From the Head

Dear Parents,

The sun, rain and hail have welcomed us back this week as we have commenced the Trinity Term which much enthusiasm, catching up with friends and looking ahead to an action-packed summer together. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter; I have enjoyed hearing about the pupils' trips away and also quality time they have enjoyed at home. A big thank you to the St Michael's staff who led both the Pupil and Family Ski Trips during the holidays. The feedback has been brilliant and I have no doubt that many life long memories were made; I hope you enjoy the Pupil Ski Trip highlights in today's newsletter, with Family Ski Trip highlights to follow next week. 

Thank you to those of you who attended our Coffee Morning hosted by our Learning Development Department, led by our SENDCO, Mrs Gent on Wednesday. It was an important opportunity to share how we can work together to support your child at St Michael's. A strong partnership between home and school is invaluable and we were delighted to see so many of you at this event. 

Next week we look forward to many exciting activities as we prepare to celebrate all things français on Tuesday's French Day, solve some tricky puzzles at the Years 2 and 3 Maths Challenge and welcome guests to our Open Morning on Friday. 

Wishing you a fantastic weekend,

Nik Pears

From the Head of Pre-Prep

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the Trinity Term. There is an action-packed term to look forward to. Please keep your eye on the school calendar, your child’s diary, my newsletters and emails to see what is happening when and where. I desperately try not to change dates once I have put them in the calendar but there are reasons that sometimes lead to an occasional change of date or time.

The children arrived back to school to find their ball area at the top of the garden has been carpeted in Astro turf. The new lush green “grass” has replaced the previous tired plastic flooring and will hopefully last the next 15 years! Mr Davies is keen to use this area for PE lessons weather permitting and Nursery have already had their PE lesson outside.

Next week I look forward to seeing some of your Class Reps for coffee and a Q&A session.

Monday 22^nd April Year 2 Reps 8.45am

Tuesday 23^rd April Year 1 Reps   8.45am

Thursday 25^th April Reception Reps 8.45am

Please feel free to forward any of your questions to your Class Reps in time for their meeting.

Next Tuesday 23^rd April we will hold our annual French Day. As this falls on St George’s Day I am sure there will be plenty of Entente Cordiale as we all come to school dressed in red, white and blue which fits well for Anglo-French celebrations.

Year 2 will join Year 3 at Prep next Wednesday for their Maths Challenge morning. They will be working in mixed teams for a lot of fun mathematical activities.

Next Friday we have Open Morning for prospective parents to view our amazing school. The sun will no doubt shine as it always does on Open Mornings!

Overheard in Pre-Prep: Talking about our goals for the term ahead

Child 1: "I want to be more independent."

Child 2: "I want to be more Brazilian!"

Teacher: "Do you mean “resilient”?"

Have a lovely weekend.

Zerrin Leech

We are delighted to welcome the following individuals to the St Michael's team this term:

Katy Rogers - Learning Support Assistant 

Katy has trained and worked as a class teacher for 7 years, specialising in art and design. She previously took on the role of Art and DT Coordinator and worked alongside the SENCO in a school, offering support with speech and language.

She is married and has two children, a girl and a boy. She has spent the last 7 years as a stay-at-home mum, caring for her children’s medical needs, enjoying walks, play activities and time with family.

Katy is happiest when walking along the coast, exploring new nature trails with her children and visiting art exhibitions. She is looking forward to being part of the Year 2 Team at St Michael's and developing her role in inclusion.

Ellie Floyd - HR Assistant 

Ellie has been working in HR as an Admin Assistant at a neurodiverse school for the past 3 and 1/2 years. This was her first job working at a school which has always been her passion. She studied a Level 3 Diploma in Business Administration while working at the school, which she really enjoyed. 

She has recently moved to East Grinstead from Canterbury with her husband to start a new venture. They lived in Canterbury while her husband studied a degree in Biomolecular Science; now he has finished his studies they have moved closer to home to be nearer to friends and family. 

She enjoys being in the outdoors and is excited to go for walks in the Ashdown Forest. She also enjoys reading, drawing and cooking. 

Ellie is excited to meet everyone at St Michael’s and to join the HR Team of a wonderful school. 

Jo Owlett - Learning Support Assistant 

Jo began her working career as a nurse, training and working in London. She worked in a variety of medical fields including intensive care and completing her midwifery training. She took a career break while she raised her three sons who are now all adults.

She returned to work as a Teaching Assistant and enjoyed it so much that she decided to go to university as a mature student to train to be a primary school teacher. She studied at the University of Greenwich and gained a BA in Primary Education along with QTS status. She now has five years' experience of working as a primary school teacher and has worked in a variety of schools.

Having recently celebrated a significant birthday, she has decided to make adjustments to her work life balance by taking up the new role as a 1:1 pupil support.

In her spare time she enjoys walking her two Labrador dogs called Bella And Grace. Bella is approaching 14 years old and Grace is 18 months old. Grace was rescued from Bosnia and seems to be very much enjoying her new life here.

Jo is also a Christian and attends St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks.

She is very much looking forward to joining the St Michael’s Team.

French Day, Tuesday 23rd April 2024

Our annual French Day is fast approaching and we have lots of wonderful activities planned for the children in Pre-Prep and Prep to enjoy. On this day we invite all of our pupils to wear the colours of the French flag (bleu, blanc et rouge) instead of their school uniform. Pupils can choose to dress from head to toe in these colours or they may simply prefer to wear accessories or a red t-shirt, for example, but please no football or rugby shirts.

Finally, on French Day pupils will be offered a traditional French lunch provided by our kitchen. For those who are brave enough, we have ordered snails again. In the morning, our Year 7 pupils will be raising money for their French cooking morning and will be preparing drinks called “grenadine” (French syrup with water) for Prep pupils. Pupils in Prep are therefore invited to bring in £1 to buy a drink from our French bar.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email Madame Buttery for Pre-Prep or Madame Poracchia for Prep.

We look forward to seeing all the pupils’ wonderful outfits!

“À bientôt !” (See you soon!)

The Languages Department

Here's a taste of what to expect on French Day:

St Michael’s Adults’ Couch to 5k Running Club

Keen to start running but struggling to find the motivation? Looking for a way to keep fit over summer?

St Michael’s Adults’ Couch to 5k Running Club is the perfect opportunity for beginners to build up their running strength and stamina in a supportive and inclusive environment.

The Running Club will meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning (7.15am to 7.45am) for 10 weeks on St Michael’s bottom pitch, concluding with Tonbridge parkrun on Saturday 6^th July 2024. The first sessions are on Tuesday 30^th April and Thursday 2^nd May 2024. Please park in the gravel car park next to the gate overlooking the Astro turf pitch and make your way to the Cricket Pavilion where the group with meet.

If you have any questions or would like to sign up, please contact Laura Andrade at landrade@stmichaels.kent.sch.uk. Please note, you must register your interest prior to the first session in order to complete a short questionnaire.

Please wear something that you can comfortably run in to the sessions including proper exercise trainers. Please also bring a water bottle.

Our new Pre-Prep compost bin

St Michael's Eco Club is delighted to share that our new Pre-Prep compost bin is up and running!

Each class has a mini caddy bin which they are putting their fruit and veg snack waste into: the Pre-Prep Eco Ambassadors are emptying these into a larger bin each afternoon and Mrs Rose is transferring the contents of the larger bins into the compost bin every Friday. 

Tennis at St Michael’s

St Michael’s is delighted to maintain its partnership with LoveSport Tennis Coaching this year. We are seeing more and more pupils wanting to learn and play tennis and the Trinity Term's Tuesday School of Sport tennis sessions have once again proved very popular. Lee Friend, a Level 3 LTA Coach, still has spaces available in our Saturday morning coaching sessions. Please refer to the LoveSport flyer below for Lee’s contact details.

The mental and physical advantages of tennis for children are profound. It's an exceptional sport that encourages camaraderie among friends and family. Beyond being incredibly enjoyable, it offers remarkable health benefits that extend into adulthood. In addition to its physical advantages, tennis provides children with a workout that enhances memory, learning, social skills and behaviour. Moreover, it fosters various transferable physical skills such as coordination, flexibility and balance.

Mr Brightman, Director of Sport

Music exam results

We are delighted to share the below set of results from music exams taken at the end of last term. Well done to all of these children for their hard work and dedicated practise in preparing so well for these exams. 

Better Body Group partnership 

Dear Parents,

The St Michael’s PE Team continues to explore new ideas to promote sports and activity for all of our pupils. Recently, we have engaged in discussions with the Better Body Group in Sevenoaks regarding an opportunity to provide our pupils with access to their Young Athlete Development Program. As a result of these discussions, we are excited to announce that our Years 7 and 8 Sports Scholars will be embarking on a ten-week programme aimed at educating young athletes on correct training techniques, while focusing on developing strength, flexibility and mobility to support overall sports development. These sessions will be led by experienced Better Body specialised strength, conditioning and exercise coaches.

Furthermore, the Better Body Group would like to extend an offer to all St Michael’s Prep School pupils (please note this is applicable for Year 3 and above) for a free 30-minute 'Kids Personal Training Session'. Please refer to the below flyer for contact details.

We sincerely appreciate all your support.

Best regards,

St Michael’s PE Team

Welcome back!

We were delighted to welcome back staff and pupils to St Michael's for the Trinity Term on Monday. 

A particularly warm welcome to the new children and staff who have joined us this week!

A Ski Trip to remember!

21 excited children (and three, almost as excited, staff) departed from Gatwick to the French Alps early on the morning of Saturday 23^rd March. 

At the end of our flight and transfer, the children were welcomed to the Hotel Skilt in Les Menuires by their reps Kit and Jordan. Ski fit and a quick meal was followed by a snowball fight and then bed. We woke on our first morning to a covering of fresh snow and those that had been skiing before were keen to depart and those that were beginners put their boots on for the first time with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. 

We were lucky to have three experienced and engaging instructors in Hugo, Romain and Andre. Over the course of the week, they took the children on in leaps and bounds, introducing them to more and more challenging slopes, including some off-piste skiing and how to get yourself out of a problem when you find yourself at the top of a cliff!! 

On top of the skiing, the Apres Ski entertainment was great with quizzes, movies, town trails and a disco on the final night. 

It all came to an end far too quickly and even though the last day was marked by incredibly high winds and a reduced area for skiing, the instructors still made it memorable with some human slalom competitions! 

Twenty four tired, but happy, travellers returned to Gatwick the following Saturday, where many parents found there wasn’t that much washing to do after all, and everyone had some great stories to tell of their week in Les Trois Vallee’s!

Look out for the invitation letter for next year's Pupil Ski Trip.

Mr Wiseman, Deputy Head (Pastoral)

Pupil Ski Trip highlights video

Pre-Prep playground transformation!

This week Pre-Prep children were excited to discover that their playground ball area has been transformed over the Easter break!

The designated area for ball games at the top of the Pre-Prep playground was covered in Astro grass, replacing the previous hard flooring, making it a much softer and natural service for the children. 

We look forward to the new opportunities and playtime ideas that the refreshed space will inspire!

Florence E for a brilliant Show and Tell about her weekend away in Bracklesham Bay

Eliza C for an amazing elephant magazine and her brilliant holiday diary

Emma U for her super holiday diary

Felix B for his wonderful holiday diary

Dilan D for a wonderfully neat holiday diary

Theo A for a lovely recount of the trip up the volcano

Alex K for a fabulous holiday diary

Mason S for a fantastic holiday diary 

Aria L for an excellent holiday diary

Rain K for a fabulous holiday diary

Rupert A for a wonderful holiday diary

Bella S for a well written recount of her Easter holidays, showing good spelling and punctuation skills

Alexander S for well organised work in our Maths lesson, measuring the mass of objects

Isabella S for making a wonderful Easter garden, explaining her creative process when presenting it to the class

Thomas D for sharing his super geographical understanding with the class

Oliver F for excellent collaboration in our Maths lesson

Owen J for interesting and well thought out contributions to our Geography lesson

Florence W for excellent work in both English and Maths this week

Frank P for carefully using scales to balance the weight of different items

Dan L for his enthusiasm, positive engagement and interesting contributions in all lessons

Aaliya S for good mathematical understanding when comparing mass

Fleur S for fantastic participation in Maths lessons about mass

House Point Certificates 

Dover: Neve H

Rochester: Theo A; Martha S; Emma U; Lila P and Rafferty R

Times Tables Certificates 

Bronze Times Tables Certificate: Elise A

Gold Times Tables Certificate: Rosanna C

Learn to Swim Awards:

Level 1: Annabella N

Level 2: Daniel L

We’ve had a fun-packed week full of paint as both the Breakfast Club and Hive have started to create our underwater themed wall display. A merman and mermaid have been cut out of cardboard, then painted and decorated alongside one very colourful turtle and lots of fish.

In The Hive we’ve also enjoyed water painting and writing outside.

Hot off the press

We were delighted to see three articles about St Michael's published in the Sevenoaks Chronicle over the Easter break and this week. 

St Michael's Coffee Cart launch -

Thursday 25th April 2024 

The St Michael’s Coffee Cart will launch next Thursday 25th April from 7.30 am. Stop by and enjoy a well-deserved coffee during drop-off and a treat from Eat n Mess. The cart will be located near the Pre-Prep building. 

P & F Ball Auction 2024

In May, the St Michael's P&F Carnival Ball auction will raise money for three important causes. The auction will support the P&F's two chosen charities Friends for Families and the Emily Ash Trust. It will also raise funds for an exciting plan to install new play equipment in the school playground. There will be an online and a live event auction.

Please have a think if there is anything you could donate to make this auction a success. We are relying on the generosity of the St Michael's community. Prizes aimed at an experience of a child could do particularly well. Perhaps your network includes a successful sportsperson, author, musician or politician who could offer an experience or a lunch meeting? Perhaps you have a holiday home you could offer for a long weekend? Or tickets to a sporting, theatrical or musical event? We are looking for a range of auction lots, including smaller items for the online auction. 

If you have any ideas or would like to discuss further a possible donation, please drop the P&F a note on stmcharities@yahoo.com.

St Michael's Umbrellas

Please click the above banner for notices including:

Midsummer at Archbishop's Palace, Otford

Girls' Cricket at Holmesdale 

Dulwich Cranbrook Triathlon 

How to spot an Asian Hornet 

Sevenoaks Vine Cricket Club

Charity performances at the Stag Theatre

Otford Spring Celebration

Follow us on social media!

Make sure you are following St Michael’s social media channels for important updates and content throughout the year.