The Courier

Dear Parents

It is at this time of year, as the days shorten and the journeys to work and home are both in near, or in my case complete, darkness, that we need a few fillips to keep the spirits up. There have been a number of highlights this week to celebrate and we have got plenty of things lined up in the next three weeks that will get us over the line, ready and primed for Christmas when it comes.

We enjoyed a really exciting maths challenge for the houses on Tuesday, organised by Ms Forth, as well as plenty of sports fixtures and the Scholastic book fair during the week. The early signs are that we have managed to raise a very handsome sum of money from the book fair, which all gets ploughed back into the school library. Many thanks for all of your purchases, and special thanks to those parents who have helped out running the till before and after school.

Rehearsals for Christmas performances have begun in earnest, with lots of lovely singing coming from the music room and the hall. Next week of course we have our famous Christmas art day to look forward to and I have a nice assembly planned on advent for December 1st. Advent is all about getting ready and storing up for exciting things still to come and that's a good message to sustain us over the next three weeks. Today we have even had the first of our theatre visits, with Year 3 and 4 off to see the stage play of Nativity the Musical.

You will receive this afternoon or evening in a separate communication an invitation to take part in our parental survey. This is something we like to do quite regularly to gauge the feelings and opinions of our parent body and I hope you are able to find 10 to 15 minutes of your valuable time to complete this.

When it comes to Christmas shopping, I like to hold off as long as possible, so I am looking forward to some down time this weekend and may even indulge in some binge World Cup watching. My appetite for this may well be decided by how well England do this evening, for which fingers are securely crossed.

Be it shopping or football, I hope you all enjoy a relaxing time with your children over the weekend ahead.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster