We cannot deny that the festive season is upon us. The school is decorated and all the Christmas preparations for all the shows and events are well underway with the children all becoming very excited at the prospect of Father Christmas’s impending arrival. Unfortunately, a side effect of all this, is that some of the children can become a little more irritable at this time of year (especially since it has also been a long term) so we do ask that you ensure that they get plenty of sleep to help them cope with all the excitement.

They will certainly need their rest because there is a lot going on next week. On Tuesday and Wednesday the Foundation stage and KS1 will be performing their productions for all their families. They have all put a lot of hard work into this and I know they are looking forward to performing their shows in front of an audience.

On Wednesday we also have our ‘Open Afternoon’ which runs from 3.00pm – 4.00pm. We hold this every half term to give parents with children in Years 1-6 an opportunity to share all the learning their children have covered over the last half term. If you are watching your child in the KS1 production you can look at their work immediately afterwards and then take them home. If you have any children in KS2 you can also take them home early rather than return to the school to collect them at a later time.

On Thursday we are having our School Christmas dinner which all the children love because they sit down and all the staff serve them their meal. Even if your child has a packed lunch they still enjoy the event because we give them all crackers and we play music in the playground and the dining hall. The children can wear Christmas hats/headbands on this day to help get them in the ‘party-mood’. This is then followed with the whole school watching a film in the hall.

On Friday it is ‘Christmas Jumper Day’. This is a national fundraising event organised by ‘Save the Children’ to help give children in the UK and around the world a chance to build a better future. This year the campaign is asking for everyone to donate £2 but we will let the children wear a Christmas jumper to school if they donate £1 as we know how expensive this time of year can be. They do not have to wear their school uniform with their Christmas jumper.

Of course before any of the above happens we have our big Christmas Event to look forward to on Sunday which is being run by our PTA. I would like to thank them all for their hard work in putting the event together and I would also like to thank all of you for your generous donations of food and drink that you have sent in towards this. The event is running from 11am - 4.00pm so I am sure that I will see most of you at some point during the day.

Have a fabulous weekend – try not to get too tired with all your Christmas preparations.