Friday 13 June 2025

Welcome to the Barrow Hills Bulletin, your weekly newsletter with a snapshot of life at School.

Message From the Head

Dear Parents,

It’s been an eventful week, with planned excursions to Wisley for Year 3, Arundel for Reception, and a post-Common Entrance Exam celebration at Thorpe Park for Year 8. Year 1 also went on a school trip this week to Tilford Rural Life Centre. The Year 8 grade point average was 88% at Grade B and above, and 55% at A and A* – they smashed it, improving even further on our strong results from 2024. Onwards and upwards with academics!

A special mention to Emilia in Year 8 for winning an All-Round Award, and to Luke, also in Year 8, for receiving a Physics Award – both from Charterhouse.
The cricket season also continued apace, with enjoyable fixtures against Seaford and St Ives.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for The Hive, our family fun day last Saturday morning. The children had a fantastic time, and our staff – still full of enthusiasm despite a long week with the ISI – brought great energy to the event. Unfortunately, the rain arrived in the afternoon, so we have rescheduled the Proms event for Friday 20th June at 5pm. Do bring a picnic.

Thank you, too, for your patience on Tuesday when we had to close early due to a spectacular local power surge and outage. This took out all our electricity, telephone lines, and servers. Thankfully, our backup battery systems ensured emergency lighting, fire safety, and the safe shutdown of our IT systems.

Contrary to amusing rumours, the Year 3 cricket match was not responsible for the sparks flying from nearby pylons – the fault lay with some local tree surgeons who inadvertently took down the area’s power supply. Despite going ‘dark’, we managed to feed the children, run outdoor games, and use hard-copy registers and mobile phones to coordinate and safely manage early departures. Thank you for your help with that.

All services were fully restored by Wednesday morning.

Have a great weekend and please check the calendar for lots of great events over the coming weeks. We look forward to the BHCC party and hog roast this evening.

Mr Towers, Head

News from Upper Prep

The week began for Year 8 with a visit to Thorpe Park, to celebrate the hard work they have all done for their Common Entrance exams. Under the watchful eyes of Mr Smith and Mr Crisell, the children enjoyed all this park has to offer!

Tuesday saw the school close early due to a power outage. Our fabulous sports staff swung into action and within minutes, a wide range of matches were being played on the sports field. I was most impressed with the way the older children supported the younger ones during this time, acting as runners to ferry them over to reception to be collected.

Unfortunately this meant our fantastic Year 7 Evening of Music and Drama had to be postponed, much to the disappointment of the children. This will now take place on Tuesday June 24th at 7pm.

Year 8 have enjoyed a variety of post CE activities this week including a Financial Literacy session at King Edward’s School, a research project about WW1 poetry and a Barrow Hills Bake Off!

Both Year 7 and Year 8 had a visit from ChildNet, an internet safety charity who talked to the children about being safe online. This was a hard hitting session but I know that the children found it useful.

Finally, the Year 8 children received their CE results today from Mr Towers. I am so thrilled with these fantastic results as they reflect the effort the children have put into their studies over their years at Barrow Hills. The progress they have made is astonishing. Many of them called their parents with the good news! Thanks to all the staff for all they do for our children here at Barrow Hills and thank you parents for all your support with revision at home.

The Year 8 then made their way to the refectory where they enjoyed a superb celebration lunch of chicken wraps with an ice cream medley for dessert! Many thanks to Kim Hall and the catering team for organising this. It was a lovely end to the week for the children.

Have a great weekend everyone – I hope to see you at the BHCC party this evening!

Mrs Mason, Head of Upper Prep

News from Prep

Well, after the excitement of last weeks’ Inspection, we were ready for a quiet week at Barrow Hills, but it seems that such a thing does not exist!!!

Tuesday’s power cut was an example of how you can only plan so far. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the students on their calm, resilient and positive response to an entirely unexpected turn of events. Within minutes, we had all the children from Prep on the school field, divided into groups, enjoying games of rounders! Parents too, should be thanked for responding with speed and a rather wonderful sense of community in ensuring that all children were collected as quickly as possible, allowing for some impromptu playdates and a glorious afternoon out of the classroom. Such days endure long in the memory, and I look forward to hearing the events recounted by the children in the coming years when they share their stand out moments at Barrow Hills!

Before the fun and games of an unplanned school closure, Year 3 were lucky enough to have a day out at RHS Wisley on Monday, where they had the opportunity to further their learning on the subject of Plants. The children represented the school impeccably, and were thoroughly engaged with all the learning they had at their disposal.

Today we were lucky enough to have a visit from ChildNet, who promote on-line safety for children. This generation is growing up in a very different world to their parents, and whilst having the digital world at their fingertips can be advantageous, it comes hand in hand with some very real dangers. This is where education is key – ensuring our children are made aware of what risks are “out there” will allow for greater vigilance, which will, in turn, keep them better protected.

Next week we look forward to welcoming parents to our “Year 4 to 5 Transition” presentation after school on Tuesday, and the Year 3 and 4 production of “Porridge” on Wednesday evening. Continuing the theme of drama, LAMDA exams are taking place next Thursday. Best of luck to all those children involved – break a leg!

Miss Tyrrell, Head of Prep

News from Pre-Prep

It’s been a busy week for school trips this week with both Reception Class out on Monday and then Year 1 on Tuesday. On Monday, Reception travelled to Arundel Wetlands Centre, nestled within the South Downs National Park, where they explored opportunities to interact with birds and other wildlife. They took a boat ride to investigate the wetlands habitats and enjoyed a picnic amongst stunning surroundings. On Tuesday, Year 1 visited Tilford Rural Life Centre. With a unique collection of relocated historic buildings to explore inside, complemented by one of the largest collections of agricultural implements and objects from everyday life, Year 1 enjoyed a very hands on visit which also enhanced their recent Science work on Materials.

It was lovely to see so many of you at last Saturday’s Hive Activity morning. We just about escaped the showers and even if it had poured, I doubt this would have dampened the spirits and enthusiasm with which the Pre-Prep children guided family and friends around the site, eager to show off the different areas of the school they enjoy day to day.

Today was Internet Safety Day and children in Year 1 and Year 2 attended a workshop this morning from the charity, ChildNet. This platform to support internet safety was well received by the children.

Congratulations to Anabella (Rec), Matthew (Year 1) and Ethan (Year 2) who each received Work of the Week certificates in assembly this morning. Well done also to Ariella (Rec) who achieved her Bronze Award, to Luke, Rocco, Holly and Alexander (Year 1) who were presented with their Gold Awards, and to Orson and Walter (Year 2) who earned their Platinum Awards. Absolutely fantastic – well done to all.

As you will have seen in this week’s comms, the Proms will take place a week today from 5pm. Please do collect children at usual time and we look forward to seeing you all back at school with us, a little later, for an evening’s entertainment. Don’t forget your rug and picnic!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Barnett, Head of Pre-Prep