Headmaster’s Update
Following last week’s host of Junior Duke activities, it has been fantastic to focus this week on our yearly ‘Book Week’, with the whole school fully embracing literature and the magic of reading. Thanks to Mrs Haywood and Mrs Kidson, this year’s has surely been the best in memory, featuring several brilliant author talks by the likes of cartoonist Tom McLaughlin, and writers Ele Fountain and Dan Freedman. 2M’s assembly on Tuesday captured perfectly the essence of great storytelling, through Aesop’s fable, ‘The Lion and the Mouse’, sharing a moral message about mercy, kindness and how anyone, however small, can make a positive difference through their actions. The children were consummate performers, reciting poems, singing and acting, whilst also sharing their promises of kind acts. Thank you to Mrs Fox and to Miss Melvin for overseeing all the preparations!
Thursday saw us host an Inter-House Reading Competition, a new event for TPS, with finalists through the year groups reciting poems and book extracts to our esteemed panel of guest judges. That same day, the school was a riot of colour with the staff and pupils dressed up as their favourite book characters (or books!), with some extraordinarily creative attire on show! It was wonderful to see everyone embrace the celebration of reading with such enthusiasm and I very much enjoyed being the ‘Demon Headmaster’ for a change. Today in our Celebration Assembly, we showcased a number of the winning entries to the diorama competition, which proved to be a very difficult decision for the judges given the standard on show. There are some photos of the winning entries to view on our photo carousel this week, so please do take a look.
In other news, this week saw the boys and girls take part in the Grand Finale of the IAPS E-Sports Competition with all three TPS teams having qualified at the first attempt with Miss Jones overseeing proceedings; we look forward to hearing news of the final positions in the days to come.
A personal highlight this week was the chance for me to accompany two Year 5 teams to Epsom College for the annual prep school public speaking event, which saw judges evaluate 5 minute talks on a wide variety of topics, including our entries: ‘Moo Meow and Woof: The Secret Animal Chat Club’, which explored animal communication, and ‘When Your Teacher Needs Charging: The Future of Education’ all about schools in 2100. I must mention Dylan, Samson, Ermal, Emmeline, Issy and Amber, each of whom did a superb job individually and collectively, conveying their talks with great maturity and composure, sprinkled with humour. Congratulations to Issy, who secured the award for the best main speaker of the afternoon.
Oliver Barrett, Headmaster
Key Dates
Mar
| Day: | Date: | Event: |
|---|---|---|
| Reception – Year 3 Spring Review Meetings (in person) ALL WEEK | ||
| Mon | 09 | Class Composite Photos |
| Mon | 09 | Year 5&6 Sports Tour information evening (online) |
| Tue | 10 | Year 4 Maths in the Great Outdoors |
| Tue | 10 | Year 6 Academic Review Meetings – No English, Maths or Reasoning |
| Tue | 10 | RM Class Assembly |
| Wed | 11 | Year 6 Academic Review Meetings – No English, Maths or Reasoning |
| Wed | 11 | School Council Meeting |
| Thu | 12 | Year 6 Academic Review Meetings – No English, Maths or Reasoning |
| Thu | 12 | Year 5 Theatre Trip: Who Let the Gods Out |
| Fri | 13 | Prayer Meeting |
| Fri | 13 | Open Morning |
| Fri | 13 | Year 6 STEM Fair at LEH/Hampton |
All up to date events information can be found on MSP
Sports Fixtures
Mar
| Day: | Date: | Sport Event: | Location: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 09 | Girls Cross Country event (Invite only) | Guildford High School Sports Centre |
| Wed | 11 | Year 5 Girls Hockey Festival (all children) | Sir William Perkins School |
| Wed | 11 | Year 6 Boys A @ Donhead 7s | Donhead Sports Ground |
| Wed | 11 | Year 5 Boys A Hampton Prep Festival | Hampton Prep School – Carlisle Park |
| Wed | 11 | Year 7&8 Boys A vs Newland House | Kempton CC |
| Wed | 11 | Swimming Gala with The Mall & Newland House | LEH |
| Fri | 13 | Year 3 Girls Hockey Match vs Willington | Willington Prep |
| Fri | 13 | Year 3 Boys A&B vs Hampton Prep | Hampton Prep School – Carlisle Park |
| Fri | 13 | Year 4 Girls A,B&C Netball vs City of London Freemans | City of London Freemans |
| Sat | 14 | Year 5 Boys A @ Donhead 7s | Donhead Sports Ground |
All up to date events information can be found on MSP
World Book Day!
Mothers’ Day Breakfast – reminder to book your place!
British Science Week Competition
British Science Week is an annual ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths. In 2026 it is taking place between 6-15 March!
This year’s theme is ‘Curiosity: what’s your question?’
This theme is all about putting children and young people in the driver’s seat, and encouraging them to find answers to the most pressing questions they have about the world. Almost every question has STEM behind it. Whether it relates to traditional science topics, or it’s about music, sport, architecture – any interest in fact!
In Pre-Prep our competition is to create a poster showing a life cycle of your choice.
- How many parts are there to your chosen life cycle?
- Can you use a lift the flap idea?
- You might like to think about original ways to display your life cycle.
- Use pencils, paints, pens, crayons, collage, flaps, or computer-generated images.
The more creative the interpretation of the theme, the better!
How will the posters be judged?
Each class in Pre Prep will have one winner. So, here’s the lowdown on what we will be looking for:
- Creativity – original ways of presenting your information
- Content – Clear, accurate and informative
- Effective communication – presented and communicated in an engaging way using the correct vocabulary.
A panel of judges from Pre Prep will decide the winners and winning posters will be shared on the school website and displayed in Pre Prep.
What are the prizes?
A bouncy globe and a hand-rub propeller for each winner!
Competition Time – Option 1 or 2
Children at TPS are excellent at asking fascinating questions.
We would like you to decide on one important question that you have about the world and try to find some answers to it. Design a poster on your question (and answers).
Guidelines:
- Make your poster eye-catching
- Use clear and bold headings
- Short snappy sentences or phrases
- Make it relevant to your interests
- Include attention grabbing pictures or photographs
- It can be hand drawn and written or completed with the help of technology
Deadline – Monday 16th March 2026
How will the posters will judged?
LKS2, UKS2 and Senior Prep will have a winner and a runner up
Your poster will be judged on:
Content: Interesting, clear, accurate and informative
Creativity: original ways of presenting your information
Effective Communication: presented and communicated in an engaging way.
A panel of judges from Prep will decide on the winners and the winning posters will be shared on the school website and displayed in the Prep.
STEM based prizes will be awarded to the winners and runners up.
Mrs Fox and Mrs Lindsay Easter Holiday Art Camp!
The TPS Afterschool Care ‘Wrap Club’ – New Ad-hoc Service Launch
After the Easter holidays the Wrap Club will offer Ad Hoc after school care to all Twickenham Prep School children.
Places are limited. Discounted rates and priority booking are given to ‘regular attendees’ of the club. ‘Regular attendees’ are those children that come on the same allocated days each week. Ad hoc users will be accommodated subject to availability.
Every parent must register their child before they can attend the After School Wrap Club. Please email tpswrapclub@gmail.com for a registration pack or to find out more information on what we can offer you with our wrap around service. We are here to help working parents that need that extra time after school finishes.
Places must be booked via an email to tpswrapclub@gmail.com by 12pm on the day. As we are an external provider we cannot accept children that just arrive with no booking, this is due to making sure we have the correct amount of staff to maintain ratios and enough food and snacks to ensure all children get a light meal.
If you would like to sign up or find out more, please do not hesitate to contact Lisa on tpswrapclub@gmail.com.
TPSC Quiz Night
Little Voices Easter Camp @ St. John’s Walham Green Primary School
Pleases see attached information on the Little Voices Easter Camp!
Cakes and Cargo Bikes in Carlisle Park, Hampton
My School Portal
My School Portal is a great school-to-parent communication system.
Here you will find the latest events, which can be synced with your electronic calendar, weekly menus and copies of all letters sent home.
Below are important notices from two key departments which are updated weekly:
Pre-Prep — messages from Mrs Barnes including club collection
Click Here
Safeguarding & Wellbeing messages from our Designated Safeguarding Team
Click Here
School Meals week commencing: 9th March Menu Week 3
