2021 Spring Term 2

It has certainly been great to welcome all of our pupils back to school after this past and hopefully final lockdown period. The staff team have worked extremely hard to reconnect with the pupils and help them settle back into the routines and rules of school once again. It is wonderful to have so many pupils happy and smiling to be back at school again.   

We have started with 97% attendance this past week. This attendance percentage is higher than many mainstream schools and proves further the high-levels of trust and strong connection which our pupils have with the school and the staff team.  It is important after this past year, considering what pupils have missed, that all pupils now maintain a high attendance level.

Thank you all once again for your support throughout these lockdown periods; the home educating and live virtual lessons worked extremely well. This would not have been possible without your strength, patience and support.

Best wishes

Mr Anderson

Principal    

I can happily now share the fantastic news with you all, that the school has been successful in our planning application to build a new Therapy Centre.  I have been successfully sourcing grants to help fund the cost of this project.

A state of the art seven room specialist Therapy Centre will double the size of our current therapy building, this will be constructed within our school grounds.  This new facility will provide plenty of space for all of our pupils to receive a range of different therapies and counselling necessary to help meet pupils needs.

Building work is due to start during the Easter holidays to ensure the building is completed for next academic year.

It is certainly exciting times ahead for Muntham House School.

The farm is looking lovely with the daffodils that we planted in the Autumn now all in flower. We picked the last of the sprout harvest and gave it to chef and will carry on picking the purple sprouting brocolli, this should continue to yield shoots until the first of the summer salad crops are ready.

Mr Pusey and the 6th form pupils have built us an additional 5 raised beds, the Junior pupils helped move the compost and top soil, it won’t be long before they are full of summer crops such as carrots, radish, beetroot and salad leaves. 

It's a really busy time at the farm, with all the planting of seeds in preparation for a bumper summer harvest. We chitted the potatoes in February (this means laying them out so the shoots grow stronger before planting) and now the pupils have enjoyed planting the potatoes out in rows. The peas are growing well and are now outside along side the broad beans. 

Inside the poly tunnel we have pots of tomato, cucumber and 4 varieties of melon seeds growing. It’s going to be a very busy summer.

Alongside the hard work down at the farm, we have enjoyed feeding and watching the birds. We have been lucky to be visited by a wren, a robin, a pair of nuthatches and many sparrows.

Finally we have spent time at Sumners Ponds looking at the new born calves, and we have frogs spawn in a tub. The pupils are eagerly awaiting for it to hatch into tadpoles. Spring has sprung!

We have been very busy in the Canine Centre this half term, lots of pupils have had the opportunity to visit Buzz or Omah. Muntham pupils are all certainly enjoying therapy sessions with the school dogs. 

The pupils have learnt positive strategies to aid with stressful times as well as maintaining the dogs grooming, due to the restrictions neither dog have been able to be professionally groomed so luckily our pupils stepped up to the task!

With the sunnier weather our dogs have enjoyed being outside, there have been lots of play sessions as well as cuddle sessions. Omah and Buzz job share so between them we always have a dog available for our pupils, and our pupils are reaping the benefits of our canine companions.

This half term I have been asking pupils to focus on woodland management. This has mainly involved the pupils helping me to plant, and replant, trees and bushes.  Through this type of activity the pupils learn how to boost the ecology of our woodland here at Muntham House School. Our aim of planting trees and hedges is to encourage greater bio-diversity. So, as the weather improves the pupils will start to see the fruits of their labour via the greater number of insects and wildlife living in the woodland.

Going into next term, as more insects start to appear and trees start to blossom, the pupils will be concentrating on identification of insects, trees and plants. This will help the pupils to greater understand the range of trees and plants we have in the woodland and what management techniques we need to adopt to help these species and encourage more species to grow.

This term we have had some brilliant local adventures. We have done lots of cycling both within the school grounds and in the local countryside. Hopefully after Easter we will be able to venture further afield.

Since the full return to school on the 8^th March the primary pupils built some amazing rafts from sticks and string. They loved designing and building them and really enjoyed testing how ‘seaworthy’ they were.

The Post-16’s brewed up a cup of tea for themselves using our new Trangia stoves on a trip out to Petworth Park. These skills could come in very handy later this year if we get to do some of the planned trips away.

Mr Henderson is really looking forward to making full use of the fully serviced fleet of bikes and all of the brand new climbing kit once Lockdown restrictions begin to ease after Easter. He is planning an exciting term full of adventure and sunshine – just what we all need!

World Book Day 2021

Despite Covid, World Book Day went ahead as normal, records show that over 20,000 children took part online independently – more than 20 times more young people than attended the online event in previous years.

This was our first World Book Day to be held online and we were delighted at Muntham by the number of pupils who attended, they shared books, listened to the new World book Day Rap and completed a books quiz.  

World Book Day offered our pupils the opportunity to share stories together which continues to encourage a love of reading and it’s fun for everyone! World Book Day encourages everyone to read anywhere and everywhere, from breakfast to bedtime! In the park, on the train, on the sofa, on a plane – reading and sharing stories can happen anywhere at any time. 

Every Student was sent an Electronic Token

The Reading Challenge continued again this half term. The pupils choose a book independently, they needed to read three books weekly and take a quiz on Accelerated Reader. Every time they finish and reviewed a book, they were added to Muntham House Reading Challenge League chart showing words read.

All the pupils on the league chart will receive a £20 voucher but, the gold award this half term goes to Oliver C who has chosen the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Collection.

The termly Great Muntham Bake Off competition took place on 23rd March with all four floors participating in the culinary extravaganza.

Post-16 made a lovely banoffi cake and cookies, Arundel made a chocolate cake with an Easter themed decoration. Bodiam made a four tiered sponge covered with chocolate with Easter themed decoration and Hever made a Victoria sponge with white chocolate and Easter themed decoration. All four cakes were incredibly tasty and very high in calories!

The standard was extremely high, Post-16 had the most variety of cake, Bodiam’s was the best looking cake, Arundel cake was a chocaholic’s dream but the overall prize went to Hever and their Victoria Sponge Easter Cake. The pupils made this cake all by themselves under the direction of Miss Randall and Mrs Thomas.

Mr Bell (Paul Hollywood) judged the competition and after eating four slices of very rich cake has been banned from eating cake for 6 months!!

Well done to everyone involved it was a great success.

We have been lucky to work with West Sussex Music over the last couple of weeks. We have been learning about patterns and rhythms using our bodies, voice, and percussion instruments. We have worked well as a team and learnt to listen to one another as well as focus on the leader to know when to all come in and stop so we are in time with one another.

On Monday 29th March we took part in a showcase to present to West Sussex Music and a few other local schools what we have been working on over these last few weeks, we were the only school invited to present, and I am therefore very proud of our pupils to be invited to do this.

We split into groups and layered all the different patterns and rhythms, putting them together and performing. I am very proud of our pupils for their excellent work and we were really excited to show off our new skills. 

This half term begun with online lessons for most of the Year 7's, and one of the most successful classes was the World Book Day celebration.  Following this lesson most of the Year 7s decided to use their World Book Day voucher with the Muntham House offer of buying them a book of their choice.  The book orders arrived last week and have been very much enjoyed by all the pupils during tutor time.

Over the last term, Year 7 have been focusing on a new project for the Engage Art Awards. The topic that was set, “a journey “.

Using a variety of different medians such as paint, photography, sketching and natural art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy many of the Year 7s have created possible entries for the competition.

We really enjoyed planning and raising money on March 19^th for Comic Relief.  Not only did a lot of the pupils wear red for the day, they also baked and sold cakes and cookies as well as taking part in a Staff and pupils football match.

Finally, as Year 7 tutors we are very proud that our tutees have been rewarded for their hard work in their literacy interventions with Mrs West.  As a reward the Year 7s will be going to Box Hill for a day of outdoor activities and team-building exercises due to their individual and class efforts in their literacy learning.

The Hever pupils have been hanging out mostly on the school grounds since returning from lockdown. Making the most of the nice weather and the new BMX bikes Mr Henderson has bought for them to use. They found some great ramps to start doing stunts on the new BMX bikes. 

We have also enjoyed some easter baking and look forward to having more fun when we come back after Easter holidays.  

The Bodium pupils enjoyed some great trips out to various places such as Arundel and Tilgate Park. Pupils have been on long walks and bike riding within the school grounds. Pupils have enjoyed exploring the woods, climbing trees, and being boys playing outside.  

This term has been challenging due to COVID restrictions, however, we have made the most of the nice weather and taken pupils out to local places. Pupils have been taken to outdoor spaces such as parks, woodlands and various beaches. 

The pupils really enjoyed walking at Rackham, they played on the rope swings, explored all the woodland and collected sticks. They really enjoy getting out and exploring and have asked to go back again soon. There has been some great team building and bonding between all the pupils which has been great to see after so much time apart during lockdown. Its been a valuable opportunity to help reassure pupils and enable them to reconnect with the school. 

During the lockdown Post-16 pupils have been watching a few DVD's. Nyirrone a Post-16 pupil watched the movie Paddington and when asked what his favourite part was, he said, 'when Paddington made marmalade in the prison'. 

On the back of that, we decided to make some of our own marmalade. This has proven to be very popular with staff coming back for seconds and comments like, 'This is the best marmalade I have ever had.' 

Muntham House School once again came together to raise funds for Red Nose Day.  As a school we raised £212.34 which we are really proud of. 

All pupils and staff were able to wear red to school on the day for a small donation. All pupils had the opportunity to participate in different activities throughout the day to celebrate Red Nose Day. 

The pupils enjoyed the day and had great satisfaction in helping others, giving them a sense of worth and pride.  Well done to all for the amount of money raised. 

Red Nose Day donations help tackle important issues including homelessness, hunger, domestic abuse and mental health stigma, all of which have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Well done to all pupils and staff who were fully involved in the day. 

World Book Day is the biggest celebration of its kind. The aim of it is to celebrate authors, books, illustrators and - of course - reading! To help young people to do that, book tokens are given out at schools.

Muntham House School celebrated World Book Day, by the pupils coming in dressed as their favourite book character. All pupils were provided with a £2 voucher to purchase a book. Our Primary classes really enjoyed dressing up and fully enjoyed the day. 

We got Silver!

We are continuing on our Food for Life journey here at Muntham House School. A Food for Life Schools Award is a great way to demonstrate that our school is doing fantastic work to provide healthy school meals, great lunchtimes and food education that has a positive impact on both our pupils and the wider community.

We have now achieved the Silver Award for our healthy and climate friendly food culture. The sky is the limit and now that we have achieved silver, we are starting to work towards the gold award.

As we prepare to come out of a full COVID lockdown, we are busy planning lots of cooking and farming activities as well as growing some fantastic vegetables that can be used in our school meals. We are hoping to have a generous enough harvest that we will be able to create our very own Muntham Farm shop for parents, carers and the local community too!

Have a look here for some wonderful Easter treats that you can make at home with your children during the Easter school holidays. We would love to see some photos of your culinary delights. Please email them to [email protected].

Happy baking!

Please click on the video below to access the Virtual Tour and I hope you will enjoy seeing all Muntham House School.  

We have two new additions joining the Muntham community, these two Angorra Cross goats are joining the school farm during the Easter holidays ready for when the pupils return for the summer term.  Candy and Nora are two young friendly goats who have been raised around children on a local West Sussex farm.

Pupils will be able to walk the goats and learn how to groom, feed and look after the goats.  This is another exciting development of our school farming programme.  Candy and Nora are shedding their winter fluffy coats at the moment and have a fine short haired coat underneath to keep cool over the summer months.

After what has been a difficult year for us all, we wanted to celebrate Easter. All pupils have therefore received an Easter Egg to enjoy. I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter and enjoy some good quality family time together. We very much look forward to all pupils returning on Tuesday 20th April. Best Wishes. 

Please be advised that returning from Easter Holidays on 20th April 2021 we have changed the timings for school. Please see below for the new times. All starting school at 9:00am but we are staggering finish times to enable a smooth transition of pupils to taxis. 

Please be advised that term dates are on the website 

FOR INFORMATION THE INSET DATES UNTIL THE END OF SUMMER TERM ARE: