Dear Parents 

If you or your children have any interest in the various fields of Engineering, I strongly recommend finding some time to come and talk to our DT, Computer Science and Robotics Faculty, based in its new hub on the 1F of the Crowthorne Building.  The facility is one of the best in the world, and will undoubtedly provide an exceptional foundation for further study at the highest level, and then great careers.  It is genuinely exciting! 

I enjoyed taking an assembly this week, on Responsibility (another of our Values).  I argue that Responsibility is:

   a)   keeping promises

   b)   owning results

   c)   making sure you don’t cause trouble for others.

‘Owning results’ means admitting fault if you have made a mistake, rather than trying to avoid blame.  It’s something that young people do need to be guided to learn – but it helps the whole community so much when that type of responsible honesty becomes the norm.   

My example for ‘making sure you don’t cause trouble for others’ was simple: don’t be that person who, when boarding a plane, spends ten minutes in the middle of the aisle fussing with your bags and the overhead locker and holding everyone else up!

On a related matter: thank you again for your patience and responsibility this week with traffic flow and carparks.  As I’ve said before, there’s no escape from traffic when your school gets big (unless you put your children on the school buses – which are available!) – but things have gone fairly well so far.  We continue to monitor and will make further changes if they become appropriate. 

Have a great weekend!

With best wishes

Chris 

Dear Parents, 

We’ve really enjoyed welcoming our Early Years children in for longer days this week, watching them settle beautifully into their new routines and learning spaces. It’s always particularly heartwarming to see our Pre-Nursery children, many of whom are experiencing time away from their parents and carers for the first time, begin to grow in confidence whilst forming new relationships with their teachers, ALTs, and nannies. 

On Tuesday, we launched the first of this year’s parent workshops, and it was wonderful to see so many of you join us to learn more about our Year 3 to 6 residentials. We’re delighted to be partnering with Insight, a highly professional organisation with rich experience across Southeast Asia. Their passion for outdoor learning and commitment to high-quality experiences promise to make this year’s trips truly memorable for our students. Sign up instructions will be sent out soon!

This week also saw the launch of our Reading Programme across the school. Year 1 and 2 students have been revisiting their phonics, while children from Years 1 to 6 have been diving into their author studies, learning more about their class authors and creating collaborative displays to showcase their learning. In addition, students have been enjoying time in our libraries, exploring their favourite books. It’s always a joy to see the passion for reading and literacy come alive in our classrooms!

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for our new-look weekly Junior School newsletters, sent out by your child’s class teacher every Friday afternoon. These newsletters are designed to give you a richer insight into your child’s learning across different subjects, while also keeping all key information in one place. We hope you find them helpful and enjoyable to read - we’d love to hear your feedback!

Until next week, have a super weekend.

Hannah