Headmaster's Message

Headmaster's Message

Dear Parents

It has been a long and eventful week back at school and I am delighted to report that all of the new children have settled in really well to their classes. Those moving up the school have also found their feet with their new teachers and got back into the routines of moving around the school for specialist lessons.

The timing of the mini heatwave earlier in the week left quite a lot to be desired, especially considering the cool and cloudy weather we endured for much of August. Notwithstanding that, it has been a really successful first week and you can read all about it in this week’s Courier as well as looking at some pictures of the children and the new facilities.

The summer projects redeveloping the Horton Centre and installing a new roof on the Mortimer suite, all went to plan and the new facilities are already fully operational and in use. These will have a significant impact on teaching and learning in a wide variety of ways over the coming years that will benefit all of your children. The new music and drama rooms are a delight and afterschool club has more space as well as direct access to the outdoor play areas. Our new link corridor also provides learning areas for group work and we are looking to establish a well-being space for the children in one of the smaller rooms as well.

As you know, we do not now run a nursery setting, but demand for places in our Reception class remains very high. I would remind any current parents with children currently in Foundation year that the early bird deadline for applications is earlier this year, on Friday 15 October. Please do contact Mrs Morley if you would like to register your child. Many of you have already done so, many thanks. This date also applies to children who wish to join next year’s Year 3 class.

I mentioned in my Welcome Evening presentation last term that we were looking to introduce more forest school style teaching over the coming terms. Our plans in this area have suffered something of a set back over the summer as one of the trees in our forest school space had to be removed due to dangerous overhanging limbs. A certain amount of additional clearance work took place which will take some time to recover. Allied to this, our forest school qualified member of staff, Madame Tatton, has successfully secured a new role in a school nearer to her home and will be leaving us in December.

However, our plans remain undaunted, and we still intend to provide some forest school lessons for Upper School children after the half term break. Going forward this is an opportunity for a fresh start in this area and we will be training a new member of staff and implementing a long-term plan for redeveloping the area with appropriate planting. The outdoor learning programme for the summer term will be run by Mrs McCollin and takes place across the whole of the site and this will not be affected.

I do hope your week has worked as you had planned. I know many parents are returning to work and returning to their offices. I always say to staff at this time of year that it is important to pace yourself through this long autumn term and make sure we get the right amount of downtime when it is needed. With this in mind, I hope you will enjoy a restful weekend and look forward to seeing the children back for more of the same next week. 

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

 

Considerate Parking Reminder

When parking around the school site to drop off and collect your children please be mindful of the needs of other road users and in particular the safety of pedestrians.

Please avoid parking at or near to road junctions. We would also advise parents/grandparnts/other relatives against parking opposite the school zig zag lines. This creates a blockage for oncoming vehicles at busy times and results in cars backing up to the junction of Magnet Road.

Joe Thackway
Headmaster