Each child will by now have received a World Book Day token. This £1.00 token can be used against the cost of a book or audio book at any participating bookshop.

The tokens are valid until March 25th. As in previous years, there are six specially produced World Book Day books which can be exchanged for a token alone. Look out for these at your local bookshop or go to the World Book Day website: www.worldbookday.com.

On Tuesday 6th March, at 1350, the Upper School will be addressed in the Theatre by 90 year old Freddie Knoller who is an Auschwitz Holocaust survivor.

Parents and Friends of the School are welcome to attend this fascinating lecture, given by such an inspiring man.

His book, ‘Desperate Journey’, will be available for purchase, please click here to download an order form.

Do you know how to fire a gun on a warship?
 
 
What gruesome things did sailors in the 19th Century have to eat?
 
 
Did the ship’s boys really have to wash everyone’s shirts in wee?

Find out in the Library….

Come and look at the Year 7 work from their recent visit to HMS Victory.

Regrettably, due to illness, History Off The Page had to postpone our Florence Nightingale Day for Year 2, which was due to take place on Wednesday 29th February.  It will now take place on Wednesday 7th March instead.

For more details, please click here.

As seating in the theatre is limited to 132 adults, performances of Beauty & The Beast will be ticket only and parents will only be able to see one performance unless advised nearer the time.  (Children in Years 3, 4 and 8 will have seen it on the previous Friday).

Tickets (and a programme) will be available on a first-come, first served basis from the office (in person only) from 27th February.  Ticket prices are £1 which will be donated to Shonda as our chosen charity.  Please show your named ticket on the door and it will go into an Easter Egg Raffle during the interval.

Performance times are as follows:

Cast A         Monday 19th March         1600

Cast B         Tuesday 20th March        1830

Cast B         Wednesday 21st March   1630

Cast A         Thursday 22nd March       1830

Please click here to view the cast lists.  The majority of children are in all four performances (those with speaking parts in one cast, will generally be in the crowd scenes in the other cast). 

Before Half-Term Lower and Middle School enjoyed a Kaya Drum workshop. It was an action-packed morning with everybody taking part in some very loud rhythmic performances. We all got to play an instrument including South American and African drums, wooden blocks, bells and maracas. The drums were so much fun that even Mr Caird got up to dance! We all had a great morning and left with the sound of beating drums ringing in our ears.

Freddie Siebert

Congratulations to the following, who have all completed their Bronze Reading Awards:

Max Smith

Bea Calvert

Micah Gregory

If you would like more information about the reading awards scheme, please speak to Mrs Matthews in the Library or your child's English teacher.

For those who missed this the first time around, the project is aimed at involving the local communities including the Pinewood community, with the enrichment of the church which so many of us have come to love.

When the project was launched back in October there were no kneelers. Now there are 22 in process and many of you may have become aware of friends taking part etc. Whilst the church is used on a regular basis, the congregation is rarely large so the need for numerous kneelers is not too great. The local Bourton committee has suggested that pew cushions would also be a great benefit. This is a brilliant idea and one that fits in so well with the kneelers being made. The approved design list works for both kneelers and cushions. Pew cushion kits cost £37 each. If you would like to get involved whether by donating (paying for) a kit, donating and sewing a kit or just donating your time to sew, then please contact Louise Slater 783332 or email bob@weez.demon.co.uk.

Thank you.

Several riders made the long journey to Sparsholt College over half-term to compete in the NSEA show jumping competition.  It was lovely to see new team member Frank Meehan doing well with a fast double clear in class 1.  He proved a valuable member of the team in class 2, together with Jess Tregoning, Ben Ryder and Alex Norris.  Despite some children riding new ponies the team came 3rd, just missing out on qualification, and Jess jumped a fast clear on her old pony Joey to take 5th individually.

For the first time Pinewood had a team in the 90cm class and even though we were one team member short we came a creditable 6th.

This was a really solid start to 2012 - well done to all our riders.

Melanie Norris

Well done to the following winners in the Year 5-7 Poetry Competition:

Year 5 - Fin Simpson

Year 6 - Chloe McGregor

Year 7 - Alex King & Jess Tregoning

OVERALL WINNER - Hugh Rayner 

The competition was very adroitly adjudicated by Mr. Keith Boak, a BBC TV director of such programmes as Waterloo Road and the recently resurgent Dr. Who. Keith gave constructive and generous feedback to each of the competitors individually and was most impressed with the clarity and confidence of the performances across the age ranges. The level of the competition was high and reflected the work of the students and of their English teachers in the preparation prior to the day of the finals. With public speaking recognised as the number one phobia in the country it is most encouraging to see our young people rising to the challenge and having the courage and confidence to perform in this way.  

On our trip to Highclere we looked at all sorts of Egyptian things. We saw lots of gold and one room had a death mask and a fake dead body. It was very cool to discover so many things we hadn’t learnt yet and to also look inside a pretend tomb and it was quite scary (for me!) We went from one room to another, first we watched a DVD of the discovery of Tutankhamun, then went to draw our name in hieroglyphics and finally did the exhibition. It was amazing! I loved seeing the real mummy.

We learnt how Lord Carnavon died. He had a mosquito bite and when he was shaving he took the head off the mosquito bite and it got infected, because they didn’t have that type of medicine in the olden days he sadly died of it.

Charlotte Crawley, 3H

I had a really fun time. I learnt a lot about Egypt and Highclere Castle. We learnt about the Weighing of the Heart ceremony. My favourite bit was the three coffins of Tutankhamun. He was a very famous pharaoh who ruled Egypt.

Lord Carnavon’s first discovery was a mummified cat.

Alec McFarlane, 3H

Congratulations to the following on being offered awards to their senior schools:

Amelia Rupp - Major Academic Scholarship to Cheltenham Ladies College

Mimi Watts - All Rounder Scholarship to Kingswood

George Tregoning - Headmaster's Award (Riding & DT) to Dean Close

Alex Norris - Headmaster's Award (Music & Riding) to Dean Close

Gabby Cook - Art Exhibition to Monkton Combe

They join the following Year 8 pupils, who have already received awards:

Izzy Barrand - All Rounder Scholarship to St Edward's, Oxford.

Jamie Eccleston - Music Exhibition to Shrewsbury

Eleanor Tuckey - Major Music Scholarship to Marlborough College

Reuben Arkwright - House Foundation Award to Shrewsbury

Lucas Arkwright - Academic Scholarship to Dauntsey's

Mimi Watts - Sports Scholarship to Dean Close

Imogen Syme-Taylor - Choral Scholarship to Wells Cathedral School

Well done to the following winners in the Lower School Poetry Competition:

Year 3 - Rafferty Simpson & Darci Reeve

Year 4 - Cosmo del Mar

Overall Lower School Winner - Charlotte Hannon

Caring Cancer Trust takes children in remission of cancer on skiing holidays in the winter and on Alpine adventure holidays in the summer. They have got their annual ski trip coming up, but due to the charity growing dramatically in the last year and the fact that they are now taking children from the John Radcliffe in Oxford and Great Western in Swindon, they are in desperate need of some more ski kit.

Please can you have a rummage and dig out any salopets and jackets that you no longer require. It needs to be in good condition and ideally to fit age 12-14 years.

The Trust will be fitting the children with the kit on Sunday 26 February so if you could bring in any offerings to school the week after half-term on Thursday 23rd or Friday 24th Feb and see Ruth Corfield (who is coordinating the collection on behalf of Caring Cancer Trust) in the Hall or leave a bag clearly marked “Caring Cancer” in the office with Janey, we would be most grateful.

For further information about Caring Cancer Trust or for an alternative drop off, please call Ruth on 07889 707007 or email ruth@corfield.us.

Thank you very much.

On Tuesday 7th February six Year 6 Pinewood pupils went to the Cheltenham College Science Day; there were about six other prep schools there as well.

When we got there we went into the Library, where there were four different activities that we could chose from: air hockey, a magnetic ball drop, a model of a human body that you could take the organs out of; and a tube with air coming out of it that made a table tennis ball float in the air. After that, we were divided into three groups and our group went to do Chemistry, where we had to make 2 types of invisible ink, to see which would work the best.  We then watched whilst the teacher showed us lots of exciting experiments and explosions, for example blowing up a Pringles can with hydrogen and making “Elephant Toothpaste” – it was so cool.

We went to the Physics department next, where we had to complete the 9 Physics Challenges; the Pinewood team of Howard and Lucas came first and Jamie and Toby came second.  For the challenges we had to measure and weigh certain things and we scored points for coming the closest to the teacher’s answers.

In the Biology department we dissected an owl pellet; it contained a lot of bones and fur.

It was a really fun afternoon, thank you very much to Mr King for taking us and to Cheltenham College for organising it.

Toby Acheson-Gray, Lucas Arkwright, Esme Foster, Howard Hawkes, Jamie Lawson, Isabel Sanderson

Some year 5 children from Pinewood went to a very interesting Jewish Synagogue in Bristol.

These are some of the things we saw: we saw the Torah, which is the Jews holy book. It is amazing because it is written in Hebrew and instead of being written on paper it is written on some dried animal skin called Parchment. What is so interesting about the Torah is that it is kept in the Ark. The Ark is a very special cupboard at the front of the Synagogue where the Torah is kept, so it is safe.

In a service there has to be ten or more men so they can open the Ark. The men have to be thirteen years old which is the age of being grown up for a man. However, for a woman it is twelve.

The Torah has to be read on a Bimah, which is always facing Jerusalem, which is East. The Torah is always read by a Rabbi, which is like a Vicar but takes a Jewish service on a Friday and a Saturday.

We got to see that in a Synagogue the men sit on the bottom floor, but the women sit up on the top floor.

We knew that the Torah is not allowed to be touched by hands so they use a pointer called a Yad, which also helps to keep their place because there are so many words in Hebrew.

We got to see some of the things that men have to wear in a Jewish service: a Tallit is a shawl that men would wear when the Torah is read. When the Torah is taken out the men either kisses it or touches it with his Tallit. The Kippah is a small round hat which is worn on the top of the head, men would wear the Kippah in the synagogue as a sign of respect.

There is another thing that Jewish men would wear on their head, it is called a Tefillin. A Tefillin is also worn when the Torah is being read, and it sits on your head and it is wrapped around your arms, so it is close to your heart. It also has tiny pieces of parchment in it with some little prayers on it.

By Matilda Nettleton

Congratulations to Izzy Barrand on her All Rounder Scholarship to St Edward's, Oxford.

Izzy joins the following, who have already received awards this year to their senior schools:

Jamie Eccleston - Music Exhibition to Shrewsbury

Eleanor Tuckey - Major Music Scholarship to Marlborough College

Reuben Arkwright - House Foundation Award to Shrewsbury

Lucas Arkwright - Academic Scholarship to Dauntsey's

Mimi Watts - Sports Scholarship to Dean Close

Imogen Syme-Taylor - Choral Scholarship to Wells Cathedral School

Janey would very much welcome your help with make-up for the Year 5-7 play, Beauty & The Beast.  There are four performances and a lot of children to get through, so the more help she can get, the better. You don't need to be especially artistic and it doesn't matter if you can't commit to every performance.

Performance dates and times are:

Monday 19th March - 4pm

Tuesday 20th March - 6.30pm

Wednesday 21st March - 4.30pm

Thursday 22nd March - 6.30pm

If you are able to help for some or all of the time, please let Janey know by email on janeynelson@pinewoodschool.co.uk or via the School Office.

Congratulations to the entire Pinewood community on a fantastic review in the latest edition of the Good Schools Guide.

Congratulations to the following on completing their Bronze Reading Awards:

Amelia Stevens

Madeleine Banfield

For more details on the Reading Awards Scheme, please speak to Mrs Matthews in the Library or your child's English teacher.

Pinewood is hosting our first ever inter-schools team equestrian event at the Summerhouse Equestrian Centre on Saturday 31st March. This will be a NSEA Qualifier for the Schools’ Team Show Jumping Championships.  We are delighted with the huge response we have had and thank everyone who is supporting us in this venture.  Do come along and support your friends who are competing, it should be a fun day.

For full details of the event, please click here.

To download a booking form, please click here.

Volunteers Needed!  We still need volunteers to help out in the afternoon, even if you can only spare an hour or two of your time.  You do not need to be a particularly horsey person, it should just be good fun getting involved with the first ever Pinewood Show Jumping event.  If you are able to help, please contact Melanie Norris on mellors.norris@btinternet.com

Important Event Details for Competitors

All competitors must be ready to ride on time and if the competition is running early announcements will be made and competitors will be expected to warm up and be ready to ride earlier.

Please click on the links below to view your Class Timings:

(NB there are 2 pages of competitors in many classes, so please scroll down after downloading. This information may be updated before the competition, so please keep checking.)

Class 1

Class 2 

Class 3 

Class 4 

Class 5

Class 6

Updated: 29.03.12

This was the first time we had been to this meeting and all the Pinewood pupils really enjoyed the experience, despite it being quite tough and wet!  The common was muddy and a bit squelchy, but most of our runners managed to get round.

All the courses were flat and quite fast.  The pupils in all age groups acquitted themselves well and managed to improve on some individual performances. It was great to see members of Year 3 and 4 in both Junior races doing so well - all good experience for them and the future!

Results:

3^rd placed team in the Junior Boys U12 race

3^rd place team in the Senior Girls  U14 race

1^st individual in the Junior Boys U12 race - Stirling Calvert!

Stirling also broke a course record for U12 boys.

AC

James Siebert will be holding a cricket coaching camp for girls and boys in Years 3-8 on 11th, 12th & 13th April.

For full details and an application form, please click here.

Congratulations to Jamie Eccleston, who has been awarded a Music Exhibition to Shrewsbury.

Well done to all the houses on a wonderful morning of music and many thanks to Mr Simon Dearsley from Stowe for judging the competition and for his kind comments.

The results are as follows:

Soloists

3rd= Jamie Eccleston & Jessica Higgins

2nd  Joe Salter

1st  Eleanor Tuckey

House Results for Soloists (when all points added up)

4th  Motcombe

3rd  Melchet

2nd  Postbridge

1st  Farnborough

House Song

4th  Melchet

3rd  Farnborough

2nd  Motcombe

1st  Postbridge

Overall Music Cup

4th Melchet

3rd Motcombe

2nd Farnborough

1st Postbridge

U12 Boys

1^st Cheam

2^nd St Hugh’s

3^rd Pinewood

U12 Girls

1^st Cheam

2^nd Beaudesert

3^rd St Hugh’s

U14 Girls

1^st  Beaudesert

2^nd Abberley

3^rd Pinewood

U14 Boys

1^st Farleigh

2^nd St Hugh’s

3^rd Cheam

Congratulations to the following, who have been awarded scholarships to their senior schools:

Eleanor Tuckey - Major Music Scholarship to Marlborough College

Reuben Arkwright - House Foundation Award to Shrewsbury

Lucas Arkwright - Academic Scholarship to Dauntsey's

Congratulations to the following on successfully passing the entrance exams into their respective senior schools:

Amelia Rupp - Cheltenham Ladies College

Wanda Criswell - Cheltenham Ladies College; St Helen's & St Katharine's

Libby Rowe - Sherborne School for Girls

Flora Eliot-Cohen - St Mary's, Calne (12+)

Percussion Ensemble will have an extra rehearsal on Monday 6th February (from 4.15 - 5.45pm), in preparation for Tuesday's National Chamber Music Festival. As a result of this there will be NO Brass Band rehearsal on 6th February.