Well, what an awesome first full week it has been back in the boarding house.  We have had huge fun doing such a wide variety of activities and crafts!

On Monday, with an ever-growing Year 4 contingent, it was back to the fun of Monday night football with Mr Dill and the U9 members of Minchinhampton football club.  After supper some of the children had huge fun making their very own scented candles – a step up from last term, when they merely made their own coloured ones.

The Year 5 girls wanted to do likewise on Tuesday (ably assisted by new gap matron Annabel, and new gap year student Emma), but all the Year 5 and 7 boys wanted to do was get out on the astro and make the most of the dry weather.  On Thursday, whilst the boys of Year 6 also showed off some of their fancy footwork on the astro, the girls unanimously opted to play ‘Just Dance’ in the sports hall – a game that everybody loves!  All the while the Year 8s relished mugs of hot chocolate in front of a movie.

Numbers continue to rise in the boarding house and with more boarders come even more fun times, games and a great atmosphere.   If you are thinking about getting your children involved then, as ever, please get in touch with us at houseparents@bps.school

On Tuesday, the children in Year 1 were treated to a surprise visit from a knight and an ogre as part of their new topic ‘Dungeons & Dragons’.  The Freshwater Theatre Company came and presented an interactive show with games and role play.  The children learned all about the role of knights and squires, and went on a quest to rescue a princess.  They had the opportunity to dress up and even interview a friendly ogre!   The afternoon ended with the children being knighted for their bravery.  It was a super and inspiring start to our new topic.

Fantastic running from the U9 cross country squad resulted in team victories for both the boys and girls at Wycliffe on Monday.   On a deceptively tough course, it was great to see the determination and effort from all.  With every place counting in the scoring system it was vital to keep going right to the end, and they all did so brilliantly!  Martha, leading the way for the girls, came in a fine 5th, closely followed by Ruby and the rest of the team to claim the team prize.  Superb running from Herbie, coming 2nd, and very good packing from the rest of the team meant that the boys produced a dominant victory too.  It was excellent to see the children really enjoying what is a tough sport, and we’re all now looking forward to our next race.  Well done everyone.

What a magnificent start to the Beaudesert Concert Series!   The Performing Arts Centre was transformed into an intimate space, where the audience, including our boarders, enjoyed listening to the inspirational musicianship of Ben Cipolla & The Nouvelle House Band during last Friday’s performance.

Watch this space for news of next term’s concert!

If you missed it…well you missed out! Here’s a clip of @BenCipolla at @beaudesertpark #livemusic #minchinhampton pic.twitter.com/OkBSTF2ufU

— Music at Beaudesert (@BeaudesertMusic) January 11, 2019

The Year 7 children were treated to some dedicated ‘Study Skills’ sessions this week when external company Elevate Learning paid us a visit.   The short, easy-to-digest sessions focused primarily on tactics to help with time management.  They included being realistic about time commitments and making sure that there is time to study or revise in amongst other important things such as sport, friends and hobbies.  The children were also given hints and tips on how to manage homework deadlines and break revision into manageable periods of time.

Finally they looked at how to make a study timetable.  The children can download a digital version of a suggested timetable format from the student portal at: www.elevateeducation.com

Plates span, diabolos whirled and juggling bags took flight in this week’s circus skills workshop in the Performing Arts Centre.  The event was very kindly funded and organised by the Friends of Beaudesert, and saw the Year 4 children having a wonderful time finding new talents during the morning. Many thanks to the Friends of Beaudesert for a Thursday with a difference!

Having booked our tickets to this Stratford-upon-Avon production a whole year ago, it has been a long time coming!   As suspected however, the wait was well worth it, and we were rewarded with a thought-provoking and visually sumptuous study of the social and moral issues of the time as depicted by Dickens. The Year 5 children were all completely spellbound!

Congratulations to our new 1st netball captain, Rosie and vice captain, Jessica as well as our 1st football team captain, Hector.

The first pupil assembly on Wednesday made for an uplifting start of the day! Well done to Eden, Matilda, Oscar, Savanna and Elliot who performed with great enthusiasm. As one of our Year 7 girls said, “pupil assemblies really brightens up the week!”

Delicious, nutritious food is a big part of school life here at Beaudesert, and producing it is a big task for our brilliant catering team.  This term the team has risen to a new challenge.  With an eye on the both the health of the planet and the health of pupils and staff, we are trialling Meat Free Mondays in the dining room.  Launched in 2009, Meat Free Monday aims to raise awareness of the detrimental environmental impact of eating meat, and to encourage people to help slow climate change, conserve precious natural resources and improve their health by having at least one meat free day each week.   Carl and his team have come up with a whole host of tempting vegetarian dishes ready for rollout over the weeks ahead.  If you feel inspired to do something similar, the Meat Free Monday website is packed with inspiring recipes: https://www.meatfreemondays.com/

Last week the children in Year 4 had a highly entertaining trip to the Barn Theatre in Cirencester to see ‘Just So – the Musical’.   Set to an eclectic, upbeat score, the show features Rudyard Kipling’s evocative Just So Stories woven into a song-filled journey through the jungle.  After the show the actors, two of whom are dyslexic, took time to have a question and answer session with our group.  Amongst other things, they explained how they learn their lines and gave us some insight into the process of bringing the production to the point at which it is ready to be performed in front of an audience.

Some Year 7 children enjoyed a quick sortie to the Ecotricity wind turbine in nearby Nympsfield this week.   The outing kicked-off their research into their new renewable energy Science topic.  Here is a snap of them enjoying a sunny moment beneath the 40m structure.

As promised, here is a photo of this year’s new team of gap year students Jed, Felix, Lily and Emma.  You may well spot them as they get stuck into lots of the more practical aspects of school life over the coming year.