Last week at Heritage, we held our annual celebration of World Book Day, with a chance for pupils and staff to dress up as their favourite book characters and to experience activities with a book focus throughout the day. 

The day started with a special book-oriented assembly for all of our pupils. Infants and Juniors had an opportunity to show off their costumes, after which the pupils together acted out the story ‘We’re Going on a Nature Walk’. The assembly ended with an appearance by Miss Cage, cleverly disguised as Gerald the Giraffe from Giraffes Can’t Dance. Gerald had left muddy footprints all over the school, and the children were asked to look for the letters in each of the footprints throughout the day, in order to uncover the secret phrase (Nature Walk!).

In the Senior Assembly, the following pupils gave some outstanding book reviews: 

Annabelle and Kitty (Y7):  One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibottsen, 

Daniel (Y9): The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson

Josh (Y9): Nightshade by Anthony Horowitz

Toni (Y9):  Collection of poems by Russian Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky

Georgia  and Sheila (Y11): Mythos by Stephen Fry

There was much more fun to be had throughout the day. Lower Prep pupils shared their favourite books with their Year 6 buddies and acted out the story of The Rainbow Fish. Upper Prep enjoyed a Dr Seuss-themed day where they looked at rhyme and imagined weird and wonderful creatures like a wocket in their pocket. Year 2 spent a day in Narnia, writing their own descriptions of magical lands, penning letters persuading the White Witch to allow Narnians to celebrate Christmas (while munching on–what else–Turkish Delight). Years 3 and 4 illustrated their own books in Art class, and Year 4 designed bookmarks to showcase their favourite books. Year 4 through 6 pupils tested their knowledge with some book-themed quizzes and maths challenges as well. 

With another successful World Book Day under our belts, we are already looking forward to the next one!

Last Friday, Infants and Juniors turned their attention towards India during this year’s annual Heritage International Day, an annual opportunity for pupils to spend a day learning about specific countries’ customs, foods, culture, religion, art, music and more. The children looked vibrant and cheerful as they dressed in Indian-themed clothing that included the colours of the Indian flag, traditional Indian clothing, and costumes depicting Indian wildlife including  the tiger, elephant and peacock.  

As the day began, the parents of Year 4 pupil Olivia presented Juniors with an overview of the country of India, its people and culture. Olivia herself also gave a beautiful demonstration of Bharathnatyam, the oldest form of traditional Indian dance. Enormous thanks to all three for providing such a rich presentation.  

Other activities enjoyed throughout the day included:

• Exploring spices, smelling them, and using them to paint
• Baking Nankhatai cookies in the shape of hands and decorating them in mendhi henna patterns 
• Looking through a selection of library books about India and sharing interesting facts 
• Learning about the peacock, India’s national bird, whose Sanskrit word (Mayura) means ‘killer of snakes’ 
• Writing peacock descriptions and creating lovely peacock artwork
• Learning about the religious festival, Diwali 
• Using coloured sand to make Rangoli-style patterns 
• Exploring Indian objects, clothing, and jewelry 
• Drawing and decorating madhubani elephants 
• Making mini nonfiction books on India
• Maths lessons involving Rangoli symmetrical patterns
• English comprehension lesson with interesting facts about India
• Tasting Indian food and snacks including poppadoms, onion bhajis, chutneys and naans
• Reading traditional Indian stories, including The Monkey and the Crocodile

Another big thank you to Year 2 pupil Charlotta’s mum, who made a delicious meal for the class that was thoroughly enjoyed and completely devoured.