Achievement or attainment? Prize-giving at a Prep School.

Achievement and attainment. Two words which often get confused. Achievement in the Oxford English Dictionary means ‘to accomplish; acquire’, a ‘thing accomplished’. ‘He has achieved great things’. Achievement is relative to the person. So we can read this as ‘He has achieved great things for his ability’. Attainment is different. Attainment is a fact or figure, the child who is ‘top’ academically in ability for that group.

This year we are introducing (or re-introducing so Mr Lord tells me!) class prizes per term. These will be awarded for each class in final assembly next week for achievement and St. Peter’s Qualities. The achievement prize can be awarded for a range of different things - excellence, outstanding effort, a combination of both, or overcoming a challenge. Our mission statement here is ‘Believe it!... Achieve it!’ so this also ties in with our core values. St. Peter’s Qualities' prizes are for those children who have impressed our staffroom over the term with their progress in ‘finding’, ‘presenting’ and ‘curiosity’. At St. Peter’s we encourage and develop interested, independent learners and this prize recognises this.

I’m very much looking forward to awarding these in Final Assembly on Wednesday and we will publish these in the final Celebration Newsletter. I would like to take this chance to thank Charlie Pritchard, a stalwart of St. Peters who is simply outstanding at organising final assemblies, prizes, weekly routines, Harvest festivals, carol concerts and much more.

We are in great discussions to introduce Mindfulness to our Early Years’ children. Learning strategies to take time, breathe and focus can help when children are feeling stressed or worried. Taking time to listen to their bodies is hugely beneficial in later life. They are learning to be in the ‘Present’.

Christmas is well and truly here. After listening to our Chamber Choir sing Bach’s St. John Passion in the Cathedral (an absolute highlight of my first term), watching in wonder at the unity and enthusiasm of the ‘House Singing’, wondering at the ‘Christmas buses’, joining the Boarders for a delicious, festive Christmas dinner and attending the simply wonderful Nativities this week, we are all feeling a little ‘tinselly’.

I certainly did not expect to literally be asked to ‘play God’ when I took on a Headship but you just take and embrace these challenges as they come(!). The children watching the rehearsals on Wednesday certainly looked a bit shocked as my voice followed a clap of thunder and boomed round the Wessex Hall to inform the angels of their ‘mission!’! Many thanks and well done to all for the Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2 staff for working with our brilliant children to create such memories for the children and their parents.

I very much look forward to enjoying the last few days of term with the staff and pupils before the Johnston festivities truly begin (although Mr Johnston, you may have noticed has already been busy with the lights - ‘only the beginning’ he says...).

Parent meetings in Santa's Grotto? - Christmas begins at St. Peters..

A unique experience for myself and some parents late last Friday was holding a meeting in my office which had been transformed into Santa’s Grotto in readiness for the Christmas Fair. Slightly tricky to have a serious conversation in a room adorned with fake snow, tinsel and revolving sparkly lights. However, we soldiered on and the meeting ended very well!   

The Christmas Fair held last Saturday was an absolute triumph.  There was a huge turnout of current parents, prospective parents and people from the local area who arrived to the wonderful welcome of the Lympstone Training Brass band.  Mulled wine went down very well as parents flocked into the Wessex Hall to shop and children enjoyed the activities.  Children could choose presents for their families with a hugely successful secret gift shop - thank you to all who provided gifts for this.  It is a very magical thing for the children to be able to give parents a present on Christmas morning which the parent has actually not bought themselves!! Visiting Father Christmas was so popular he actually ran out of presents and the burgers and mince pies were consumed with gusto. Very many thanks indeed to the Friends of St. Peter’s and the staff who worked hard to make it magical. Attached are photos of some of the decorations for the new House Christmas Tree competition.  

This week it has been delightful to see the children rehearsing hard for their Nativities and I am very much looking forward to watching (and possibly participating….?) in them before the end of term. New school photographs were a great success, feedback awaits.  

I have visited King’s Bruton and Blundells over the last couple of weeks and the Head of The Maynard visited St. Peter’s on Thursday morning.  I venture further to Plymouth College next week.  It is so interesting to visit all of these senior schools and meet the Heads.  Chatting to them means that I have a clear understanding of the schools and can advise parents appropriately.   The Next Steps Schools' exhibition will take place at St. Peter’s on 4th May.

Moonballs, flooding and the Christmas Fair....

The moon ball.  A cleverly designed ball made for maximum fun.  Extra bouncy, neon in colour, with dips and slightly hexagonal sides. The moon ball, when bounced, can go off at any angle.  It fits snugly into the palm of a child’s hand for throwing and catching and is most popular amongst the younger members of our community here at St. Peters.  Designed exactly for fun, but also designed EXACTLY the right size to enter and then stick in a drain pipe.

 And so the week unfolded.  Weather of biblical proportions, aided by the unblocking of said drain pipe which caused an almighty whoosh of rain water into the front hall.  The team dealt with the sudden tidal wave admirably - whipping Christmas shoe boxes out of reach and turning off the Christmas tree lights.  Office staff, teachers and maintenance team all worked brilliantly together getting it all back to working order as soon as possible.  My thanks to them.

On Tuesday we held our second FOSP meeting in the new format with the Class Reps as part of the meeting and school business at the top of the agenda and this went extremely well.  Class or year group representatives are hugely important and valuable to both myself as Head and to the entire the school community, not only so we can nip any issues in the bud, but also for feedback on ideas of development for the school.  We discussed since September how we have addressed issues such as signage, future schools' advice needing to be for younger year groups and reporting to parents on standardised data.  I asked opinions on uniform and the gradual (three year) roll out of an update to the games kit from next September and spoke of my plans to develop the outdoor learning and move the house system forward.  Next time we meet I will have games kit samples to show the Class Reps to get some feedback ‘on the ground’.   Our attention then turned to the business of organising events and the staff, children and I are greatly looking forward to the Christmas Fair.  My great thanks to FOSP for such wonderful organisation, ideas and commitment to make such a magical event for St. Peters.  Possible summer term events were discussed with ‘St. Peter’s Dog Show’ being my favourite so far!    

Dog Show at St. Peter's next summer? 

From 'shaking out the sillie's' to jumping off a cliff. 3 to 13 - the Prep School journey

Our Nursery

It has been wonderful to see the children back after their well deserved half-term to more glorious weather in Devon.

As  I  went  round  all  of  the  classrooms  on Monday morning, I was lucky enough to join Kindergarten for their morning dance and to ‘Shake the sillies out’ - a most enjoyable ten minutes which left myself and Mrs Brenton a little breathless! All staff and children are looking forward to the half term ahead with much in store including the Christmas Fair, a huge highlight, which I am looking forward to immensely.

Year 8 Head Girl and Deputy Head Girl

“Yes! We did it!” The Cross Keys Award for Year 7 and Year 8s has been running  this  week  with  both  year  groups  attending  their  ‘Spirit  of  Adventure Days’. I have witnessed team building games on the lawn, 1 to 1 personal development  and  leadership  coaching  with  an experienced  trainer  for  all  of  Year  8,  camp building and firemaking.

Leadership skills experts attend the school and spend six days over the two years with the children. The Cross Keys is like a junior version of the ‘Duke of Edinburgh’ Award with awards gained of bronze, silver and gold. It is inter-woven throughout the curriculum for the top two years at St. Peter’s.

Adventure programme in Year 8

The adventure element takes place on expeditions for each year group. Year 7 plan ahead and are trained for their expedition looking at food, kit, camp building, raft building and practical survival skills. Year 8 plan and undertake a ‘Major Expedition’ on Dartmoor. The groups are mostly self-reliant by this stage (with support in the wings!). They are responsible for their group’s navigation, shelter, catering and group management. They  have  to  deal  with  ‘unexpected  events’,  build  grit  and determination and experience personal challenge.

The award is made up of different elements. Firstly, it develops leadership skills, but also valuable life skills. Children are expected to plan and cook a meal for their family and to do some charity and volunteer work. They also undertake a lifesaving course and a separate first aid course. They spend time with the younger children planning and taking  them  for  activities. Personal  development  is  also  tracked  and  points  are awarded for resourcefulness, helpfulness, organisation, politeness and appearance. A log book is updated regularly by each child and becomes a journal keepsake of their last two years at St. Peter’s. We feel that there is something very special about these top years, where children reach the end of their prep school, where they come further together as a close unit leading and becoming ambassadors for the school. With a surfing trip, a no expenses trip to France and the opportunity of a culture trip to Rome next year the opportunities for personal development continue. I feel very proud of the journey which St. Peter’s provides from ‘Shaking their sillies out’ at 3 to leaping off cliffs at 13 and embracing their future with confidence.

Next week I will be writing with advice on choosing a Senior School for your child. I look forward to seeing Year 6 parents at a Future Schools’ presentation evening next Thursday 17th November at 6pm and Year 4 and Year 5 parents at a similar evening next term. The Next Steps Schools' fair, where Senior Schools visit St. Peter’s, is taking place at the beginning of the Trinity Term. Please put 4th May in your diaries.

I h

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

One of my favourite quotes of thanks for teachers is ‘If you can read this, thank a teacher’ and this twist appealed! 

I read with interest a recent Times' article this weekend which discussed the problem in many primary schools for boys. It highlighted  that male primary school teachers are basically an endangered species and the importance of male role models for both boys and girls during their education.  I very much agree with this and at St. Peter’s we are very lucky to have both male and female teaching staff who can shape those young minds every day.  A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Teacher Appreciation week with a surprise breakfast for the teaching staff and also the support staff, catering, maintenance and the cheerful army of bus drivers without whom the school simply would not run.

And so I invite you this week to recognise and appreciate the wonderful staff that we have at St. Peter’s.  In and out of the classroom, planning creative and interesting lessons, activities and trips to extend and develop interest and learning, the teachers go above and beyond. There is a  strong emphasis on supportive, kind pastoral care where the form teachers, led by Mr Lord and Mrs Ball, go out of their  way to respond immediately to any problem. Ms Smith in the Learning Success department ensures that no child is overlooked and that every child, whatever their ability, makes progress and achieves the best they can and Mrs Tyson steers the preparation and provides advice for children and parents on a huge range of senior schools, ensuring the quality of tracking information which means that no child slips through the net.

Children leave here as high achievers, academically strong with high expectations and senior schools welcome and appreciate St. Peter's children. This week, on visiting Taunton School, we heard of our children, now pupils at the school who were experienced in communication and presentation throughout our Baccalaureate, impressing teachers and staff with their articulacy and confidence.  The children who enter from St. Peter’s are some of the top in the year group and the extremely high standard of work they complete in Years 7 & 8 here stands them in very good stead as they enter Senior Schools in Year 9 and start preparing for GCSEs.  

As our Head of Art leaves this half term for a ‘reccy (no complaints from her)’ in Rome, plans are already being put in place for full immersion for year 7 and year 8 next year around a cultural trip to Rome. Classics, Art, History of Art, Latin, Italian, History, Architecture, Cookery, Music and gladiatorial combat (!) will make the curriculum inspirational (with flex for creativity) rich, cultural and wonderful for the whole term. The ability to link is one of the signs of academia and high quality teaching on this scale encourages synapses in the brain to link and connections to be made. Children need ‘hooks’ for knowledge to fix onto and it is linking up which helps the process of learning to happen.

We have seen the first of some wonderful photographs taken by Emma Solley for the new Website and Prospectus.  A snippet here and more to come.  She is visiting the school over the next few terms to make sure we have some super photos showing the range of what we do here.

St. Peter's Prep, Lympstone

Open day, enrichment and prep school sport.

Open day, enrichment and prep school sport.

Following an extremely successful Open Day last Saturday with some wonderful enrichment, it was good to meet prospective parents and pupils.  I am sometimes asked at Open Days what a parent and child will get at a prep school in comparison to the local primary school - in effect, what are they getting for their money.  In previous posts I have discussed the fantastic teaching, the opportunities in music and outdoor learning that the children get here at St. Peter’s and, this week, it is the time to focus on sport.  An apt subject as two pupils this week have received awards of ‘Player of the Tournament’.  One at an U9 Rugby tournament yesterday held with over fifty children playing at Stover and another at the U13 Hockey tournament at East Devon with eight schools represented on Tuesday.  

As a parent of a rather boisterous son, I realised the relationship between physical exercise and a child’s behaviour quite early on.  Rather like a puppy, it seemed necessary to exercise him twice a day before anything else could feasibly be achieved. At St. Peter’s we truly understand the need for children to be participating in sport regularly throughout the school week which, in turn, helps them concentrate in lessons and achieve highly.  

Quality provision and facilities for games and sport also have other huge benefits.  Children learn to be resilient, to take part in matches and training when they might be feeling too tired, for the sake of the team.  They learn to take care of their body and of their equipment.  They learn to work with others and to be good team mates, gracious in defeat and humble in success.  They learn how to become disciplined, focused and dedicated.  They learn how to deal with disappointment, when they don’t get that placing or title that they hoped for, they can try again to give it their best shot.   They respect not only themselves, but other athletes, officials and coaches.  They learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight.  Sport gives children the opportunity to make life long friendships, create lifelong memories and to be proud of their achievements.  High quality sport at school opens doors to high quality sport outside of school and the opportunities these can bring to quality of life, as a child and then, onwards, as an adult.  Wherever you are in the world, you can join a club to continue to play sport and then meet a new community.  With sport and games at a prep school you are paying for opportunities that sport provide children. It helps children to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others.  You can’t argue with that as an investment!  

Sport at St. Peter’s is taught by specialists from Kindergarten up to Year 8 and from Year 3, they have three games sessions, including matches, throughout the week.  As well as increasing participation in fixtures across all age ranges, sides achieve great success - last year, over 70% of boys' rugby and football matches were won or drawn, and a number of sides went undefeated in the Michaelmas and Lent term.  This week, it was great to hear that our U13 hockey side won an U14 East Devon 7-a-side hockey tournament!  Next week, we will host King Edward's School Bath at St Peter's, our first touring side of the term, and our own Sports Tour departs to Stratford-upon-Avon over half term, with fixtures planned against Princethorpe College and Bilton Grange.  Outside of our regular fixtures, St Peter’s pupils continue to represent strongly in a number of  in regional or national competitions.   Our golfers headed to Oxford last weekend for the annual 'Radley Putter' competition on the back of being crowned 'IAPS Team Champions' in 2016 and in Sailing  we are building success over previous years, towards an aim of having another ex-pupil as a GB sailor (Ben Rhodes  49er World Champion and twice GB Olympican). In last year’s IAPS Nationals St. Peter’s - U11 and U13 teams were both placed in top 1/3 nationally.   We also feel that it is important to give our pupils a taste of new sports - last Saturday it was an introduction to lacrosse while American Football has been a popular Friday afternoon activity option.  

I very much enjoyed watching (and cheering too loudly - according to my daughter),  the rugby and the hockey this week and could see the determination and resilience among the St. Peter’s sides as they worked as a team.  Well done to all pupils and to the committed and supportive games department for their tremendous work with the children to help them achieve their best, together.

Week 4 - Personal development, Yoga, Mindfulness and Adventure

This quote from the World Champion Adventure Racer Robyn Benincasa set the tone for my assembly this week.  I wanted to remind the children and staff of the first weeks back where we raised the flag for St. Peter’s and the new term.  Assemblies are so important for the school to come together regularly as a community, to celebrate success and to focus on our important values.  

As the Year 8s left for their trip to Cornwall I wanted them to think about teamwork and the strength that they can draw from each other as they head into their final year at St. Peter’s and make the most of the leadership opportunities provided by the ‘Spirit of Adventure’ and ‘Cross Keys programme’ which run through Year 7 & Year 8.  This, rather like a junior Duke of Edinburgh, trains and develops interpersonal and leadership techniques.  Children spend time learning First Aid, life-saving and volunteering.  I am constantly impressed by the year 8s who cheerfully help younger pupils and those overloaded with bags in the morning.  They wear their yellow jackets with pride (and I am told that some come in early deliberately to help more, but also to get the coveted yellow ‘bomber’ jacket).

The recent trip to Cornwall prepares the pupils for the major expedition in their final term using the wilderness and beauty of Dartmoor. By then the groups are largely self-reliant and are responsible for their own navigation, catering, shelter and group management, all with a staff backup team in the wings. My very great thanks go out to Mr Pritchard and Miss Lister for their own leadership of the recent trip - for more information please see the Senior Section of the newsletter.

St., Peter’s Prep is unique in providing such a well rounded programme in personal development and, alongside the Baccalaureate with its focus on St. Peter’s (personal) qualities and academic skills, the children have a clear structure for development in all areas.   

As well as the new weekly ‘Yoga for Staff’ sessions, ‘Yoga and Mindfulness for children’ is one of our regular weekly activities and, with a record 38 children arriving for the first session, we are delighted that the concepts of self- awareness, recognition of emotion and understanding of techniques to manage the stresses of life is a very positive initiative.  With coaching such as this, pupils will develop the ability to focus, be resilient and able to achieve great things as they move onto their senior schools and future careers.  

At the IAPS conference in London this week ‘Personal development’ was certainly a buzz word and I felt proud that at St. Peter’s we already have this firmly at the core of what we do in our development of the whole child.  

Much has been happening this week around ‘Lit Fest’ and I thank Miss Lister for her tremendous organisation and enthusiasm as well as Mme Evans for her work on the European Day of Languages.  This has certainly been another busy week!   

September sunshine and outdoor learning.

Everyone at school is settling well into the new term.  It has been wonderful to see the children enjoying the space and facilities as we bask in a warm and sunny September.  I think we have experienced only three days of rain since we have moved to Devon at the beginning of August and we are being lulled into a sense that the weather is always glorious here (although staff and children do tell me differently!)  

When I sit in my office (which is quite rare as most of the time I am out and about) I open the French windows and it is a joy when children drop in for a chat on their way to play at the adventure playground or on their way to games.  This week I tweeted some photos of my lunchtime walk as it summed up the essence of life here for the children at St. Peter’s.  (@lotjohn) Hard work in lessons, then space and freedom to be children.  Year 8 girls were careering around in tracksuit bottoms, ponytails swinging as they zoomed on the zipwire.  I love that a traditional prep school gives Year 7 and Year 8 another two years of childhood before the real teenage senior school years take over at 13.  I found  boys hanging upside down from monkey bars and there were laughing, smiling children all around me affirming that this school is a wonderful place to grow up.  This week a group of Year 5 children were invited for ‘Juice and Biscuits’ with the Head.  They told me all about their work and gave me a list of things that I should be concentrating on! .  One child even brought me a bunch of yellow roses.  What beautiful manners! Pupils here enjoy beach school and forest school and have extensive grounds to explore. Sailing and horseriding are on the Activity lists on Fridays as well as buddy reading for the older pupils with the younger ones.  

I will be attending the IAPS Head’s conference on Monday and Tuesday of next week in London and look forward to meeting and chatting with other prep school Heads then.

Reflections after the first full week

This week marked the 100 year since the birth of Roald Dahl.  One of my favourite writers for children.  When taking an assembly during a visit to St Peter’s last year, I led by reading the introduction to Matilda - a book which has, I am sure you know, many wonderful lessons to learn for both teacher and parents.  As well as introducing some the formidable Headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, surely one of the most dastardly villains of all time who thinks nothing of hurling children (who she refers to as ‘maggots’ over vast distances and confining those who dared to oppose her into a medieval torture-device - ‘The Chokey’), we are introduced to Matilda’s parents, the Wormwoods who don’t understand her,  tell her not to read so much and beg her to watch more ‘Telly’.  And then of course, the wonderful ‘Matilda’. Bookworms have few role models in life and Matilda was the best: Independent, brave, resourceful, a girl who only got cooler under pressure, even when it was being applied by the ghastly ‘Trunchbull’.  All of these key attributes (independent, brave, resourceful, cool under pressure) are traits we want to encourage in our children at St. Peter’s and this is part of what the St. Peter’s Baccalaureate teaches.  Many thanks to Mrs Ball for a detailed and interesting presentation on the Baccalaureate to new parents this week.  It is a unique and special part of what we do here and I am very much enjoying seeing it in action as the children and teachers constantly refer to it throughout their teaching and learning.  

My first full week at St. Peter’s has been interesting, varied and exciting.  I have enjoyed early morning walks around the estate and, as planned, I have spent much time in classrooms sitting with the children and talking to them about their learning. I was made a cup of tea by a nursery child (pretend, obviously!) and entertained with much conversation about helicopters.  Reception went swimming on Wednesday and I spent time with Year 8 who were out with clipboards researching for History, learning about identity and empathy in their philosophy class.  Year 7 were exploring Newtons in a Physics Lesson in our state of the art Science Lab, Year 3 were exploring Numeracy using hands-on resources, Year 2 were exploring number bonds (including half numbers!) and Year 1 were getting ready to learn their first spellings.   Year 6 Maths spent the lesson outside collecting data to use during their lessons this week, Year 5 were having huge discussions about World War II and writing introductions to their own war stories. I have watched Rugby and Hockey practice, had lunch with the children every day and spent time with the staff and parents.  With small class sizes and a beautiful site, it has been wonderful to see such positive, energetic teaching from very committed teachers who clearly enjoy teaching the children in such a picturess environment.  Hopefully, the children won’t learn so much that, like Matilda, they learn to move newts into my water glass.  

   

We also held an eSafety workshop last week. eSafety is a very important issue for parents and children.  It is essential that parents are up to speed with the technology that the children are using, particularly social media.  As social media becomes more prevalent and the use of portable devices means that children are often on the iPad in their bedrooms rather than a computer in a public area of the house (the corner of the kitchen or the study),  parents and pupils need help with keeping their children safe.  The presentation addressed current apps and games that children will be aware of and helped parents navigate through the complexities of online use without frightening parents!  The internet is recognised as a hugely powerful tool for learning and the benefits of networking, collaboration and creativity cannot be underestimated.  

Moving ahead to next week, I look forward to seeing you at the Learn the Recorder Workshops (Year 2 and Year 3) on Tuesday, the Senior School Parents Study Skills Seminar on Thursday and at the big matches against Blundell’s, Queen’s Taunton and Stover.  

New Head at a Prep School

Week 1

Wednesday was a new start for many new pupils and I was delighted to welcome them in the first St. Peter’s Assembly of the year.

The theme of the first assembly was ‘The Flag’. We discussed the recent Olympics and the excitement and pride that the teams felt in the opening ceremony walking under their flag. We discussed whether Olympians had always been able to flip from the 10m diving board or whether they had always been able to lift such heavy weights. The answer is of course not. They had to practise, to fail, to get up and try again, to be determined and know that they could achieve it if they work hard. All lessons that I wanted the children to take on as they started their new term. I explained that a brain is a muscle which needs to be worked to get learning to happen, the ethos of Growth Mindset.

We then talked about flags and the shared identity they celebrate. The fact that they give people a shared spirit and values, something to help them celebrate success together and show the world we are proud to be in the team. The Head Boy and Girl then brought to assembly the St Peter’s School flag which we all then watched them raise at the flag pole in the centre of St. Peter’s. The school gave three cheers for the term and then all the pupils were off to focus on identifying their individual targets for the new year with the St Peter’s Baccalaureate.

Walking around the classes on my first day I was struck by the sophisticated language that the children were using when talking about their learning and their targets. They all understood what they needed to do to improve and were excited and motivated by the structure of the Baccalaureate.

I shared my targets for the term with the children, to know all of their names by Christmas, to spend lots of time in lessons, activities and games, to spend time with parents and to fly the flag and cheer for St. Peter’s at matches. A super first few days.