Cobham Montessori School

Newsletter Week Commencing 2nd December 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

NOTICES:

All Things Christmas!

Secret Santa

In the Elementary we shall re-do our Secret Santa selections as many of our younger friends were unfortunately unable to contain their secret! They have since regretted letting the cat out of the bag and we have agreed to re-assign the names on the assurance that we will all agree to keep our Santas secret!

With that in mind, for the Children's House we will draw the Secret Santas and let PARENTS know the name of the child for whom to provide a gift. We will hand out names and budgets from Monday. You may tell your child who the gift is for ONLY on the morning of the party!

As always, any problems, please let us know.

Each child will be given £5 and whilst we know how kind and generous our families can be, may we suggest sticking to the budget. For the Elementary children, this is a real opportunity to understand the limitation of resources. We've agreed that any leftover change should be donated to charity.

Children's Party

On Tuesday 17th December we are holding a Christmas Party. All children are invited and if your child does not normally come on a Tuesday you are welcome to drop them off at 9am. We have planned a surprise visit from some special feathered friends, please don't spoil the surprise but do let us know if you suspect your child might need extra support.

As always, following the entertainment, there will be a selection of (relatively healthy) party foods for the children to enjoy together. We will issue a list of party foods closer to the time and will be mindful of any allergies or food preferences indicated on new starter forms.

Pickup for those who don't normally attend will be 12.15, unless you would like to stay for the Craft Afternoon.

Christmas Craft Afternoon

On Tuesday 17th December from 2pm we will hold our annual Christmas Craft Afternoon. Parents, grandparents, carers and siblings are welcome to arrive at 2pm to join us in a series of Christmas craft opportunities. This year we will have craft stations, and everyone is free to move between each one, making beautiful creations. If any parents are particularly arty or creative we would welcome your support in running a "station".

If your child will be attending but you are unable to, please let us know so we can appropriately support your child. Pickup will be at 3.15pm when we will need to pack away the crafts to prepare the classrooms for the following day.

Christmas Performance

On Wednesday 18th December parents, grandparents, carers and siblings are invited for 11am for our Christmas performance. We anticipate the Children's House performance to be short and sweet, followed by the whole-school singing some songs. The Children's House will be released to sit with their parents to enjoy the Elementary play. We do ask that you watch the Elementary Class's hard work and help your children to sit respectfully and quietly for the duration of the performance.

Team News

Due to an unexpected change in personal circumstances, Miss Jenna had had to resign from the Children's House team with immediate effect. We are sorry to see her leave us so soon and wish her well for the future. We are very fortunate that Miss Katy is a qualified teacher and has stepped in to support Miss Blanca in the Children's House in the short term. For the Spring term, our dear Miss Ashley has very kindly agreed to offer support to give us time to conduct a proper recruitment process, and we are truly grateful to her. Please allow us to share the news with the children at the appropriate time.

End of Term

Our Autumn Term ends at 12.15 on Wednesday 18th December, following the performance; we hope you have a wonderful Christmas break and look forward to welcoming the children back in the New Year.

THIS WEEK IN SCHOOL

Children's House

This week, in the Children's House, children kept their festive spirits, making Christmas decorations for our Christmas show. With a pin and a cardboard paper they made Christmas trees and stars. This exercise requires quite a lot of concentration and hand-eye coordination.

We have also been practising our Christmas songs and poems. A great production in the making!

At yoga, Miss Hayley read 'Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present', a story about a boy who learnt to make good choices and got a present from Santa. Some children remarked: 'I have my presents in my stocking' "Mine will be under my Christmas tree.'

In ballet the children kept practising their good toes and naughty toes.

This week at cooking we made popcorn! The children measured the tablespoons of olive oil and scoops of corn kernels. What a joy to wait in silence for them to POP! It was the first day for one of our young friends, so a kind friend told her, 'Cooking is the best. You get to do things and EAT them.'

In the garden, the children played in the mud kitchen, making magic potions and 'crocodile, crocodile, may I cross the golden river?'

On Friday, children joined the sports session, where they continue practising their ball control. This week they were divided into two groups and did races.

Some children helped to make paper cones and write names so we could share the last popcorn after Sports.

Snapshot of this week:
Two children approached the teacher with a big smile...
"Miss, I am 3 ½ and she is 3½ . We are the same! We are friends", and off they went, holding hands all day long.
And just like this a new friendship has been formed in the Children's House!

Elementary

We've had an exceptionally busy week in Elementary this week, everyone has realised that it's really not that long until the end of term, so with just over two weeks to go they have been looking at what they need to get finished. In addition, after much planning and discussion we have a play, with parts assigned which we hope the children are learning over the weekend. We have some new songs and the children have devised their dances and written songs and poems to share with everyone. They have put in a lot of effort and are hopefully seeing that everyone can come together to make something wonderful by each working at their own part and bringing their own skills and talents to the greater whole.

In Yoga, Hayley had the children all engaging in tricky partner poses, all of which require lots of trust and communication between the partners. At the end of the session the children shared in a gratitude meditation, each offering what they are most grateful for. A small selection include: the Earth, love, family, food, clothes and friends

We had 'Goings Out' to Tiltwood and three children undertook a very successful trip to the Imperial War Museum in London to further their research on the First and Second World Wars. They were particularly keen to see what life was like for those not on the front line and how life changed for those who were left at home.

On Friday we were delighted to have a visit from Dr Ben Spencer, member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge. It was his first visit to a Montessori school and after a quick tour he spoke with the children about the role of government and demonstrated that, whilst we have many things we wish to see changed and made better in the country (and throughout the world), we have a limited amount of time, money and resources to achieve these changes. He was happy to answer questions from the children who asked him about his own schooling, what qualifications you need to become a politician, how much work does he do, and does he have anyone to help him! They were surprised to find that he works 80-100 hours per week, compared to the 30 hours they spend at school a week. The children were very confident, asking interesting, (mostly relevant) questions and responding to his questions in turn.

We will need scooters for Wednesday and Friday next week, with pickup from Painshill on Wednesday.

Kind regards,

Yvonne