Claires Court Bulletin
JUNIOR BOYS
Bulletin 5 | Autumn Term 2016
Email: dsp@clairescourt.com
Website: http://www.clairescourt.com/news-and-media/bulletins
Location: SL6 3QE for sat nav SL6 4QQ
Phone: 01628 411490
Facebook: facebook.com/clairescourt
Twitter: @clairescourt
FROM THE HEAD'S DESK
What a super Harvest Festival!! Thank you so much to those of you who were able to attend. The boys donned their wellies, they coloured their pictures for the display, they brought their food into school to share, the staff worked tirelessly to prepare their charges with poems and songs...and the Headteacher dressed up as a farmer!! Lots of fun, and hopefully the important message of Harvest came across to all of those present.
In a week which has seen the Art Department take centre stage, our celebratory assembly this morning was led by Mr Goddard. More information and images of our talented artists with their artwork will follow, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Goddard and the boys for their outstanding efforts at the ISA Regional awards on Tuesday, where we have enjoyed our most successful year ever.
With National Poetry Week being very much in our minds, we were dazzled this morning when Leo Robinson, Freddie Duff and Roudra Bhattacharyya shared with us their wonderful pieces of work, created in class about ‘Autumn’. I asked Mr Hogg to also read a tongue twisting limerick to the boys, which he did with great aplomb!
Pupil Voice has come to the fore as well, and our class reps have now been chosen, voted for by their peers. All of the boys can start to consider in earnest how they would like to develop the school further, and how they would like to spend some of the PTA’s money! After half term I will be sharing with all of the boys my 2016-2018 School Development Plan in a google document, and they will be able to have a direct input into how we can make our school environment even better.
It was lovely to catch up with so many of you at Parents Evening yesterday, and my staff enjoyed the opportunity to chat through how the boys are getting on. Many of you were able to see our new Mezzanine space in action too - we are really delighted with the new opportunities that it brings for the boys.
Next week is very busy! We have school trips going out, especially our Year 6 boys who will be joining up with their counterparts at the girls school and travelling to Osmington Bay in Dorset for the Field Studies week. This culminates in an exhibition for their parents in our Mezzanine next Friday, which will hopefully display all of their hard work…..and the fun that they will have had. I am away from school for a portion of next week as I am going to embark upon my first ever official inspection of another school which I am looking forward to with both enthusiasm and a bit of dread!
Good luck to the boys who are playing in the The Berkshire County Chess Trials which is held at our school tomorrow. Mr Hogg and I hope to deliver exciting news of the boys achievements next week.
I have been reading some of the fantastic work from our boys this week, including Henry Paw’s lovely writing in Reception. Do have a look at our picture gallery where you will find some of the boys who have visited me with outstanding academic work, including Max Terry, Morgan Munn, Oliver Stuchbery, Ollie Dart and Carter Macleod. The work that Zac Burgess, Joshua Notton-Brown and Jake Dries completed was particularly good, and well worthy of the Gold Star award!
A quick plea from our PTA - we still have several places to fill on the bar rota for the fireworks evening on October 15. If you can spare 30 minutes on the night, come and join me to serve some drinks…..it is lots of fun!!
Have a lovely weekend
Justin Spanswick
PTA News
Forthcoming PTA Events
Saturday 15 October - PTA Fireworks held at our Junior Boys site. Payment via the portal. Collect tickets (wristbands) at the gate. Click this link for more information.
Saturday 12 November - Chess Tournament at Junior Boys
Friday 18 November - Fright Night Disco for Junior Boys and Girls held at the College Avenue site
Friday 9 December - Christmas Fair & Nearly New Uniform Sale at Junior Boys. Great shopping for gifts. There will be a raffle and refreshments.
And one for the future .... Saturday 13 May - Annual Ball
This week we would like to share with you the minutes from our latest PTA meeting at CCJB. Please take a look at our plans for this new academic year:
As always, all our funding depends on the efforts of the volunteers that help during the year. Many examples can be seen around our school from the climbing frame to the year 6 leavers book and the Pupil Voice activities.
Our next event is the Fireworks Spectacular on Saturday 15th October. CCJB is looking after the bar. The success of these events relies on your support. We need as many volunteers to 'man' this as possible . You can sign up by clicking on this link.
If you experience any problems with the link please contact ptaccjb@gmail.com .
Ana Sidders
Chair PTA
FORTHCOMING DATES
Friday 14 October - Year 6 Field Studies presentation to parents in the Mezzanine at 3pm
Saturday 15 October - Firework Night at CCJB
TRIPS
Monday 10 October - Friday 14 October - Year 6 Field Studies Week at Osmington Bay. Boys will need a packed lunch for the journey and a water bottle to drink from throughout the week. Please make sure it is named. Also please do not forget a sleeping bag, pillow and pillowcase. We will be 'tweeting' on the school's @CCJuniorsTrips Twitter Feed all through the week so you can keep track of what the boys are doing.
FROM THE SPORTS MASTER
Last week ended with the whole of Year 5 travelling to St Paul’s Junior’s (formally Colet Court) in London. The U10A team must take huge credit for an excellent 20-10 win against one of the strongest rugby schools in the area. All six of our U10 teams travelled to Oratory Prep School on Wednesday winning an impressive 4, drawing 1, and just the one narrow loss meant that all pupils in Year 5 have had a very successful week of sport.
On Saturday morning we hosted an U9A & B rugby festival with seven different schools attending. The B team had a very successful festival drawing two matches and winning one to finish runners up in the B tournament. While the A team had two tough opening matches against Berkhamsted and Oratory Prep School, narrowly losing to Berkhamsted and then losing to Oratory Prep School. However, the boys did not let their heads drop and got better and better each game winning the next four matches in a row to also finish runners up. All pupils were presented with their medals in assembly this week.
The U11 have played some excellent rugby this term but have found it tough to get results under their belt so I am hugely pleased to report that it came together for the U11A team this Wednesday as they beat Thorpe House 10-5. I hope they continue to build on this through the rest of the season.
Nick Butterfield
Head of Sport
FROM THE CHESS GRAND MASTER
Tomorrow will see the Berkshire U9 and U11 county trials being held at CCJB and I am pleased and proud to report that we have several boys from CCJB taking part.
As a school we have a history of producing boys who have been invited to represent Berkshire (as well as other counties) and some have even taken the next step: playing for England. We wish all of our boys the very best.
Mr Tuck has sent his apologies this week as he is currently helping to prepare for the county trials in his own county of Sussex. He will return next week.
There is a month to go until the PTA Chess Festival and entry forms are coming in. To avoid any late fees, please do get your son's entry form in asap. A copy can can be taken from the chess noticeboard or by clicking on this link.
Richard Hogg
ART NEWS
ISA London West Art Competition 2016
The annual ISA Art Competition for the London West area was held on Tuesday 4th October, with over 40 schools competing for the honour of representing London West in the National Competition later on in the term. There are many individual categories that cover all art forms from drawing to fashion to group work. We had 20 pieces of artwork from our talented artists entered into 2D individual, 2D group, 3D individual, 2D group, drawing and photography. All of these at the Key Stage 2 level that sees Year 3 students competing against Year 6.
Whilst not all our boys finished with prizes we came away with six. The three boys that won their categories will proudly represent CCJB at the National Finals.
There is a genuine appreciation and love of the Arts throughout the school and these accolades are a testament to all the hard work the boys put in during before school Art, Art lessons and after school clubs. Well done to all and good luck!
KS2 2D Individual
1st Aiden Mukherjee - 'Journey', paper cutouts
Inspired by Abstract Art and a journey that he had made, Aiden enjoys using shape and colour to complete his collage. His outstanding abstract wasp also helped the Year 5 to victory in the 2D group work category.
2nd Alex Pearce - 'Sitting Man', pencil
Alex used pencil to complete this impressive drawing of a man watching television. Inspired by the artist David Hockney, Alex enjoys drawing and painting the human form.
KS2 Photography
1st Oliver Todd - 'Sunset'.
Oliver produced a photograph of a vibrant orange sunset. Printed onto A3 paper, Oliver has an eye for capturing the beauty of the sky and landscape.
KS2 3D Group
Highly Recommended - 'Dancing' by Sculpture Club, acrylic and cardboard
Year 5 and 6 boys in the Sculpture activity were inspired by Keith Haring and Pop Art. These boldly painted figures dance in the breeze.
KS2 2D Group
1st 'Swam' by Y5, pencil/ watercolour
Inspired by the wasps nest we found at the start of term, all boys in Y5 drew wasps from life then used watercolour to complete whilst improving their observational drawing, flat washes and dry brush techniques.
KS2 Drawing
2nd William Lawrenson - 'Portrait', pencil
William’s fantastic portrait is a tribute to taking time with your work. He has learnt how to position the facial features in the correct place and he is beginning to add character to his drawings. We look forward to seeing the work he produces over the school year.
The following boys also represented CCJB in the ISA Art Competition:
Joshua Spanswick (2D), Charlie Doyle (3D), Henry Carter-Shaw (3D and 2D), Oliver Godleman (2D), Dylan Gibbs (2D), Marcus Morgan (2D), Tyler Davies (Drawing), Louis Fewkes (Drawing), Gaius Chapman (3D)
MUSIC & DRAMA NOTES
A Night at the Movies - presented by Claires Court
Friday 11 and Saturday 12 November at Norden Farm
This year’s show is filled with song, dance, performance and music, from some of the world’s most famous and favourite cinema soundtracks. The programme includes The Great Escape, Pirates of the Caribbean, What a Wonderful World, Ghostbusters, Moon River and Stand By Me. Get your tickets now, from the Norden Farm online box office