weekly round up 31st January

Dear Parents

I hope you are all well.

I wanted to start by saying a huge thank you to the team who put on such a wonderful Burns Night evening last Saturday.  From the wonderful sounds of the bagpipes to the recital of “Ode to a Haggis”, and from the delicious meal and the energetic dancing, I know that much fun was had by all.

We held a careers morning last Friday.  It began with a keynote speech for pupils in Years 3 to 8 and was followed by individual sessions for pupils in Years 6 to 8, with parents sharing their experiences in roles ranging from event management to product design, retail management and careers within sports.  Thank you to those parents who kindly gave their time and offered a wealth of knowledge to inspire our pupils.

The new floor in the Sports Hall is ready and looks fantastic!  I know that the pupils will enjoy playing on the updated surface and a huge thank you to everyone involved in making it happen.  We are also in the process of recruiting an additional member of staff to join the PE/Sport Department.

Finally, I am sure you will be aware of the news this week from Sevenoaks School regarding their link with Solefield School.  In a similar way to the link which took place between The New Beacon and Tonbridge, we are sure that this will have no effect on our relationship with Sevenoaks School. I want to reassure parents that Sevenoaks Prep will continue to value highly its independence, both in terms of its day-to-day running and its relationships with all our destinations schools, be they state or independent.  We remain one of the two largest feeder schools in terms of pupil numbers to Sevenoaks School and pride ourselves on this statistic – as well as our success rate to other senior schools.  Last year, just under 1/3 of our Year 8 and Year 6 pupils were awarded scholarship places, bringing our total number of scholarships to 49 over the last 3 years.  We have no vested interest in steering families towards certain schools and remain steadfast in working with you to find the senior school that best matches your child.

Best wishes

Luke Harrison

Dear Parents,

The past two weeks have been incredibly busy, and we are delighted to share some exciting updates with you about the fantastic developments happening in Pre-Prep.

One of the most significant projects we are working on is the expansion of our Nursery classroom.  We are thrilled to announce that over the half-term break, we will be knocking through the existing toilet areas into our current staffroom.  In the coming months, the staffroom will be transformed into an additional Nursery space, providing our youngest learners with even more room to play, explore and learn.  With this additional space, we will also be gradually increasing our Nursery numbers over time.  We want to reassure you that this will be a carefully managed process and will not happen all at once.  Our high staff-to-pupil ratio will remain, and we will continue to ensure that our children receive the highest level of care and education from our experienced and qualified staff.  This expansion will allow us to enhance the learning environment while maintaining the nurturing atmosphere that is so important to us.

Meanwhile, we are also making great progress in improving our facilities for wraparound care. Mr. Tye has worked incredibly hard on renovating our existing changing rooms, located at the front of the Pre-Prep next to the car park and below our school shop. The ground floor has been completely transformed into a bespoke space designed specifically for our wraparound care provision.  This brand-new, purpose-built facility will enable us to increase our capacity for holiday clubs, as they will now have sole use of both The Den and the new room.  It will also include some additional fencing to allow for play space directly outside the changing room.  We are confident that these improvements will provide an even better experience for the children who attend before and after school care, as well as our holiday clubs.

These developments reflect our ongoing commitment to providing the best possible environment for our children and highlight the strength of our school community.  We look forward to seeing these changes take shape and will keep you updated on the progress in the coming weeks.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

Best wishes,

Helen Cook