Welcome to Bishops Pre-Prep!
Dear Parents
A very warm welcome to Bishops Pre-Prep. We hope that you and your son will settle into the routine of our school easily and that you will feel part of our community, and very happy. Should you have any concerns please do not hesitate to raise these with your son’s teacher, or with me.
By now you would have had an opportunity to meet the teachers, assistants and all those working with your boys at our Meet and Greet and Orientation aftenoons. We are delighted to be part of this educational journey with you and your son.
Starting the year with so many new little boys, can be quite overwhelming for some. We therefore have found that starting half a class on the first day and the other half the second day and finally the whole class together on the third day, is most successful.
We look forward to getting to know you a little better at the New Parents Reception evening which will be held in the Headmaster’s garden early in the new year. This will also be an opportunity to get to know other new parents and some of the teaching staff. A formal invitation will be sent out early next term.
Yours sincerely
SHARLENE GROOM
Head: Pre-Prep
Grade N Information
SCHOOL Times
| Start | End | |
| Grade N | 08h00 | 12h15 |
| Grade R | 08h00 | 12h30 |
| Grade 1 | 08h00 | 13h00 |
| Grade 2 | 08h00 | 13h10 |
EARLY Care
There is early care in the Pre-Prep hall each morning from 07h00.
DROPPING OFF & Collecting
Grade N and R boys enter via the small pedestrian gate on the corner of Campground and Sandown Road, at our Pre-Prep hall. This gate opens at 7am for the early care boys and closes at 8am, when school starts. Parents may walk their boys to the pedestrian gate.
After school (and sport) ends, boys will be walked to the pedestrian gate by their teachers/coaches to be met by their parents. If boys are late or if parents need to drop anything at school during the school day, they must make use of the main reception in Sandown Road.
EARLY Leavers / LATE Returns
Boys are expected to arrive in time for the official start of term and to leave at the end. Permission will only be given in exceptional circumstances involving overseas travel, or a similar “long trip”, for an early departure or late return. Permission can only be given by the Head. This is normally granted once while in Pre-Prep, and once at the Prep.
UNIFORM Requirements
Each boy is issued a pack of labels which can be used for a variety of purposes. Please mark all clothes clearly. Shoes and takkies must also be marked as well as lunch boxes and water bottles.
Hats need to be worn every day for outside play, both in winter and summer. Grade N boys also need to keep a change of clothing in their bag in case they need to change.
Although we encourage boys to be bare footed as much as possible, it is required that they wear their takkies or slops to arrive and leave the grounds. Our Grade N uniform is a mix and match variety, both winter and summer uniforms are the same.
Summer and Winter Uniform
- Wide brim navy hat
- Havaianas slops
- Quantec shorts
- Navy or sky golf shirt
- Long-sleeved ¾ zip polar fleece
- Navy V-necked jersey with school badge (long sleeved / sleeveless) optional
- School tracksuit
- White socks
- White takkies
- Rain jacket (Bishops) optional
- Bishops wet bag
- Cooler bag (optional)
BOOKS & Stationery
No books or stationery need to be purchased.
BISHOPS Email
Email is Bishops’ preferred method of communication. Therefore, please keep us informed of any change to your email address.
Please read the following document to ensure your own personal settings are set up correctly to receive mail from us, without issue.
Bishops correspondence is only sent to parents. However you may choose to auto forward your mail to another person such as an au pair.
AUTO FORWARD Emails from Bishops
WEEKLY Newsletter
Every Thursday afternoon the weekly newsletter will be sent, via email to you. It will contain all the information regarding extra-murals and events for the next week. It is imperative that this is thoroughly read and important dates or events noted. This supersedes the calendar and all changes from that will be highlighted in the Newsletter. News and general information updates will be included in this newsletter.
MUSIC
Your son will attend class music lessons each week with Mrs Swanich in the music centre. These lessons are fun and interactive where they learn new songs and are exposed to percussion and other interesting, age appropriate instruments. The aim is to create a love for music, develop listening skills and to be able to express themselves all while having fun.
Desire Swanich, HOD Music at the Pre-Prep may be contacted on dswanich@bishops.org.za should you have any further queries regarding music.
Extra Mural Timetable Term 1 2024
Boys in Grade N are encouraged to invite others for a play date in the afternoon in order to make friends and meet new families. Organised sport offered by the school will start in Grade R but there are two options on offer if your son wants to become involved in extra mural activities. These are Playball and Claystation, both of which are privately offered and carry an individual cost; details of which will be on your son's MyBishopsLife portal as soon as you are linked. In the meantime if you are interested in finding out more about Claystation, please contact Dale on 083 651 2540 or email dale.claystation@gmail.com or Anne van Niekerk (083 270 4094 or email annievan@mweb.co.za) for any Playball related queries for 2024.
BISHOPS GRADE N - Playball 2024
CHAPEL
Each term a Family Service is held in the Memorial Chapel at College. Family and friends are always welcome and when possible, our Bishop is invited to attend at least once per year. Our Chaplain, Father Monwabisi Peter, is available at any stage (mpeter@bishops.org.za). Strict confidentiality is always observed. Our Youth Pastor, Mr Lutho Tsotso teaches Divinity at the Pre-Prep. Our boys visit both the Brooke and Memorial Chapel regularly for short services and we invite parents to join us at a Family Chapel service once a term.
PARENT / TEACHER Meeting
An important Parent/Teacher meeting will be held in your son’s classroom early the new year. Parents are urged to make every effort to attend. The date will be confirmed via your class teacher, on the online parent calendar and in the weekly newsletter.
PARENTS’ Association
Each year an annual general meeting is held at which an executive committee of six is elected. Two further members may be co-opted onto the committee. The Parents’ Association Constitution is available on the Bishops website.
SCHOOL Policies
All our school policies are available on our website. Please visit this page to familiarize yourself with them.
MONEY at School
No money should be brought to school, but where it is unavoidable it should be handed to the class teacher.
HOUSES
Boys at the Pre-Prep are not allocated houses. Boys join a house once they move over to Grade 3 at the Prep School.
CONTACT Details
| Head: Pre-Prep | Sharlene Groom | sgroom@bishops.org.za |
| Pre-Prep Secretary | Babalwa Manyela | bmanyela@bishops.org.za |
| Pre-Prep Admissions | Alison Cunnold | acunnold@bishops.org.za |
| N Blue Teacher | Heather Fraser | hfraser@bishops.org.za |
| N Green Teacher (Grade head) | Fiona Stuart | fstuart@bishops.org.za |
| N Red Teacher | Geordie Nolte | gnolte@bishops.org.za |