Max's mention in the Blue Coat newsletter 13/12/2010

Transition & Nursery Nativity Play

The Nativity this year was called ‘Busy, Busy Bethlehem’. It was based on the Christmas story through the eyes of a Roman soldier who had been sent to Bethlehem by Caesar Augustus to organise the census. He and his soldiers had everything sorted until Mary and Joseph arrived late. This made him very cross but he gradually realised that they were special.

The arrival of the Shepherds, Angels and Kings made him more and more curious until he could not resist going to the stable himself. He was amazed by the scene before him and the soldier knew at once that this baby was very special indeed.

Congratulations to all the Nursery and Transition classes for putting on a wonderful performance. Max Dalton did a superb job of being the bossy soldier, as did all the other soldiers in TS. The opening market scene was realistically portrayed by TB and TC made up the Nativity beautifully. The three Nursery classes played their parts as sheep, angels, stars and the night sky.

Well done!     

Mrs Manley

Max gets Headteacher Award

Pre-Prep Headteacher's Awards

Friday 26 Nov 2010 04:50 PM | Pre-Prep, Update

Being Truthful and Kind
TB            Emmie McLaughlan
TS            Sofia Knight
1B            Arpita Kaur
1S            Yuvraaj Sahota
1T            Theo Gilbert-Birch
2W           George Vaughan

Showing Respect
TC            Sophia Patel

Cheerfully Trying Hard
2M           Zak Smith
2P            Rayhaan Rehm-Ali

Good Work/Behaviour
TB           Henry Martin
TC           Esa Yaqoob
TS           Max Dalton
1B           Edward Whitehead
1S           Gian Dhillon
1T           Simran Dhinsa
2M          Gabriel Dass
2P           Kajol Sohal
2W          Maya Narayan-Hull

Cannock Chase with the Walsgroves

Sunday we went to Cannock for a walk on the Cannock Chase (at -1C, freezing) with our friends the Walsgroves, then back to their house for a lovely Spanish chicken stew and homemade chocolate cake.

Thanksgiving 2010

Laurie and Matt hosted Thanksgiving this year, cooking a scrumptious turkey complete with extra legs for B.D.!!  We were joined by great friends and had a fun time celebrating the American version of a Harvest Festival.

Grandpa Dick and Grandma Sue's visit

Starting school in September

These were the pictures from the kids' first day of school back in September, they obviously are well settled in now and looking forward to their Christmas break.

Max and Talia's school pictures Oct 2010

The school photographs are extremely expensive to purchase, so we've splurged for the proofs and have scanned them in so you can see our angelic children!!

Jeremy's 5th Birthday Party

The Maclean's had a full weekend of birthday parties at their house, and we were lucky enough to be invited to Jeremy's, Max's good friend.  Max LOVES going to Jeremy's house because he has all of the best toys, and now he has the COOLEST bouncy castle water slide.

  

Zoe's Birthday party

Zoe's celebration of her 4th birthday was at a Wacky Warehouse.  Talia loved exploring all of the soft play areas, and Max (and his good friend Ryan C) had his face painted like Spiderman!

  

Oh How My Garden is Growing

 

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Papa!  Cards, bowling, pitching a tent, horrible macaroni and cheese (from scratch) for dinner, and a pressure cooker to boot!  Who says we don't know how to spoil you?  xx

Portland Wealth Retreat

In his embracing, mentoring and supportive nature, B.D. created a retreat for the newly-formed AMP Wealth family combined with the Portland Wealth extended family.  We all spent the weekend romping around the grounds of a DeVere golf club in Daventry, about an hour outside of Birmingham.
The wealth managers had business meetings while the families went to the park and splashed in the swimming pool.
Unfortunately, Talia had a bit of teething pain and spent Saturday evening full of Calpol.  But Max thoroughly enjoyed playing with the other kids.

 

Spontaneous Dinner Out

The kids were done with Sports Day at 2:30, but the school day doesn't officially end until 3:15, so all of the parents were standing around wondering what to do.  Luckily, they let the kiddos out early, so Max and I joined a couple of other kids and parents for an ice cream sundae and orange juice.  What a treat!  There were four kiddos and they all entertained each other, laughing and colouring; which meant the moms could spend a few minutes talking.

That evening B.D. had a St Paul's committee meeting, so I picked up Talia then took the kids to the library in the centre of Birmingham.  After reading loads of stories, and selecting a few to bring home (The Runaway Dinner, Handa's Hen and another Quentin Blake story) we met up with Jenny, Sophia and Ellie to graze our way through the International Food Festival.  What fun...but how expensive!  Luckily one of my old work colleagues has a stand and gave us lovely Bulgarian sausages and bread for free, then we bought a pretzel, some Italian chocolate and nougat, noodles and churros.  The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast, and great for us moms to have them out during 'the witching hour'.  

And what a thrill to do something so spontaneously with two children!!

Max's first Sports Day

Another tradition we didn't know about is the annual Sports Day.  At nursery age the kids are encouraged to support and cheer for each other, they are not encouraged to compete or really to win.  But the Dads from the sidelines couldn't help but cheer and yell for this son to "run faster".  Max isn't a fast runner, though, but he does have fun (just like his mom).

Blue Coat Fete

Apparently the word Fete is pronounced Fate...so we all tromped off to the Blue Coat Fete to see what it was all about.
It was full of fun for everyone:

Inflatable toys to play on

                                        and a police moto