HEMDEAN HOUSE HEADTEACHER S LETTER Issue 18 Hemdean House Headteacher s Letter 24th February 2017 GURDWARA IN THIS ISSUE General News I hope you had a happy and enjoyable time with your children over half term. Already in school children have settled into the usual school routine and are working hard on the Heritage topic. Year four had their class assembly this week. The children illustrated to the audience a range of work they have been doing in class. There was drama about the Tudors; readings about Jamaica; an explanation of sound waves; examples of the maths they have been doing and a prayer they had written. Next Monday in assembly the children will be able to enjoy hearing the cello being played. We are starting cello lessons in school and the teacher, Miss Newton will come to demonstrate to children how the Cello is played and the music that can be made. Details of how children can join the Cello classes will be sent out soon. Future events: Monday 27th February there will be no homework club due to staff training Tuesday 28th February is Open day 10.00 to 14.00 And at 19.00 it is the Spring Concert Friday 3rd March is World Book Day. This is a non-uniform day where children can come dressed as their favourite book character. Monday 13th March National Science week begins in school Thursday 30th March parents evening 4.30 to 6.30 And at 3.45 a football match between Hemdean House and The Hill School Request: If you have any white sheets which you no longer require could you please donate them to school so that we can make tunics for the Year 3 / 4 play? General News Page 1 Gurdwara Visit Page 2 Reception Page 3 Growing Page 4 Forest School Pages 5&6
HEMDEAN HOUSE HEADTEACHER S LETTER Issue 18 2 Gurdwara Visit Joel: My favourite part of the trip to the Gurdwara was after we got off the coach and we started walking to the Gurdwara. We saw a massive yellow pole with a special flag at the top. Above the flag was a Sikh symbol called the Khanda. Martha: Hearing the holy music, the story of the beloved ones, and of course the food! Louisa: Finding out that men and women are equal. When I went to the main hall, I was delighted to see that one side wasn t for men and the other for women. Daisy: I enjoyed seeing a special three-day Sikh holy ceremony and also learned a lot from the PowerPoint like: The Golden Temple is made of solid gold and that the youngest Guru ever was only 7 years old! I found the whole experience fascinating! Report by Mrs Langridge Savannah: My favourite part was when I tasted the food; the fragrant rice was delicious. I learnt a lot from the presentation, for example both men and women are allowed to read from the sacred book! Eva: Even though I was not there, I have learnt a lot of facts from my friends like: men and women are equal so they can pray together, and the Sikh religion started 500 years ago! Rayhan: Listening to the PowerPoint; I learnt lots of things that I ve never heard of. When we ate the Langar, it was nice and we all ate it and it was delicious. Kai: My favourite part in the Gurdwara was the food, especially the sweet rice and all of the people there were really kind. It was really fun and I had a good time, the slideshow was really interesting and well presented. Narain: The food, especially the chappatti. The people there were all so kind and generous and I wish that I could go again. The slideshow was very interesting, fun to listen to and very informative.
HEMDEAN HOUSE HEADTEACHER S LETTER Issue 18 3 This week in Reception It's been another busy week in the classroom with one birthday What a fantastic example of child initiated work! and the children insisting that we needed a cafe in the garden centre role play area. This led to a massive sort out of appropriate food and the study of menus and prices. In a bid to get the boys painting, we decided cars were better than brushes! Report by Mrs Dickason
HEMDEAN HOUSE HEADTEACHER S LETTER Issue 18 4 Growing This half term we are learning about growing in Reception. The children explored different soil types in the garden, and made mud castles. Some found worms and snails, and even some seedlings that have just sprouted. Watch this space for some enthusiastic gardeners in the future. In outdoor learning we had fun with mud. Report by Mrs Robinson
HEMDEAN HOUSE HEADTEACHER S LETTER Issue 18 5 Forest School We have been giving the forest a rest this week to allow for some regeneration as spring is around the corner. However this has not stopped the outdoor fun from continuing. Year 6 looked at the symmetry in the bug world and made symmetrical mini beasts from natural materials. Not so easy when you take into account all the knots and gnarls on a twig! However they came up with some excellent creations. Joel and Kai took on the maths challenge of finding out how many tins of paint and the cost to repaint the lines on the playground. They worked out, after lots of trundle wheeling that if one litre covered 25 metres of playground and a tin of paint cost 18.99 they would need 19 litres at a cost of 360.81 - Wow well done boys. Year 5 took a historical approach in their lesson experimenting with mixing mud and crushing berries and leaves to make natural paints which Stone Age people may have used for cave paintings. They then created their own cave paintings. The imagination and creativity thrived as some of the children decided to be the cavemen creating pictures about their life. Others decided to be historians trying to work out how cave paintings were created. The results were fantastic.
HEMDEAN HOUSE HEADTEACHER S LETTER Issue 18 6 Year 4 have been first to venture in to the garden to start planting. They cleared weeds from the beds in the garden and have planted onion sets. Some super long worms were found in the raised beds so hopefully our crops will be bountiful this year. Report by Mrs Illingworth
HEMDEAN HOUSE HEADTEACHER S LETTER Issue 18 7 Hemdean House Headteacher s Letter Hemdean House School Hemdean Road Reading, RG4 7SD Tel 0118 947 2590 hemdeanhouse.co.uk office@hemdeanhouse.co.uk