week ending 29th September

Dear Parents

I hope you are all well.

Firstly, I would like to apologise for the disruption this week caused by the water
leaks along St Julians Road and along Park Lane. The road closure from The Bucks Head to school did not
help either. I appreciate the inconvenience caused; closing the School is never something we like doing but
it was necessary in terms of the safety of the children and staff. I understand that postponing The Thomas
Trophy is disappointing news as I know just how enjoyable this is for all the runners and supporters; we will
be looking at an alternative date during Spring Term 2024 to host the event.

On a far more positive note, we are thrilled and proud to have earned the Wellbeing Award for Schools; we
have been working towards this for a year and it is a huge testament to the Wellbeing Team, both pupils
and staff (ably led by Mrs Hougham, Nurse Hosford and Mrs Fuller), that we have achieved such an
accolade. Huge congratulations to everyone involved.

The Senior Schools’ Fair was a tremendous success and I hope that those who attended found the
afternoon useful. Thank you to Ali Croft for organising the event and do follow up with me, Mr Ashcroft, Mr
Collings or Mrs Harrison if you require any additional information.

Congratulations to our Year 8 pupils (led by Evie and Tom) who have been awarded their prefect ties and
we look forward to seeing them all help the staff shape the course of the coming school year.
Earlier this week, I attended the annual IAPS Conference for headteachers. I attended fascinating
presentations on topics ranging from AI to the new format for inspecting independent schools. There was
much to absorb…

Best wishes

Luke Harrison

Dear Parents and Guardians,
What a glorious two weeks we have had welcoming all of the children back into the school routines. They
are settling well into their new classrooms and the teachers are really enjoying getting to know their new
classes too!

We are focusing on ‘Hook Days’ over the course of the academic year with the aim of capturing the
children’s imagination and interest from the very beginning in their topic work for the term. I am certain you
will hear lots about these at the start of each term. Lesson hooks grab the children’s attention and get them
excited about their learning. This type of strategy can make all the difference when it comes to really
engaging pupils and maximising their learning. This term, the teachers have already thought of some
fabulous hooks and I know that they will be sharing these with you very soon.

Next week, we have the Scholastic Book Fair visiting. The teachers would like to strongly encourage
everyone to come along and attend the book fair, or choose to browse online. In addition to the focus on
Hook Days, we are having a real push on reading for pleasure too! The teachers have been discussing the
importance of reading and the huge positive and powerful impact that daily reading at home has on the
children’s school work. Mrs Wake, who leads literacy in the Pre-Prep, will be introducing some exciting
reading initiatives to really excite, engage and motivate children to read daily. The research into the impact
of daily reading for a child is staggering and please find a link to a very useful document for parents, which
we warmly encourage you all to read: Enjoy Reading

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Best wishes,

Helen Cook