Outdoor Maths Week! 6th June 2025 Academic Last week, our maths lessons took an exciting turn as we headed outside for our Outdoor Maths event! Designed to boost enjoyment, encourage collaboration, and connect learning to real-life situations, each year group took part in creative, hands-on activities. Year 2 explored weight through a fun carousel of weighing challenges, while Year 3 got busy with chalk, adding up money in a real-world shopping-themed task. Year 4 turned detective in the staff car park with a number plate challenge—figuring out car ages from registration plates, creating tally charts, multiplying and dividing numbers for extra brainteasers, and even analysing car colours with bar charts! Meanwhile, Year 5 and 6 combined maths and movement with a thrilling decimal puzzle orienteering activity, rounding off the week by mastering six-figure grid references in a challenging map-based task. A brilliant week of fresh air and fantastic maths learning!
Dream Catching in Year 4 6th June 2025 Global In Global this half term, the children have been learning all about Native American culture and the symbolism of dreamcatchers. According to Ojibwe legend, the dream catchers started as spider webs, made by a Spider Woman known called Asibikaashi. These protective charms were designed to take care of the children and the people on the land but as the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach everyone, so mothers and grandmothers began to weave webs for the children that could be hung over their beds to take care of them. Before starting the intricate and painstaking process of making their dream catchers, the children first designed them thinking carefully about what colours they would use, the pattern of their web and any decorative features such where to include beads and feathers. Mrs P-S was impressed by how the children persevered with tricky knot tying and worked cooperatively to help each other to untangle wool and give advice about different approaches to the task and she can’t wait to see the finished dream catchers!
Sustainable Farming at The Bigwood Estate 6th June 2025 Global Science On Tuesday, Year 5 were treated to a trip to the Bigwood Estate, near Blindley Heath. There, we met David, who took us on a tour of the farm and told us all about how sustainable they are. We met Peppa and Thelma, the English Saddleback Pigs with two of their 7-week-old piglets and a small herd of young heifers, who were incredibly curious! We learned that you can make a perfectly good anti-bacterial soap from horse-chestnut leaves, that pigs are pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days, and owls ingeniously throw up the bones of small rodents in parcel shaped pellets. We can’t wait for a return visit. At the end of our trip Year 5 were presented with some owl pellets to look at in more detail in their next science lesson. So, that’s exactly what we did! First, we soaked the pellets to soften them and then we carefully took them apart with tweezers. What we found absolutely amazed us; tiny bones, skulls, miniscule teeth and lots of fur! In our next science lesson, we will use the microscopes to investigate even further and try to identify the bones.
How we look after Mother Earth 6th June 2025 Global Pre-prep Our Year 2s amazed us with their projects about “How we look after Mother Earth.” The children were challenged to think of a way they could help the planet and execute their idea in a way that would inspire others. We had many planting seeds, flowers and vegetables. The bug hotels and bee feeders were so colourfully and creatively presented. Vadaanya had us in awe of the bioplastic she made using seaweed! Over the course of the time in Year 2, we have seen the children grow in confidence and presentation skills. Our global focus this week has been to look at the 3Rs of sustainability – reuse, recycle and reduce. Please join us on the journey to help Mother Earth!
Sumdog Maths Half Termly Winners 6th June 2025 Academic We’re thrilled to announce the winners of our half-term Sumdog competition! A huge congratulations to our top five maths stars: Nikolaos (1st), Faeqah (2nd), Haaris (3rd), Rishik (4th), and Meera (5th) – fantastic work! Sumdog continues to be a favourite among our pupils, and it’s easy to see why. With fun, interactive games that adjust to each learner’s ability, it’s a powerful tool for building confidence and boosting maths skills. We’ve seen real progress among those who practise regularly – so whether you’re already a fan or just getting started, keep up the great work and get ready for the next challenge!
MFL Day – C’est Magnifique! 23rd May 2025 Global Pre-prep MFL day was all about celebrating the two languages that we learn here at Copthorne. It was such a fun day that started with a whole school assembly where we all did a conga on our beautiful playing fields. It was a Global cross curricular event where children learnt about the history, geography and food of Spanish and French speaking countries. each year group had opportunities for art and DT; year 4 created La Boca style houses while Year 1 created their own Picasso portraits. The Year 6s designed their own Formula One cars for the Monaco Grand Prix whilst the Year 5s learnt all about the Tour de France. We finished our day with a ‘ what have you learnt?’ session, followed by a huge Bingo game! Merci and gracias to everyone for making it a wonderful day! Come and experience for yourself what makes a Copthorne education unique. Check out our entry points with early offers to Caterham School. We would love to welcome you to our School at an upcoming visitor morning or private tour. BOOK YOUR VISIT
Explosive Journey Down the Food Canal with The Royal Institution 23rd May 2025 Pre-prep Science As part of their Global science, Year 1 through to Year 6 were treated to an amazing science show at Caterham School by the Royal Institution thanks to Caterham Prep’s science department. Children enjoyed learning how some foods can explode. Most importantly they learnt how our digestive system works and what happens to food once we have eaten it! Despite some squeamish moments as we saw the journey down the small intestine, the children thoroughly enjoyed the show. The Royal Institution are behind the amazing series of Christmas Lectures with presenters from David Attenborough to Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock later this year – click here to check them out. Thank you for inviting us Caterham Prep!
Year 6 Meet Author Helen Rutter at Book Awards 23rd May 2025 Academic Some of our Year 6 children were lucky enough to attend a local Prep School Book Awards this week. Since October last year, some of our Year 6s have been reading the carefully chosen five books, and recently voted on their favourite. After all the votes from all participating schools were collected, we found out that bestselling children’s author Helen Rutter had won the overall award. We got to meet Helen and take part in an exceptionally inspiring workshop with her. A thoroughly enjoyable and informative morning was had by all. Come and experience for yourself what makes a Copthorne education unique. Join us at 9+ or 10+ entry with through offers to Caterham School. We would love to welcome you to our School at an upcoming visitor morning or private tour. RESERVE YOUR PLACE
Nature Kings & Queens at the Bigwood Estate 16th May 2025 Global Pre-prep Year 1 had a wonderful morning on the Bigwood Estate. We were led by the brilliant Farmer David who was so engaging and knowledgeable. We explored around 25 acres of the land and learnt about the Kings and Queens of nature. We first met the queens of stinging nettles and the king of trees, the oak tree. We measured one oak tree and discovered it was 183 years old and King George VI was in power. We met the horses who would pull the rulers of the land and we discovered we were not as strong as a horse when pulling a carriage. Did you know there is no king bee, only queen bees and they lay around 2000 eggs a day. The male bees are called drones and we even learnt a bee dance, the waggle dance. One of the children’s favourite parts was meeting and feeding the animals, especially the pigs. Did you know you can listen to plants sing? The dandelion had the best singing voice.
Copthorne’s RileyBot wins Innovation Award at Gatwick Diamond Business Awards 22nd March 2025 Academic Judged for its impact from over 2000 multisector entries, RileyBot was chosen as the winner for its embrace of new technology engaged to further children’s teaching, learning and educational outcomes. The judges visited Caterham Family of School, Copthorne Prep for the day earlier in the month to see Rileybot in action as part of their assessment for the awards. At the visit they talked to both teachers and pupils to gain their views on integrating technology alongside the all-important human teachers in the room . RileyBot is a ground-breaking AI powered tool to support children’s learning and is built with children’s wellbeing and safeguarding at its core. It is the only AI bot suitable for children aged from Reception to Year 13. RileyBot is a subject specialist in every subject and speaks over 50 languages. The AI powered robot has been developed by teachers and machine learning engineers at Caterham School and is in use at all Caterham Family Schools as well as East Surrey Learning Partnership Schools. Unlike mainstream AI models, RileyBot acts like a teacher, guiding broader thinking, building problem-solving skills and encouraging pupil curiosity. It supports children to reach the answer and problem solve themselves, rather than simply doing the work for them. When a pupil is ‘stuck’, be it in the classroom or when completing homework, they simply ask RileyBot app for support. Rather than giving an outright ‘quick fix’ answer, as other AI models do, RileyBot acts like a friendly, supportive teaching assistant available for children in addition to their inspiring human teacher. RileyBot knows each individual pupil’s age, learning stage and any special educational needs they might have and guides their learning, giving them alternative routes to understanding and finding a solution. In classrooms, RileyBot enables pupils to engage in independent learning and supports teachers to differentiate their lessons for each child in their care. For fast learners RileyBot provides instant extension work and also has a range of features to support children with Special Educational Needs including specialist fonts, tailored speeds and full voice interaction. Having been developed by teachers, RileyBot has wellbeing at its core. Parents and teachers can see their child’s interactions and be put at ease by built-in wellbeing alerts which flag concerns to both parents and teachers. RileyBot teaches pupils how to interact with AI in a healthy and safe way. RileyBot is quickly gaining acclaim in education cirles and beyond. It was one of three initiatives to be showcased at the House of Lords at the National School Awards in December 2024.