Friday 1st March 2024

From the Head

Dear Parents,

A sea of colours has been paraded across St Michael’s this week as children in Reception to Year 8 have embraced the 2024 House Music Competitions. 

Judged by former Pre-Prep Music Teacher Mrs Beesley, Pre-Prep were first to take to the stage on Thursday as Dover, Leeds, Windsor and Rochester took it in turns to perform their renditions of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. From starfish costumes, to handmade submarines, to even tubs of margarine, the creativity, enthusiasm and star quality on display was outstanding and a very memorable event for all involved. Making the very difficult decision for us, Mrs Beesley chose Rochester as the winners of this year’s Pre-Prep Competition.

On Friday, it was Prep’s turn to own the spotlight as pupils and staff from Year 3 to Year 8 performed as soloists and whole houses throughout the day. We were delighted to welcome esteemed musician Hannah I’Anson to be our judge for the Prep Competition, who inspired the children with her encouraging comments. The overall winners of the Prep competition, combining results from all categories, were Leeds.

Thank you to Mrs Crane, Mr Baird, Miss Balcombe, Mrs Scott and all of the House Leaders and staff for their contribution to this event which was a true celebration of the joy and team spirit at St Michael’s. 

On the sports fields this week we have continued to celebrate success across netball, swimming and rugby and thank the children for their perseverance and resilience in playing through some bad weather. We are very proud of all of the pupils for their commitment to their weekly fixtures.

We look forward to another action-packed week as we dive into Science Week, World Book Day, Trips Week, a Reception Owl Experience and Mother's Day assembly and Years 7 and 8 Sports Tour to Holland. 

Wishing you a brilliant weekend,

Nik Pears

From the Head of Pre-Prep

Dear Parents,

There has been great excitement this week as we built up to our House Music Competition. Congratulations to Rochester who pulled out all the stops, went overboard on the props and sung Yellow Submarine with gusto! All the houses managed to adapt Yellow Submarine to make the competition a lot of fun. Mrs Beesley, a previous Pre-Prep Head of Music, came as a guest judge and awarded the new House Music Cup. Please look out for our highlights video which I know Miss Usher and Miss Brennan will be producing as I write.

Next week we have our St Michael’s World Book Day on Tuesday 5^th March. Please note, the actual World Book Day is on Thursday but we have Sophy Henn arriving on Tuesday and Reception have owls in on Thursday so it made sense for us to celebrate by dressing up as our favourite story characters on Tuesday. There are no football kits on this day. I recognise that there are plenty of football books but refereeing a lot of children in different football kits throughout the day is enough to give the teachers nightmares!

Year 1 parents are welcome to pop in for coffee and a chat with Mrs Crane on Wednesday morning at 8.45am to discuss learning a musical instrument and how to go about starting the process and choosing the right instrument for your child. Come to the Dining Room on Wednesday 6^th March. Any Year 2 parents whose children don’t already play an instrument but might like to, are welcome to join the Year 1 parents.

I hope you have all managed to book your online appointments with your class teachers for next week. Parents' Evenings are Tuesday 5^th March and Thursday 7^th March: if you need additional time with your teacher, please make a separate appointment to come into school in the coming weeks. Please note that there are only paid activities available on Tuesday. Children will be available for collection at the normal end of school day 3.20pm. The Hive will be available for children booked in from 3.20pm.

Next Thursday we welcome the owls back into our school hall for the Reception children. This proved to be popular last year, so we have invited them back.

It would be lovely to see Reception mothers on Friday morning for our Mother’s Day Assembly. I have had a sneak preview of some of the portraits your children have been painting and I am happy to say that you are definitely more glamorous than your children’s artistic skills can portray.

Overheard in Pre-Prep:

Child: "I’d love to have a chamber pot!"

Have a lovely weekend,

Zerrin Leech

A Message from the Deputy Head

Uniform and general appearance

Can I please ask that parents do a quick uniform check prior to leaving the house.

I am seeing an increased number of children arriving at school in the wrong footwear (without a plausible reason why), ties not pushed up to the top button and top buttons not done up at all. 

We expect pupils to look smart and take pride in wearing their school uniform.

Additionally, too many pupils are still arriving to school without either their school coat or blazer. It is expected that pupils are wearing one or the other when they arrive to school. 

Mr Wiseman, Deputy Head (Pastoral)

The joy of books and reading will be at the heart of our World Book Day celebrations in the Prep School on Thursday 7^th March. Children in the Prep School will not be asked to dress up. However, if they would like to get their creative juices flowing, they are invited to enter our World Book Day wooden spoon competition, in which they need to create a favourite character from a book out of a wooden spoon and craft materials. There will be two categories: Junior (Years 3, 4 and 5) and Senior (Years 6, 7 and 8). Book tokens will be awarded to the winning entries. Wooden spoons should be given to Mrs Yarrow in the library or to Mrs Andrade. The deadline is Wednesday 6^th March. 

There will be a whole host of book-related activities taking place on the day itself.

Happy reading!

The English Department

A plea to turn your engines off whilst waiting

The children from our Eco Club have drawn to our attention that while parents wait to drop off and pick up their children from St Michael’s, most cars have their engines running. 

As all of you are aware, we all need to do our bit towards helping to improve our environmental footprint including the impact on our atmosphere and community.

Our children are politely asking that by turning off your engines, you help to keep our air free from pollutants.

Experience Camp Beaumont at St Michael's this Easter

We are delighted to be welcoming Camp Beaumont back to St Michael's this Easter holiday to host exciting workshops from Tuesday 2nd April to Thursday 11th April 2024. 

For a limited time only quote STMICHAELS24 at the checkout to save 20% on your booking (offer valid until 18/03/2014).

As the UK’s most established day camps provider, dating back over 40 years, Camp Beaumont host the most magical, inspiring and confidence-building activity days created with different age groups in mind. Working with industry-leaders in programme design, children can expect a huge range of over 50 exhilarating indoor and outdoor activities including Superhero Academy, Soft Play Ninjas, Clay Workshop, Aqua Olympics, Mini Archery and Rockstar Challenge; all tailored by age group and season. There are also chill-out areas available for campers who want some relaxation time.

Camp Beaumont gives local children the opportunity to meet new, like-minded friends and have lots of fun together away from screens in a friendly and welcoming environment. With flexible booking options available, childcare vouchers and tax-free childcare accepted, Camp Beaumont is a flexible and affordable school holiday childcare option for busy parents in the local area.

Click here to secure your child's place at Camp Beaumont this Easter

Ella and Evelyn reach tennis Semi-Finals

On Sunday 25th February, Year 3 pupils Ella F and Evelyn T represented St Michael's at the Sevenoaks Red Ball Doubles Tournament held at Sevenoaks School. The girls played brilliantly, making it to the Semi-Finals.

Well done girls, keep up the fantastic tennis!

Pre-Prep all live on the Yellow Submarine   

The children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have had the wonderful opportunity to take part in the House Music Competition this year. In line with The Beatles theme, the children and teachers have enjoyed rehearsing and choreographing different creative variations of Mrs Crane' choose song,Yellow Submarine. 

The singing, dancing, use of props and instruments was fantastic!

Mrs Sally Beesley (a previous St Michael's music teacher) was our guest judge and after much deliberation, awarded The Beesley Cup to Rochester. Mrs Beesley was impressed by the "totally amazing performance from all the children and staff! Fun filled, exciting and creative; the best of St Michael's Pre-Prep singing."

A huge well done to all the children and their teachers. They should be extremely proud of their performances. 

The trophy will have pride of place in the Pre-Prep foyer. 

Mrs Crane, Pre-Prep Music Teacher

Highlights video:

U13 IAPS netball success

On Wednesday, the U13 Netball team played in the IAPS qualifying round at Charterhouse School. They played well in their pool matches, winning one and narrowly losing two. This meant they progressed to the Plate Competition. 

In the Quarter-Finals, they paced the Prebendal School and won 11-2. In the Semi-Finals, our girls faced Highfield School. After full time the game was a draw, so an extra 5 minutes was played. The girls played with tenacity and determination and the final result was a win for St Michael's, 10-9. 

In the Final we faced the highly skilled Broomwood School. We fought hard but were unable to utilise all of our chances, with the final result being 6-4 to them.

Overall it was a great day of netball; well done to all the girls that played. 

Mrs Denton, Head of Girls' Games 

Splashing result for St Michael's at IAPS Qualifier

On Thursday, pupils from Years 5, 6 and 8 represented St Michael's at the IAPS Swimming Championship Qualifier. Everyone worked hard and perfected their relays and diving in the lead up to the event. 

Over 4000 competitors compete in the Championship and the fastest 1500 swimmers are invited to swim at the Finals which takes place in the Trinity Term. 

The Qualifier was attended by 13 schools. Well done to our Year 8 girls Amelia A, Bronwyn T, Tilly L and Matilda M for winning both of their relays and 3 out of 4 of their individual swims. 

Well done to Year 6 pupil Finlay S for winning his individual breaststroke race. Year 5 pupil Nathan H and Year 6 pupil Sophie F also both came in at a close second place in their events.

Some of our swimmers had never competed in a gala before or swum in a 50m race from a diving block. All pupils should be extremely proud of themselves and their accomplishments.

Mrs Fornasier, Swim School Manager

Leo E for displaying a fabulous work ethic in all of our learning activities and for brilliant understanding when solving worded Maths problems 

Becca A for displaying a fabulous work ethic in all of our learning activities 

Kensi W for excellent, independent addition and subtraction

Rudy F for fully focusing on a task given and being proud of what he has accomplished

Jemima G for being an excellent buddy, making others feel welcome and included

Nieve P for accurate use of speech marks when writing about the characters from Cinderella in our English lessons

Reuben S for excellent listening skills and participation in all subjects, resulting in accurate independent work

Lucas T for always approaching every lesson with enthusiasm and positivity

Angelica H for an excellent explanation of her ‘first, then, now’ Maths problems

Lottie B for fantastic engagement and enthusiasm in every aspect of school

Ivan K for composing well thought out and creative English work

Frank P for carefully multiplying and dividing numbers by 2, 5 and 10

Ella F for being a brilliant reporter and writing a detailed recount of Mary Anning's fossil find

Mason T for creating a beautiful piece of paleoart inspired by Henry de la Beche

Harvey R for persevering with learning his multiplication and division facts

Mia D for showing a fantastic understanding of multiplication and division

Rafi O for writing an excellent newspaper report, using interesting vocabulary

Rafi O for fantastic planning, preparation and leading of the football coaching session in Team Games

Danny S for wonderful leadership skills in the football coaching session in team Games

House Point Certificates 

Rochester: Annabella N

Windsor: Jessica C and Nikita V

Times Tables Certificates 

Bronze Times Tables Certificate: Anika B, Zihao G and Frank P

Players of the match - week commencing 26th February 2024

This week the children have continued to have fun in attempting to keep their plastic cups spinning the longest. Congratulations to Ruaridh for, yet again, achieving another new record of 23 seconds and 49 milliseconds. Also well done to Demi who is currently a close second place with an impressive 22.40 seconds. 

In the Hive, the children continue to enjoy using the sewing machine and many more patchwork snakes have been completed.

And finally, shh mum's the word as both clubs have begun to make their special Mother's Day gifts. 

Miranda wins Gold at Bromley Festival of Speech and Music! 

Congratulations to Miranda for winning the Gold Medal and the Yeo Trophy at the Bromley Festival last weekend.

She performed a beautiful rendition of Mozart's 12 Variations on "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman". Miranda was praised for her lovely finger work and musicality and we are super proud of her!

Arthur and Richard help their local village by litter picking!

Year 2 pupil Harvey and Year 1 pupil Arthur are cleaning the planet one step at a time by collecting rubbish in their local area.

On the first weekend of each month the boys join others in their community to litter pick. They love to help the world even if it starts with where they live.

Keep up the good work, boys!

P & F Carnival Ball 2024

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 Cookbook Competitions

A group of St Michael's parents are creating a St Michael's cookbook and as part of that, are launching a recipe and drawing competition.

We welcome all recipe entries; they do not need to be part of the competition so any family favourites or family and friends entries are welcome.

Recipe competition

We would love for children to submit their favourite food recipe (snack, main, dessert etc.). This should include ingredients list with quantities, a method and a drawing of the finished food (by hand or computer).

Art competition

We would like children to submit pictures of their favourite school meal or food they’ve had at school. This can be by hand or by computer.

This is across the whole school and there will be separate winners for Prep and Pre-Prep. The judges will include Mr Pears and Mrs Leech. The winners will receive copies of the cookbook along with St Michael's aprons.

The closing date for entries is Friday 22nd March 2024.

Please email all entries to stmcookbook24@gmail.com.

St Michael's Umbrellas

Please click the above banner for notices including:

Midsummer at Archbishop's Palace, Otford

Otford Village Fete 2024 programme competition

Otford Village Fete is delighted to invite St Michael's pupils to take part in their 2024 programme cover competition!

Children are tasked with designing a cover for this year's event programme based on the theme of this year's fete, the union between France and the United Kingdom.

Children of all ages are invited to take part and the winning drawing will take pride of place on the programme. Prizes are available to the winner and runners-up. 

All entries should be submitted to St Michael's Pre-Prep Office or Prep Office by Tuesday 19th March 2024 at 9am. 

For more details about the competition, please click here. 

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