We are extremely pleased and excited to announce that our pupils from Pre-Nursery, Nursery and Reception will join the Year 1 - Year 8 pupils at our main school on Manresa Road for all their lessons and activities from September 2020. Although, at The Hampshire School Chelsea, we have been very fond of our Wetherby Place building and the bijou classrooms, the advantages of this strategic decision are immense. The intimacy at Wetherby Place will not be lost as a full refurbishment programme of the lower ground floor of Manresa Road will commence at the end of this term. Our ethos of one school, and the importance of the ‘family feel’, will be enhanced with every member of our school community enjoying an education on one fabulous school site.
This initiative was welcome news for staff and parents who will acknowledge the value of a reduction in travel time from Wetherby Place to Manresa Road for specialist lessons, and in addition, reducing our carbon footprint. The benefits to the children’s education, and wellbeing, have driven this initiative. Further, the convenience of having one drop-off and collection point for families with siblings at the school will be appreciated by many members of our community.
The development will include a state-of-the art Early Years provision. We are fortunate to have ample space at Manresa Road and the benefits to all pupils in our community will include a renewed approach to our provision for art and ICT with additional refurbishment that provides the space and resources for specialist lessons. There will be no reduction in the educational provision and timetable for the pupils, indeed, there will be the addition of whole school initiatives including whole school assemblies, greater involvement of all pupils in the Development Groups and House competitions, and greater working together including: additional ‘buddy’ systems, mentoring opportunities for the Prep School pupils with our youngest members of the school community, extension of the reading partners programme, and much more.
We recognise the importance of smooth transitions and will be sharing with the children, and with parents, the new configuration of the building. An all-inclusive transition process for our Nursery and Reception children will be implemented to ensure the transition and relocation are smooth.
Works will start in the summer holidays and we will update parents with more information once we know the full details and can share the development plans.
This is a very exciting opportunity and we look forward to welcoming every member of The Hampshire School Chelsea family to Manresa Road in September 2020.