The highlights of my week have been with children. I walked round the Prep school for an hour yesterday afternoon and dropped in on some fascinating lessons. The register-taking in the history lesson was combined with children recapping learning facts from the previous lesson. In a science lesson, children were busy classifying bugs they had observed last week in the woods and making charts to help younger children to classify. In geography, Year 7 were learning the difference between Oceania and Australasia, while next door in the RS lesson children were drawing and labelling Puja trays. There was a verb test going on in French and pupils in Year 8 were reading Lord of the Flies, which is also our school production this academic year. Every lesson I visited was characterised by high levels of engagement and really interesting things to learn. This morning’s assembly told me more about the role of poet laureate. I was interested to hear the history of how poets used to be awarded this role for life, which now no longer applies. I look forward to seeing in a couple of weeks’ time the competitors from Years 5 & 6 in the poetry reciting competition, launched in the assembly.
Over lunch with Year 8 earlier in the week, I was pleased to hear so much positive feedback about their experiences and some sensible suggestions about how these years might develop in future. Asking pupils for their views is central to understanding how to develop St. Michael’s.
In Prep and Pre-Prep this week we have celebrated harvest through giving, storytelling and singing.
The bible story of Ruth for Harvest in Prep had resonances for today; displacement and refugee status in search of food is sadly all too familiar in today’s world. The story of The Little Red Hen in Pre-Prep, with its moral about teamwork and helping, also showcased some fine speaking and singing from Year 1 and Pre-Prep today.
Pupils have also been offsite this week with Year 4 travelling to Butser Farm to explore Celtic life with a hands-on day, while ten singers journeyed yesterday to King’s Canterbury for a choral prep day, finishing with a concert in the cathedral, which they found an inspiring experience.
It was good to see some parents benefiting from Miss Booth’s talk on e-safety this week. There was a lot of literature to take away and parents were grateful for what they learnt.
Next week we look forward to our Open Morning on Wednesday 4th of October. Parents in Pre-Prep are most welcome to join visitors from outside the school if they wish to re-acquaint themselves with Prep school life.
Next Tuesday we welcome parents of Years 7 and 8 to their welcome evening. Parents interested in finding out more about Years 7 and 8 are also most welcome. It starts at 7.00pm.
As the sports department gears up for another football tournament this weekend, I look forward to seeing some of you on the touchline tomorrow and whatever you’re doing, wherever you are, enjoy your weekend.
Jill Aisher