ℯNEWS MARCH, 27 2026
Open Day - Friday 27 March
What a wonderful Open Day celebration we enjoyed this morning. The children all arrived, smartly dressed and ready to show their family and guests the progress they have made so far this year. We were even serenaded with spontaneous songs as members of the junior and senior choir congregated in the dining room under Dr Ashworth's watchful eye.
Debating Success - Queen’s Gate Debating Competition
On Wednesday evening the Form Six class travelled to Queen’s Gate School for their annual Debating competition held in South Kensington with Mr Garvey and Mrs Walsh. Twelve teams were pitched against each other, over three hours, with three motions under consideration. These centred on whether school children should study ‘life skills’; if we should prioritise space or ocean exploration; and finally the pertinent question of what makes a good leader? The first debate had been prepared by each team, but the latter two were impromptu, meaning the students had just fifteen minutes to get their thoughts together. When the points were added up, the team of Rafeeq, Mariam, Kira and Maxine won two and lost one of their debates, but finished fifth. The team of Lara, Mikayla, Atia and Elena won all three of their debates with high points and were declared the 2026 Champions. This is the second time CHS has won the event and is a great credit to the pupils’ immense hard work.
Easter Egg Hunt
On Thursday morning, the children set off to Hyde Park and Connaught Square Garden for the annual CHS Easter Egg Hunt. Despite the teachers doing their best to squirrel away the egg tokens that the children had designed and coloured earlier in the week, the children managed to hunt them down and on their return to school the Easter Bunny exchanged their egg token for a real chocolate egg. Yum!
Thanks to Ms Harford and Mrs Larke for organising the event.
Mrs Wells Maternity Leave, Ms Watson Maternity Cover
On Thursday morning before the school doors opened, the staff at CHS gathered for a very special baby shower to celebrate Mrs Wells starting her maternity leave. The children in Junior One have already got to know Ms Watson who spent the week at CHS last week, who will be taking on the reigns in Junior One when we return for the Summer term. I’m sure we speak for the entire CHS community when we wish Mrs Wells the best of luck in her upcoming adventure as a new mother.
Reading and When Mariam met Michael
We hope the children will have time to play and make their own choices about what to do during their holiday but when they want some relaxation time we would like to remind them of the joy of reading. Books can take us to far away places and can feed our imagination. They spark creativity and can lead us to ponder about why and how. Don't forget to read.
With that in mind…
It’s often claimed that you should ‘never meet your heroes.’ For Mariam in Form Six, this arcane instruction was well and truly broken last weekend. Attending the Oxford Literacy Festival is a dream for many people and the nine day event concludes this Sunday. Hundreds of writers roam the ancient city giving talks and winning new admirers to their respected work. During the afternoon Mariam sat in on a lecture by celebrated author Michael Morpurgo. Little was she to know that later that evening the same prolific writer was to turn up at the same restaurant where Mariam was eating alongside her mother. Moments later, Mariam had wandered over to the Morpurgo table and had a long conversation about her passion for reading. Michael signed a copy of his book. ‘Lucky Button.’ This novel is centred on London’s Foundling Hospital and talks of the amazing power of music. Encounters like this are significant for both pupil and writer alike.
‘I’m bored! What can I do?’
Whilst we would hope that our pupils would always have a good idea about how to spend their free time. We would like to remind them they could;
Read a book
Log in to Doodle Learning and practise their maths or English skills,
Log in to Nessy and practise their spelling rules or touch typing skills.
Develop their fine motor skills (great for handwriting) by playing with their lego or doing some drawing, cutting and coloring. Perhaps they could write a letter or send a card to a relative.
Develop their spatial and reasoning skills by doing a jigsaw, attempting a crossword puzzle, playing a game of Scrabble or Boggle.
So many things to do…so little time!
Spring Break
Wishing you all a very happy spring break. We trust that families celebrating Easter or Passover will have an enjoyable time with their family. We look forward to welcoming the children back fit and well, in their summer uniform which you can find on the Perry’s uniform here, on Tuesday 21st April for the start of summer term.
House Points
Clifton = 2074 Sussex = 1904
Artwork of the week
All of Form Four, for fantastic sculptures inspired by Ancient Egypt. Well done Riley, Wen Wen, Oli, Ilan, Klara, Leo, Konstantin, Clara, Luca, Ari, Bruno, Poppy and Margaret.
Upcoming Dates for Your Diary
April
Tuesday 21st - First day of Summer term
Tuesday 28th - F3 & F4 Paddington Library trip
Thursday 30th - Virtual Coffee Morning for F4 & F5: 11 plus with Mrs Hampton at 11am
May
Monday 4th - BANK HOLIDAY School closed
Tuesday 5th - J1 and F1 Trip to The Postal Museum
Tuesday 12th - F6 Bank of England trip
Monday 25th - Friday 29th HALF TERM
June
Friday 19th - Sports Day
Tuesday 23rd - Parents Meetings
Wednesday 24th - Parents Meetings
Friday 26th - School Play
July
Wednesday 1st - Junior One Open Dance
Friday 3rd - Whole School Trip
Thursday 9th - End of term (HALF DAY)
