Bloo House News
Happy St. Nicholas Day
December 2011
St. Nicholas Day - December 6th
This was predominantly a Dutch tradition that is now celebrated all over Europe. When the Dutch settlers moved to the United States, Sinterklass became Santa Claus or Father Chrtistmas.
Traditionally, this celebration differs from Christmas Day. The story tells us that in the Middle of the 4th Century, an Abbot called Nicholas was born in Turkey. Nicholas was well known for his piety and benevolence. Abbot Nicholas was especially remembered for his care and protection of young children.
One such tale of his kindness tells of a father with three daughters who was very worried that he would not be able to provide them with a dowry when they became married. Nicholas heard of this man and went to his house. He stood by the man's widow and when a moonbeam shone into the room, Nicholas tossed in a bag of gold. He did this each night until the man had three bags of gold - one for each of his daughters.
From this legend came the placing of gold coins, small gifts and fruit in the shoes and stockings of children during the night before the feast of St. Nicholas. In some homes across Europe, St. Nicholas may appear with his companion, Zwarte Piete, also known as Black Peter. He carries a big red book, where he reads reports about the children's behaviour. If the child has been good, they may receive a small gift. However, if the report is not so good they may find twigs or even coal left in their shoes!
This was predominantly a Dutch tradition that is now celebrated all over Europe. When the Dutch settlers moved to the United States, Sinterklass became Santa Claus or Father Chrtistmas.
Traditionally, this celebration differs from Christmas Day. The story tells us that in the Middle of the 4th Century, an Abbot called Nicholas was born in Turkey. Nicholas was well known for his piety and benevolence. Abbot Nicholas was especially remembered for his care and protection of young children.
One such tale of his kindness tells of a father with three daughters who was very worried that he would not be able to provide them with a dowry when they became married. Nicholas heard of this man and went to his house. He stood by the man's widow and when a moonbeam shone into the room, Nicholas tossed in a bag of gold. He did this each night until the man had three bags of gold - one for each of his daughters.
From this legend came the placing of gold coins, small gifts and fruit in the shoes and stockings of children during the night before the feast of St. Nicholas. In some homes across Europe, St. Nicholas may appear with his companion, Zwarte Piete, also known as Black Peter. He carries a big red book, where he reads reports about the children's behaviour. If the child has been good, they may receive a small gift. However, if the report is not so good they may find twigs or even coal left in their shoes!
Master of Wellington College visits Bloo House
September 2011
Anthony Seldon is a leading authority on contemporary British history and one of the country's most high profile independent school headmasters. He became the 13th Master of Wellington College in January 2006, having been Headmaster of Brighton College since September 1997. He is also author or editor of over 25 books on contemporary history, politics and education.
Since taking on the head role at Wellington six years ago, Dr Seldon has always believed in the multiple intelligence curriculum and having instigated the learning process into Wellington, the school is now regarded as being one of the most respected and admired co-educational schools in the world. Since its inception, Bloo House has based its teaching around the multiple intelligence curriculum, making it one of the only primary schools practising this unique style of education.
Bloo House has maintained close ties with Wellington College for a number of years, with past students being awarded places at the school in Berkshire.
Tracy Edwards MBE Visits Bloo House
September 2011
Tracy won international fame in 1989 as the skipper of the first all female crew to sail around the world in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race. The boat won two legs and came second overall in her class. The best result for a British boat since 1977.
In 1990 Tracy was awarded Sportswoman of the Year and an MBE. She was the first woman to achieve acceptance by the British yachting community and paved the way for other women, notably Dawn Riley and Ellen MacArthur to follow.
Following her groundbreaking success with Maiden, Tracy set to consolidate her position as one of the world's top sailors by entering Trophy Jules Verne in 1998 with the Royal SunAlliance boat, again with an all-female crew. This yachting trophy is for the fastest circumnavigation around the world with no stopping and no outside assistance.
Tracy and her crew broke seven world records during their two-year programme. One of these, the Channel Record was the fastest ocean record in the world for three years. She was well on course for the record for more than half of their route, but was thwarted by treacherous seas off the coast of Chile and her mast snapped in two. Tracy and her crew managed to sail the stricken yacht to Chile. It took 16 days to cover some 2000 miles to shore, with no outside assistance.
Tracy retired from round-the-world sailing two years later when pregnant with her daughter Mackenna, and decided to turn her attention to managing sailing projects for her team. In 2001 she acquired Maiden II, the fastest catamaran in the world and she and her team set about breaking records, including the Everest of sailing records, the 24-hour record, and their own Channel record.
Tracy was an inspirational speaker and the school was delighted to support a charity that Tracy is closely involved in, Regenerate, in Roehampton.
Tony Buzan Visits Bloo House
June 2011
Mr Buzan is regarded as the world’s leading author on the brain and learning and is the inventor of Mind Maps. Currently, there are over 250 million people using Mind Maps worldwide.
In 1994, Mr Buzan was named by Forbes magazine as one of five top international lecturers along with Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher.
Tony discovered Bloo House via tweets on the social networking site, Twitter. Having read our blog and looked through the website, he tweeted his thoughts on the school, saying that he believed Bloo House was a model for the future of education.
Esher May Fair 2011
May 2011
This year, the school made its first appearance at the Esher May Fair. The sun shone and the the school made a big impact on the day.
A special thank you goes to David Hunt, our resident survival expert, who enthralled children and adults with his demonstrations of Bush Craft and all things nature related.
A special thank you also goes to Lili Love, Emma Hunt and Lexa Wenck, who
There were also a number of other parents who offered their time and we are so very grateful for their dedication and support of the school.
MP Visits Bloo House
March 2011
Providing pioneering, inspiring and creative learning, the Bloo House approach offers a platform for children to explore and reach their true potential through small class sizes and a relaxed atmosphere.
Bloo House’s success is primarily down to innovative methodologies in child development, particularly through the school’s multiple intelligence curriculum. Melissa Carter, Co-Founder and Principal explains, “every individual is made up of several aptitudes and intelligences providing the blueprint of who we actually are and our personalities. Traditionally, in education, learning is centred on our intellectual quotient (IQ). She continued, “however, in recent years, research has shown that supporting and nurturing a child’s emotional (EQ) and social intelligence (SQ) plays just as important a role – teaching children is no longer just about raising their IQ”.
Bloo House is one of the first primary schools in Britain to adopt such an original approach and their ethos of developing the whole child extends throughout their curriculum from the teaching of core subjects to more non-traditional subjects such as psychology and philosophy.
The emphasis that staff place on emotional wellbeing and happiness certainly seem to be attributes which, unlike five years ago, are now taken more seriously by educators, sociologists and now the coalition government. David Cameron recently announced the measurement of the public’s well-being using a survey that is being devised by the Office of National Statistics. The news came after the Prime Minister stated that there was “more to life than money” arguing that Britain’s prosperity should not be measured using solely economic indicators. Similar initiatives are also taking place in other European countries and Canada.
Earth Hour - 26th March 2011
March 2011
At 8:30pm this Saturday, Earth Hour will sweep around the globe as people switch off their lights and celebrate a worldwide commitment to protect our planet.
With over 4000 cities in over 128 countries taking part, Earth Hour is the world’s largest community-driven campaign for the planet. At the centre of the campaign is the symbolic collective action of lights out at 8:30PM Saturday 26 March.
Through this action, individuals, businesses and communities join a visible statement of commitment to the planet and a sustainable future for us all. In 2011 Earth Hour is going beyond the hour, encouraging participants to make daily changes to reduce their impact on the environment on ongoing basis.
Bloo House Applauded At Education Conference
November 2010
Summer Graduation
September 2010
Bloo House Graduation
To celebrate the end of our academic year, we finished with our annual graduation ceremony. Parents gathered in the garden to watch their children sing, recite poetry and receive their achievement awards.
Awards at Bloo House are focused on personality traits, rather than individual subjects. Examples of awards this year included, benevolence, determination and metacognition.
This year’s Edward Parry Award for Endeavour went to Theo Talbot, who will be leaving Bloo House this term to take up a scholarship at Eagle House. Theo has always had a remarkable talent academically and in the past few months proved that creatively, he has come alive through his artwork and music awareness and understanding.
In addition, socially and emotionally, Theo made incredible progress and as such thoroughly deserved the award for overall endeavour. We wish you well Theo and hope to see you soon and listen to your tales from Eagle House.
To celebrate the end of our academic year, we finished with our annual graduation ceremony. Parents gathered in the garden to watch their children sing, recite poetry and receive their achievement awards.
Awards at Bloo House are focused on personality traits, rather than individual subjects. Examples of awards this year included, benevolence, determination and metacognition.
In addition, socially and emotionally, Theo made incredible progress and as such thoroughly deserved the award for overall endeavour. We wish you well Theo and hope to see you soon and listen to your tales from Eagle House.