Mowden Hall School

Leading Co-Educational Independent Prep School For Children aged 3-13 Years

NEWS FROM MRS. KNIGHT, HEAD OF PRE-PREP​​​​​​​

NEWS FROM MRS. KNIGHT, HEAD OF PRE-PREP​​​​​​​

 12th March  2021

The pleasure of seeing all the children return to school last week has been wonderful. To hear the playground, fields and woods rebound with excited voices and the enthusiasm for Swimming, French and Music have been a joy to see. Teachers too, have been buzzing with the joy of once again teaching a full curriculum alongside all the extracurricular clubs and activities. 

This week we have been holding our termly parent meetings, where once again the importance of small class sizes, with qualified teaching assistants who support each class, where we can offer an enviable adult to child ratio is highlighted.  This is hugely beneficial at this formative stage of their lives when the child is developing rapidly and is being given the necessary time and encouragement to help maximise their true potential. Each teacher, teaching assistant and specialist can closely monitor each child’s progress and tailor their teaching accordingly.  This lays strong foundations at the very start of a child’s educational career and gives a great basis to build on.

Many parents have commented on the excellent working partnership between their child and their teacher, with mutual respect being at the heart of the school ethos. As the teachers and teaching assistants know the children so well, supervising them both in and out of the classroom and sitting with them during the family-style dining at lunchtime, ensures any potential issues are quickly addressed and strong relationships are formed. 

My experience, both professionally and personally, has been that those children fortunate enough to start in our Pre-Prep have the advantage of a truly secure base, both emotional and academic, on which to build their future school and working careers. This base is critical. After all, it was Aristotle who said ‘Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man’.

Kirsten Knight, Head

Nursery

What a lovely week we have had in Nursery. We have been talking about Mother’s Day, and read the story ‘Guess How Much I Love You’ by Sam McBratney. 

The children then discussed the ‘reasons why we love our mummies!’ We planted some seeds so they could give their mummies a beautiful flower for Mother’s Day. We talked all about what seeds need to grow.                           

Lucy Pemberton

Reception

It has been wonderful to welcome all the children back to Reception. The children are thrilled to be back together again, playing and sharing their news. 

We have enjoyed some cross country running in P.E. 

In Maths we have been thinking about our number
bonds and comparing different amounts.

Sophie Milburn

Year 1

The children in Year 1 have been so excited to be back together again. They have especially loved having sport back on the curriculum and loved their swimming and running this week. 

In Maths we have explored double numbers and odd and even numbers. 

Mexico is the theme running through our work at the moment.
We have found out about Mexican animals, located the regions they live in and researched facts about them. We used this information to create wonderful ‘Fascinating Fact Files’ in English.

In Art we are painting the animals in watercolours. What a busy week! 

Susan Flynn

Year 2

The Year 2 team is back in action and what a busy week we have had. Spending lots of time exercising outside, writing some very special poems, working with fractions, going on adventures with Captain Scott, creating some Chinese Art and considering what it means to be responsible! The children's excitement to be experiencing a full curriculum again is an absolute delight to witness. 

Kirsten Knight