Pre-Prep Reflections 27 February 2026
Dear parents,
Welcome back! I hope you all had a relaxing half term break. It is great to finally see a bit of sunshine, more daylight and signs of spring emerging – the school grounds are already brimming with daffodils. We have now finalised most of the calendar dates for the rest of the year and you can find these below. We will continue to add dates of any school trips as they are booked.
EdFest26
On Monday, all staff attended the annual education festival at Exeter School, along with delegates from other schools. It was a really useful day of professional learning and networking, with workshops covering a range of topics on the theme of ‘Inspirational Teachers – Aspirational Learners’. On Tuesday, this theme was further developed with a more specific focus on our school’s priorities, with all pre-prep staff reflecting on ways in which we can ensure we support and challenge every child with their learning.
Open morning
Our ‘school in action’ open morning on Wednesday was our busiest ever with 18 families visiting. It is heartening to see continued strong interest in the school with prospective parents registering their children earlier to avoid missing out on a place. Thank you as always to the staff and children for being amazing ambassadors, and to you for your positive word-of-mouth recommendations which are so important.
Staff update
Today we said goodbye to Ms Mulchrone who has been covering maternity leave in the Nursery class since last May. We wish her every success in her new setting. Mrs Wannell will be returning from maternity leave next week to work alongside Mrs Dray in the Nursery class on Mondays to Wednesdays. Mrs Linton joined us this week and will work on Thursdays and Fridays in the Nursery class, in addition to overseeing Early Birds and Late Room with Miss Adams throughout the week. Ms Richards is due to start her maternity leave at the end of next week, with her final day in school being next Thursday… we hope!
Spring Reviews
Your child’s spring term review will have been published via the iSAMS parent portal this afternoon. This is the first time we have issued them in this way – hopefully all will go smoothly, but please bear with us if there are technical issues. You should have received an email earlier in the week with your login details. Once signed in, you will have access to all of your child’s previous reviews and attendance data. If you would prefer a printed copy of the latest review, please let me know and I will arrange this for you. The parent portal is a work in progress and we will gradually be adding more information to it over the coming months, which we hope you will find useful.
Next week
We are looking forward to our annual Book Week next week, built around World Book Day on Thursday – I’ve got my costume ready! We have a storyteller visiting on Wednesday and various other surprises lined up for the week as we celebrate the National Year of Reading. We are also looking forward to seeing you at parents’ evening on Wednesday.
Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing those of you who are coming along to the quiz night at Exeter School this evening.
