3 minute read
Pre-Prep
Thinking back to September, a particular highlight of the year was our welcome meeting, where many children and parents were able to gather in the sunshine to reconnect after so many months of separation.
Many parents hadn’t even seen the PrePrep buildings due to Covid restrictions so it was a great pleasure to welcome everyone back onsite.
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This year, forest school was added to the weekly timetables of all Pre-Preppers and it has been so much fun to explore nature in more detail, build fires, make dens and develop our stamina for walking. It was also lovely to be able to return to Gore Farm and visit the animals there.
In October we said a sad farewell to Miss Newport and Miss Lindsey who had both been teaching assistants with us for many years but we were happy to welcome Mrs O’Donnell who has been a fabulous addition to the Pre-Prep staff team.
In November, we held our first music concert in the Tindall Recital Hall – music in Pre-Prep is thriving and it was wonderful to have such a fabulous venue to perform in.
Our Christmas events were numerous as always, with the Christmas tree festival at Cheap Street Church, Nursery and Pre-
Prep nativity plays, Christmas fair, whole school lunch, party and carol service in the beautiful Sherborne Abbey.
Mrs Berry fell off her bike in January and broke her arm, which gave us access to some interesting x-rays to study for our fascinating topic about bodies.
Our performing arts workshop in February demonstrated how many opportunities the children have to explore skills outside of the classroom and our violinists, recorder players, gymnasts and dancers all excelled.
In March, year 1 and 2 ventured out to Dorchester to see the treasures of the Tutankhamun exhibition and were fascinated by the mummies on display. Year 2 all worked hard on their English Speaking Tests and passed with flying colours.
Easter came around quickly and was celebrated with fantastic egg hunts organised by the Friends of Sherborne Prep, a superb talent show and Abbey service.
The summer term began in bright sunshine and a new topic for year 1 and 2 about rainforests was launched. Reception and Nursery got seriously into gardening and had fun collecting tadpoles from the Pre-Prep science pond. Reception suddenly began to produce prolific amounts of writing, showing that their hard work through the year on phonics and handwriting was really paying off.
In May, Pre-Prep all travelled to Port Regis school to take part in a gymnastics competition and everyone performed very well, with visitors praising how well our children celebrated each other’s success. Children worked hard to learn lines for the summer play ‘Tattybogle’ and we heard strains of Nursery preparing for their end of year concert.
As I write, we look forward to beach trips, farm visits, a trip to the sub-tropical gardens, an athletics festival, sports day and so much more.
We have packed many wonderful things into the year, reinforcing our ethos that children learn by experiences and when they are happy and engaged, ably supported by our fabulous staff team.
