Issue 35 - 7 December 2019 

From the Headmaster 

Dear Parents, 

Christmas has finally arrived at Quainton Hall. The week began on Sunday with Mrs Howard, Mrs Shaw and Mrs Campion decorating the foyer and our designer Quainton Hall tree. Everything looks so festive; thank you so much. 

Fr Mike and a large number of parents led by Mrs Gage opened the ‘Secret Shopping Room’ on Friday, which gave the children the opportunity to buy exciting presents for family and friends. I must say the choice of presents now available is breath-taking, well done the FQHS! I would like to extend my thanks to all the parents who gave up time during the day to help. A great team effort!

The icing on the cake for our Christmas preparations this week was the fabulous combined productions of ‘Our First Nativity’ performed by the Reception class and ‘Lights Camel Action!’ performed by PP1 and PP2. The shows were most entertaining and brought laughter and tears to a packed Susan Milner Hall. I was amazed by the children’s confidence and composure; the singing was yet again fantastic and the costumes bright and colourful. It was absolutely fabulous! Congratulations to all those involved and my thanks go to all the children for making the performances so special.

I know how much hard work goes into preparing for these performances and it certainly paid off. I will view Strictly Come Dancing in a  light in the future! My particular thanks go to Miss Agius and her team in the Reception class and Mrs Khan and the Pre-Prep staff. My thanks also go to Fr Mike who spent some of his recent free time erecting the staging and making sure the performance was lit, filmed and photographed. Often his hard work goes unseen, but not this time!

Christmas will continue next week! We will be holding our Mufti Day on Monday. On Tuesday we start with the End of Year Concert swiftly followed with the End of Term Concert swiftly followed by the Chapel Choir singing in St Anne's Shopping Centre; on Wednesday it is the Advent Festival for P3 and above; on Thursday is Christmas Lunch and on Friday, Christmas jumper day. 

Back to this week. On Wednesday P3 went on their annual trip to the Verulamium and by all accounts were impressed by the ruins and artefacts. Built on the site of one of the largest Roman cities in Britain, Verulamium Museum is filled with ancient treasures and some of the finest mosaics outside of the Mediterranean; a great trip for P3.

P5MA certainly got our attention on Friday morning with a fabulous assembly focusing on Hanukah. All of P5MA delivered each line with confidence and clarity, it was certainly a well-rehearsed performance organised by Mr Anandasivathas.  It was a lovely reminder of the diversity of religions at Quainton Hall School. Thank you to all the P5MA parents for their support. Thank you, Mr Wood, for your cameo role.

On Friday afternoon, our swimmers headed off for their swimming gala in Bushey. There is a brief report on this event below and I thank Mrs Evans for organising this event.

I look forward to seeing you all at some point next week. Please be reminded that the children in P3 to P8 are expected to attend the Advent festival on Wednesday evening. I know they have been working hard in their Year groups to put on a fabulous performance.

Hannakuh

An article will appear on the website very soon, but here are the children in P5MA singing  their Dreidel song during Assembly!

Christmas Shows on DVD

Copies of the DVD of the Nursery Christmas performance will be available from the School Office on Monday. If we run out of copies, I can always make more! Our suggested donation in return for a DVD is £5. Within a day or two, we should also have the PPR `First Nativity' and PP2 `Lights, Camera, Action' DVD available from the Office. A similar donation is requested for these DVDs. 

Here are PP1 with their teachers after the show

            

Mufti Day

Monday 9 December sees our Mufti (wear your own clothes) day. In return for this privilege, we are this year asking for children in PP1 to P8 to bring donations of soft drinks (good quality please) or chocolates, which we can use for our tombola after the Advent Service on Wednesday 11th. Our youngest children are asked to bring boxed mince pies to help with the refreshments on that occasion. Please bear in mind that the donations are to be offered as prizes, so single Capri-sun pouches or single Kit-Kats are not really appropriate! 

Advent Festival Service

Children from P3 to P8 are now all involved in preparing for our Advent Festival Service, which is held at Trinity Church, next door to school, at 7:00pm on Wednesday 11 December. All these children are expected to attend, and parents and families are most welcome. There will be a selection of musical, dramatic, poetry and prose items, for which the various classes and choirs are practising hard.  At the end of the service (which will last a little over an hour), we all return to School for refreshments and our annual fundraising tombola, stocked from the Mufti Day donations from above. 

Father Christmas is coming to school

He usually brings small gifts for each child, and in return it has been our custom for several years to bring gifts into school which we pass on to organisations which help children who need support over Christmas. Gifts should be in the form of new toys or books for any age child, but should be brought in UNWRAPPED (so the centres can see what is what), at any time during the last week of term.  If the children happen to have them when Fr Christmas visits that is great, but otherwise they can be left in the School office for our collection. 

In previous years we have been able to donate a car-bootful to each of our two regular recipients. I hope we can do the same this year.  In advance, thank you for your generosity.

FQHS Secret Shopping Room

What a great success this was! Following a lot of hard work shopping from the team, (they tell me shopping is hard work), Joelle Gage and the parents set up and ran a venue for the day on Friday. We thoroughly hope that you will enjoy the gifts that the children have purchased for you and the family!

Once our expenses have been deducted, we will be able to give a total raised, but in the meantime, thank you for all our shopping elves for your  involvement in a day which the children all loved so much. Thanks also to Mrs Durg for moving her Art lessons out to other classrooms for the day. 

Swimming Gala Report

Mrs Evans writes:

I was very proud of the children who participated in the swimming gala at Boshey Grove. They all tried their hardest and swam their best. For some of the children it was their first gala, a daunting prospect which they met with courage and determination. The children were a great credit to the School and to you as parents in their behaviour throughout and the support and care they demonstrated to each other. Thank you to the parents who were able to support and encourage the children, it was much appreciated.

This Week, Art Club Exhibition 

There will be lots of beautiful pieces of art on show - it has been a busy term in Mrs Durg's Art Club. 


 

Final Reminder for the Readers

`QHS Community Spotted Reading` Challenge!!!
Calling all Readers!!

As part of our exciting refurbishment of the QHS Library, we are asking all pupils and their families to help us create a ‘QHS Community Spotted Reading’ wall.  We are asking parents to send in photographs of your children reading in different, original and exciting places.  

Coming Up in this last Week

• Lots of rehearsals for the Advent Festival Service during the day
• P4 Parent's Evening part 1 

Tuesday 10 December:

• Lots of  rehearsals for the Advent Festival Service during the day
• Pre-Prep children to the Pantomine 
• End of Year Concert in the Susan Milner Hall - 9:45am - parents are welcome 
• Chapel Choir singing at St Anne's Shopping Centre - from 12:30 approx
• Art Club Exhibition in the Susan Milner Hall - 4:15pm 
• P4 Parents' Evening  Part 2  

• Final rehearsals for the Advent Festival Service during the day 
• Advent Festival Service in Trinity Church - 7:00pm 
• Refreshments in School after the service with the Christmas Tombola

Thursday 12 December 

• End of Term Mass in Chapel 
• Fr Christmas  should be here!
• Christmas Lunch 

Friday 13 December: Christmas Jumpers
 

• Wear a Christmas Jumper for the morning
• Final Assembly – 11:00am – Parents welcome
• 12:00 Noon Term ends
• No afternoon Minibus service
• No after school care

Advance Notice (Repeat)

Term Dates 2020-21

Michaelmas 2020
Bank Holiday: Monday 31 August 
Monday 7 Sept – 16 Oct
Half Term: 19 – 30 October
2nd Nov – 11 Dec (12.00pm)

Lent 2021
11  Jan – 26 March (12.00pm)
Half Term: 15 – 19 February
Good Friday 2 April


Trinity 2021
Wednesday 21 April – Friday 9 July (12.00pm)
Half Term: 31 May – 4 June
Common Entrance Exams: 8 – 11 June

When it comes, may I wish you every blessing at Christmas and a Happy New Year, but in the meantime we hope have a great weekend.

Mike Still
Assistant Head (Administration)


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