If you are already feeling like Christmas was a long time ago, then I can assure you that you are not alone. Term has begun at the usual frenetic pace and the children have quickly settled back into their routines and learning, with just the full return of the clubs programme to go next week.

This week has seen the Epiphany Service at St Michael’s Church for children in the Prep section and the winning Castle lunch for children in Hever (which we are hoping might spur all children on to even greater efforts this term). Fixtures, whilst disrupted a little by ambulance strikes and weather, have also returned and children in Year 6 were ‘Let Loose’ on their play rehearsal for the first time.

Next week will see a coffee morning for parents of children in the Nursery on Wednesday morning and the first Star Assembly of the term for children in Pre-Prep, as well as the usual drum beat of this short Lent Term. Some of you have probably seen the weather forecast for next week too, for which we are making sure that roads and paths will be gritted. Please do ensure that your children have the right clothing to go outside during the school day too, with School coats, hats, gloves and School scarves all available from the School Shop, and wellies required for children in Nursery and Pre-Prep.

I would also like to remind parents about drop off and pick up times. At the start of the day, unless your child is booked into Breakfast Club, please ensure that you do not leave your children unaccompanied on the School site any earlier than 8am, which is the time that our staff start their supervision of the playground; younger children must be accompanied for their handover with the Nursery or Reception teams of course (except those that come on a School bus). Pick up times vary across the different sections of the School. For children in pre-prep, I would like to draw your attention to the new arrangements detailed later in the newsletter. All children must have been collected by 6pm at the latest please. Of course, sometimes plans are disrupted unexpectedly so all children will be looked after if necessary beyond this time but this does of course disrupt our staff and late charges do exist too. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

And finally, I am thrilled to be announcing that we have, this week, completed the purchase of some land to the west of the School site, including taking ownership of the land on which our Forest School sits as well as a larger area of woodland, orchard and grassland. We are looking forward to sharing more about our short and long-term plans for this space and how all children will benefit from it in due course.

Best wishes for the weekend.