The Prep School thoroughly enjoyed the annual Reading Competition, this week. We enjoyed listening to a range of texts, and I was incredibly proud of all the children who represented their year group. Historically the winners and runners-up have read at Hexham and Matfen respectively. This year, their readings will be filmed and shared via a link at the end of term. We will enjoy them just as much, but will miss the opportunity to perform in such beautiful settings.

As a School, on Wednesday 12th November, Years 1 - 8 came together (for the first time since March!) for a Remembrance Service. It was a very poignant event, and I was hugely impressed by both the behaviour and conduct of the children. In last week’s communication, I confirmed that we would not be able to go ahead with our normal Christmas events at Hexham Abbey and Matfen Hall. We are also having to modify some of our internal events to ensure we remain compliant with government guidelines. The Prep School Ball will sadly not go ahead, but will be rearranged as soon as restrictions have lifted to allow a large gathering once again.

Christmas is coming!

We are planning our Christmas Diary at the moment, and I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few events and key dates. More internal events will be added, but I wanted to give you a flavour of our plans, as I appreciate the remainder of the term will be very different to what we are used to.

We will also be sharing various videos of Christmas events. Please be reassured that we will do all we can to ensure the children’s Christmas is as magical as ever.

Throughout the term, we have hugely appreciated all of your patience and support. We are also painfully aware you have missed out on numerous events. Accordingly, we are determined to find a way to share our Christmas celebrations with you. After much thought we are proud to announce the very first ‘Mowden Hall Christmas Parade’. Our approach is ‘go big or go home’, and we hope you are able to come along (without leaving your car!). We are planning to entertain you with a Christmas Parade, which will include lights, music, carol singing, goodie bags and a tombola (all proceeds to be donated to our designated charity: The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust). It will start at the Astro Path (now familiar to all Prep School parents), and continue to the large speed bump. Staff and children will all be out on the drive
to wave hello and wish you a Merry Christmas as you drive by. We will send more details closer to the time, but I thought it would be helpful to let you know the date and time at the earliest opportunity. Parents will need to leave the site for a little while to allow us to get the children ready for you to collect, and we will communicate specific pick up timings in due course.

To confirm, we appreciate that for some of our families it will be more convenient to finish term on Tuesday 14th December, after the Parade. This will be absolutely fine, and we will contact parents prior to the next exeat to clarify individual requirements. We will remain open on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning should you wish for your child to attend school as normal. The term will officially end on Wednesday 15th December at 12.30pm.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries at this stage. In addition if anyone has any decorations they would be happy to loan to the School for the Parade, we would love to hear from you. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.