Pre-Prep Reflections Week 22 2024
Dear parents,
It was lovely to return to school today after being out for three days inspecting a large prep school in West London. It is always hard being away from school, especially when there are such exciting things going on as World Book Day! However, being part of an ISI inspection team will undoubtedly help us to prepare for our own inspection and it is always useful to see how other schools do things and bring back new ideas. My thanks to Ms Richards and the team for covering in my absence.
Safeguarding forum
On Monday morning, I attended this term’s Devon safeguarding forum meeting, an opportunity to meet with safeguarding leads from other schools and hear about the latest safeguarding information at a local level.
Book Week
We have enjoyed celebrating Book Week in school this week with lots of reading-themed activities and assemblies. Throughout the week, the teachers have visited different classes to share some of their favourite stories and yesterday we celebrated World Book Day with an exciting off-timetable day. The children (and staff!) all looked fabulous in their costumes, which they were able to show off during a parade in the hall. The children took part in three different workshops, each related to a different book. It was a fun and memorable day and a chance to celebrate our love of books and reading. All the children have been given a World Book Day token to exchange for a free book or use to get £1 off a book of their choice.
International Women’s Day
On Tuesday, Miss Lawrence led an assembly on International Women’s Day, which has been celebrated around the world today. She shared this short video with the children, which captures how, from an early age, children already define career opportunities as male and female. They talked about how stereotypes can be damaging and then went on to learn about some inspiring women through history.
Reception Teacher appointment
I am pleased to announce that we have appointed Mrs Kate Rickard as our new Reception class teacher from next term. Mrs Rickard is an experienced Reception teacher and was the unanimous favourite with children and staff during the interview process. This is a permanent appointment, meaning that Mrs Rickard will continue in the role next year and beyond. We are in the process of setting up some dates for her to come back into school to spend some time with Mrs Martin, Mrs Dray and the class before the Easter break.
Next week
I am currently working on proof-reading and editing spring reviews, which we are aiming to send home to you in the middle of next week. A reminder that next Friday will be a non-uniform day to raise money for Red Nose Day. I am also out of school next Thursday and Friday at the annual IAPS pre-prep heads’ conference. Ms Richards will be covering my school commitments and nursery teaching on these days.
May we take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day on Sunday, however you will be celebrating.
