Study leave has started! Our Year 11s gave a farewell assembly on Wednesday and on Friday staff were invited to the Performing Arts Block. We were treated to a farewell tea from the students and shared a nostalgic moment watching a slideshow of their years at Stoke. It was a lovely occasion and I am sure the students will treasure the memories of their time here for many years to come.

This week, of course, it is very much back to business. We have the first English GCSE examination tomorrow, followed by a busy week of further examinations before we break for half term. Year 11s are welcome to be in school when they don’t have examinations, if they wish to revise here, but should remember to sign in and out from reception so that we know who is on site.

It promises to be another busy week for visitors too. A lot of prospective pupils have been visiting over the past 10 days and this will continue into next week. It is a very positive time for the school and we are delighted that so many more families are becoming aware of what Stoke can offer for their children.

Two key dates to note for this week. Tomorrow is the first day of summer dress code and Friday we hold our Prep School Garden Party at 2:30pm. The weather will match the occasion with high temperatures forecast but do please make sure your children put on sun cream in the morning and bring some to school so that they can reapply during the day.

Stoke grounds are strikingly beautiful in the Spring.

The main GCSE examinations are fast approaching and Year 11 will go on study leave this Thursday. However, this didn’t stop them showing their strong support for the school on Saturday, giving up some of their precious time to be guides for our Open Morning.

We are very grateful to them and to all the pupils who came in to help (as well as to parents for driving them in too). We had an extremely busy day. Between 150 and 200 visitors were welcomed to the College, many of them discovering for the first time just what a wonderful place our school is.Read More

Picture: Our Knights of the Road (Deputy Head Mr Jaina & Ed in Year 11) came to the rescue this week.

In the 1980s Nissan arrived in England and brought with them the Japanese concept of Kaizen – improvement by small steps. The idea is that as an organisation you don’t make the most progress by implementing one great change but by everyone in the firm focusing on contributing small improvements regularly. Today, the Nissan plant in Sunderland is amongst the most efficient in Europe and the chaos of British car manufacturing in the 1970s is a distant memory.Read More

Saturday 29th April

We have welcomed two new starters, one to Prep and another to our Senior School as we begin the summer term. Both are settling in well and seem to be enjoying life at Stoke. It has been very good to hear the same experience also reflected by so many parents in the past few days. Stoke has had a transformative effect on many children.

We are very proud of the unique relationships between pupils and staff at Stoke and realise we work in a very privileged environment. The cooperation in and outside the classroom is second to none and for teachers it is wonderful to be able to share the passion we have for our subjects and to meet with such enthusiastic responses from our pupils.Read More

Sunday 26th March

Following on from the highly entertaining Prep School production, this past week saw the Senior School take its turn with the musical ‘Olivia!’. It was great to see such a good audience for both nights at the Haverhill Arts Centre. I know that all the parents who came to see their children act and sing were extremely proud. We are lucky to have so many children who are so artistically talented and see them work together to put on such an entertaining evening.

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Sunday 19th March

It’s good to be sitting here writing the blog whilst looking out on what has been an unexpectely lovely spring day. The sun shone and the daffodils in the grounds are in full bloom. It marks the turn of a really positive time for the school.Read More

Saturday 4th March

Having just returned from the British Boarding Schools Workshop in Heathrow yesterday evening, I am now with Mrs Hunn-Smith and the scholarship candidates for September 2017. All seems to be well and the pupils have started their papers relaxed and focused. It is a quiet Saturday morning and it is good to hear the Spring birdsong as well as two woodpeckers, which are also hard at work.Read More

Saturday 4th February

Last Monday saw the launch of our new website which we have been working on for the past three months. The site greatly needed to be refreshed with more up-to-date images, a more striking design and to be more tablet and phone friendly. We do hope you like the design.

It is early days, so if there are any glitches, please let us know. One change we have made, is to email the weekly menu to you via iSAMS rather than publish it on the website and you should receive each week’s menu from now on, on the preceding Friday.

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