Grimsdell Pre-Preparatory

Prior to taking up the headship at Grimsdell I was Head of Garden House School in Chelsea for five years, following my role as Head of Junior School at The Royal School, Hampstead. My 19 years experience as a Head (plus 15 and counting as a parent!) have helped enable the development of a staff culture that is child and family centred, with wellbeing and a love of learning at its heart. My three children (aged 15, 13 and 7) have all attended the Mill Hill School Foundation since Nursery, a choice made long before commencing my Headship at Grimsdel.

Numbers

In 2014, Grimsdell was home to 165 pupils (FTE). Today in 2021 the school is bursting at the seams with 185 pupils and no capacity to expand. The facilities have been enhanced over the time with an exceptional outdoor learning environment created adjacent to the Nursery and outdoor classroom, along with four stretch tents that have provided daily opportunities for outdoor learning – an approach to teaching now embedded in our practice.

Overview

We honour our philosophy, ‘instilling values, inspiring minds’, by creating an environment which embraces and celebrates each child’s individuality. We boost them, providing the opportunity for them to flourish, and be the best version of themselves. Our school code, the ‘Grimsdell Way’, ensures a safe and secure community, upholding high standards for all. We embellished these principles during the pandemic, acknowledging the shift from classroom to home-school. Our ISI report achieved the highest Grading of ‘excellent’ in both Pupil Achievement and Personal Development in January 2020.

Our creative curriculum is driven by termly topics – these act as a narrative across all learning areas from core subjects through to PE, music and even snack and lunchtimes. We talk of ‘stunning starts’, ‘marvellous middles’ and ‘fabulous finishes’ which, coupled with an enquiry-based approach, stimulate and excite our children. We have seen this deepen cross-curricular links and enhance understanding. Our children foster a love of learning with help from a series of on- and off-line tools, including Anima Phonics.

Our focus on self-expression gifts children the freedom to present and publish in their own style – documenting individual paper journals and using Seesaw to contribute to online logs. We treat every interaction as an opportunity to learn through play – inside our multi-functioning classrooms, in our bespokebuilt outdoor cabin, in our science garden, during weekly Forest School adventures. ISI acknowledged this, stating: ‘Pupils have extremely positive attitudes to learning due to the enthusiasm demonstrated by the highly professional staff.’

Our commitment to developing 21st-century leaders is unwavering. We survived lockdowns (and key worker school) thanks to technology and it continues to add value in our ‘new normal’ classrooms. Extra use of tech brings excitement as well as skill: iPad photography, online collaboration, freeze framing, green screening, video performances... Each term we have Library Monitors, Year 2 for the School Council and in the wider world, our children are proven forerunners: entering national science competitions, volunteering for charities and publishing their own stories.

Our pastoral care is exemplary. At Grimsdell we place the wellbeing and mental health of our children, families and staff above all else. We benefit from a fully qualified in-house ‘play therapist’ and pride ourselves on SEN enrichment nurturing many of our children. All pupils are equipped with resources from the ‘Thrive in Five’ programme and in Year 2 they complete the PAWSB curriculum. We invest greatly in a seamless transition from pre-prep to prep, immersing the children in Belmont life with co-hosted sports tournaments, merged uniforms and time spent in the grounds.

Our sincere hope is that, when children leave us, instilled with values and minds inspired, they treasure their years spent at Grimsdell. We celebrate the individuals they’ve become, but also everything they taught us along the way.

Plans/Hopes for the Future

We hope to continue our outdoor learning journey and embed long-term positive mental health through teaching resilience, mindfulness, self-care and empathy.

Our next step is to rapidly develop our contribution to sustainability and care of environment. This will be a priority for us. As we weave this into our curriculum in 2021, we wil teach our pupils what this means in practice and how now, more than ever, we all have a responsibility to make a difference and look after the world.