Chitts Hill, Lexden, Colchester, Essex, CO3 9ST

FROM THE HEADMASTER . . .

Spring Term, Week 6

www.holmwood.essex.sch.uk

Happiness is the key to progress

Tel: 01206 574305

Friday 24 February 2017

HOLMWOOD HOUSE

NEWSLETTER Chitts Hill, Lexden, Colchester, Essex, CO3 9ST

FROM THE HEADMASTER. . .

Tel: 01206 574305

Grove on Halstead Road)

and we have been in close

contact with them regarding

their plans and the need for

careful management of our

boundary with the site.

We understand it is in the

pre-planning stage at this

moment in time but will

likely proceed to the plan-

ning stage soon. Colchester

is England's fastest-growing

town as we can see all

around us. The Hunter's

Chase development of

family homes, by V&B

Homes, opposite our

entrance is a smaller

development of around 12

homes. Traffic surveys by

these developers have been

carried out and the school

has been consulted.

With best wishes,

Alexander Mitchell

Headmaster

Dear Parents,

I have been away from

school most of this week

serving on an ISI team

i n s p e c t i n g a n o t h e r

independent prep school in

the East Midlands. The

new ISI model of

inspection is very good and

clearly puts the children's

outcomes at the heart of the

process. I shall be

cascading the details of this

new approach to my senior

leadership team over the

forthcoming weeks.

We are looking forward to

various highlights in the

next couple of weeks,

namely Nick Butterworth's

visit to the Prep school on

Tuesday, the Year 4 & 5

Show on Friday and then

English Week following

that. The children often

comment on how much

they enjoy visiting speakers

and the special 'weeks' we

organise throughout the

year. Congratulations to Mr Cook

and his partner on the birth

of their second child,

Austin, to join Olive

The field to the north of the

school site, between us and

the railway line, has seen

some digger activity

recently. This is related to

a proposed housing

development by Hopkins

Homes (the same company

who are building Oliver's

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Monday 27 February Year 8 Assessment Week 2

Years 4 & Y5 Production Week

10.00am Hockey U13 1st VII IAPS

Tournament at Bishop’s Stortford

3.15pm Rugby U9 A & B

vs St Joseph’s (Home)

3.15pm Rugby U8 A, B, C

vs St Joseph’s (Home)

Tuesday 28 February Prep School Library Event Day with

illustrator Nick Butterworth

Thursday 2 March

Years 4 & 5 Technical Rehearsal

10.00am Netball U11 A VII IAPS

Tournament at Felsted

Friday 3 March 10.00am Netball U13 1st VII IAPS

Tournament at Felsted

Years 4 & 5 Play

Performance to school

7.00pm Years 4 & 5 Play

Performance to parents

Sunday 5 March

East Anglian Prep School Cross

Country at Woodbridge School

In recognition of their demonstration of

one or all of the Golden Rules, the

following children have received Golden

Awards this week:

Reception:

Raaid A

Lyla T-C

Leo P

Lyra D

Year 1:

Heston K

Beatrice L-D

Summer D-R

Year 2:

Sophia H

Ashe T-C

Will G

Year 3:

Sam P

Rowan H

Edward L-D

Gabriel M

WELL DONE!

GOLDEN AWARDS

PUPIL NEWS. . .

Music

Misha B came runner up

at the District Rotary

Young Music competi-

tion at Chelmsford

Cathedral. Misha sang

Ave Maria and Bridge

Over Troubled Water and

received some very

encouraging feedback

from the adjudicators.

Sport

After successful trials and

assessments, Zeke L has

been selected for the

Essex Hockey Junior

Academy Centre county

squad, playing for the

Under 13 boys.

Page 2 Friday 24 February 2017, Spring Term, Week 6

AIR

ELEMENT NEWS . . .

Today in our Element meeting we were without Mr Cook but it continued as normal. The Year 8s

once again jumped out of the cupboard, this time presenting a dance for everyone. There were mixed

results on Wednesday but the contributions proved the level of effort given.

In the stars, Madame Aravinthan’s tutor group won the juniors, with Mr Guy’s tutor group winning

the seniors. To finish off this meeting, we played a long game of charades.

Robert W

AIR

LAND

On Thursday, Land began with the news and weather, whilst storm

Doris raged outside! This was followed by the sport, congratulating

everyone for their efforts in the Inter-Element Cross Country.

In the stars, the winning junior tutor group was Mr Jeffries, for the

second week running! Seb L won with 20 show-ups! In the seniors,

Mr Warner won yet again; and Josh R won with 17 show-ups!

For entertainment we ran a teamwork

exercise, which Year 5 won.

Our Quote of the Week this week was :

“If you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree,

it will live its life thinking it’s stupid” Albert Einstein

We thought that this meant if you judge someone by their weaknesses,

they will think they are stupid, whereas if you highlight their strengths

they will be more confident.

Matt B

WATER In Water’s Element meeting, Oscar D, Cedd R and Rafe C shared their

Laetatums with the Element. They were so interesting and varied.

Because of Rafe’s amazing performance, he won Star of the Week!

Mrs Apperley’s tutor group won Peter the Penguin and Mr Lesiak’s tutor

group won Daisy the Dolphin! We celebrated the return of the Star Cup!

Poppy A and Jasmine W

WA

TE

R

LA

ND

Page 3 Friday 24 February 2017, Spring Term, Week 6

PRE. . .

Year 6 have started their spring assessment working on moral dilemmas. They have

been working in groups to create a role play exploring the consequences of moral

decisions. The role plays are focused on a student who is worried about an upcoming

exam and finds the test papers and answer sheet on the teacher’s desk 2 days prior to

the exam.

Children are being assessed on their teamwork and communication skills as well as

their exploration of the consequences of making moral decisions. I look forward to

final performances in the week commencing 6 March.

RECEPTION. . .

Year 6

Page 4 Friday 24 February 2017, Spring Term, Week 6

GEOGRAPHY.. .

Year 4 - Potato Hill! During Weeks 5 and 6 of this term, Year 4 pupils completed their unit on

map reading. One of the hardest skills for children to develop is the ability to

read height on maps – all those contours can be quite confusing. Solution?

Perhaps the humble potato can help. A large potato was cut into half; the chil-

dren then drew lines onto the potato with a felt tip pen - the lines represent

contour lines on a map. The potatoes were then sliced along the lines – now

the potato could be separated into segments showing different ‘chunks’ of a

hill. Having learned about height on maps kinaesthetically, the children found

the follow up work in their exercise books much easier to complete. Amazing

what you can do with a simple potato!

Year 5 - ‘Why does Ahmed need a new pair of shoes?’ During recent lessons in geography, pupils in Year 5 have been tackling the

mystery ‘Why does Ahmed need a new pair of shoes?’ In groups, they read

a number of evidence cards to each other and then set about categorising the

information. This process helped them understand the difficulties people in

Israel face accessing enough clean water. They discovered that poor Ahmed

would have to walk for miles each day just to get water for his family. This

scenario is typical for millions of people throughout the World. Through a

simple mystery, the pupils have learned a good deal about unequal access to

water.

Page 5 Friday 24 February 2017, Spring Term, Week 6

INTER-ELEMENT CROSS COUNTRY. . .

2017 Element Cross Country Results

1st - Land

2nd - Air

3rd - Water

Congratulations to Matthew B and Henry D who both broke the school record for their age group.

Matthew in 10m.44s beating the record by 14 seconds and Henry in 5m.08s beating the record by 17 seconds.

Well done to all who represented their element and particularly to those who set new personal bests.

Page 6 Friday 24 February 2017, Spring Term, Week 6

SPORT. . .

TEAM WEEK OF

THE

The Team of the Week

U9 B Rugby

WELL DONE!

For up-to-date match fixtures

and cancellations, please visit

the Sports Fixtures page

of the school website.