Pre-Prep: Inspiration for the Imagination
It has been a cold, wet and windy start to 2026, but that hasn’t dampened the spirits of the Pre-Prep children.
This week, the children celebrated Burns' Day in true Belhaven fashion – with pipes, reeling, singing and lashings of haggis, neeps and tatties. The real highlight was seeing the children’s faces as Mr. Dawson drew his knife on the haggis! Thank you to Ms. Lloyd for helping the children to prepare their rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ which they so beautifully performed to the Prep school.
Mr Dawson, Head of Science, addressing the finer points of the haggis
Classwork
Form 8/R
We have continued to work on our class book The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch. The children have been learning about lighthouses and have written letters to Mrs Grinling to thank her for the delicious lunch. They also designed their own ideal picnic lunches and explored how Hamish the cat might be feeling when the naughty seagulls kept stealing the food.
Form 8 have completed their topic on 3D shapes and have been learning about length and measurement. The children practised using a ruler to measure a range of objects. Next, we will move on to addition and subtraction within 20.
Reception have been exploring numbers to 5 using Numicon, finding different ways to make 5, such as 3 and 2.
In Science, we have been exploring different materials, including wood, glass, metal and plastic, and learning about their properties. This led on to investigating floating and sinking, where the children had great fun designing and creating boats that could float.
Form 8/R working on numeracy and on what floats and what sinks...
Form 7
In literacy, our core text is the Little People Big Dreams book about Amelia Earhart. This has inspired some excellent writing in recent weeks. The children have been learning about asking different types of questions – open, closed and rhetorical. They then wrote a series of questions which they posed to each other in the roles of ‘journalist’ and ‘Amelia Earhart’. The children have since used their interview questions to write a magazine article documenting the life of the record-breaking aviator!
In maths, we have started a new unit of learning focussing on multiplication and division. The children have been learning to identify, make and add equal groups, and can describe their representations in multiple ways, for example, ‘3 groups of 5’, 5+5+5, 3x5. I have been very impressed with their enthusiasm thus far. To recap learning from last term, the children recently visited the Makerspace to use the 3D printers with Mrs Brannigan. We’ll soon have a whole set of 3D shapes which the children named, drew and described with confidence and incredible accuracy.
In science, the children have been learning all about materials, their properties and their uses. It’s been great exploring a range of materials in practical ways, such as testing whether paper, card and wood can be squashed, bent, stretched or twisted, as well as surveying what materials have been used for the buildings around the Belhaven grounds.
In topic, the children are learning all about ‘Mobility and Innovation’. After using dictionaries to find the definitions, the children were able to identify many ways in which people travel from one place to another. They have shown a particular interest in Amelia Earhart’s accomplishments!
Form 7 looking at 3D shapes and then going to see Scrufty to put it all into practice in the Makerspace
Form 6
In literacy, Form 6 have begun their new class book, The Tunnel. We have been learning about different ways to add suspense into our writing. We have written great retellings of the story using metaphor and personification, short, snappy sentences and the ‘show, don’t tell’ technique to help make our writing more exciting. We have also been furthering our understanding of direct speech and how to include inverted commas in our writing.
In maths, Form 6 have begun to explore money. They have been able to apply their knowledge of number bonds to 100 when converting pounds into pence. We have been consolidating our recognition of coins and ‘where money comes from’. This is a new topic for the children, in which they have shown great understanding! Alongside this, we have been working on multiplication and division and exploring how sharing and grouping relates to this. We have been developing our mental maths with recall of the 2-, 3-, 5- and 10-times tables with some also working on their 6- and 9-times tables.
In science, the children have been exploring different rock types and identifying and grouping rocks based on their properties. We have been able to compare granite, pumice, sandstone, chalk, marble and gneiss, identifying their similarities and differences.
The children have really enjoyed learning about Polar Explorers and what life is like in the Polar regions. We have compared the Arctic and Antarctic, looking at the similarities and differences along with what animals live there. Our first Polar Explorer is Captain Scott. The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about his journey and listening to his diary entries from his exploration.
Form 6 discovering coins and the epic extent of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's journey
