February Newsletter - Rydes Hill Preparatory School

Spring Term, Issue 133
February 2015
The Rydes Hill Times
… our newsletter
keeping parents in touch
LETTER FROM THE HEADMISTRESS
DIARY DATES
Dear Parents
February
Tues 3rd
Pupil Council Meeting 1.00pm
Thurs 5th
Coffee Morning 8.30am Lower
Transition parents
U9(A & B) Netball v Holy
Trinity (Home) 3.30-5pm
Parent Consultation
Meetings 4-8pm
Fri 6th
Open morning
10.00am -12 noon
(Prospective parents only)
Tues 10th
Parent Consultation
Meetings 4-8pm
Wed 11th
Cake Sale 3.15pm
(Upper Transition)
Thurs 12th
IAPS Swimming Championships 9-11am
Fri 13th
Coffee Morning 8.30am Upper
Transition parents
Upper Transition Assembly
10.10am (Parents welcome)
Mon 16th Fri 20th
Half Term
Tues 24th
U10 (A&B) Netball v St Hilary’s (Away) 3.30-6pm
Wed 25th
Mass 9.15am Parents welcome, refreshments afterwards in Dining Hall
Thurs 26th
Middle Preparatory, Higher
Preparatory & Form One
outing to National Gallery
Fri 27th
Coffee Morning 8.30am
Lower Preparatory Parents
Well done to everyone getting in to
School during the snow this week!
Thank you for your wonderful generosity raising £3,038.30 for the
Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice and £567
for the Ebola crisis at our Christmas productions.
We are delighted to announce the
appointment of teacher Mrs Anna
White as joint Head of Nursery with
wonderful Mrs Bryson. Mrs Bryson
has decided to reduce her hours to
three days a week from this term
and Mrs White will take on the role
for two days a week. Also joining
the Nursery staff is Miss Shelly
Gee, also working as a Teaching
Assistant in the Main School.
We warmly welcome the following
new pupils and their families this
term: Dudley B, Felicity F, Imogen
F, Arabella J, Maryam M, Mahika
M, Natalie S, Alice S, Sushmita S,
Sienna T and Morgan T (Nursery);
Ottilie T -returning from Australia
(Kindergarten); Scarlett T returning from Australia (Lower
Transition); Amelia D (Lower Preparatory); Isabella D (Form One).
Huge congratulations to the Form
One girls and their teachers on the
outstanding senior school results
we are receiving. So far, as well as
the many offers of places, we are
delighted that the following five
scholarships have been awarded:
GRANDPARENTS COFFEE MORNING
Grandparents
enjoying their
special Coffee
Morning at the
end of last term.
Poppy D, Music Scholarship at
Farnborough Hill; Bronwyn W,
Music Scholarship at St Catherine’s; Anastasia Pipe, Academic
Scholarship at Prior’s Field; Poppy
D, Music Scholarship at Prior’s
Field and Isla N, Sports Scholarship at Millfield. Congratulations
to our talented pupils and their
dedicated teachers. More results
will follow soon.
More fantastic news this week of
our four swimmers on Saturday,
Ella C, Annabel M, Lola O and
Chloe R, who came second in the
ESSA Freestyle Relay competition
and third in the Medley Relay!
Congratulations girls! Photos will
follow in the next newsletter.
Congratulations to Isla N whose
team came 3rd out of 10 in the
South Surrey Sportshall athletics
competition.
Well done to Anya N for her performance in the Wind in the Willows
at the Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre in December (see page 8) and
to Juliette R who performed in
Beauty and the Beast in Windsor
in December.
As you know, we received the sad
news of the death of much loved
Sister Campion on 27th December, one month away from her
95th birthday. We have plans to
make a rose garden dedicated to
the Nuns at Rydes Hill and the
Form One girls have been invited
to an annual retreat day in the
summer term at the Convent of
the Daughters of Mary and Joseph
in Kent.
Congratulations to Nursery teacher, Ms Waldron on the birth of
beautiful Elsie in November
(photograph below) and to Mia L
in Kindergarten and her parents
on the birth of her brother Leo in
January.
There are a number of dates for
your diaries in March as follows:
our Founder’s Day Open Morning
on Saturday, 14th March which is
open to all parents and pupils, our
Founder’s Day Mass on Tuesday,
17th March, our Founder’s Day
Concert on Thursday, 19th March
at 6.30 pm, a series of performances during the day for the
children by the inspiring theatre
company Ten Ten on Wednesday,
25th March, an Easter mufti day
(dressing up in Easter colours or
costumes) on Monday, 30th
March with the traditional Easter
egg hunt, this year in aid of a
Brazilian charity for street children
‘Happy Child,’ and our Easter
Assembly on Tuesday 31st March.
God bless,
Stephanie Bell MA (Oxon)
ELSIE
Beautiful Elsie Evina
Christie born 16th November 2014, photographed just before the
end of term when proud
Mum, Yasmin Waldron,
Nursery Assistant,
brought her into School.
2-3Netball, 4-Upper Transition 5-Fishbourne 6- Press Cuttings, 7- Party Day 8- Silver Book
www.rydeshill.com
Email: enquiries@rydeshill.com
Tel: 01483 563160
Page 2
NETBALL NEWS
Hoe Bridge U9’s Tournament
The U9s played in their first netball
tournament on Saturday 10th January
at Hoe Bridge School. It was a wet, cold
and windy day but this didn’t stop our
team from playing as hard as they have
ever played before. It was a tough
morning; they had 11 matches to play
very close to one another so the girls
had to keep going all morning.
Their first match against Hoe Bridge 2
was great; we won 1-0. It was lovely to
see the girls play well together right
from the start. They managed to pass
the ball down to our shooting end with
accurate passing. The second match
against GHS was a little difficult for us
as GHS had a very tall shooter who was
able to catch the ball above any of our
players and shoot well. We ended up
winning 3 matches, drawing 4 matches
and narrowly losing 4 matches altogether. Rydes Hill came 6th out of 12
teams, which is a fabulous performance for their first tournament.
Pictured right are the U9 team who
played at Hoe Bridge
U10 Rydes Hill Netball Tournament
Report:
The U10 netball squad represented
Rydes Hill in the annual U10 Netball
Tournament held at Rydes Hill on
Saturday 24th January.
After a frosty start which saw Mr Rob
and a band of willing fathers spread
salt on the courts, the tournament
began! 10 schools in 2 sections took
part and it was a great morning of
fast and flowing netball which resulted in Guildford High winning the
shield for the 2nd consecutive year
and with St Hilary's as runners up.
The Rydes Hill team met St Hilary's in
their first match and lost but went on
to draw their next one against
Halstead. After losses against Barrow
Hills and St George's the team finished equal 3rd in their section.
The squad was Serra P, Lauren S,
Sathya R, Annabel M, Lottie B (Capt),
Ella C, Leonie MacD, Scarlett B and
Maddie M.
Continued on page 3
Well done to all the players who took part
and to all the wonderful parents who
came to support in the wind and rain; it
was very much appreciated by staff and
players!
Team players: Francesca H (Captain),
Isabel T, Georgia S, Zara K, Sofia S, Chloe
R, Amaya R and Dalal B.
An outstanding start to the New Year.
-Mrs J Smith
Netball matches v Tormead
The U9 and U8 netball teams played in
matches against Tormead on Tuesday
13th January at home.
The U9's got off to a flying start by scoring
their first goal in about 30 seconds from
the centre pass! They continued to play
confidently showing a high level of skill in
passing, dodging and shooting. When the
ball came down their end, the defence
were robust and began the attacking passing up the court again. All the team are to
be commended for their determined and
committed playing to win 10-0. A fantastic
result!
13 girls from Lower Preparatory took part
in the U8 match. They started well and
after the first quarter the score was 1-1
but the Tormead team were quicker in
passing the ball and Rydes Hill were giving
them a lot of space and room to dodge in.
Tormead won 5-1. This is just the beginning of the U8's netball journey and they
will make much more progress as they
learn and practise all the different skills.
Thanks to all the parents for their encouraging support on the sidelines and to Mr
Allin for helping Mr Rob with putting up
and taking down the floodlights. Also to the
kitchen staff for a lovely match tea.
-Mrs V Henry
Page 3
NETBALL NEWS
Grateful thanks to Chef Jan and all
the kitchen team for all their hard
work in serving coffee, tea, homemade soup and for making such a
lovely lunch for all the teams. Thank
you to Mrs C Smith for acting all
morning as our 1st Aider. Also to all
the parents for their support on the
sidelines and to Georgia S who was a
brilliant "runner" collecting all the
score cards throughout the morning.
Several comments were made by the
visiting PE staff on how friendly and
lovely this tournament always is, so
well done and thanks must go to Mrs
J Smith for all her organisation.
-Mrs V Henry
Pictured right are the U10 team who
played at the Rydes Hill Tournament
with Mrs Henry, Mrs Smith and Mrs
Copeland.
BREAKFAST CLUB
WORLD WAR ONE TOYS
WORLD WAR ONE TALK IN HIGHER
PREPARATORY
Today, Lauren’s Grandmother came to
see us to talk about World War One’s
toys and the way they comforted families with loved ones fighting in the war.
My favourite toy was the touch wood
charm which soldiers would touch before going to the front. I also liked the
thumbs up doll which was sent to the
soldiers to say go ahead, keep on
fighting.
At Christmas, soldiers would
receive a postcard saying Merry Christmas and Best Wishes.
I liked the nurse doll which had
a red and white dress.
I thoroughly enjoyed the talk
and I thought it would appeal
to people who were studying
World War One toys. I thought
that we would just see pictures, but I was amazed to see
real toys which we could touch
and feel.
-Amelia K
For parents who want to drop their children at
7.30am to catch early trains and want their
children to start the day with a healthy breakfast, the School runs a Breakfast Club. Breakfasts consist of fresh fruit, fruit juices, cereals, yoghurts, toast and jams/marmalade with
either croissants or pancakes. This continental breakfast is served by Mrs Bookham, costs
£5 and can be booked in advance using the
form available on the School website.
Page 4
UPPER TRANSITION FIND OUT ABOUT GUILDFORD
Upper Transition visited Guildford as
part of their Geography topic on “Our
Locality”. Kyle explained that we were
met under Tunsgate Arch by Mrs Bale,
our guide, who told us many interesting
facts about the History of the town.
Some of the facts the class learnt are
included below.
Lilia wrote that Guildford is a twin town
with Freiberg in Germany and on the
paving underneath the Tunsgate Arch
you can see two mosaic pictures. On
one there is a castle, a lion and two
packs of wool. Aleeza added that she
had never seen such an amazing picture on the floor before.
It was fortunate the Guildhall happened
to be open and we were able to go inside. It is a large, tall, wood panelled
hall and Mia F explained that there are
a lot of beautiful, big paintings of famous Kings and Queens who were
linked with Guildford in the past. We
also saw where the Judge sat and the
door to the underground passage that
the prisoners walked along. This linked
the Guildhall to the Court.
Then we walked up the High Street to
Abbots Hospital. Sophia explained that
this was a place set up by George Abbot
for the poor people in 1618. There is s
money box on the wall with the date on.
Jessica explained that if you are over
60 and poor you can live there now.
Maria added that you also have to
have lived in Guildford for the past
20 years and they are still collecting
money in the box.
At the top of the High Street, Shakthi
told us the large statue of a man
holding a Bible is George Abbott. He
was made the Archbishop of Canterbury. Hayley wrote about the story
that Mrs Bale told us which was that
George Abbot’s mother was told that
if she dropped her bucket in the River Wey and caught a pike, then she
would have a baby boy, and she did.
As we walked back down the High
Street we stopped and looked up at
the beautiful clock. Temisha and
Loriane said that it was made in
1683 by a man from London. He
made the fancy black and gold clock
for the town and the people allowed
him to stay in Guildford.
Lower down the High Street opposite
the Angel Posting House we went
down to the wine cellar. Molly said
that there was a model of the man.
He was dressed in red woollen
clothes, and the top of the garment
was decorated with crushed lady-
birds. Wool and many other goods
were brought to Guildford from the
countryside on barges on the River
Wey and this made Guildford an important trading town.
Then we walked over the Town
Bridge which Victoria said was built a
very long time ago to make it much
easier to cross over to the town. We
went to the lock where Sophie explained that it was being mended at
the moment and the lock was to
change the height of the water.
From there we walked up a very narrow passage to The Castle. Josie
explained that lots of Kings and
Queens have lived there. We had our
talk in what used to be the dungeons
where the prisoners were kept and
she explained that the windows were
very narrow so it was difficult for the
enemies to shoot arrows in. We
climbed the narrow, steep and winding steps to the top and we could see
the whole of Guildford.
We all enjoyed our very interesting
trip to Guildford, despite the freezing
weather and numb toes!!
-Mrs Baker and Upper Transition
Page 5
MIDDLE PREPARATORY VISIT FISHBOURNE PALACE
On Wednesday 19th November,
Middle Preparatory went on an
exciting trip to Fishbourne Roman
Palace, to learn about the Romans.
Firstly, we watched a movie that
explained in which year the Palace
was built (AD75 & AD80). We learnt
that the Palace was discovered in
1960 by people digging a water
trench.
After seeing the movie, we went into
the museum where we saw some
Roman coins which were very old,
then a guide told us a bit more about
the Palace and how the west wing
had burnt down.
Next we went to the workshop. The
guide showed us a Roman kitchen
and then a tablet which Roman
scholars used for writing on.
After she helped Sofia and Sneha to
dress up. Sneha wore a tunic which
would have been coloured with dye
made from crushed snail shells. She
was dressed up like an Emperor.
Sofia was an Empress, she wore a
blue silk dress that came from Gaul
(France) and the edges were coated
with gold. On her head she wore a
garland of flowers. A purple cloak
was draped over her shoulders and a
dragon brooch fastened to her tunic.
Eventually we made our own
mosaics. I made a trefoil and had a
go at writing my name in Roman.
At 1 o’clock we had lunch and then
went to see the Roman mosaics. I
spotted Cupid (God of Love) riding on
a dolphin. There was also a cross
which played an optical illusion on
my eyes.
Next we went out into the garden and
saw the Forum.
At the end we went to the gift shop
and there were lots of lovely things to
buy. I bought a Roman bookmark.
I had such a fun exciting day.
-Sophie D
Middle Preparatory went to
Fisbourne Roman Palace because
we are learning about the Romans.
We arrived by minbus. We sat on
some benches and ate our snacks
and then we had an amazing time
running up a big hill and back down
again. After that we watched a short
film about the Palace.
Next we split into groups. Some
people went outside and some went
to the museum which was very
interesting. There were lots of things
to see. Later we went to the workshop.
In the workshop there were lots of
tables full of fascinating things. I
started in the kitchen. It was just like
a real Roman kitchen. My friends and
I made a big Roman dinner. It was so
much fun. Afterwards we went
straight to the garden.
The thing I enjoyed most was that we
learnt so much and had the best day
ever.
-Caterina L-M
Page 6
RYDES HILL IN THE PRESS
Three articles
featuring Rydes
Hill which have
been printed in
the Surrey Advertiser recently.
Page 7
PUPILS’ SUCCESSES
In December I appeared in Wind in the
Willows with the Yvonne Arnaud Youth
Theatre. I played the Jailer's Daughter
and the company performed 6 shows at
the Mill Studio. It was like a test in a
way to show not just your family, but
also the public what you could do. I had
an amazing time performing the wonderful songs and brilliant choreography.
I would definitely recommend it for
young children aged 8 to 13, who want
to show their talent in a play.
- Anya N
Pictured right is former Rydes Hill pupil
Anna L, who won a silver medal in the
British Junior Ladies Figure Skating
Championship in November 2014
Well done Anya & Anna
-Mrs S Bell
CHRISTMAS PARTY DAY
Page 8
Silver Book
Week ending 9th January
Excellent Work
Excellent Conduct
Alina W-C
Tilly T
Lakita T
Scarlett T
Temisha V
Danyal F
Natalya F
Katrina S
Sarah-Jane W
Laila M
Maisy A
Serra P
Isabella D
Dixie McK
Music Award
Bronwyn W for page turning for the organist at
Guildford Cathedral and for passing her
audition for SW Surrey Youth Orchestra
PE Award
Amaya R for excellent netball skills
Science Award
Aurora C for her interest in microscopic work
*********
Week ending 16th January 2015
Excellent Work
Excellent Conduct
Isabella S
Amelia D
Rebecca P
Sophie H
Bradford Q-M
Olivia C
Nishkala G
Lily C
Jessica D
Josephine T
Ella C
Sathya R
Katie H
Bronwyn W
Music Award
Olivia C for her excellent participation in Viva
Violins
PE Award
Isabel T for good netball skills at the Hoe
Bridge Tournament
Science Award
Jessica R for all her lovely scientific
experiments at home
Special Girdle
Eloise R for bravery
*********
Week ending 23rd January 2015
Excellent Work
Excellent Conduct
Isobel F
Lola B
Isabel R
Harry A
Sophie S
Loriane H
Hana F
Priya T
Maddie E
Fatoumatta S
Leonie MacD
Grace F
Andrea A
Isla N
French Girdle
Sophie H for her excellent and enthusiastic
participation
Music Award
Francesca H for gaining distinction in her
Grade 1 piano exam
PE Award
Annabel M for excellent netball skills in both
the lesson and the match this week
Science Award
Scarlet B for her skill in predicting what will
happen in the experiment on tooth decay
Special Girdle
Freya S for constant hard work and her
amazing performance in the ballet exams
Poppy D and Anastasia P for gaining
scholarships
Week ending 30th January
Excellent Work
Excellent Conduct
Mia L
Daisy P
Freya S
Rebecca P
Mia P
Sophie Sp
Natalie A
Eleanor C
Isobel T
Dalal B
Lilly D
Natalia F
Dixie McK
Aurora C
French Girdle
Anastasia P for excellent work in lessons
Music Award
Natalia F for excellent work towards her
Grade 1 piano exam
PE Award
Danyal F for excellent skills, fantastic concentration and practising
Science Award
Zara K for her interest in scientific investigation
Special Girdle
Bronwyn W for her music scholarship to St
Catherine’s
Ballet Award
Victoria S for constant hard work
House Points
CHILDREN’S
SECTION
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
February
1st
Alice S
2nd
Fatoumatta S
4th
Ella C
7th
11th
Aurora C
Priya T
Scarlett T
16th
Francesca H
22nd
Sophie D
26th
Anjali B
27th
Tristan C
Lilia H
16th January 2015
CAMPION
62
GERALD
60
PATRICIA
58
PETER
53
Winner — Campion
OVERHEARD IN
RYDES HILL
23rd January 2015
CAMPION
142
GERALD
112
PATRICIA
169
PETER
195
Child: “My Mummy has sprayed
her perfume on my scarf so that I
can smell her when I am at
School.”
Winner — Peter
30th January 2015
CAMPION
202
GERALD
166
PATRICIA
162
PETER
163
Winner — Campion
Eau de Mum
Child 1: “You cannot tell a grown
up what to do.”
Child 2: “ She’s not a grown up,
she’s my Mum.”