Starting at Kew College Prep: A Warm Welcome for New Families
Posted: 14th September 2026
There is something rather lovely about the last few days of the summer holidays. New shoes by the front door. A name label on a water bottle. A child who is one part excited, one part quietly unsure about what September will bring.
If your family has joined Kew College Prep this term, we want you to know that we have been getting ready too. Names have been learned. Pegs have been labelled. Classrooms in Nursery, Reception and across the Prep have been arranged with your child in mind. And when they walk through our gates in Kew for the first time, there will be a familiar face waiting for them each morning.
We pride ourselves on valuing each child as an individual, and that begins on day one. Our small class sizes mean your child is known, properly known, from their very first week. Visitors often comment on the warm and happy atmosphere here, and it is the thing we work hardest to protect, because a child who feels settled is a child who is ready to learn.
In the meantime, a few gentle things tend to help. Talk about school in ordinary, everyday terms rather than making it the big event, where the classroom is, who will collect them, what happens at lunchtime. Practise the small independent skills that build confidence: shoes on and off, a coat zipped, hands washed. Let them help pack their bag so the routine is already partly theirs.
And do not worry about the wobbles. Some children skip through the door without a backward glance; others need a hand held for a week or two, and both are entirely normal. Our staff have welcomed a great many new starters and know that a settled child is rarely a rushed one. If your child is anxious about something specific — the walk to the classroom, or who they will sit next to at lunch — do tell us. It is far easier for us to smooth over a worry we know about.
Term is now underway and we have thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of our new pupils. We look forward to using the coming weeks to get to know each and every child as an individual.
Welcome to Kew College Prep. It is going to be a wonderful year.
