Posted on: 31/03/2023Latest News
Posted on: March 26th 2021
A message from Caroline Lancey
It is hard to believe we have only been back for three weeks, the children have risen to the challenge of being back in school. However, there is no doubt that many of them have found the days long and we have seen a noticeable decline in their stamina. We have tried to keep school life as normal as possible and they have very quickly got back into the routine. We loved the effort people went to for World Book Day and it was great to see how many people created their own costumes.
We have some changes in staff. Helen Woodhams is leaving us to work for the National Trust. Rebeka Thompson who is currently on our staff and has done some work with them already will be taking them after Easter. Miss Thompson currently spends Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings in Otter Class. Mrs Powell-Thomas will be joined by Mrs Dee Alexander who is an experienced teacher and compliments Mrs PT very well.
Kayleigh Parsons is moving onto another nursery setting. We wish them both well.
We have also been joined by Jason Pike who is helping support children’s catch up in Maths and Chloe Bryant is doing the same but for English. These have been a valuable addition to our team and are there purely to support the learning of the children.
We are in the process of putting together our Easter Service which you will be able to access via Zoom. We are planning to start clubs after Easter but these will have to be class based as government guidelines still say that children should stay in their bubbles. This may mean that Sports Day will look different this year and it is likely that it will be only for the children. Whilst I appreciate that this is a little disappointing I am sure that you appreciate cancelling it completely would be a real blow for the children as it’s one of the memory-making school days.
One of the new things we have been trying is to get volunteers to talk to the children about their jobs and how they became involved in it. We have been really lucky that each class has had a zoom meeting with a volunteer that works with ICT as this half term’s focus is ‘What it is to work with Information Technology’. The volunteers have talked about how they use computers and technology in their jobs and how they came to do it. The children have really enjoyed having other adults coming to talk to them and the teachers have been impressed with the quality of the questions they have asked.
We have also started a partnership with the probation service. After the willow tree fell down we were left with lots of large chunks of wood. We have used them to create seating in our willow dome, started a trim trail and demarcated areas within forest school. They are also going to re-paint the outside of our forest school area which is currently covered in graffiti.
We continue to live in the Arctic as the old heating system has been taken out and the new boiler has yet to be installed. However, due to the current guidelines about having windows open to purge the air the children haven’t really noticed!!
