Exploring the Journey to Senior School 27th March 2026 Academic It’s been a week of looking ahead for pupils and families in Years 4 and 5! On Monday morning, parents were invited to join a presentation from our senior leadership team giving insight into how we prepare our pupils academically and holistically for their time not only in Years 5 and 6 here at Copthorne but in readiness for their move on to their chosen senior school. As part of the Caterham Family of Schools, our children can choose the through school route to our award winning senior school, Caterham School. Our Early Offer process avoids the stress of an 11+exam for pupils and gives peace of mind early on for parents. With this in mind, we were delighted to welcome Mr Ceri Jones, Headmaster at Caterham School to the presentation. Mr Jones talked about the ethos, diverse culture and academic ambition at Caterham that is shared here at Copthorne and welcomed families from all year groups to visit Caterham. Transition from Year 4 to Year 5 is an exciting step for our pupils, as they move to a senior school model of subject specialist teaching and begin to navigate their timetables independently. This week, Year 4 had a taster of life in Year 5, visiting the Year 5 and 6 corridor for English and maths lessons led by Mrs Litchfield (Head of English) and Mrs Potgieter (Head of Maths). They rose to the challenge and impressed us with their maturity and engagement! In the afternoon, Year 4 visited the impressive Performing Arts Centre at Caterham School and were able to watch the Lower School production of Emil and the Detectives. They were thrilled to see lots of former Copthorne pupils on their route through the school to the Humphreys Theatre who spotted our distinctive red blazers in the sunshine. Year 5 also visited Caterham this week for some senior school taster sessions. They enjoyed a bug-tastic art lesson with Head of Visual Arts, Mrs Veldtman where they played with a limited colour palette before they donned 3D glasses to pop their bugs into life. They also visited the science lab and carried out some investigations into forces. Mrs Hills-Matthew, Head of Prep Science was very impressed with their energy and enthusiasm! A pit stop for lunch in the big refectory and then straight off to an EDGE session with Mr Lang, Deputy Head Innovation, for some collaborative problem solving, including some time on the ever popular spheros. The Copthorne – Caterham shuttle bus awaited at the end of a busy morning to whizz them back to school. Thanks to all our Caterham colleagues for a wonderful visit!