Prep Newsletter Week 1 Michaelmas Term 2022
What a wonderful start to the new academic year we have had! On Sunday, we welcomed Prep boarders to the school for the first time, who spent the night in the wonderful Hartley House.
On Tuesday, our pupils had House Meetings. The air was buzzing with excitement as pupils received their house badges. Houses are such an integral part of our community, with pupils making strong friendships which will last a lifetime. A reminder to Prep 6 pupils, if they would like the role of Head of House, speeches are taking place on Tuesday morning, where they can explain to pupils in their house why they would make a good Head of House.
Speaking of friendships, some of our lucky pupils were treated to team building activities which got their hearts racing and adrenaline pumping and helped them bond as a group. Prep 4 & 6 enjoyed water sports last week, and Prep 5 are hopefully enjoying their session today.
This week, we will host informal meet and greet drop-in sessions. These will provide a chance for your child to show you their classroom and for you to meet their teacher, any time from 4:00pm until 4:45pm. Please collect your child beforehand, so that they have a chance to show you their classroom. The session for Pre-Prep will be held on Tuesday 13th September, the sessions for Prep 3 and 4 will be on Wednesday 14th September, and the sessions for Prep 5 and 6 will be held on Thursday 15th September. Children will be dismissed at 3:45pm, and any remaining children not picked up will be taken into prep. Children may bring their parent into the assembly hall from 4pm for refreshments, and then visit their classroom.
As a reminder, we have our Open Morning to look forward to on Saturday 1st October, with exact timings to be confirmed in the coming weeks. We would like pupils to attend in school uniform. If your child is unable to attend, please inform Helen Heron or myself. Prep 6 do not need to attend at the Prep, since we are assuming they will be visiting the College Open Morning.
After/before school clubs commence from 12 September. However, due to the information meet and greets, there will be no Pre-Prep Art, Beginners French or Minecraft on the first week of clubs. All instrumental lessons and music clubs will also start week commencing 12th September. Please ensure all pupils have coats and waterproofs in school and that all uniform is clearly labelled. Could pupils in Prep 3, 5 and 6 please bring a sturdy shopping bag to hang on their peg to put their waterproofs in.
Fixtures
Unfortunately, Derby Grammar school have cancelled the rugby fixture with us on Tuesday 20 September. Derby High School are only able to bring one minibus of pupils so our girls will only be able to play one fixture instead of two. This is obviously really disappointing as we were looking forward to playing more of our pupils than we are able to. On the upside, we have managed to arrange four more fixtures within the last week with another pencilled in. These will be added to Socs shortly. There are a number of festivals and tournaments in addition to the usual fixtures so it promises to be a fantastic term of sport.
Spanish
A reminder from Señora Greene, that The Prep has subscribed to Linguascope.com to support our pupils’ modern foreign language learning inside the classroom, and at home. It can be used as a website or downloaded as an app; even 10 minutes of home practice of Spanish a week in the car, or whenever is convenient can help and can be particularly useful for our new starters at the moment. Pre-Prep pupils should choose the language upon login and use the ‘elementary’ section, and Main Prep both ‘elementary’ and ‘beginner’. All pupils will be given the login for their planners next week and this should only be shared with pupils from Denstone College.
Prep 3 Trip
Please note that the Prep 3 trip has been moved from 13th October (cancelled) - we shall now be going to Sudbury Hall on Wednesday 16th November.
The Denstonian
Details of The Denstonian Magazine, which has been compiled during the 2021-2022 year can be found on the parent portal.
Save the Date: Macmillan Coffee Afternoon taking place in the Prep Assembly Hall on Friday 23rd September at 2:30-3:30pm organised by pupils. Parents, family and friends all welcome.
The Queen
As the news of the passing of the late Queen Elizabeth sinks in, I take a moment of reflection. This special community, like so many others around the world, have come together in this most turbulent of times and our pupils have been simply outstanding: I will never forget their response on Friday morning in our service as they stood, with heads bowed, listening to the hauntingly beautiful National Anthem.
The messages of condolence in our books will leave a lasting legacy of their response to this most significant moment in history. To that end, it has been a most remarkable start to a new term. Understandably, we have been quiet on other forms of communication and social media channels as a mark of respect. However, there has been a great deal of activity going on at the Prep and the purpose of this newsletter is to impart some important information. Ordinarily our newsletters will be published on a Friday and we will resume this pattern from the end of this week.
Bank Holiday
As announced yesterday, we will be acknowledging Monday 19 September as a Bank Holiday. To that end, we will not expect day pupils to attend Prep or for weekly boarders to return until Monday evening.
Kind regards,
Tracey Davies
Head of Prep
