Pre-Prep and Prep School Key Messages and Routine Reminders
It is with great sadness and respect that our schools offer our heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family upon the death of Her Majesty the Queen.
During this period, our communications - including such newsletters and reminders - will be in black, white and grey.
The period of National Mourning has begun and will continue until the end of the day of the State Funeral. We are duly following guidance from ISC, HMC, GSA and the government during this period of National Mourning.
We will forever be indebted to Her Majesty for her service to this country and to her people. Over seven decades, she was an outstanding example to us all, the embodiment of public service and duty.
In addition, it is worth noting that significant works have been carried out by Affinity Water, necessitating the closure of Butterfly Lane throughout the summer. Although the road is now open, temporary three-way traffic lights are in operation at the junction with Watling Street. This
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over the summer. The new Pre-Prep building is now watertight, and works have predominantly moved inside the building, as well as starting to landscape the outside. Teachers were offered a tour of the new building earlier in the week and agreed that it is going to be a wonderful space in which our pupils can learn, grow, and laugh.
As the new term kicks off, I hope you and your children are beginning to settle back into the routines of school life. It was wonderful to see the Prep and Pre-Prep springing back to life on Thursday with the return of our delightful pupils and having the opportunity to also meet many of our parents. Our new students in Reception, Year One and Year Three have done brilliantly. Change can be hard for us as adults, and even more so for children. The children have really embodied our school values - Courage and Ambition and I know that their teachers, and myself, are incredibly proud of them.
After the excitement and jubilation of the start of term yesterday, today has been a more sombre day in the Pre-Prep and Prep School. We were truly sad to hear of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and marked our respect through a special assembly and class discussions. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to her family.
Mrs K
Unfortunately, just over a fortnight ago we experienced significant damage to our incoming electricity supply, leaving the school without power and then reliant on generators for several days. The team worked incredibly hard to make sure we were back on the grid ahead of the start of term, and the pupils will not notice any difference. We are hopeful that there will be no further repercussions and that it has not set back the Pre-Prep build too much.
You may have spotted that the development works on the Elstree campus have continued
arrangement is expected to end over the next few days, but in the meantime some delays are Ifexpected.Ihavenot
Please see the Key Dates for the times and locations of other year group sessions.
had the opportunity to say hello this week – I look forward to meeting, you soon. Next week, on Friday 16 September 8.30am to 9.30am, I will be hosting a ‘Meet the New Head - Coffee and Chat’ in the Pre-Prep Hall for all Reception and Year 1 parents.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
Ms V HeadHuggettof
We were delighted to welcome back Year 2 at the Prep School and our new Year 1s and first ever Reception classes to the Pre-Prep this week. Despite the rain, it has been a wonderful start to the school year and both pupils and staff have had an exciting couple of days. Everyone seems refreshed and ready for the new term ahead. All of the children are settling well into their new classes and have already impressed us with their kindness, confidence and independence. They have taken part in lots of fun activities and have been busy getting to know each other and making new friends.
Please appreciate that form teachers are extremely busy teaching during the school day and so are unable to reply to your emails straight away. 2JP Mrs Percival: percival_j@habsboys.org.uk 2NY Mrs Young: young_n@habsboys.org.uk 1NP Miss Patel: patel_n@habsboys.org.uk 1SS Miss Stables: stables_s@habsboys.org.uk RP (Squirrels) Miss Pearson: pearson_n@habsboys.org.uk RL (Hedgehogs) Miss Lewis: lewis_l@habsboys.org.uk
Your child’s well-being and happiness is of paramount importance to us. Your partnership and support are key elements in ensuring that we maximise the boys educational, social and emotional development. We encourage a positive home-school relationship based on the mutual goal of providing the best learning experience possible for all of our Pre-Prep boys. If for any reason you have a concern, please do not hesitate to contact us. It is always best to ‘nip in the bud’ any problems which may arise. Please make use of the message book and remember to check and sign it daily to ensure regular communication between you and your child’s form teacher. A telephone conversation is always best if the matter is anything other than a routine reminder. Miss Edwards (Pre-Prep secretary) will provide the link between you and the PrePrep staff. Miss Edwards can be contacted on 0208 266 2950 or by email preprepoffice@habsboys.org.uk. Alternatively, for academic queries you may wish to contact your child’s form teacher directly.
Pre-Prep School’s Message
As Deputy Head Pastoral, it has been such a pleasure to have the boys back at school this week. Your children are, and always will be, at the heart of everything we do. We want them to be happy at school, feel safe to be the true version of themselves, unafraid to make mistakes but keen to learn from them, and to always approach life with a can-do attitude.
The pupils will continue to learn more about inclusivity, compassion and community in the curriculum and I would appreciate your support in actively encouraging your children to throw themselves into every opportunity, to develop additional character traits that are so important for the
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Mr G
DeputyThomas Head of Prep School’s Message
expect to be contacted by members of teaching staff quite regularly, touching base with you as parents and updating you about how your child is progressing. Your child’s education is a partnership, and so please don’t ever hesitate to get in touch with your child’s Form Teacher, House Leader or me personally, if you have any queries or concerns. I look forward to a wonderful year ahead and seeing many of you at school soon.
Of course, in such exceptional times over recent years, your child’s wellbeing is of even greater importance to us, and we will, of course, do everything we can to ensure that they really thrive at school this year.
As Deputy Head Academic, it is my responsibility to ensure the pupils feel safe, yet challenged, in a nurturing and caring environment that is conducive to learning. We want our pupils to be unafraid of making mistakes, seeing them as an opportunity for development and learning. We are a community of learners. It is not only the pupils that are developing and learning each day, but we as adults are too. We want all the pupils to have a thirst for learning, in whatever form that comes, whether it is in class, on the sports field or at the music school. Every pupil’s passion is important to us and we always encourage them to follow them to the full.
The Curriculum is designed with our core values in mind and has undergone many exciting changes in recent years. For example, after the success of our Habs+ programme in Year 5, this is now extending into Year 6 as well, Languages will be taught to all classes from Year 3 to Year 6 and D&T is being delivered on a discrete weekly basis. You will hear more about this during the upcoming Curriculum Evenings.
We value our partnership with you and welcome open communication. We will keep in touch regularly during the year, celebrating successes and updating you on the challenges your child may be facing; however, please do get in touch with your child’s Form Teacher, Phase Leader, or myself if you have any questions or concerns.
It has been wonderful to see all the pupils back in school this week. There is a real sense of vibrancy and excitement around the Prep School, and I have enjoyed engaging with the pupils and hearing about their summer holidays.
I am certain that it is going to be a fantastic year, with many exciting opportunities ahead. I look forward to seeing you all in the coming weeks and months.
Mr P
DeputySwindell Head of Prep School’s Message
InformationPre-Prep
Year group information
Please can we politely remind you to be respectful of the residents on Hazel Road. Please do not park or wait in front of driveways or reverse or turn around in driveways. We have already received a couple of complaints from the residents regarding their driveways being blocked. Thank you for your support with this.
Please click the relevant link below to view important information for your child’s year group
If you haven’t had your child’s eyes tested recently, please may we encourage you to do so. It is important to get your child’s eyes tested early, so that any potential problems can be identified and managed.
Parking
YearYearReception12
Eye tests
Wrap around care
You may have noticed that due to a Health and Safety concern, we have had to temporarily close part of the pathway that forms the pedestrian route from the North Drive carpark to the Prep building. We are hoping that the normal route will be open again shortly, however in the meantime, we would ask parents to walk through the woodland trail, that begins at North Drive and will come out at the entrance to the Prep School, so that parents can safely drop off and pick up their children from the Prep. See map attached. Although the woodland.
Drop off and pick up
InformationPrep
Please find attached link for you to book Wraparound care provision. Please use the link here to book your child into either Breakfast Club/After School Care.
Parents with children in Year 2, and older siblings in either the Girls’ School or the Boys’ School are welcome to drop their child at the one-way drop off, as long as the Year 2 child is escorted by their older siblings to the Prep building. Year 2 pupils should not be allowed to walk alone from the drop-off to the Prep building.
Wrap around care
Please click here to read more about our new AAI policy. Our 2022 Allergy Action Plan (Epipen) can also be found here.
Please click here on the following video for further information regarding clubs.
We will be delivering an assembly on Wednesday 14 September to go through the co-curricular programme on offer to them during the Autumn Term. The activities will be displayed in their classrooms, and it will also be posted in their Clubs folder on One Note. You can also click here to see the schedule.
Form Tutors will show pupils how to locate this in Form Time. During assembly on Wednesday, they will be shown the process for sign up and Form Tutors will support pupils in Form time to sign up.
Please click here for our important Music information.
Please click here information regarding Chess coaching for Years 1 to 6.
We recommend three clubs, so your child feels part of the community and have the chance to meet new friends and develop new skills as well as building on existing ones. When attending clubs after school, all pupils need to be aware of their going home arrangements. Parents will be required to either collect their child from the club unless they catch the coach.
Co-curricular clubs
Chess coaching
Music notification
Tooled Up
As many of you will know, the Pre-Prep and Prep School is a ‘Tooled Up School’. This is a wonderful platform that provides you and us practical and psychological tools to help the children cope with life’s ups and downs. Extensive research by academics all over the world has uncovered approaches to raising children that help them to thrive. This platform has found ‘golden nuggets’ within these academic findings and translated them into practical tips for us all to apply.
• Digital life – teaching safe and positive engagement with the digital world
Please click here information regarding the JHC Autumn Cricket Academy Courses.
You will find short videos, podcasts and tip sheets covering:
• Learning – what we can be doing at home to help our teens thrive at school
• Behaviour – the best approaches to challenging behaviour;
• Family life and relationships – investing in good quality relationships at home to help our teens thrive in other areas of their life
• Aspiration – motivating our children to aim high and supporting them on their journey.
If you have not already gained access to the platform, please click here and insert the school’s unique pin number: HABS7725. We really hope you find using this beneficial.
Cricket academy
• Mental health – protecting and sustaining children’s positive mental health)
PE and Games kit
Games lessons
Prep PE and Games Information
In September, all children will be required to arrive and leave school dressed in their PE or Games kit for the time when they have PE or Games timetabled.
All children in Years 4 to 6 will be required to have a mouthguard in September for Rugby and we are asking parents to provide their child with an appropriate mouthguard. Opro will not coming in to provide a mouthguard fitting service. Children in Year 3 will not require a mouthguard as Rugby is non-contact for this age group.
Mouthguards
In September, we will be covering a full term of Rugby in the children’ games lessons. Football will commence in Games lessons in the Spring Term, followed by Cricket in the Summer Term. We have fixtures arranged next term for all children in the Prep school.
There will be a football club on offer to all children next term and for this the children will need their football boots and shin pads.
It is our expectation that all pupils who are in school take part to the full timetable, including swimming. It is important that pupils who are not well enough to take part in the curriculum remain home to recover. If your child needs to be excused from swimming, please email Miss (brandon_k@habsboys.org.uk)Brandoncopying in his form tutor.
Football club
Swimming
Boots for Rugby and Football
Football boots can be worn for both rugby and football so long as the studs are safe to play in. Most studs are allowed, however, the RFU state, ‘The final responsibility is with the players/parents to ensure that boots and studs are appropriate and safe to play in.’
Please find attached further information on what type of studs are allowed. We be checking at the start of term and at regular intervals thereafter, that all the children’ studs are safe to play in.