Another wonderful Westbourne week!
Although we may all be coming to terms with the new wave of local lockdowns, we have let nothing stand in the way of keeping spirits high and learning as engaging and ‘hands on’ as possible across the Westbourne community.
Journeys of exploration across the year groups have seen Nursery ‘travelling’ across the night sky, Prep and Senior classes splashing in all weathers on dramatic Welsh seashores, boarding house basketball club get underway with star coach, Miss Allen and our IB Sixth Form students discovering more about the path to Oxbridge.
A huge congratulations to all our pupils, staff and of course parents for helping make every moment back in school count.
IB2 turned their minds this week to the impending deadline for Oxbridge applications and UCAS submissions.
With a plethora of options ahead of them, we were delighted to host an Oxbridge and UCAS advisory workshop specifically designed to help our Sixth Formers make the very most of the incredible advantage the IB Diploma gives them during the university admissions process.
A team of four exceedingly sharp-minded young graduates from Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh, all having achieved 40+ Points during the IB Diploma explored options and answered questions from our inquiring sixth formers on options after Westbourne.
There’s nothing we love more at Westbourne than a student-led initiative, and our Boarding House students did not disappoint this week as the very first Boarding Basketball Club session got underway.
We are lucky enough to have not only easy access to the school basketball court at weekends but also access to a qualified coach and former Welsh junior player, Carys Allen, so the club was already off to a great start.
The first session focused on fitness and the fundamental skills of the game with the students put through their paces! Huge smiles all round and we’re delighted that Carys will be coaching the team throughout the term, with the aim of being match ready once the world returns to normal!
The club, although founded by the Boarding House students, is very much open to all Senior School and Sixth Form students with an interest in basketball and Saturday morning availability. Please contact Mrs Allen for further information.
Autumn has arrived with gusto and with a rather wet Wednesday PE lesson to contend with, Mrs Allen and Mr Wellington took full advantage of the benefits of being close to Barry Island.
The resulting ‘Barry Island Bootcamp’ took Years 9, 10, 11 and PreIB through their paces, proving nothing gets in the way of a Westbourne PE session!
Mr Tucker helped bring learning to life with a Year 11 field trip to Aberthaw beach this week. Tasked with investigating the distribution and abundance of organisms living on a seashore as part of their GCSE Biology course, the rain may made a brief appearance but otherwise students delighted in a sunny day out of the classroom, as well as learning a lot about sampling techniques.
Unphased by restrictions regarding the sharing of musical instruments, Miss Armstrong has hacked a way to ensure music lessons remain an enriching learning experience by taking them virtual!
The students featured below are creating short compositions using virtual pianos and learning how to add notations to musical staves.
This week we saw the start of Black History month and across Westbourne Prep throughout October we’ll be celebrating the life, work and contribution people of African and Caribbean descent have made to society.
Great lives, including Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Walter Tull and Benjamin Zephaniah, to name but a few will be explored throughout the coming weeks, but one person we will definitely be finding a lot more out about is Maya Angelou.
Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. Mrs Chinnock’s favourite quote from her, with good reason, is:
‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ in Mrs Chinnocks’ words, ‘I think we should all be a little more ‘Maya’….here here!
You guessed it – it’s Forest & Beach School out and about yet again!
This week, Prep tackled both forest and beach in the same session as Year 2 headed out exploring in Porthkerry Park. Alongside a lot of smiles and splashes, there was a great opportunity to learn all about the water cycle journey and how streams flow out to the sea.
To see the theory in practice, Year 2 even followed the stream in Porthkerry all the way out to the seashore, having a fantastic time noticing their surroundings and picking items for their journey sticks.
We can’t wait to read about FAB School’s adventures again next week!
Space exploration took a lead in Nursery this week, with an exciting visit from a mobile planetarium to get the new topic of space off to a flying start. Learning the names of the various planets and choosing a favourite, our youngest Westbourne pupils fully explored the night sky and enjoyed a story about how gravity works!
Another great learning experience enjoyed by all.
Another excellent week for Westbourne Prep School and as always, it is a challenge to choose just one star, however the below are worthy winners – congratulations all on your achievement.
Early Years: ⭐ Toni – for excellent work learning to write his name neatly and accurately. He has started to become more confident writing more challenging words!
Year 2: ⭐ Lyanna for her brilliant positive attitude in Forest and Beach school. Lyanna gave every challenge a go with a giant smile on her face!
Year 3: ⭐ Aneurin – for his fantastic efforts on Google Classroom working from home. Nye’s writing has been an absolute joy to read.
Year 4: ⭐ JJ for a focused and mature start to the academic year. Great work, JJ
Year 5:⭐ Millie for brilliantly designing and describing a new character in the style of Chris Riddell