Houses Day

Excitement levels were high last Monday as our pupils took part in our much-loved Houses Day.

It was a pleasure to see pupils across the school come together as a team representing their houses and battling it out to win points as they took part in an action-packed day full of activities including Rope Pull and Dodge Ball, to name a few.

Drum roll please… and the results of Houses Day 2026 are:

And the winner is… CURIE! Well done!

Congratulations to Milo, Year 5 who recently took part in his first Triathlon at Hever Castle, as part of the Castle Series Triathlon events.

For this event, Milo had to take part in a 200m open water swim in the lake, a 4.2km bike ride followed by a 1.2km run. He placed 28^th out of 84 participants, and most importantly, thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Well done Milo, this is a great achievement and we are really proud of your hard work and determination.

We recently attended the ISA London South Art Competition in Hassocks, and we are absolutely delighted to say that we came away with some fantastic prizes!

1st Place – Tia Dowlands – Woven TLC Outfit
1st Place – Thieyana Susilan– Crochet Strawberries
1st Place – Prep Art Club – The Burger

2nd Place – Evie Stone – Flower Body Adornment
2nd Place – Jeminah Barnes-Rowlinson – Stitches wings
2nd Place – Bella Scala – Sketchbook

Highly Commended – Penelope, Year 8 – Doughnut
Highly Commended – Christian, Year 10 – Doodle Plate
Highly Commended – Joshua Reed previous Year 11– Axe and Shield

Sadly, we had five entries that didn’t place, but the competition was tougher than ever this year, with so many schools really pushing their art curriculums and the creativity of their students.

Oliver Cook, Lottie Gower, Henry Carter and Sophia O and year 2 art clubbers well done for your submissions.

I couldn’t be prouder of my team and, most importantly, of the effort, creativity and commitment we put into developing our students.

A huge well done to every student who took part, they should all be incredibly proud of yourselves.

Mrs Carter

Dance

Dance has got off to a fantastic start for Years 5 to 9 at Babington House, and we have been so impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and creativity the students have brought to their lessons. 

This term, we have been exploring the foundations of dance through the four key principles of Actions, Space, Dynamics and Relationships (ASDR). Students have enjoyed learning set choreography while developing their technique, coordination and confidence as performers. 

Each lesson begins with a thorough warm-up and range of stretches, helping students to understand the importance of preparing their bodies safely for dance. We have explored different ways of travelling, jumping and turning, as well as experimenting with formations, spacing and working together as a group. 

It has been fantastic to see students embracing new challenges, supporting one another and growing in confidence each week. We are excited to see the students continue to develop their performance skills and creativity as the year progresses! 

LAMDA Success at Babington House School

A huge congratulations from Miss Gardiner to our fantastic LAMDA students from Prep through to Senior on their recent examination results! We are incredibly proud that 98% of our students achieved a Distinction, a truly brilliant achievement!

This success is a reflection of the hard work, dedication and commitment our students have put into their performances. It has been wonderful to see their confidence grow and their skills develop across every year group.

A massive well done to every single student, you should be incredibly proud of yourselves. We certainly are!

Congratulations, LAMDA stars!

Year 5 & 6 Swimming Gala vs Farringtons

Gala result: Farringtons 51-51 Babington

Gala statistics:
– Congratulations to Lux, our Year 5 Swimmer of the Gala
– Year 5 placed 1st in the front crawl relay
– Year 6 placed 2nd in the front crawl relay

Year 6 Netball Tournament vs. St. Dunstan’s

Match result: Babington 4th place

Match statistics:
Year 6 Player of the Tournament: Thalia
Year 6 most improved player of the Tournament: Gracie

Year 6 Netball Tournament vs. St. Dunstan’s

Match result: Babington 5th place

Match statistics:
Year 6 Player of the Tournament: Scarlett
Year 6 most improved player of the Tournament: Olivia Be

PE Clubs – Autumn 1

Upcoming Senior Fixtures and Events – Autumn 1

Upcoming Prep Fixtures and Events – Autumn 1

In Nursery we have been enjoying re-telling the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The children have made their own beanstalks and counted all the leaves. We have practised cutting out castles and characters from the story to develop their scissor skills.

We have also listened to the story ‘Hands are not for Hitting’ as part of our Jigsaw PSED scheme and learnt about the importance of always having gentle hands.

In PE, we have been working on throwing and catching. In French and Spanish we have been learning to name the colours.

Nursery were so excited to have a visit from ‘Little City’. We enjoyed different role-play scenarios including a post office, supermarket, hairdresser, doctors and a vet.  

I am so proud of every child in Tiger Class for how well they have settled into their first few weeks of school. 

We have explored our classroom, established routines and begun building new friendships. The children have embraced the magic of Reception, enjoyed meeting lots of our class puppets and shared many stories about starting school, our feelings and what makes each of us special. 

We have developed our fine motor skills through loose part patterns, making faces and creative activities, while also enjoying the home corner, construction area and lots of self-selected creations. We certainly have a class full of budding artists! 

We are in full swing with our whole-class phonics, maths learning and taking part in our specialist lessons in PE, Spanish, French and Music. And of course we have had a lot of fun playing together. 

It has been wonderful getting to know the children, and I am so excited for the year ahead. Well done, Tiger Class! 

Year 1 have had a super week that started on Monday with excitement for their houses competition. We had lots of fun in the classroom attempting the quiz with some challenging questions that answers were prompted by teachers! They then had a fabulous time participating in games with the PE department.

In Literacy, we have begun our new book called ‘Naughty Bus’ by learning facts about buses and creating a class fact book. We also discussed all the naughty things that Naughty Bus got up to and what we would say to him.

In Maths, we have been comparing numbers exploring mathematical language – more, less, fewer, greater and comparing using the mathematical symbols. In Geography, we jetted off to Africa where we learnt about Masai warriors, huts made out of mud and straw and most importantly the big 5 African animals. Year 1 children loved learning how to draw an elephant and a lion!

Lots of fabulous learning this week and we look forward to sharing their work with you next week.

It has been a busy week in Year 2. In English, we created information posters about animals, using three different sentence types to make our writing interesting and informative. 

In Maths, we compared objects and numbers and developed our fluency by counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. In Science, we investigated how different materials can be changed and shaped. 

In History, we explored the later life of Florence Nightingale and discussed her impact on nursing. In RE, we learned about the Jewish festival of Sukkot and made our own Sukkahs. We also began exploring our half-term theme of how different religions teach us to interact with and care for nature. 

In Computing, we used ScratchJr to develop our coding skills, learning how to make multiple sprites communicate with one another. 

Over the last few weeks, Year 3 have been enjoying reading The Zebra’s Great Escape.  The book illustrations are full of colour and detail, and the protagonist is a free-spirited, kind-hearted and adventurous girl called Mink.  The book has been a great resource for carrying out character analysis and creating word banks full of amazing verbs, adverbs and prepositions, which we have used in our writing.  

Maths lessons have been focusing on Place value of numbers up to 1000. The children have been partitioning, comparing, ordering and placing numbers on a number line, using lots of physical resources, such as Bead Strings and Base10. 

The Science topic this term is Humans and Other Animals. We first looked at healthy eating and the different food groups and discussed the fact that different types of animals have different diets.  The last lesson we learnt about was the human skeleton, we learnt that it is an endoskeleton, which protects some key organs and provides us with structure and the ability to move. We had fun putting together some skeletons and measuring ourselves. 

It has been a busy and exciting start to Year 4! 

In Maths, we have been learning how to partition numbers up to 10,000, place numbers on a number line, and order numbers accurately. The children have worked hard to develop their understanding of place value and have shown great determination. 

In Literacy, we have continued our exploration of Antarctica through the story of Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance expedition. We wrote diary entries from the perspective of a crew member, imagining our first sighting of Antarctica from the ship’s jib boom and describing a typical day at Winter Base. We also discussed the animals that live there and considered Shackleton’s difficult decision to either remain at camp with limited supplies or head for land and abandon the expedition. 

In History, as part of our learning about the Mayans, we investigated Mayan artefacts and discussed what they may have been used for. We enjoyed sharing our ideas and acting like historians to uncover clues from the past. At Forest School, we had a fantastic time making Mayan headdresses inspired by our topic work. 

Well done, Year 4, for your enthusiasm and creativity! 

Since this is the first time you’re officially hearing from us, we wanted to take this opportunity to say a huge welcome back to all of Year 5! All of the children have settled in tremendously and we’re now well into the swing of this new academic year. 

In English, we have been delving into our new text: Hidden Figures – Young Readers’ Edition, which tells the story of the incredible women who worked as computers and engineers at NACA/NASA. Their stories of fighting for their rights to belong have inspired some fantastic persuasive writing so far. The children also particularly enjoyed role playing as Mary Jackson, one of the first African American women to be employed as an engineer.  

In Maths, we began the year consolidating place value with numbers up to one million. The children compared and ordered numbers, recognising the value of each digit depending on its place value column. We have also revisited rounding and have now moved on to addition and subtraction, starting with mental strategies. What’s easier, adding 999 to a number, or adding 1000 and then subtracting 1? 

In Science, we have kicked off our learning with investigation into various forces and we’re thoroughly looking forward to making and testing parachutes next week! 

What a fantastic start to the new school year! The children are thoroughly enjoying their new status as top of the school and have embraced all that comes with being in Year 6. It has also been wonderful to welcome our new pupils, who have settled in so quickly and naturally that it already feels as though they have always been part of the Babington family.

In Maths, the children have been developing their understanding of place value, working confidently with increasingly large numbers all the way up to 10 million. They have explored powers of 10, used number lines, compared and ordered integers and practised rounding numbers accurately. Most recently, they have extended their number knowledge to include negative numbers, using number lines and real-life contexts to help develop their understanding.

In English, Year 6 have begun exploring ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’ by Brian Selznick. Set in 1930s Paris, the story follows twelve-year-old orphan Hugo, who secretly lives within the walls of a busy railway station, keeping its clocks running while trying to survive unnoticed. The children have been using this intriguing story as the inspiration for their English work, exploring characters and events and developing their vocabulary and writing skills along the way.

There has been plenty of opportunity to burn off some Year 6 energy too! In PE, the children have thrown themselves enthusiastically into games of dodgeball and tug-of-war, developing teamwork, communication and a healthy competitive spirit along the way. Wednesdays are fast becoming a particularly popular day, with both Dance and Drama on the timetable too.

It has been a busy and enthusiastic start for the Year 6s!

NEW Scholars Programme

We are delighted to announce the launch of the new Scholars Programme, designed to inspire, challenge and celebrate pupils’ talents across the school. 

The scholars met for their first gathering in the Recital Room, where they enjoyed a special afternoon tea, created by our fantastic catering department and Head Chef Rachel, which consisted of scones and clotted cream, chocolate brownies and blackcurrant & cream cupcakes.  Pupils were introduced to a range of upcoming projects and opportunities designed to help them develop their confidence, creativity and individual talents. 

A key part of the programme will be encouraging pupils to take part in a wide variety of competitions and enrichment activities, both this term and beyond. Importantly, many of these opportunities will be open to all pupils, not just scholars, and we hope as many students as possible will get involved. 

Upcoming events will include a Creative Writing Competition, a Public Speaking Event featuring guest judges and prizes, and an exciting Art Competition. These competitions will be open to different age groups across the school, from Prep through to Senior pupils. 

We are looking forward to an exciting year of creativity, challenge and achievement, and to celebrating the many talents within our school community. 

Mrs Gordon & Mrs Nikula 

Students Teaching Students! 

Sometimes, the greatest resource a teacher has is the students themselves! This term, students in 9F stepped into the role of teacher, sharing their skills and expertise with students in 9S. 

With patience and care, 9F guided their peers through the process of preparing slides of onion cells before using microscopes to observe them and produce detailed, labelled images of what they discovered. They were incredibly thorough in their approach, offering encouragement and support every step of the way to ensure everyone achieved success. 

A fantastic example of teamwork, leadership and learning in action. Brilliant work, everyone! 

Celebrating The European day of languages

On the 23rd of September, the whole school celebrated The European day of languages at Babington house School. The aim was to celebrate diversity in Europe and promote learning.  We strongly encourage the development of language skills from an early age, recognising the valuable contribution that language learning makes to pupils’ academic, social and cultural development. Learning a modern foreign language helps pupils to develop effective communication skills, broaden their understanding of different cultures and perspectives, and become more confident in engaging with the wider world.  

During Form time, pupils had to complete a quiz. Do you know that there are 24 official EU languages, or that one person named Ziad Youssef Fazah can communicate in 59 languages? 

A special mention to our catering provider Holroyd Howe. Rachel, our marvellous chef created a special menu for the occasion, including a fabulous paella and a traditional Sicilian whole-lemon cake.     

Within the MFL Department, we have also redesigned our displays to highlight the countries and regions around the world where French and Spanish are spoken. 

Year 9 History
Year 9 pupils have been exploring the fascinating story of Dazzle Camouflage and its use during the First World War. Unlike traditional camouflage, which was designed to hide ships, Dazzle used bold geometric shapes, contrasting colours and striking patterns to confuse enemy submarines about a ship’s speed, direction and distance. 

As part of their studies, pupils investigated why Dazzle was introduced and considered how art and design could be used as a form of wartime defence. They then put their learning into practice by creating their own fantastic Dazzle-inspired artwork. 

The finished pieces are imaginative, colourful and highly effective, showing both a strong understanding of the historical topic and impressive creativity. Their work has now been brought together to create an eye-catching classroom display in the History cabin. 

Year 8 History
Year 8 have been on an exciting trip to the British Museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to examine the thousand year old artefact.  The Bayeux Tapestry, thought to have been commissioned by William I’s half-brother, Bishop Odo, is 70 metres long. 

We examined the fascinating tapestry which depicts the Norman version of the events of 1066.  Year 8 all had varying favourite parts of the famous embroidery, some students enjoyed the parts which depicted scenes showing the preparation of ships and armour for battle, whilst others enjoyed the interesting mythical creatures and everyday life depicted in the borders. 

We have spent a lot of lesson time since the trip discussing the tapestry scenes. We have also evaluated the use of this primary source as an artefact and analysed its use for historians. Well done Year 8, you demonstrated great skills as historians!   

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expedition September 2026 

At the start of the new term, our Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award pupils took part in their assessed expedition, putting months of preparation into practice. 

The expedition gave pupils the opportunity to demonstrate teamwork, resilience and independence as they navigated their routes, carried their equipment and supported one another through each stage of the journey. The warm weather made for enjoyable walking conditions for much of the expedition, although the Silver group faced a very different challenge when rain arrived after the first night and they had to pack away the tents in a downpour! 

At camp, pupils worked together to organise their tents, manage their kit and cook their own evening meals using camping stoves. They especially enjoyed playing hike and seek in the woods at the Broadstone Warren site and they camped underneath the trees. Both Bronze and Silver teams showed determination and a positive attitude throughout the tough walking terrain, which made the treat of an ice cream at the finish point, even sweeter. Well done to everyone involved!  

A big thank you to Mrs Pacitto, Mrs Neale, Mrs Lovegrove, Ms Wiffen and Mr Laird who volunteered to accompany pupils on the expedition as without them, the trip would not have been possible.