Edge Grove

Thank you to our Year 8 leavers for your kind gift of activity equipment storage boxes. And the best thing about it, they constructed them themselves!! Constructing flat-packed furniture is, it seems, a true rite of passage and a valuable life skill!

To our lovely Year 6 pupils, thank you for being you! We had a fantastic party to celebrate our Year 6 pupils this week. There was t-shirt signing, a photo booth, message book, disco, lucky dip, bracelet making, games area and karaoke. There were smiles and laughter filled the Front Lawn. Congratulations Year 6 on all that you have achieved!

As we near the end of the academic year, we were delighted to hear today, hot on the heels of the School being named a finalist in the Muddy Stilettos School Awards, that Edge Grove has been shortlisted for ANOTHER award.

We are thrilled to have been selected from hundreds of entries for an Independent School of the Year Award 2024, in conjunction with Independent School Parent Magazine.

Results will not be revealed until next term, but in the meantime, we shall enjoy making the shortlist!

What a fabulous Speech Day that was!

Thank you to ALL our pupils, parents, staff and governors (and the sunshine!) for making Speech Day 2024 such a wonderful day.

Too many highlights to mention, but stand out moments were the speeches by Head Pupils, Ayaan and Kamil, reflecting on their time at Edge Grove, soloists Myka and Kamil, our fabulous choirs, rock band, and who can forget the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious flash mobs...

Thank you to our Chair of Governors, Mr David Williams, for his address and his anecdote about Edge Grove socks - we do hope today's prizewinners might not wait quite so long to read their prize books...

Thank you EVERYONE for making this a day to remember, and see you on Monday for our last week of this academic year.

***STOP PRESS***
Just as the curtain was falling on our fabulous Year 2 Showcase we found out that Edge Grove is a FINALIST in the Dynamic Performing Arts category of the School Awards 2024.

A huge well done to everyone who collaborates to make this such a strength of Edge Grove - thank you to our wonderful instrumental music and LAMDA teachers who inspire our pupils each day to be creative, adventurous and passionate about drama, dance and music, to staff who support Performing Arts lessons throughout the School, and to the children themselves, who never fail to impress and entertain us.

But the biggest THANK YOU needs to go to the simply brilliant Miss Saville and Mr Evans who lead Drama and Music from Nursery to Year 8, who put on a staggering number of shows and concerts throughout the year and who have ensure that Edge Grove fully deserves this accolade.

We are feeling incredibly proud and grateful.

Year 3's Enrichment Week continued today with a fabulous visit to Safety Centre - Hazard Alley where pupils (and staff!) had a brilliant day of learning about railway, road and water safety, how to call the emergency services, how to listen to your feelings to keep safe, and online safety.

Thank you to the amazing team of volunteers who delivered the day in such an engaging fashion - lots of valuable lessons for us all.

This morning Nick Robinson from BBC Radio 4 The Today Programme interviewed Reuben in Year 6 about his love of reading, his passion for the School Library and about his charitable initiative, , and his desire to see reading spaces created in all schools.

Listen in on Thursday morning between 0830 and 0900 to hear Reuben

What a fabulous morning for members of our Reception 2024 cohort of boys and girls and their parents, who joined us today for a fun-filled Forest School session. We made a river (and jumped in!), hunted and found lots of bugs, created some great keepsakes to take home, and best of all, had fun in the sunshine getting to know each other.

Thank you to Mrs Doughty, our inspirational Forest School Leader for her usual energy and enthusiasm in masterminding the event, and to all our new families who joined us - we can't wait to welcome you all to the Edge Grove Pride in September.

Thank you to all our pupils and parents who contributed to our Festival of Languages today. Organised by the Modern Foreign Languages department, this truly multicultural event was a fantastic opportunity for our pupils and parents to share some of their home native languages with the rest of the school by teaching them some key vocabulary, stories and songs. We experienced the wonders of Spanish, French, Finnish, Hindi, Mandarin, Gujarati, Yoruba and even Latin. This week we have also been treated to some delicious lunches from around the world - Thai, Italian and tomorrow Greek. What a fantastic experience this has been!

Thank you to the English Department at for hosting their inaugural "I have a dream" Speaking Challenge today for five local prep schools.

Edge Grove was ably represented by Sienna and Alexis, both in Year 6, who delivered engaging and thought-provoking speeches with passion, style and confidence - both are true examples of the academic excellence and independence for which our pupils are rightly known.

In an impressive field of speakers who tackled a wide range of challenging subjects perhaps not normally associated with pupils of this age , we are delighted that Sienna was named Joint Winner, judged by Terry Douris, Chairman of Hertfordshire County Council and James Hughes, Head of English at St Albans School

Well done to both girls, and to all the other competitors from the other schools who made the judging very difficult.

Thank you to Beechwood for hosting our speakers, and to Edge Grove's Head of English, for all her support and encouragement both in the run up to the event and on the day.

Sadly the weather wasn't on our side today for the Annual Edge Grove Society Golf Day at Aldenham Golf & Country Club but it'll take more than a bit of rain to stop our group of alumni, current and former parents and governors. Thank you all for coming, and fingers crossed for better weather next year!

Thank you to Jonathan Stroud for two fabulous presentations and workshops for Edge Grove pupils in Years 3 to 8 today. Thank you for sharing your personal journey as an author, from your first book written as a five year old to your blockbuster successes . We all loved learning about how books are created (we all know now how many sheets of paper are needed to create a 32 page book!), and it was fascinating to hear more about how the Lockwood books have been brought to screen by Netflix

We have no doubt that you inspired a LOT of budding young authors in our theatre this morning! Thank you!

The Art Department has been a hive of creativity this week as pupils enjoy Ms Harkin's Easter Holiday Art Camp.

On Day 1, the focus was on ceramics, with our artists creating 3D birds, model villages, house tea lights, and mugs.
On Day 2 they moved onto pencil string textiles art and realistic hand drawings before Day 3's focus on lizards!

What a fabulous few days - thank you to Ms Harkin for running such a fun and popular camp.

Just a few photos from another day on the slopes for Edge Grove skiers in Val di Fiemme. Well done to all our pupils for some fabulous skiing ❄️⛷🇮🇹

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News just in - congratulations to the FOUR Edge Grove artists who have been named winners / runners up in the The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory National Easter Card Competition! A huge well done to the following pupils:

Gabriella, Year 1 - WINNER in the Under 7 category
Lelia, Year 3 - WINNER in the Age 7-9 category
Lyra Year 4 - ist RUNNER UP
Kiersten Year 5 - 2nd RUNNER UP

This is a huge achievement in a national competition, and just goes to show the talent being fostered in our innovative and creative Art Department under the inspirational leadership of Ms Harkin.

Pupils and staff are having a fabulous time on the Edge Grove Ski Trip 2024 - check out their trip so far here ...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5G5P7CrY_J/?igsh=MTd1OTNtcTllNDN4bw%3D%3D

Wow! Year 5 parents are in for a treat tomorrow evening when the whole year group performs in their Evening of Rogers and Hammerstein. No spoilers, but here are just a few photos from today's fabulous dress rehearsal in front of a very appreciative Year 3,4 and 6 audience

Yesterday morning, our Junior Department pupils enjoyed a very special assembly all about Eid and Ramadan, thanks to a number of our parents who came into school to share how they celebrate at this time of year. The children thoroughly enjoyed learning more, and well done to all the children who spoke about their own experiences. A fabulous learning opportunity for everyone - both audience and presenters alike. And thank you to all the parents who took time out of their busy day to come and tell us all about this important time of year.

Thank you to the Friends of Edge Grove for organising Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt at School. What a fabulous afternoon, enjoyed by many of our current families, and it was also lovely to welcome some of our the new families joining the Edge Grove Pride in September.

Events like these take lots of time, commitment and energy to arrange, and we are all lucky to have such a dedicated team of volunteers who spend their free time organising events like this - thank you from all of us.

What a fabulous Spring Concert Edge Grove singers and musicians put on last Friday after school. Congratulations to our orchestra, choirs, rock band, and cello and guitar ensembles for their performances, and to our Director of Music, Mr Evans, for masterminding the whole event! 🎤🎼🎹🥁🎷🎺🎸🎻

Well done to all our musicians this morning. What a lovely way to start the day! From Reception through to Year 8, our performers delighted us with pieces played on the piano, violin, clarinet, drums and guitar. Well done all!

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow for the FoEG Easter Egg Hunt!! It is sure to be choc-tastic!!

Last week was and, during Form Time, Edge Grove pupils delved deeper into the concept of “jobs for the future.”

Year 8 pupils dedicated this week’s PSHE session to evaluating their skill sets and crafting aspirational goals for their future careers. They engaged in various skills assessments and explored a variety of career opportunities available to them. Pupils researched the ‘jobs of the future,’ acknowledging how advancing technologies are reshaping certain professions while identifying those projected to be in high demand. Additionally, they reflected on the World Economic Forum ‘Top 10 skills of 2025’ to discern which ones are essential for their envisioned career paths.

Read more here about our pupils' future goals and aspirations here: https://rb.gy/u4q438

Although the focus last week at Edge Grove was very firmly on books and reading as we celebrated , we certainly didn't forget about Maths!

Well done to our team of Year 6 boys who took part in the Maths Challenge on Thursday at Orley Farm School alongside 32 other pairs of pupils. The challenge was split into three rounds and tested the boys’ lateral thinking and problem solving skills.

Marcus, Freddy, Dylan and Isaac were all fantastic and represented Edge Grove proudly with both teams finishing in the top half. Special mention to Freddy and Dylan who came 2nd place overall!

To all the amazing women in our Edge Grove community who inspire us to dream big and reach for the stars, Happy International Women's Day!

Thank you to Downe House School for inviting a group of our Year 6 girls to their fabulous day of musical theatre workshops - the girls, accompanied by Miss Saville and Mr Stanley, all had wonderful time and have come back to school buzzing with enthusiasm! Thank you for having us!

What a wonderful day we have had celebrating ! From a costume parade to paired reading and inspirational stories from staff about how books have shaped their lives, it has been truly wholesome. We've seen some fantastic outfits and, in true Edge Grove style, pupils' creativity has been in abundance!!

It’s been a fantastic term in D&T so far! Pupils had the exciting opportunity to take part in the D&T / History / Geography, Recycled Architecture competition. Pupils were asked to design and construct a model of any building of their choice in the world, for example, a famous landmark. They had to use recycled materials such as sticks, cardboard, paper and bottles to create their chosen Architectural design. There were an impressive number of projects submitted, in which Miss Ni’Man and Mr Stanley had the challenge of adjudicating and deciding the winners. With such a variety of buildings that had been beautifully constructed demonstrating a high level of model making skills, it came down to the attention to detail and complexity shown in the architectural projects. Every pupil who participated had their work displayed in the dedicated D&T and Humanities Co-Curricular assembly last Friday. In true D&T style, the winners received a 3D printed trophy to celebrate their success and we can announce that our top 5 winners were:

Kavya for her Chichén Itzá pyramid in Mexico
Kush for his Taj Mahal in India
Alex for his Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy
Samir for his Colosseum in Rome
Eashan for his Battersea Power Station in London

Congratulations to all the pupils that took part in this memorable competition! They truly inspired both staff and pupils with their fantastic achievement and is a testament to their hard work.

Thank you to Dan from School of Noise for a fabulously engaging, interactive workshop all about the science of noise and sound. Year 4 pupils (and staff) thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on learning about the many ways that sounds are made and used, and how sound travels. Best of all was getting to try out a number of very different musical instruments, and using sound to create different patterns and shapes in a piece of sand art. A fascinating - and noisy - day!