Our latest news

What an exciting first term we’ve had at our newly opened school! Graeme and I returned to work, having taken our first real break in a long time, to a telephone call from Ofsted. With just seven weeks under our belt we were going to be inspected. To say we were...

Struggling to cope with the long summer holidays? Counting the days until the children go back! Well we’ve got just the answer! Whether you’re a working parent or not, the long summer holidays can be nothing short of a nightmare! My guess is that you’re either trying...

A new curriculum for a new school. Writing a new curriculum was not something I decided to do lightly, in fact it’s true to say that I felt daunted and unequal to the task. But, having looked at the National Curriculum for children and understanding its impact on...

What do we do when children achieve the Early Learning Goals whilst still in the pre-school classroom? At Shrewsbury Prepatoria we have never been happy to settle for, ‘good’ or ‘good enough’. We don’t want children to simply achieve the expected milestones we want to...

I’m sure this won’t come as any surprise to you to know that, unlike Mary Poppins, teachers don’t have a bag of tricks, magic words or Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious songs of persuasion. So why, I ask, is it that they are expected to teach groups of up to 30 young...

Do we really have a choice when it comes to the sort of education on offer to children? I believe that the stark reality is that there really is no choice for parents. Whether you opt for a local authority (maintained) school or an Independent (private) school the...

Children don’t learn in compact periods of time, in school, out of school or at home, children learn all the time. So why on earth do we still insist on following this antiquated system of terms and half term breaks? The academic year is broken into terms of between 5...

Steph Lewis and I attended training for Kinetic Letters, in Stourbridge on 25th January 2018. The course looked at how children learn to hold a pencil, write and form letters correctly. Learning to write and form letters correctly requires more than the development of...

Following on from our training for Kinetic Letters, in Stourbridge on 25th January 2018 here are some of the things we are going implement into our practice to support the development of core strength leading to the development of key skills for writing. Babies- Tummy...

During our November inspection last year the Inspector had the following comments to make about the overall quality of teaching, learning and assessment: Staff plan precise activities that are focused to meet all children's individual learning needs. They provide...

During our November inspection last year the Inspector had the following comments to make about the effectiveness of Jane Smalley's leadership and management:- The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The manager and staff show an in-depth understanding of how...

The Inspector had the following comments to make about the personal development, behaviour and welfare of the children Staff take time to get to know children and work very closely with parents to support children's emotional well-being. Home visits have been...

Here is the summary of what the Inspector had to say about our Outcomes for Children. "Children thrive in this vibrant setting with the majority exceeding the expected development for their age. They gain excellent skills that prepare them very well for the next stage...

  Nativity Rehearsals 3 - 27th November 2017 Oh, the Christmas spirit! What fun our rehearsals are turning out to be. This week we’ve had an angel who wants to be a shepherd, flatly refusing to wear the angel costume her parents brought, though she did agree to...

Nativity Rehearsals 2  - 20th November 2017 The children have now been allocated specific parts for the Nativity play, lines have been given and suggestions for the sort of thing a shepherd/king/angel might wear have all be noted. Today’s rehearsals have gone quite...

#7 of 10 top tips on what to look for when choosing a nursery for your child. If this is the first time you have ever thought about using a nursery it is absolutely crucial that you know what to look for and why these things are important.  This series of tips are...

Nativity Rehearsals 1  - The story of Christmas 14th November 2017 Nativity rehearsals have begun for our first ever Nativity performance. We set the scene for children by telling them the story of the first ever Christmas, which children have really been enjoying. Of...

If this is the first time you have ever thought about using a nursery it is absolutely crucial that you know what to look for and why these things are important. Below is a top tip for what to look for when choosing a nursery for your child. For more tips and further...

Do staff smile and say, ‘Hello’ when you come into the room? Don’t expect them to stop what they are doing as they are paid to work with the children so you wouldn’t really want them to abandon their post. Is there a general feeling of calm or are staff shouting above the din to make themselves heard?

The tables should be clean and well-maintained, they may be wood or laminated tops. The tables may be used for both messy activities and for serving and eating meals so they must be scrupulously clean, though they may be stained over a period of time.

#3 of 10 top tips on what to look for when choosing a nursery for your child. If this is the first time you have ever thought about using a nursery it is absolutely crucial that you know what to look for and why these things are important.  This series of tips are...

#2 of 10 top tips on what to look for when choosing a nursery for your child. If this is the first time you have ever thought about using a nursery it is absolutely crucial that you know what to look for and why these things are important.  This series of tips are...

#1 of 10 top tips on what to look for when choosing a nursery for your child. If this is the first time you have ever thought about using a nursery it is absolutely crucial that you know what to look for and why these things are important.  This series of tips are...

I recently had the great pleasure of being invited to tea by one of our ex pupils. This was very special to me and I was very keen to find out how he had enjoyed his first year in Reception, what he told me was, 'all we do is write, write, write!' I suspected that...

As a parent we make judgements all day long, responding to the multifaceted needs and desires of our tiny off spring. We question ourselves, doubt and guilt cloud our judgement and so called 'experts' tell us that this is the 'best way' to do it! Sleep training,...

So, my husband gave me a book, 'How to change the world' because, he said, 'I know that's what you want to do, this may have some helpful tips,' he said.  And he is right, well partly, I dont want to change the world, some of it's great. But I do want to change the...

What does the Reggio Emilia Approach mean for Shrewsbury Prepatoria? Let's look at what our values are first. The Five Core Values of Shrewsbury Prepatoria. Respect For children, the family and each other Quality To aim for the highest quality in all that we have, do...

If you have been following facebook you will have read a little about my long awaited trip to Reggio Emilia. It was a wonderful experience to spend time reading the documentation of the teachers, to watch videos of the children learning and exploring and of course to...