Above and Beyond launched in some style last Saturday when revered wildlife cameraman Doug Allan came in to talk to us.  With a set of wow slides and images to hand, Doug shared stories from his years spent as an integral part of the team on showstoppers such as Planet Earth.  The children were hugely attentive and asked Doug many, many intelligent questions in the Q &A session at the end.

On Tuesday the whole of Year 8 went to the wonderful Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, spending the day sketching around the museum. They were given a talk about using their sketchbooks effectively and shown some brilliant, inspiring examples of how they could use them in an interesting way.

They enjoyed the wide range of examples of Haida Art in the museum, which is the topic they are studying this term. The totem poles were particularly impressive, with many students producing some lovely drawings of them.

The museum itself was outstanding, and full to bursting with 55,000 awe-inspiring objects.  It was wonderful to have the chance to spend a day sketching a few of them from life.  All the staff had a go too!   The children produced some fabulous drawings, and a very enjoyable day was had by all.

Thank you to all of the parents who came along to this week’s Learning Support coffee morning.  As before, the event was a relaxed forum for parents and staff to meet and talk.  The LS team told parents about new ideas and innovations, including the introduction of twice weekly typing sessions for the children.  Parents were given hints and tips for helping children at home, for example with daily mini activities, and with choosing highly visual books to encourage more fluent reading.  The team showed off some of the multi-sensory activities they use, and invited parents to have a go themselves.

Our very own waterside development continues apace down in the grounds.  The restored pond now sports a striking new dipping platform with benches atop.  Best of all, the wood for all of them came from a majestic Wellingtonia tree which stood proud in the grounds for many years before finally succumbing to old age and high winds.

This week the children in 3H were treated to a pond-side lesson.  The talk from Mr Hale about the pond’s restoration was definitely interesting, but even that was surpassed by the sight of dragonflies hovering above the water and right in front of the children as they watched and listened for some of the incredible wildlife right here in the grounds.

Pupils in the prep school have been enjoying recording their own compositions with Mr Harris in the recording studio.  In one activity the pupils learnt about microphones, and they spent time collaborating to create a recording of a ‘scary’ piece of music.  We look forward to seeing and hearing more pupils using this activity time to learn about Music Technology!

As we approach the first exeat of the year we will remember this week as the week of September sunshine!  Every night, some, if not all of us have been out on the banks, enjoying the weather – even swimming!

That was the activity for the Year 4s on their second night of boarding.  Before supper, they enjoyed a friendly tournament, playing football in the sports hall, so after supper, naturally the thing to do was to go and cool down in the pool.

On Tuesday, although the majority of the boarders were outside enjoying the evening sunshine, there are were a few girls who were even more tempted by the thought of being the first of the year to embark on a game of ‘Just Dance’ in the sports hall – an activity that everyone will no doubt enjoy at some point over the course of the year!

On Wednesday, the Year 8s enjoyed having the place to themselves for the weekly Year 8 evening.  They especially enjoyed being guinea pigs for the new Year 8 snack system which means they get extra special, more substantial snacks (in this case houmous and breadsticks) in the dining room before heading upstairs for their film, after spending the early evening chilling and studying.

Finally, on Thursday, with Purbeck trip just around the corner, the Year 6s were honing their camping skills. Their evening was spent reminding themselves how to put up tents so when it comes to Purbeck next week, they will be (fingers crossed) prepared for all eventualities!

As ever, we would love to hear from you should you wish to try boarding, either again or for the first time.  Do get in touch using the email houseparents@bps.school

The boys enjoyed their first rugby fixtures of the season this week, with the U12’s and U13’s having good games at Monkton Coombe.  Meanwhile the U11As and Bs performed well at the Downs Wraxall festival and the under U11Cs played in a triangular with Berkhampstead and Hatherop schools.  In the meantime the U10s travelled to Bromsgrove for a block of fixtures and the U9s had their first contact fixtures against Berkhampstead on our school fields.  Well played to all the boys.

And there’s much more to come!  Next week we are hosting a U9 festival and have matches lined up against Wycliffe and St Edwards on Wednesday, whilst on Saturday it’s the full block fixture against Pinewood.

Year 1 took advantage of the beautiful autumn weather and went on a scavenger hunt around the school grounds this week.  Armed with a tick sheet of different woodland creatures and features to find they set off with eyes peeled and pencils poised.  Their efforts paid off in spades when they found and recorded a super selection of snails, spiders, types of tree bark, and different wild and cultivated flowers.  Perhaps the best spot of all was of a wonderful squirrel’s drey high up in the trees.

Well done to the girls in their various hockey sessions and matches this week, including the U11 girls who had a full day of hockey at St Edward’s School in Oxford and all those who played in the matches against Redmaids.  Our senior girls undertook some hard fitness training over on the fields as part of their prepation for matches against Hatherop on Wednesday, and our big block fixture against Pinewood next weekend, and overall the sports teachers are really starting to see how the girls’ hard work in training is reflecting in their matches. Well done to all, and keep it up!

As promised, here are some photos from last week’s Year 4 team building day at The Wilderness Centre in the Forest of Dean.

This week we learnt a thing or two about the highs and lows of saturation diving – statistically one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.  During an eye-opening assembly taken by 8C, the children and assembled staff learnt that a saturation diver’s job is to dive to depths of up to 100m below sea level to carry out jobs that need doing there, for example essential maintenance work on oil rigs.   Divers are kept alive in part thanks to what’s known as an umbilical cord on which they rely for oxygen to breathe, and warm water to circulate around their bodies to stop them from freezing in the icy water.

One such saturation diver is Chris Lemons.   Chris was diving off a boat to the depths of the North Sea to carry out some welding work when disaster struck.  A huge storm blew up, the diver’s life-line umbilical chord was severed, and Chris was left without either warmth or oxygen for more than 30 minutes whilst the rescue divers fought to find him.  The longest anyone had ever survived without oxygen before had been 11 minutes, and the rescuers fully expected to find a dead body.  Miraculously, Chris survived.

If ever there was proof that anything is possible, this story is it.

Well done to the 10 children who took part so gamely in last weekend’s Minchinhampton Country Fair.  The fair has been taking place for centuries and every year sports a pageant which retells the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn.  This year the storytelling was brought bang up to date with the inclusion of problem plastic in the age old story.  After the pageant the children got stuck into running their stall and ‘Human Hat Machine’ game which raised more than £50 towards the event’s sizeable pot of money which goes to local good causes.

The flyers will be with us shortly, but here is a preview of the amazing variety of stalls at this year’s Autumn Charity Fair. If you are interested in helping out on the day, please contact Emily Calvert at emilycalvert88@gmail.com

Autumn Charity Fair 2019 Leaflet

Last weekend a group of skilled Beaudesert riders performed brilliantly in two days of NSEA events.  Across the board they came Team 1st and 2nd in both the 60cm and 70cm jumping classes, as well as Team 2nd in the 50cm.  Individually they came away with rosettes aplenty as well, with placings in all classes despite high numbers in all.  Very well done to Ottilie, Tilly, Chloe, Iris, Rufus, Ursula, Aggie, Havana, Tinks, Jemima, Archie and Violet.

The children in 2B have been painting lizards in the desert as a start to their Mexico topic.  Here’s an eye-catching example of one of them.

This week 2A had a special visitor in the form of Alice’s pet Mediterranean tortoise!  Cookie delighted the children with his surprisingly scratch feet and amazed them with the speed he was able to muster when walking across the mat.  Alice proudly reported that Cookie’s favourite food is dandelions and that he is getting ready to hibernate for four months over the winter.