Page 2 - Abberley Adventures - Dec 2021

ABBERLEY ADVENTURES 2
Covid
In line with government guidance, we relaxed restrictions in September but continued to maintain caution where possible. We reviewed our Covid Risk Assessment and produced a new Covid Management Plan, including a Covid Outbreak Plan. We continued taking careful precautions, such as testing older children regularly and focusing on ventilation and on respiratory and hand hygiene. We decided not to maintain our strict bubbles and we embraced the return to a full fixtures programme and to holding all school events. We continued to follow the government advice laid out in Schools COVID-19 operational guidance. This was updated again on 14th December and, due to the new covid variant, may be updated again before next term.
Outbreak
On 6th November, we conducted routine testing of senior pupils and picked up six positive cases in Year 7. Children were isolated and either sent home or to our Medical Centre. The next day, another group tested positive. Over the course of the following 10 days, 55% of all pupils in the prep school tested positive as did 11 members of the prep school teaching staff.
We quickly followed our Covid Outbreak Management Plan and our Senior Management Team met every evening to review and adapt to the fast-changing situation. We were in regular communication with the Worcestershire Covid Outbreak Response Team who were complementary about the speed and thoroughness with which we reacted but there was little any of us could do to stop the spread!
Thankfully, no children were seriously ill. For most, it was similar to a nasty cold. The adults were worse affected but none were seriously ill. With the loss of over half our teaching staff, we had to merge classes and teach them as whole year groups. We had to cover colleagues who were unwell and many teachers had to deliver subjects that were not their specialism. Ultimately, we had to stop delivering Art, Design Manufacture, Drama and Music. To fill these gaps in the timetable, we launched a whole-school cross-curricular project The Abberley Peace Prize.
By mid-November children and staff began to return from their isolation and thankfully our final three weeks of term were completely covid free. Parents were incredibly supportive through this difficult time and I was very thankful for your support. I would also like to give my praise and thanks to my wonderful staff who worked so hard and were absolutely fantastic throughout this difficult time.
One of the silver linings to those disrupted weeks was the Abberley Peace Prize, which was judged on the final morning of term. It was fantastic to have pupils from across the school standing up in the Yates Theatre to present who or what they thought should be awarded the Peace Prize.
A display of posters and medals will be on show in January so that everyone can see the range of topics and people chosen. We had 14 finalists with children from Years 3 to 8 and presentations covering a range of suggestions from Unicef to Rachel Blackmore to Lewis Hamilton. The children spoke from the heart and it was brilliant to hear the passion that had gone into their research.
The winners were Vienna talking about Greta Thunberg, Agatha on Kate Sheppard and the overall winner was Jacob delivering a powerful talk about Mr Beast.
Félicitations!
Top Honours for Abberley Hall
Earlier this term, a team from Abberley visited Malvern College for a Celebration of Languages Day, which saw pupils earn points in an array of different activities and tasks. Challenges included a French treasure hunt and then, staying with the French language, another game that caused much laughter was the Playdough translation challenge. It was a testament to the pupils’ confidence and willingness to participate that they adapted to the afternoon sessions of Russian and Mandarin. In addition to the language challenges, pupils enjoyed a continental buffet lunch sampling foods from the four corners of the world.
As the day drew to a close and the points tallied, we were delighted to be announced as overall winners. However, the real victory was seeing the joy that can be gained from having the confidence to communicate in different languages. Well done, Abberley!
Pre-Prep Roundup
Nursery 1 made a wonderful ‘Stickman’ display along with ‘When Santa got stuck up the chimney’. They spent part of the term focusing on Bonfire Night, talking about colours and patterns and during Outdoor Exploring they made their own big bonfire.
A favorite area of the classroom has been the Cosy-Book-Corner. The children place their shoes in front of the ‘fire’ by the Christmas tree to keep them warm for after playtime has finished. The children have had plenty of practice at putting their wellies and outdoor clothing on this term with all the wet weather we have had and they are getting rather good at doing this independently.
Nursery 2 began the second half of term by welcoming children from Abberley Parochial to a Bonfire Crafting Afternoon.
Academic Matters
It has been a busy half term on the academic front with the roll-out of our new Apple TVs, Prose-Reading Competitions, mock exams for the Top Year, field trips and a brief return to online learning. As usual, the children were fantastic at adapting to a situation they were thrown into and yet again they returned to normal lessons very positively.