Weekly round up 27th September

Dear Parents

I hope you are all well.

Last week, I attended the IAPS Conference and heard many interesting speakers touching on many areas of education. I enjoyed particularly a workshop by American author and strategist Ian Symmonds who shared thoughts about the role of AI in schools. It is at this point I have to hold my hands up to you and share a moment where I was taught a lesson! After talking about AI for a while, Ian put us into groups and asked us to come up with a strategy for increasing awareness and benefits of AI amongst pupils and staff. Eager to be a good student, I cracked on quickly with my group and after five minutes of brainstorming and furious notes on a piece of paper, Ian came over and stopped us.

“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Creating a strategy,” we replied.
“I think you’ve missed the point. Why are you using pen and paper? You should be asking ChatGPT!” he quipped.
Point taken…

There is so much going on at school at the moment. Family Day was a great success and thank you to everyone involved in putting it together – and for arranging the sunshine! Our runners enjoyed The Brenchley Relays and we are really looking forward to welcoming other schools to our Thomas Trophy cross-country event this Friday. Good luck to our competitors and thank you to our pupil marshals for helping the runners navigate the courses. Sporting fixtures are coming thick and fast and it is great to see the pupils representing the school with such enthusiasm and determination.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Luke Harrison

Headmaster

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are now four weeks into the start of term, and I am so proud of how well the children have settled in. They are becoming more confident with their routines, and it is wonderful to see them embracing new activities with enthusiasm.

Our swimming sessions over the past two weeks have been a huge success, and it has been a joy to see so many happy, smiling faces in the pool. Everyone has shown such great determination and progress.

Looking ahead, I am very much looking forward to seeing our Pre-Prep children take part in their cross-country events on Friday morning. It is always a fantastic opportunity for the children to challenge themselves and experience the joy of outdoor exercise. Following that, we will cheer on the older pupils as they compete in the Thomas Trophy, which promises to be a thrilling and inspiring event.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, filled with excitement and rest!

Kind regards,

Helen Cook

Head of Pre-Prep