The Courier

Dear Parents

Two weeks into the term, and I am pleased to report that, despite some wet and windy weather, we are nicely into the new year now and the children have all settled very sensibly back into school life.

I mentioned last week that we are currently focusing on the part of our School Promise which looks at respecting others and celebrating differences. On this theme, we have recently had a delivery of lovely new books that address a range of issues around diversity and inclusion that are very much geared to young children. I talked about some of these in my assembly earlier in the week, and the books are currently on display in the breakout space for children to have a look at when they are passing.

In the assembly we focused on a particular book called ‘We All Belong’, which finishes with the very pertinent lines ‘In our school we all belong, together we all get along. Not one of us is out of place, we all belong to the human race’. Well done in particular to the two Year 6 girls who read from the book so confidently and clearly and got a spontaneous round of applause from the rest of the school for their efforts. 

I mentioned the questionable weather of the week gone by, but we did manage to get some sport in, and I particularly enjoyed an afternoon over at Princethorpe College watching the older children take part in the house cross country run. I can't report on the winners and losers, but this will shortly be in the Courier, but it was lovely to see such honest endeavour on a wet and slippery course. Well done to everyone who took part.

From a more personal point of view, it has been something of an emotional week for me as Mandy and I have said goodbye to our eldest son who has gone off to start his training towards becoming a Royal Navy officer. He travelled down to Totnes by train on Monday morning, luckily managing to avoid one of the strike days, and he will be busily engaged in his training for at least the next eight months when we will not get to see much, if anything, of him. Although I have to admit I was sad to see him go, it is also exciting for him to be embarking on a completely new part of his life. It is not something I ever considered but I believe it will be right for him and we wish him all good luck and safe passage.

Please do read the feedback following our recent parental survey a little further on in today’s Courier. Many thanks to all who contributed.

I hope you all enjoy a restful weekend with your families.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster