Headmaster's Message
Dear Parents
Welcome to our final Courier of the half term and it is a good time to look back on a productive and rewarding six weeks here at school.
After the lockdown which affected us in the Spring Term, it has been great to have had everybody back in school with the children working hard and making lots and lots of progress. I hope you have been reading the reports from Ms Forth in recent newsletters with very positive news about the children's performances in their assessments since their return, giving us every indication that the home learning we provided brought genuine benefits to the children. Of course, as we put in detailed plans for next school year, we will look closely at these results not just across the classes but also individually.
We have all learnt the art of ingenuity and innovation during the pandemic and we had two great examples of that during the week gone by. By combining lessons for our Year 4 children on Tuesday, we were able to create a special afternoon focusing on the experience of evacuees during the Second World War. This really brought the learning to life for the children and it was great to see them all coming to school in their period clothing, many children were able to tell us stories of great aunties, uncles and great grandparents and how they had experienced the war.
On a similar historical theme, Year 1 and 2 really enjoyed their virtual knight experience on Zoom yesterday, once again bringing learning to life and creating genuine engagement with the children. Medieval weapons and armour are a great way to get the historical juices flowing, at least metaphorically.
When we return to school after the half term break, building work will have started on the new Horton Centre, as mentioned in previous newsletters. I have met this week with the contractors and we are all confident that this should go ahead without impinging on the children's school experience. The compound for contractors will now only take a very small part of the playground, which is great news. When we are further into the project we will think about a good date for an official opening and hopefully give parents a chance to come and look around the new facility.
It seems we finally have some warmer weather on the way and on a bank holiday weekend as well, of all unlikely things. I know from the children that many of you have exciting activities planned and I hope you all enjoy a well-earned break.
Best wishes
Joe Thackway
Headmaster