It has been a rather wet week onsite, but I must say it was rather cheering to see so many parents on the touch line of both the hockey and rugby matches on Wednesday. The children did us all proud and carried on playing in the rain, really giving it their all. Parents put their waterproofs to good use and relished a welcome match tea. Thank you for supporting the children, as always, with their sport.
Other highlights of the week have been the Year 7’s Spirit of Adventure day onsite and the Year 1 Fairytales’ day.
I have returned from the IAPS Heads’ Conference armed to the teeth with new initiatives and feedback for the team here at St Peter’s. Much was said on the introduction of VAT on school fees with Julie Robinson, CEO of the Independent School Council (ISC), chairing a rather sparky debate on the first day.
There were keynote talks from Ian Symmonds, who spoke on the use of AI within school communities and the timesaving benefits both in teaching and in the general operation of businesses, as well as Dr Rangan Chatterjee, who some of you may know from his excellent podcast ‘Feel Better, Live More’, who spoke on thriving in headship.
It was good to catch up with the South West IAPS district heads as always. I attended seminars on supporting SEND in schools as well as running a seminar myself on the new inspection process which was well attended.
I was glad to get back to Devon and see the children, with some Year 8s petitioning me and Mr Morris on various matters with formal letters and presentations. They were very persuasive!
Parents’ evenings for Pre-prep have gone very well onsite this week and the new pupils and staff have settled in wonderfully.
A big well done to Hodgson House who held a successful ‘Yellow Lemon’ themed house day to round off the week.
During morning break the children organised and ran a variety of stalls including lemon bobbing, sponge throwing and lemon face making, to name a few. Overall the children raised an amazing £340 for our two charities this year.
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Charlotte Johnston, Head
