Year 2 Assembly - South Africa

The children in Year 2PL had lots of fun preparing and performing their class assembly which was based around their topic of South Africa.  We have set up a pen pal programme with the Our Lady of Natal Convent School which is in Durban, South Africa.

Pre Prep Spring Celebration

Congratulations to all children who took part in the Spring Celebration. 

National Small Schools Rugby Sevens Tournament

On Sunday 27th March, the Senior 7s Rugby Squad travelled to Oundle School, Northamptonshire and took part in the National Small Schools Sevens Tournament.  

The boys made a strong start, in their first group match beating Pinewood convincingly, followed by a win against Ardvreck (from Scotland) in a hard fought game.  The final group game against Terra Nova was won with ease meaning Hall Grove finished top of their group.

Our quarter final match against Haslemere proved a game too far. Haslemere were a very strong, well organised unit and were deserving victors against a valiant Hall Grove side. 

The boys who represented the school should be very proud of their efforts, considering their lack of sevens rugby experience. Well done to all.

A few of the pictures taken during the day can be found here.

Pre-Prep Easter Celebration

Congratulations to all children who took part in the Pre-Prep Easter Celebration. Photographs taken are available on the school website.

Headmaster's Blog

Many children in Upper School would like to support an educational project being set up in Haiti by Olivia Owen, a young teacher from Heatherton House School. She has shown considerable bravery in overcoming numerous obstacles and difficulties and is achieving some very worthwhile results. There will be an Upper School Mufti Day on Tuesday 29th March. Years 6, 7 and 8 children are asked to

bring in a minimum of £2 if they would like to take part.

A big thank you to everyone who baked, donated, drank and helped in contributing a fantastic £787.87 to the appeal in aid of 

the residents of Christchurch who are still coming to terms with their recent earthquake. 

Our Easter Service will be taking place in New Hall on Friday 1st April at 1030. This is always a lovely occasion with beautiful 

music; all parents are warmly invited to attend. Coffee will be served in the Library afterwards.

The Royal Wedding - Friday 29th April

Just a reminder that, in common with many other independent schools, school will be taking place on Friday 29th April. Whilst 

it will be a regular day, we will mark the occasion in a suitable way and we will make sure it is a fun day for all the children.

Excellent touch type resource!

Want to learn to type quicker and touch type?

Then try the following website for a quick, fun and easy way to start.

With animated characters and fun music to help with the learning.

Suitable for children and adults alike.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Headmaster's Blog

The bank by the Astro pitch took on the atmosphere of Henman Hill as the school gathered to applaud twice Wimbledon champion Stefan Edberg and watch him perform a demonstration game against our very own Dan Slape. Then there followed a coaching session during which 50 boys and girls were able to practise some shots with the tennis legend. It was a great afternoon heralding the start of our own tennis season, and we are enormously grateful to the sports company Wilson for organising it and for gifting to the school some new racquets and tennis balls. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the afternoon was how well Mr Slape fared against his opponent!

The last awards of the Spring term have been announced. Deasil Waltho has been offered an Exhibition at Sherborne School, 

Eleanor Henderson a Scholarship at Bedales and Abigail Gunning one of the three top Scholarships at Wellington College. 

Congratulations to all of them.

Tennis Legend Stefan Edberg visits Hall Grove

Stefan Edberg - Tennis Legend visits Hall Grove

Six times grand slam winner Stefan Edberg made his first exclusive visit to a school on Monday 14th March, courtesy of Wilson Sports Group. He coached selected children on the astroturf and played a short exhibition game with Mr Slape. It was a thrilling and inspiring session for all that attended. Click here to see the photographs.

Headmaster's Blog

Some fine Spring weather has set in at the beginning of Lent this year and the boys and girls are enjoying the longer days and the opportunities for outdoor play and adventure. Our first expedition to Devon of 2011 was a great success as the report below shows. Meanwhile the school grounds are greening up nicely and the new building at the back of the school is nearing completion. It is alarming to think that we only have three more weeks of this term left! 

Two more academic scholarships were won this week; congratulations to George McKechnie and Harry Myers for their awards 

at St. George's College, Weybridge. Their success shows that being in the Remove group is not a necessary condition for being 

a scholar.

The Year 5 trip was a huge success and the boys and girls were fortunate to have enjoyed good weather. As well as undertaking 

a range of adventure activities and a challenging cliff-top walk, the pupils assisted in the making of a short film sponsored by the 

Daily Telegraph which will appear on its website later in the year.

Six times grand slam winner Stefan Edberg will make his first exclusive visit to a school on Monday 14th March, courtesy of 

Wilson Sports Group. He will be coaching selected children on the astroturf between 1500 and 1630. 

Headmaster's Blog

World Book Day was celebrated in good style by the boys and girls of Years 3, 4 and 5 when they

dressed as their favourite characters. Most memorable were Tabitha Norrey and Jana van Eeden as

Pippi Longstocking, Fergus Reilly as The Hobbit, Harriet Chappell as the grandmother from George's

Marvellous Medicine, George Taylor as Willy Wonka and Olivia Jackson as Dennis the Menace.

The Upper School enjoyed a most interesting presentation from Gap Student James Woolsey on his

recent visit to Berlin, following an excellent talk by the Deputy Mayor of Surrey Heath, Councillor

Tim Dodds, on the famous spy novel, 'The spy who came in from the cold'. Mr Dodds presented

the school with some copies of the novel and also promoted the Literary Festival that he is organising

for May.

Our thanks to Mr Slape for organising a special theatre outing to the new production of the Wizard of

Oz at the London Palladium. The behaviour and conduct of the 60 children who went was exemplary

and they all had a brilliant time.

Year 1 visit Windlesham Field of Remembrance

On the morning of Thursday 3^rd March, the children in Year 1 visited the playground at the Windlesham Field of Remembrance.  Although really cold, this trip was enjoyed by all and gave the children the opportunity to consolidate their Geography topic about ‘Our local area’ and reinforced their knowledge about routes, signs and local areas. 

This activity was also DT based, as the children are learning about playgrounds and playground structures.  The children had the opportunity to look closely at and draw various pieces of apparatus. This will be very beneficial as they are working towards planning and designing their own playgrounds. They will then be making their own playground model in a shoebox lid as their DT project.

Reception take part in the Chatterbox Challenge!

Reception joined Little Grove to take part in the 'Chatterbox Challenge' raising money to help children with communication difficulties. The children designed and made their own hats and at 11.00 joined Early Years settings across the country in singing 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' for The Guinness Book of Records. They then rose to the challenge and braved the cold, singing more action rhymes for half an hour. Well done Reception!