Inside Ibstock Prep Issue 1 Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Ibstock Place Prep School Termly Newsletter | Spring 2024

Inside this issue:

Welcome

02 |

Academic

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Author Events

04

06

Expressive Arts Pastoral &Wellbeing | 07

Forest School

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Trips

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11

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Sport

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FIPS

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ISSUE 1

Inside Ibstock Co-Heads‘ Welcome

Spring 2024

Welcome to ‘Inside Ibstock’

We wish you a warmwelcome to Ibstock Prep School’s inaugural edition of 'Inside Ibstock'.

We hope you will enjoy reading about the fantastic fundraising initiatives for Children's Mental Health week, opportunities for pupils to enhance their classroom learning through author visits and those memorable childhood moments such as Grandparents' Day. There is much to enjoy in the issue ahead!

Sophie Bartholomew and Alice Palmer, Prep Co-Heads

Head Teacher Awards

Sixteen pupils have achieved the Head Teacher Award this term for earning an amazing 250 house points! To say ‘well done’, pupils were rewarded with a session in the Esports Suite, situated in our Innovation Centre. Pupils played Rocket League against one another and learned some new skills. Congratulations to the following pupils: Prep 3: Alexis, Electra, Georgia, Harry, Isabella, Leah, Louis and Mila Prep 4: Alessia, Claudia, Jacob, Martha, Millie and Theo

Prep 5: Riad Prep 6: Arion

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock

Grandparents’ Day Kindergarten pupils enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea and some special moments with their families for our Grandparents' Day.

Chinese New Year Celebrations Pupils celebrated Chinese New Year with some fun activities. Learning about the significance of the Year of the Dragon, they took part in a traditional fan dance and a spirited dragon dance and had a great time practising the dances, trying some of the props and deeping their understanding of Chinese culture and customs.

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Academic

‘Le Château’ French Theatre

Constance Miller and Liam Arnold from Onatti Productions came to perform the play ‘Le Château’ in French and English to pupils in Prep 3 to 6. Pupils were thoroughly engaged from start to finish and there was plenty of laughter as the two actors transitioned between different characters.

Chick Hatching Project

Kindergarten were delighted to watch ten chicks hatch and grow! They not only learnt the rules of how to look after them but also learnt how to hold themwith care. Pupils now know how to identify male and female chicks and have an understanding of their life-cycle.

STEAM Week

Prep STEAMWeek kicked off with a fascinating exploration of science vs magic. Richard Pinner fromMagic and Laughter captivated and amazed pupils with his illusions and experiments, challenging them to vote on whether each act was science or magic! Pupils thoroughly enjoyed their paper aircraft building workshop as well as an interactive virtual reality (VR) experience, learning facts about minibeasts including ladybugs, butterflies and caterpillars. They also took part in an engaging Maths workshop where they explored different mathematical concepts through the playful use of bubbles and balloons.

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Academic

Explorer Dome Experience Prep 3 pupils enjoyed a visit from The Explorer Dome Experience, an interactive workshop where new ideas and scientific interests can be explored. Pupils immersed themselves in a virtual reality session, gaining insights into the structure of the Earth and the processes behind the formation of volcanoes and earthquakes. The workshop proved to be a great success and was a fantastic start to their newGeography unit titled 'Rocks and Rumbles'. World Book Day Prep pupils and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters in celebration of World Book Day. There were also some wonderfully creative entries for Ibstock’s book-themed classroom door decorating competition, with classes P2S and P3K the ultimate winners.

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Author Events

Eloise Smith

Eloise Smith, a children’s author with an impressive career as both an Olympic fencer and Commonwealth fencing champion, paid a special visit to the Prep School. Pupils were joined by children from The Alton School for an inspiring talk by Eloise, who encouraged pupils to pursue their dreams and signed copies of her books for them.

Robert Tregoning

Author Robert Tregoning visited the Pre-Prep School to talk about his new book, ‘Dress in theWindow’. Reading to Kindergarten, Prep 1 and Prep 2 pupils, he brought the story to life with music and different costumes. Pupils had fun drawing pictures of when and where they would wear outfits, part of Robert's idea generation before writing.

Laura Bates

Prep pupils enjoyed a visit from Laura Bates BEM, the award-winning activist, writer, speaker, journalist and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, a collection of over 200,000 testimonies of gender inequality. Prep 4, 5 and 6 pupils were deeply engaged in her talks on everyday sexism and had the opportunity to ask questions at the end of her session.

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Expressive Arts

House Music

Ibstock’s very first Prep House Music Competition was a triumphant success. Each House presented a dance routine, an instrumental solo and a rendition of a Disney song. After much deliberation, Paget was crowned House Music

Champion 2024. Congratulations!

Motion House Workshop Matilda Workshop

Actor, Sean Lopeman who currently plays ‘The Trunchball’ in theWest End musical, ‘Matilda’, delivered an exciting workshops for Prep 3 to Prep 6 pupils. Pupils had a lot of fun and the workshop was an excellent addition to theWorld Book Day festivities.

Motion House Workshop

Prep Dance pupils were treated to exciting workshops delivered by Motionhouse, a dance company who are known for having a distinctive, highly physical style which integrates elements of circus and acrobatics.

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Expressive Arts

Jonah: A Fishy Tail Prep 4 pupils performed brilliantly in their production of 'Jonah: A Fishy Tail'. They learnt a lot and embraced the scenes, songs, dances and challenges along the way. They loved having access to the professional theatre and the use of so many fantastic props and costumes.

Prep pupils have been hard at work making these beautiful house shields during their Art lessons. They learnt about shading, painting techniques, and how to depict the texture when portraying an animal through art. The shields are now proudly displayed on the walls of Roberts Hall. Art Week: House Shields

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Expressive Arts

Ibstock Prep Dance Company

Well done to our Ibstock Prep Dance Company who came first at the Richmond Dance Festival! The group performed an enchanting lyrical dance titled ‘Somewhere OnlyWe Know’ and were scored an impressive 83 marks by the adjudicator.

Tea Time Concert

Tea Time Concerts are a highlight of the music calendar for Prep pupils; informal and fun opportunities for pupils to share their music with friends and families. Audiences were treated to a wide array of confident performances, demonstrating the practice and progress our young musicians are making.

Dance Showcase

Prep 5 presented a showcase of 'Dance Through the Ages', showing off their skills and creativity from their Dance, Art and Music lessons.

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Spring 2024

Inside Ibstock Forest School

Forest School

Pre-Prep pupils have been going to the forest school for a range of activities. They crafted their paintbrushes from sticks and leaves, and explored drawing with charcoal, discovering its ancient roots back to cavemen's use of charred wood for cave wall art. They also learnt about the freezing temperatures of winter, which they utilised creatively for an activity crafting colourful ice sculptures.

By chance, one lucky group encountered Bella the Harris Hawk!

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Inside Ibstock Trips

Spring 2024

Holly Lodge

Kindergarten pupils visited Holly Lodge as part of their learning topic ‘Long Ago’. They explored a Victorian classroom, made soap in an old fashioned pharmacy and played with toys from past times.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution Visit Prep 2 pupils visited the RNLI Chiswick Lifeboat Station. They were lucky enough to speak to some of the Chiswick lifeboat crew and showed great interest in learning about potential danger and rescue scenarios, both here on the River Thames and at the coast.

Roald Dahl Museum

Prep 3 visited the Roald Dahl Museum. During their time there, pupils explored the exhibition, had a go at some of the interactive activities on offer, and peeked inside the celebrated author's famous Writing Hut! They also had an opportunity to see the village and surrounding countryside that inspired many of his much-loved stories.

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Inside Ibstock Trips

Spring 2024

London Eye

Prep 1 pupils spent a fantastic day out in London for their topic of 'bright lights, big city'. Enjoying a River Cruise down the Thames, pupils took in the sights and sounds of some of London's most famous landmarks before taking a ride on the iconic London Eye.

Imperial War Museum Visit Prep 6 pupils had an insightful visit to the Imperial War Museum as part of their History topic onWWII. They had an opportunity to see people’s experiences of conflict, from the first WorldWar to the present day, through displays, artefacts and film and audio recordings.

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Inside Ibstock Trips

Spring 2024

Maritime Museum Visit

Having finished reading 'Shackleton's Journey,' Prep 6 pupils enjoyed a perfectly timed visit to the National Maritime Museum. Artefacts and photographs helped bring to life the extraordinary expedition and provided fascinating insights into seafaring across the different eras.

Prep 5 visited the British Museum as part of their topic on Ancient Greece. The visit included looking at the controversial Elgin Marbles, and workshops which examined a range of artefacts. The visit ended with a vote on how the money gathered throughout the Greek Empire should be spent. British Museum

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Inside Ibstock Trips

Spring 2024

Ceramics Trip

Prep 5 were shaping things up and spinning around during their visit to Ceramic Classes London, Hammersmith. As part of the visit, the pupils had an opportunity to make a pot using the wheel. The pupils were also able to look at Greek vase designs and made their own version by hand.

St Margaret’s Church

Prep 1 pupils visited St Margaret’s Church to explore its distinctive features. They engaged in a dramatic reenactment of the Easter Story and participated in a simulated Eucharist where they received bread and pomegranate juice.

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Inside Ibstock Pastoral & Wellbeing

Spring 2024

Children’s Mental Health Week

Pupils marked Children's Mental Health Week with an assembly and activities. To conclude the week, pupils were encouraged to wear unique and fun sunglasses for our 'Dress to Express' Day . We raised over £1000 for Place2Be. Thank you to all the parents for your donations. The theme for this year’s Children’s Mental HealthWeek was 'My Voice Matters', emphasising the importance of children's voices in mental health advocacy and support.

First Aid Training

Prep 6 pupils took part in a two day First Aid session where they learned many essential skills, including how to administer CPR. They came away more risk aware and equipped with knowledge that could one day save a life.

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Inside Ibstock Sport

Spring 2024

Indoor Athletics Success

The U11 Indoor Athletics Team came first in their heat at theWandsworth Schools Competition. They participated in various sprint relays and field events, scoring a total of 320 points.

British Fencing

Congratulations to Arthur, Cynthia, Eleanor, Hari, Josh, Kira, Lucas, Naba, Nat and Riad for qualifying in the British Fencing Level One Foil. Congratulations to Andre and Charlie who qualified in able wheelchair fencing (substituted with chairs).

Cross Country Champion

Prep pupils represented the School in the Eagle House Cross Country event. We are very proud of Holly who won in the U11 girls category.

Gymnastics Success

Congratulations to the U11B Prep Gymnastics Squad who won first place in the Surrey Schools U11 Sports Acrobatics Competitions. The School received a shield to engrave and all the pupils proudly received Gold medals. All pupils performed sequences in pairs that had to include four acrobatic balances and four gymnastics skills.

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Inside Ibstock Families of Ibstock Place School

Spring 2024

Movie Night

Easter Bunny

Organised and coordinated by our fantastic FIPS, movie night was a hit amongst our pupils. They had fun watching ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ while indulging in some delicious popcorn and panini.

Iftar

Pupils, staff, and their families came together for a multi-national Iftar Feast, in collaboration with FIPS. Featuring a delicious buffet of traditional Iftar dishes, and great company, the evening was a tremendous success and enjoyed by all who attended. Thank you to FIPS and our catering team for a wonderful event.

Easter Bunny

Pre-Prep and Prep pupils were delighted to have a special visit from the Easter Bunny on the last day of term. There was much excitement whilst the pupils hunted for their sweets! Thank you to FIPS for organising this much-loved treat.

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Inside Ibstock Families of Ibstock Place School

Spring 2024

Book Sale

A big thank you to our FIPS volunteers for dressing up and organising an amazing book sale for Pre-Prep and Prep pupils!

SAVE THE DATE

Festival 130

Ibstock

Saturday 22 June 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Interested in finding out more about FIPS? Whether it's attending events, volunteering or joining the committee, we welcome all enquiries at FIPS@ibstockplaceschool.co.uk

Keep up-to-date with news from Ibstock, follow us on

@ibstockprep

@ibstockplaceschool

@IbstockPrep

Ibstock Place School , Clarence Lane, Roehampton, London , SW15 5PY Tel: 020 8876 9991 www.ibstockplaceschool.co.uk

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