I heard someone say during one of my many meetings this week that January was passing very slowly - but I could not disagree more. I cannot believe that it is a whole week since I was last writing my blog – it literally just feels like a day since I was last writing this. It is going to be half –term before we know it and then Spring - Hurray!

Things have been going very well in school this week although, because we have had a couple of confirmed cases of Covid, we are still implementing a couple of strategies in school to help reduce the spread of Covid across the whole school. We are still running our full clubs schedule as I feel that it is important for our children to have these positive experiences to look forward to and hopefully we will be able to maintain this but if we do have to make any changes which will impact on these we will let you know.

In my last newsletter I did request that parents ensure that children come to school in their full uniform but I am sorry to report that a number of children are still not adhering to our dress code. I am a little disappointed by this because I do feel that we have a very good parent body who are very supportive of the school and I do feel that we are being let down by a few not following our expectations. I hope that this will be rectified next week.

I am sure you are all looking forward to a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. I am still having work completed on my house so things are a little chaotic in my household so I will just have to make sure that I get out and about to get away from it. I look forward to seeing you all again next week.

 It was great to start our outdoor clubs again this week and, all being well, the indoor clubs will be starting next week. I am really happy when all clubs are running because I do think that the extended curriculum is just as important for children as the mandatory curriculum. As it has been a while since all clubs were last running, you may want to check our website to check which nights the different clubs run. We also have two new external clubs staring this term as well. They are a chess club on Tuesday night and a Karate Club on Friday evening. If you have not already signed up for these and you think your child may be interested in starting them, please enquire at the school office for contact details.

I am also very pleased to say, that as our Covid cases have been so low we will be getting rid of class ‘bubbles’ next week and returning to our normal routines for the running of the school. I am sure that you will agree that this is great news but if rates do rise within the school we will have to return to our ‘bubble format’ for running the school.

I know that some of you that have read my school letter may have thought that I was complaining about many things. Can I assure you all that was not the case. I brought up the watches and earrings as they are health and safety issues and I do not want any harm to come to the children. I mentioned the uniform because after a couple of lockdowns and the children being allowed to wear additional layers in the classroom to help keep them warm I think some people have become confused as to what the actual uniform is and it is important that we re-establish our expectations to those that existed before the pandemic.

That is all for now. I have really enjoyed this week because although it has been cold it has been sunny for most of it which has been very uplifting. Let us hope it that we see more sunshine over the weekend.

 When I was writing up the dates for next week I could hardly believe that it will be 17^th January on Monday – we are already halfway through January. If the weeks keep passing this quickly it will be Spring before we know it. Not that we have much to complain about because we have had some lovely sunshine this week. I know that it has been frosty (and a little slippery on some days) but I do think that we can all cope with anything as long as we have a bit of sunshine in our lives.

I am afraid that I need to have a little moan this week. As I have been moving around the school I have noticed a few lapses in the children’s uniform e.g. incorrect footwear, the wrong coloured socks or tights or KS2 pupils not wearing ties. Can you please make sure that your child is dressed in the correct uniform when they are in school. If you are unclear about what they should be wearing you can check the uniform list which can be found on our website in the parent tab. (I am not including in this the extra jumpers/coats that children are wearing to help keep them warm in the classroom). We will be sending texts home to parents for children who are not dressed appropriately or who have forgotten their PE Kit (another thing which is happening too often).

Although we are still operating the school in ‘bubble’ mode indoors there are still lots of exciting things happening in school next week. On Monday Year 5 are taking part in a Viking workshop and on Tuesday the children in Nursery through to Year 2 will be taking part in a jungle drama workshop. We are also starting the outdoor clubs again next week (netball, rugby and football) and I know a lot of the children are looking forward to taking part in these again.

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend. I have to prepare my house for some renovations that I am going to have so I hope many of you have more exciting things to look forward to than that. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

 Welcome back and Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful break. I certainly had a better time than last year when my whole family had Covid but fortunately we were all well this year. I know that some of our families had Covid over the break this year but I hope that if that was you that nobody was too ill and that you all managed to get some rest over the holiday.

As you will know we have a number of cases of Covid in school at the end of the autumn term and because of that we were bubbling the classes. As requested by county (and because the rates of Covid are still high across the country) we will be keeping the classes in bubbles for at least the first couple of weeks of term to ensure that we do reduce the risk of the infection spreading across the school and children having to be absent from school. As well as keeping the classes in bubbles we will continue with our enhanced cleaning routine, the frequent handwashing and keeping the classrooms well ventilated which are also effective measures in reducing the spread of infection in school.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I know the temperature has dropped but according to my weather App (which has not always been the most reliable) Sunday looks like it is going to be sunny so we should be able to get outside for some of it. I am of the opinion that as long as it is sunny it is enjoyable to be outside. I look forward to seeing you all on Monday morning.