What is plain to see is that the school offers an abundance of opportunity and that the boys are making the most of it all. For example, it was fantastic to see all our Year 5 and 6 boys perform “Sweeney Todd” so confidently on stage this week, with beautiful singing and clear pronunciation in their speeches. The building work is complete on the sports changing facilities and the boys used the changing  rooms for the first time on Monday. This has meant that the work on the new Music School has now begun. The theatre construction is progressing very well and we are expect to complete the work by the end of this term, on time and on budget.

Northwood Prep also offers a great deal to the dedicated staff  that work here. I am very pleased to say that we are forging links with schools all over Britain and in other parts of the world, sharing best practice and expertise. To this end we congratulate Miss Hasan [Year 1] who has been accepted as part of our teacher exchange programme with Harrow Bangkok. She will be teaching there for a year, from September 2008.              

Kind regards, as

Year 8 will receive a record of 13+ results once they are all declared. Year 7 will receive setting information by post.
The Valentine’s disco is a timely distraction as we welcome girls from our sister schools. Pupils have also enjoyed House Pancake Races, a national General Knowledge competition and our own Africa Geography challenge to coincide with the African Cup of Nations. The school Art competition is something for the boys to think about during the week’s break and we have a ‘Book Week’ on our return.

There has also been the entertaining Year 6, 7 and 8 disco attended by our boys and some local girls schools. Congratulations to Kavan Kothari (5T) and Julian Man (6J) for being the first boys in Key Stage 2 to receive their silver certificates.  Finally, I’d like to wish everyone a happy and restful half term.

CHESS

Recently the U11 & U9 chess teams competed in the regional round of the English Schools Primary Chess tournament in High Wycombe. Both teams played very well. The U9’s qualified for the semi finals of the competition to be held at Pontin’s in Norfolk but the U11 narrowly missed out. Thanks to Miss Bangert and all the parents for their support.

These boys shared their findings in an assembly last week and we were delighted that they took the time to pursue a cause that is so worthwhile. Our ‘bird’ theme means that we are very keen to promote an interest in ornithology. We have been treated to a musical recital this week and it was great to see violinists as well asa cellist performing alongside our many enthusiastic learners of piano. Our boys loved watching the Senior School pancake races on Shrove Tuesday and Y1 boys really enjoyed making pancakes in Mrs. Lad’s French lessons this week. Book Week will be taking place in Junior School after half term with many exciting events planned. Remember that boys who would like a signed Tony Bradman book should send between £4 and £6 in a named envelope to school by Tuesday 19th February. Please also remember that the Friday of Book Week is also our ‘Book Character Dressing-up Day’ so you have half term to get your creations ready!

Today we were delighted to welcome Jordan's mummy, Mrs. Hui, to the Nursery who spoke to us about the 2008 Chinese New Year celebrations, `The Year of the Rat'. The following half term represents an exciting time for the children - the last at our current setting in Northwood. We will start with the Junior School Book Week and a dressing up day when the children will come to Nursery as a character from a book of their choice. Preparations will continue throughout the half term for the move to our new nursery in the grounds of Merchant Taylors’ School. Have a good break.

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.

Last week the boys in Y5 to Y8 sat a general knowledge paper. There were two papers, one for Year 5 & Year 6 and the other for Y7 & Year 8. Congratulations go to the winners Vivek Midha (7B) and Zohaib Arain (6J) who will receive a prize at Speech Day. The following boys from each age group represented the school in the SATIPS General Knowledge Challenge on Thursday 8th February.

The boys and their teacher are working together in sharing IT skills and RE knowledge to help Northwood Prep achieve its goal of integrating IT in every subject.

To further their study of the interior of Christian churches, Year 5 boys were invited to examine 15 beautiful photographs of churches from around the World.  These were displayed in a Gallery on Studywiz.  The boys looked for items they have studied, and they chose their favourite pictures, explaining what appealed to them:  “I like picture 12 because it is grand inside and it has lots of decorations. It also has an altar, 3 stained glass windows, a nave, some pews and a crucifix.”  said Tara Armstrong (Y5T); Luke   Esson (Y5K) wrote, “I like the ceiling because it looks like the night sky with stars.” The boys were thrilled to post their comments on the secure site. 

Year 6 boys completed an online quiz: 10 questions based on the Old Testament story about the prophet Elijah.  Mrs Pollock was delighted with the 100% response – if only this could happen every week!  This week, Y6 are tackling a crossword – Jehoshaphat, anyone?

The American journalist, George Will, once observed that ‘the future has a way of arriving unannounced’. In some schools this is exactly what has happened. Teachers and students are doing things with ICT, that only a few years ago seemed positively futuristic.  At NP the future is being embraced with the implementation of our Virtual Learning Environment, Studywiz. This VLE will enable boys and teachers to access resources, whether they are audio files, movies, Pdf, presentation, iPod or in fact any type of digital information,  ‘Anytime, Anywhere’.  Assignments can be posted to students, which on completion can be sent to their teacher for assessment and examples kept in their own portfolio.  Forums can be created for discussion on assignments or for tutorials. Students can message each other or their teachers, safely within our school community.

Our VLE can be accessed via the school website using the appropriate tab on the navigation bar. For a more details of our VLE, the E-Tech website can be viewed at http://www.studywiz.com .  It is obvious that a great deal of work is involved in the total shift towards a digital ethos, not just in training, but also in terms of conversion of pre-existing resources, even publishers have not really caught up with change in demand. The suppliers of our VLE estimate it usually takes two to three years for schools to totally embed a system like this within the culture of the school. The vision is that boys will be taught with materials displayed on the Interactive Whiteboard, these resources will then be transferred to the VLE,  so that they can be accessed at anytime for prep or revision purposes.

So far this term Years 5-8 have received their initial training, with Years 3-4 to follow after half term and Junior School during the Autumn Term.

In time, parents will be given passwords, so that they too will be able to access their children’s assignments, view their assessments, and enjoy their achievements. I am convinced that our VLE will provide more choice, more opportunities and more routes to developing learning pathways for a long time in the future.

Congratulations go to Bhavik Mehta (6J) for passing his final two module  of the ECDL and becoming the youngest boy at Northwood Prep to have completed the course. This is an outstanding achievement.

Congratulations also go to the following boys for passing the following modules. Rohin Shah (6F) Module 1, Alistair Parker (6F) Module 2, Akash Roy (6F) Module 3, Rishav Shah (6J) Module 6.

More information regarding ECDL can be found on the school website.

Did you know that if children develop confidence and proficiency in their fundamental movement skills they  enjoy many benefits?
They are more willing to persist with learning more complex motor skills and are more likely to enjoy a variety of activities long into their adult lives. It also helps their muscle and bone development, can increase their fitness levels and helps increase social competence.

As each skill is introduced, the boys have the opportunity to practise on a daily basis which reinforces the motor patterns. They are also encouraged to practise at home with mum or dad and brothers or sisters. This term the boys are practising hopping and skipping whilst singing to their very own version of ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain’ which has appropriately been changed to ‘We’ll be skipping round the astro!’
Keep up the good work everyone and we’ll all reap the benefits!

There are four different subjects to choose from; choose only ONE of the following subjects for your entry:

*A sporting event  
*An imaginary animal 
*The Jungle
*A city of the future.

All entries must be two dimensional and must be no larger than A3. please mount your entry and label it clearly on the front with your name, class and chosen subject.  1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be selected from each of the following three groups, Years 3-4, Years 5-6 and Years 7-8. All entries must be submitted to Mrs Middleton, in the Art Room, by Tuesday February 19th.  Judging will take place on Tuesday March 4th and the winning entries  will be announced the following day.

to take part in the London Marathon. He has been “training” hard for over a year and has managed to get a sponsored place through Sense, the charity  for deaf-blind children and adults. Unlike the vast majority of participants, he has no intention of doing any running, but will walk the whole distance instead. His estimated finish time is about 5pm. If any of you will be watching, he’ll be the man at the back in an orange wig!

My father takes a great interest in all that goes on at NP and is well known to the boys I teach as I have often had to ask him to explain the more complicated physics problems we come across. He has provided the Science department with some of our most popular equipment, including the catapult boards, the big telescope to view the transit of Venus and the chopsticks. He also visited the school two years ago, so boys now in Y7 may remember him in Dr Sharp’s Sound lecture.

He needs to raise £1400 for Sense. If any NP families would be prepared to sponsor him, he has a Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/michaelflinn and any donation, however small, will be most welcome. With many thanks from us both. 

Enjoyed by all who took part and cheered on by onlookers from the Junior School. Where is the pancake in the first picture? Answers to Mrs Lee by 19th Feb.