Open Day speech 2024 – Emily – Head of School

Hello and good morning. My name is Emily and I am honored to be Head Girl at Parsons Green Prep School. Today, I will share my favourite things about this amazing school!

I have been at Parsons Green Prep for over six years now and have not been disappointed. It is a school that I am so proud to be part of and I will be sad to leave next summer. If you choose to send your child here, then you will have all sorts of clubs to choose from, including debate club, which is my personal favourite, Irish Dancing, quiz club, coding, football and many more.

As well as the many clubs, there are a number of sports that every pupil takes part in. This term we have football or netball and can choose between the two. Next term we all take part in tag rugby and hockey, which is great fun! In the Summer term we play cricket and sometimes tennis, which we all love on a hot summer’s day. We particularly enjoy playing sports matches against other schools; sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, but of course it’s the taking part that counts. At the end of the year we have a spectacular sports day, where we dress up in our house colours and come out dripping in medals.

To give us energy for the various sports that we do, the school provides delicious lunches. We have excellent chefs who put in hard work every day to make sure we have an amazing lunch. On Fridays, we have an extra special treat lunch, with pizza, fries and my favourite – fish fingers! Throughout the week we are encouraged to eat a colourful rainbow plate of food which includes carbohydrates, protein, vegetables and dairy. After lunch, we all get a chance to play in our wonderful new playground. You will get a chance to see it when you wander around. Feel free to do a spot of climbing yourself!

Aside from the sports and clubs we enjoy, we have music and choir lessons every week. At the end of the school year, all years put on a fabulous school production. Last year our production was Robin Hood, but we have also performed Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. I was a playing card! Every Christmas there is a wonderful Carol Concert in a local church, which we love taking part in.

One of the highlights of the school year is the residential trips, which pupils from Year 3 upwards take part in. My personal favourite trip was the trip to Mill on the Brue in Somerset. I got to jump off a two-story building – luckily I was attached to a harness! All pupils also enjoy various day trips throughout the year.

Our school is brilliant both academically and in many other ways. We are challenged but are always supported and are encouraged to do our very best. The teachers are preparing my class brilliantly for the 11+ process and making sure that we do not find anything too daunting. Everyone at our school is kind and welcoming and the teachers are always approachable. In such a small school, all the pupils get to know each other, which is really special. All Year 6 pupils have a ‘Reception buddy’, where we support their reading every Friday.

Speaking of reception, twice a year the older year groups team up with the Reception pupils and do a STEAM project. What is STEAM, I hear you ask.  It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics and is a very important part of the curriculum at PGP. One of our recent topics was DNA. We learnt about how DNA was discovered and how every person is unique.

I really hope you enjoy looking around our school this morning. I am so proud to be a pupil here. Thank you very much and have a lovely day!