The Rydes Hill Times - Rydes Hill Preparatory School

Autumn Term, Issue 122
November 2013
The Rydes Hill Times
… our newsletter
keeping parents in touch
DIARY DATES
Letter from the Headmistress
October—November
Dear Parents,
Mon 21st—
Fri 1st Nov
HALF TERM
Mon 4th
Poppies on sale all week from School
Office
Wed 6th
Cake Sale Higher Preparatory 3.15pm
Mon 11th
Remembrance Assembly Lower
Preparatory 10.50am
Thurs 14th
Lower Preparatory outing to Butser
Fri 15th
Christmas Colours Mufti Day - red,
green, silver or gold - please bring a
bottle for the FRHPS Christmas Fair
Bottle Stall
Coffee Morning Middle Preparatory
8.30am
Coffee Morning Form One 8.30am
Fri 22nd
“Sing Out Loud” Higher Preparatory
Music Day at St George’s College
Sun 24th
FRHPS Christmas Fair
Thurs 28th
Cake Sale Middle Preparatory 3.15pm
Fri 29th
Coffee Morning Higher Preparatory
8.15am
December
Tues 3rd
Advent Mass St Mary’s Church 9.15am
Wed 4th
Christmas Production (Kindergarten–
Lower Preparatory) for families and
children 2pm
Thurs 5th
Christmas Production (Kindergarten–
Lower Preparatory) for Grandparents
2pm
Christmas Production (Kindergarten–
Lower Preparatory) 6pm
Fri 6th
Coffee Morning All Grandparents
8.15am
Tues 10th
Nursery Nativity 11am
Thurs 12th
Carol Service at St Mary’s Church
6.30pm
Fri 13th
Christmas Party
End of Term
3.15pm (Nursery—Upper Transition)
3.30pm (Preparatory)
It is hard to believe that we
have reached half term already. What an exciting and
full first half of term we have
had in the last six weeks!
Three classes have been on
outings; Form One visited
Dapdune Wharf to enhance
their topic on Rivers, Kindergarten had an educational
day at Birdworld and Upper
Transition had a morning in
Guildford learning about the
history of our town including a
visit to the Guildhall.
Our netball teams have been
busy. As well as training in
extra netball clubs at
lunchtimes and after school,
they have played three more
away tournaments and hosted two teams for matches
here, with match teas provided by Chef Jane.
The whole of Higher Preparatory took part in a tournament
at Tormead where the three
teams played three matches,
winning two (5-0 and 4-2!)
and drawing one (0-0) which
was a fantastic result. Well
done Higher Preparatory!
The U11 team played in a
tournament at Guildford High,
coming second in the first
round group and winning one
match. Two U9 teams played
at St Catherine’s. The U11 A
team also won 9-1 against
Queen Eleanor’s!
In the Cross Country event at
St Catherine’s we were delighted that Lottie B came first
overall and Lola and Ella C
came joint fourth! Well done
girls!
Our thanks to our fantastic PE
Department, Mrs Smith, Mrs
charity Besom, recommended
by one of our parents, Mrs
Wilkinson, to be our charity of
the year. Besom is the name in
the Bible for a "broom" and the
vision of the charity is to
sweep away poverty and suffering. Guildford is a very
affluent town but there are
pockets of social deprivation in
our community. Besom provides clothes, furniture, white
goods and practical help to
local individuals and families in need.
Copeland and Mrs Henry, for
all their hard work.
Our new swimming lessons at
Surrey Sports Park are featured on page six. We are now
using a large coach on Fridays,
as well as the minibuses, to
enable us to take the children
to the pool more quickly. Congratulations to Annabelle M
who did exceptionally well at a
swimming gala recently, winning three cups, featured on
page six!
The sum of £189 was raised in
the recent Form One cake sale
which just goes to show what
good bakers we have in
school! Mrs J. Smith has already put to good use the
camera which she bought with
the proceeds of the cake sale.
We are so grateful to the tireless efforts of our parents and
the Friends of Rydes Hill who
work in so many different ways
to raise money for the school.
Another trophy and medal
winner is Evie S from Higher
Preparatory, who is becoming
a very accomplished horserider. Evie and her beautiful pony
Barney are shown on page
seven.
We have published our outstanding Speech and Drama
results from last term in full on
page ten. We are incredibly
grateful to Mrs Quinn for all
her hard work and congratulations go to all the children who
achieved 100% pass rate,
many with merits, distinctions
and full marks! No mark was
below 74% which is exceptional.
We are excited about a new
addition to our Christmas Fair
this year, a gingerbread house
bake-off! More information
about this competition is in the
attached newsletter from our
dynamic Chairman of FRHPS,
Mrs Hall!
Congratulations also to our
talented ballerinas who
passed more exams at the end
of last term, in particular to
Alicia W who gained a distinction.
The entire staff team joins me
in thanking you for your marvellous support and in wishing
you all a happy and restful half
term. God bless,
Thank you to all the parents
who so generously donated
items for our Harvest collection. As you will see on page
eleven, we were able to donate
all your gifts to two charities in
Guildford, Footsteps and The
Number Five Project which
both help local homeless people.
We have chosen another local
2-3: Dapdune Wharf 4-5: Birdworld 6-7: Swimming & Cross Country
8-9: Netball 10-11: Awards & News 12: Silver Book
www.rydeshill.com
Email: enquiries@rydeshill.com
Tel: 01483 563160
Page 2
A DAY BY THE RIVER!
OUR VISIT TO DAPDUNE WHARF
By Danielle K, Form One
Today we visited the River Wey at the
Dapdune Wharf, we learnt a lot about
the river and its barges.
We stepped off the coach. I looked
around. There was the River Wey
which we had learnt all about!
The Wey is a tributary of the Thames.
We were led into a large room where
we were divided into groups of ten.
Our leader gave us an on-site tour;
then we went into an eighty-one year
old barge. It took two men fifteen
months to build!
Before we explored the rest of the
barge, we were told the history of the
barge.
This barge had been made there and
had served carrying cargo to London.
This was until the barge crashed and
got a hole in its side. Its owner did not
think it was worth shipping back to the
Wharf and sold it on.
The next owner used it as a nightclub
for a couple of years until finally, when
the nightclub moved, this owner did not
ll
We were shown a small room where the
Mate and Skipper (Captain) lived. Many
things had multi uses. The cabin boy did
the dirty work and lived with the cargo.
Sometimes he would have to pull the
barge for the horse when it was tired.
When we got to look around, we were
put in groups of three and four.
We looked into barrels to see information and models.
We got to look at the “Smithy’s Workshop” and a place with a model and
some ropes with fifty-eight kilogram
weights that you had to pull.
think he would get anything for it if he
sold it on so he just abandoned it on
the river.
By this time the National Trust owned
Dapdune Wharf and had been looking
for the barge which was the eleventh
out of the thirteen made there.
Just by luck, they found it fifteen years
ago and recognised it! It has since
then been restored and displayed.
There would have been three crew
members and a barge horse which
pulled the barge on land. The cabin
boy had to look after it.
Page 3
FORM ONE VISITS DAPDUNE WHARF
We looked at some models of the Wey’s course
and locks. Did you know
that at Dapdune Wharf,
barges are measured to
fit exactly between the
locks?
We did an experiment dropping oranges and timing how
long they took to travel, to
see how fast the river was.
We timed this for ten metres.
Our results were:
At the middle of the river:
1 minute 2 seconds
At the side of the river:
1 minute 38 seconds.
This tells us the river is flowing faster towards the middle
due to the friction from the
river bank.
By Danielle K Form One
Page 4
KINDERGARTEN VISIT BIRDWORLD
On Monday 7th October
we took Kindergarten, to
visit Birdworld in Farnham. Lucky to have a sunny Autumn day, we spent
a very busy time in the
fresh air exploring a range
of birds and animals.
First, we enjoyed watching the penguins at feeding time. We had an
interesting talk about
these birds, discovering
that they can be identified by the black marks
on their tummies! They
dived and swam in front
of us demonstrating what
skilful birds they were!
After our morning snack
and a little play on the
adventure playground, we
then toured the centre,
seeing a great variety of
birds from flamingos to
owls. We all enjoyed
watching the peacocks
strut around us as we
walked.
Next, we visited Heron
Theatre for a workshop
on different animals. We
learnt about a parrot
called Noddy, who was
very cheeky, and an owl
called Whisper, who flew
over our heads silently.
We loved stroking the
rabbits and guinea pigs
and we even touched a
snake!
We were ready for our
picnic at 12.30pm and
then it was time to visit
the farm animals. Pigs,
chickens, goats and reindeer were just some of
the animals we managed
to see.
At 2.15pm our coach arrived to take us back to
school. We were all exhausted after our busy
trip. Some of us even had
forty winks on the journey
back! A great day was
had by all.
-Mrs K Phillips, Teacher
Page 5
KINDERGARTEN VISIT BIRDWORLD
Page 6
SWIMMING AT SURREY SPORTS PARK
The new swimming lessons which started this
term are a huge success. The children are
enjoying and benefitting
from the expert coaching
by the Surrey Sports
Park teachers.
We are so fortunate to
have a world class swimming venue on our doorstep.
-Mrs Bell
SUPER SWIMMER!
To the right is a photograph of Annabelle M from Middle Preparatory
with an amazing selection of cups and medals; there were so many
that she needed help holding them all! Annabelle won the cups for
swimming in butterfly, backstroke and freestyle events at a Woking
Swimming Club gala. Although she swims in the over 10 group,
Annabelle is only 8 years old.
What an achievement, well done Annabelle!
-Mrs Bell
Page 7
CROSS COUNTRY SUCCESS
Cross Country at St Catherine’s on Tuesday 15 October
With all the excitement of running our first
Cross Country race this term, all the girls
were really well prepared and wanted to
do well. Cross Country is a hard sport to
tackle, but it is extremely rewarding as we
saw on Tuesday 15th October at St Catherine’s.
The girls really achieved something incredible after completing a tough race
against 9 competitive schools, each having 7 runners in every year group. The
weather was good to us but the ground
was muddy and soft.
Although it can feel punishing at times, in
the end, the physical results and friendships built by sharing in the training and
pain involved can be life changing, as was
seen with the buzzing energy from the
excited girls afterwards. Cross-country
offers the girls a chance to better their
own individual goals and it can be a very
competitive team event, depending on
the level of commitment each competitor
chooses.
This was evident in the U8’s who have
never entered anything like this before.
They stood exactly where the teacher
asked them to stand towards the rear of
the field and they showed incredible team
work and talent, as they moved up the
field to gain their places. The U8’s and
U9’s have been to every practice since
Lower Trans; they have supported one
another and encouraged one another.
They are setting new individual times,
while learning self-discipline.
The U9’s showed incredible team spirit
running twice the distance this year than
they did last year, gaining fantastic places. Lottie B had an outstanding first, running with ease, looking relaxed and happy
(shown in the photograph on the right
with her medal).
Ella Ca fought the whole way round,
showing determination and challenging
the front runners, being rewarded by
gaining a fourth place.
Lola ran another great race for the U10’s
coming in with the top runners and claiming a fourth.
Cross country not only improves your
speed but focuses on endurance; Zara M
showed this in her race for the U11’s
when she came in sixteenth out of a field
of sixty three.
There are lots of challenges involved in
cross-country running; you learn to push
yourself in ways you never thought possible. I am looking forward to seeing them
all develop through training hard and
building a first class team together. I
could not be more proud of my team.
Well done girls!
-Mrs Copeland
RIDING SKILLS
On the left is a photograph of
Evie S from Higher Preparatory
with her trophy and medals
which she won for horseriding,
jumping and cross country. The
trophy was awarded to her for
best riding club pony 14.2hh
and under.
The photograph on the right
shows Evie on her pony,
Barney, representing Chiddingfold Farmers at the Area 13
Mini Pony Club South East
championships where her team
were placed 2nd in the dressage & she came 7th as an
individual out of 30.
Well
done, Evie!
-Mrs Bell
Page 8
NETBALL NEWS
GUILDFORD HIGH SCHOOL TOURNAMENT
The U11 netball squad played in the
Guildford High School tournament on
Friday 4th October. In their section they
played and lost to Halstead, drew with St
Ives and beat Tormead.
They finished equal 2nd in the section
with St Ives and from there they went on
to play other matches in the plate competition. They narrowly lost 4-5 to Barrow
Hills and then to GHS 'B' 2-3 but finished
with a win against Queen Eleanor's 5-2.
In a majority of the matches the team
defence encountered fast, attacking play
at their end. The team is aiming for greater consistency with tighter marking, passing and shooting. The U11 team is shown
in the photograph to the right and below.
-Mrs Henry
ST CATHERINE’S MATCH FOR U9 TEAMS
Page 9
NETBALL VICTORIES!
TORMEAD TOURNAMENT VICTORIES!
The whole of Higher Preparatory were
invited to represent Rydes Hill in netball
against Tormead on 10th October. We
used both minibuses to transport the
class to play three matches.
It was a very exciting winning match (4-2)
for the green team who unfortunately
went down to 6 players due to Anjali tripping whilst playing and injuring herself.
Bronwyn and Aurora were able to pass
the ball to Dixie and Isla who scored successfully. Andrea was very good at stopping the opposition catching the ball in
the shooting circle and Anya was successful in playing in a number of positions
The U9 A and B teams played their first
netball matches against St Catherine's
on Tuesday 8th October.
The A team lost 6-13 but played with
increasing confidence and accuracy.
The B team lost 1-5 and needs to practise tighter marking all round.
The following girls in MP represented
Rydes Hill: Sathya R, Ella C, Serra P,
Lottie B, Ella C, Leonie M, Juliette R,
Maddie M, Scarlett B, Lilly D, Isabella K,
Annabel M, Amelia K, Lauren S and
Natalia F.
Well tried girls and keep practising, at
the lunchtime club on Tuesdays with
Mrs Henry and at the after school club
throughout the game despite finding it
challenging.
The blue team won 5-0 and played tremendously; they were able to pass the
ball to our shooters, Anastasia and Virginia, who were very accurate. Camilla and
Carrie worked together in defence well
and intercepted many of Tormead’s passes.
The yellow team drew (0-0) but played
well too; the teams were equally matched
in this game as we saw the ball being
passed backwards and forwards with
both sets of shooters having equal opportunities. Poppy and Erin played exceptionally well while Eloise tried very hard to
score as our shooter.
Our recommendations to all the players
would be to improve footwork, passing
the ball accurately and with power and to
be always be the first to snatch loose
balls.
Well done to Higher Prep for playing fantastically well and coming back to Rydes
Hill with two wins and a draw!
Green team WON 4-2, Blue team WON 50 & Yellow team DREW 0-0. Superb effort
girls!
-Mrs Smith & Mrs Copeland
on Thursdays with Mrs Smith as well as
in your weekly lessons.
The final score was 9-1 to Rydes Hill.
Well played girls!
U11 A AND B NETBALL MATCHES V
QUEEN ELEANOR'S
The B team came close to scoring,
having lots of attempts on goal, but
narrowly lost 0-2 by the end of the 4
quarters. Faster and more accurate
passing with closer marking in defence
was needed. Well tried girls!
Two teams from Form One played in
netball matches against QE on Tuesday
15th October.
The A team got off to a slow
and inaccurate start in this match and
at the end of the first quarter they were
drawing 1 all in goals .....but then QE did
not score another goal as the A team
quickened their passing down court and
the flow of play improved hugely!
- Mrs Henry
Page 10
OUTSTANDING SPEECH & DRAMA RESULTS
GRADE !
INTRO D
Grace S
74
Pass
Lilly D
80
Merit
Sneha B
75
Pass
Georgia C
84
Merit
Camie W
84
Merit
Juliette R
87
Merit
Chloe R
90
Distinction
Serra P
90
Distinction
Jessica D
91
Distinction
Sathya R
90
Distinction
Caterina LM
91
Distinction
Lauren S
93
Distinction
Dalal B
93
Distinction
Scarlett B
95
Distinction
Francesca H
93
Distinction
Isabella K
96
Distinction
Georgia S
93
Distinction
Natalia F
96
Distinction
Sarah Jane W
94
Distinction
Leonie M
97
Distinction
Sophie D
94
Distinction
Charlotte B
99
Distinction
Laila M
98
Distinction
Maisy A
100
Distinction
Zara Karim
98
Distinction
Amelia K
100
Distinction
Ella C
100
Distinction
GRADE 2
Virginia S
87
Merit
INTRO D
Phoebe T
87
Merit
Julia B
80
Merit
Maria Luisa B
92
Distinction
Maddie H
84
Merit
Andrea A
93
Distinction
Issie T
85
Merit
Olivia HM
94
Distinction
Charlotte H
86
Merit
Georgia S
95
Distinction
Alicia S
88
Merit
Sienna F
95
Distinction
Lana F
90
Distinction
Isla N
96
Distinction
Grace S
92
Distinction
Giovanna LM
96
Distinction
Ella S
93
Distinction
Carrie H
97
Distinction
Blair F
93
Distinction
Aurora C
97
Distinction
Jessica T
95
Distinction
Anya N
98
Distinction
Olivia S
95
Distinction
Lola O
98
Distinction
Libby C
98
Distinction
Bronwyn W
98
Distinction
Charlotte N
100
Distinction
Anastasia P
98
Distinction
Holly B
100
Distinction
Evie S
98
Distinction
Camilla T
98
Distinction
Evie C
89
Award
Thrinethra GS
94
Award
Sofia F
98
award
GRADE 4
Davina B
74
Pass
Duhu M
90
Distinction
JUNIOR BRONZE
MEDAL
Well done to all our pupils and congratulations to
Mrs Quinn on another outstanding set of results.
-Mrs Bell
Page 11
BALLET NEWS
RECENT BALLET AWARDS
Pre Primary in Dance Passes
Gloria K
Aleeza K
Maria F
Chloe E
Nishkala G
Priya T
Isobel S
Hazel B
Mia P
Grace S Merit
Sofia S Merit
Maude H-L Merit
Amelia H Merit
Daniela M Merit
Alicia W Distinction
Dance Competition
Georgia S entered her first
Tudor Rose Festival of
Dance Competition at the
weekend and achieved 81%
Primary in Dance
HIGHER PREPARATORY ASSEMBLY
HARVEST GIFTS
Form One girls help to pack the school minibus with boxes of
Harvest produce kindly donated by pupils, staff and parents.
The entire stage was filled with gifts to be given to
Footsteps and The Number Five Project, both local charities
which the school has supported for many years.
OUR CREATION ASSEMBLY
On Thursday 3rd October, Higher Preparatory put on an assembly on Creation. We told the story of how God created the world.
During the assembly we recited The Creation, a poem by James
Weldon Johnson. We were split into groups and added actions
to the words. We all had a word on a piece of card to explain
how God would want us to behave now.
Here are some comments from our audience:
“The most exciting bit was when the lights went out. I want to be
God when I am in Miss Boyle’s class.”
Bradford Lower Transition
“There were beautiful, clear voices and an excellent God.”
Mrs Quinn
“We all loved it.“
Anjali & Aurora
“A really informative assembly, well acted with eager participation by the entire class.”
Mrs Bell
Footsteps is a Drop-in-Centre in Guildford which helps as
many as 20 to 30 homeless men and women, young and
old.
The Number Five Project is Guildford's only direct access
night shelter for the homeless, offering a hot meal, a hot
shower, laundry and a bed to 14 males and 2 females every
night, 365 days a year.
Thank you to everyone for your generosity to those in need.
-Mrs Bell
FORM ONE CAKE SALE
The Form One cake sale raised a fantastic £189 which is
enough for Mrs J Smith to purchase a camera and books for
the Form One classroom. Thank you to all parents, grandparents and children who baked, bought, sold or simply helped
make this large amount of money for Form One.
A very good result all round.
-Mrs Newell & Mrs Brown
Page 12
Silver Book
Week ending 4th October 2013
Excellent Work
Excellent Conduct
Rosario A
Freya
Shakthi
Mia F
Rupert
Natalya F
Francesca H
Chloe R
Maddie M
Serra P
Aurora
Lola
Olivia S
Holly
French Award
Georgia S for excellent presentation
Music Award
Lily C for composing a violin tune “Freddie’s
Song”
Physical Education Award
Issie T for excellent netball skills
Science Award
Millie G for her interest in Autumn Changes
Special Girdle
Alicja S & Blair for sitting Grammar School
examinations
*********
Week ending 11th October 2013
Excellent Work
Excellent Conduct
Harriet T
Mathilde
Josie G
Jessica R
Raina
Nishkala
Caterina
Maude H-L
Grace F
Maisie A
Music Award
Lola O for good progress with her saxophone and
participation in the Orchestra
Physical Education Award
Anastasia for excellent shooting in the netball
match v Tormead
Science Award
Alice L for excellent writing
Special Girdle
Anjali B for bravery after falling in a netball match
Overheard in Rydes Hill
Nursery!
Child: “I want the
dog”
Teacher: “ What do
you say?”
Child: “Now!”
Teacher: “What is
mustard?”
Child: “It makes your
mouth all hot and
spiky!”
Child: “Do dinosaurs
eat people?”
Teacher: “Yes, but
they are extinct, they
lived a long time
ago.”
Child: “ Yes, when
Mummy was little.”
Teacher: “Good Morning. How are
you..fine?”
Child: “ No I’m three!”
Teacher: “What
comes after Spring?”
Child: “The warm
thing.”
House Points
CHILDREN’S
SECTION
4th October 2013
CAMPION
104
GERALD
121
PATRICIA
177
PETER
203
Winner — PETER
11th October 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
October
19th
Isobel G
20th
Penelope
Tristan
CAMPION
149
GERALD
139
23rd
Eve W
PATRICIA
171
25th
Olivia C
Jackson
PETER
137
28th
Sofia S
30th
Carrie
Winner — PATRICIA
Thoughts for the Week
When one door of happiness closes,
another opens but often we look so long
at the closed door that we do not see
the one that has opened for us.
Helen Keller
Winning does not always mean
coming first.
Winning means you are doing better
than you have done before.
Bonnie Blair
Ballerinas in newly
decorated corridor!
November
1st
Lilian M
4th
Isabella C
5th
Temisha
9th
Sathya
10th
Lola
11th
Natalya F
12th
Daisy
13th
Julia B
15th
Zara K
16th
Aleeza
21st
Tallulah
22nd
Shakthi
23rd
Mia F
27th
Isabel R
29th
Olivia HM