Dear Parents and Carers,
We have made it to the end of term, phew! It’s always a busy term but we had some staff illness over the last couple of weeks. It didn’t stop the learning or the fun though.
At the very end of November Class 5 went off for their trip to the EuroSpace Centre. They were there for 3 days and had an amazing time and learnt a lot. They participated in an astronaut training programme. They learnt how to manoeuvre Rovers on Mars’s rocky grounds and had a special workshop, building and launching a rocket. Thank you to Ms Georgiana and Mr Bob who took great care of them.
On Friday the 3rd December Mrs Harwood took the toys you all donated to the charity. They were very pleased at the quantity and quality of the things you donated. Well done everyone.
5th December kicked off our Literacy week. On Monday some of the children and teachers dressed the same so they looked like ‘twins’ and classes paired up to read to each other and share their love of books. Tuesday the 6th December the students told us their favourite book either by writing it down or bringing a print out of the cover and we decorated one of our notice boards with them. We could see that particular books were very popular but there were also some interesting outliers. On Wednesday teachers invited mystery readers into their classrooms to read to the students. These included staff, parents and over Zoom even someone from the US, Class 4 you know who she is! On Thursday we had a cosy reading day when the students were able to come to school in their pyjamas and dressing gowns and snuggle up with a book. Some students brought blankets and cuddly toys and really made themselves feel comfortable! Throughout the week teachers had activities in their classes too. Friday was the amazing book character day and more children and staff than ever came in exciting costumes. We had a parade and Ms Nichols, our resident storyteller, told the story of The Crescent Moon Bear with musical accompaniment and props. The children were spellbound. It was a great week and this year the focus was on reading. We are already looking forward to next year and perhaps having a focus on drama or writing.
On the 6th December we had a very exciting visit from Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pieter. Earlier in the day several of the classrooms had been messed up (that naughty Piet!) and the children who had left out shoes had received goodies in them. In the afternoon we all got together in the theatre to sing and perform for Sinterklaas and he read from his book about who had been good and who needed to reform. Zwarte Piet was able to distribute sweets from his sack and offered to take away any rowdy children in the empty one.
In their classes, especially in Early Years, children have been making Christmas decorations, cards and gifts for the tree. We have a lot of talent in school.
On the 13th December it was the house cake decorating competition. A team of students and staff from each house had 20 mins to decorate a cake. We held the competition outside so everyone could see and it was a bit chilly. All three houses did a fantastic job and the cakes looked marvellous. It was just a shame we couldn’t all have a taste as well!
Yesterday we rounded off the term with a Christmas sing-along and the class parties. Everyone looked very cheerful in their Christmas jumpers and outfits.
Reports went out through Engage yesterday afternoon.
Today we are holding our parent-teacher conferences so if you have any queries or concerns you can discuss them with the class teacher. We love to see our parents in school.
Please do note that it is against school policy to take holiday in term time. Requests for leave will be denied and the leave will be unauthorised.
However, we wish you all happy, warm and safe holidays. We hope that the Christmas spirit abounds and look forward to seeing all of the children again on the 9th January.
