NP News

Headmaster Writes

GOLF MASTERCLASS LAUNCHED AT NORTHWOOD PREP.We extend a special welcome to-day to our visitors for Open Morning and hope that you have an enjoyable and instructional visit as you see our school in action.
Hard on the heels of success in the Ryder Cup and the hugely successful golfing event at the Grove, the search is on at NP to develop our own “tiger” cubs. We believe that any special gifts or talents should be identified as early as possible and developed during the children’s time at the school. To this end we are delighted to have been asked to take part in creating a
centre of excellence for our young golfers at the school, led by golf professional Dean Halford [pictured above]. Dean is based at Mill Hill School. He will be visiting us on a regular basis to encourage our young stars in the development of the game at NP. Dean commented to-day: 'With the fantastic opportunities offered by Northwood Prep, the Mill Hill Golf Academy chose Northwood Prep to be one of their first golfing partners. It is proven that boys and girls who participate in activities that they enjoy, achieve more in the class room.  We hope to see Northwood Prep golfers as future Ryder Cup stars!’

Thank you to all who took the time and trouble to complete the parent questionnaire in preparation for our forthcoming inspection. We are very much looking to welcoming our guests as they visit the school during the week beginning 6th November.
Looking forward to seeing you all at our fireworks party on 2nd November. 

MR JOHN SUDBURY
We regret to announce that Mr J. Sudbury, Headmaster of Northwood Prep (1974-1989), passed away on 22nd September 2006. John will be remembered for his major contribution to the development of the school. Amongst his many professional achievements,  Mr. Sudbury was instrumental in the  relocation of the school from Eastbury Road to our current  site in 1982. We extend our condolences to Mrs. Sudbury and family.
   
Kind regards, as always

KS3 News

The autumn term is in full swing as are the conkers! Subject progress testing, rugby matches, 13+ interviews and who to pick in the fantasy football league (kindly organised by Mr Mlotshwa this year) have been the other old chestnuts.
Congratulations to both the 1st and 2nd XV on recent victories, to the ten boys who took part in the Moor Park ‘Fun Run’ and to Lawrence Ho (Y8), Savan Shah (Y8) and Ammar Malik (Y7) on the award of their School Colours for musical excellence (Grade 5 which is regarded as equivalent to a GCSE). Thanks to Y8 for their first official Ambassador duties at Open  Morning today and best wishes to our Y7 mathematicians taking part in the Merchant Taylors’ Prep Schools Maths Challenge. Can they equal Shrenik Sanghrajka’s success last year and add to our record of three wins in the last four years?

Thanks for your support of Harvest Festival (Seeds for Africa) and the   Macmillan Coffee Morning. There is a mufti day next Friday for the medical charity ‘Cure’ and a Parents’ Association Cake Sale. Founder’s Day celebrations last week were subdued by the news of the death of former Headmaster Mr Sudbury (74-89) who brought our school to this splendid site.

Finally, we look forward to seeing parents at Target Setting on Friday 20th October. Revision packs for the November exams will be available at this time as usual. 

KS2 News

Last Friday Northwood Prep was involved in the ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Event’ in aid of the Macmillan foundation. Thanks go to the catering staff for the delicious biscuits, the PA for helping organise this event and your attendance and generosity. On the same day, we celebrated Founder’s Day with a magnificent birthday cake at lunchtime. Thanks to the catering staff for this splendid treat. Our Harvest assembly for the charity ‘Seeds for Africa’ was very thought provoking. Thank you for your generosity and Miss Hunter for all the hard work in organising this worthwhile event.
Year 5 recently visited the National Gallery where they thoroughly enjoyed viewing the art and learning how to read the stories in the pictures. Thanks to Mrs Middleton for organising this visit.
Since the last newsletter all the U9 & U10 teams have played Davenies Prep School and the U11 team have played in the Saracens Challenge Trophy where they were coached by professional coaches and some Saracens Academy players before the main tournament.
Congratulations to all who represented the school as they played with plenty of enthusiasm and skill. May I take this opportunity to thank you all for your support at the matches. It is appreciated by the boys. Congratulations go to James Fowler for recently winning a Hip-Hop dance competition. I would also like to congratulate all those who supported the Moor Park Linda Jackson Macmillan Centre ‘Fun Run’ and to Charlie Borralho for being the first Northwood Prep boy home in 13th position.
A reminder that on the 13th October it is the PA cake sale with Mufti day in aid of the charity CURE, which builds and operates teaching hospitals where disabled children and their families can have their medical and spiritual needs met, regardless of their background, and on the 20th October is target setting in the Senior School Hall.

Junior School News

I hope that boys and parents have enjoyed looking at the photographs of our drama and drumming workshops on the website. The boys particularly loved the drumming workshops and they all had the opportunity for ‘hands on’ participation. We have also put a variety of forms on the website that parents may find useful e.g. Late Club request, Different Collection notification. Many thanks for all of your generous donations for Harvest. We had a lovely Harvest assembly where we looked at pictures of traditional Harvest Festivals and Miss Hunter showed us a DVD of how your donations will be spent by the ‘Seeds in Africa’ charity. Year 1 had a very worth-while visit to Gunnersbury Park Museum last week, where they found out about life in a Victorian kitchen and looked at Victorian artifacts. They were lucky enough to be accompanied by many keen and helpful parents and we very much appreciate their help. We are all looking forward to John Harris, the storyteller, visiting school next week and please remember that any requests for signed books need to be in school by Wednesday 11th October.

charity news

I would firstly like to say a big thank you for your continued support with our charity fundraisers.  The school managed to raise almost £450 for our Harvest charity ‘Seeds for Africa,’ which will help towards the planting of over 90 fruit trees.  We also raised over £400 at the Macmillan Coffee  Morning which took place in the Senior School hall.
We will be holding a mufti day and cake sale on Friday the 13th October.  All money raised for the mufti will go towards CURE, a charity which helps  children with physical disabilities in developing countries.  The charity builds and operates teaching hospitals where disabled children and their families can have their medical and spiritual needs met, regardless of their background. If you would like to have a closer look at the CURE campaign, please go to www.cureinternational.org.uk  Boys will be asked to make a contribution of at least a£1 to this worthwhile cause for the privilege of not wearing school uniform on the day.  Presentations will be made about the charity CURE in assembly to the Junior and Senior School boys on the  morning of the 13th October.  A cake sale will also take place on Friday 13th October.  Junior and Nursery children are asked to take their cakes to the Junior School Hall and Senior boys are asked to bring their cakes to the  senior playground underneath the covered way.  The money raised for the cake sale will go towards the Parents’ Association.

MIP & MVP

Most Valuable Pupil

This time we congratulate James Ozden (Y6), Daniel Aron (Y8) Charlie Borralho (Y6)

Most Improved Pupil

This time we congratulate Shamil Shah (Y4), Jai Thakrar (Y3) Ben Pinsent (Y7)

To encourage further effort and achievement, two cups are awarded to boys in the Senior School each week: Most Valuable Pupil of the week and Most Improved Pupil of the week.

harrow music day

On 28th September, some boys from the Northwood Prep orchestra went off to Harrow School in order to perform in the preparatory schools music day. We were split up into our groups: strings and the band (Brass, Woodwind and Percussion). The band was conducted by Mr. Palmer. We rehearsed five pieces: Tijuana taxi, Rock World Reloaded, What I did for Love, Jamaica Farewell and The March from Aida which was performed by the full orchestra. We also did some activities with a wide range of choice. The activities were done in our separate bands. They were a lot of fun. At 5 o’clock, our parents came to the concert. The leader of the orchestra at Harrow called Sean, played an absolutely, amazing piece which left everyone in the Speech Room spellbound. The strings practised the pieces we were to play and then split up further so the cellos and double basses remained in the current building while the violins and viola went off to the music schools. In our groups we practised our pieces in further depth. After, we broke for lunch which was gorgeous. We continued our practise, but this time all the strings practised together in the very grand Speech Room. After we had our activities which ranged from art to the assault course (all which were thoroughly enjoyable), we then joined as a whole orchestra for our final rehearsal. We had tea and then took our positions for the concert. Both the strings and the band fired a range of music at the audience. A Harrovian played a stunning solo and after a few more pieces (including The Entertainer), the whole orchestra played the  magnificent March From Aida by Verdi. The day was thoroughly enjoyable. This was a great success and I hope the parents enjoyed the concert as much as we did. Many thanks to Mr. Griffiths and Mr. Edwards for arranging and many thanks to Daniel for taking us to this wonderful day out.

no longer chicks

While it is always interesting to hear news of Northwood Prep old boys, I was even more thrilled to see evidence that the Northwood Prep old girls are also well and healthy, and earning their living! Last May   we waved a sad goodbye to our 10 yellow, fluffy chicks and I have enjoyed hearing up-dates from the Mileses, Greens and Borralhos on their development over the last few months. Last week, Charlie Miles (Y4B) arrived at school with an egg box which, to my delight contained half a dozen eggs from “our” hens! Miss Bricknall and I have grand plans to do some cookery with Y4B so we can all have a taste of our very own eggs. Thank you to the Miles family for generously handing over the eggs and here’s hoping that the Green and  Borralho flocks soon start producing too!

cami maths

Year 6 CAMI club takes place every Friday morning at 8am, all pupils welcome.

one place available 2007

One place has come available for a boy in Year 6 on the forth coming ski visit to Alpe d’Huez. Currently there are 18 boys from Year 6 booked on this visit.  If you would like your son to come with us please contact Mrs Lee for details aelee@northwoodprep.co.uk.

p.a. uniform sale

There will be a second hand uniform sale on 19th October from 3-5pm in School Hall.
If you have any uniform in good clean condition, that you would like placed in the sale, please label each garment with your son’s name and class and how much you require for it.  20% goes to the P.A. and 80% is returned to you.

open music week

Next week is open music lesson week, all parents are welcome to sit in on their child’s lesson and meet their teacher.  This is an ideal opportunity to see the progress that is being made and discover ways to support your child’s learning and practice at home.  Please check your son’s lesson time on the timetables in the Music School   on the day of his lesson and we look forward to seeing you next week.