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HPS Headlines
Friday 31st January 2025
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Welcome
Dear Parents,
I hope you have had a good week.
We were very pleased to welcome Mrs Anderson to Homefield for the first time on Monday, at a very popular and successful coffee morning. Mrs Anderson will be vising the school regularly this term and is looking forward to meeting the boys again in advance of taking up post at the beginning of the Summer Term.
One parish notice, regarding our car park. Thank you for driving so carefully in the area, parking sensibly and following our one-way system after using our drop off zone. If you are walking to or from school, please could you use either of our pedestrian gates and our footpaths? Please do not enter or exit the school site by walking through the car park or using the large vehicle gate. We have a duty of care to all of our families and want to make sure children, parents and staff all stay safe when travelling.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mr Hammond
Recent HPS Highlights!
A parent aptly shared, "He is such a patient and reliable man, and the boys have really appreciated having him as their driver. We couldn’t have asked for a better person to take them to school."
Thank you, Martin, for your dedication, kindness, and unwavering support. You will be deeply missed by everyone at Homefield!
Subject Summaries
Maths:
Year 3 have been consolidating their understanding of multiplication and division facts, making links to fact families, related calculations, and inverse operations. They have also explored fractions, particularly focusing on comparing, ordering, and understanding unit and non-unit fractions.
Year 4 have been working on adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators, learning how to find a common denominator using HCF and LCM. They have used physical representations of fractions to identify equivalence when finding LCM and developed their understanding of why fractions with different denominators cannot be added together until an equivalence with the same denominator is found.
Year 5 have continued to develop their understanding of equivalence, enhancing problem-solving skills related to adding and subtracting improper fractions, proper fractions, and mixed number fractions. They have manipulated fractions to ensure their denominators are the same, allowing them to complete the calculations.
Year 6 are now focusing on fractions, reactivating their prior learning of equivalence to express fractions in their simplest form, find fractions of an amount, and perform calculations using the four operations. This includes applying prior knowledge on dividing fractions and the rules for adding and subtracting fractions.
Year 7 are continuing to deepen their understanding of formal written methods by exploring long multiplication and long division. They are maintaining discipline when executing the procedures and using the inverse to check their answers.
Year 8 have undertaken a practice paper review to identify areas where they can gain more marks in the Common Entrance assessments later this year. They are now moving on to a new topic—percentages. The boys will reactivate their prior learning and then build upon their understanding by applying the concepts to increasingly complex problems.
English & Drama:
Year 3 have used the jungle as inspiration to create original and dynamic poetry, exploring a range of sound devices and structural techniques. Year 4 have applied portmanteau to create their own nonsense poems, influenced by The Jabberwocky. Year 5 have started to dissect examples of narrative poetry, honing their critical analysis skills. Year 6 have studied an anthology of poems from famous Romantic poets, including Shelley, Byron, and Hardy. Year 7 have practised their comprehension skills while examining a range of classic poetry, including Ozymandias and Dulce et Decorum est. Year 8 have written robust essay-style responses to a variety of texts, including Blake's A Poison Tree, Cope's Spared, and Auden's If I Could Tell You.
French:
The boys in Reception have been learning the vocabulary for different modes of transport and will be "travelling" to different Francophone countries to learn more about the countries that speak French. Year 1 have started a new topic on pets, while Year 2 are learning to describe the rooms in their house. In Upper School, Year 5 are practising how to tell the time in French and are beginning to write paragraphs about their daily routine.
Art & DT:
Well done to all pupils for their efforts so far. Year 3 are currently learning about Frank Stella and how he used smoke and steam to influence his work. Year 4 are assembling their picture frames, while Year 5 are still completing complex measuring and marking for their bento boxes. Year 6 have been creating their maze designs and their own toy company logos.
Year 7 are working on two projects with the same theme. Eventually, they will complete their oil portrait canvases and their lighting projects, both focused on wellbeing and growing up. Year 8 are in the middle of their own oil-painted canvases, inspired by megacities.
Senior Science:
Year 3 are learning about the types and functions of teeth. Year 4 are continuing their work on states of matter by exploring the cooling curve of stearic acid. Year 5 are nearing the end of their topic on forces and have been investigating magnetism. They have learned how to use iron filings and plotting compasses to observe magnetic field lines around a bar magnet. Year 6 have had great fun investigating acids and alkalis and learning about the causes and effects of acid rain. Year 7 are continuing with their topic on light and enjoyed making periscopes while investigating the application of reflection. Year 8 are learning about metals and non-metals and have been carrying out various chemical reactions.
Geography:
All the boys have been developing their location knowledge over the last couple of weeks, focusing on identifying continents, countries, oceans, rivers, mountain ranges, and more!
Year 8 have been focusing on OS maps, while Year 7 are studying population trends. Year 6 are exploring climate patterns and seasons, as well as how climate change impacts these. Year 5 have been looking at the water cycle and locating rivers around the world. Year 2 are exploring the continent of South America and learning about its different countries. Year 3 are learning how to read maps, specifically looking at four-figure grid references and creating a self-guide. Year 4 are exploring settlement patterns and observing settlements around us.
TPR:
In the Lower School, our Year 1 boys have continued to explore the meaning of philosophy, while Year 2 have been examining our school community and what it means to belong to Homefield. In Year 3, the boys have been consolidating their learning of British values and will soon move on to Hinduism as their next area of focus. In Year 4, the boys have deepened their knowledge of Islam, while Year 5 will be moving on to Judaism. Year 6 boys have been furthering their understanding of Buddhism. Year 7 are beginning to explore Plato's life and thoughts as a key philosopher, while in Year 8, the boys have been exploring Sikhism.
STEAM:
Year 1 have been enjoying making their model vehicles, while Year 2 are embarking on a Network Rail project. Year 3 and Year 4 are continuing to refine their ideas for the Leaders Award Competition, while Year 5 have delivered their presentations as part of the Statwars Competition. Year 6 have completed their PE models and are reflecting on the design process.
Lower School Summary
Nursery:
It has been a very busy week in Cub's class. The boys have been learning about Lunar New Year, with plenty of opportunities to explore the celebration through arts and crafts, role play, music and movement, as well as practising some mark making. The boys have created some lovely pieces of work!
This week’s sound of the week was 's', which fit perfectly with the Year of the Snake. The boys painted their own snakes using sponges and even made snakes using playdoh!
Reception:
This week in Reception, we have focused on the story Little Snowflake. It’s a lovely story that helps explain the lifecycle of a snowflake, and we’ve learned new vocabulary, such as "evaporation." The boys even noticed that the puddles from the storm had evaporated, with one boy saying, "The puddle is gone, it has disappeared. It evaporated back to the clouds."
We also spent all of Wednesday celebrating Lunar New Year. We played with noodles, practised writing "snake" in Chinese, and even had a go at forming our numbers in Chinese. One of our parents very kindly came in to read a story and teach us all about the celebration. The boys had so much fun and learned lots of new and interesting facts about Lunar New Year!
Literacy:
In Literacy, we’ve been revisiting Little Snowflake, with a focus on labels and captions. The boys were tasked with writing the labels for the snowflake lifecycle, using their knowledge from our topic lessons to fill in the blanks. We also had fun labelling items and toys in the classroom. The boys were given blank sticky labels and challenged to label everything they could find. They had to pick an item, write the label, and stick it on. I think the boys now fully understand the purpose of a label or caption!
Maths:
In Maths this week, we’ve been focusing on number formation. We’ve noticed that some boys are still writing their numbers backwards or muddling them up, such as writing 15 as 51. It’s important to get this right before moving on to more complex concepts. We’ve been practising writing numbers in glitter paint on whiteboards, with chalk in the playground, and even using playdoh to form the numbers. We’ve provided many interactive and fun opportunities for the boys to practise. The more engaging we can make it, the more they will want to join in. Please continue to practise this at home! Correct number formation is crucial for their mathematical development.
Year 1:
Year 1 had a fantastic trip to Brooklands Museum last Monday, and we hope the boys came home full of information about their day. We were very impressed with their behaviour and manners throughout, and they interacted well with the volunteers there. This week, we have continued our focus text in English, Through the Magic Mirror, and specifically looked at adjectives to make some of the sentences in the story more exciting. In maths, we are getting better at understanding how to make different amounts using our coins and notes. The boys are now able to match up the same amount using different combinations of coins. In History, we have been learning about significant females. So far, the boys have learned about Grace Darling, Florence Nightingale, and Mary Seacole. See if the boys can tell you about these three ladies and why they are significant in history. During our art lessons, we designed our own magic mirrors in our books and then replicated the designs onto card frames.
Year 2:
Over the last two weeks, the boys have continued to delve deeper into our new topics this term across a range of subjects. In maths, they have been developing their knowledge of times tables, exploring word problems, and recognising patterns. In English, the boys have been preparing to gather and retrieve information in readiness for writing their own non-chronological reports based on the Rainforest. In history, they have learned about Alexandra David-Neel and Prince Harry and their expeditions through snow and ice, considering the challenges they may have faced. In geography, we have continued to explore South America, focusing in particular on the human and physical geography associated with this continent.
Homefield Heroes
Nursery:
Qasim – For being a respectful and reliable member of the class. Rafael – For demonstrating endeavour in his phonics lesson.
Reception:
Gabriel – For his endeavour in his writing tasks. Aidan – For his resilience when dealing with challenges and working hard to self-regulate.
Year 1:
Renshan – For being so enthusiastic on our trip to Brooklands and asking fantastic questions. Kieran – For representing Homefield so well during our trip to Brooklands this week. Your manners were exceptional! Nishil – For fantastic understanding and use of adjectives in English this week. Aadit – For his hard work in all subjects this week.
Year 2:
Arjun – For working hard in his lessons and for always being mannerly. Ali – For always being very helpful and for producing a lovely rainforest report in English. Aryen – For consistently exemplifying our Homefield values and always displaying a positive, polite attitude to others. Alexander – For showing enthusiasm and positivity in all areas of learning and being a great addition to 2H!
Year 3:
Yifan – For his teamwork in his Wellbeing lesson, helping the class work together to find their way out of the spider’s web. Ethan – For his endeavour and resilience in lessons across the school, including PSHE, maths and English, always trying to reach the challenges independently and accurately. William – For his endeavour in Computing, English and maths this week, setting a great example to the rest of the class by completing his work to high standards. Sami – For his resilience and endeavour in lessons. He has been working hard to neaten his presentation in maths and has made excellent progress in science, scoring the top mark in his class for his recent test on electricity. Subir – For his resilience in maths, volunteering to demonstrate his 12x tables in front of the whole class. Kylesh – For demonstrating great role modelling of resilience and endeavour in sport and French. While his team were losing a rugby match he kept going and scored a try. He put a lot of time and effort into creating a superb poster for his homework.
Year 4:
Kiran – For demonstrating great role modelling of respect and kindness, particularly in reasoning lessons where he ensured resources were being shared and that others on his table understood the concepts. Jason – For settling in well to Homefield and demonstrating our values of respect and endeavour through his effort in lessons and polite manner around school. Jaiden – For his endeavour and kindness this week. He has often been helping others and in English he created a wonderful response to The Jabberwocky poem! Roshan – For his endeavour and resilience in maths, he was one of only two boys to score 100% on his maths homework this week. John – For his endeavour and resilience in maths and French this week. He persevered when met with challenging questions and applied skills to solve them.
Year 5:
Ayaan – For working hard in English this week and creating some amazing pieces of poetry. Isaac – For giving great verbal contributions in science, showing effort in swimming lessons, and excelling in drama. Jai and Ted – For working really hard in their maths lessons and showing incredible resilience when faced with multistep questions or challenges. They ask for help when needed and never give up. Matthew – For being patient and tolerant towards younger boys in the playground.
Year 6:
Aiden – For working very hard in English; he has provided in-depth analysis of poems and taken part in great classroom discussions. Leo – For showing a consistently superb attitude and effort in French and for his great STEAM work. Sten – For consistently challenging himself to go above and beyond in his maths learning this week. Kaylan – For rising to the role of Form Captain and really taking it upon himself to guide the rest of 6S into acting well during transitions. Xingda – For excellent effort in French. He has demonstrated resilience and endeavour. Sulaiman – For being friendly and welcoming to younger boys in the playground. He was a diplomatic buddy!
Year 7:
Aatman – For consistently showing the values of integrity and kindness towards others. Aatman has also produced an exceptional research project on volcanic activity. Nitin – For always showing resilience in his learning, especially when solving challenge tasks and taking on board feedback to progress.
Year 8:
Alex – For excellent contributions in TPR and for showing endeavour in geography and English. Alex has also shown resilience in his learning! Luke – For showing resilience and commitment towards his learning; producing some exceptional poetry! Luke is always being respectful and kind towards others.
Artist of the Week
🎨Well done to Elijah in 4S for completing his first Homefield art piece. A William Morris inspired signature!
Sports Summary
Year 6 Rugby Report vs Reigate
The boys had their first game of the season against a well-drilled Reigate team. After a tough start, they battled hard, showing good resilience and desire, particularly in their tackling. In the second half, Alex K and Zain I managed to score some well-worked tries. Reigate ended up the overall winners, but Homefield would have learned a lot from the defeat.
The B’s also had a tough game against Reigate but again showed resilience throughout. Kenzo, in Year 5, played up a year and didn’t look out of place at all. Eric also managed to get his name on the score sheet.
The C team had a thrilling game against Reigate, ending up just losing 18-17. The boys showed great promise in attack, moving the ball to space when it was on. The C’s will need to work on their defensive organisation for their next game.
Year 4 Rugby Report vs Reigate
The boys had their first contact game against Reigate. They started brilliantly with some good offloading skills and showed great desire in tackling. However, Reigate proved too strong for us on the day. Harin, Alex, Ryan, and Ivaan all scored for the school.
The B’s had their first contact game and showed some promise in attack, with tries from Zaviaan, Aarya, and Remo. Unfortunately, Reigate also proved too strong for us on this occasion. However, the boys showed great potential and are excited for their next game.
The C’s had a close win against Reigate in tag rugby. The boys showed great endeavour in a closely fought match, with Michael displaying excellent attacking skills.
The D’s won a close game against Reigate in an end-to-end battle. Elijah T, Rohan, and Louis were the main try scorers, demonstrating what they had been working on in training by moving the ball and running into space effectively.
U8 V The Hawthorns
On Tuesday 28th January, three U8 teams travelled away for a fun tag rugby match. The Red team went behind early but became stronger defensively as the game progressed. A try from Phillip and a great run by Kylesh were the highlights. Patrick was a standout player, running bravely with the ball.
The Blue team won in style. Charlie worked hard throughout the game to score 6 tries, and Andrey used his speed to supply Subir with plenty of scoring opportunities.
The Yellow team had a great game; although Hawthorns were stronger, there were some excellent moments of play from Angus and Shivvy.
Well done to all the boys who played.
Mr Matthews
Royal Academy Young Artists Summer Show - Celebrating Young Talent
We are pleased to announce that Homefield has registered for the prestigious Young Artists’ Summer Show, hosted by the Royal Academy of Arts!
Now in its seventh year, this incredible event is a free, open submission exhibition celebrating the creativity and talent of young artists aged 4–18 across the UK. A panel of artists and arts professionals will judge the submissions, with selected pieces showcased both online and on-site at the iconic Royal Academy of Arts.
This is a fantastic opportunity for Homefield boys to gain national recognition for their artistic achievements and to share their creativity with a wider audience.
To participate, boys should submit their artwork to Mr. Leung either in person or via email by 5th March. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this extraordinary exhibition—let’s show the world what Homefield’s young artists can do!
Lunar New Year Celebration at Homefield
Our Catering team treated everyone to a special lunch featuring Char Siu BBQ Pork, Sweet Chilli Stir-fry Prawns, Ni Hao Egg Noodles, and Spring Rolls—what a feast!
A big thank you to Jesse’s (Reception) mum for visiting and sharing wonderful insights about the New Year traditions. Our Nursery and Reception boys also enjoyed fun activities to mark the occasion.
Wishing everyone a prosperous and joyful Year of the Snake!
Dates for the Diary
LRC News
We are also holding a Book Fair over the course of the week:
Dates: Monday 3rd March - Thursday 6th March
Time: 3.45-5.00pm
Venue: LRC
Please note NO CASH will be taken at the Book Fair.
More details to follow.
Keep your eyes peeled for a special G&T project related to Book Week, which will be set over half-term.
How I Can Support My Son’s Wellbeing At Home
Earlier this month, we hosted an online webinar, organised by an external company, which focused on the support you can provide for your son when preparing for the 11+ examinations. If you would like to watch the recording of this webinar, please click the link below:
Successful Coffee Morning
A big thank you to all the parents and school governors who joined our Head Elect, Mrs Anderson, on Monday morning's coffee morning! It was a wonderful opportunity to meet her, and we’re excited to offer more chances to connect before she officially joins Homefield in the Summer Term. We look forward to welcoming more of you at upcoming events!
Safety Notice
Road Safety - Stop and Drop
We kindly remind all parents using the morning *Stop and Drop* facility to remain in their cars during drop-off. Our Estates staff will be on hand to escort your son safely into school. This ensures a smooth and safe process for all boys.
If you prefer to walk your son to the school entrance, we ask that you park safely a short distance away from the school and walk him in. This helps maintain a safe environment for everyone on the school site.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding in keeping our school community safe!
Orchard Childcare
As we step into the new term, we are excited to share our topics for the coming weeks. These include:
- New Year, Fresh Start
- Chinese New Year
- Children's Mental Health Week
- Valentine's Day
- Healthy Me
- Kindness Counts
Looking ahead to half-term, we’re pleased to announce that we’ll be running a Holiday Club!
February half term from 8:00am to 6:00pm @ £35.00 per day.
All children are welcome, and siblings can join too!
The half-term flyer with further information is available on our website, so please look for more details.
As always, we’re here if you need any information or just want to have a chat. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to another fantastic term together!
Western Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 2TE
+44 020 8642 0965