A leading independent prep school in Somerset, offering excellence in education for 2-13 year olds
Introducing our Head Boy, Stanley, Head Girl, Lily, and Prefects for this term. Our Heads of School are appointed in recognition of their personal qualities and efforts and, following their first meeting with Mr McCullough and Mr Silk this week, the team are raring to represent the school. Well done to you all.
Happy New Year to all our families and friends, from all of us here at Perrott Hill. We’ve enjoyed a bustling INSET programme this week and are looking forward to welcoming the children back on Monday.
Hot on the heels of our special Advent service at St Martin’s Church in North Perrott, 44 of our pupils performed at an evening of Christmas Carols and Readings at Mapperton House. What a joyously informal evening of music making it was, concluding with a stonking rendition of ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ with children, staff and parents combining to great effect. Well done to all those who took part and a very big thank you to Mr Shortman and his team. Proud to be Perrott!
Our annual Year 7 Public Speaking Competition was a great success this month; each pupil had just two minutes to talk about the best human invention, using their powers of persuasion to convince our guest judge, Mr Giles Robinson from Sherborne School, that theirs should be chosen. Very well done to Jemima, who came 1st for clarity of voice and use of humour when talking about her chosen invention, the oven; to Sebastian, who was highly commended for good eye contact and a well-reasoned argument about books; and to Octavia, who was speaking about the iPhone and was commended for great delivery and a good use of counter argument. We were so impressed by all of you!
Earlier this month, our U9s celebrated a great morning at the Hazlegrove Hockey Tournament. They tried exceptionally hard, came second in their group to go through to the knockout stage and finished joint third place with Taunton School. Well done, girls – we are very proud of you.
Former England and Bath prop forward and Director of Rugby at Millfield School, John Mallett, gave a brilliant coaching session to our Year 7 and 8 boys earlier in the term. One of his protégés at Millfield was Manu Tuilagi, who played for England in last Saturday’s fixture against Australia. ‘After all this time, he still calls me sir!’ quipped John. It was a privilege to have you here John, thank you for a top afternoon of rugby.
Years 3 to 8 benefited from a brilliant lecture by Perrott parent Peter Ginn this term, which took in his early days studying Egyptian archaeology as a student at University College London right up until his role as co-presenter of the acclaimed BBC Two ‘Historical Farm’ series. He gave a fascinating insight into what it takes to be an archaeologist and was ably assisted by Charlotte, Henry, Alfie and Rose, who helped explain what is involved in a dig. Thank you, Peter.
Our Year 2 children took part in their first hockey match this term, alongside our friends at Sherborne Prep. What a brilliantly supportive atmosphere it was for all the children, who thoroughly enjoyed it and are now looking forward to many more matches to come!
Years 2 to 8 enjoyed a stellar performance of French play ‘Ticket pour l’espace’ by the wonderful Onatti Productions this morning, featuring cameos by Alice and Ollie and a feature-length appearance by Eddie, who brought the house down. A career in improvisation beckons, Eddie! It was especially good to watch the play alongside our friends from Sunny Hill Prep School in Bruton. Une pièce très amusante, à ne pas rater!
Our Senior Choir and Worship Band performed at the final stop of the Poppy of Honour’s tour of Somerset in Johnson Park, Yeovil, last week – and what an honour it was. The Poppy of Honour is a giant poppy made in Somerset, featuring the names of all 1,115,471 British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who died in the First World War. The poppy will now tour the UK and the Republic of Ireland in February 2019 followed by the Tower of London and the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. Many thanks to the organisers and to everyone who has been involved in such a special commemorative project – and well done our pupils, who did us proud both in performance and behaviour.
