Great teamwork, and plenty of our school values of courage, ambition, curiosity, freedom, kindness, community and joy shown by Year 5 throughout their recent residential trip to @millonthebruecentre, Somerset. A brilliant time was had by all!
Year 6 having a wonderful time on their residential trip to the Isle of Wight @uksasailing as they learnt new skills on the water - sailing, kayaking, canoeing - and on land with bushcraft, archery, team building activities and much more. Plenty of courage on display throughout the week and lots of great memories made!
Just one week left to apply for places available in Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 for September 2024 entry. This is an exciting opportunity to join our outstanding Prep and benefit from a rich and broad curriculum and excellent preparation for the 11+.
Closing date for applications is Monday 20 May 2024, 12 noon.
Find out more via the link in our bio, or visit us in person at our Open Day this Saturday 18 May 2024. You are warmly invited!
Nursery and Reception pupils had a treat this week with a visit from some rather wonderful dinosaurs, large and small, at their interactive workshops with @teach_rex. They came face to face with a T-Rex, Pterodactyls and baby dinosaurs, and learnt fascinating facts about how dinosaurs lived and what they ate. The highlight was making a movie using a green screen, as they were chased through a Jurassic forest by a very hungry T Rex. It was roarsome!
It`s summer sports season and there`s been plenty of courage, ambition and great teamwork out on the field from Year 3 and Year 4 as they hone their athletic skills!
Our Nursery and Reception pupils had a visit from some exotic reptiles and insects from the rainforests and far-flung corners of the globe this week and we were full of admiration at their courage when stroking tarantulas, handling snakes and getting up close to some giant insects!
It was a busy schedule of performances for our talented young musicians and singers last week, with a Recorder performance for Year 2 parents, two Djembe drums performances by Year 5, a concert by our Strings Ensemble, and our Chamber Choir`s performance of Celia McDowall`s Stabat Mater alongside the Junior School Chapel Choir and orchestra from @elthamcollegeuk at their wonderful concert at Blackheath Halls on Saturday evening. Bravo!
This term we set our Year 6 a project, to Make £10 Grow, and they certainly rose to the challenge! They developed creative ideas for their businesses, wrote marketing plans, priced their products and organised a Makers Market where they sold their handmade bookmarks, cupcakes, fruit skewers, Easter gifts, hair scrunchies, and ran games stalls.
Through their hard work and determination, Year 6 raised an incredible £1,315.05 at their market!! Well done to our budding entrepreneurs, what an amazing achievement.
A big thank you to @blackheathbookshop @oliverbonas @gailsbakery @lidlgb for their generous support in providing gift vouchers and prizes for the event. We`re delighted that a donation from the proceeds will be going to our chosen charities @flyingseagulluk and @greenwichwildlifenetwork to support their incredible work.
Congratulations to our Year 5 footballers who have won the John Hood Trophy for the first time for our school. Excellent performances from everyone involved, well done!
As part of their Science project looking at animals, Year 1 had a fabulous day trip to the Eagle Heights Wildlife Foundation in Kent where they got up close to birds of prey, Huskies and other animals. A great day of learning!
We`re extremely proud of our Year 6 and the outstanding results achieved in their senior school transfer offers this year. Our 33 pupils received 78 independent school place offers and 54 scholarship offers from many of the leading schools in London and Kent. Throughout the application process, pupils showed great determination, courage and ambition, and their hard work has certainly paid off. Congratulations Year 6!
Full details of our Leavers` results are available on the Admissions section of our website.
For our recent RE Day, focusing on Jewish faith and culture, Year 3 and Year 4 took inspiration from the leading Jewish artist of the twentieth century, Marc Chagall and his stained glass windows designed for cathedrals and public buildings. We love their finished artwork which has been used to create our very own stained glass window in the Art Block.
We were delighted with the outstanding feedback recieved during our recent ISI inspection, and we`re pleased to now be able to share their report, available to read on our website. During their visit in January, the ISI inspectors looked meticulously at every aspect of our curriculum, school culture, safeguarding, leadership and governance. They canvassed opinions from pupils and parents, interviewed staff and Governors, observed lessons and playtimes, and in the process gained a deep understanding and appreciation of daily life at Blackheath Prep.
They rightly recognised the richness and diversity of the curriculum, the high academic standards achieved by pupils, the culture of kindness and respect, and the robust and effective leadership of the school. Their feedback is a hugely successful outcome for our school and one which the whole Blackheath Prep community can be proud of.
A brilliant show of courage, ambition and perseverance from the Year 3 - 6 girls from Blackheath Prep, and our friends @blackheathhigh as they competed against each other in a Cross Country friendly race. Well done to all the runners!
We celebrated British Science Week with lots of exciting experiments and exploration of science, technology and engineering. Year 4 used their scientific knowledge to slow down marbles in their self-made marble runs, Year 5 designed innovations to help the school become Net Zero and Chromatography was explored using Skittles sweets!
This week is Window into Learning, an opportunity for our pupils to share their projects and learning in class with their parents and carers. We started the week with our Nursery and Reception pupils who excitedly involved their parents in the many fun learning activities they get up to each day in class!
On International Women`s Day we celebrate the next generation of doctors, architects, athletes, musicians, engineers, lawyers, artists and scientists - and we pay homage to the women who paved the way to make it possible.
Books, books and more books! At Blackheath Prep we place a high value on the benefits of reading and the pleasure a good book can bring, and with over 20,000 books on our school site, pupils have plenty to choose from! Our beautiful Library houses 10,000 books and every classroom has well-stocked individual libraries. Our timetable prioritises a focus on daily phonics and guided reading, regular storytimes, creative writing, theatre trips and in-school visits by writers. Happy World Book Day everyone!
We`re looking forward to our Chamber Choir performing Cecilia McDowall`s Stabat Mater, alongside Eltham College`s Junior School Chapel Choir at the college`s Choral and Orchestral Concert at Blackheath Halls on 23 March. Here`s a sneak preview of their rehearsal, this week led by Sebastian Johns, Eltham College`s Director of Music. It promises to be a wonderful evening of music!
Looking for a Year 4 or Year 5 place at an outstanding school for your child?
Places at Blackheath Prep are available for September 2024 entry, an exciting opportunity to benefit from a rich and broad curriculum, superb pastoral care and excellent preparation for the 11+.
Each year, our Year 6 leavers achieve outstanding senior school and scholarship offers, and as part of the Eltham College Family of Schools, we also offer a priority entry process for those families who wish to select Eltham College as their senior school of choice.
Next Open Morning is Wednesday 13 March 9am. Find out more via the link in our bio.
In celebration of World Book Day later this week, pupils attended book readings of their choice today, taking place in locations across the school, including our beautiful school Library housed in a former chapel.
Parents were treated to superb performances by pupils at their piano recital today. Well done to our talented young musicians who performed with such confidence. Bravo 👏
It was RE Day in school today and pupils had a fascinating day learning about Judaism and its festivals, traditions and symbolism. They also took part in lots of fun and creative activities, from designing stained glass windows inspired by Chagall, to learning about the architecture of synagogues and making Challah bread.
Last week our footballers played in competitions against our friends @elthamcollegeuk and @alleynsschool, and at home playing host to @colfessport. More football action again this week!
We`re delighted to be supporting two new charities at Blackheath Prep this year, as voted for by our pupils - The Flying Seagull Project and Greenwich Wildlife Network, both charities representing many of our school values of kindness, community, courage and joy.
The Flying Seagull Project`s brilliant team of entertainers, musicians and clowns bring fun, laughter and joy to children living in challenging, and often traumatic circumstances in the UK and abroad, including refugee camps, asylum centres, hospices and special education centres.
The Greenwich Wildlife Network is a local charity, run by a team of dedicated volunteers who rescue and care for injured or orphaned urban wildlife. Providing round the clock care, they nurture the animals and birds in their care back to an eventual return to the wild.
Over the year ahead, our pupils will learn more about the charities` work in assemblies and the classroom, take part in fundraising activities, make donations, organise cake bakes and volunteer at table sales.
Find out more about these wonderful charities, and our other charitable support on our website`s Community page www.blackheathprep.co.uk/welcome/our-community
Each week in Friday`s assembly, our teachers choose their Stars of the Week, celebrating pupils who have demonstrated our 7 school values of Kindness, Curiosity, Freedom, Ambition, Courage, Community and Joy. And as a special reward, our Stars get a breaktime treat of hot chocolate and biscuits with the Head, Mr Matthews. Well done to all our Stars this week! 👏👏👏
After school clubs are an important part of our extra-curricular offer, giving pupils the opportunity to try new and exciting activities in the 50 clubs which run after school each week. Today`s popular choices included ballet, construction club, karate and cinema club!