On Saturday, Chloe, Iris, Mary and Otti travelled to Dauntsey Park to take part in the Schools Equestrian Games One Day Event Championships. Each had qualified in the 80cm as individuals at competitions across the area, and the girls came together to compete as a Beaudesert team for the Championships. The girls all performed well in the dressage and then went on to the cross-country phase. Only six competitors managed to get around this course without picking up time faults, of which Chloe was one, putting her into fourth place before the final Show Jumping stage. Chloe, Mary and Otti all went clear, and Chloe managed to move up to finish in 3^rd place individually. The team had to wait with anticipation for all the other competitors to go, but they hung on with a low combined score to take first place overall and be crowned 80cm champions! An incredible achievement!

Jo Davies Smith, Equestrian Co-ordinator

Our Aberdovey contingent are returning to Beaudesert this evening after a rip-roaring week in the Welsh countryside. We'll have a full report on their activities next week, but here are few photos to give you a taste of their fabulous week with Outward Bound.

On Tuesday, we celebrated European Day of Languages at Beaudesert. The day began with a special assembly with Mme Bradley (appropriately dressed for the occasion). After watching a short video all about European Day of Languages, Mme Bradley quizzed the children on what they knew about the day, and challenged them to a few European tongues twisters.

Why not give a few a go at home?

"Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse, sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches?" (French)

Are the socks of the archduchess dry,  extra dry?

"Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische, frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz." (German)

Fischers Fritz fishes fresh fish, fresh fish fishes Fischers Fritz   

We also enjoyed some European-themed food at lunchtime, including Bratwursts, pancakes and cupcakes decorated with European flags.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening of acoustic music on Friday night, as the PAC was filled with the honeyed tones of folk duo Sister Sally and one of our peripatetic teachers, Miss Lang. We listened to tracks from Sister Sally's debut album, and Eleanor treated us to some fantastic tracks from her new album. This was the perfect opportunity for children and adults alike to listen to talented and professional musicians at Beaudesert Park. We hope to enjoy many more of these concerts in the future.

Thank you so much to all of the parents who joined us for our coffee morning this morning, in support of Macmillan. It was a lovely time to come together and chat, and support a very worthwhile cause. The morning raised over £300.

Our form assemblies have resumed again this year, kicked off by 8A with a fascinating presentation on some of their favourite things. From animals to rugby and tractors to surfing, we learned lots about the children's passions and how fun it is to share them with our friends.

Year 8 began their study skills workshops this week with Elevate Education. The sessions are aimed at helping the children utilise their revision skills. This week, they worked on learning different memory techniques, and the importance of recapping work regularly.

We started the week with great excitement in our House Maths Competition! Children were selected to represent their House and took centre stage to answer a series of Maths questions posed by Mrs Packman. The audience, grouped in their House Teams, also had questions to answer, and Mrs Searson totted up the points. All Houses answered questions correctly, but special congratulations go to Willow, who were victorious with 40 points for their House.

The Pre-Prep has also been full of the sounds of music and song, as our lovely Music teacher, Mrs Loveridge has engaged children with movement, dance and instrumental work.

In Nursery and Reception this week, we have been building our sense of self and getting to know each other by exploring who we are. We have been talking about our families, our pets and where we live. We have painted and crafted our houses and drawn lovely pictures of each of our family members. In Reception, we created our whole family out of gingerbread!

During Nursery carpet times, we have been talking about where we live and stuck our photographs beside our nearest town or village on our map. Looking at the map, we have been able to say who lives closest to School and who lives the furthest away, and have enjoyed seeing who are our neighbouring friends. We have also made a chart of all our pets, including lots of interesting toy pets! We used the chart to explore and compare using language of most and fewest.

In Year 1 this week, we have continued to enjoy the story, 'The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark' and we have written an independent retelling of the story, trying to hold a sentence in our heads and writing it down. We used our artistic skills to create a parliament of owls to display in class. We have been learning more about woodland creatures, where they live and why they live there, and asking questions to display on our Wonder Wall and drive our topic forward, such as ‘Which animals hibernate in winter?’ and ‘How do bats see in the dark?’ Our Maths learning has focused on language of comparison and using language of greater than, less than and working out one more and one less. Our PSHCE has focused on special people in our lives. We have been very busy but have still found time to play and explore our own interests in our classrooms.

In Year 2, we have been delving into Science and exploring the concept of what makes a fair test. Children were tasked with working in pairs to conduct their own investigation in which they needed to design and make an umbrella for their teddies which, of course, needed to be waterproof. The children explored different materials, sorted those which were suitable and unsuitable for their purpose, and selected the waterproof plastic to make their umbrellas, each with unique designs.

As usual, Forest School has been full of fun and learning this week. Nursery have used Hapa Zome leaf dying techniques to create beautiful flags. Reception children helped us to batten down the hatches and prepare for Storm Agnes. Year 1 learned all about willow’s amazing ability to keep growing even after it has been cut, and Year 2 discovered the story about Douglas the Fir.

Anna Packman, Head of Pre-Prep

We have enjoyed yet another busy, full week of boarding!

Whilst writing this week's Buzz, I was chatting to a colleague in the staff room, and explaining how lovely it is that all the children want to do in this weather is the same as last week, play outside in the amazing grounds we have here. It does make writing the Buzz a little trickier, but it is what we as a school community love the most.

Whilst the weather has continued to 'play ball', the majority of our activities have been outside in the woods, on the banks and on the astro. However, there have been some exciting indoor activities going on as well. The ICT suites had a few customers, 'Just Dance' had its long-awaited return, and a Year 8 game of sardines on Wednesday around the School was accompanied with huge laughter and fun!

The Snug has also been upgraded with a new 'cinema' set up, which allows the children the space to relax before bedtime and watch the occasional movie.

This week's boarder of the week is receiving their accolade for being adaptable. Raffy (Year 8) is one of our most frequent boarders, and what has impressed us is how he merges in to other year groups with ease, and is also just as comfortable chatting with adults. What a star.

We have another busy night coming up tonight, good luck to all those in matches tomorrow!

Oli and Debbie Jones, Houseparents

A few members of the Beaudesert Equestrian Team travelled to Rectory Farm on Saturday, 16th September to compete in the Cheltenham Ladies' College Show Jumping competition. George started us off brilliantly with a 2nd in the 40cm. George was also given the coveted Horsemanship Prize for his efforts. In the 50cm, the team of Iris, George, and Nina came second, with an individual placing of 4th for Iris. We were a little unlucky in the 60cm, with a few poles and a couple of dismounts, but Ella produced a lovely clear in the 70cm to start her season off. Well done, everyone.

Jo Davies-Smith, Equestrian Co-ordinator