Christmas Celebration Service 12th December 2025 Community Creative Arts Performing Arts Pre-prep Uncategorised Copthorne Prep marked the festive season with a heart-warming Christmas Celebration Service held in the beautiful and historic setting of St. Nicholas’, Worth. The ancient church provided a fitting backdrop for an afternoon filled with reflection, music, and community spirit. The service was led by Head of School, Mrs McGregor, together with children from Year 6, who guided the congregation through a thoughtful sequence of readings and music. A particular highlight was Mrs McGregor’s moving reading about the Christingle, during which Year 2 pupils took centre stage. Each child confidently shared their part and proudly presented their Christingle, creating a truly memorable moment. The musical contributions made the celebration especially uplifting. The Pre-Prep children delivered a charming rendition of Away in a Manger, and a talented Year 6 soloist opened Once in Royal David’s City with a beautifully sung first verse. The school choir added a stunning performance of All on a Silent Night, which filled the church with a calm and reflective beauty. The whole school then came together for a heartfelt performance of ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, and traditional congregational carols invited everyone to join in the festive spirit. With over 300 people in attendance, the service brought together families, staff, and pupils in an atmosphere of light, love, and togetherness. It was a beautiful way to usher in the Christmas season and a truly fitting conclusion to the term.
Collaborative Lantern Project Sparkles 12th December 2025 Uncategorised School was glowing with excitement as pupils from Years 4, 5, and 6 took part in a special collaborative art project. Working in house teams, the children designed and crafted stunning willow and tissue-paper lanterns. They learned to shape and secure willow into sturdy frames, experimented with layering tissue paper and added finishing touches with paint. Beyond developing artistic and practical skills, the project fostered teamwork and creativity. Ideas were shared and celebrated, and every child contributed to the final designs. Each class eagerly watched the lanterns evolve as they added their part, and the completed pieces reflected the unique personality of each team. Keep an eye out for these beautiful lanterns displayed around the school.
House Hot Chocolate 12th December 2025 Uncategorised Children from every corner of the school, representing all four Houses, poured their creativity and enthusiasm into crafting dazzling Christmas decorations in their House colours. After much thoughtful deliberation, the judges announced the winners of this year’s House Christmas Decoration Competition: Rendall House! To celebrate this joyful and Christmassy achievement, Rendall pupils were treated to steaming cups of hot chocolate and some yummy treats. Well done!
Christmas Musical Advent Calendar Delights 11th December 2025 Creative Arts Performing Arts Uncategorised Have you been enjoying our first musical Christmas Advent Calendar? Everyday the children across the school have been singing their hearts out to bring you festive joy in the lead up to Christmas. You can follow every day on Instagram or Facebook plus you can catch up anytime directly on our YouTube channel via the Advent Calendar playlist. The advent calendar, of course, continues right up to Christmas so be sure to tune in with your child after the end of term for a singalong! Happy Christmas!
Mr Tandy Talks Cinematic Magic 5th December 2025 Uncategorised This week, Years 5 and 6 were treated to an exciting careers assembly led by Raiha’s dad, Mr Tandy, who works at Omnex in cinema operations. The pupils loved getting a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at how movies make it onto the big screen and discovering the teamwork involved in delivering perfect sound and picture quality. As a special bonus, everyone even got to take home a Wicked cup and a bag of popcorn! A big thank you to Mr Tandy for such an inspiring visit.
Christmas Cheer in Every House Colour 5th December 2025 Uncategorised We have received the most enchanting collection of house-coloured Christmas tree decorations. Mrs. McGregor was absolutely delighted with the beautiful wreath created by Aviraj and his family, and it now sparkles proudly on her office door. A huge well done to all of the children. Their imagination, effort, and creative flair have brought a touch of Christmas magic to every decoration. Thank you to all our families for supporting your children in creating these festive treasures. Thank you to all the children who made a Christmas tree decoration in their house colour — they are all absolutely fantastic. Although there can only be one winning house, we have displayed all of the decorations on the Christmas tree in the new block. Please do take the time to go and have a look. The winning house with the most tree decorations is Rendall. All Rendall children will be enjoying a scrumptious hot chocolate and biscuit with Mrs McGregor on Monday 8 December at 3pm.
Nikolas Faces English Chess Grandmaster 5th December 2025 Co-curricular Uncategorised Having been invited to join the Sussex Junior Chess U11 EPSCA team, representing the county in the upcoming season, Nikolas recently attended the London Chess Classic. Held at the Emirates Stadium, he had the privilege of watching and meeting several elite grandmasters. He was also given the extraordinary opportunity to play a friendly game with English Grandmaster and commentator David Howell — a three-time British Champion and the second-youngest Briton ever to earn the Grandmaster title at just 16. Nikolas also took part in the Blitz tournament, choosing to challenge himself by competing in the fast-paced format rather than his preferred classical style. This meant facing some of the highest-rated national and international players, which was both demanding and inspiring for him. Well done Nikolas, we look forward to watching your Chess skills develop!
Hongqi Celebrates Outstanding Musical Achievement 28th November 2025 Creative Arts Uncategorised We are thrilled to celebrate the fantastic musical success of former pupil Hongqi Z, now in First Year at Caterham School who has achieved his ARSM Piano Diploma with Distinction — an extraordinary accomplishment for a musician of any age, and especially impressive for someone so young. Hongqi’s exceptional musical talent was already shining whilst here at Copthorne. He passed his Grade 8 piano exam while still in Year 4, demonstrating remarkable skill, dedication, and musical maturity from an early age. In addition to his outstanding piano playing, Hongqi is a keen cellist, currently working at Grade 6, and continues to develop his musicianship across multiple instruments. Since joining Caterham as a Music Scholar, he has become a committed member of the Symphony Orchestra, contributing with enthusiasm and professionalism. Hongqi is eager to immerse himself even further in school musical life. He will also be joining the Boys’ Choir and the Film Orchestra, adding his talents to an even wider range of ensembles. His passion for music is clear to all who know him, and his aspirations promise an exciting future ahead. We send our warmest congratulations to Hongqi on his ARSM Diploma success and look forward to watching him grow and flourish as a musician at Caterham School. Well done, Hongqi!
Year 6 Investigate the Battle of Britain Through Role Play 21st November 2025 Global Uncategorised On Thursday, Year 6 pupils had a wonderful opportunity to learn and reenact the Battle of Britain with a hands-on workshop. The Year 6 Global question this term is ‘Why do we have wars?’ and they have been looking at the causes of both world wars and debating whether they were inevitable. This workshop allowed them through role play to understand how the war impacted on civilians, especially those in London. They also learnt how the Dowding system worked taking part in the Fighter command and the Filter rooms which helped them understand how enemy craft could be detected and then intercepted. Well done Year 6 – you really took it all on board and asked some super questions throughout the session.
What Colour is Love? 21st November 2025 Nursery Uncategorised In Butterflies, lower nursery class, we read the story What Colour Is Love? this week and talked about all the different colours we can see around us. The children had lots of fun making colourful handprints to help create our handprint Christmas tree. They loved choosing their paint colours and making their marks. We can’t wait to put all the handprints together to make our bright and cheerful tree!