From the Head

From the Head of Pre-Prep

Dear Parents,

Thank you to all of you who have attended our parent Maths Workshops this week. The teaching staff were pleased to see you all and hopefully you went home with a better understanding of how we teach Maths.

I have been able to catch the end of both the Years 3 & 4 Breakfast Concert and the Years 5 & 6 Breakfast Concert. It is such a pleasure to hear the children perform as they progress through the school.

Our Reception children enjoyed their visit to Godstone Farm on Thursday and the highlight was a weeing tortoise whose bladder capacity exceeded expectations!

Next week we have an Open Class Event on Monday 16th October . Your children are inviting you into their classroom so you can look at all the things they would like to show you. It would be lovely if you could pop in for 5 or 10 minutes. It is not a time for a personal consultation with the teacher as that will be in November. For those of you with children doing paid activities after school on Monday, please come in at 3:15pm or at the end of their activity. Parking is always light on these afternoons so I would advise trying to leave the site before the Prep school traffic comes in.

Knole House is where our Year 1 children will be heading on Tuesday. The children always have a full day at Knole looking at the houses, portraits, deer and dressing up.

On Friday 20th October we will be joining with the Prep school for Charity Day which will be in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind UK. Children are asked to add anything hi-viz to their uniform, so get out those fluorescent socks!

Year 2 will be demonstrating their football skills to parents on Friday 20th October. Year 2 parents, please head down to the pitches for a 1:40 kick off. Coffee and tea will be served back in the Dining Room after the tournament. Children can then be taken home a few minutes early for the start of their half term.

Overheard in Pre-Prep:

Child: "D..i..n din, what does that mean?"

Teacher: "A loud noise."

Child: "Oh you mean like cacophony?"

Have a lovely weekend,

Zerrin Leech

All of RB, RJ and RMP for being wonderfully well behaved at Godstone farm

Players of the Match - week commencing 9th October

Whole School Charity Day - Friday 20th October

For the first charity day of the year, the School Council have chosen the charity, Guide Dogs for the Blind UK. Your Pre-Prep and Prep children will be able to show their support on the day for this charity by wearing a hi-viz item of clothing, in addition to the normal uniform. This is not a home clothes day. A guide donation of £2 has been suggested, but as always, the children are invited to:

1. Use their own money (pocket money, piggy bank savings etc.)
2. As they are using their own money, donate an amount of their choosing

Pre-Prep children do not need to bring in £2 by themselves; there will be a collection bucket at the top of the Pre-Prep bridge for families to contribute to or, for Pre-School later arrivals, with Mrs Stibbons. All donations will be gratefully received by the charity.

We look forward to seeing the inventive ways the children are able to display their hi-viz wardrobe item next Friday.

News from the P & F

P & F Christmas Charity Appeal

Local charity Friends for Families have identified through children’s services a number of local families who may struggle this Christmas. There are three main ways the St Michael’s community could help. Your family could buy a gift for a child for the value of £25 or you could make up a bag for life of non-perishable food for an individual family. Alternatively, you could provide a £25 donation. Please email stmcharities@yahoo.com if you would like to be involved by Friday 3rd November and the P&F will provide you with further details. We hope you are encouraged to participate in this community project.

Christmas Wreath Workshop

The P & F are delighted to invite you to their Christmas Wreath Workshop in November. Please click here to book your place.                                                                         

The Stag Theatre's Jack and The Beanstalk Pantomime Group Booking

The P&F are excited to announce that we have secured a group booking for the performance of the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk at the Stag Theatre on Friday 15th December at 4pm. School breaks up at 12-12.30pm that day. To book your tickets at a special discounted rate of £27 each + booking fee please use this link:  https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/t-ojqvonx Booking will open from 8pm on Tuesday 17th October, so set an alarm as you don't want to be a silly billy! Oh no you don't... We look forward to seeing you there. The P&F Committee

P & F Christmas Fayre 2023

There is much to look forward to at this year's P & F Christmas Fayre. Please see below and book where necessary.

St Michael's U11 Community Football Tournament

On Monday we warmly welcomed Hextable, St Paul's, St Edmunds's, Fawkham and Kemsing Primary Schools to our annual St Michael's U11 Community Football Tournament. The morning offered beautiful weather for an exciting display of fast-flowing football. The tournament followed a round-robin league format, with the two top teams advancing to the Final. This structure allowed plenty of football action for all the pupils. The boys lived up to expectation and played some outstanding games with skill, passion, commitment and camaraderie. Every team demonstrated great effort and determination.

The whole St Michael's team performed admirably with their only loss coming against Hextable Primary School. The Final was a thrilling and closely contested match between Hextable and St Michael's and extended into extra time with a golden goal rule. However, the deadlock persisted. The match moved to a one-player scenario from each team every minute until both teams had three players on the pitch. It was during this tense period, that St Michael's Cole D managed to break free from his defender and calmly slotted home the winning goal. A big thank you goes out to all the schools for their support in making this event a success and a heartfelt congratulations to the St Michael's boys (Cole D, George W, Oscar B, Jimmy S, Herbie F, Lowdn H, Michael M, Finley S and Herbie L) on their remarkable achievement.

Mr Brightman, Director of Sport

U11s become IAPS Regional Hockey Champions

Mrs Bingham, Games Teacher

Ella and Florence represent St Michael's at the NSEAs

Congratulations to Ella in Year 8 and Florence in Year 7 who represented St Michael's last weekend at the NSEA (National School Equestrian Association) Show Jumping Competition at Hadlow Equestrian College.

Florence, Year 7          

Florence with her pony Buddie jumped 2 clear rounds in the morning, coming 4th in their first class. Ella competed in the afternoon on her pony Dottie, gaining 2nd place in the 70cm class and 5th place in the 80cm, both girls have qualified for the NSEA Regional Championships 2023/24. It was a big event with 30 competitors in most classes. Well done girls and your brilliant ponies, we are super proud of you and cannot wait for your next event.

If any other pupils enjoy show jumping and would like to join us please contact Flossy on 07881 931165 for more information.

Ella, Year 8

Year 4 explore Port Lympne zoo

World Mental Health Day 2023

On Tuesday we marked World Mental Health Day. We explored key topics and questions linked to mental wellbeing in a video featuring the children and staff.

St Michael's donates over 750kg to local food banks

We are delighted to announce that we donated over 750kg of food and toiletries to local food banks Trussell Trust (Swanley) and Loaves and Fishes (Sevenoaks).

In total, 747.25kg of donations were given to the Trussell Trust and ten bags to Loaves and Fishes. Thank you for your kindness and generosity which will allow the charities to continue supporting families in need this autumn and winter.

Magical Breakfast Concerts

We were delighted to welcome parents to the first Breakfast Concerts of the year on Wednesday (Years 3 & 4) and Thursday (Years 5 & 6). For some children it was the first time they had performed in the Prep school and Mrs Leech and Mrs Crane from Pre-Prep were in the audience to witness how much progress the children have made and how they have matured. Parents listened to a varied repertoire played on instruments including the piano, guitar, violin, recorder and trumpet as well as a number of singers.

Accordion lessons

Accordion is one of the newest additions to the list of possible instruments children can learn at school and so we are pleased to share news of the first success in an accordion exam: Nathan H has been awarded a Distinction in the LCM Music Performance Accordion - Step 1. If any children are interested in learning the accordion, accordion groups and individual lessons are available in both Prep and Pre-Prep. Please email our Music Administrator Tracey Scott music@stmichaels.kent.sch.uk for further details.

The Eco Club have worked hard to help improve the environment at St Michael's this term by taking part in litter picks, bird watches and creating bird feeders out of pinecones.

Big Recycling Week 

Next week is Big Recycling Week. Children and parents can get involved by having a go at making either a cardboard bird feeder or a plastic bottle plant pot. Families are invited to partake in a family selfie recycling competition and have the chance to win a £20 book voucher. Please look at the Eco board in the Prep school to take part.

Pre-Prep Eco Committee

Pre-Prep now have an Eco Committee! Every pupil from Reception to Year 2 was given the opportunity to put themselves forward to have a place on the committee. They spoke to their class as to why they should be picked before there was an anonymous vote. We had our first meeting where the children shared some fantastic ideas of how we can start Pre-Prep more environmentally friendly. Some of these ideas we will be getting started on very soon! Next week, we will launch Recycling Week and introduce some half term activities that the children may like to get involved in during an Eco assembly. We would like everyone recycle at home and take a 'recycled rubbish' selfie. We are also looking for some colourful posters for the carpark/drop off area to encourage cars to turn off their engines.

Miss Lambert and Mrs Rose, Environment and Sustainability Leads

In Breakfast Club this week we made delicious chocolatey cornflake treats and continued to enjoy playing the card game ‘Go Fish’ with the giant playing cards. In The Hive the children have been busy mixing and stuffing socks with soil and grass seed to hopefully make cute little hedgehogs once the grass begins to sprout. We have also enjoyed designing magic potions for a witch’s cauldron.

Martha is selected for Kent Tennis Squad

Congratulations to Year 1 pupil Martha for being selected to join the Kent U7 Tennis Squad following a successful round of trials last weekend. We are really proud of you, Martha!

Elizabeth wins double gymnastics gold

 Congratulations to Elizabeth in Year 5 and her gymnastics group for winning 2 gold medals at the 2023 English Rhythmic Espoir Open in Stoke-on-Trent last Saturday. She gracefully performed free and hoop routines. Amazing gymnastics, Elizabeth!

Nathan swims to 6 medal victory!

Congratulations to Year 5 pupil Nathan who had amazing swimming success at the Epsom District Swim Gala last weekend. Nathan won an impressive 5 gold medals in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 100m Free and the 200m Individual Medley (all 4 strokes in 1 race). He also won a sliver in 50m Free and achieved 5 personal best times throughout the gala. This is really impressive swimming Nathan, keep it up!

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