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Pre-Reception, Reception and Kindergarten The children had a wonderful time last Friday at the Pre-Prep Department’s Father’s Day celebration. Unfortunately, we were unable to order consistent sunshine, but, this did not dampen the enthusiasm in the school hall where, after tucking into a delicious picnic lunch, the children, in an atmosphere of buzz and excitement, embarked on the creation of a minibeast habitat with Dad and Grandad, using natural materials. Throughout the hall there was a lot of chatter as our little, creative people busily encouraged and instructed Dads and Grandads in the assembling of their mini habitat and everyone [...]

Oooh Arrr! 20 mini pirates invaded the school on Thursday for a marble in the jar celebration! The children in Transition found out about famous pirates from History, sang pirate songs, constructed a small fleet of pirate ships, and completed a pirate maths challenge! A swash buckling exciting day!

Unfortunately, due to the date of the ISA Regional Athletics competition being held in our half term several children were not available. However, the children that did attend competed very well and had a great time. Grace Diji managed to come 3rd in the 80m sprint, Paul Dibigbo came 2nd in the 80m sprint, the Lower Two girls relay team finished 22nd Ami Oloweoyeye came 1st in the 75m sprint and has now qualified for the ISA National Competition which is being held at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham.

Lower One had a brilliant trip to The Ragged Old School on Wednesday. This was linked to the history work that they have been doing on The Victorians. When they arrived, they were greeted by 'Mrs. Poole' who took the children for an authentic lesson which would have taken place in the 1800s. She asked the children to answer arithmetic questions, practice their handwriting and draw symmetrically - all whilst being seen but not heard! Mrs. Poole also had a cane and taught them about behaviour strategies like a finger stock and a back straightener. They then took part in [...]

On Tuesday 11th June, the boy’s cricket team travelled to South Weald Cricket Club for the annual District Tournament. The boys played extremely well managing to finish in 3rd place out of twelve teams. Credit must be given to our team as many of the children were playing one or years above their year group.

Transition had a fantastic day at Chatham Dockyard on Tuesday, exploring ships and exhibits as part of our history work on The History of Ships. First, they met Pirate Tracy who taught the children how to be pirates and they marvelled at her treasure, dressed up and sang songs. Then the children went to the Ropery and learnt how to make rope. Transition scrambled through the submarine, looked up the periscope then went back in time to find out how they built ships in Nelson’s time through a holographic experience which brought everything alive including being under attack on ship! [...]

A beautiful service in honour of Our Lady during her month of May was held on Friday 10th May. Led by Lower Two, the school celebrated with readings from the Bible, prayers and a wonderful array of flowers made by each class which were brought to our statue of Mary as an offering. It was a very calm and thoughtful afternoon.

In the Pre-Prep Department, the children were treated to an amazing journey into the world of animals. They were very excited to examine and explore the wonders of the mini animal kingdom which Emily, from ZooLab, had kindly brought in for our little detectives! They were bursting with enthusiasm and enjoyed getting up close and personal with the little animal visitors, discovering plenty of facts and asking heaps of questions. The children were introduced to Cheese the giant millipede, Twiggy the stick insect, Darth Vader the scorpion, Mr. Jangles the corn snake and Sausage and Bean the gerbils and were [...]

In Intermediate each child planted a bean, we watered them every day, kept them in a sunny spot and they grew very quickly. The children were able to do some observational drawings of their plants at two different heights. Then, when they were too big for their pots, Mr. Taylor helped us plant them against canes, outside the classroom window. We are so excited to see them grow and hopefully even harvest some beans eventually!

The school celebrated Foundation Day, our school’s birthday, on Monday 29th May 2024. This year the Ursuline school is 124 years old! Mrs. Parker-Litjens took a special assembly to mark the occasion sharing information about our school’s foundation, it’s history, successes and about Mother Clare who founded our school and had a love of white flowers. All children and staff wore white flowers and/or white ribbons and the children sang happy birthday to the school as we cut a birthday cake. The children all enjoyed a piece during their break time! Our thanks go to the PFA who organised ribbons [...]