Headmaster's Message
Dear Parents
It was great to have the chance to see so many of you at our parents’ consultations earlier in the week. There was a real buzz to both evenings and I was delighted to hear from staff of the positive feedback that they had received from you regarding the children’s progress. It is particularly good to hear they are enjoying the lessons and talk to you about them when they get home. This enthusiasm for learning is a sure sign that they are settled in their school environment and this is ultimately the key to success in school, and quite possibly in life. With the rapid changes in the workplace that are predicted for the next decades of the digital revolution, this love of learning and re-learning will of course be a key skill in the jobs market for our young people as well.
I suspect a highlight for the week from the children’s perspective was the Image Theatre performance of Robin Hood on Tuesday morning. It is lovely to see the children’s energy and sense of fun coming out on these occasion, not to mention the similar qualities shown by the young cast of the production company. I know that our very own drama guru Miss Thompson was watching with a keen eye as she plans ahead for our drama productions later in the year.
We finished the week off with our Good News assembly this morning and we awarded our first School Promise Certificates to two children from each class. These new awards replace the old Honours Certificates and are designed to reflect the ethos of our new School Promise. The children can be awarded the certificates for being good friends, good learners or good citizens during the half term gone by and we look forward to recognising plenty more children in the terms ahead. Of course, we all spent the day as good citizens supporting the excellent cause of the local air ambulance service. This charity was chosen by the School Council after consulting the rest of the children and our fundraising non uniform day was combined with a name the teddy bear competition in each classroom. We are hoping to get a representative in from the charity later in the term to talk to the children about how the money will be spent.
With a two week break ahead of us I hope you are all able to spend some good quality time out and about with your children. As I mentioned last week, reading is such a key skill in education and I hope you can plan this into your children’s routines over the break. I have two books on the go at the moment as well as pouring over a map of the Yorkshire Dales where I hope to spend a couple of days cycling with my son next week. We are also off as a family to the Shropshire Hills in the second week of the holiday for an overnight stay so it will be interesting to see what the weather has in stall for us. I suspect it will be invigorating, if nothing else.
I hope you all get a relaxing break of some sort. I look forward to seeing all the children back in school for Monday 5 November.
Joe Thackway
