Dear parents and carers,
Welcome back. We hope you all had a wonderful break over the Christmas and New Year period. It was lovely to welcome the children back on Tuesday and during our assembly we talked about how the Spring Term is a really exciting term for seeing the children’s learning grow. They have spent a term in their classes, they know their classmates, staff and classroom routines. This is the term when they can really get into their learning and make some great progress. To do this, we need everyone to feel safe, happy and ready for school. We spent time recapping the four school rules, their meaning and importance.
We particularly focussed on ‘Work hard’ and why this was important in being ready for your next step. The learning we do in Reception, supports us in Year 1. The learning in Year 1 and 2 gets us ready for moving to Pilton Bluecoat. Then the learning there prepares us for moving to secondary school and so on. We explained that all the things that you learn at school (personal, social and academic) are preparing you for your future as an adult and the jobs you will do.
This week has been arts week and has been a super way to ease back into the school routine. There’s been lots of amazing clay work (Reception), weaving (Year 1) and collage (Year 2) and we’ll soon have some amazing displays of the artists we’ve studied, processes we’ve been through and the pieces that the children have created. We can’t wait to show you. The children and staff have really enjoyed the week.
This term will be a shorter term than the Autumn term but there is lots to fit in. The curriculum newsletters will be coming out to you next week to outline the learning that will be taking place. We’re currently organising trips, parents' evenings and other events which we will share the dates for with you, once they are confirmed.
I’m sure you will have noticed our fantastic new playground shelter which was constructed during the holiday. It looks amazing, particularly with the two squirrels on top, and will certainly help on the rainy days and hot sunny days. A big thank you to the PTFA for funding this project. Unfortunately, we have experienced a technical issue with the new gates on the driveway. However, we hope to have them working at some point next week.
We hope you like the new newsletter format. All of the schools within TEAM are now using the same system for providing our newsletters.
Have a great weekend.
Best wishes,
John Mortimer, Head of School
