From the Head

Dear Parents,

Christmas has well and truly begun at St Michael's. Our glorious Christmas trees are glowing and festive songs can be heard throughout the school as rehearsals for our Nativities, Carol Service and Christmas Concert reach their final stages. Thank you to our Estates Team for their hard work in putting up and decorating our trees. A huge thank you must also go to Polhill Garden Centre who have generously provided our Christmas trees this year; we are very grateful to them. 

Pre-Prep musicians have impressed us with their instrumental progress this week as assemblies have featured both group and solo performances. Congratulations to the children who performed and thank you to our team of Peripatetic Music Teachers for preparing the children so well for these showcases. Performing in front of a big audience requires a lot of bravery, especially for our little ones, and they should be very proud of their achievement. 

Tomorrow we look forward to hosting the P & F Christmas Fair at St Michael's. Thank you so much to the P & F for their tireless work in organising this event which is always a highlight of the school calendar. I look forward to seeing many of you, together with Mother Christmas and Father Christmas at the event, as well as finally discovering where that mischievous Elf has been hiding!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend. 

Nik Pears

From the Head of Pre-Prep

Dear Parents,

What a marvellous week we have had with entertainment every morning in our assemblies. We have listened to ukuleles, guitars, pianos, drums, recorders, toots, violins and cellos. Your children have been amazing and I am sure they have given the younger audience members some ideas about learning an instrument. A huge thank you to Mrs Crane for organising these musical assemblies and all the Music Teachers who work hard to get the children performance ready. A separate thanks to Mr Ashwell who gave us a great percussion demonstration this morning!

Next week Pre-Prep will be officially allowed to start Christmas. The teachers have been sneaking in little bare Christmas trees, creating “Winter Wonderland” scenes in the classrooms, getting children to make paper chains when I’m not looking and seeing just how much sparkle they can get away with on their jumpers. Don’t think I haven’t noticed teachers. It is great fun as your children come to me to “tell” on their teachers when they have done something Christmassy!

Next week I shall look forward to seeing many of you at Christingle and the Nativities. We start on Tuesday with Year 2 and 3 working together to present their Christingle Service. This will be in the Pre-Prep Hall at 9am. We are asking that children have one guest and that you get a ticket for this. It is free of charge but we need to restrict the numbers of adults. With 100 children and lit candles, we need space to ensure safety. Thank you for your co-operation.

On Wednesday Kindergarten will perform their Nativity at 9am in the Pre-Prep Hall and Nursery (Group 1) will perform their Nativity songs at 11am. On Thursday Reception perform at 9am and Nursery (Group 2) continue the festivities at 11am. For each of these performances you are welcome to join us for coffee in the Pre-Prep Dining Room beforehand. Mrs Stibbons will have let parents know which group their Nursery child is in.

I hope to see you at the P&F Christmas Fair tomorrow. My weather app doesn’t show rain so we should all have a good time.

Overheard in Pre-Prep:

Learning about omnivores

Child: “I eat seeds, but I don’t eat worms.”

Have a lovely weekend,

Zerrin Leech

St Michael's Hygiene Bank Collection

We are welcoming St Michael's families to donate to our Hygiene Bank Collection again this year. 

Last Friday the Prep children had an assembly about hygiene poverty in England and learnt about the work being done by the Hygiene Bank. We spoke about things that we take for granted and how a small thing that we give can make a huge difference to someone else. For the past two years we have collected hygiene products during the Michaelmas Term and would like to do so again.

Tubs have been placed on the various landings in Prep for children to place any items brought in. The Hygiene Bank website is requesting ‘new, unused, personal care and household cleaning essentials - including deodorant, shower gel, shampoo, make-up, nappies, toilet roll, laundry detergent and surface cleaner. If you need them and use them, then it is likely someone else needs and uses them too.’

We are already off to a good start and it would be wonderful if we can have another bumper collection this year to donate to a worthy cause.

Both Prep and Pre-Prep families are welcome to contribute. Pre-Prep families should take any donations to the Pre-Prep Office and Prep children should bring their donations to one of the tubs in the Prep building before the end of term. 

Mrs Baisch, Head of Years 5 and 6

St Michael's scientists tackle national competition

Congratulations to Lottie E, Thomas G, Silas C, Zi Chen G, Theia H, Isaac O, Ella D and Peter S who took part in this week's preliminary round of the National Science Quiz Club Competition. Both teams worked incredibly hard collaborating to answer questions on all aspects of Science well beyond the KS2 curriculum. We were delighted to hear that one of our teams has a confirmed slot in the Semi-Final in January having finished in the top 10 out of 110 schools taking part. We are keeping our fingers crossed that our other team scored sufficiently highly to get a place too. Thanks go to Mrs S Clarke, Mrs Caswall and Mr Halford for providing support and technical back up on the day.

Mrs J Clarke, Science Teacher

Christmas arrives at St Michael's!

Christmas has well and truly begun at St Michael's. Our glorious Christmas trees are glowing: thank you to our Estates Team for their hard work in putting up and decorating our trees. A huge thank you must also go to Polhill Garden Centre who have generously provided our Christmas trees this year; we are very grateful to them. 

Pre-Prep Music assemblies

What a marvellous week we have had with entertainment every morning in our assemblies. We have listened to ukuleles, guitars, pianos, drums, recorders, toots, violins and cellos. Your children have been amazing and I am sure they have given the younger audience members some ideas about learning an instrument. A huge thank you to Mrs Crane for organising these musical assemblies and all the Music Teachers who work hard to get the children performance ready.

Mrs Leech, Head of Pre-Prep

Orchestra

Every Friday lunchtime St Michael's Orchestra gathers under the expert guidance of Mr Bennett, ably supported by Mrs Dove and Mr Ashwell.

This talented group of young musicians has gone from strength to strength this year, demonstrating remarkable growth and development.

With a well-balanced mix of instruments across the family sections, the Orchestra has been working hard to refine their sound. Sectional rehearsals allow pupils to focus on their individual parts before coming together to work on blend, colour and shaping. This term, they have been preparing two well-known Christmas pieces which they are looking forward to performing at our Christmas Breakfast Concert on Friday 6^th December.

If your child is around Grade 2 standard on their instrument—or is a keen and enthusiastic player close to that level—we would love to hear from them! Joining the orchestra is a great opportunity to make music with friends and develop ensemble musicianship skills.

This week we've had a great time adding the finishing touches to one of our festive recycling tyre projects. We've also enjoyed crafting intricate paper snowflakes and creating colourful pom-poms.

Have you seen this Elf?

Please ask your children to keep a look out for him - we need to catch him before he causes mischief at the P & F Christmas Fair this Saturday! There's been some recent sightings across the school...

Kemsing Church's Christmas Tree Festival

Dear Parents,

Please come and support Kemsing Church's Christmas Tree Festival this year. From 1st to 8th December you can visit the Church (see poster) to see 15 trees representing a number of local societies. You will be given a warm welcome, drink and snack and you will have the opportunity to vote for your favourite Christmas Tree (yes, St Michael's has entered the competition, but please do vote as you wish!).

Mrs Shield, Head of Religious Studies

Players of the Match - week commencing 25th November

Nathan and Dylan's swimming success

Congratulations to Nathan and Dylan H who have achieved brilliant results in their recent swimming competitions.

Nathan won Gold (400 free), Gold (200 Breaststroke), Silver (100 Breaststroke) and Silver (50 Breaststroke) at the Maidstone Winter Qualifier as well as attaining regional considerations for all three Breaststroke distances. 

Dylan also continues to enjoy competitive swimming, taking part in both short and long distances. At the Tonbridge Swimming Club Championships Dylan won Gold (100 Breaststroke) Gold (50 Breaststroke), Bronze (50 Fly), Bronze (50 Backstroke), Bronze (200 Backstroke) and Bronze (800 Free).

Keep up the amazing swimming, boys!

Theia wins gymnastics silver

Congratulations to Theia H who recently came second place in a local gymnastics competition as part of the Lightning Gymnastics Floor and Vault Squad.

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