A leading independent prep school in Somerset, offering excellence in education for 2-13 year olds
To promote and build upon their investigative skills in science, Mrs Layfield has established ‘Fun Friday’ for our Year 5 and 6 pupils. Each week, they get sent a mystery envelope and have to complete the challenge. Last week, the children explored Geodesic domes, looking at what makes their structure so strong before making their own (using spaghetti and marshmallows) and balancing books on them! This week’s challenge is making chromatography hair for the Trolls – and we can’t wait to see the results. What fun; thanks, Mrs Layfield.
We are very excited to launch this year’s Virtual Sports Day, with points going towards the coveted House Cup! Events include standing long jump, target throwing and long distance, as well as timed sit-ups and squat thrusts, with a maximum of 6 points per exercise up for grabs. The deadline to submit your scores is Friday 26th June, with the winning House being announced on Friday 3rd July. All info is on Teams. Good luck, everyone.
This week’s Headmaster’s Assembly focused on the hugely important subject of racism, the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. The accompanying hymn was the original recording of ‘The Ink is Black’ composed by David Arkin and Earl Robinson and sung by Peter Seeger. Inspired by the 1954 US Supreme Court decision to outlaw racial segregation in public schools, it says:
“A child is black, a child is white,
The whole world looks upon the sight, upon the sight;
For very well the whole world knows,
This is the way that freedom grows, freedom grows.”
We are proud that our pupils are taught kindness and compassion from a young age, and that they will take these values with them into the world.
Our Nursery and Reception children got well and truly stuck into their new theme of ‘animals’ this week. As well as a magical mystery adventure to the ‘African plains’ where the children used their binoculars to find giraffes, flamingos, elephants, snakes, zebra, lions and butterflies, the Reception class also took part in animal yoga on the North Lawns and made their own orang-utans. Meanwhile the Nursery children were delighted to have a visit from Mr Silk’s chicks!
Congratulations to three of our Year 7 pupils for outstanding achievements in music over the past few weeks. Erica and Annabel both passed their music exams with distinction (Grade 3 horn and Grade 1 piano respectively), while Grace took part in Eric Whitacre’s incredible Virtual Choir project alongside more than 5,000 people from over 97 different countries! Grace also sang a beautiful duet with Year 8 pupil, Octavia, for this week’s assembly hymn, Spirit of God as Strong as the Wind. The duo were superbly accompanied by Head Boy, Seb, on the violin. A fantastic few weeks of music; very well done to you all.
In the run up to Empathy Day this week, our Year 7 pupils have been studying ‘Wonder’ by R. J. Palacio. In a recent assignment, they were asked to put themselves in the shoes of one of the novel’s main characters, Jack, after he is asked to be a guide for a new pupil at his school. The new pupil, August, is ten and was born with significant facial abnormalities. Mrs Byrne was blown away by the Year 7 diary entries, including these words from Ben: “I think it is really important to say kind words and if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all because you could hurt someone’s feelings.” Great work, Year 7.
A very warm welcome back to our school community this week! There was much excitement on Monday as Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 returned to school, while our programme of remote learning continues for all other year groups at home. Meanwhile, our Year 8 Leavers’ Programme has started and we are delighted to have such an impressive range of virtual events, including lectures and workshops from Canford, Sherborne, Sherborne Girls, King’s Bruton, Taunton School, Blundell’s, Bryanston, Malvern and King’s College Taunton plus masterclasses and talks from Nessie Owen, James Shone and the James Dyson Foundation and a whole host of internal events and competitions. Finally, many thanks to former parent, Robbie Innes, for this glorious painting of the school. We look forward to getting the whole school community back together soon.
To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week, pupils throughout the school spent last week reinforcing this year’s theme of ‘kind’. Year 3 carried out random acts of kindness in their homes and within their wider communities, including emails and letters for grandparents and family members (special mention to Alvin, Sam and James for their virtual musical renditions), flowers delivered to mums and neighbours and kind deeds for siblings. In doing so, the children were able to see first-hand how the little things in life can spread the biggest smiles; well done and thank you to Ms Bresland for the inspiration. Elsewhere, Amy-Charlotte and Chloe made magnets and key rings which they then posted through their neighbours’ letterboxes – and to spread further cheer, Mr Edgar asked his Year 1 class to create something that makes them happy. We love their work and are proud to be spreading kindness, all year round.
As well as our Head of Classics vacancy, we are also looking for new Graduate Residential Assistants for September to help with the day-to-day running of this busy and award-winning prep school. The successful applicant(s) will help with coaching games and PE across the school, as well as leading sessions and assisting teaching staff where required. The post holder will be heavily involved in boarding, and accommodation in the boarding houses is provided. This is a fixed term position for one year, with supportive colleagues in an exceptional school. To apply, please email your CV and a covering letter to Mr Finch on reception@perrotthill.com by Friday 29th May. Mr Finch is very happy to answer questions about the position, so do get in touch via email if you’re interested. Many thanks.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day on Friday and to honour, remember and say thank you to the WW2 generation, our Lower Prep pupils created posters of peace in PRS (Philosophy and Religious Studies) with Mrs Palmer. We love this colourful design by Arabella and wish all our families and friends peace, health and happiness at home.
