Our Pre-Prep Reception class had a great time during their Senior School visit to the Dyson Building. The children worked with Mr Hazelwood to learn how to control the sphero bots, which teach programming and computer science while encouraging exploration, experimentation, and creativity. With the help our Year 12 STEAM ambassadors, the children controlled the paint-covered robots with a tablet to create a modern piece of art that will be displayed in the Pre-Prep School.
Each week the children are learning to code their Beebot robot by giving it certain instructions. They are learning to correct their algorithms if the Beebot doesn’t quite do as it is told! Their latest challenge was to complete the spellings of given word cards by making the Beebot travel along a route to the correct letter.
It was lovely to invite parents and pupils from all three schools back to enjoy our annual ‘Bunfire Night’ on the Senior School fields this weekend and help raise funds for this year’s School charity, the Holt Youth Project.
The refreshment opportunities were courtesy of FOGS (Friends of Gresham’s School) and hot food was available from local vendors ‘Fat Teds’ and ‘The Hen House Kitchen’. Gresham’s Enterprise pupil team were also on hand with their range of products.
‘The Guys’ (characters made by every Senior House) were escorted to the bonfire by School prefects which then led on to a tremendous display of fireworks.
Many families attended which made for a really good atmosphere.
The highlight of Year 2’s week was certainly their trip to Sandringham.
On arrival, a guide toured the pupils through the stunning gardens, where they got to see the beautiful lake in front of Sandringham house, which was full of carp and geese. Later they came across a magnificent oak tree that was 800 years old, 15 children managed to fit around it, holding hands! The group were then shown around the house by some fantastic guides. The children were fascinated by the extensive Asian arms collection in the Ballroom and the many guns in The Royal Gunroom. The children loved seeing the Queen’s paintings and statues of her racehorses. After walking back past St Mary Magdalene church, they then enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch. Finishing the day with a play and run around in the new adventure playground.
It can be challenging to stay fit and active during a national lockdown, especially during the winter months. Usually, our pupils get a large amount of time for sports and fitness during the week, so staff have put together a fantastic programme of activities for pupils to take part in. The sessions cover a large range of sports, skill types and abilities.
Staff from the Senior School have put together an excellent timetable of activities, ranging from morning Yoga and HIIT to improving Rugby, Netball and Cricket skills. Pupils can follow along with video tutorials or take part in live sessions throughout the week. These sessions are so positive for our pupils’ health and wellbeing, encouraging them to spend some important time away from the screen each day.
Our Prep School are currently running the ‘Lockdown Exercise Challenge’ which helps our younger pupils to stay active whilst competing for the most points for their tutor group. Any physical activity that they complete each day is worth one, two or three points depending on the effort level involved. Each week, pupils will submit their points and awards will be given to the tutor groups and individuals with the highest number of points.
Prep pupils have also been set the challenge of ‘Around the World Fitness’. All miles that pupils complete, whether this be through walking, running, riding, cycling or swimming, will be added together to move the grasshopper as far across the world as possible.
For our Pre-Prep children who are learning online, physical activity is built into their day. Our teachers are leading dance classes and even our Outdoor Wild Learning School (OWLS) for the children to enjoy at home. Children of key workers have been keeping active with their usual PE, dance and pilates classes at school.
Watch our 2020 Nursery and Pre-Prep Christmas Spectacular! The children dance, sing and act their way through the production which includes the Nativity, The Night Before Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock and much more.
An enormous Christmas tree has appeared in Chapel by the altar. It has been decorated with a huge number of stars from the Pre-Prep and Prep School. Written on each star is a Christmas prayer or wish from a young person. Senior School pupils are now very welcome to write their own star and add it to the tree. It could be a prayer, a star to remember someone that you love but see no longer or maybe just a thought you want to put somewhere.
We are currently holding a Christmas Tree Festival to raise money for a local charity, The Treehouse in Holt. The Chapel has been filled with over forty Christmas trees, all beautifully decorated by members of the Gresham’s community.
Trees represent every year group or boarding house at the Senior, Prep and Pre-Prep schools. The festival symbolically brings the whole Gresham’s family together under one roof at Christmas during a year when it has not been easy to meet together.
The School Chaplain, Father Jack Branford, came up with the idea and put a lot of work in to the organisation of the event. He said “I would like to thank everyone for all of their creativity and hard work in decorating their trees. They all look stunning and will create a beautiful atmosphere for Gresham’s upcoming Christmas events and services.”
The festival is raising money for two charities. The first is our charity of the year, The Treehouse, which is a local charity situated in Holt that aims to help vulnerable children and adults within the community. The second is one of the school’s long term Christmas charity partners, the Buckingham Emergency Food Appeal (BEFA). If you would like to donate to the Christmas Tree Festival you can do so from this weekend on the school Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Greshamschristmastreefestival2020?invite=true
Children at Gresham’s Pre-Prep celebrated Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Children used clay to make diyas, role-played the Rama and Sita story, created Rangoli patterns on the computers and during the weekly Outdoor Wild Learning School (OWLS) lessons.
World Nursery Rhyme Week is an annual initiative promoting the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood education.
This week at our Nursery and Pre-Prep, lots of Nursery Rhymes were sung, a large red bus was constructed and children who attended the weekly music hobby in Year 2 used the Rainbow bells and drums to accompany their singing.
