Football Champion

Isn't it great when you're pleasantly surprised by your child's achievements.  Danny got one of the only two medals for the Reception Football Club.  His medal was for the most improved player.  I can see why too, in the beginning he used to dance around and fight imaginary dragons, but now he plays like he means it and he is actually quite good.  He is unbelievably proud and excited and so are we!

Chess Champion

Nicholas played in his first chess tournament last weekend (Surrey Hundreds).  We weren't sure what to expect and were really surprised to find a hall full of hundreds of eager children waiting to get started.  Nicholas did really well winning 4 out of his 5 games (as well as 2 friendlies).  He was one of a couple of runners up with a score of 13 out of a possible 15 and won a rosette for his efforts.  A nice surprise was that he won his 'borough' group within the bigger U7 age group.  A great start to his professional chess career!

Praise and Rewards

Can you imagine the excitement in our house with Danny getting a Semper Magis Certificate for his magnificent performances in the football matches the other day!  It is amazing to see what effect a simple reward like this has on his enthusiasm and confidence.  He is so proud and so excited.  I hope it leads to more exciting football matches in the future!

Incidentally, this wasn't his first Semper Magis Certificate, he got one at the end of last term for 'The St Ignatius Prayer'.  At least it shows that he is able to learn something off by heart if he has to.  The boys really feel important when they get one of these certificates!

Danny also got his 5m swimming badge and certificate just before Christmas.  He put on a fine performance at the distance test (and actually swam a bit further than 5m because he was determine to go all the way across the pool all by himself without stopping).  Once again it is amazing to see what effect the positive rewards had on him.  Some children are really driven by praise and rewards!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars

The boys are back at school today after a lovely half term break for a week.  It's always nice to relax out of the regular routine and do things out of the ordinary.  Nicholas had some interesting 'homework' to do this time.  He got Kuri, the class' wild dog, to entertain for the week.  We had to take him with us whereever we went, take photos of him doing different things and then do a write up about his experiences.  Nicholas' teacher is full of creative ideas like this that make the children work in a fun fashion.  The write up will also give you a sneak preview of our half term break!

 

Last term ended off on a high note with both my boys getting 'Star of the Week' certificates.  Each boy basically gets a turn to get one of these so they are quite common.  What I really like about these is what they are for (Nick: For your wonderful attitude towards learning / Danny: Lovely neat sentence writing).  So proud!

Nicholas also got two Semper Magis Certificates last term.  These are really difficult to get and they are quite rare so it was really impressive that he got two of them already.  The first one was For Outstanding Work in Geography (speaks for itself because he does have an extraordinary knowledge about the world for his age) and the second one was For Outstanding Work on 'How to Brush Your Teeth' (sounds a bit arb - would have been better if it said 'For Outstanding Work in ICT - as they had to do a write up in ICT using a wordprocessor about something they learnt on the Life Bus).  An excellent start to year 2!

Player of the week!

Nicholas got the weekly floating trophy at Warriors today!

Very proud and excited!

Guildford RFC Minis

There was even more excitement as Nicholas was reselected for the next tournament in Guildford.  I missed this one because I stayed to take Danny to his Warriors session in Wimbledon.  It was a cracker judging by the smiles on Nick and Dad's faces when they got home.  And another trophy - this time they didn't make it all the way, but ending up 3rd against teams like Ironsides and London Irish isn't too shabby.  Our rugby has suddenly gone up a notch!

Happy boy

Action shots

 The team

Two of Nicholas' nine tries on the day - caught on video!

Wimbledon RFC Minis

We were delighted when Nicholas was selected for one of the two Warriors U7 teams to play in the Wimbledon RFC Minis tournament.  Each team consisted of 6 boys but only 4 played at a time.  it's amazing how well they gelled and worked together as a team.  Even though Nicholas was not 100% healthy he gave it all that he had and put in some fine runs especially in the semi and the final after the nurofen and lucozade kicked in.  Or maybe it was the fact that he met one of his oldest friends, Zeb who plays for Rosslyn Park, and who we don't see all that often any more in the semi.  In the end it was the two Warriors teams in the final and it ended up as a draw. Very exciting indeed!

Nick's team

Chilling in between games

Nicholas meets Zeb in the semi final

Nicholas was on fire!

Look at the supporters!

(this is the try that earned the draw in the final)

Two winning Warriors teams!

All the boys

The Donhead boys

Medals for everyone

And a trophy for the club

I couldn't resist some animated gifs