Issue 13

There was a buzz of excitement on the coach as Year 6 departed on their 5 day trip to the Picardy region in France. Ben, their fantastic driver, squeezed onto the Euro Shuttle and navigated the way to the Château du Broutel which was to be their home for the next week. After a fun game of Château Olympics they all settled down in their dorms for the night.

Day 1 began at the market in Etaples where they bought an array of items but also had to conduct a few interviews to find out various bits of information.  After this they headed to Jean Moulin school to meet their penpals and enjoy a picnic lunch together. Friendships were made and saying goodbye was emotional.  The evening was spent bowling in Berck-Sur-Mer and was very competitive and a lot of fun. 

Wednesday was filled with a visit to the Musee de Berck followed by a visit to the goat farm to meet Frank and Fred’s relatives. The children all sampled some of the cheese before heading off to Les Grottes de Naours where they learnt about smugglers and how they offered protection during various wars.

The final day began at Monsieur and Madame Matifas’ sweet shop. The children learnt the history of sweet making and of course sampled a few sweets too!  This was followed by lunch on the beach and then a visit to the snail farm. This was a lesson in science as well as a culinary experience. 

The trip finished back at the Chateau with a variety of team building games and the Chateau Quiz! 

It was wonderful to be back in France after having been unable to go for the last few years. The children were immersed in French culture and have made memories to last beyond Chandlings Prep. Thank you to all the staff and in particular to  Mlle Pasquini for organising such a fantastic trip. 

As temperatures have slowly warmed up in the last few weeks, Mrs Love and Mrs Hanslip have made their first hive checks of the year. During the winter the hives remain closed except for a quick addition of some extra food added to the very top of the hives to help sustain the bees. It seems such a long time ago that we had the extended cold period of weather.

During these first checks we were looking to see if our two bee colonies had managed to survive the winter. Generally when temperatures start reaching 14 degrees then it’s safe to open up the hives and check in the brood chamber for signs of the queen bee, and if there are eggs and larvae present.

With help from Daniel McGinness, our bee keeper mentor, we have been able to establish that both colonies had survived. In hive 1, we spotted our new queen from last year and we have marked her so that she is easier to see from now on. This hive was nicely busy and everything we saw points to a good spring and summer ahead. Hive 2 showed signs of swarming with many swarm cells present. On our second check it appears that the queen has swarmed and will have taken many thousands of the bees with her. Swarming is a honey bee colony's natural means of reproduction where, In the process of swarming, a single colony splits into two or more distinct colonies. We are hoping that as the swarm has happened early in the year, the remaining bees will be able to raise their own new queen. We will all keep our fingers crossed that the new colony establishes well in the few months ahead. We will update you later in the term!

On Friday 19th May, Year 1 set off with great excitement to the Discover Bucks Museum. The children were immersed in all of Roald Dahl's stories including crawling through Fantastic Mr Fox's tunnel, visiting Miss Trunchbull's Chokey and climbing inside James' Giant Peach. The children were given an opportunity to reenact a scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Augustus Gloop gets stuck inside the factory's chocolate tubes. Later in the day, the children were given the chance to create a patchwork blanket to give to Charlie to help keep him and his grandparents warm. Each child was given a patchwork square to create a design inspired by Roald Dahl's stories. The children had a great time and had lots to discuss at school the following week!  A big thank you must go to their teachers too after their coach broke down and they couldn't get picked up from the museum until 3 hours later.

There was much excitement when our Reception children came into school dressed as pirates last week. The morning began with a ‘pirate themed’ assembly. All the children had to visit 4 islands based on Chandlings values - Kindness Island, Sharing Island, Listening Island and Perseverance Island.  On each island they found a key which opened the treasure chest on Perseverance Island (as they had persevered to get there!). The treasure chest opened, to the children’s surprise, revealing a helium balloon inviting them all to a pirate lunch. They ended the assembly performing their pirate song.

The pirate lunch of fish and chips was eaten around a pirate ship where all the placemats were treasure maps and pirate flags that the children had made the day before. 

Every year we have a whole school creative writing project. This year, having had Valerie Bloom and AF Harrold visit us, we thought it would be nice to make poetry the focus. The theme was open so that each year group could choose their own topic and style of poem. An outstanding poem from each year group was chosen, framed and displayed in the middle block.  Reception wrote their poem as a class. It was fantastic to see the range of topics and styles showcasing the progression in writing from Reception to Year 6. Mrs Phillip has also noticed a rise in poetry books being borrowed from the library too.

Each week different year groups start the morning with themed exercise classes, from yoga and pilates to 80s themed aerobics with music pumping and the children jumping. This Friday it was Prep's turn (Y3-Y6) and they were all outside enjoying an exhilarating aerobics session led by Mr Brooks and Miss Hemsley. Staff and even some of our Nursery children joined in the fun. It was a great way to start the day (and half-term!)