Year 2 pupils at Lyonsdown Prep school celebrated their city by going to the Museum of London. Here are some of their comments:

When we went to the Museum of London we learned about the Great Plague and how fleas on rats made it spread. People thought that strong smells would stop the germs spreading but they didn’t.
The Fire of London spread very quickly too because the wooden framed houses were built so close to each other but the fire did help to kill the germs.
Beanie & Mao

Year 2 went to the Museum of London. We saw some interesting things about the Great Fire of London. I enjoyed watching the program and seeing the old clothes.
Kachi

Year 2 went on a trip to the Museum of London. We walked down a Victorian street and saw lots of old shops. My favourite Victorian shop was the sweet shop. I enjoyed looking at the funky hats!
Nile

The Choir (Years 3 – 6) set off early last Sunday morning, travelling by coach to Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School to take part in the Watford Festival.  They bravely marched on to a very large stage and performed two songs, ‘I Believe in Springtime’ and ‘Together at Last’, along with five other schools. The girls performed extremely well and with one mark separating the top four schools, we were proud to come fourth. Well done and thanks go to Mrs Ward for preparing them so brilliantly.  We look forward to the next competition coming up soon in May.

The Light Fantastic

This was an entertaining musical play on the scientific theme of light, shadows and colour. In it, the main character, Roy G B.I.V. (big in ‘Vegas) is trying to find out who has stolen all the colours from planet Earth. We understand from the beginning of the play, that one of the characters is really an alien from another planet and throughout, we look for clues to discover who this could be.
Coincidentally, the main character’s initials stand for the colours of the rainbow:

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

Indigo 

Violet

The musical style of the play was “Country and Western” and the cast were very talented.
Finally, it was revealed that “Dolly” was the alien, although we had already guessed that, and the colours of Earth were, happily, returned.
This was an informative and thought provoking production which was very much enjoyed by the Upper and Lower schools and staff as well. We all agreed that we had learnt a lot about how we see colour and the importance of the Sun as a light source. We would like to thank the Kinetic Theatre and cast members for such an enjoyable experience.

On 26th February 2013 Year 1 travelled to Enfield to visit Whitewebbs Museum of transport. The children had the opportunity to sit in a fire engine and view a range of exhibits from pedal bikes to vintage tractors.

One of the most popular areas was the model railway with a collection of old and new trains in full working order. The museum is only open on Tuesday but well worth a visit over the Easter holiday.

Year 1 Teachers

Scooters
For very good reasons, ‘scooters’ are not allowed on the school premises. We have a lovely pushchair friendly slope leading down the side of the school and several children/siblings are using it as a scooter run, both in the morning and at pick up. This is extremely dangerous and has already led to young children and parents being crashed into. They are also ‘scooting’ at the front of the school where there are parked cars which is hazardous to both themselves and the cars.

Front of School
It is essential that children stay with parents after they have been picked up from school, both at the normal end of the school day and after clubs. They are not allowed to climb on walls, run around the cars or balance on the edging around the grassed area.

It is obvious that by not abiding by these important rules, children can put themselves in danger and be hazardous to others.

Thank you for your support!

Recently Year 2 students at Lyonsdown prep school went on a trip to Bhaktivedanta Manor. Here is some of their feedback.

We learned how Hindus say hello. They do this by putting their hands together as if in prayer and bowing their head slightly. This way of greeting shows that you have respect for the person you are speaking to.
Ayotomi

I enjoyed the bull cart ride. It was very muddy and all of 2P fitted into the cart.
Ralph

We had to take our shoes off before we went into the temple. When we were all in our saris we went to the prayer hall and we saw the Hindu statues of Krishna and Rama.
At the temple we had paneer curry, which is Indian cheese and puri which is Indian bread. All the food was vegetarian and very yummy!
Maya

I dressed up as Brahma and Daniel and Arun dressed up as Rama and Shivea.
Tej

Year 2 went to a Hindu temple. We went on a bull cart ride. It was very bumpy and muddy. Next we saw a cow and her calf. We also dressed up as warriors and Indian princesses. Then we ate delicious food. We ate rice and vegetable curry.
Amisha

Year 2 went to Bhaktivedanta Manor which is a Hindu temple. We went to see all the Gods and Goddess and my favourite was Sita. After that we had lunch. Then we had a story about Krishna who lifted up a hill with his little finger. It was an exciting trip.
Grace

Upper school pupils have been busy making models, posters and information booklets to support their current Geography topics.

Year 4 made some wonderful model villages which were on display in the foyer during our recent Prospective Parents’ Open Day. Meanwhile, 5JP produced sublime mountain landscapes. Both sets of work have received numerous compliments- from staff, fellow pupils and visitors too.

Thanks go to the parents of these young geographers for all their support and apologies to anyone whose half-term was consumed by their daughter’s project!

Mrs Brighton

On the fourth of March the Happy Puzzle Company came to the school. They had brought lots of puzzles for us to solve. First we were put into groups of six. We were then given a Penguin Puzzle. You had to try and balance all 24 Penguins on the wobbling iceberg. It was great fun to do.

Our next puzzle was to make a puzzle road circuit. It was a very big puzzle but my group finished first. We then had to make a model of a castle. It was very difficult, but we had a picture of the finished model to refer to. It was tricky but we didn’t give up.

After that puzzle we had to use seven different shapes to make a square. We had two big triangles, two smaller triangles, a medium sized triangle, a square and a rhombus. It was the most difficult out of all the tasks. Finally we finished it and were very happy. The final puzzle we did was a Savannah puzzle, the pieces were oddly shaped because they were rounded and curved. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do another puzzle but the afternoon was a thoroughly enjoyable one.
By Aanya

This term we were extremely lucky to have the Happy Puzzle Company come to our school, who gave us several cunning puzzles to accomplish. They ranged from balancing penguins on wobbly icebergs, making a complex pattern with different coloured jigsaws and making a roadmap with special pieces to complete a circuit. I enjoyed balancing the penguins the most; I felt this was quite tricky, but at the same time quite a silly idea! It was actually quite frustrating because the penguins kept falling off the iceberg. Unfortunately, as hard as we tried, we only managed to balance two penguins at once by the end of the exercise. I will never think about penguins in the same way again!

I think this was a very enjoyable and useful session, because we learnt to work together as a team to solve curious problems. Sometimes the answers are not as simple as they may seem at first. This has definitely helped me to think more deeply about difficult problems and I look forward to doing it again soon.
By Aleena

We are gearing up once again for our charity READATHON week beginning Monday March 11th.

During this week, all children from Year 1 to Year 6 will be given extended opportunities to read for pleasure within their lessons. They will be sponsored to do so and all money raised will go to three children’s cancer charities. On the Thursday of the week, children are invited to come to school dressed as a favourite book character. We will be spending the morning in mixed aged groups in literacy workshops doing lots of varied and exciting activities linked with books and reading. In the afternoon, we will come together as a school and share what we have been doing.

We know from experience that the children love these integrated days so I’m sure that this year will be no different.

More detailed information and a sponsorship card will be given to each pupil on the preceding Thursday – 7th March which is World Book Day so each child will also be receiving a £1 book token too.

So here’s to many happy hours immersed in books, reading and everything that flows from it!

Mrs Windsor
Deputy Head teacher
English Leader

Back in January, the Upper School went to the Bloomsbury theatre in London to see the Birmingham Stage Company’s production of Philippa Pearce’s classic novel Tom’s Midnight Garden.

The book was written and set in 1958 and tells the story of a young boy called Tom who is sent to spend the summer holidays with his aunt and uncle as his brother has measles.
Tom’s aunt and uncle live in a flat in a large Victorian house but sadly the flat has no garden for Tom to while away the hours…. or so he thought.

One night as Tom was restlessly lying in bed the clock struck thirteen. “Hurry” the house seemed to say. Tom’s curiosity gets the better of him and he creeps down the stairs into the hall, opens the back door to the yard and finds to his great surprise a magical garden with sweeping lawns and flower beds filled with sweet smelling hyacinths. From then on Tom is transported each night into a magical world of yester year.

Philippa Pearce’s book has charmed adults and children alike for the past 60 years and continues to be a popular book study for children. At Lyonsdown Prep School, Year 5 study this book as part of their English curriculum, so for the present Year 6, it was a particularly special treat to see the play of the book that they read and enjoyed last year and for the rest of the girls, it gave them a taste of what is to come!
Mrs Windsor