A leading independent prep school in Somerset, offering excellence in education for 2-13 year olds
The Grundy Hall was well and truly decked with holly this week, as the boarders dusted off the Christmas decorations and turned up the festive tunes! The Christmas countdown is now officially on and we’ve got all this to come over the next few weeks: The Pre-Prep Nativity; Christmas Jumper Day; the Lower Prep Christmas Party; Carols and Readings in the Grundy Hall; our Christmas Activity Weekend, Panto Trip and Boarders’ Christmas Dinner; Boarders’ Trips to Stourhead and Winter Wonderland in Exeter; the Christmas Show; and finally, our Carol Service at St Bartholomew’s Church in Crewkerne.
Pupils in Years 3 and 4 have been busy making this year’s batch of Perrott Young Farmers’ chutney which will go on sale during the final week of term. All money raised will go to Michael and Clare Morpurgo’s charity, Farms for City Children, which enables children from disadvantaged communities to experience the adventure of working on a farm. All thanks to our intrepid young farmer, Mr Silk!
Many congratulations to our Year 6 pupils, who took part in Tuesday’s Year 6 Mock Trial alongside primary schools Ash, Chilthorne Domer, Hambridge, Preston and All Saints, Montacute. The panel of Yeovil Magistrates were tremendously impressed by the manner in which the children approached the event, with this year’s defendant in the dock being the fictional Jackie Jones who stood accused of dangerous driving. Well done to all the children who took part, to our adjudicating magistrates, Mary Ellis, Susanna Hanson and Lindsay Wilson (who delivered a brilliant talk in the library a few weeks ago) and to Mr Silk, Mrs Byrne and Victoria Pearson for their help in preparing the children for the trial.
Year 2 have been looking at holiday destinations around the world in their geography lessons, using an atlas to plot the routes from the UK. Excellent work, Year 2.
Well done to our Year 5 boys, who took part in a brilliant U10 Rugby Festival at Queen’s College, Taunton last weekend. They competed in six 10-minute matches and all played their part, offloading the ball to each other very well indeed. There were some super tries from Reggie, Luca, Jesse, James R and James C, but the best try of the day saw the ball being passed at speed down the line with Willoughby scoring in at the corner. In the words of Mr Coverdale, magic! Well done to player of the match, Reggie, and to all the boys who took part. Great team work.
Years 3 and 4 have been working hard in Forest School this term, using their sawing, weaving and whittling skills to create some excellent Christmas decorations. On Thursday, they used the bow saws and hand drills to make mini Christmas tree decorations. One group honed their fire-lighting skills and made baked chocolate bananas, which were delicious. Thanks, Ms Bresland!
Our Reception children enjoyed a range of activities last week, with lots of reading, handwriting, phonics, numeracy and plenty of learning through play. We were delighted to welcome one of our governors, Paul Brewster, into Pre-Prep too – the Nursery children loved his reading of ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell.
Prep pupils came together for a poignant Remembrance Service in St Martin’s Church in North Perrott on Thursday, before Mr McCullough laid our school wreath at the war memorial on the village green. Our sincere thanks to Perrott parent and former Captain in the Scots Dragoon Guards, Charlie MacDermot-Roe L.V.O., gave a thoughtful and inspiring address on what remembrance means to him. He spoke eloquently about two key themes – luck and courage – and left the children with these three key messages: to be grateful for all that you have, to judge others by their deeds rather than the way they look, speak or dress, and to challenge yourself to be the best you can be. Many thanks, too, to our senior choir and instrumentalists, to those staff and pupils who delivered readings and, of course, to the wonderful Reverend Jonathan Morris. After 15 years in the parish, it was his final school service and he will be very much missed. With heartfelt thanks from all of us, Jonathan.
Our Nursery children have created an amazing and colourful fireworks display this week. They’ve also enjoyed playing with a range of materials from the practical life area of the classroom! Huge thanks to the wonderful Miss Becky and Miss Sarah for a great week of learning.
Years 5 and 6 have been working on their entries to the Mary Fedden OBE Commemorative Art Competition hosted by Badminton School. This year’s theme is ‘Roots or Routes’, with pupils being asked to explore these words through art. Our pupils, under the superb guidance and direction of Head of Art, Mrs Palmer, are exploring both – depicting visually where they come from (their roots) and the directions their lives have taken them since (their routes). As part of this project, they have also looked at the art of migrants and refugees, thinking about how different routes are taken for different reasons. They particularly enjoyed learning about The Walk– a travelling festival of art and hope in support of refugees, with artistic direction from Amir Nizar Zuabi (check out ‘Little Amal’ – a 3.5 metre tall puppet of a young refugee girl, created by the Handspring Puppet Company). A brilliant example of art bringing communities together, and we look forward to seeing the final ‘Roots or Routes’ exhibition later this month.
