Dear Parents
One week down and we are very much back into the swing of things with new topics visible on whiteboards and on the new screen installed over the holidays. The School’s development plan proceeds apace. Parents from R to 4 will see the hard work of the pre-prep staff on the refreshed curriculum with their termly outlines which will land over the coming week. Work on a new reporting and feedback structure is underway and a consultation document will be sent home in the next few weeks for your thoughts.
Outside of the classroom we have seen some super successes already: We sent two teams to the IAPS Clay Pigeon competition, both teams had a great day and showed some outstanding teamwork, very excitingly the U11 team triumphed taking a very well deserved 1st place against c. 20 other schools. Particular congratulations should go to Daisy S and Darcy C for being placed joint 1st and Annabel B for coming 3rd – really well done everyone who took part. On the cricket front this week, it has been brilliant to welcome Beth as our cricket pro this term. She is part of the PiriPiri coaching team, is an Essex cricketer, and a super ECB coach.
This week has seen me able to have two assemblies. Tuesday’s assembly focused on ‘things which…’. We considered things we look forward to, illustrated by what the summer term brings in the way of fun – then looked at what really matters: how people relate to each other, how they listen, think and work. Then it was things that helped – being ambitious, bold, calm, disciplined, excited and fulsome with their support of others (slight push to include that one). Then things they don’t always remember as in how much their teachers care for them and the partnership they need to have with them.
Today’s assembly was about cricket as a metaphor for life with sections on: not everyone has a go/can be a hero, importance of teamwork, the role of discipline and dedication, how cricket illustrates the changing pace of equality in life/sport, how cricket can provide such special moments, the need to listen and the place of honour/manners in cricket. I am very sure I missed some but the aim was to give them something light, but memorable.
As we enter the real Centenary term I would like to bring your attention to the following:
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Holmwood100 Challenge – each week we are going to have a centenary/100 based theme. This week the challenge is for the children to design a centenary birthday card for Holmwood, with a line inside about what they love about school – it would be fantastic if we could collect 100 cards!
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Centenary/Jubilee Street Party – on 25 May at 3.30pm more information to follow.
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Centenary Ball – Friday 10 June.
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Centenary Alumni Event – Sunday 12 June – open to all alumni and former staff.
There was an exciting buzz at our summer Open Day today and the phones have been very busy since the start of term with enquiries across all the year groups. I would just like to thank all the parents who kindly gave up their time to act as tour guides this morning and this afternoon. We really appreciate your support at these events.
Edward Bond
Headmaster