Dear parents and carers,
Welcome back! We hope you all had a lovely Easter break. We’ve had a fantastic first week back. There has been a real buzz around the school with our Ambition Project. We’ve been visited this week by an artist, a football coach, a doctor, a helicopter paramedic and police officers who have all talked to the children about their jobs and about how they got there. Some talked about how they’ve experienced different jobs first which maybe they have or haven’t enjoyed as much, but they’ve learned things from that which have led them to where they are now. Each visitor has shown and talked about equipment that they use, which the children found very interesting. They have all also talked about how school helped them to get to where they are now and how they have had to be like our learning heroes.
The children have been thinking about what they would like to do when they are adults and what they need to work on at school to help them get there. I’ve had lots of conversations with children across the week and it’s great to hear that we have children aspiring to be police officers, chefs, magicians, footballers, scientists, train drivers, doctors, vets, military police officers, paramedics and horse-riding instructors… to name just a few.
As we said to the children at the beginning of the week, their dreams and ambitions may change as they grow up, but it’s important to have the dreams and ambitions.
A huge thank you to our visitors this week – Caroline, Ross, Richard, Stewart and Darren– for giving up their time to come into school and for the effort and energy they brought in to inspire the pupils. We also look forward to Danny coming in next week.
As we start thinking ahead to next year, transition has begun this week for Year 2 with their first visit to Pilton Bluecoat. The children met Mr Harts and found out a bit more about him and the school. From today, each week, one of the Year 2 classes will be visiting Bluecoat for part of lunchtime to play and get to know some of the Bluecoat children and staff.
You will have received an email letting you know of our new date for Sports for Champions of Tuesday 19th May. Where the children will meet Leon Greenwood, who is part of a British Bobsleigh team who have recently competed in the World Championships.
You can read his bio here – Leon Greenwood - Sports For Champions
Following on from some of my previous newsletters, there has been a lot in the press lately about the impact of screens on young children. A couple of interesting and user friendly bits that I’ve found recently and thought would be useful to share are below:
A short BBC report on the impact of screens - https://youtu.be/yFc4yhZKP5U?si=tgyajbQ249nNX4kn
Screen time guidance for Under 5’s from the government's Best Start in Life website. This is short, easy to understand and has some very useful hints and tips - https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/screen-time-under-5s/?es_c=825B5E7C0C67CA237372B5022BEB32B4&es_cl=765CBD90AE78E6AA0B48755E788966DF&es_id=ph7%c2%a3o1
Have a great weekend.
Best wishes,
John Mortimer
Head of School
