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The Head of School’s View: Friday 13th February 2026

13 February 2026

Pennthorpe Half Term Highlights: A busy start to 2026 at Pennthorpe! Year 7 & 8 pupils are thriving with the new Pennthorpe Senior Certification. From curriculum innovation to the magical Frozen performance, our close-knit community continues to inspire, nurture, and create memories that last a lifetime.

I can hardly believe we are already at half term. After an incredibly busy, wonderfully exciting and overwhelmingly positive start to 2026; the half term break offers everyone a chance for some well-earned rest.

I am delighted to start my comms this week by confirming that Pennthorpe will remain as a Nursery to Year 8 school continuing our Year 7 & 8 provision! As someone who has always taught in Prep schools through to Year 8, I am personally thrilled by this. The senior years at a prep school offer a sense of a unique sense of responsibility and opportunity, and at Pennthorpe, that is certainly true.

Our Pennthorpe Senior Certification (PSC), which replaces Common Entrance, marks an exciting step forward for our Year 7 & 8 academic provision. As a Learning Skills Trust school, the PSC further connects us to the 40 other schools around the country who use this framework – a model with a proven record of raising academic standards and better preparing children for their chosen senior schools. By assessing our children in a variety of ways, rather than solely through written examinations, and over a two-year period, rather than three days shows how Pennthorpe is adapting, responding and innovating its curriculum and assessment model. These are the years in which children will flourish academically, grow pastorally, and make memories to last a lifetime.

I also wish to share some staffing changes. Vicky Daley, who has been at Pennthorpe for an incredible 23 years, will be leaving at the end of the Spring Term to join Seaford College as Learning Support Teacher in the Senior School. Having known and worked with Vicky on and off for over 8 years, I can genuinely say that with Vicky, the children always come first. Caring, knowledgeable, approachable, Vicky has touched the lives of literally thousands of children during her time here. She will be greatly missed, and we wish her every success in this exciting new chapter. Recruitment for Vicky’s successor has already begun, and I will update you on this in my next comms on Friday 27th February, including details of the appointment and handover arrangements.

I am delighted to share that; this week, we confirmed the appointment of Miss Wendy Redman as our new Reception Class Teacher. This was a very popular role, and after shortlisting four excellent candidates and conducting interviews and observations last week, Wendy was the standout in every respect. Already a familiar and much-loved member of our Early Years team, I know her appointment will be warmly welcomed by both children and parents alike.

And finally, this week, I must of course, sign off by talking about Frozen. Luckily, (unlike my speech after both performances), I can’t get too emotional over comms. However, I constantly find myself trying to explain what Pennthorpe is, what we do, what makes us so special. I know we are a school like no other, I know you feel it as parents, and I know our children are unique; but trying to truly put that into words simply isn’t possible. You can see it though, you can feel it and you can experience it. Pennthorpe has a feel, we all know that when you walk through those front gates, it is very hard to ever ‘let it go’ and Frozen showed just what this school is all about. We are a community, we are incredible and we really can do anything.