Dear Parents,
Welcome back to the Spring term at St Edward's; although Spring feels a long way off in this current icy spell! Thank you to everyone who braved the cold to join us for a coffee on Wednesday morning. It was lovely to see so many friendly faces and catch up after the break.
I would like to extend a special welcome to the nine new families who have joined us this week, including our very first two-year-olds in the Nursery. It has been wonderful seeing them settling in; exploring the setting and already getting used to their classroom, teachers and routines so brilliantly. We also have new starters in the rest of the Nursery, Reception and Year 4 and I am proud of all of them for the fantastic start they have made to their time at St Edward's.
You can see a few photo highlights from the week below.
Curriculum Overviews: Our curriculum focus across the whole school for this term is Our Planet and on Wednesday morning we introduced it to the children during assembly. Each year group has their own concepts and areas of learning that they will be exploring and you can view the details in the curriculum overviews linked below. The password to access the Parent Portal is t1Lehurst*R0ad.
Start-of-term reminders:
- Both Western Elms and Lancing Close gates close at 8.40am each morning. If you arrive after this time, please head to the front entrance on Tilehurst Road.
- If you are parking on Connaught Road for drop-off and pick-up, please remember to be considerate of our neighbours and not block pavements or driveways when leaving your car.
- With the current cold weather, please make sure your child comes to school with a coat, hat and gloves to keep them warm during break times and sports lessons.
Photo Highlights
First day back excitement:
First time in the Early Years outdoor classroom for our two-year-olds:
Nursery getting stuck into the new curriculum theme, drawing and making planets:
Reception drawing, writing and creating based on a Wombles story and helping them to clean!
Year 1 practising their jumping and landing skills in gymnastics with Mr Winship:
Year 3 working on their jungle animal drawings in Art, inspired by the work of Henri Rousseau:
Calendar Updates
Key dates coming up:
- Swimming: Reception and Year 1 have their first session on Tuesday and Years 2 and 3 on Wednesday.
- Pangbourne Woods: Year 2 have the first trip of the term on Monday.
- Fixtures: Years 5 & 6 - Wednesday 15 January vs Sherfield (Home), Years 3 & 4 - Friday 17 January vs Sherfield (Away)
- Little Hatchlings Stay & Play: The first session of the Spring term runs from 9.15-10.30am on Thursday 16 January.
- Celebration Assembly: The first Celebration Assembly of the Spring Term will be on Friday 17 January. All parents are welcome to join us in person or online via the Teams link.
After-School Clubs and Early Years Provision
After-School Clubs: All After-School Clubs will be up and running next week and we hope the children are looking forward to trying out some of the new skills on offer. If you haven't already and you would like to enquire about any of the clubs, please do get in touch with Mrs Russell who will be able to let you know if there is space (alison.russell@stedwardsprep.com). Click the button to see the timetable for this term.
Booking Early Years Morning & After-School Provision: In case you missed it and would like to book regular early morning or after-school provision for your child in Nursery, you can find the link to the booking form below. You are also welcome to make ad hoc bookings, with 24 hours' notice, although availability is not guaranteed.
Spring Term Menus
The menus for this term are now available on the website. You can view them via the link below.
Save the Date: St Edward's Prep Eco Festival
To mark the end of this half-term's curriculum theme we are very excited to announce that we will be hosting an eco festival on the afternoon of Friday 14 February. We would like to invite you to join us from 3pm to see some of the activities the children have prepared to promote taking care of the environment and our planet. Year 6 will also be running their annual sale of sustainable products as part of their Enterprise project. More information will follow closer to the time.
Calling all parents: We would love to invite any of our parents who are local environmentalists, scientists or work in eco-friendly organisations to speak and demonstrate your knowledge or eco-friendly practices. Please get in touch with Mrs Hunt if you would be interested in helping out for the afternoon - t.hunt@stedwardsprep.com.
FREDs support: Finally, if any members of FREDs would be happy to run a refreshments stall that fits with the eco-friendly theme, please get in touch with Mr Parsons - jonathan.parsons@stedwardsprep.com.
Sports Kit Updates: Coming 2026
We are excited to be planning some updates to our Prep sports kit in the next academic year, to bring in a fresher, brighter look. You can see some of the items here, expertly modelled by Lola and Malak! These will be gradually introduced from September 2025 as current stock runs out and will not be compulsory until September 2026 in order to minimise the need for you to replace items unnecessarily. We are also hoping to offer cost savings on some of the items.