School News and Insight
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At Sompting Abbotts, we adopt a school-wide ethos that embodies our commitment to the environment. Its principles – 'Embrace Nature; Embrace Learning; Embrace Childhood' – are threaded through our teaching, influencing every child's journey from Pre-Prep to Upper Prep. Our 30-acre grounds and woodland in the South Downs National Park are at its roots.
Pupils have been working as dissection detectives in the science lab at Sompting Abbotts Prep School. They have been investigating Barn Owl pellets found in the school grounds.
What child doesn’t love to collect handfuls of glossy brown conkers? At Sompting Abbotts, they don't just fill their pockets — even socks become makeshift pouches. And so, at this time of the year, we send the children out into our school grounds to look for shiny conkers (not that they need any persuading).
Following our earlier announcement in July of the shortlisted entries for the Independent Schools of the Year 2023 awards, we're delighted Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School has been selected as a Finalist in the Independent School of the Year for Environmental Achievement category.
Sompting Abbotts warmly welcomes Mr Chris Gunn as Headmaster, taking the mantle from Mr Stuart Douch who served from 2013-2023. We're grateful that Mr Douch will continue to enrich our community as Head of English and History. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for his excellent past leadership.
Sompting Abbotts’ annual Speech Cup of Poetry and Performance saw every child from Years 3 - 8 learn and recite a poem by heart! The best performances were chosen at a special competition in front of an audience of their peers and their parents. It was judged by an external expert adjudicator.
Choosing the right Senior School for your child can feel daunting and is a big decision. Stuart Douch, Headmaster of Sompting Abbotts Prep School, offers his suggestions for how to go about doing your research and what considerations to factor in.
Ornithology is not a subject on many school timetables but it is at West Sussex school Sompting Abbotts. Here teacher David Buckingham believes that birdwatching helps children ‘tune in’ and connect with nature mindfully. Patience is needed. And most children benefit from developing patience!
Sompting Abbotts has been selected for a prestigious Green Award in the Independent Schools of the Year Awards. This award is for the school which most impresses the judges by the way in which it has made a decisive and positive contribution to the environment.
Children in Year 4 have recorded this lovely version of the wonderful poem 'This is the Best Kind of Classroom' by Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan which reflects Sompting Abbotts’ strong focus on hands-on green learning. They did their reading in situ in the school’s ‘Top Woods’!
Perhaps the most exciting part of the filming of the school’s new Pre-Prep video happened during a forest-school class when nature delivered up a wonderful surprise ...
Sompting Abbotts Sports Day 2021 was different but still brilliant! We couldn’t have parents in attendance as usual due to the restrictions but we made a wonderful event of it - with lots of traditional (and more innovative!) races.
Sompting Abbotts’ Headmaster Stuart Douch is interviewed by the BBC on his opinions over the school return.
Children at Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School have put their feelings of frustration about lockdown into their video performance of their class poem Lockdown, lockdown, tell me when?
How much should you correct your Key Stage 1 child when you hear them read aloud to you? Should you force them to sound out the word? Do you get them to read every day? If they don't want to, do you insist or just not bother? Here, you'll find our top 10 tips for how to hear your child read aloud. It's a skill in itself that's useful for parents to 'learn' to support their child on their learning-to-read journey!
Children aged 2 to 13 at Sompting Abbotts Prep School have recorded a 16-track album of traditional Christmas carols to bring some festive joy to their parents who can't this year attend their usual Christmas Nativity and Carol Services.
To demonstrate what they have achieved during lockdown, the children and staff at Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School have created this virtual performance of Pachelbel’s Canon, one of the most loved and famous pieces of music. Head of Music Annette Williamson arranged the piece so string players of all levels could play together (from children aged 6 to 11), alongside their teachers.
Normally this summer term, we would have held our annual Sports Day, a highlight and much-looked forward to part of our school calendar. As this couldn’t take place this year, we invited all our children instead to take part in our Virtual Sports Challenge 2020.
Discover why Latin is not just ‘another language’. Research shows that the more children learn of Latin, the better they perform in all other curriculum areas.
A not-seen-before series of photos of Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School in the 1930s has been uncovered in a vintage prospectus that had been tucked away for nearly a century in a cupboard at the school.
Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School is providing all its pupils with a full programme of online learning. This is teacher-led, using Google Classroom and live Zoom video lessons. Staff have created a virtual timetable from 9am to 4.30pm. It replicates the children’s normal school timetable and curriculum.
Did you know that at this time 75 years ago, Sompting Abbotts’ pupils had been evacuated and the building requisitioned by the army. Or that Australian soldiers had installed a resident kangaroo?!
Please join us in our Virtual Assembly! Today we are focusing on the theme of resilience because we are mindful of the stresses of lockdown confinement and the challenges of balancing home life and school work for the children.
The coronavirus pandemic has overturned everyone’s lives. It has forced us to be more reflective. Poetry is a resonant way of communicating a message. Listen to our beautiful poem, Lost Property.
A virtual performance of the song Over the Rainbow made by children from Sompting Abbotts has been a viral hit on social media.
Do you wonder if your child might need some SEN support? Listening to what they’re saying about school and not brushing it off, is really important. Make a note of what they may say they dislike or (often) ‘hate’ or find ‘boring’ and you’ll probably have the cause of the problem right there. Your first action is to talk to teachers/specialist teachers or your Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. They’ll direct you to the right professional for help and can signpost ways your child can be supported, whether there’s a specific learning difficulty or not.
Do girls and boys learn Maths differently? How does Dyslexia affect Maths learning? How to help more girls see the appeal of STEM careers? Read on to discover the answers. Article by Sompting Abbotts' Maths Specialist Angela Farley
Tuck boxes, inkwells, weekly baths, Sunday letter writing … Life for pupils at Sompting Abbotts was very different in the 1960s compared to today! Luckily, we have a colourful glimpse into the past thanks to Old Abbottonian Dr Richard Stillman who has written this vivid account of his memoirs. Dr Stillman, now a retired GP, attended the school from 1960 to 1964 and was aged 8 when he arrived.
Sompting Abbotts’ website and digital content has won national recognition and been named a winner at the UK Content Awards 2019. It came runner-up to the Open University and against stiff competition of many well-known organisations in its shortlist category of 10.
As a boy, Ben Thompson was a fidgety pupil. He recalls exasperating teachers at Sompting Abbotts Prep School with his incessant tapping on his desk. Today, he’s still tapping! He's now a drummer with chart-topping Indie band Two Door Cinema Club and in-demand session performer. Ben talked to us about his life and career.
What is the Common Entrance exam? Stuart Douch, Headmaster of West Sussex private school Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School, has the answers to all your questions. Firstly, it’s unique and not that 'common'. It's a series of examinations taken by children in the Summer term of Year 8. These prepare children superbly for GCSE.
Don’t think you have to take your child to the Open Day. But, if your child is mature enough to come along, then definitely take them with you. Don’t rely on the school inspection report. They tell you little about the school’s ethos. Don’t turn down a school tour from a pupil. Don’t rely on the marketing materials. To get behind the gloss, there’s nothing like actually visiting a school.
Celebrated novelist Alex Preston recalls his memories of his Worthing independent school Sompting Abbotts: "I saw the school, fell in love with it, and begged to be sent there. It was all of my Jennings/Malory Towers fantasies rolled into one gothic dream of a building."
Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School is an independent school in Sussex that owes its existence today to two families and their descendants. Those families were the Rutherfords and the Sinclairs. We're lucky enough to be able to travel back in time through their memoirs.
Here's Pre-Prep Co-Head Mrs Carrington's top 10 books for pre-schoolers. She says: "I always try to match books to children’s interests but there’s a few ‘secret sauce’ ingredients the best books have to show to really grab the attention of children in the age 2 – 4 year group."
Old Abbottonian Nicholas (Nick) Linfield was awarded an OBE for his Services to Defence in the 2017 New Year’s Honours List. It’s 50 years since Nick began his education at West Sussex independent school Sompting Abbotts. We invited him to talk about his education and career – and to reveal why he’s proud to be the only former pupil on the school’s scholarship Honours’ Boards whose son and daughter feature there too …
Should you send your child to a prep school? Is prep school the best way to invest in your child’s future? Or should you save your money for senior school? Or even just for the sixth-form years? It’s a fair question. Here's some good advice if you're mulling it over …
Ned Mortimer, lead singer of the talented band August and After, has revealed that the lyrics to his successful track, The Orchard, from the album Embers, was inspired by his time as a child at West Sussex independent school Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School. Here he talks about his life today and just how he came to write that special song …
There’s a sport out there that every child (even the non-sporty types!) will love, says former Sompting Abbotts pupil Matt Richbell. Now Director of Sports at leading independent school Trinity in Croydon, he believes the life lessons sports teach children go far beyond the physical benefits. They will make your child more successful academically too.
International best-selling author Alex Preston wrote this short story based on Sompting Abbotts. It was included in the nation's favourite annual guide to the short story: Best British Short Stories in 2016. "It was 100% Sompting Abbotts that I was imagining in the story," said Alex Preston, a former pupil of the West Sussex independent school. Set after World War 1, it is about a boy who buys his prep school. The story has been illustrated with archive photographs and drawings produced by Year 8 pupils from Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School.
How much screen time is healthy for your child? Scientists have predicted that use of the Internet exposure may change the way children think. So are we in the middle of an unstoppable experiment with our children? So just what is the impact of screen-based technologies and social media on our children's well-being, attention spans, learning and creative abilities? And how do we balance the recognition that digital skills will be essential to our children’s futures in the workplace?
The unearthing of a letter from 1939 at Sompting Abbotts' Preparatory School has connected an Australian man to his British family during WW2. The letter was found under the floorboards of an old dormitory. Now, the school, intrigued by the letter’s discovery, has succeeded in tracing the identity of ‘Jim’ across continents to his son, Craig, in Australia.
What's the difference between a feeder and non-feeder school in the independent schools sector? And how do you choose the right school for your child when not all children have the same needs, interests and abilities? Headmaster Stuart Douch explains Sompting Abbotts is a non-feeder school because he believes no single school will suit all children equally.
CBeebies’ new popular programme, Olobob Top, features the voice of Veronica Painter, a pupil at West Sussex independent school Sompting Abbotts. It was the debut voiceover performance for the 10-year-old who plays the character of an endearing squirrel called Crunch. So was it fun? And what’s involved with bringing a script off the page for an audience who can’t see you?
It's over 35 years since the Great Storm of 1987 which tore through the South East of England, ripping great trees from their roots, damaging properties and causing loss of life. West Sussex independent school Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School, located high on its hilltop overlooking the south coast, would take the brunt, as the winds turned south-westerly and smashed straight into its path.
I bet you never thought of music as a STEM skill? STEM is a buzzword you'll probably have heard a lot if you follow the education world as we do here. STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and maths – needed to fill the jobs of today. Yet music is a subject that's being cut
The transition from nursery to ‘big school’ or Reception can seem huge – both to you as parent and to your child! But with the right preparation, your pre-schooler will be just as able to meet the challenge as the little mouse who took on the Gruffalo. Read on to discover how your little one get ‘big school-ready’ and how to say goodbye on that first day so it’s a happy one your child – and you!
There's a guilty thrill that comes with reading other people's letters, and doubly so, when that letter opens a window into the past. A well-thumbed hand-written letter, dated 1939, to a pupil at Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School, a private school near Worthing, was discovered under the floorboards of an old dorm. It's a fascinating glimpse into the past.
Hoping your child might win a prized academic scholarship? Independent schools have a strong record of honouring talented and hardworking pupils with scholarships. Scholarships are not only awarded for academic potential, but also for success and potential in sports, music, drama and art. Scholarships usually mean prestige and financial help.
Why I chose private school for my daughter. Simone Waplington talks about why she decided to 'go private' and opted for Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School, a Worthing independent school. We’re not wealthy, and we’re both state educated, but my husband and I chose to send our daughter to a private school. In this blog post, I explain why.
For this year’s show at Sompting Abbotts, Oliver! Jr., director Mrs Turton brought Lionel Bart’s beloved musical to life with incredible energy and talent. A huge well done to all our amazing performers, as well as the so many staff and so many parents who helped bring it all together.