On Tuesday 27th June, pupils, parents and staff gathered in Arbuthnott Hall in excited anticipation of the Summer Concert 2017.

This year’s theme ‘Animal Magic’ captured the audience’s imagination, with performances that included Le Cygne or The Swan, the 13th movement of The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns.

The Percussion Group demonstrated their skills on the Marimba, whilst the Brass Group entertained with their theatrical renditions.  The Saxophone Group got everyone singing along to Happy by Pharrell Williams.

The Senior Strings were next, with some truly excellent string playing. The Senior Choir soon had the audience dancing and singing, and the Vocal Harmony Group performed some
wonderful close harmony. The Chamber Choir impressed the audience with some Tudor polyphony with a madrigal, and a song from the musical Wicked. The second half finished with a set from the Groove Diggers who performed a lively rendition of a Latin classic.

The Orchestra gave a moving rendition of Finlandia by Sibelius and movements from Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns.  The audience was then transported to the African plains, with the full orchestral arrangement of songs from the Lion King.

The final number ended in a raucous rendition of Our House by Madness.

What a wonderful celebration of the success and talent of music this year at Winterfold.  Well done to all.

On Saturday 24^th June, Winterfold held its Prep Prize Giving and Sports Day 2017.  Pupils were presented with trophies recognising their achievements during 2017.  A distinguished party of guests including Mr Peter Clague, Headmaster of Bromsgrove School, Mrs Lesley Brookes, Bursar, Mrs Rachel Scannell, Assistant Head of Bromsgrove, Mr Paul West, Chairman of Governors and the Board of Governors participated in the event.

Mrs Denise Toms, Headmistress of Winterfold spoke about how the past year had been about moving forwards with optimism and enthusiasm and ensuring that Winterfold is one cohesive family unit – from Nursery through to Year 8.

Mrs Toms thanked the distinguished guests for their immense support during the transition period of Bromsgrove merging with Winterfold, for their hard work and dedication to Winterfold and their belief in its ethos, ensuring that it has very firm foundations on which to take the School forwards into the future.

“Looking back over the year, there have been many momentous events and occasions. In April, the tour to South Africa was a huge success and also a fantastic experience as well as being life changing for many of the children”, continued Mrs Toms. “The opportunity to meet and interact with Winterfold’s sister school Ncemaneni was indeed humbling and the warmth of their welcome and gratitude for all we have done for them was overwhelming. I think there will be many lasting memories of this tour for its camaraderie, strength of spirit and appreciation of a very special place”.

Mrs Toms went on to talk about the academic success of Winterfold pupils, together with the Music, Art, Drama and Sport at the School which offer so many opportunities and possibilities, together with the thousands of pounds raised for charity.   And finally, after thanking the staff for all their hard work….

“Our thanks must go to the children.  You are the reason we smile, the reason Winterfold is so special, the reason it is such a pleasure to work here and you have made us all very proud”.

On Friday 23rd, June, the children from Pre-Prep enjoyed Prize Giving and Sports Day.  There were some lovely performances, including Puff the Magic Dragon and Down in the Jungle.

The children were rewarded for their hard work and effort over the year.  Well done everyone!

Last week, Year 6 attended ‘The Magic of Science’ at Malvern College.

The day included some spectacular Physics and Chemistry demonstrations presented by the University of Birmingham and the Malvern College Science Department.

The children also took part in three practical sessions in Chemistry, Physics and Biology dealing with different chemical reactions, experiments with soap bubbles and the body’s senses. It was a thoroughly entertaining and informative day with plenty to inspire budding scientists.

On Thursday 22nd June, twenty-eight Winterfold children took part in the Mercia Athletics Meeting in Abingdon hosted by The Dragon School.

Many of our athletes ran, threw and jumped personal bests on the day.

Congratulations also to James Rolinson who has qualified for the National Prep Schools’ Athletics finals at The Alexander Stadium following his success on Thursday.

On Tuesday 20th June, Year 7 and 8 pupils took part in three performances of this year’s Senior play, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory to a packed audience of parents, grandparents, staff and pupils.  All of the children rose to the occasion, with the Tuesday evening performance in particular exceeding all expectations.

“The play was a childhood favourite of mine, with eight scenes in and out of the famous chocolate factory. ” said Mrs Sarah Miles, Head of English and Drama.  “Special mention must go to George McEwan, who was a superb Willy Wonka, with his own confident interpretation of the principal character, a mixture between the modern Johnny Depp and legendary Gene Wilder versions.  Mia King was thoroughly believable as Veruca Salt, as was Evie Richards as Violet Beaureguarde. A number of new stars were born, with James Rolinson, Henry Bower and Pippa Fleming, all of whom showed confident performances and committed to their characters well. Jacob Stirk and Oliver Ingram were excellent in their roles as Charlie Bucket, working backstage when not playing the main role.

The Year 7 backstage crew learned a number of new skills, including clearing scenes at lightning speed. The sound and lighting was managed by a knowledgeable team of Year 8 children who will be sorely missed next year. The beautiful front cover of the programme was designed by Mia King.

“The production this year has been a huge effort from all of the children and staff involved,” continued Mrs Miles.  “Miss Roberts has worked tirelessly with her breath-taking scenery of the chocolate rooms, the wonkavator and the inventing room. Also a huge thank you to Mrs Glendenning and Mrs James for spending hours sourcing materials, making props and creating costumes.

The children of Winterfold performed superbly in soaring heat, to produce an entertaining, fun filled adventure in the chocolate factory.

What better way to de-stress following a week of exams than to go and spend 3 days in a forest in the middle of nowhere.  As a start to their Leavers’ programme, Year 8 did just that.

After having met their Camp Leader Tom, the children were split into tribes and given a tour of the camp – bell tents and a yurt that would be ‘home’ for the next few days.

An array of exciting activities had been organised; shelter building, camp craft, wood carving, camouflage and concealment training, fire building and cooking meals over open fires.

There was an injection of realism and Drama added to the first aid skills training.  With the help of a real plane, fake blood and smoke bombs, an SOS plane crash scenario with two casualties was recreated.   Year 8 rose to the challenge and put their skills into practise.

During the camp, the children had the opportunity to play ‘wide games’ – running/camouflage in a wide space.  They also developped their team skills and leadership qualities and generally got the change to be children in a huge forest. Everyone got stuck into all of the activities.

The food was outstanding and consisted of huge home cooked meals.  Even the brownies and lemon drizzle cake had been cooked using the open fire.

One of the accompanying teachers said “The three days went very quickly…the nights were quiet and the days filled with physical and mental challenges. The children very quickly accepted life without technology – no phones, iPads, Xboxes – simply getting back to the basics of the outdoors.  All of the Year 8s would agree that it was a great experience that will stay with them for a long time”.

Thursday 15th June was Viking Longship Day for Year 3.  This educational day really brought the subject of Vikings to life.  Pupils had the opportunity to try on clothing and chain mail and were able to hold a variety of artefacts.  They also learned about Viking law, trial and punishment and weaponry.

The day concluded with a very detailed question and answer session with Erik Erikson the Viking and a great day was had by all.

On Wednesday 14th June, children from Winterfold Nursery and Year 4 were lucky enough to have a tour of a royal helicopter.

Whilst it wasn’t an official visit to the School, it was very exciting for the children to see inside the helicopter which had stopped en route to Halfpenny Green Airport.  The two Captains showed the children where the Royal Family sit and what they do during their flights, from drinking tea and coffee to following their route in an atlas and using Google maps on an iPad.

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester was whisked away to his engagements in the area.  As Patron of the Severn Valley Railway since 1997, he presented long service awards to volunteers who between them had 1,000 years’ service.  The Duke was also officially reopening Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron and the Almshouses in Horsefair, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury.

A very informative Q & A session with Ground Crew was held once the helicopter had departed.