Pre-Prep Reflections Week 21 February 2025
Dear parents,
Welcome back! I hope you all had a relaxing half term break. It is great to see a bit of sunshine, more daylight and signs of spring emerging – the school grounds will soon be ablaze 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.
EdFest25
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 inclusion. On Tuesday, this theme was further developed with a more specific focus on our school’s priorities. All pre-prep staff undertook training on high engagement teaching strategies to increase independent learning, as well as reflecting on ways in which we can ensure we challenge and extend every child’s learning.
This week
In assemblies this week, we have been focusing on our ‘teamwork turtle dove’ school virtue and it has been wonderful seeing the children put this into action. Nursery responded brilliantly to some special visitors yesterday as part of an interview process, while Reception worked together to make and sample slices of toast, both stimulating the senses and gathering data on people’s preferences – I enjoyed a lovely slice of hot buttered toast with honey! Year 1 practised teamwork skills in their swimming lesson with Mr Dutch, while Year 2 had a go at using ‘talking chips’ for the first time in collaborative group discussions in English.
Star Lunches
From next week, I will be inviting stars of the week to have lunch with me and Ruffles throughout the week. The star of the week from each class respectively will be asked to choose a friend to join us in my office, with my star of the week coming on Fridays. We hope the children will find this a fun additional reward for their achievement. As we have only been in school for three days this week, we will start with the stars of the week chosen in the week before half term.
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! On Tuesday morning, we will also be holding our annual pancake races with the children, just for fun, so let’s hope for good weather.
Today is the beginning of Ramadan and we send our best wishes to all members of the community who are celebrating in the month ahead.
Have a great weekend and Happy St David’s Day for tomorrow to all those with a Welsh connection!
