eNews: Friday 27th September 2019

From the Head

This week I’ve been out at the IAPS Headteachers’ conference in London, whilst school has had the busiest week of the term so far with Prep trips and visits week. I’m delighted that in place of my weekly musings you have today those of our fantastic Head of Years 5 & 6, who spoke eloquently and wisely to those parents who attended the Year 6 parents’ welcome evening.

In a mixture of personal anecdotes and wisdom, enriched through the counselling qualification she is coming to the end of, Rosemary gave all parents excellent counsel for how to support their child to promote resilience. I commend to you her wisdom.

 

Jill Aisher

Year 6 Welcome Evening: Resilience

Your children may have already, or will soon, come home with an “All About Me” form to fill in.  One of the questions on the back page is ‘Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?’ The children have the chance to answer and parents may comment too.  I was wondering about this and thought about my own two children who are roughly the ages yours will be in 10 years’ time – my son is in second year at university and my daughter in Upper 6th.

What I want for my children now is very different to what I may have answered 10 years ago. I urge you to give some thought to this question because answering it allows you to zoom out and perhaps focus on what is really important. What we all want is for our children to be whole and happy and we want to know that they have the inner reserves to deal with challenges that life throws at them. That resilience training starts now.

As form teachers in Year 6, we would like to focus this year on building resilience in the children we teach.  We use growth mindset language in lessons and intend to use structured form times, as well as informal contact times, with our pupils to reinforce the idea of resilience.

Why do we need to build resilience?

When students have resilience

  • they are open to learning because they believe that they can learn and improve
  • they are receptive to assistance and coaching because they will not see it as a criticism of their abilities
  • they are comfortable not understanding concepts immediately, or not mastering skills immediately, because they see learning as a pursuit of knowledge and know that motivation and effort are just as important as knowing how to do something
  • they are happier (and we know that happy children are more emotionally available for learning)

Why particularly now?

Year 6 is a challenging year in many ways.  There is a lot going on – entrance exams, physical changes, friendships reconfigurations, thinking about the future etc. They are going to need to bounce back from disappointments or setbacks. We want to encourage skills that will be required as they become more independent, deal with change and move into more demanding environments.

What can you do to help?

When your child comes home with a problem or is upset about something, there are a number of things that you could do to turn that situation into a learning opportunity.

Reframe the situation – Once at the white doors one afternoon, I overheard a mum asking her daughter about her day.  The daughter replied that it had been a horrible day because they had played hockey in the cold and it was drizzly and she was wet and it wasn’t fun.  The mum sympathised and said that that must have been awful and that she hoped her daughter didn’t catch a nasty cold because that would ruin their weekend.  I watched them walk away. Just then another mum and daughter were leaving and again, the mum asked her daughter about her day.  The daughter said the same as the first child – she had had to play hockey and it was cold and she got wet.  This time however the mum’s response was very different.  She said, ‘Oh, playing hockey in the rain! It’s a good thing you’re not made of sugar!’ Her daughter laughed and the two of them walked off to the car. Both girls had the same experience, but their mums’ responses made for a very different outcome. By interpreting the event in the positive, it allowed the child to put the experience in perspective and I wouldn’t be surprised if next time her daughter had played in the rain, she would tell her friends that she was pleased she wasn’t made of sugar.  Her mum had reframed the event.

It may be annoying if you are perpetually optimistic, so listen first but then try to cast the situation in a more positive light. Teach your child that it is fine to have a bad lesson or a bad match but not to let that grow into a bad day or bad week etc. Encourage them to reframe too.

Listen don’t fix – help your child think about what they can do to bounce back. Our children want to be heard, rather than rescued. When we bail them out, we are teaching them that they are not enough. This can be disempowering and robs them of the opportunity to grow. When children find solutions themselves, it builds their self-esteem which is vital for building resilience.

Sometimes we swoop in because we are uncomfortable with struggle. I remember being on playground duty when my son was in Year 3 and seeing him sitting all by himself, while all the other boys were playing with a ball.  I sidled up to him and asked him why he wasn’t playing.  He told me that the boy who had the ball could decide who was in the game and my son had been told that he couldn’t play. My heart broke. After break, I phoned my husband and asked him if he would be able to pop out to the shops and buy Daniel a ball and drop it off at school, so that he would have it for lunch break! I’m not proud of this story. I swooped in and rescued, because I was uncomfortable with seeing my son on his own. He didn’t need to be rescued. At best, I should have left him to sort it out himself or if necessary, later chatted about a few ways he might have handled the situation differently if it bothered him.

Reinforce the message that it is ok to find something difficult, that it’s ok for them to get things wrong, struggle to find an answer, get into trouble, experience consequences. On that note, receiving a yellow card is not fatal.  It is an opportunity to reflect and find a better way. Struggle, mistakes, discipline is not just ok – it’s important, valuable, necessary.

Model resilient behaviour – children are sponges, let them see you struggle and persevere, use language of resilience at home.

With us working on building resilience in class and on the field and parents supporting us at home, I trust that this will be a year in which we see your children grow and flourish.

Rosemary Baisch

News from Pre-Prep

• Parking/Drop Off – Please don’t leave your car in the drop off only area
• Harvest Festival Friday 4th Oct. Donations gratefully accepted

Mrs Crane has cheered up our Friday with a staff Macmillan coffee morning this morning. Thank you, Mrs Crane and all the staff who baked, rather than faked their cakes!

Please could you be mindful in the morning to only use the drop off lane if you are staying with your car and your children are happy to walk down the bridge without you. If you need to take your child into the playground please park in the car park.

Our Harvest Festival will be on Friday. We have already had lots of donations for the Trussell Trust food bank. We have supported the Swanley food bank for several years now and they are always pleased to accept your generous donations. We have even had a donation arriving from Australia this week!

As the weather is rather rainy now please could you make sure we have your child’s school coat sent in everyday.

Overheard: Were these peas grown by a local farmer?

Have a lovely weekend.

Zerrin Leech

On this week’s Message Board

Please log into our Parents’ Portal and click into the Message Board to see new important information as follows:

  • Youth Mental Health First Aid Workshop with West Kent Mind
  • Booking open for St Michael’s families for October’s Senior Schools Fair
  • October Half-Term Sports Camps – Hockey and Football
  • Links to dance instructions from European Day of Languages assembly

On this week’s Community Events page

Please log into our Parents’ Portal and click into the Community Events page to see important community information as follows:

  • Youth Mental Health First Aid Workshop with West Kent Mind
  • October Half-Term Sports Camps

Pre-Prep Awards

Gold Stars

Edgar B for wonderful number writing
Winston G for writing beautiful letters ‘t’ and ‘i’
Peter S for trying really hard in phonics
Arya G for trying hard in maths and always having a go
Nina T for always being polite and having beautiful manners
Aadhya S for fantastic work on her family tree
Thomas G for impressive work in doubling 2 digit numbers
Lawson B for 100% effort in every lesson
Cleo B for a super enthusiastic attitude and always working with a smile
Zi Chen for a hardworking attitude, following instructions and a lovely smile
Olanna for fantastic effort in swimming
Charlie M for his enthusiastic approach to school life
Elizabeth A for drawing an amazing African giraffe picture
Jake L for writing a very descriptive postcard about Sunny’s adventures
Herbie F for fantastic ideas when writing a postcard for Sunny
Archie B for always putting maximum effort into everything he does

Music Awards

Music Practice Cup: Lev
Music Practice Award: Zi Chen
Star Violinist Cup: George W

House Point Cup

Windsor House with a total of 168 points
Lev collected the Cup on behalf of Windsor House

Headteacher’s Stars

S Gibbinson   For making an excellent dinosaur scrapbook

News from Prep

Cognitive Ability Testing

From Monday 30th September – Monday 7th October, all children in Years 4 – 7 will take part in the CAT4 digital assessments. They will take the tests in the ICT room along with the rest of their form.

The assessments will take up to 4 lessons and will be led by Miss Booth. We conduct the CAT4 in order to gain a deeper understanding of pupils’ developed abilities, likely academic potential and learning preferences. The data is gathered through a series of computer based tests, which assess a pupil’s ability to reason with and manipulate different types of material through Verbal, Non-verbal, Quantitative and Spatial Reasoning tasks. The pupils cannot prepare for these tests as it is a measure of their cognitive abilities.

The children will all wear headphones, which will enable them to hear instructions for each task as well as read them on the computer screen. The pupils really enjoyed this format over the last three years and felt comfortable with the set up. They will all do the assessment in the ICT room with Miss Booth and Mr Halford so it is a very familiar setting for doing computer-based work. Pupils will be given a short break between each test (and will also have their full break during the morning of the assessment). I will speak to each class the day before their assessments to explain the process and answer any questions they may have.

A key reason behind organising these tests at this time of year is to provide us with baseline data and a benchmark that we can track progress against. This will enable us to be confident that the progress made by pupils each term and each year is good or better than those in other schools.

For further information and sample reports you can visit the GL assessment website
https://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/products/cognitive-abilities-test-cat4/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInMne2ezu5AIVC9TeCh16SgICEAAYAiAAEgK-E_D_BwE

Mrs Bridges

Players of the Match, week commencing 23rd September 2019

Team Name Given for: –
1st Football T Adesanya For controlling the tempo in the middle of the pitch
2nd C West For giving a solid defensive performance
3rd T Bulley For having a great attitude and never giving up
Colts A J Wiseman For giving a superb defensive display
Colts B L Poracchia For great goal-keeping
Colts C K Loukam For showing great pace and scoring 2 goals
Colts D E Green For giving great effort throughout
Colts E L Lattimer For giving his all throughout the game
Colts F L Clapham For excellent goal-keeping
U9 A J West & D Booth For making a superb effort
U9 B J McDonald & G Dulski For showing great determination
U8 A A Lutzow For showing resilience and never giving up
U8 B X Staples For having a “never giving up” attitude
U8 C O Nathan For good goal-keeping
U13 A Hockey E Collings

P Parker-Swift

 For superb, solid defending

For displaying great skills on the ball
U13 B Hockey C M Pape

L Summers

 For great defending

For scoring a goal and showing great tenacity on the pitch
U11 A V Medlen For giving a good all-round performance
U11 B F Merralls For scoring a hat-trick
U10 A E Bingham

I Pennington Legh

 Voted for by the opposition

For all-round good play
U10 B A Stevens

A Ulens

 Voted for by the opposition

For showing good movement and spacing
U10 C R Bedzrah

A Madgett

 Voted for by the opposition

For great tackling
U9 A A Clapham For all-round good play
U9 B M Elliott & N Ogle Voted for by the opposition
U9 C M Murray & O Padilla Voted for by the opposition
U8 A No Match
U8 B No Match

Senior School Open Days

These can now be found on our Senior School page. 

Upcoming events include Bennett Memorial Diocesan School, Bishop Challoner School, Bromley High School Christ’s Hospital, Cobham Hall, Haileybury, Kent College Pembury, King’s Canterbury, King’s Rochester, Radnor House, St Edmund’s School, Sevenoaks School, Skinners’ School, Tonbridge Girls’ Grammar, TWGGS, Walthamstow Hall and Whitgift School.

We’re delighted to announce that our Senior Schools Fair will return to St Michael’s on Thursday 17th October 2019. Keep an eye on our Senior Schools Information page for details. Booking is now open via the link on the Parents’ Portal or in the email sent to families.

Latest News

 

 

 

Sunsets and sizzling sausages set the tone for the new term last Friday as Year 7 pupils celebrated the start of their senior education journey.

The annual event, traditionally held as a Camp Out, was delivered as a fun-filled barbecue night which the children enjoyed with teachers including St Michael’s Acting Head, Mrs Bridges.

Throughout the evening pupils tucked into dinner cooked by Deputy Head Mr Wiseman, and toasted marshmallows on an open fire.

And to make use of their new term energy, games and group bonding activites were carried out, followed by a walk up the school’s famous Warren where the sunset was relished in all of its glory.

Reflecting on the sucess of the event, Head of Year 7 and 8, Mrs Shield, said: “Unfortunately, we were unable to camp this year, but that did not dampen anybody’s spirits.

“One of the highlights of the evening was our twilight walk to the top of the Warren where we marvelled at the beautiful site that our school occupies.

“We viewed the bats swirling the skies in the dusk of late summer and ended the evening with a well-deserved hot chocolate – not forgetting the squirty cream and yet more marshmallows.

“Life-long friendships were made and re-established after the long summer break.”

This month St Michael’s Prep is celebrating the opening of its new Astro Turf pitch.

Completed during Summer 2020, the state-of-the-art facility will provide a huge boost to the school’s sporting facilities and allow it to offer a broader range of activities including boys hockey and football to its pupils.

Its floodlights will also enable St Michael’s to host sports matches during evenings, as well as inviting external schools and clubs to enjoy the new pitch throughout the year.

Ben Bridges, Director of Sports at St Michael’s, said: “We’re really excited to use the Astro Turf for the first time this month.

“We feel extremely lucky to be able to offer this to our pupils in both Prep and Pre-prep and are thrilled about the benefits it will bring to our sporting curriculum.

“As well as hockey, the new pitch will allow us to offer many other sports to pupils and will prevent the children from missing lessons due to inclement weather.”

Planning for the Astro Turf began in 2014 and has seen St Michael’s grounds undergo a significant transformation since construction began last summer. During this time pupils were fascinated by the diggers, dumpers and bulldozers which visited the school, while nursery and kindergarten children were treated to close-up views of the machinery.

Mr Bridges added: “Although it was a slightly delayed start due to the poor weather we faced, this feels like the perfect time to put the incredible space to good use.

“This is really going to move sport at St Michael’s to the next level, as well as providing us with opportunities to engage with the local community. We’re excited all round.”

 

The Governors of St. Michael’s Prep School take pleasure in announcing the appointment of Nik Pears as our new Head Teacher with effect from January 2021.

Nik was educated at St Dunstan’s College, London and is a graduate of Cambridge University. He is currently Head of Prep at Kent College Pembury, a post he has held since 2016. Prior to that, he was Headmaster of the Junior School at Sevenoaks Prep for 5 years. Nik is also an ISI inspector and a governor at Dulwich Prep, Cranbrook. We believe that he has the experience and qualities required to lead St Michael’s into the next chapter of its history.

Nik represented Kent U18 group at rugby and has a love of all sports. He is an accomplished musician and has performed at The O2 and Wembley Arenas. He is an Ambassador for “We See Hope”, a charity working with orphans and vulnerable young people in sub Saharan Africa. Nik devised The Social Entrepreneurs Project an initiative that challenges young people to turn £10 seed capital into £100 or more with their profits going to support the work of the charity.

We feel very fortunate to have secured Nik’s headship and welcome him and his wife Emma and two children, Jessica and Josiah into the St. Michael’s family from the start of next year. Nik has said

“I am delighted to have been appointed the next Head of St Michael’s Prep. Having lived in the area for the past twenty years, it is a school I have known and long admired for its ambitious and child-centred approach to learning. There is a very special atmosphere in the school and I am excited to become a part of the community, getting to know the children, parents and staff over the months and years ahead. St Michael’s is privileged to have an experienced and committed Senior Leadership Team and I very much look forward to working together with them as we embark on an exciting future for the school.” 

Some of our super St Michael’s Swimmers have won an array of silverware at recent events.

At the Sevenoaks Swimming Club presentation evening, I Pennington Legh was presented with the Kingsbury Cup for U10 girls; A Green was awarded the Kingsbury Cup for U10 boys; E Green received runner up plate for the best U9 boy; S. Taylor was awarded the Mike Radford Trophy for most improved U9 boy; A Ashton was presented with the U9 Individual Medley Cup and U9 trophy for most improved swimmer; B Tovey and J Taylor were both awarded plaques with their positions from the recent Sevenoaks Club Championships.

At the Black Lion Gala, Gillingham, at the start of March our swimmers again came away with medals. A Ashton won three gold, one bronze, one fourth and one sixth medal; A Green three gold and two silver medals; E Green four silver and one bronze medal; S Taylor one silver and one fourth medal and J Taylor a fourth position medal. V Medlen also came away with a medal from the gala.

Well done to all those swimmers; your hard work and dedication is certainly paying off!

Mrs Denton

Swim School Manager

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