Pre-Prep News Archives - Page 5 of 19

Announcement from Mrs Nicola Mitchell, Head of Queen’s House & The Abbey:

I am delighted to write with positive news regarding the plans for Queen’s House and The Abbey.

As you are aware I was in the fortunate position of being able to review the plans when I arrived last September. We have been able to ensure that the revised plans provide optimum teaching facilities, which improve on the current provision we have at the Pre-Prep, and ensure that the upgrade of the current Abbey site is thorough and ensures key areas are developed.

Pivotal to the decision making has always been what is right for the children’s education and what will be of maximum benefit to their well-being and the experience they have at School.

The approved plans will involve:

A purpose built classroom block for Reception and Year 1, replacing the current music practice rooms
A new Pre-Prep play area
New Music practice rooms
A new Astro Turf
Refurbished changing rooms
A multi-purpose assembly room
Upgraded Library
Renovated ICT provision
Refurbished Food Technology room

By creating new classrooms we have enabled free-flow access for the Early Years Foundation Stage pupils to the new Pre-Prep play area and appropriate sections of our wonderful outdoor areas. This will be a significant improvement on the current Queen’s House provision, which does not allow for this key requirement, and will enable us to structure the curriculum for the youngest pupils in an entirely child-centred way.

Moving the Music practice rooms means we are able to refurbish these and continue to ensure that the Music and performance opportunities are of the highest standard.

We looked carefully at provision for PE and Games and are delighted to say that we will be installing our own Astro-turf which means that lessons and skills development will be able to be continuously provided for throughout the year with space both indoors and outdoors.

It is important to monitor all areas of the School and it has been shown that the changing and toilet facilities can make a great deal of difference to a pupil’s experience. We will be upgrading and expanding these facilities to ensure they are safe spaces and easy to supervise; maximising pupil well-being.

There will be a second music, movement, Drama and assembly space incorporated within the Dewar Building to allow for House Meetings, lessons and year group work.

The Library will be modernised and upgraded as the important heart of the School and a vital point of inspiration for all the children. I.C.T. provision will be upgraded with an improved I.C.T. room. The main teaching buildings will receive a redecoration and upgrade which will also continue over the coming years.

Within the new plans there is the ability to keep specialist teaching zones for Spanish, Science, Art, Engineering, Music and Drama whilst developing and modernising the Food Technology area.

The majority of the upgrades for the existing buildings will take place during the holidays. The planned work for the Early Years classrooms will take six months and will be confined to the peripatetic music classroom block which is easy to isolate from the children on a day to day basis.

We are thrilled that we have been granted permission for the new plans and are confident that they will allow the teachers to ensure the curriculum is delivered and developed in exciting ways now and into the future.

We have carefully considered the impact of these changes on the immediate environment and are confident that they will impact in a minimal way and preserve the special outdoor space from which we are so fortunate to benefit.

With the plans approved we are now on track to ensure a successful completion of the development in time for a September 2019 start for the Pre-Prep at The Abbey.

Detailed plans will be available on 11 October at Queen’s House to coincide with Parents’ Evening. The following week there will be an information evening at The Abbey and displays set to highlight the changes.

We are very much looking forward to upgrading the Abbey site and welcoming the Pre-Prep pupils. The move will enhance the community feel that Woodbridge School has and improve the morning and afternoon routine for families. As always I am happy to answer any queries you may have and look forward to sharing the detailed plans with you.

It was our great privilege to welcome The Right Reverend Tim Stevens, erstwhile Bishop of Dunwich and more recently of Leicester, to help us celebrate and commemorate our founders and benefactors at our annual Commemoration Service. He embraced the opportunity to talk to the whole School community, from four to sixty-four (I’m guessing!), and took as his theme the importance of giving in all its guises: from the Sermon on the Mount and reflections on what brings true happiness, to Stephen Hawking (where the sermon started), to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai whom we may not have remembered by name, but could not possibly have forgotten for her story – recovering from her attempted assassination by the Taliban as a child only to petition even more strongly and globally, on her recovery, in the struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. Bishop Tim’s was a simple and passionate message for us to be the best we can, and to do the best for, and by, others and for our fragile world. It was what our founders hoped for us, all those generations ago. Now to rise to the challenge.

Years ago, as an English literature student, one of the books I studied was Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. It was tome that, at first, was slightly daunting; however, I soon became enthralled and somewhat horrified by the ambitious nature of the main character as she resourcefully plotted how to improve her opportunities in life.

As we know though there are better routes to success that amoral behaviour and scheming. Many of these rely on passing a set of tests to allow the pathways to be navigated and the doors to be unlocked.

Working in a prep school we are joyously free from the constraints of exam syllabi and grade boundaries. However, there was a buzz of excitement (and relief) this summer as the Senior School pupils received their exam results. This is not an event I have been part of in a school before and it was interesting and humbling to note how invested the pupils and parents were; but also the staff.

Not only did they want to check how their class faired to level their teaching of new curriculums but there was also real devotion to the individual; those who had to work particularly hard, or some who had perhaps thought they could take things too easy.

Many pupils are now starting their A Level journey but some have taken the next step and are beginning to take on the first challenge of their adult life as they pack up for university courses.

I will be watching the coming adaptation of Vanity Fair with interest in the coming weeks. As Thackeray’s tale is brought to life depicting; “A world where everyone is striving for what is not worth having.”

I am sure our pupils will be successful in their endeavours in whichever field they choose and hope they remember that not everything of value is valuable as they travel though their lives.

The children in Year 1 have been taking part in a maths investigation based on the story “One hundred hungry ants”. They have been finding all the different ways to put a set number of ants into rows of equal lengths. They have worked collaboratively to solve the problem!

The children worked in small groups researching facts about planet Earth. They used laptops, books and watched video clips and recorded their findings on a poster.

The children were curious, independent and focused and found out some fascinating facts to share with the class.

This week we emptied our potato grow-bags and revealed masses of large white new potatoes. Like discovering buried treasure, the children were extremely excited with each potato they unearthed. They then took them to the kitchens where John very kindly cooked them for lunch the next day. It has been so exciting to plant, nurture and eat our own produce this term. So far we have harvested radishes, potatoes, rocket and red mustard. Fingers crossed we will have carrots and strawberries by the end of term.

On Tuesday 5 June, Year 2 visited Southwold as part of their topic on the Victorians. They were all dressed the part and were very excited to learn more about Victorian seaside holidays. The day started with a tour of Southwold museum where the children looked at Victorian artefacts. This was followed by a Victorian picnic, complete with jam sandwiches wrapped up in brown paper and tied up with string, a sausage roll and a miniature Victorian sponge cake. After lunch the children enjoyed playing games on the beach and sketching the beach huts. The day ended with a well-deserved ice cream and a walk along the pier.

Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed their transition afternoon to the Abbey. They were excited to see their new classrooms and meet their new teachers. They had a tour of the school and afterwards had great fun making spinners and circuits.

Over the past forty years (or maybe more!) there have been many subtle, and not so subtle, changes in education; from how we teach reading and the bridging method in maths, to how we support children with their emotional development and well-being.

It used to be considered that well behaved children were seen and not heard. Fortunately times have moved on. However, it would seem that one change may have had unintended consequences.

We used to prepare children for the road ahead; with all its bumps and potholes, in a bid to ensure that each child was equipped for their own future; securely packed off with a toolkit to ensure that they could navigate said road with confidence.

Then, the change; for a number of years it seemed to be expected that teachers and parents should do their utmost to drive ahead of our children, with a steam roller, trying desperately to smooth the path they were about the tread. This clearly had benefits; less trips and hazards and fewer issues to deal with and obstacles and hurdles were moved out of the way.

This is where we come back to the ‘however’… Children do not learn from pages of ticks, easy lessons and flat footpaths. They need appropriate challenge, disappointment and undulations to build resilience, develop self-sufficiency and fine tune empathy.

We should not be setting children mountains to climb; but we do need to prepare our children for the road ahead and not the road for our children. In a supportive environment children should have the confidence to learn from mistakes, move on from set-backs and develop the character and skills they will need in later life.

The cross-county event is always a perfect example of this. Children pushing themselves beyond their previous limits, working together as a team, supporting their friends and having fun through the exhaustion and, often, the rain! This event could be avoided, everyone could stay inside in the warm but the children are richer for the experience and learn as much, if not more, about themselves than they would do in a classroom for that hour.

Setting challenges that are just a little out of a child’s comfort zone builds confidence, allows the acquisition of skills and invigorates pupils with the desire to strive to succeed.

On a day to day basis the rules at school are easy to enforce; there are not too many of them and they are all there for a reason. Examples such as: stay within the boundary fencing, clearly for the children’s safety and obvious when the line is crossed.

Others that are not so visible are also clear; be kind to each other, calling pupils by insulting names is obviously unkind.

Both examples are quickly dealt with and parental support is a given.

However, there is a grey area that is creeping ever more into school life. The power of technology. School rules across the country are being updated due to the necessity to remove the ability to connect to the internet through a watch; as clearly we have no means of securing the children’s safety if their school access is not through the safeguarded systems.

Equally, and even more difficult to contain, are the discussions about inappropriate games and apps that the children have access to. Now these games are not accessed at school so therefore surely it is not our problem? However, the discussions in playgrounds and re-enactments of scenes played on a sofa have repercussions in our safe environments.

It is a delicate balancing act. Schools do not want to interfere with family life and home rules, however, we have a duty of care to ensure that those parents who do not wish for their underage child to have knowledge of content that is deemed inappropriate by ratings, and individuals, to come home with information gathered in school.

Schools spend a huge amount of time trying to teach the children the importance of kindness, compassion and solving conflict through discussion and understanding. These are key skills that they will need as they grow up to be young adults of the future. Prep school age pupils do not have the ability to successfully filter appropriate language and actions when transferring them from a screen to the playground.

Whilst I am in agreement that we do not need to wrap our children up in cotton wool and protect them from all that is going on in the world, equally I do not think that we should be ignoring advice and allowing our young children access to games that have been age limited for good reasons.

Childhood is precious and we need to support the children to enjoy it in an age appropriate manner.

Happily, when recently walking this tightrope between home and school rules the surge of support that bounced back was huge. Clearly working together with the best interests of ours sons and daughters means that the line is increasingly blurred, and for good reason, as we all seek to support and nurture the next generation in their development.