At last we have had some sunshine this week and although it did not last all week let us hope that it is a sign that spring, if not summer, is on its way – it certainly makes you feel better about the day when you wake up to sunshine and a blue sky. Another good thing about the sunshine is that it encourages more people to walk to school and we have also seen an increase in the number of children riding a bike or scooter to school which is great.

 However I have to say that I am disappointed at the number of parents who are still parking too close to the school – even parking on the zig-zag yellow lines outside the school and with more children coming on foot or by bike because of the fine weather this is even more worrying as it increases the risk of a child being injured or worse! Twice on Wednesday I was out of school helping to transport children to different events and I could not believe how difficult it was to get in and out of the school. In the morning somebody had parked across the staff car park and even though the driver had remained in the car it is really not acceptable to do this. I then returned to school in the evening when the school clubs were finishing and it was really difficult for me to get into the car park because there were so many cars parked in front of the school. Everybody always looks very sheepish when they see me but looking sheepish is not enough – we need people to park away from the school and walk a short distance to pick their child up. I have also had more complaints this week from neighbours and parents complaining how many parents park inconsiderately and to be honest I should not be spending the amount of time I do dealing with complaints about cars – it takes me away from educational issues which should be my focus. All I hope for is that the change in the weather for the better brings a change of attitude in some people and everyone parks and drives considerately around the school. 

As you all know now Mrs Byrne is leaving us after 27 years dedicated service. It is certainly not a decision she has taken lightly but she is also a very busy lady outside of school and I know that after she leaves us she will still have very active days.  Mrs Pepper, as you know, will be replacing her and even though she has very big shoes to fill I know she is looking forward to the challenge.

I hope to see many of you at the E – Safety evening next week. As I said in the newsletter I know many of you will be vigilant in monitoring your children on the computer and internet at home but the idea of the evening is to give you some ideas of how your children can use the internet to its full potential and get great enjoyment from it and you have peace of mind that they will come to no harm through using it. I look forward to seeing you then.