Headmaster’s Notes: beautiful singing at Winchester Cathedral

It was a great pleasure to welcome so many of you to our Christmas Carol Service at Winchester Cathedral yesterday afternoon for our annual gathering in the heart of the community. We are committed as a school to making a difference to the lives of our pupils but also to the lives of the community around us. I am truly grateful for all that you do as parents to support us and was so encouraged to see those over-flowing sacks that you have donated to children in the local area who will benefit from that extra support and thought this Christmas. The Winchester Home Start team were extremely grateful. Thank you for all that you do in teaching your children to be thinking of those less fortunate than ourselves.

The sign of a strong school is a strong Board of Governors, and we have been fortunate enough to have our Prince’s Mead Governors in school this last week. They have been attending the various Committee and Board meetings that take place over the course of these dark evenings, taking part in some of our lessons, looking at the building development and of course, spending time speaking with staff and pupils. Most of the Governors have had children at Prince’s Mead and have immense experience in a range of areas which results in them all being very passionate about the future of the school and their desire for us to remain as one of the leading Prep Schools in Hampshire and beyond.

Our Year 6 pupils have had a little taste of their senior school assessments just around the corner with their mock examinations that took place this week. We have been very encouraged with their mature approach towards their academic studies over the course of this term and I am sure that revision and careful groundwork before would have enabled them to perform at their best; handling questions under pressure, and in doing so, giving a good account of themselves. Although they can feel like large milestones, exams and their preparations encourage our pupils to consolidate all of the learning that has taken place during their Prince’s Mead journey, as well as being wonderful opportunities to showcase skills and knowledge, of which they each have plenty of!

We are on the home straight now, with one week left of term and Christmas Jumper Day in sight! I do hope that you enjoy the final week of festivities and I look forward to catching up with you at the various events from PMA Christmas treats to Nativities and concerts – in between plenty of hard work for the pupils too!

Mr Peter Thacker, Headmaster