In a recent Assembly, Lower Preparatory told us exactly what it was like to be at SMH from their point of view.  You can see for yourselves exactly what they said.

We have been reflecting on our time in school over this past academic year.  This time last year we were getting ready to move from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2.  For us in Lower Prep this meant a lot of changes.  Many of you were also getting ready to move.  Some of you moved to a new playroom, some of you moved to a new school and all of you moved to a new year group.  Lots of moving, lots of changes and lots of different emotions.  We have been reflecting on our experiences this year and in this assembly we would like to share with you some of our thoughts.

   
S is for scared.  This is the word that many of us used to describe how we felt about starting in Lower Prep.  We were scared of getting lost, scared of getting a debit, scared of the big girls and boys, scared of having to come to school on a Saturday and scared of other different things.  Now we are used to being here we realise that we have nothing to be scared of.  We didn’t get lost, we survived getting a debit and the big boys and girls are only a little scary!  Saturday mornings are not as bad as we thought!

T is for teachers.  We have lots of different teachers who teach us lots of different things.  When we were in Key Stage One we had one teacher for all our subjects. Now we have different teachers for different things.  Meeting new teachers can be a bit scary but we soon got to know our new teachers.  Some of us knew a bit about some of the teachers already because our older brothers and sisters had told us ALL about them.  Over the past school year they have taught us lots of different things. 

M is for memories.  We have so many memories of our experiences so far.  We have chosen a few to share with you.  We all remember getting first our first credit.  We felt really happy.  We also remember getting our first debit.  Some of us can remember walking into the new class and putting down our pencil cases in our new class room.  This made our hearts beat quickly.    Grace remembers finding out that she was the youngest person in the main building of SMH – although this made her feel a little left out at first she soon got stuck in and didn’t let age stop her from doing anything!  Going into assembly on the first day and seeing all those people made our legs wobble and feel like were seeing double!  So many people! 

We will all take memories with us at the end of this year.  Some happy, some sad, some funny, some mischievous but whatever our memories they will involve our friends.

A is for activities and boy, do we have a lot to choose from!  Bike riding, football, gardening, swimming team, fencing, out and about, kite flying, quiet reading, Wednesday Wheelers, tennis, gymnastics, dance and cricket to name but a few of the activities we have taken part in.  The list of activities throughout the school is amazing and we are looking forward to trying out many of the different options available as we get older.  By doing activities in school we have been able to learn new things, meet new people and have lots of fun at school.

R is for the Ref and Rec – 2 very important parts to our day!  Before we left Key Stage One we had our lunch in a much smaller room.  We had no trays and we had plastic plates.  Now we get to have lunch in a much larger room, to use proper plates and to try and carry our plate on a tray.  We have had a few disasters along the way but we have pretty much got the hang of things now!  Our lunch times are a little noisier than before but we just can’t contain our excitement about rec!  We are all so very lucky to have such a large and beautiful space to play in during rec.  Why does 20 mins for rec always seem so much shorter than 20 mins of lessons we sometimes wonder!  Ref and rec are also important times for us to catch up with our friends from other classes.

Y is for YES!  Yes! Is the feeling we experience when we have made it in to a team.  We have all been lucky enough to represent St Mary’s Hall in a team sport this year.  But ‘yes’ is also how we feel when we have done well with a piece of work or when we have achieved something we have been struggling with.  Yes is a feeling we like – a lot!

The apostrophe.  An apostrophe should never be ignored!  This term we have learned that an apostrophe can be used to fill in a gap.  This makes us think of our Gap students both past and present.  They have helped us with our reading, helped us with work and helped our teacher.  We know how hard they work both day and night and we enjoy our time with them.  An apostrophe also shows that something belongs to someone or something.  We all belong to St Mary’s Hall.

S is for special.  Over the school year we have had many special times, we have met many special people and we have even been to some special places.  Much about our school is special.  Here are some of our special moments.  Special moments for us have included meeting new people in our class and other classes, going to Chill Factor, when we had the campus photo, team matches, scoring our first goals or tries, learning to catch and getting Headmaster’s Awards.

H is for holidays!  Holidays are great at St Mary’s Hall.  We get lovely long holidays!  They are a chance for us to catch up with family and friends and to have a well deserved rest.  We have long days and busy term times so we look forward to our holidays.

A is for amazing!  Our school is truly amazing.  We have amazing friends, have amazing lessons, amazing teachers and do hundreds of amazing things.  Even on the days when we don’t want to get out of bed and come to school we know we will enjoy ourselves once we get here.  Getting in a team for the first time, gaining an A1 in our reports, making a new friend or even seeing the brand new orienteering maps for the first time ever have all been amazing times for us. 

L is for learning.  We have done lots of learning this year and will do more learning next year.  Sometimes learning has been great fun, sometimes it has been tough but we have been learning to persevere and stick at something when the going gets tough.  We all have much more to learn not just in lessons but in how we treat those people around us.  We think we will never stop learning.

L is for leaving and looking back and looking ahead.  At the end of this school year we will all be leaving in one way or another.  All of us will be leaving the year group we are in and moving higher up the school.  Some of us will be leaving and going to a new school.  Wherever we are going we will remember our friends and times at St Mary’s Hall.  Leaving can be a sad time but by looking forwards we can look forward to making new friends, learning new things and waiting for the good times.  Grace is also looking forward to not being the youngest anymore!

Dear Lord,

We thank you for the many experiences we have had over this school year.  It is sometimes easy to forget how lucky we are to be able to come to our special school.  We ask you to help us to remember to try and fulfil our school motto, ‘Quand Je Puis’ at all times and in all that we do.

We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen