Events

Alex Burghart MP visits Ursuline Prep 2017

On Friday 7th July the newly elected MP  Alex Burghart for Brentwood and Ongar visited the school. He interacted with the children and enjoyed hearing about all their latest exploits.  He also visited the new school hall and was very impressed.



 

ISA Golf 2017

On Monday 26^th June a pupil from U2 took part in the inaugural ISA Golf tournament held at South Staffordshire golf club in Wolverhampton. He was playing against 19 other children aged between 11 to 18. The tournament was a stableford format, where your handicap is taken into account. He was a credit to himself and the school and played extremely well managing to finish 11^th overall.

Saffron Walden Chess Tournament 2017

There were 61 players at the final round of this Essex Junior Grand Prix held in Saffron Walden on 25 June 2017. A year 4 pupil from the Ursuline Prep competed in this tournament and won the U9 category.  This is a major achievement and the school would like to congratulate him on his success.  Please click on the link to read a blow by blow report written my the pupil himself. Chess Report

Roald Dahl  Experience for Lower One

Actor Anthony Pedley who played the part of the loveable, whizzpopping giant in the original stage production of The BFG visited the school for a storytelling session.  All the characters were bought to life in this tale of dreams, queens and giants.  The class of Lower One thoroughly enjoyed the session which complimented their recent literacy studies.

Goodbye and thanks to Sir Eric Pickles

The staff and pupils were delighted to welcome Sir Eric to the school on Friday 12th May.  He visited some of the classes and informed them that this was his last official visit after 25 years in Parliament.  We thanked him most sincerely for his support in the development of the new school hall which will be a very valuable resource for all those involved with the school.

May Procession 2017

On the 12^th of May the whole school celebrated the role that Mary, Our Mother, plays in our faith. Each child brought a floral contribution to school and processed to place their flowers at the foot of our statue of Mary. From there the children processed into the hall where they reflected on Mary’s life, sang hymns and said Mary’s special prayers.

Intermediate travel back in time 2017

On Friday 6th May, Intermediate had their History off the Page experience.  They travelled back in time to 1854, during the Crimean War.  They met Florence Nightingale and helped her on her mission to improve the wartimes hospitals in Scutari, Turkey.

They prepared from their trip by making diaries, candle holders, medals, medicine pots, sashes and lockets.  They also interviewed for a job on Florence's team.  Some became gardeners, cleaners, nurses, doctors, cooks while others were injured soldiers that needed looking after.

Secondary School Selection Evening 2017

This was held in April this year, which is a lot earlier than normal due to a large number of Secondary Schools moving their Open Days to the earlier part of Summer Term. The event was well attended and adopted a new format after feedback from the parents in the upper part of the school.

After Mrs Wilson set out the structure, format and content of the gruelling secondary selection process, she handed over to past pupils. Abigail and Mrs Thornton gave an enlightening presentation on Felsted. This was followed by Francesca and Mrs Stanford explaining in detail the structure and vast opportunities offered at Brentwood School.  The Aung family in the form of Benedict and Sophia  explained the academic aspects of both Chelmsford Grammar Schools and all the wonderful opportunities it offered its pupils.  Finally, Amar and Mrs Patel discussed the wonderful components of the long day at New Hall School and shared with us all the new curriculum and extra-curricular aspects that had been opened to Amar.  All of the children spoke with great confidence and each one expressed with delight how happy they were at their new school.

The feedback from the parents who attended the evening was very positive and they felt the new format of listening to the parents and children was much more beneficial than the previous format.



 

Foundation Day 2017

On April 20^th the school celebrated its foundation with a special assembly. Staff and pupils all wore white flowers to remind us of Mother Clare who formed the school many years ago.  The pupils were entertained by a Magician which they thoroughly enjoyed.  Please visit the image Gallery to see some more photographs from this event.

4NCL Chess Tournament  2017

A year 5 pupil was invited to play in this tournament as part of the chess is schools London team.  It was a two day tournament with three rounds being played on Saturday and two rounds on Sunday.  The first round started at 10.30 following a team briefing and players had 50 minutes each on their clocks, round 2 was at 2 pm and round 3 began at 4.45 until 6.45.  Sunday was an early start at 9.30 for round four and 1 pm for the final round.

This was a national level tournament with the average grade of player being around ECF 90 (English Chess Federation).  Each game had to be recorded by the players and this skill had to be learnt on the spot.  Our pupil played for at least 45 minutes for each round, holding his own against vastly experienced players.  The team took 3rd place overall out of the seven competing so it was a great result.  Following on from this experience he has already entered another two individual tournaments.

Easter Hat Parade 2017

This was a beautiful colourful display and it was very difficult to pick the winning creations. The judges finally decided on the following:
Jessica Davis - Pre-Reception
Ralphie Davis - Reception
Sohpia Maqsood - Kindergarten
Caiden Poon - Intermediate
William Porter Transition

There are more photographs from this event in the Gallery.

Easter Raffle 2017

There were so many prizes that had been donated!  Thank you to all staff and friends of the school who gave items for this raffle.  All the money raised will be donated to St. Issac's House, Uganda.  This is a charity supported by our Chair of Governors, Mrs F. Deery.

Able Maths Day 2017

Two pupils from Upper Two attended an Able Maths Day at Brentwood Preparatory School on 13th March.  The day was hosted by Dr. Tandi Clausen-May, a leading Maths consultant who has been running workshops in schools for many years.  The children very much enjoyed the challenges they were set and interacting with pupils form other schools.

Maths Magic Week 2017

The Pre-Prep Department thoroughly enjoyed 'Magic' Maths with Michael Fitch. Please see photographs below.

Egyptian Day 2017

On Wednesday 8^th March Upper One experienced the wonder of ancient Egypt through a company called ‘History Off the Page’. They brought the 14th century BC, the 8th year of Akhenaten’s reign to life in our school. Throughout the day, the children serve as workers and slaves finishing the construction of the city; Utopia to honour the god Aten.

The children experienced a combination of role-play, practical activities and hands on experience with facsimile artefacts. Upper One completed the following tasks to experience ancient Egyptian culture;
Lamp working
Embalming
Carving shabtis
Making ink and writing
Bread making
Tomb painting
Amulet making
Pottery making
Making perfume conesThe children also worked in groups to prepare entertainment, including; plays and dances whilst enjoying a ‘Banquet’.

Book week 2017

Thank you to all the parents for supporting your child and the school in this national event.

Visit the Gallery to view photographs.

Police Investigation Training Upper Two

On February 10^th Upper Two had an enlightening training session from a member of the police force. They experienced a practical session on D.N.A. and finger printing and then enacted a crime screen.

They really enjoyed the experience and they all felt they learnt a great deal.

History off the Page – Great Fire of London 2017

On Friday 27^th January, Intermediate had an exciting Great Fire of London experience day. They travelled back in time to 1666, and saw what life was like in the Tudor times.

During the morning session, the children assumed the role of various occupations including Tanners, Apothecaries, Chandlers and Weavers. They learnt the trade and created many goodies to take home.

After news that the fire had spread and most of London had burnt down, the children had to excavate.It was an eventful day, full of fun and facts! The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and learned a lot too!

Pancake Day Races 2017

On Tuesday 28th February, we held our annual Pancake races. The children had a great time with the final scores between the houses being St. David’s 110, St. George’s 101, St. Patrick’s 98 and St. Andrew’s 96.

Visit the Gallery to the see photographs from this event.



 

Essex Chess 2017

Congratulations to two pupils, one from Upper One and one from Intermediate for being chosen to represent the Essex U9 Junior Chess team.

Enterprise Week 2017

The whole school was able to participate and enjoy Enterprise Week organised by the pupils, parents and staff of Upper Two.  They also raised a significant sum of money for their individual charities, Cancer Research, World Wildlife Fund, Red Cross and GTCA.

The children in Upper Two worked well in their teams, producing some very good resources that the children throughout the school purchased.  The parents in Upper Two played a supporting role before and during the event; the children would not have done anywhere near so well without their help.  In addition, some parents came into school to explain their professional careers to the children and the whole class benefited enormously from this sharing of knowledge.

London Chess Classic Event for Schools 2016

On Friday 9th December, a team of 15 Children from the Ursuline Prep took part in the prestigious 'London Chess Classic’ school's event which is held every year at Kensington, Olympia. Over the course of a week over 2000 children attended from around 300 schools all over the UK. During Friday's event the children played 5 rounds of tournament chess against their peers with some outstanding results. This placed the school third overall against some strong competition with two children scoring individual Bronze Medals.  Leo McCarthy was asked just before playing chess on stage how he was going to approach his game, ie be aggressive or tactical and he replied, ‘I am going to try my best’ which epitomises the ethos of the school.

Masterclass in Chess

On Thursday 8th December, 5 children from Ursuline Prep Brentwood were invited to participate in a very unique and prestigious event - to play chess against and receive a Masterclass from 8 of the Super Grandmasters in the World. The event was held at the RAC club in Pall Mall which has a long history of chess enthusiasts.

The Children played in a simultaneous display against the UK number 1, Michael Adams. They then received a Masterclass from the World Number 2 Fabiano Caruana and the Armenian Number 1, Aronian Levon during which the children were invited to answer questions set by the Grandmasters.
The Event was organised by the charity 'Chess in Schools'.

Visit the Gallery to see more photographs.



 

Christingle 2016

On 1^st  December, all the children in the school took part in our Christmas service of Praise and Thanksgiving that also included our annual Christingle. Our celebration began with an Advent focus, including a beautiful dance depicting the Advent wreath, and culminated in the Christingle candles being lit in the darkened cathedral, reminding us that Jesus brings light and life for everyone. The children sang, danced, played instruments, read and behaved brilliantly. The children in the Pre Prep. department formed their Nativity tableau and everyone felt Christmas had really begun.

The total collected from the candles and retiring collection came to£2098.02 which will be shared between the Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society, The Children’s Society and Patricia Etap our newly sponsored child, who lives on the WATOTO Childcare missionary village near Gulu in Uganda.  A huge thank you to all those who attended for the very generous donations.

Please visit the Image Gallery and Video Gallery to view media from this special event.

National Road Safety Week 2016

In co-ordination with National Road Safety week, children at the Ursuline Prep entered a poster design competition organised and judged by Knight Build who are currently constructing the new school hall.  Obviously with construction work going on within the school grounds whilst children are maintaining an everyday school life, safety is paramount. Knight Build have been keen to re-enforce site safety and road safety as many large construction vehicles occupy the road and premises.

In the competition younger children had posters to colour and older children designed their own. The prizes were presented by Ivor Goodsite who came into assembly accompanied by Dominic Gallagher ( head of Health and Safety) at Knight Build. Winners are pictured in the front row. All the children were also given a goodie bag of safety related items.



 

Remembrance Day Assembly 2016

Upper One delivered a powerful message during this assembly remembering and honouring those who have sacrificed themselves to secure and protect our freedom.  Mrs Thomas very kindly baked a cake which was shared and enjoyed by all.

Visit from Governors and Trustees

On Wednesday 23rd November the Trustees and Governors spent the afternoon at the school. They visited the new school hall and were delighted with the progress. They also met with the school council, attended some lessons and spoke to staff.  The visit was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

 

British Food Week 2016

Following the great success of our British Food week last year, the PFA kindly agreed to re-open the UPS café for one week to serve some British delights. This was to promote British Values, and all week the children were given a sample of Traditional British Foods at breaktime.

The UPS Café Menu consisted of:

Monday: Cream Tea

Tuesday: Jam Roly Poly and custard

Wednesday: Bangers and mash

Thursday: Jelly and Ice cream.

Many thanks to the PFA for organising and supplying all the food.  The children really enjoyed these special treats.

Upper Two visit Wimbledon 2016

On Tuesday 5th July members of the tennis team were fortunate to get tickets to go and watch some professional tennis being played.  The children really enjoyed the experience.

Mosaic Workshop 2016

Upper Two completed a very exciting and unique project on Tuesday, 17th May.  Paul Siggins and his team were in school all day for a very special mosaic workshop. The children collaboratively designed their art work which represented the school’s ethos and success which Paul then reproduced on a large frame. The class then worked in small groups putting together, tile by tile, their fantastic mosaic. The mosaic will be on show at Prize Giving and will then be displayed in our new hall upon its completion.

Junior Quiz Night 2016

The junior school participated in our annual ‘Junior Quiz Night’ on Wednesday 23^rd March. Mr Young acted as the quiz master with Mrs Danby as the score keeper. The children all had a wonderful time with the final results being:

1^st place = St Patrick’s

2^nd = St David’s

3^rd = St George’s

4^th = St Andrew’s

Well done to all the children and a big thank you to the members of the PFA for providing refreshments, and to Mr Young and Mrs Danby.

Easter Hat Parade 2016

The children all looked wonderful in their Easter hats and the school is very grateful for parents taking the time to create all these colourful displays.  Please visit the gallery to see some lovely photographs.

Hot Food Day 2016

The school was very excited on Wednesday 16th March when the team from Nanna Kay came to educate us all on healthy eating, as part of our PSHEE Jigsaw programme.  All the children were given food to taste as part of the Assembly and drew what they had for dinner the previous night to check if they had eaten foods from the 3 main food groups.  At lunchtime, the school swung into full action as boxes of hot food were delivered to every class and teachers and class assistants became dinner ladies for the day!  It was a tremendous success; the children loved the food and it was all down to the kind generosity of the team from Nanna Kay’s for feeding the school for the day.  A big thank you to Mrs. Tresadern for organising this for us.

 Jack Petchey Winner

We are delighted that an Ursuline Prep pupil has been awarded this prestigious award from New Cambell Netball Club for her consistent levels of endeavour and performance.

World Maths Day 2016

On Wednesday 2^nd March 2016, as part of our celebration of World Maths Day, the Pre Prep department were entertained by Mr Bumble the Maths clown. He told us that “Maths is fun!”. He showed us how to identify the properties of 2D shapes and he build a cube from balloons and challenged us to fit inside. We all really enjoyed the show.

Mother's Day 2016

We were all treated to two wonderful assemblies by the Infants and Pre-Prep Dept.  The infants gave a performance of the Vegetable Plot and told us how much they love their mummies and why.  The Pre-Prep sang some beautiful songs not leaving a dry eye in the house!  Thank you for coming to attend these assemblies and our thanks also go to the staff who have worked very hard to prepare this treat for you.  We hope you also enjoyed the refreshments afterwards.

Book Week 2016

This year Book Week had a historical theme and the children thoroughly enjoyed all of the activities that inspired them to learn more about history through books. On Monday 29^th February author Annabel Claridge came to talk to the infants and juniors and spoke passionately about the three periods of history in which her Bo the poodle series of books are based. The Travelling Books fair has been more successful than ever. The children were very excited about choosing their own books to buy and spent over £1,200 on new books earning a fantastic £600 commission for the school to spend on books. On Friday the 4^th of March the children have amazed us with the variety of characters from history that they dressed up as; from as wide a historical range as cave men and women to evacuees, and as inventive as Calamity Jane, Margaret Thatcher and Albert Einstein.

Enterprise Week 2016

Enterprise week continues to be a very successful venture and this year Upper 2 raised a phenomenal £1,214.47.

Following the intense exam preparation period it was decided that Enterprise week should take place at the beginning of February again.  Ms Ford started off the week with an inspirational presentation and also came with gifts for the children – their own house caps. During the week we were also lucky enough to have presentations from Mr Collett, Mrs Thornton and Mrs Nash who all told us about their enterprising ventures and what and who had inspired them.

During the week Upper 2 were busy preparing their craft items which they sold to the rest of the school, along with a food or drink item, on the Thursday and Friday. For these two days the dining room was transformed into a busy market place and the children (and the parent helpers) thoroughly enjoyed selling their wares.

By the end of the week all of U2 had learnt a great deal, not only about enterprise but also about themselves as team players and future leaders.

We were very proud of the houses’ successes: St George’s £397.32 for Wipe Away Those Tears, St Patrick’s £230.86 for WATOTO (Child Care Ministries in Uganda), St David’s £131.42 for  Barnardo’s and St Andrew’s £227.43 for SNAP and £227.43 for Caudwell Kids.







 

Pancake Day 2016

The four houses in the school competed against each other in a bid to win the PANCAKE Trophy. Every child in the school took part with the older children helping the little ones. Children had to run with their pan and pancake, stopping half way down the course to toss the pancake, then racing to the finish. The infant children performed a simplified version  by running round a hoop mid course before reaching the finishing line. For the children it was an exciting occasion with teams vying for the most points. In the event St. David’s house ( the yellow team) won and the House Captains were presented with the cup. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were looking forward to their edible pancakes at home before the start of Lent.

Greek Day for Upper One January 2016

On Wednesday 27^th January Upper One experienced the wonder of ancient Greece through a company called ‘History Off the Page’. They brought the fifth century BC Athens to life in our school. Throughout the day the children experienced a combination of role-play, practical activities and hands on experience with facsimile artefacts. Our school hall became the Agora in Athens, we were traders and craftsmen with the following tables set up:

Soap Carvers
Fresco Painters
Jewellers
Charm Makers
Potters

During the course of the day the children took on roles of Athenian citizens and slaves at the time of ‘The battle of Marathon’. The children also worked in groups to prepare for the theatre; they entertained us with poems, play and dances whilst enjoying a ‘Greek Feast’.

Christingle 2015

The highlight of our Advent and Christmas preparations has been the Christingle service at Brentwood Cathedral. The whole school community gathered together for this beautiful celebration. Every child from Pre-reception to Upper Two made a special contribution to the service which re-told of Jesus’ birth through scripture readings, the nativity tableau, traditional and modern carols, prayers and liturgical dance. The service culminated in the lighting of the Christingle candles where the message of Jesus as the Light of the World was particularly poignant.

The retiring collection and contributions from the children in the form of their ‘candle collection’ totalled over £2,100  and was shared between the Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society, Children’s Society and our sponsored child at the  Bethany School for Girls in the Holy Land.  The school would like to thank everyone for their generosity.

Christmas Jumper Day 2015

The children all looked great in their Christmas jumpers.  All the monies raised (£311.30) from this event will be donated to Save the Children.

Christmas 2015

Please click on the link to see a list of the Christmas 2015 that are planned for 2015!

Visit from the Mayor of Brentwood

On the 20th May 2015, Councillor Mark Reed was appointed as the Mayor for Brentwood by the Brentwood Borough Council's Annual Council.  He recently paid a visit to the Ursuline Prep School and met with some of our pupils.

Greek Day 2015

Upper One spent a thoroughly entertaining and informative day at the Agora in Ancient Athens.  There they gained instruction in the making of Frescoes, Mosaic  tiling,  Pottery, Wax  tablet making, Sculpting, Amulet making  and making medicinal concoctions of herbal origins.  News filtered through of an imminent invasion by the Persian King Darius.  Concern mounted as a runner retuned form Sparta to report the Spartans were too busy feasting to help.  Undeterred the Greek commander lead his troops successfully crushing the Persians at Marathon.  The day ended with feasting and celebrations of dance, poetry , tragedy and  a brilliant  comic performance  of the tale of Medusa’ s  fall into ugliness.  Parent helpers Ms Rammage, Keane, McCarthy, Udall,  Mullerat, and Joy were fantastically supportive and  their contribution made the day outstandingly successful.  Please visit the Image Gallery for some fantastic photographs of this event kindly supplied by Mrs West.

Easter Hat Parade

On Wednesday, 25^th March, the Pre-Prep. and Infants took part in an Easter Bonnet parade.  The children looked wonderful and the staff were very impressed with all the wonderful, different creations.  Please visit the Image Gallery to see more photographs from this event.

Role of a Councillor

On Friday 19^th March we were delighted to welcome Councillor Quirk into school. He agreed to present a picture of his role and how that sits within the Government structure in the country.

This was part of the P.S.H.E. programme for the top class which includes the political situation in the country. The children really enjoyed his enlightening and descriptive presentation and learnt a great deal from it.



 

Mothers' Day Assemblies 2015

The children in the Pre-Prep and Infant Departments delighted their Mummies this week with special assemblies celebrating Mother’s Day.  The children all performed beautifully whether reciting poetry, singing or presenting their especially made cards.  Staff, friends and families of the children were all very proud of them and their performances, proven by the many tissues used! Please see more photographs in the Image Gallery.

World Maths Day

On Wednesday 11^th March we celebrated ‘World Maths Day’. Michael J Fitch came into school and did two assemblies, one for the pre-prep and infant department and the other for juniors. The assemblies were packed with maths and magic combined! Michael then worked with every class from Kindergarten upwards on maths concepts with a magic twist to these themes. All the children (and staff) thoroughly enjoyed the day, reinforcing maths is fun (and in some cases magicial)!  Visit Image Gallery to view more photographs.

Book Week 2015

Our poetry themed Book Week has been a huge success. The Book Fair raised a record amount and we have over £500 to spend on books for the library and classrooms. Brian Moses was extremely entertaining and his combination of percussion and poetry was a big hit with children from Kindergarten to Upper 2. Brian worked with Intermediate, Transition, Lower 1 and Upper 1 during the day and the children wrote their own poems and descriptive writing and were clearly inspired by having a published poet in school. The whole school have thoroughly enjoyed the poetry activities they have participated in in class and this was evident when they recited their poem in Friday’s assembly, dressed as one of the characters from their book or poem.  Photographs of all the classes are available in the image gallery.

Enterprise Week 2015

Enterprise was once again a roaring success and U2 raised over £1,100 for their charities.

Mrs L. Ford started off the week with her inspirational presentation and also came with gifts for the children – their own house t-shirts. During the week we were lucky enough to have presentations from Mr Macdonald, Mrs Ellis, Mr Antoniou, Mr Quirk, Mr Bartell and Mr Pepper, who all told us about their enterprising ventures and what and who had inspired them.

During the week U2 were busy preparing their craft items which they sold to the rest of the school, along with food and drink, on the Thursday and Friday. For these two days the dining room was transformed into a busy market place and the children (and the parent helpers) thoroughly enjoyed selling their wares.

By the end of the week all of U2 had learnt a great deal not only about enterprise and business but also about themselves as team players and future leaders. We were very proud of what they had managed to achieve by working so well together.

The totals are as follows; St George’s £274.84 for Save the Children, St Patrick’s £270.97 for the Freddie Farmer Foundation, St Andrew’s £228.41 for Water Aid and St David’s £365.51 for OXFAM.  Please visit the video and image gallery to view more media from this event.

Safer Internet Day

On Tuesday 10th February the whole school took part in Safer Internet Day. A special assembly was held for children from Transition upwards with the focus on all of the good things we can use the Internet for, as well as thinking about the dangers and what we can do to keep ourselves safe when using electronic communications. Classroom activities took place throughout the day including sharing books about esafety, watching videos, taking part in quizzes and making posters to show how we could make the Internet a better place. The photograph shows the children in Pre-Reception sharing the story of Smartie the Penguin.

Pancake Day 2015

On the last school day before the beginning of the half term break, the children and staff celebrated Shrove Tuesday with their annual Pancake Race.  Children from Reception to Upper Two competed for their house.  St. David's were the eventual winners and are pictured below with the house trophy and their frying pans and special pancakes!  Visit the Gallery for more photographs from this event.

History off the page with Intermediate

History off the page company came into school to work with Intermediate on ‘The Great Fire of London’. The morning session consisted of the children taking on the role of a junior apprentice during 1666 from the following trades; Apothecary, Leather Workers, Chandlers, Schoolhouse, Bakers and Weaving. The afternoon session consisted with an archaeological investigation using ‘dig boxes’. The children had to dig for an artefact and then answer questions relating to that artefact. Finally the children looked at paper evidence such as letters, diary entries and receipts along with maps from that time.  Visit the school Gallery to see more photographs from this event.

Intermediate recreate the Fire of London

Intermediate recreated the ‘Great Fire of London’ to prove how effective a fire break  is in stopping a fire. The children observed that the fire spread quickly through the houses that were close together.

Christmas Festivities 2014

The Christmas season was celebrated in many ways at the Ursuline Prep.  The younger members of the school enjoyed a Lunchbox Parade as well as a visit from an entertainer.  Christmas Party Day  and  our 'Special Visitor ' was enjoyed by all.  The Talent Show by the Junior school children was very entertaining.  A DVD of this event has been passed to all the class representatives so that the parents can share in this event. Visit the gallery to see some photographs taken during this time!

 

Christingle 2014

On Thursday  the 4^th of December the whole school community gathered together at Brentwood Cathedral for our annual Christingle service. The service was led by our Upper 2 children who retold the story of Christ’s birth from the scriptures whilst the Pre-Prep department performed a Nativity tableau. The whole congregation joined in with the traditional carols and were also treated to solos and more modern carols by the choir and a liturgical dance performed by members of Upper and Lower 2. The service concluded with the lighting of the Christingle oranges and candles which was a moving experience and a beautiful beginning to our Christmas celebrations.  Thank you so much for your generosity – the total amount collected for the Christingle candles and retiring collection amounted over £2,200.

Upper One Remembrance Assembly

On Tuesday 11th November Upper One held their class assembly themed on the One Hundred year anniversary of the beginning of World War One.  Against a backdrop of poppies inspired by the art installation at the Tower of London, children spoke of the memories of war, the way we remember those who fought and of the sacrifice they made for our freedom. Children stood among the hundreds of poppies they had made and scattered petals as the school sang hymns and prayed for world peace.  It was an inspiring assembly and everyone praised the class for their efforts.

Intermediate Guy Fawkes Assembly

Intermediate performed their class assembly to all their parents on Thursday 6th November. The children have been learning about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot which was therefore the main focus of our assembly. All the children in the class had their own speaking part which they knew off by heart, in addition the assembly contained acting, singing and a firework dance (with a lot of shaking of Pom-poms).

World War II Day

On the 6^th of October U2 were taken back in time to 1940 for the day. They all arrived in school dressed as evacuees and spent the morning in the classroom learning psalms, wartime money and how to build and Anderson Shelter – all by the light of a paraffin lamp. The morning ended with an air raid practice and by lunchtime the children had first-hand experience of how difficult it must have been to grow up as an evacuee in the forties. The afternoon was spent in the hall which had been transformed into a village complete with shops, café and bank. We were joined by some of our parents who looked wonderful in their 1940’s attire. The children really enjoyed running the shops and buying items from their shopping list, unsurprisingly the café with its corned beef sandwiches was not so popular!

Easter Bunnies Galore

Thank you to the PFA and all the Easter Bunnies and Ducks for a very enjoyable Easter Egg Hunt.  The weather was kind and all the children enjoyed exploring the school grounds in their quest for chocolate eggs!

Easter Bonnet Parade 2014

Our annual Easter Bonnet competition took place this week. Children paraded in their home-made hats, decorated with feathers, chicks, eggs and many other Easter related items. The child with the best bonnet from each of the infant classes was presented with a chocolate bunny and all the others were given mini eggs as consolation prizes. The children thoroughly enjoyed making and modelling their colourful bonnets.

Mother's Day Celebrations 2014

This week the Pre Prep and Infants held their Mother's Day Assembly where children sang and recited poems to their mothers before presenting them with handmade gifts, cards and a pot of miniature daffodils. The mums were very touched by the talent of their young children and after the assembly they were treated to tea and biscuits.

 

Christmas 2013

The children celebrated the festive season in many ways.  Please see below a selection of photographs from events throughout the Christmas season.

Girls Challenge Mums to Netball Match!

On Monday 23rd September the Upper Two Netball Team played against their mums.  The adult team came on strong and were winning 8 -7 three quarters of the way through, however the Upper Two Netball team very quickly changes their tactics and ended up winning the match with a final score of 14 - 9.  Well done to all the Upper Two girls!  This was a very enjoyable event and the school would like to take this opportunity to thank all the mums and Mr Carolan who were involved and made this match possible.

June Brown Visits

The Ursuline Preparatory School recently opened its doors to the ultimate Eastender, June Brown, otherwise known as Dot Cotton.

 
Taking a break from her role as launderette manageress and Albert Square do gooder, June visited the school for filming for a BBC1 documentary.  The documentary formed part of the BBC season, 'When I'm 55', which examined the situation of the elderly in Britain today.  June and the production crew visited the Ursuline on 'meet the grandparents day', a scheme which the school has been running in order to encourage its pupils to connect with their older family members.  Headmistress Pauline Wilson remarked, "It's only through sitting down and talking with their grandparents that the children can really begin to see them as people with past lives of their own and not just as grandad or nana.  This connection is vital for young people today to truly appreciate the older generation, understand about their family history and just take time out to listen and learn from those who might have something important to say."

In an entertaining twist, June was filmed as she observed the children doing some filming of their own.  The pupils were encouraged by June to create a short clip during which they interviewed their grandparents.  The actress prompted the children with questions and seemed delighted when the children uncovered stories that they never knew.  One pupil even discovered their grandfather had found an unexploded bomb when he was the same age!

In a day where the generations came together, stories were told, fun was had by all and the school's pupils became part of a vital message - that listening and respecting the older generation is vital to creating a successful new one.