We have had one ’elf ‘ of a day in school to finish the term. It brought an air of cheer to the school and I think that most of the children enjoyed the experience (even some of the Year 6). You can see what I looked like below as I posed in my outfit with the Year 1 Class. I would like to thank you all for all your donations for the food banks. With all that has happened this year there are more people than ever reliant on these banks to help them feed their families and it is good to think that our fun event will help these people to have a better Christmas.

We are lucky that we have made it through the term without any major disruptions. I am keeping my fingers crossed as I type this (very difficult) because I know other schools have not been as fortunate but I hope we will be as lucky next term. My husband has been told that once 2 million people are vaccinated it will have a major impact on reducing the spread of Covid 19 so let us hope that information is true and it means that we can get back to returning to the life that we had before this horrible virus descended upon us.

I do think that the children have enjoyed being back to school and, after a couple of weeks, did get used to following school routines again. As the autumn term is the longest one, the children are always quite tired by the end of it and do deserve a good rest so they feel re-energised and refreshed when they return in January. Even though they will not be getting the Christmas they are used to I am sure they will still all have a good time. I have told them to remember this Christmas because they are living through a memorable time in their history and, in years to come when they get to my age, they can retell to all their children what it was like to live through Christmas 2020 (or even the whole year).

To finish I would to thank all the people who sent me gifts – they are not necessary but very much appreciated. I hope you all remain safe and well during the holiday and you all have a good time – in spite of all the restrictions. I look forward to welcoming you all back in 2021 on Tuesday, January 5^th.

We are nearly there –as I have been discussing with the children in assembly this week – ‘There is light at the end of the tunnel.’  Fingers crossed that all goes well and we can finish as a whole school next week but we are still not in a position to take any chances. Although there is a vaccine here, with other vaccines due to follow, we still have to be vigilant. I would like to thank all those parents who are being vigilant and are socially distancing outside although there are still a minority standing around in groups, facing in, talking to each other. This is against all advice sent out about Covid-19 and I would like this practice to stop. Even one person getting the virus in our community could start a chain reaction which could mean that we have to close the whole school and we do not want that to happen.

It is Christmas in school though and the children have enjoyed a very festive day. It was Christmas Jumper Day and I would like to thank everyone for sending in their donations. Due to Covid restrictions we will count it next week and we will let you know how much we have raised – either through our newsletter or in my blog. The children also had their Christmas lunch today and although the majority of them had to have it in their classrooms it was still a very festive and enjoyable occasion.

You may have heard some rumblings through the press that schools are closing on December 17^th but we are not. To do this we would have to alter our INSET days and we did not want to do this because it would affect our dates for 2021 as well. The government were only doing this because Heads have to be responsible for informing members of their school community if there is an outbreak of Covid for six days after schools break up which means that we have to be contactable on Christmas Eve which a lot of the unions objected to. However, we have decided to close on December 18^th as planned. Due to Covid restrictions we cannot all leave at 2.00pm so we will be sending out our modified finish times for next Friday in our newsletter.

Next week it is Elf Day on Friday. I know all the children are looking forward to it and I hope you have all the outfits ready. Remember that all the children need to bring in a food donation to give to a food bank. Have a great weekend. I know I am going to because I was lucky enough to have won one of the PTA hampers so I will enjoy eating and drinking some of its contents. I hope you all have a great weekend too. 

 

Ugh! What a horrible end to the week with all the rain and cold weather. With all the Covid restrictions that we have had to put in place one of the worst things we can have is rain as it has a big impact on our PE timetable  We really should not be having many indoor PE sessions and  Mr Mills has been very good at adapting the timetable to meet the new restrictions (including making very good use of the outdoor classroom) but the rain does make things more difficult. As I have mentioned before it is vital that your children do have outdoor clothing for PE because they will be going outside and we do not want them feeling cold –this should include a long sleeve top and some long trousers/jogging bottoms.

Thank you for all the donations that were sent in today. As I type this all the children are enjoying a film as a way of a thank you. Next week the PTA are going to put together Christmas hampers which will be raffled on Friday. Remember you are able to purchase tickets for £1 each through the Raffall link: https://raffall.com/147716/enter-raffle-to-winchristmas-hamper-raffle-hosted-by-little-heath-pta. I have already purchased my tickets and I have got my fingers crossed that I am going to be lucky again. I have won one in the past and it was one of the highlights of my Christmas.

As well as the hamper raffle we also have Christmas Jumper Day next Friday. The children can wear a Christmas jumper as long as they bring in at least a pound for the ‘Save the Children’ charity. Next Friday is also the day we are having our Christmas lunch. Although the children cannot have their lunch all together as a school they will all be having their lunch together in the classroom with their teacher so it will still be a special occasion for them.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Even though we cannot go out as much I am finding the weekends busy with all the preparations for Christmas so I do hope you find some time to relax. I look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday morning.