Year 4 are very proud of their achievement and would like to thank pupils and families of Bede’s for their kind generosity with cake and money donations.

Annie FullerYear 4 Class Teacher



BOOK WEEK (CONTINUED)

In addition, there were daily colouring competitions, crosswords, word searches - there really was something for everyone. Many congratulations must go to Humreen Ellens from Year 3 and Kyle Willis from Year 7 who both wrote exceptional stories to win the Genre Writing Competition.On Thursday, witches, explorers, aliens, water nymphs and an entire family of unicorns entered the building along with many other weird and wonderful creatures. Some children had clearly thought outside the box too with one ingenious Year 8 wearing a sandwich board covered in jokes.As ever, the children never failed to amaze us with their enthusiasm and imagination, and what was most apparent was that even our most reluctant of readers can be inspired to pick up a book - all you need to do is find that spark that ig-nites the flame. Long may we keep those literary fires burning!



EDITORIAL: THE COCK AND THE JEWELIf you are anything like me, you have a few select tomes on your book shelf containing handy pearls of wisdom to keep things in perspective.One work I often turn to for inspiration is Aesop’s Fables. I was introduced to it when I was at school and the stories contained within it taught me so much via such simple allegories that on first reading I could im-mediately understand how it has endured for millennia.I raise Aesop as my team and I have been thinking a lot about values recently, and this has prompted me to reread one of my childhood favourites – beloved at the time, in part, because it is so short.The story goes that a cock, scratching the ground for something to eat, turns up a mis-laid jewel. “Ho!” says the cock, “a fine thing you are, no doubt, and, had your owner found you, great would his joy have been. But for me, give me a single grain of corn before all the jewels in the world!”It’s a funny little story, not least because the titular cock recognises that the jewel has worth for others but rejects it as being of no practical use to himself. As a teacher, I see children making this kind of distinction fairly regularly about one topic or another and – if I’m absolutely honest – I’m fairly sure I do the same even now.The tricky thing about value is that in many cases the worth of a particular item or skill is relative. On a desert island, being an excellent violinist might not be as desirable as it would be back on dry land. Likewise,

dedicating the required time to reach Level 500 in Candy Crush Saga on the iPhone – while enjoyable in sections – could be seen as a fool’s errand if you are preparing for your half-term examinations.The above examples might be debated, much like the wisdom of the cock when faced with his particular dilemma, but I am a firm believer that some things, especially some beliefs, have objective value. The famous sociologist Dr Morris Massey determined during his esteemed career that there are three distinct periods in the life of a person during which we acquire values. First, he says, we experience ‘The Imprint Period’ which lasts from birth until approxi-mately the age of seven. During this time, Massey says, we are like sponges, absorbing things around us and accepting most of it at face value. The next period of life, according to Mas-sey, is ‘The Modelling Period’ which occurs roughly between the ages of eight and thirteen. During this time, he says, we copy people – mostly our parents but also other role models – and try on values “like suits of clothes.” During The Modelling Period, Massey says that children may be impressed with religion, teachers and other big ideas, some-times in a way which never leaves them. Much like my discovery of Aesop, cometo think of it.

The final period Massey describes is known as ‘The Socialization Period’ which takes place – according to him – between 13 and 21, during which we are very largely influ-enced by our peers. This period of rebellion, he says, tends to see us all look for ways to escape our programming, to seek sources of information which resonate with the values of our peer groups and to eventually deter-mine a value system for ourselves.If we take Massey at his word, the time the children spend with us at Bede’s Prep School aligns with the period during which they will acquire the bulk of their values. As I have already intimated, the worth of a thing or idea might vary in a given context, between individuals and, of course, across cultures, but I raise the theme because living by a common set of values as a com-munity is fundamental to that community’s success.Be assured, therefore, that those young Bedians who earned special mention for their good behaviour in the days before half term have well and truly earned it. They must keep it up, as they are models for us all, and those around them should think of them as jewels - as it were - for their worth to each of us might be much more than it at first appears.

Giles EntwisleHeadmaster



YEAR 8 SPANISH TRIP TO CANTABRIA

Bede’s seems to bring sunshine to Cantabria. On each of our visits - and this was our fourth - we have experienced warm, calm days that have allowed us to benefit from all this beautiful region of Spain has to offer. This time, as we arrived in our ‘home town’ of Comillas, the weather allowed us to head straight to the beach where everyone was able to unwind after a long journey. We spent the following morning in Santander, at the Salesianos School, meeting up with pupils we had shared a day of linguistic and cultural interaction with in Brighton last March. Activities included a lesson in flamenco and a lively game of football, as well as lots of chatting in Spanish and English.

In the afternoon, Ana and Piedad, our Spanish teachers, were waiting for us at the stunning, modernised neo-classical building we call ‘school’ in Comillas, to take the first in a series of three extended language lessons. That even-ing, the ancient town, a series of three town squares, linked by cobbled streets, played host to the now famous treasure hunt, with the usual frenetic decoding of clues in Spanish. Day Two was spent at lessons and, in the afternoon, at Cabárceno, the stun-ning wildlife park that provides respite in semi-freedom to injured and rescued animals. The children were able to practise and extend the vocabulary for animals and birds that had been the focus of their morning lessons, and were fascinated by all they saw. They were delighted as much by the gorilla family as by Lucia, their expert keeper, who taught us how to speak a bit of ‘gorilla’ as well as develop our Spanish. Day Three focused on the art of the paleolithic cave-dwellers of the region, both at Altamira and at El Castillo. The latter are authentic caves where we saw paintings of bison dating back over twenty thousand years, scattered in amongst incredible stalagmite sculp-tures. We learnt about the production of weap-ons and tried out some spear-throwing ourselves, in the company of school chil-dren from a school in nearby Vioño with whom we have made links in the past. The day was topped off with a round of

‘churros con chocolate’ back in Comil-las and then a deal was struck that completing the day’s workbook exercise meant a dip in the hotel pool!Our final day was spent in Bilbao where we took in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Guggenheim, focusing on one untitled piece. Our discussion around the painting was predicated on the validity of each individual’s personal response to the work. The children’s imaginations were fired enough that they asked to look at all the other works of this artist in the temporary exhibition. They went on to spend time experiencing the architectural interest of some huge curved titanium structures that produce echoes and a sense of complete diso-rientation, before heading into the old quarter of Bilbao.

There we tried ‘pintxos’, the Basque version of tapas, and the children ended up dancing to the music of an accordeon player, much to the delight of the local people and passers-by.This fortunate group of eighteen children not only practised the, albeit lim-ited, Spanish they know, but were also regularly bathed in a flow of fast, fluent, native-speaker Spanish. All the powerful and magical experi-ences they had in Cantabria will not be quickly forgotten, and the children’s identities as language learners will, I hope, be fundamentally linked to those memories for the rest of their lives.

Louise GalletlyHead of MFL



YEAR 7 STUDY THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE

Mr Scott’s Year 7 pupils have been learning about cells in Biology this half term, using powerful microscopes to see these building blocks of all living things.To start, the children prepared their own slides from an onion, extracting a delicate layer of onion skin only one cell thick, staining it with iodine to improve visibility and then viewing the results at magnifications of up to 400 times.This was sufficient to view the tiny structures inside the cell including the nucleus and the cytoplasm.They extended this investigation with a more challenging activity; attempting to view their own living cells!This involved taking a gentle swab of the inside of the cheek with a sterile cotton bud, using this to transfer a tiny sample of cells to their microscopes.

This process takes time and practice to achieve pleasing results, so the children’s sense of pride in achieving such detailed images was immense and so much more educationally effective than simply seeing pictures in a textbook.These laboratory experiences will obviously en-hance the pupils academic progress towards Common Entrance examinations and equally importantly encourage their awareness of the power of Science to inspire and enlighten.

NEW ‘KNOCK KNOCK’ THEME REALLY DELIVERS FOR YEAR 2

The Junior Years topic of ‘Knock Knock!’ has led Year 2 on a journey exploring the word ‘special’ this half term.We have been exploring what is special to each of us, and the children have shared very special things and memories through talking and learning about items they have chosen to include in thier own personal Treasure Boxes. By doing this, they have all got to know one another and have made all sorts of interesting friendships where none existed before!As half-term neared we used The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg as a jumping off point, learning about how to write letters and studying the history of the postal service.Our Marvellous Middle saw a letter box appear in the Year 2 classrooms and the children arrived to find letters hanging from the ceiling. The Role Play area was transformed from a Travel Agent into a Post Office and the children set aboutmaking post office themed hats, learning all about carrier pigeons in the war and we were even visited by our local postman who delivered presents for each class!Between practising calculating the stamps needed for a particular package to sending special items all over the world, the chil-dren have become very excited about the next phase of their topic journey.

Next half term we will move on to thinking about the Postman knocking on our door and will ask questions including what might a postman deliver, how might it get to us here and why and where might a parcel’s journey start?These questions will lead the children’s learning into the four countries that make up Great Britain, and we will post letters to schools in each. Will we receive replies, who will they be from, and when they come will there be a ‘knock knock!’ at the door?

Di WriterHead of Years 2, 3 and 4



YEAR 6 ‘TEAM BUILDING’ TASK REAPS HUGE REWARDS

This half term has seen Year 6 settling brilliantly into their new Form Groups, learning their way around the school and getting used to their new timetables.To help them on their way, earlier in the term we engaged the pupils in a fun team-building task that involved the children taking the idea of ‘team building’ literally.The challenge the groups were set was to build the most impressive structure they could out of Lego, all with the knowledge that they would be assessed on their team work, co-operation, organisation, planning, and clear and effective communication.

The children did brilliantly, and along the way I could see friendships slotting together just like the Lego bricks they were handling!These solid and colourful foundations have only been built upon since, with the children rolling up their sleeves and starting work on the Year 5 and 6 pantomime, learning their lines and attending lots of rehearsals.With new Deputy Head Mr Purkiss and new Director of Studies Mr Wood joining the school, we have also been taking a long hard look at the Year 6 curriculum, thinking about things we might like to do differently in the coming terms - from the Sections system to the academic curriculum.Even before this work has reached fruition though, we have seen a huge increase in reading this year compared to last. This has no doubt been enabled by the new Bede’s Reads scheme, and I have very much enjoyed seeing the children reading together in groups, talking about books and sharing their favourite authors.All of this camaradie makes me rather happy - not least when I think back to the trepidatious first days of the year. Well done Year 6 - you have built something amazing!

Fraser AllanHead of Years 5 and 6

YEAR 3 STUDY ROMAN LIFE

Year 3 have been hard at work over the past week creating their own information books about Ancient Rome. The children started by researching different aspects of life using a range of books. They could choose the areas they were most interested in to research, which included Roman loos (they were fascinated by the fact the Romans all went together!) the Gods and Roman Baths.The children used the features of information texts to help them design and create their own booklets. Along the way they looked at page layout, index and contents pages. Information and facts soon began filling the pages as the children used their new skills to record their research. The children really rose to the challenge and enjoyed letting each other know the most obscure or interesting facts they could find. The final booklets are on display in the classroom and the corridor, and make a lovely addition to our Roman resource library.

Sophie BalmerYear 3 Class Teacher



CASTLES, CLAY AND CAREFUL CONSTRUCTION INSPIRE YEAR 1

The Autumn Term has seen our Year 1 children hoovering up new ideas with a voracious appetite.Our main focus has been, as always, threading important key skills through our theme for the half-term which we entitled ‘Knock Knock.’ These two sounds can crop up in all sorts of contexts, from the sound of a new arrival to the start of any number of truly top-drawer jokes!Daily and guided reading has seen the children making leaps and bounds through the ideas found in the literacy portion of the Key Stage 1 curriculum, spurred on by the Bede’s Reads pro-gramme and Book Week, and in Maths we have been focussing on recognis-ing, counting ordering numbers to 100, finding more and less than two numbers and comparing lengths.

Working with Mrs Writer in Year 2, we have also worked to create a number of exciting activities related to the ‘Knock Knock’ idea which involved exploring new ideas locked or hidden away – primarily behind a Castle Turret lovingly constructed by Bede’s Design and Tech-nology department at the Senior School.

Different days and weeks have seen all sorts of new mysteries appear inside the castle, with new vocabulary inspiring the Year 1 children to think about ideas including life in the Medieval era and how people having been building homes and communities using the same basic shapes since civilisation began.These shapes have also appeared in Art lessons with Ms Armitage, who has been guiding the children to create basic structures with clay; the work quietly taking place in the Ceramics Studio will all culminate in a special surprise later in the term, but for now let’s say that the children are going potty for what we have planned!

As you can see from the photo (left), and inspired by the story of The Three Little Pigs, our Marvellous Middle outing saw us set about building a house made of wood in Friston Forest. The day tied to-gether our learning about what a sturdy home needs, including a roof, entrances and places to sleep, with the children ever-mindful of offering potential por-cine tenants protection against invading Big Bad Wolves! Elsewhere, our Specialist Lessons have continued apace with French lessons seeing the children singing and count-ing with admirable fluency and accent. Music lessons too have become even more exciting under our new Head of Music Mrs Pendry, and it is lovely to see so many children taking up the opportu-nity of learning an instrument this term. Dance in Year 1 continues to provide lots of opportunities for creativity and expression, and combined with Games sessions the children have been de-veloping balance, co-ordination and simple choreographic skills that will all culminate in our Nativity Play at the end of term.All in all, it has been a very busy and productive time – and we are only one half-term into the school year. Who knows what the children will have accomplished by Christmas, with our ‘Knock Knock’ theme continuing right up until Mary and Joseph go looking for somewhere to rest during the dark days of December.

Rachel PotterHead of Reception and Year 1



SOUNDS, SHAPES AND SEASONAL CHANGE MAKE FOR A BUSY HALF-TERM IN BEDE’S NURSERY

Another successful half term has flown by in the Nursery and it has been a pleasure to watch our Bede’s children becoming more independent and enjoying a range of activities and topics.One of our big concepts for the half-term has been shapes - in particular circles and the things they can be used for.

From wheels to plates to musical instru-ments, the children have taken the idea of things that go round and have really run with it. Or, should I say, driven off with it!With the idea of cycles in mind, the children have observed the changes in season here at Holywell and really embraced their Autumn activities - especially their Nature Walks through which we have been exploring ideas around hibernation, what insects do during the winter months and - of course - why the leaves turn brown.

In the Top Nursery, the children have been learning and using lots of new letters and Book week was enjoyed by all, from Barry The Fish With Fingers to The Story of The Stick Man; it has been brilliant to watch the children becoming so involved with listening to and creating their own stories, and we have seen some inspired role-play too!Maths activities have seen the interactive whiteboards getting some heavy use, and lots of counting and shape-finding has also taken place. One of the teachers made an interactive game based on the book that the children were interested in too, with the boys and girls becoming truly enamoured with it; we will definitely be doing that again, particularly as it has aided memory no-end!

Finally, our Pirate theme has been enjoyed throughout the Nursery and our new pirate boat is being used in all the classrooms. We now look ahead to the next half of team ready to set sail on another leg of the children’s learning journeys. Time to weight anchor - let’s set sail!

Hayley CummingNursery Room Leader

BEDE’S REVIEWED IN TATLER SCHOOLS GUIDE

Bede’s Senior and Prep Schools have recently been recognised in the latest edition of the prestigious Tatler Schools Guide. The review highlights how Bede’s has been “quietly upping the ante” and notes its achievements in becoming one of the best schools for value-added at A level in the country. Elsewhere the review picks out the individual successes of pupils such as Upper Sixth girl Elly Stephenson who exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery last year as part of the BP Next Generation award as well as Prep and Senior School alumnus Georgia Mae-Ellis who was selected for the National Youth Opera last year. The review also highlighted the School’s im-pressive record in the area of sport, at both prep and senior level. Tatler prides itself on being a “meticulously researched” guide and having “a crack team of spies” which “travels countrywide, interviewing everyone from heads to mums and matrons”. Happily, Bede’s has held up well under this scrutiny and is marked out for its “phenomenal” facilities, including the award-winning art school and boarding houses which “are as swanky as anything!”The Guide also seeks to unearth the unique features of each school and its reviewing team discovered plenty of unusual attrib-utes at Bede’s including the Legat School of Dance, its eco credentials and the ever-popular zoo and its animal conservation programmes.



CLIMBING CLUB’S POPULARITY RISES EVER-HIGHERDown in the Sport Hall, the Bede’s Prep School Climbing Wall has seen some heavy rotation this half-term, with boys and girls learning all the key principles of safety and grip - while also overcoming their fears of falling! As anyone who has attempted climbing will know, climbing is a brilliant way to develop a huge number of skills beyond agility and core strength.Starting on the Beginner Wall (as seen in the photograph on the left), the children learn first how to manage their weight, tak-ing care to grip and grasp as many hand-holds as they choose to make their way from one end of the wall to the other. Below them is a thick safety matress and the risk levels are nice and low! Next, the children graduate to using only holds of particular colours to make their way horizontally from left to right and back again, with a gentle learning curve seeing steady progress made week to week.Once these core skills are bedded in, the children then take their first steps onto the Intermediate Wall (photographed right) where the process begins again - only this time, once an ascent has been made,

opportunities abound for a short abseil from the roof of the Sports Hall down to ground level!With a bit of abseiling experience under their belts (or safety harnesses, if you prefer), boys and girls duly progress to rapelling down from the Sports Hall balcony - an eerie experience where there are suddenly no hand-holds to rely on!With this introduction to climbing complete, the children are then ready to visit any number of climbing centres around Sussex to undertake their climbing qualifications. Along the way, they will have learned an array of new skills and acquired a huge boost to their personal confidence. After all, if you can scale a wall ten-times your height is there anything you cannot accomplish?

YEARS 3-5 COOK UP A STORM IN JUNIOR COOKERY CLUB With the nights drawing in and the weather outside increasingly autumnal, what better place to spend your time after school than the warm, bright, sweet-smelling surrounds of the Bede’s Prep Cookery Centre?The above may be the reason, helped - no doubt - by the Great British Bake Off, that Ms Balmer’s Junior Cookery Club has become a hive of activity this half-term, with children from Year 3, 4 and 5 learning to prepare simple dishes from fairy cakes to fish fingers.With a different challenge set each week, underpinned by a key principle of how to cook, the children have tackled topics from temperature and timing to the sticky relationships between fat, flour and starch. In line with Bede’s Co-Curricular ethos, most academic subjects see the children swinging by the Cookery Centre for at least one lesson each half term to connect their learning with real life; whether it is using weights and measures in Maths, preparing delicacies from a particular period in History or cooking up iconic dishes using only the appropriate vocab in French or Spanish lessons, food is a great leveller. Rather than a route through to enlightenment in another subject however, Junior Cookery - much like partner activity Senior Cookery -

offers the children then prospects of something different: the chance to learn the core principles of what makes a healthy meal and how our different food groups work together.In partnership with the Bede’s Prep School caterers, Junior Cookery is already seeing its members paying increasing attention to what they eat and how it is made; with next term’s sessions moving onto making sauces and preparing pastry, mums and dads may well want to consider whether one night a week they can delegate dinner preparation downwards to someone who eats smaller portions?



MEADS END BOARDERS TRULY BED-IN

What a difference half a term makes!Six-and-a-half weeks ago we welcomed through the doors of Meads End a group of timid, tentative pre-teens; some arriving from the exotic climes of Spain and China,

others were venturing from nearby Hastings, but all were nervous and apprehensive. Now we have a cohesive and confident fam-ily who have tested our mettle in the fiery furnace of the Autumn Term - and what an enormous amount we have crammed in!So far on their Sunday outings the board-ers have stuck their courage to the sticking place on the rides at Brighton Pier, tested their capacity to ingest sugar at the Steam-punk festival, swum circles round Miss

Dowley at the Sovereign Centre and had high tea in-house with Mrs Pendry, to name but a few. Saturdays are quieter and more likely to in-volve a meander down to Eastbourne town or (one of their favourites) an afternoon spent

on craft activities like hama beads and play-ing in the garden. Similarly, our Wednesday and Friday evenings, when the boarders have no school activities, are an opportunity for in-house fun and games such as cake bak-ing and decorating, mug painting or pizza making. Their movie nights are a chance for them to relax and practise their skills at compromise; taking it in turns to choose the film and then watching together as a house, learning to value one another’s choices. Their time spent with Ms Corbett and Mr Meier when they are on duty is always greatly anticipated and they have experienced

events as diverse as learning to prepare and cook fish with the catering team, shop at the big Tesco’s and enjoy All-You-Can-Eat Chinese! Our new dorm names were chosen early in the term, and the theme of superheroes won by a margin of one vote. The children have now collaborated in each room and opted to become Mr Incredible, Batman, The Flash, Wonderwoman and Storm. Within these groups, the children have competed in weekly dorm competitions which measures their behaviour, tidiness and the ease with which we can settle them at bedtime. We have discovered that Storm are angelic

at going to bed but are by far the messiest group in the house whereas Batman have good manners but seem to have a physical inability to resist playing football indoors!

The competition was won overall by The Flash – the Year 6 boys – who have been accommodating, caring and consistently co-operative. They win a House Activity of their choice for the beginning of next half term.Latterly, we have also appointed Themba Wardle as Head of House and Sofia Grano de Oro and Seb Watson as House Prefects, and they are already shaping up to be a resourceful and responsible team.Long may it continue!

Kirsty StannardHousemistress, Meads End

Curious about Boarding at Bede’s? Please email me via

[email protected]



SPORTFOOTBALL RUGBY1STS THROUGH TO REGIONAL ROUND OF IAPS NATIONAL 6S CHAMPIONSHIP

After a 2-1 win against Crosfields, a 1-0 win against Twyford and a 5-1 win against Locker Park in the Group Stage of the IAPS National Championships, the Bede’s Prep 1sts were looking untouchable.Our first small stumble saw us lose 1-0 to Summerfields thanks, it has to be said, to some excellent work by their goalkeeper.Digging deep, the 1sts next encountered Elstree School in the Quarter Finals and the boys were in a confident mood. Themba gave us the lead with a fierce shot before Isaiah linked with Jack to put us 2-0 up. Isaiah then scored himself, and the second half also saw us score through an own goal; an outstretched boot from an Elstree defender guided Kyle’s shot into their net! A few poor tackles later led to Elstree scoring their consolation goal, but the 4-1 victory saw us move onto the Semi Final against Grove Hall. We focused our minds on really pressing our opponents and taking our chances when they came. Luke did a brilliant job defend-ing against their giant striker and gave him very little time on the ball. He was magnifi-cent all game. Tom scored our first goal with a lovely, deep shot. To our delight, we then scored a

second goal, this time with Isaiah pulling the back out for Themba to side foot it in. The second half saw Hall Grove really go for us but Jake made several outstanding saves, often when he had players running straight at him!Hall Grove eventually scored but some great defending kept us ahead, meaning we moved onto the final against Hoe Bridge. They were a well organised and technically gifted side, and in the first half they simply dominated. Spirits were low at half-time and we were three goals down, but the 1st XI went on to play in the second half. We defended well and carved out a few chances but the clock beat us. As the boys collected their runners up med-als I felt so proud of them. Our team was comprised of five players from Year 7, all of whom were playing up a year, and we nearly did it.Well done boys – now let’s look ahead to the 22 November when we will be representing the Southern Region in the IAPS National Soccer Six Tournament.We might be down, but we’re far from out!

Fraser AllanHead of Football

BEDE’S 1STS MEET THE SPRINGBOKS

Bede’s Prep School’s Head of Rugby Mr Atherton took five Bede’s Prep Rugby players to meet the South African national Rugby Team and watch them train a week after taking his undefeated U9s to see the World Cup!The lucky Bedians watched the closing stages of the Springbok’s training session and then met the players afterwards, briefly discuss-ing Rugby tactics and talking about life as a professional athlete.

Mr Atherton said of the day, “Meeting the likes of Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira, Schalk Brits and Francois Louw is a brilliant way to get the children excited about Rugby. “The Prep School community is naturally fol-lowing the World Cup very closely and anticipating the start of our own Rugby sea-son with understandable relish.”

Mr Atherton and the U9s visiting the World Cup Trophy.



Bede’s Prep’s U11 girls got their heads down and worked as a squad to win the recent Sussex Schools Hockey Tournament hosted by Hurstpierpoint College. Their first match was against Brambletye and they played good, disciplined attacking hockey to win the match 4-0. The second match was against Lancing Prep and the girls continued to work hard, driving the ball forward to create space and aiming for goal once in the D. Again some great team goals and once again the score was 4-0. Our next match in the Group Stage was against Hurst. They were very skilful and scored a goal when we forgot about our defence, catching us with a great counter attack. The girls fought hard to pull the goal back

and a great run on the left by Katie Fenton created space for our left forward, Lizzie, to slot the equaliser home for a 1-1 draw. Our goal tally meant we came top of our group, so the girls moved on to play Cumnor House in the semi-finals. Cumnor were difficult to break down and were extremely athletic and strong. They worked persisitly to overload and attack our D, but Angelica broke free and kept her cool, scoring a neat goal around Cumnor’s very agile keeper. This put Bede’s in the final, where we went on to face Ardingly. The final was fast paced and well-matched with both teams playing excellent hockey. Both goalkeepers did their bit to keep the teams in the game, and overall the match was filled with great performances.Thankfully, Bede’s scored from a short cor-ner with a great strike from Tils which was enough to make Bede’s winners. The team’s success came as a result of fantastic teamwork and required effort from every squad member. Each player went over and above to ensure the team played to their best, and - as a coach - I could not have asked for more.

Sharon MuxworthyHead of Games

SPORTHOCKEYU11 GIRLS WIN HURST TOURNAMENT U9S COMPETE IN THEIR

FIRST HOCKEY FESTIVAL

A glorious Saturday morning towards the end of September saw the U9 girls attend-ing their first Hockey Festival.The sun was shining and everyone was keen and excited to practise the new skills they had developed in their games lessons this term.Everyone in the team worked hard through their pool of matches against Hurst, Brighton, St Christopher’s and Cumnor House with several goals being scored and a few conceded too!

It was great to see how well the girls went about supporting one another in every game however, and they performed very well on the Skills Circuit. Their speed around the cones was extremely impressive and well done to Olivia in her second-place finish.The net results of the day confirmed that the team has set a great foundation for their future development, and they have a lot to be proud of. Keep at it, U9s!

Sharon MuxworthyHead of Games

Bede’s new Director of Hockey Mr Johnson gives the U11s a team talk.

bede's prep newsletter - autumn 2015

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