A leading independent prep school in Somerset, offering excellence in education for 2-13 year olds
Inspired by the extraordinary talent of Leonardo da Vinci and the many and varied inventions found in his famous notebooks (helicopter, hang glider and parachute, to name a few…), Year 2 have been flexing their creative muscles by designing, making and then testing their own flying machines. What fun! Big thanks to Miss Dawson for yet another fantastic hands-on lesson.
We are extremely proud to have been Highly Commended for ‘Most Creative Learning Through Play (Early Years)’ at the Muddy Stilettos Best Schools Awards 2023, and there’s certainly been plenty of creativity, learning and play going on! In Nursery, the children have been using scales to measure weight. Continuing the ‘minibeasts’ theme they weighed ladybirds and used words such as ‘heavy’, ‘light’ and ‘the same’ to describe the weight of these minibeasts. In Reception, the children have been having fun refining their fine motor skills by making some beautiful butterfly cushions! Last Wednesday, the brilliant Nick from Bugfest came to share his knowledge about minibeasts large and small. He showed the children millipedes, African land snails, stick insects and spiders, plus tarantulas and a Goliath bird eating spider! The children learnt that minibeasts have exoskeletons and were able to see Nick hold the insects and magnify them under his special camera. It was exciting to see them enlarged on the screen!
Years 6-8 enjoyed a lively Book Club discussion of Arthur Ransome’s ‘Swallows and Amazons’ last week, a highly popular choice. Pupils especially loved that the author was always firmly on the side of the children, and that it brought to life every child’s dream of inhabiting a desert island and having adventures messing around in boats with no adults present. It has even inspired the group to make a map of the woods here at Perrott Hill with their own secret names and places! Even more excitingly, almost 100 years after the book’s first publication, we will be welcoming Sophie Neville (the actress and author who played the original Titty from the 1974 ‘Swallows and Amazons’ film and who is now president of the Arthur Ransome Society) to school later this term for a series of workshops and talks for Years 5-8!
Year 7 enjoyed a brilliant day at Lulworth Cove on Monday where they looked at how, over 150 million years, different rock types have left us with such amazing coastal structures. They also sketched and annotated the Cove, Stair Hole and Durdle Door, as well as testing various rocks for acidity and porosity to determine whether they were sedimentary, metamorphic or igneous. A great day was had by all and the ice cream at the end was well-deserved! Many thanks to Mr Coverdale and Mrs Layftopield for a fantastic day of geography and science.
Year 6 had great fun at their boarding activity night on Tuesday. Featuring an array of inflatables and some fun in the sun on the Front Terrace, there were big smiles all round. Many thanks to our brilliant boarding team for a fantastic evening. Meanwhile, on Sunday Mr Shortman took a group of pupils to the Tunnel Tree Tops for an afternoon of high ropes and zip wires!
We are delighted to announce that Perrott Hill has been Highly Commended in not one but two categories at the Muddy Stilettos Best Schools Awards 2023! The first is for ‘Creative Learning Through Play (Early Years)’ in recognition of the excellent work and experiential learning and play that takes place in our amazing Pre-Prep each day. Says Acting Head of Pre-Prep, Mrs McCullough: “Learning through play is central to everything we do in the Pre-Prep at Perrott Hill; we use a mix of traditional, modern and Montessori methods and all our lessons are hands-on, making it all the more memorable for the children. We are extremely proud of the creative learning on offer, the benefits it brings to our children and the way in which it makes their eyes light up inside and outside of the classroom.” The second Highly Commended is for ‘Outstanding Pastoral Care’ which is a glowing reference to the steps we have taken over the past few years to put pupil wellbeing at the front and centre of everything we do. This has included the introduction of new ‘nurture sessions’ in our wonderful Surgery for children who need additional emotional support, and teambuilding/bonding sessions with smaller groups of pupils led by Form Tutors and Section Heads. We are thrilled that the hard work of our talented and dedicated teachers and support staff has been recognised in this way! Proud to be Perrott.
We were delighted to welcome John Grundy, the son of Perrott Hill’s founding father, back to school last week. John came to help our youngest Perrott Hillian on the day, Max, plant a tree on the North Lawns to commemorate Charles III’s Coronation, which provided a wonderful opportunity for the whole school to come together. There was a strong sense of déjà vu for John as he vividly recalled helping to plant the mulberry tree along the exit drive at the last Coronation in 1953. It was a very special occasion and one which will be remembered for some time to come. Thank you, John.
We celebrated the King’s Coronation in true Perrott style last Friday, with a street party like no other… Our biggest thanks to Mr Silk, Madame Brooks, Miss Dawson and all our staff for spearheading the fun; to our wonderful catering team for the delicious spread; to all the parents who ran events in Pre-Prep and in the Discover Farming Tent on the Front Terrace; to the Friends of Perrott Hill for keeping the Pimm’s flowing; to Jonathan and Fiona Waterer for bringing two rather fabulous shire horses along for some carriage driving; to beekeeper Nic Bard for a series of brilliant talks; to Robert Boileau and his team for the amazing sheep herding display; and to Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of Somerset, Alex Priest, for leading the singing of the national anthem to close the show. It was truly magical and we are all so proud to have been part of such a special day. Head to our social media pages (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) to see a video of the day.
Very well done to Captain of Boys’ Summer Sports, Oli, who was presented with a miniature bat this week in recognition of his debut as cricket captain scoring 39* and, even more impressively, taking a hat trick towards the end of the match to secure a Perrott victory. Next week, we look forward to welcoming Sherborne Prep and All Hallows.
Year 5 are studying the Tudors in history this year and recently started a new topic about Henry VIII. The class were split into pairs and asked to produce a poster presenting a range of facts about the former King. Extra house points were on offer for the most unusual research facts about Henry and, at the end, commendations and house points were given by Mrs Gardner for artistic design, while Mr Finch awarded prizes for historical content. Well done, Year 5, for producing some superb posters and fascinating facts!
