The Joy of Handicrafts

The great value of children learning Handicrafts is frequently highlighted in the press.  At Heritage we are passionate about Handicrafts and we offer a weekly lesson in the curriculum. The human hand is a wonderful and exquisite instrument to be used in a hundred movements exacting delicacy, direction and force. The children make things from material, wool, clay and wire and the end result is something beautiful to take home which they can be so proud of.  Handicrafts teach hand-eye coordination and attention to detail.  They develop fine motor skills so critical to later life, as well as many other skills including patience over a period of time. We see these skills develop from the youngest children, aged 4, to the older ones aged 11 and we have found that both the boys and the girls enjoy it equally –  as many of our photographs show.

 

Poetry at Heritage

Recitation Assemblies remain a highlight every half term for pupils and parents alike, as class by class, the children stand to recite collectively the poem they have been learning together.  Our hope and intention at Heritage is that the children will enjoy learning each of these poems individually and that over time they will build up a whole anthology in their memories to treasure as lifelong companions.

As Charlotte Mason recognised, poetry is essential for children because it is ‘the best words in the best order.’ The rhythm and rhymes can help children develop a love of language—and a love of reading. Poetry can spark their creativity and let their imaginations soar! We know that poems expand our language, give access to our rich cultural inheritance, help us develop emotional expression and are tremendously good for our muscle memory.

If a pupil were to start at Heritage in LP and remain through to Y11 they will have learnt the x36 poems listed below.  Perhaps as parents, you might take up the challenge to learn the same and enjoy these poems together with your children.

LP

  • Rain by R L Stevenson
  • Happiness by A. A. Milne
  • Footprints by Shirley Hughes
  • Spring Greens by Shirley Hughes
  • Mice by Rose Fyleman
  • The Swing by R L Stevenson

UP

  • Who Has Seen the Wind by R L Stevenson
  • The Silent Ship by Colin West
  • Daffadowndilly by A A Milne
  • Cats by E Farjeon
  • Bed in Summer by R L Stevenson
  • Now We Are Six by A A Milne

Y2

  • Hurt No Living Thing by C Rosetti
  • Keep a Poem in Your Pocket by  Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
  • Where Go the Boats by R L Stevenson
  • Silver by Walter de la Mare
  • Psalm 121
  • At the Seaside by R L Stevenson

Y3

  • Autumn Fires by R L Stevenson
  • Psalm 23
  • The Moon by R L Stevenson
  • The Pasture by Robert Frsot
  • The Garden Year by Sara Coleridge
  • Windy Nights by R L Stevenson

Y4

  • The Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennyson
  • Fireworks by James Reeves
  • The Fly by Walter de la Mare
  • The Land of Storybooks by R L Stevenson
  • Summer Sun by R L Stevenson
  • The Tyger by William Blake

Y5

  • Sea Fever by John Masefield
  • Romance by Gabriel Setoun
  • Daffodils by W Wordsworth
  • The Destruction of Sennacherib
  • The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Y6

  • The Night Mail by Auden
  • Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore
  • Ecclesiastes 3 vs 1-13
  • The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
  • Shakespeare play and
  • The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls by Longfellow

Y7

  • Macavity:The Mystery Cat by T.S Eliot
  • I have a dream by Martin Luther King
  • O Captain by Walt Whitman

Y8

  • If by Rudyard Kipling
  • I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
  • The Lady of Shalott by Alfred L Tennyson

Y9

  • Miracle on St. David’s Day by Gillian Clarke.
  • Sailing to Byzantium by WB Yeats

Y10

  • Cold in the Earth by Emily Bronte’
  • Tears Idle Tears by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
  • Friend, by Hone Tuwhare

Y11

  • Meeting at Night by Robert Browning
  • Because I Could not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

(The poems in Senior School are not set in stone and can be varied, if desired, by the English teachers.  )

Senior School Lunches

This Term a new initiative has been launched to hold formal lunches with every year group in the Senior School once a week at Panton Hall.  Tutors are invited to come, as well as Mr Burden (Head of Seniors) and Mrs Wren (Head of Pastoral) and the Headmaster, Mr Fletcher when he can. For the first half of this term every year group had a special welcome lunch with cake for pudding at the end and Year 11 had cheese toasties. This half term the pupils are going to be bringing the baked goods.  The more formal setting has provided a context where pupils and teachers converse over lunch and where good manners of conversation can be encouraged as well as deepening relationships.  

A Trip To The Battlefields

On 19th October, 40 intrepid pupils set off for the triennial French / History Battlefields Trip. We were delighted to be joined by Mme Haddow and were fortunate to have fabulous weather throughout the trip. Mrs Rowland had planned a full programme of visits including, on the first day, Poperinge with its contrasting Talbot House (a refuge for soldiers behind the lines founded by two Anglican chaplains) followed by the execution post and cells! We then visited Sanctuary Wood with its preserved trench system and museum of artefacts, Essex Farm Cemetery where John McCrae was inspired to write In Flanders Fields and finally Ypres. We attended The Last Post Ceremony which was packed and very moving. Three of our pupils (Olivia, Benjy and Sophie) placed a wreath on behalf of the school and the kindness of our pupils as a whole, towards members of the public, was commented on.

On the Saturday we headed south for Vimy Ridge with its beautiful monument to the Canadians and then on to Arras to the impressive Wellington Tunnel system. In the afternoon we visited the key sites of the Somme – Lochnagar Crater, Newfoundland Park preserved battlefield and finally Thiepval. After a delicious supper which included snail tasting, Mme Haddow kept us entertained with a challenging French Quiz.

On our final day it was back to the Ypres battlefields with visits to the hugely contrasting cemeteries of Langemark (German) and Tyne Cot (Commonwealth), the Passchendaele Museum and finally some chocolate shopping.

Throughout the trip there were commentaries in both English and French from Mrs Rowland and Mme Haddow respectively, poetry readings by our pupils and opportunities for personal pilgrimages to discover graves and memorials of family members. The pupils coped well with the long days, were respectful and thoughtful in the spirit of such a trip and it was good to see the strong sense of community amongst and across the three year groups; Years 9, 10 and 11.

 

Forest School Baton is passed from Y4 to Y6.

As the Forest School baton is handed on from Year 4 to Year 6, Mr Catley shares a few thoughts from the pioneer group’s time in Abington woods.
‘When we first arrived, we had to choose a base camp.  This involved working together to haul some very large logs into place in a clearing the children called ‘Ladybird Camp’  due to the fact that each week we found hundreds of seven spotted ladybirds there.  Over the course of the next seven weeks, the children deepened their knowledge of the space, enjoying watching summer gently turn into a beautiful autumn.  They also developed their use of tools and understanding of specific trees to make mini-beast hotels out of elder, artists’ charcoal out of hazel (which some then turned into elder pencils), some wonderful dens complete with thatching.  They also learned to split wood to build a table using square lashing, saw wood carefully using a bow saw, and how to light fires (over which they then cooked some delicious outdoor food)!  But perhaps the greatest skill many of Year 4 developed was how to work well as a team.  Watching the children share plans, ask each other for help, and collectively be proud of a shared project, such as a 5 star shelter, was truly encouraging.
Year 6 have now had their first week at the woods, and despite the wet, instantly got into the swing of woodland life and the adventure continues….’