The Courier

Dear Parents

It has been wonderful to have the children back in school this week. Whilst the weather has been up and down, the children have got straight back into things and it is great to have the first five days of learning under the belt and everyone feeling energised and ready for the remainder of term. I know there were some nerves on Monday morning, but the children deserve great credit for their enthusiasm and resilience on the return and many thanks to all of the staff for making them all feel so welcome. Long may it continue!

I spent a very useful session with the Year 1 class on Thursday, observing a lesson focused on adjectives, but requiring free writing skills. The level of handwriting, spelling and grammar for a Year 1 class in mid-year were really impressive, as was the class's ability to concentrate on their learning. It was only a snapshot of course, but it was great to see them all fully on task so soon after their return and this speaks volumes for the efforts of everyone to keep the children focused throughout the home learning period.

It has been great this week to welcome two virtual visits to the school, in the form of Michelle Robinson the children’s author and the zoo workshop on Thursday. The children welcomed these opportunities to see and do something different and I know they will have inspired some immensely valuable follow up activities in the classroom. Engaging the children with the subject matter is invaluable and when they are really into a subject, it hardly seems like ‘work’ at all when it comes to reading and writing.

Nursery Building Update

I spoke to you all recently about our plans for the nursery building and work on this has continued to go on behind the scenes. Further to this, I am now able to announce that we have submitted our designs for planning permission, largely in line with the plans I shared with you on February 11.

In essence, at this stage we want to achieve the following:

• Join the two buildings together
• Create new hall storage, freeing up the hall for use as a sports hall
• Create a large open plan teaching space suitable for a class in September
• Make a new space for music and drama lessons during the day and wraparound care, before and after-school

There is still a great deal to be done but we are a step further down the path towards these goals. In any event, we will certainly have the two teaching spaces in full use for next year and we will continue to develop the new building and the rest of the site over the next 5 to 10 years in line with our mission to provide an outstanding all-round education for our pupils in a caring, nurturing, and supportive environment. These are exciting times for the school.

Have a great weekend.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster