Dear Friends,

The sunny beaches of Andalusia seem a distant memory as the Autumn Term builds momentum! 39 new pupils and 3 new teachers have been warmly welcomed into the beating heart of our school.  

The Summer holidays were full on at Skippers!

The first two weeks of Summer Club for pupils at Skippers was well-attended and I would like to thank our teachers for running this so successfully.

For the first time ever, we then allowed an outside organisation to use our facilities and children from local schools as well as Skippers enjoyed a fantastic time.

We shall be running both clubs next Summer so book early to avoid disappointment!

The School Development Plan is very much on schedule and I would like to highlight the following:

• The Performing Arts’ building has been constructed and provides an excellent space for Music, Drama and Dance.  It is light and inviting; it is also warm with stunning acoustics! A lovely addition to the creative side of our school.
• The all-weather pitch is under construction and will be ready (we hope) by the second week in October.  It is a massive endeavour and I know that our children will benefit hugely from such a magnificent facility.  The 2,000 square metre pitch will be marked out for Hockey, Netball and Mini Soccer.  Our pupils will, therefore, be able to play games all year round and not be subject to the vagaries of our weather!  We will also be able to stage tournaments and extend our playtime provision. And, please bear in mind, that no other small prep school in our area can boast a facility of this quality!

What about the new teachers?  I am sure they will appear in their own right in the newsletter but a few words about each of them!

• Emma Harvey:  Emma has settled in well and both her children, Ramona and Penelope have joined our Nursery.  Emma is already proving popular with the pupils and her classes are buzzy and well-focused.
• Alex Gurran:  Alex is full of energy and puts 100% into all his lessons.  He is a very capable PE specialist and is delivering the whole PE and Games curriculum to children across all of the age ranges.  Alex is keen to introduce Handball and Invasion games into the lessons; he is also looking forward to making full use of the new astro!
• Mark Hammond:  My new Deputy Head has hit the boards running!  He has taken over the role of School Pastoral Care which involves all aspects of pupil welfare to include safeguarding, child protection, behaviour management (Rewards and Sanctions) and Senco. All matters pertaining to these areas of school life should be addressed to Mark in the first instance…………at last I am learning to delegate! Mark has taken on a mammoth task but in his calm and collected way, he has made an excellent first impression on staff, pupils and parents.  Mark’s wife, Sarah, will be helping as a volunteer at Skippers in the near future and her lovely children, Lucy and Joshua, are having a lovely time in Year 4 and 2 respectively.  I, of course, remain available to all parents and pupils whenever you need me!

Back to the blog!

I have a new remit from HQ: to write a blog for each newsletter and, of course, I shall apply my new-found knowledge: Delegate! Delegate! Delegate!  From time to time, be not surprised if a guest blogger stands in my stead and I promise that there will always be something amusing in each piece to break any potential monotony!

A note was slipped one morning under my study door and it read:

Our school is a good school,
It's made of bricks and plaster,
The only thing that's wrong with it,
Is the bald headmaster.

Cheeky imp I thought and a series of potential recidivists sprang to mind!  Which malefactor, felon, miscreant or wrongdoer was responsible for this heinous crime? It must be an Upper School pupil flexing his or her muscles...pushing the proverbial boundaries.  The fact that the verse does not scan properly and the punctuation is awry narrows down the field somewhat!  So, whoever is responsible for this ode is a measly nematode and vengeance will indeed be mine!

Back in a fortnight for a new blog!

Bless you all!

Tim Lewis

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