Children’s Mental Health Week: Know Yourself, Grow Yourself

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week 2025 and the theme this year is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself. During Monday’s house assemblies and classroom discussions, pupils have been thinking about the different emotions that they may experience during their daily lives. They considered how most of the time their feelings and emotions are quite manageable, but occasionally they can become a little overwhelming.
The children talked about the ways in which “knowing yourself” and recognising normal fluctuations in our emotions can help build resilience. Pupils shared strategies for coping with sadness, including talking to a trusted adult, surrounding themselves with supportive friends, and engaging in physical activity—beneficial for both mental and physical health. In support of the initiative, our Year 8 pupil buddies led engaging sessions with younger students, fostering awareness and support for mental wellbeing.

Chinese New Year Assembly

Last Friday, ten Year 3 and 4 pupils ably assisted Miss Kennerley in delivering an assembly about Chinese New Year. They retold the legend of the Jade Emperor and the animals racing one another across the river and in the Great Race, explaining how the order of animals in the Chinese zodiac was established. The pupils also shared insights into traditions and customs around preparing family homes to celebrate the Chinese New Year festival. A highlight at the end of the assembly was opportunity to explore the display of beautiful Chinese dresses, dragons, writing, and lucky red envelopes. This year is the Year of the Snake. The children left the assembly excited to find out more about the zodiac animal representing the year they were born.

Patterns and Pastries

This week Foundation parents have enjoyed ‘Patterns and Pastries’ after the morning drop-off. As part of the Early Years Foundation Stage, children are developing a deeper understanding of the numbers one to ten, the relationships among them and the formation of patterns in numeracy. The use of practical resources really helps the children develop the knowledge and vocabulary to build their mastery of mathematics. A variety of maths activities, games, puzzles, and problem-solving tasks were undertaken during our interactive ‘Patterns and Pastries’ sessions, inspiring many pattern and number related conversations!

In the Classrooms

It has been a productive and engaging week in the classrooms across all year groups. When I visited them, Year 5 pupils were showcasing their spelling expertise in their English tests, while Year 8 were exploring the principles of pressure in physics and tackling graph work in maths. In Year 4, drama lessons brought the Sorting Hat scene from Harry Potter to life through expressive actions, while engineering lessons focused on designing habitats, including birdboxes and hedgehog houses. Meanwhile, Year 7 classics students delved into the dramatic history of Mount Vesuvius.

National Quiz Club Championships

Some of our pupils in Years 3-6 put their general knowledge to the test when they entered the first round of the National Quiz Club Championships. Competing against over 70 other teams from around the country, our two teams answered challenging questions on subjects ranging from Agincourt to Puccini’s opera Turandot and even SpongeBob SquarePants! Both teams learnt how to collaborate strategically to maximise their score and everyone had a lot of fun. One of our teams secured an impressive 13th place, and will compete in the next round in March.

1MK Assembly: The History of Flight

As part of their topic on transport, 1MK delivered their class assembly today, sharing with Pre Prep children and parents some fascinating facts about the history of flight. Through acting, singing and poetry, the children gave an animated account of the story of the Wright Brothers. They really brought to life the innovation behind the design and building of the the first-ever powered aeroplane.

Pre Prep Cooking Club : A Taste of the World

Our Pre Prep Cooking Club have been exploring family recipes from around the world. On Wednesday, they enjoyed making Pamela’s Fruit Salad – a delicious dish inspired by a seaside hometown in Argentina. To top it off the children made a delicious, sweet sauce to drizzle over their fruity masterpieces – an exciting way to explore global culture through food.

Art Fun: Capturing Murmurations

This term the Art Club has been studying the breathtaking natural phenomenon of murmurations. Pupils have created their own spectacular artistic interpretations of these mesmerising bird formations, producing some beautiful and dynamic pieces of work.

U11 Boys’ Hockey

Mr Thompson writes, “The U11 boys’ hockey team set off for Ipswich last Friday hoping to continue and improve their fine form expressed thus far, at the East Regional IAPS Tournament. Only the two finalists would qualify for the National Finals out of the sixteen teams participating. Our task was made even more difficult by being drawn in a group with The Perse, Repton and Culford. Losing our first game narrowly to The Perse put even more pressure on our next game against a very strong Repton School. A gritty performance saw us win 2-1 and full of confidence we went on to beat Culford 4-0. Playing some amazing hockey, our boys beat Framlingham in the quarter final 5-0 and Ipswich 1-0 in the semi-final which meant we would face The Perse again in the final match of the regional tournament. In an incredible end to end game, with both Cambridge sides playing hockey far beyond their years, The Perse scored the winner with one minute to go. However, with qualification assured and with areas to look forward to improving, we continue this season’s journey excited and full of confidence!”

Year 7 & 8 Boys’ House Hockey

Mr Mageen writes,

“A wonderful Wednesday afternoon saw sixty of our Year 7 and 8 boys involved in the annual House Hockey matches. Silky skills were on display, with great support of housemates shown for the boys representing both the A and B teams in their respective Houses. Newton was crowned champions for the fifth consecutive year despite, Latham and Chaucer proving to be formidable opposition. It was also notable that one of the Bentley goalkeepers also kindly offered to be between the posts for Newton throughout the afternoon as they were without a keeper. He was in great form, saving two penalties that were taken by two of our current ‘A’ team squad and he received a rapturous ovation from all the players, staff and parents at the end of the tournament! Well done to everyone and a huge thank you to the parents who were able to join us to cheer on the boys.”

Gymnastics

Our dedicated gymnastics teams are once again competing this weekend in the U9 Boys’, U11 Boys’ & Girls’, and U13 Boys’ ISGA Four-Piece National Gymnastics Championships and the U10 and U13 Girls’ ISGA Five-Piece Premier National Gymnastics Championships. We wish them the very best of luck.

And Finally…

I am told by our aspiring astronomers that this month, on clear nights, a planetary parade is visible – meaning that we can see multiple planets in an arc across the night sky at the same time. Six planets are currently visible, but in a rare event, on February 28th there will be a 7-planet alignment.

You therefore might be planning to spend some of this weekend stargazing, to hone your observational skills ahead of this special occasion, or perhaps you will need some time to find your old telescope in the loft, but however you spend the weekend, I do hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable time.

With all best wishes,

Crispin Hyde-Dunn