From the Head of Pre-Prep

Dear Parents,

I have had such a lovely week. It has been full of children performing; from Christingle with Years 2 and 3 to Reception, Kindergarten and Nursery Nativities. These events always highlight just how much progress your children make from year to year. As they get taller and older, they gain confidence and eloquence; they are able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and act a role, of which they have no first-hand knowledge. It is such a privilege to be the Head of Pre-Prep and see this happening in a space of days.

Well done to the P & F Committee for putting on the Christmas Fair last Saturday. Everyone was having fun and there was a lovely atmosphere despite the foggy weather!

Next week is our last week of the Michaelmas Term. We break up on Friday 13^th December at 12pm. If you have children in Prep as well as Pre-Prep we will put the Prep siblings in the Pre-Prep Hall to be collected by you at 12pm.

We have a busy week ahead with Nursery and Kindergarten parties on Monday morning and a second Nursery party on Tuesday morning. Mrs Stibbons and Mrs Dodson will have sent you details about the parties and the party food.

On Tuesday we also have the Year 1 Nativity at 9am. Parents and grandparents of Year 1 children are welcome to join us in the Pre-Prep Dining Room for a coffee beforehand. Please use the Dining Room door and sign in.

On Wednesday 11^th December is our Year 2 Nativity, also at 9am, with coffee in the Pre-Prep Dining Room first. The children will all be watching the Cat’s Grin Theatre Co. on Wednesday afternoon as a special treat.

Please send your child in to school with a Christmas jumper next Thursday. Children wear their normal uniform although swap out their school jumper or cardigan for a Christmas jumper. This is also our Christmas lunch day and Reception; Year 1 and Year 2 Christmas parties are in the afternoon. When sending a plate of food in for your child, please be mindful that we are a nut-free school and we are unable to refrigerate 150 plates of food so a few Christmas treats on a plate will be fine.

Have a lovely weekend,

Zerrin Leech

We are delighted to welcome the following individual to St Michael's:

Enida Vathi - HR Administrator

Enida has worked in Human Resources for over 5 years and before that she worked in grant management for good lottery causes. She enjoys working with people and has experience in providing administrative support to teams and managing HR Systems and processes.

She has a 14 year old daughter and lives in Sevenoaks together with her husband and their crazy cockapoo Patch. In her free time, she likes to read, bake, knit and make pottery. 

She is looking forward to joining the HR Team at St Michael’s and is excited at the opportunity to work in a school environment and support staff in providing an excellent education for young people. 

Last week of term notices

Wednesday 11^th December and Thursday 12^th December

For children involved in the Carol Service

On both of these days, all the Prep children involved in any of the school choirs will be spending the mornings rehearsing at the church in Shoreham. Mrs Scott has been in touch via email with all the families affected with information regarding what to bring, what to wear, where to go and at what time. Please refer to these emails for all the information you need for these two days. 

For children not involved in the Carol Service

For prep children not in the choirs and therefore at school, please refer to the information below so you know what to do on these days with your children. 

The children at the school will be participating in a carousel of activities. These have been formulated by staff and cover subject areas including; STEM, Languages, Strategic puzzles, Creativity, Sport and Drama. We will be operating in vertical groups, with each cohort containing children from all the year groups across Prep. 

Drop off (both days): as normal

What to bring (both days): School bags and coats (there will still be some normal lessons in the afternoons and breaktime will still be outside)

What to wear (both days): PE kit, trainers and tracksuit. On the Thursday, we will be having our Christmas Lunch and the children are encouraged to wear their Christmas jumpers for this.

Pick up (both days): as there are no activities in the last week, all the children will be brought to pick-up for 4pm. With the Carol Service starting at 6:30pm on the Thursday, can parents please collect children as close to 4pm as possible and only use the Late Room in case of emergencies. 

Friday 13th December

The last day of term on Friday 13^th December is a half day. We will be operating a staggered collection with the following times: 

Years 3 and 4: 12:10pm to 12:20pm

Years 5 and 6: 12:20pm to 12:30pm

Years 7 and 8: 12:30pm to 12:40pm

Family groups will be collected together in the slot of the youngest Prep child. 

Any prep children with younger siblings in Pre-Prep will be walked down for the Pre-Prep collection at midday.

St Michael's Hygiene Bank Collection

We are welcoming St Michael's families to donate to our Hygiene Bank Collection again this year. 

Last Friday the Prep children had an assembly about hygiene poverty in England and learnt about the work being done by the Hygiene Bank. We spoke about things that we take for granted and how a small thing that we give can make a huge difference to someone else. For the past two years we have collected hygiene products during the Michaelmas Term and would like to do so again.

Tubs have been placed on the various landings in Prep for children to place any items brought in. The Hygiene Bank website is requesting ‘new, unused, personal care and household cleaning essentials - including deodorant, shower gel, shampoo, make-up, nappies, toilet roll, laundry detergent and surface cleaner. If you need them and use them, then it is likely someone else needs and uses them too.’

We are already off to a good start and it would be wonderful if we can have another bumper collection this year to donate to a worthy cause.

Both Prep and Pre-Prep families are welcome to contribute. Pre-Prep families should take any donations to the Pre-Prep Office and Prep children should bring their donations to one of the tubs in the Prep building before the end of term. 

Mrs Baisch, Head of Years 5 and 6

Year 5 Christmas Candy Cane Experiment

Year 5 will be bringing home some candy canes for an experiment they might like to carry out over the Christmas holiday. This is an optional activity, but we'd love to see some photos of our festive scientists in action, if they decide to give it a go. All instructions are included in the gift bag.

Merry Christmas!

Mrs Clarke, Mrs Medd and Mrs Neylan

Festive joy at the P & F Christmas Fair

Thank you to everyone who joined us for St Michael's P & F Christmas Fair last Saturday.

We were delighted to see so many families enjoying the fabulous stalls, games and entertainment on offer.

Thank you to our Parents and Friends Association and all of our parent volunteers for their hard work in organising and hosting this brilliant event.

A magical Years 2 and 3 Christingle

On Tuesday morning Year 3 shared their Christingle with excellent singing support from Year 2. Parents of both year groups enjoyed hearing about the history of the Christingle from 3P, the symbolism of the Christingle from 3M and the true meaning of Christmas from 3KD. Every child lit their Christingle and remembered the love and light that we share at this special time of year.  

Thank you to the families who donated to our Christingle collection for The Children's Society. In total, we raised £205.00 for the cause which will help to support children across the UK. 

Mrs MacRae, Head of Religious Studies

Pre-Prep shine in sparkling Nativities

Nursery, Kindergarten and Reception sparkled in their Nativities this week as they put on an amazing display of singing and dancing for their parents.

12 Days of Christmas Reading Challenge

Children in the Prep school are invited to take part in the '12 Days of Christmas Reading Challenge' over the Christmas break. The aim of the challenge is to encourage the children to carve out opportunities to read, talk about books and other texts, and generally foster a love of reading for pleasure.

Children can complete as many or as few of the twelve challenges as they wish; they do not have to tick off every box. House points will be awarded to everyone who returns their challenge sheet to the Library by the end of the first week of next term.

Challenge sheets are available in the Library now or can be printed off from the link below.

Please click here to view the Reading Challenge sheet.

Happy reading!

Mrs Citron and Mrs Andrade

This week, the Breakfast Club decorated our tyre Christmas tree and hung lights on our wooden pallet tree by hammering in some tacks. Meanwhile, The Hive enjoyed a special Christmas message from Father Christmas.

Kemsing Church's Christmas Tree Festival

Dear Parents,

Please come and support Kemsing Church's Christmas Tree Festival this year. From 1st to 8th December you can visit the Church (see poster) to see 15 trees representing a number of local societies. You will be given a warm welcome, drink and snack and you will have the opportunity to vote for your favourite Christmas Tree (yes, St Michael's has entered the competition, but please do vote as you wish!).

Mrs Shield, Head of Religious Studies

Lottie Bingham represents England Hockey

Old Michaelian Lottie Bingham won her first full England cap against the Olympic Silver Medallists, China playing as part of England's Senior Women's Team in the Hockey Pro League this week. Competing in four games in China, this was Lottie's first international game.

At only 18 years old, Lottie has progressed through the junior ranks of England Hockey to claim her place in the full squad. Following this first cap, Lottie was then awarded Player of the Match in her second game against Belgium, scoring two of the goals in England’s 3-1 victory. 

Lottie was a pupil at St Michael’s until the Summer of 2017. She represented the school across many sports, with hockey as her passion throughout. 

Everyone at St Michael’s is incredibly proud of all of Lottie’s achievements and know this is only the start of what will be an amazing hockey career. 

Well done, Lottie!

Players of the Match - week commencing 2nd December

Max features in National Geographic

Congratulations to Max in Year 2 whose clay iguana was featured in this month's National Geographic Kids magazine!

Follow us on social media!

Make sure you are following St Michael’s social media channels for important updates and content throughout the year.