From the Head

From the Head of Pre-Prep

Dear Parents,

Wow, what a week it has been! Arts Week has been an incredible success with all manner of creative workshops and collaborative projects going on. We have had Samba drumming, felting, chicken wire sculpting and drama. I do hope you will all be able to come to see our Exhibition next Thursday between 3pm and 5pm. The children have been particularly excited about the giant willow structures that have been created. Well done to Faith, Thea and Ralph who were the winners of our poster competition to advertise our Art Exhibition.

Our next competition is open now and we would like children to take a photo of their pet dressed up for Easter. Please could you send your child’s entry to PrePrepOffice@stmichaels.kent.sch.uk. The children will be voting for the best dressed pet.

The P & F also have a “Guess how many” items there are in a jar competition so for £1 per guess your child could potentially arrive home with the winner’s jar at the end of next week.

We will be stopping the bridge tokens after Easter as we know the children are quite capable of managing the bridge walk without parents now.

On Monday our Year 2 children will be demonstrating their swimming skills at their Swimming Gala. Parents are welcome to come and view the Gala at the Swimming Pool. Our Years 7 and 8 children will be on hand to register you and show you to poolside. Please be aware that we don’t wear shoes around the pool. The fun starts just after 1.30pm. Please don’t arrive too early as our Prep children will be having their lunch break. Entrance is via the White Doors at the end of the Prep terrace.

Next week we will continue until 4pm for those children who are normally booked into activities. This will be “late room” childcare. If you wish to pick your child up at 3.20pm please put a note in your child’s diary. Obviously, if your child doesn’t attend an activity we will expect you at the usual 3.20pm.

On Tuesday 25^th March our Easter Concert will be open to parents of those children who are showcasing their instrumental skills. For parents who have received their invitation, we will be pleased to see you from 8.45am in the Pre-Prep Dining Room for a coffee before the performance at 9am.

Reception parents are welcome to come to our Mother’s Day assembly on Wednesday 26^th March (don’t worry, there will be a Father’s Day assembly next term). Please come to the Pre-Prep Dining Room from 8.45am: the assembly will start at 9am in the Pre-Prep Hall.

On Thursday 27^th March we will have our Art Exhibition for all Pre-Prep parents. The Art Exhibition will be held in the Pre-Prep Hall and Pre-Prep Dining Room from 3pm.

On Friday 28^th March we will break up for Easter at 12.00pm. Any older siblings at Prep will be brought down to join their younger siblings in the Pre-Prep Garden.

Overheard in Pre-Prep:

Teaching Assistant: "Oh, you’ve finished your book. How did you find it?"

Child: "I didn’t find it. My teacher gave it to me."

Have a lovely weekend,

Zerrin Leech

Important nut-free reminder from the School Nurse and Health and Safety Lead

An important reminder to all members of the St Michael's community that St Michael's is a nut-free school. 

St Michael's is fully committed to creating a safe environment for those with nut allergies. To support our Allergy and Anaphylaxis Policy, we do not allow nuts on site or in any school activities and we do not knowingly purchase food containing nut ingredients. We would like to reiterate that no food items containing nuts should be brought into school. Everyone's cooperation is needed to ensure a safe environment for all. 

Mr Godoy, Health & Safety Lead and Mrs Carlton, School Nurse

Prep pick-up during the last week of term

As we have no clubs or activities in the last week of term (Late Room and Prep still run and are combined in the Dining Room), all of the children will come down to pick-up at the same time, 3:55pm, on Monday to Thursday. This increased number of children coming down together will result in a slightly slower turnaround time at pick-up. In order to maintain the best speed possible for the collection of the children, can everyone please remember the following:

• Please move forward when the space in front of you becomes vacant 
• Please do not leave your vehicle: in order to request cars move forward, the driver has to be with the vehicle
• If you are collecting on foot, please wait under the trees next to pick-up point 1
• Please do not ask your child(ren) to meet you somewhere else, especially the roundabout: this is not a pick-up point

On Friday, we have a half day and the Prep children can be collected in the following way:

• All Prep children with Pre-Prep siblings (that are scheduled to be in school on that Friday), will be walked down to Pre-Prep in time to be collected with their younger siblings
• Children with no siblings and children with siblings in Prep only will accompany their younger Prep siblings to their pick-up. This pick-up will be staggered.
  Years 3 & 4 (and older siblings) at 12:10pm
  Years 5 & 6 (and older siblings) at 12:20pm
  Years 7 & 8 at 12:30pm
• Please refer to the document below that shows where individual form classes can be collected only on the Friday

Please click here to view the above diagrams as a PDF document

As I hope you can appreciate, the coordination of ensuring all children are in the right place at the right time with the correct siblings is a rather large undertaking. If you have already arranged, or arrange up to the day, someone other than yourself to collect your children, please can you email the Office and, very importantly, copy in your child’s Form Teacher so they are aware of any changes to their collection on that last day (or any day). 

Thank you,

Mr Wiseman, Deputy Head (Pastoral)

St Michael's Science Week 2025

This year, we embraced the British Science Week theme – Change and adapt!

Our week began with a visit from GP and author, Dr Hannah Weston-Simons. As well as enjoying her rhyming poems about the body, Year 6 discovered more about the circulatory system including how our heart adjusts to different levels of activity and what our spleen has in common with a vampire! A perfect extension to our Staying Alive topic.

Upstairs, the Labs were alive with the sound of music as Year 4 played their handmade harmonicas. Could they use them to change the pitch and volume of the sound? The answer was a resounding ‘yes’!

Year 2 and Year 3 made their first visit to the Labs. What happens when vinegar or bicarbonate of soda are added to red cabbage solution? What if they mix them all together? The joy on the children’s faces as the solutions changed colour and fizzed was a delight to see. Well done to our budding young scientists for their careful observations and great ideas to explain what they saw happening.

For Year 8, it was the ‘Stop & Drop’ challenge. What happens in remote parts of the World after a devastating earthquake? The pupils were tasked with building a basic landing pad and signalling device to communicate with a fictional helicopter delivering aid from the air. Using their knowledge of electricity and forces, they built circuits from limited resources communicated in Morse code and dropped supplies using handmade parachutes from the Sports Hall viewing gallery. Congratulations to Tom H for landing his parachute directly on the pad!

Year 5 learnt about the push to use more sustainable packaging for online deliveries. What’s the difference between packing peanuts and polystyrene? Adding them to water answered this question. Could they then use packing peanuts and water to build a strong igloo structure? The Labs were full of great designs – well done to Year 5 for their engineering skills and creativity.

Rounding off our busy week, Year 7 were challenged to build a balloon-powered car from recycled materials. There was plenty of resilience on show as they adapted their designs ready for the final competition. Congratulations to Herbie L for building the car which travelled the furthest and to Mrs S Clarke for entering her own design in the race.

Mrs Neylan, Head of Science

St Michael's 5 triumph in 7-a-side tournament

On Wednesday 19th March, St Michael’s U11A girls' football team took part in the annual 7-a-side Holmewood House Football Tournament, competing against 13 teams. The weather was beautiful, providing perfect playing conditions for a day of exciting football.

Although the team had only five players available due to many of the girls being involved in the school play, the team gave it their all. Without substitutes and playing on large 7-a-side pitch, the girls faced the challenge of lots of running, but they rose to the occasion.

The tournament began with a 0-0 draw against Rose Hill. Despite creating plenty of chances, the girls couldn’t find the back of the net. However, they quickly bounced back in their second game, defeating Marlborough House 2-0 with Anna W scoring both goals alongside some excellent team play.

In their third match against Derwent Lodge, the girls grew into the tournament with Mollie H controlling the midfield and solid defence by Iris L and Ella C. This allowed Anna W and Mollie H to find the net again in another 2-0 win.

The girls then qualified for the Finals league where they faced a strong Cumnor House team. In a thrilling match full of excellent football, debutant goalkeeper Abigail T made some brilliant saves and the team worked tirelessly throughout the game. The match ended 0-0.

Next up was Sutton Valence. Determined to win, St Michael's girls demonstrated great interchange from defence to attack, allowing Anna W to score twice, securing a 2-0 victory. A draw between Cumnor House and Sutton Valence meant that St Michael’s emerged as the outright winners of the tournament.

Congratulations to all of the girls for their outstanding effort and teamwork. They should all be incredibly proud of their performance!

Team: Ella C, Mollie H, Iris L, Abigail T and Anna W

Mr Brightman, Director of Sport

U11Bs win Rosehill Football Tournament

On Wednesday 19th March, St Michael's U11B girls' team travelled to Rosehill School to compete in a Football Tournament. With the lovely weather, and lots of brilliant matches, it was definitely a great afternoon for it.

St Michael's played against Rosehill, St Ronan’s, Sutton Valence and Cumnor House in the group stages, winning all of their matches. This put them at the top of their group, leading them to face Holmewood House in the Final. It was a tense match but the girls pulled together and showed great camaraderie and team spirit. With a goal from Chisomebi O in the first half, we were crowned Champions!

I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying the team to the tournament: it was a fantastic celebration of the evolution of girls' football. All of the girls worked so hard in every game, never giving up. I am so proud of them all and hope this success gives them the confidence to continue playing football. 

Miss Jackson, Prep Gap Student

Muddy Stilettos' pupil interview feature

We recently interviewed three St Michael's children who have been with us since Nursery.

Please click here to read the full article

Smartphone Free Childhood movement

Dear Parents,

Following discussions with members of the Senior Leadership Team, Mr Pears has given us permission to reach out to you regarding smartphone use and safer internet access among our children. 

You may have heard about the rising interest in the Smartphone Free Childhood movement that has been growing in the UK over the last year. With this in mind, we are inviting you to complete the below survey by Friday 28th March 2025 if you wish to.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOYGTFWwOm1kyjVXHUvpLU_dcSJUWNaZmAMVY1S8sxJiAE1g/viewform

It should only take 5 minutes and is completely anonymous. We would like to find out parents’ and carers’ views on navigating smartphones in the lives of children. 

We thank you for your time in completing this survey.

Kind regards,

Mrs Flora Scott and Mrs Yuliya Folland

St Michael’s parents

House Reading Competition

The Prep House Reading Competition will continue over the Easter holidays, with the final date for giving in stamps on the children's first form time next term: this is Thursday 24th April for Years 6, 7 and 8 and Tuesday 29th April for Years 3, 4 and 5. The trophy will be awarded to the winning house on Friday 2^nd May. 

Tunbridge Wells Arts Festival success

We are still awaiting several certificates from pupils who took part in the recent Tunbridge Wells Arts Festival. We will therefore wait until next week’s newsletter to publish the results and our report. We are delighted that several of the children have been invited to perform and/or receive cups at the Cup Winners’ Concert on Sunday. We would like to celebrate all of the children’s successes by presenting all certificates and cups in one of the end of term assemblies next week. We therefore ask for the outstanding certificates and cups to be brought in on Monday 24^th March otherwise they will not be included in the assemblies or published in the newsletter.  

Concert by candlelight 

Last Tuesday evening parents were treated to an evening of music, wine and cheese by candlelight in the beautiful setting of our school Chapel. The Musical Soiree featured performances from pupils around Grade 3 standard and gave an opportunity for many to air their pieces ahead of forthcoming exams next week. We enjoyed some really good quality music across a range of instruments, voices and styles and it was a pleasure to hear the progress of these musicians in terms of technical control, expression and confidence as performers. Thanks to all of the teachers who worked hard to prepare the pupils for the concert and we look forward to hearing from more soloists next term.

Mr Baird, Director of Music

Introducing our Learning Development Guides page

We are pleased to introduce a new section to the Parent Guides section of our website: Learning Development Guides.

Please click here to view the page

This page offers a collection of valuable resources for parents, focusing on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Here you'll find a variety of courses and information designed to support you and your child. Whether you're looking for educational materials, support groups or expert advice, these resources aim to provide the guidance and assistance that you need. We will update the resources each week so please keep checking this page. 

Snapchat

"As one of the most popular messaging apps available, Snapchat sees an enormous amount of usage across the globe – with a significant number of those utilising the platform being under 18. For that reason, it’s important to understand the potential risks to younger users when spending time on this app.

Our guide lays out the key online safety risks of Snapchat, as well as how to safeguard young people while they use the app."

Words by Dr Claire Sutherland, Online Safety Consultant, Educator and Researcher

Déjà Vu will be open over the Easter holidays on three dates:

10am - 12pm on:

Tuesday 8th April 

Thursday 17th April 

Tuesday 22nd April

Easter opening times might be a good opportunity to get ready for the cricket season.

After the Easter holidays we will have our full range of summer dresses out on the rails. No winter dresses will be available until September. 

This week in the Breakfast Club, the children have enjoyed delicious Scotch pancakes, crumpets and Soreen malt loaf, as well as cosy cups of hot chocolate. Meanwhile, in the Hive we have busily baked chocolate chip muffins which both the Breakfast Club and Hive decorated with mini marshmallows and fondant icing to create adorable spring lambs.

For more information about the Hive or Breakfast Club or to book in your child, please contact Nicky Smith at WrapAroundCare@stmichaels.kent.sch.uk.

Players of the Match - week commencing 17th March

Nathan and Dylan's swimming success

Congratulations to Nathan and Dylan H who took part in the RT Monson Swimming Gala last weekend.

Nathan won an amazing 2 golds, regional consideration for 100m breast and regional automatic for 200m. These fantastic results mean Nathan is off to the Regionals in May!

Dylan also swam brilliantly, achieving Kent county consideration for 100 free and smashing his PB by 8 seconds. 

We are so proud of you Nathan and Dylan, keep up the great swimming!

Elizabeth qualifies for British Gymnastics Championships!

Congratulations to Elizabeth who was part of the team to compete in the recent Rhythmic Gymnastics Grades Competition in Newcastle on Sunday 16th March. Competing against 17 groups from across the country, Elizabeth's team secured a place in the top 6. This is an incredible milestone for Elizabeth and her gymnastics team and a true testament to their dedication and tireless hard work.

This accomplishment means Elizabeth will now be preparing for both the English Championships during the summer and the prestigious British Championships for the fist time in her gymnastic career. To be recognised amongst the top gymnasts in the entire country is an outstanding achievement and we wish her the best of luck on her ongoing gymnastics journey.

Adam and Hugo win Kent Hockey Cup

Congratulations to Adam and Hugo who were part of the Boys' U12 Sevenoaks Hockey Club team who took part in the Kent Hockey Cup last weekend. The tournament was a round robin of six matches against hockey clubs from Canterbury, Ashford, Marden, Tunbridge Wells, Folkstone and Sevenoaks. It was a clean sweep for the Sevenoaks team winning all games and scoring 22 goals! Adam and Hugo's team are off to the South East Regional Finals to compete against top hockey clubs in Sussex, Surrey, London and Kent in April. Good luck, boys!

Gwyneth's national gymnastics success

Congratulations to Gwyneth who was runner-up in the National Gymnastics Qualifier Competition with her partner last Sunday. They will be representing the South East in the Inter-regional Gymnastics Competition in Southampton during April.

Staff Sports Camps

Mr Thomas' Easter hockey camp

Mr Thomas will be holding his Easter Hockey Camp at Hollybush Hockey Pitch on:

Monday 14th April

Tuesday 15th April

Please click here to book.

The Camp will run from 10th-15th April, however Mr Thomas will only be teaching on the 14th and 15th. 

Save the date for St Michael's 2025 Senior Schools Fair. This is a fantastic opportunity for all St Michael's families to speak to over 30 senior schools from across the country ranging from independent day and boarding schools to grammar and state schools. 

Junior Bake-Off applications open

Kent Fostering

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