The Year 4 ‘Rubbish Orchestra’ turned out to be anything but rubbish! The boys and girls used their knowledge of how sounds are made and how to change the pitch and volume of a note, to design their own instruments.
They then up-cycled items of household rubbish, giving them new life as fantastic guitars, drum kits and flutes! Two super-groups were formed: ‘The Rice Girls’ and ‘Boyz Band’. The groups performed their own compositions, to great critical acclaim!
Bravo et encore! Those were the cheers after the Year Five assembly last week. The class wowed their audience with a fantastic rendition of the Gingerbread Man, acted solely in French! The children showed off the amazing progress they have made with the French language this year. They began with an energetic version of the French alphabet sung with brilliant gusto.
They then showed how fluent they have become with classroom instructions, demonstrating their confidence with everything from saying they have finished their work to asking to go to the toilet in French! The main act was a brilliant performance of the classic children’s tale.
Every single child should be rightly proud of their authentic accents and acting skills, bringing the story to life in a fun way. The assembly was completed with prayers in French, something which forms part of their daily classroom routine. Parents and fellow pupils alike were amazed at their French skills and the children were delighted to finish the day with a chocolate gingerbread man cake to celebrate. Félicitations!
Five gymnasts from Upper Prep Felicity, Pippa, Finn, Mairead and Lilly-Ella entered both the floor and vault sections of the competition.
Felicity and Finn were our advanced gymnasts competing against 24 others and Pippa, Mairead and Lilly-Ella were our intermediates competing against 33 others.
Our gymnasts performed excellently, after only a short period of choreography and rehearsal. Our hard work paid off and we came home with the following medals.
Finn – gold in advanced floor and silver in vault
Lilly-Ella – silver in intermediate floor
Felicity – won the advanced artistry award for the beautiful and fluent execution of her routine.
Well done to all of our gymnasts and thank you to Zoli & Yvette Lang at Flipside fitness and Toni Connolly at Ribble Valley Acrobatics Academy for the time and tuition they put into their gymnasts.
Maisey in Year Five is a Maths whizz! Along with other children in Prep, the class recently entered an online Maths competition. Pupils were pitted against a host of other children from schools, both primary and secondary, across Lancashire. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed getting involved in the Mental Arithmetic challenge. As a class, Year 5 came in fifth position out of all the schools. However, even better news came for star pupil, Maisey Dillon. She finished in an extremely impressive 3rd place overall! Well done, Maisey. We are very proud of you!
In thanks for their efforts to raise almost £500 over Easter, the Prep School Student Council recently attended a special service at St Alban’s RC Church, Blackburn organised by the St Joseph’s Penny charity. The thanksgiving mass was led by the Reverend Canon Jude Harrison. The picture shows the council being thanked by Mark Wiggins, CEO of the St Joseph’s Penny Charity.
On the final day we got up, got dressed, got packed and said goodbye to the Youth Hostel we had been staying at. For the morning activity went to Tree Top Trek near Windermere.
We had to harness up and then we had to walk up a wooden tower.
It was very windy. It felt like I was going to fall off.
The instructors attached us to a wire and the we had to walk across a bridge. There was no turning back!
I felt terrified all the way through my legs were shaking. But I really enjoyed it and I did it all. Even the higher course. At the end we got to zip wire 150m down into a field.
I’m glad I’m still alive!
By Ellis Lund Year 9
Year 8 left school on Thursday morning for a long walk to Downham, skirting the base of Pendle Hill. Despite the damp weather students were in fine form and kept very positive with each other and on the walk.
We arrived at Downham in time for some natural art making and an ice cream from the lovely Michelle at Downham Ice Cream shop. We then headed to the barn to make our camp: building tents, creating fire and eating a BBQ followed by toasted marshmallows.
The day ended with fun team games expertly led by Miss Cunningham. Mr Chatburn was superb as chief wood chopper and BBQ extraordinaire and Year 8 were absolutely fantastic.
They made us all proud as they treated each other with respect and kindness and kept happy despite the rain. Well done, Year 8!
