Spring term newsletter 2017
/No sooner back and we are breaking up for the Easter holidays – this term seems to have sped by, packed with activities and achievements.
Achievements
I am delighted that three of our Year 8 students have been successful in application for Art Scholarship. Molly and Jemyma Dawson Cantelo have both been awarded scholarships to Farlington, and Grace Lochrie won a scholarship to The Towers. They are all very talented, but more importantly they have all worked with enthusiasm and commitment to fulfil their potential. The artwork they submitted for Scholarship will be on display at the annual Sompting Abbotts Art Exhibition next term. Sarah Strachan
Individual achievements
The individual achievements in the second half of the term are listed chronologically, starting with:
Jonny Townsend: Jonny's win at Worthing Golf Club's Junior Spring Meeting where he retained his title as the winner in his group. A gifted young man to look out for in the future. Well done Jonny!
Rosalind Dyer took part in the Worthing Speech & Drama Festival. She won the Under 12 Story-telling (for the third year running) with a score of 88%, the Under 12 Pairs Verse (with the first drama honours score of the Festival of 91%) and the Year 10 Year prepared Prose Reading (with 88%). She was third in the Verse and also in the 11/12 year old Classical Singing. So it is very much applause all-round for Rosalind! Miss Howard is delighted with her pupils` successes, as we all are.
Anna Seare came 3rd out of 30 achieving 86% in Poetry for 6 year olds (as at 1/8/2016).
Millie Bryant-Nichols came 1st out of 18 with 88% in Poetry.
Eamonn Melaniphy came 1st out of 18 with 87% in Prose Reading.
Paris Pourani did really well too. Miss Howard wrote: “All the PP4 girls were great, I am so proud of them all. They were a credit to the school. They looked so smart in the striking uniform. And their behaviour was exemplary.” Warm congratulations to all participants!
Trip to Shoreham Power Station
On Wednesday 1st March, Year 6 spent a fascinating morning getting all the insider information from Scottish Power on how electricity is produced when we went on a geography trip to Shoreham Power Station. We were given a very interesting talk and shown a presentation on what goes on behind closed doors of this gas powered station. The pupils were brilliantly behaved; they showed great interest, asking many questions, impressing our guide, Neil, with their knowledge of energy production. Our visit concluded with getting decked out in hard hats, safety goggles and ear plugs and having a guided tour of the power station, including the all important control room where we were surprised to hear that only two men run the whole power station!. On our tour we were amazed by the sheer size of the turbines and cooling towers and the noise quite deafening. We all came away from the trip with our heads full of interesting information and a free safety pass, so the pupils were certainly happy! Mrs Phillip`s help on the trip was much appreciated; hopefully she enjoyed it too. Kathryn McKinnon
World Book Day
This Year we celebrated World Book day. To mark the 20th Anniversary of this excellent initiative children from all year groups came dressed as their favourite book characters and participated in lots of competitions and activities. They found Wally and participated in Big Break Time Book Swap! Many children have entered the National competition to design a book token. School prizes go to Nell Wolff (Junior) and Molly Dawson-Cantelo (Senior). Well done to all the children, staff and parents who got involved and created amazing costumes! Sarah Strachan
Charity Cross Country
The Charity Cross Country was run on the afternoon of the 2nd March, the money raised being given to The Chestnut Tree Appeal and The Ferring Country Centre. Those taking part could run ten laps of approximately a third of a mile, some elected to carry on doing more.
Science Week
Highlights from Science Week include some fantastic entries for the Poster Competition on the theme of "Change"; an array of magnificent sock puppets from Albert Einstein to a proud peacock; lots of entries to the Wordsearch and Crossword Competitions; Famous Scientist Competition; some very high scores in the Science Quiz and some remarkable balloon powered cars! It was a very busy but incredibly enjoyable week, well done to all those that put so much effort into taking part. Claire Scale
Geography Fun Day
Our annual Geography Fun Day was not without its challenges this year, as we battled some windy, wet weather to go ahead with our outdoor activities. However, the pupils and staff at Sompting Abbotts did not let this dampen our spirits. Everyone participated in the Geography activities with great enthusiasm, and we all got a lot from the day which had a theme of ‘Sustainability on our desert island’. Pupils were investigating, designing and making their own sustainable desert islands, as well as taking part in outdoor sensory exploration activities, creating ‘ant’ desert islands and taking part in the orienteering challenge. Everyone retained their eagerness for our afternoon ‘Big Fat Geography Quiz’ and Geography Poetry Competition. It was a jam-packed but very successful day of Geography learning! Kathryn McKinnon
Year 5 Macbeth
The last Morning Assembly saw Year 5 put on a fast-paced abridged production of Macbeth using the original language, for pupils, teachers and parents. It was a very enjoyable performance and all credit to the pupils for learning their lines in such a short time since half term. Well done Ewan Roberts for his inventive and imaginative backdrops. David Buckingham
Sports report
Spring 2nd half term House Rugby Seniors. The boys and girls joined forces to form Junior and senior Tag teams. The Senior House tournament was won by The Etruscans who defeated the Romans by 5 tries to 4 in a thrilling final. Man of The tournament George Waters scored a hatful of tries with his elusive running skills. Equal third were the Trojans and the Greeks.
House Cross Country
In some beautiful spring sunshine the boys and girls pushed themselves to the limit in search of the elusive House Cup. In the Year Three race Austin Johnston stormed around the course to win closely followed by Nell Wolff who won the girls race. In the Junior race Annabel Johnston continued in her younger brother's footsteps to win the Junior Girls race and Harry Jeswani overtook all the boys two years above him to win the Junior Boys race. In the Senior race William Luffman and Jemyma Dawson-Cantelo emerged victorious. Etruscans won the Junior House trophy, Trojans won the senior House trophy. The overall House winners were the Trojans. Rob Mclaughlin
Pre-Prep News
The Pre Prep class assemblies were enjoyed by all this term. The audiences were entertained with umbrella dances, weather poems and songs, samples of artwork and a few surprises from four cardboard boxes. The children also displayed fine acting skills as they retold some well-known tales. Thank you to all staff, parents and, of course, the children who practise so hard to make the assemblies a great success. The Pre Prep would like to thank SAPA for the four new Amazon Fire tablets that arrived last week. The teachers are rapidly downloading apps to each tablet. The children will be using them to support their learning of handwriting, phonics, times tables, number bonds and French. The older children will also use the search engines to investigate their science and topic work. Next term our topic is Habitats and Homes and we have plenty of exciting things planned to make the most of the summer.
Reminder for Summer Term PE uniform in the Pre-Prep
All children in PP2, PP3 and PP4 need to have trainers in school for next term's PE lessons. The white plimsolls are for indoor use and are not robust enough for outdoor games. If children are unable to tie their shoelaces, please could they have Velcro fastening trainers. The summer games kit for PP2 and PP3 remains the same -white polo tops and white shorts. PP4 boys should wear blue shorts with their white polo tops. PP4 girls should wear blue skorts with their white polo tops. Football boots are not needed this term. All pupils wear white shorts for Sports Day. Kate O`Neill
Charities
Again, the generosity of parents has come to the fore. This term the money raised for charity has been: Brain Tumour Research (Pre-Prep) £90.70 Save the Children – Book Day £63.80 Sponsored Run – Chestnut Tree & Ferring Country Centre £592.70 – maybe more to come?
