The Courier

Dear Parents

What an exciting week we have had here in school to end the term! It started with a wonderful spring concert performance from the upper school children on Monday. Mrs Barnes had prepared the choir, the orchestra and all the individual instrumentalists beautifully and they played with confidence in front of a large audience. Music continues to play an intrinsic part in our school life and is something we value very highly. Pound for pound, for sheer quality and breadth, there will be few schools who can match what we are able to put on musically. Very well done to all those who took part.

Wednesday was the opportunity for the Year 2 children to perform their annual school play, Animal Rumble Grumble. I commented at the end that it almost felt like we were somewhere in the West End of London, such was the quality of the singing and acting on view. Again, very well done to the team who put this together and a special mention for Mrs Bowdige and Miss Hansen for all the additional work that they did in bringing this together. It has taken me a day or two to stop humming some of the tunes I have to say, but in a good way, of course.

Thursday saw our annual Bwengu fundraising activities out on the school field. Fundraising is a key part of the good citizen element of our school promise and we take some pride in our long-term commitment to Bwengu village in Malawi. As usual, the children took part with great gusto, and we will await the final results of the fundraising in due course. I visited East Africa some years ago and found it such a beautiful and welcoming part of the world, with fascinating cultures and natural history to explore. As I say, something we are proud to be a part of in our own small way.

Finally, today was the day for our Easter service in the school hall. This was led by our Year 5 class who acted out the story of holy week with songs, thoughts and reflections along the way. For all of our families who are celebrating over the coming weeks, I wish you a peaceful and happy family Easter.

Despite it being a short half term, it has certainly been action-packed and many of you will have had the opportunity to come into the school on one or more occasion. In the meantime, we have been hard at work putting together next term’s calendar which will be with you very shortly, both electronically and in the usual hard copy format. With co-curricular clubs already set up, we are well set to go, and we look forward to another Crescent term of hard work, endeavour and hopefully a bit of fun thrown in as well.

Looking ahead to the Easter break, I don't have any great plans to get away, mostly due to the fact we are redecorating the outside of the house, the price of which is eye watering as you might imagine. We are hoping at some point that all of our children will be in the same place at the same time, with James coming back up from Dartmouth for a couple of weeks and my daughter Lorna returning from university in Sheffield. Whatever you have planned, I hope it goes smoothly and I look forward to seeing you and the children back safely at school on Monday 17 April.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster