Autumn Term 2022
A message from the editors
Welcome to our magazine! We are very proud to be designing it in- house and with the support of our fabulous team. Throughout, you will find QR codes, like the one opposite, that will take you to the video for that event. You can access these really easily on most mobile phones. You do not need a special app; simply open your camera and point it at the QR code. It should then prompt you to open the website where you will find the video! We hope this adds to your enjoyment of the magazine.
SCAN ME!
A Note from the Editorial Team
I do lots of words, help with design and a few
photos
Thank you for reading our School magazine.
It has been another busy term and the children have thrown themselves enthusiastically into everything they have done.
As well as samples of the children's work and what goes on in the classroom, there are trips both locally, a bit further afield and abroad, including our
first sports tour!
The Pre-Prep entertained us all with their nativity show and Year 7 took us back to the trenches with their WW1 production, which even had some staff
performing cameos!
We delivered a House assembly live over the radio
and Year 7&8 both recorded projects and radio plays in the studio.
We hope it gives you a glimpse into what goes on at
our wonderful school.
I do lots of photos, help with design and a few
words
Position
Head of Girls’ Sport
What year did you join TPS?
I joined TPS in September 2018
What were your responsibilities?
My responsibilities have included looking after the girls’ sports provision at TPS, planning and leading games sessions, organising fixtures and events such as sports day, house netball, house cross- country, Manchester sports tour, cricket festival and swimming gala.
What was the most enjoyable aspect of your job day to day?
The most enjoyable aspect of my job day to day has to be when I arrive at school during break and meet the pupils in the playground – they always run up to me to tell me all about how their day has gone so far and how much they are looking forward to their games lessons and upcoming fixtures. As I try to make mywaytothePEshed,Ioftenhave many kind offers to help set up the sports equipment and it makes me smile each and every day!
Staff Leavers
Jackie Jennings
What, if anything, will you miss the least?
I will miss putting away the badminton nets the least! There is a system that I need to keep to in order to be successful and if done incorrectly, they struggle to fit back into the bags! The Year 6 girls have witnessed how military I become to ensure the right system is adopted. I must say that over the years I have become pretty efficient, but it still frustrates me so I am hoping to have easier nets to put away in my new school... we shall see!
Most memorable lesson?
I have experienced so many memorable lessons at TPS! The most recent memorable lesson has to be when Mr Jervis and I taught an afternoon of wet weather lessons together in the hall because we had torrential rain. We ended up leading four back-to- back sessions of circuits with our prep classes, taking it in turns to perform each movement on the stage to an audience of highly enthusiastic pupils! It did make me giggle when Mr Jervis attempted the grapevine, but his press ups weredefinitelymoreimpressive compared to mine! We saw so many happy (and sweaty) faces and it gave us such a thrill to see everyone exercising and bopping along to the music. At the end of the lesson, we awarded individual pupils a gold star for their efforts, and they came up onto the stage to be applauded - just like at prize giving! It was such memorable afternoon of lessons that I will never forget.
Favourite memory of TPS?
My favourite memories of TPS are seeing the incredible pupils taking part and supporting one another in the House competitions and sporting events throughout the year. From the House netball and cross-country competitions to sports day, swimming gala and of course, fixtures! Seeing every pupil actively involved in sport and achieving their personal goal is the greatest memory I will take away with me.
Funniest moment?
There have been quite a few funny moments because I am accident prone! The funniest has to be during my first year at TPS. I was at the Richmond swimming gala and when I arrived onto poolside, I realised that I had left the iPad in my car. It was a dark night and stupidly I ran back to my car to save time. Unfortunately, I did not see the raised curb as I was galloping through the car park and went flying through the air and landed face down in the disabled parking bay! I picked myself up and had grazed both of my hands, knees and elbows and felt very silly indeed! Luckily the iPad was still in my car unscathed, so I hobbled to collect it and made my way sheepishly back to the gala. The manager of the pool however would not allow me back onto poolside because I was bleeding, so he kindly patched me up (with about 15 plasters) before sending me on my way. I then had to walk past all of the teachers and schools looking very sorry for myself. The next day all of the teachers at TPS had heard that I tripped, and I was very embarrassed indeed. I certainly saw the funny side of it and spent a good week showing off my plasters to everyone who asked how my recent trip to the swimming gala went! From then on, I decided to give up sprinting and take up walking to my car instead!
Favourite school meal?
Roast on a Tuesday! Miss Cassiano and the catering team are exceptional, and I love everything on the menu!
Any message to the pupils?
Work hard and take pride in what you do, be yourself and enjoy the things that make you happy!
What will you do now?
In January, I will start my new role as PE teacher at Kingswood House School. I am looking forward to being closer to home and returning to my roots teaching GCSE PE again. I will miss everyone at TPS so much and would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to the pupils for being so kind and wonderful to teach and to the inspirational staff who have all been such a delight to work with.
Staff Leavers
House Events
We've had loads of exciting House competitions this term, including: Harvest poems; Christmas Baubles; Connect 4 and House chess.
House Events
It was a very close finish in the race to be crowned Merit Champions. In the end, Concorde pipped Harrier to the top, with Firebird in third place and Apollo licking their wounds in fourth, ready to go again in 2023. Well done, Concorde!
House connect 4
Pre-Prep battled it out to be Connect 4 champions. Our two winners were Sami for Concorde and Amelia for Apollo. Congratulations!
In the Prep school, Year 3 went head to head and the results were:
1. Concorde; 2. Firebird; 3. Apollo; 4. Harrier. Well done to everyone who took part!
House chess
There was considerable excitement at the prospect of the first House Chess tournament since Covid! Apollo led by William were determined to continue a long tradition of Green House success but they were up against Ethan’s Concorde, Patrick’s Firebirds and Aryan’s Harriers, all equally determined to write their own piece of House Chess history. Apollo started promisingly with a 6-2 win over a battling Concorde. The other match was a titanic struggle between Firebird and Harrier with the result uncertain until the last few games. In the end, Firebird just squeezed through 5.5 to 4.5 in a match that included, remarkably, five draws.
So, to the third and fourth place play off between Harriers and Concorde. This time it was Concorde who soared to a narrow win to claim third place. In the final, Apollo eased past Firebird with a convincing performance to win the title of House Chess Champions.
House netball
It is always an exciting way to complete the netball season with the Junior and Senior House netball competitions during the final games afternoon of the term! The team selections and match teas were organised with the help of the Year 6 House captains and
players enjoyed a well-deserved mug of hot chocolate at the end of their matches.
PRE-PREP
PRE-PREP
EYFS
Active Learning
EYFS
EYFS
There is nothing better than seeing the children settled in and making new friends as they learn all about their new environment! The joy on their faces says it all.
Autumn Art
The children know to expect a fun-packed afternoon on Mondays with special art activities including collage, model-making, painting and much more. All week they have opportunities to unleash their natural creativity and Autumnal themes lend themselves beautifully to enhance their experience.
EYFS
Science
EYFS
EYFS
Reception have been observing similarities and differences in living things. Springtime is a wonderful time to get outside and explore. Reception have been on a spring hunt, grown bean plants and cress heads, collected worms for our worm world and collected snails to have as our class pets. We have learnt a lot about life cycles and have had a term full of hands-on, exploratory
science.
EYFS
Nature Trail
EYFS
EYFS
We have tried out lots of skills and had great adventures on the Nature Trail. The children have loved digging for treasure and found all sorts of 'jewels' while they were being pirates, used tools for sawing, drilling and hammering, made bird food, worked together to make obstacle courses and swings with the ropes, climbed trees and of course toasted marshmallows. The children's enthusiasm continues to grow and develop with every session. We are so lucky to have our Nature Trail!
Geography
This term, we have been exploring the local area looking at our landmarks and amenities. The children visited the Post Office, the dog-groomers, florists and cafes. We also learnt how to address a letter to ourselves and were lucky to visit the local postbox and post the letters home.
Year 1
Year 1
Art
In Art this term, we have explored many different mediums. We have been studying the work of Andy Goldsworthy and created these beautiful land art fac es in the style of Goldsworthy. We have developed our
fine motor skills manipulating clay to make hed gehogs. We have enjoyed listening to the story of Han da's Surprise and used pastels and chalk to create our African people. In literacy, we made 'Wanted' posters for a lost Teddy and tore paper to create our teddy pictures. Also for Remembrance, we skilfully used
watercolours to make our Remembrance poppies
Year 2
We made beautiful pictures of poppies for Remembrance Day. We also created colourful firework pictures for Bonfire night.
Art
Year 2
english
After reading the book The Bog Baby, Year 2 went on a Bog Baby hunt on the nature trail. We also made our own fabulous Bog Babies!
Year 2
maths
We have had lots of fun this term making number bonds practically.
CLASS PARTNERSHIPS
RELIGIOUS RELIGIOUS
STUDIES STUDIES
Pre-Prep celebrated Diwali this year with a workshop from One Day Creative which walked through the different stages of the historic Hindu festival, exploring how each day is celebrated differently and the ancient stories behind them. It was great fun to act out the story using voice, movement, role play and drama
CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY
NATIVITY
This year’s Pre-Prep Nativity, the Bethlehem Bake Off was truly wonderful, with the incredible story of Jesus’ birth told with the winning ingredients of song and dance along with a pinch of good humour! Congratulations to all the children in Reception, Year 1 and 2, the staff in Prep-Prep, along with Mrs Hill, Mr Niehaus and Mrs Barnes, for making the Nativity such a spirit-filled triumph!
NATIVITY
PREP
PREP
Year 8 English trip to Strawberry Hill House
The Year 8 boys enjoyed a chilling trip to Strawberry Hill House as part of their gothic literature enrichment. Snippets of Horace Walpole's Castle of Ontario breathed life into the setting which quickened the pace of each boy's step as they navigated their way through a labyrinth of passageways and dimly lit
chambers!
Year 3 History trip to Butser Farm
Year 5 trip to Winchester Science Museum
Year 5 had a great time at the Winchester Science Centre. They completed a rocket ship workshop where they took on the challenge to design their rocket ship to blast off to Mars. They had numerous interactive experiences within the museum and finished the day off with a planetarium show!
Year 7 Geography trip to Juniper Hall
The Year 7 boys travelled to Juniper Hall to investigate settlement hierarchy. They spent the day at the study centre and also visited the local settlements of Leigh, Brockham and Dorking. The boys were set the challenge of carrying out a variety of surveys in each settlement: these
included recording information on traffic, noise, services and the environment.
Year 7&8 trip to Ypres
Year 7 and 8 travelled to Belgium to visit the battlefields of WW1. We had a fantastic and knowledgeable guide, Major Jon Wort, who answered every question and regaled us with exciting but sad stories from the war. We visited Tyne Cot cemetery and each placed a cross on a grave of a fallen soldier and in the evening, experienced the moving Menin Gate ceremony in the town centre. After stocking up on Belgian chocolates, we slept at the Poppies 1 hostel and on day two, visited Langemarck, a cemetery for German soldiers, to see the contrast between the sites. Overall, it was a very moving but educational trip that saw all the boys reflect on the sacrifice made on such a grand scale just over one hundred years ago.
SCAN ME!
SCAN ME!
Royal Albert Hall
On Monday 21st November our TPS Prep Choir (Y4 -7) performed at The Royal Albert Hall. The concert was titled Heroes and Villains and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied the choirs of approximately 900 children in six songs. We were also entertained by the orchestra who played music from many films including Superman, Mission Impossible, Harry Potter and Star Wars. We can't
wait to go again next year!
Harvest Festival Harvest Festival
Our harvest service was held in October, at St Mary's church and was a joyful celebration of thanks. All the pupils from Reception to Year 6 performed songs to the congregation. Selected poems written by the Prep children in memory of our late Queen Elizabeth II were read out. House wreaths made up of paper flowers decorated by the Pre-Prep children were displayed in the church for the service.
MATHS
MATHS
Hands-on discovery of mathematical concepts is an important part of learning at TPS. Year 5 are pictured exploring equivalent fractions - an important part of understanding how to add and subtract fractions. Year 6 are having fun with pi – naming the parts of a circle by decorating biscuits and engaging in activities to test their knowledge of calculating with pi.
COMPETITIONS
COMPETITIONS
Huge congratulations to all of our Primary Maths Challenge competitors who have all shown great reasoning and problem solving skills. We had a record number of certificates this year with half of those who entered achieving an award and a record 14 Gold certificates. All who achieved the Gold Award will be going through to the Bonus Round next year. An excellent result for our Year 5 and Year 6 mathematicians.
This term we competed the National Science Inter-School Quiz. 280 teams participated in the online heats, our 2 teams of intrepid scientists had questioned ranging from the solar system to Mendeleev periodic table which they performed brilliantly at.
Crest Club Crest Club
During Science Club, our budding young scientists are working towards their Crest Award. They have investigated Murphy's law, made toothpaste and completed a colourful practical to find out which liquids would help reduce the colour of a blackberry and raspberry stain. Looking at some of the lab coats, that will be a very useful exercise! The Crest Awards scheme provides science enrichment activities to inspire and engage young people in STEM.
TPS Radio TPS Radio
We have enjoyed getting into the studio this term. The Heads of Houses recorded a live assembly over the airwaves; Year 7 performed their drama production as a radio play; and Year 8 recorded their projects on The Spanish Armada and Mary, Queen of Scots. We cannot wait to use it again in 2023!
Odd Socks Day Odd Socks Day
In support of Anti- Bullying week, we all wore odd socks for a day in November. It was a riot of colour and crazy designs! This year's theme was 'Reaching Out' and our assemblies during the week all focused on the importance of building friendships to shield ourselves and others from bullying and being kind to others.
Safe Walking and Scooter Training
Thank you to the Safe Walking and Safe Scooting team from Richmond Council, who came to visit us twice this term to deliver workshops on how to be safe crossing the road and using scooters safely.
Junior Junior
Citizenship Citizenship
This programme is all about keeping ourselves safe in our locality. It covers personal safety, fire and water safety and how to travel on the train, tube and buses safely. The activities enable Year 6 to play out scenarios they could realistically encounter and to think about how they night deal with them. They met with representatives from the police force, fire brigade, ambulance service, the RNLI and TFL to learn how to avoid danger and what to do should they be involved in an incident. It is a fun-filled, action-packed morning that everyone enjoys.
Christmas Jumper Christmas Jumper
Day Day
Christmas Lunch Christmas Lunch
The whole school sat down to have a wonderful Christmas lunch, with all the trimmings. Huge thanks to Miss Cassiano and the rest of the brilliant catering team, who have produced such varied and tasty lunches throughout the term for us: we are very lucky!
Carol Service Carol Service
We finished off the term in style, with our Carol Service at St Mary's Church in Hampton. Thank you to Reverend Lovell who delivered the sermon, some of it from up a stepladder as he told us about the Tower of Babel! There were many lovely musical numbers from the children, and well done to Mrs HIll for arranging and organising all the singers, songs and instrumentalists.
It has been a busy and bustling term in the Art/DT department with a range of exciting projects reaching successful completion! Year 3 have been studying the fascinating life and works of Van Gogh, developing their sense of mark- making, pattern and colour. They have put such care into their finished pieces and have made impressive progress.
Year 4 were tasked with creating motorised, moving ‘brush monsters’, working hard to stretch their understanding and overcome some challenging technical obstacles.
Year 5 have continued with the DT theme, studying levers and linkages and using this knowledge to create some complex and decorative moving pictures and pop-ups.
Year 6 brought some carnival joy into the classroom when they designed and made their own flamboyant festival hats! They used a huge range of thinking and making skills to construct and decorate their designs, considering comfort, strength, originality and style.
Year 7 studied the contemporary artist Jed Dorsey, analysing how he uses layers of acrylic paint and a variety of brush marks to create vibrant, luminous compositions. They worked hard to understand the nature of this fast-drying medium and, as a result, were able to create a wonderful series of landscapes.
Year 8 have enjoyed working in pairs and small groups to rise to the challenge of ‘The Great Bridge Building Competition’. The standard of construction was excellent across all groups but it was Rohan and Tima who took the crown for their fully-functioning cantilever bridge. Also in Year 8, Ambrose made a beautiful original picture for Oliver (a huge Star Wars fan) as his Secret Santa present!
Year 7 Production
Year 7 performed For King and Country, an original WW1 drama written by Mr Howorth. It followed a young officer and the men under his command as they lived in the trenches, waiting for the order to go 'over the top'. We also see the RFC getting involved and having to use inferior planes as the Battle of the Somme approaches. All the boys were fantastic and hats off to the staff who joined them on stage for some cameo roles too! Many thanks to Hampton School for providing the authentic costumes and props.
Sports Tour
Over the October half term, girls from Year 5 and 6, and the Senior Boys, visited Manchester for the first ever TPS sports tour. The boys trained at Man City’s training ground while the girls were coached by the Manchester Thunder Netball coaches. The weekend involved fixtures against local teams, a tour of the Etihad Stadium and other fun activities such as bowling, trampolining and a trip to the National Football Museum. All pupils and staff who attended had an amazing time and made some unforgettable memories!