I think I am really beginning to believe that winter is finally over and spring is on the way. It has been really lovely to have some warm weather. I do think that everybody does seem to be in a better mood when the weather is warm and the sun is out. I do not believe that it is going to last so I think we will need to make the most of it while we can before the colder weather returns next week.

As you know I did not publish a blog last week because I was away with Years 3 and 4 on a PGL trip to Claythorpe. I really enjoyed being away with the children and they all appeared to have a fabulous time as well. I did not realise how much we have missed doing these sort of activities with the children until we went away and I really hope that that these can become a regular feature in the school calendar again because the children learn so much from these socially as well as experiencing all the different activities. Let us hope that with the lessening of the Covid restrictions that our 2 other residential trips go ahead this year although we have not received any updates on further restrictions being lifted. We did think that all restrictions were going to be lifted on April 1^st but I do know that there has been an increase in cases recently so perhaps the government are reviewing their plans before they make this decision although we often do not hear about it until the last minute.

Next week we are all looking forward to seeing the Y3, Y4 and Y5 production of ‘Robin Hood and the Hoodies of Sherwood’ and I know that they are all very excited to perform it. Hopefully, we will not have another outbreak of Covid which could prevent us putting this show on but if we do we will just postpone it until after Easter and then the children will perform it on their return.

I am sure that I do not have to tell you but next week is the last week of term and then we are off for Easter. Please do not forget that we finish at 2.00pm next Friday as it is the last day of term. I hope the weather remains warm so you can all have a lovely weekend. 

 As you will all know from my newsletter that we have had another outbreak of Covid in the school. I did think that we would have finished with this now but obviously the virus had other ideas. I would like to thank parents who have been testing their children for letting us know and keeping their children off for five days which is the guidance we have been given. As testing is no longer a legal requirement we can no longer tell you how long to test for but what I do ask is that if any child is unwell you do not send them in and you keep them off until they recover. This is soon going to be the only way we manage Covid now it is moving to endemic status. The only measures we are being asked to keep in place are good ventilation, frequent handwashing and an enhanced cleaning programme and I would like to assure you all that we are maintaining all of those.

At least the weather is improving which means it is becoming more bearable to have the windows open in classrooms and the extra layers will soon no longer be required. It also means that more outdoor sports can take place and we have been making the most of that this week. Some of the Year 3 and 4 took part in a football tournament yesterday morning and the older boys took place in a football match last night. The Years 3 and 4 finished 5^th in the tournament and the older boys won one and drew one of their matches so it was a pretty successful showing across the board. Tonight the girls have a football match against Ladbrooke and next week they have a netball match against Oakmere. I do like it when all these additional events can take place in school because it makes it a far more fulfilling experience for the children in school.

Next week the excitement continues because, as I stated above, some of the children are involved in a netball match and it is Red Nose Day on Friday. To help celebrate this day the children can come to school in no uniform and as long as they are wearing a red nose they will not have to make an additional donation to the charity – unless they want to. Children who are not wearing red noses will need to bring in at least one pound and they can hand their donation to their class teacher and we will send it in along with the money we have made from selling noses. I am sorry that we ran out in school – in the future we will have to make sure that we buy even more noses to sell in school.

It is also a major week for children in Year 3 and 4 because they are going on their PGL trip which is taking place at the Caythorpe Activity Centre. They are only going away for a night but I know they are going to have a fun-filled action packed time and they will be able to recover over the weekend so they are all refreshed for the following Monday morning. As I am joining them I had better make sure that I get plenty of rest over the weekend so I can keep up with them. It also means that I will not be producing a blog next week but I will tell you all about my trip the following week.

 It has been a much calmer day in school today compared to yesterday. As you will all know (because you had to provide the costumes), it was World Book Day and the children all came to school dressed as a host of different book characters. I thought that the children looked really good this year and I would like to thank you all for all the effort and preparation that you put into their costumes. I was in some of the classes yesterday and the children were really engaged with the World Book Day activities that were taking place. You will have noticed that the school staff had a theme and that we were all wearing t-shirts with popular book characters on them. I wore Winnie the Pooh because I think that he is such an endearing character and I loved reading about all of his adventures when I was younger.

As I said in my blog last week, children should be engaging with reading activities all year round and the purpose of World Book Day is to highlight this fact. You can support your children with reading at home by ensuring that you listen to young readers reading their school book most evenings and ensuring that older children who are independent readers read for at least 10 minutes every day.

I know that many of you will have been disappointed that not many of the after school clubs have not been running this week even though we promised that they would be last week. This is because unfortunately Mr Mills has been unwell for most of this week so his clubs have been unable to take place. I know a lot of people are becoming very confused as to when clubs are running and when they are not and this is understandable because of all the disruption that has been caused by Covid. Hopefully, Mr Mills will be able to return by next week but if he still needs to be off we will contact you as soon as possible so you have plenty of time to make alternative arrangements for your child.

If Mr Mills does return next week we will hopefully be playing some football matches against other schools which will be great. I am actually going to be attending some meetings which are taking place outside of the school in person which will be the first time I will have done this in two years. I am so glad because meetings run a lot smoother in person compared to when you are in a virtual meeting and the signal goes off or the volume switches itself off for no apparent reason.

I hope you all have a great weekend. For those of you who follow my blog the alterations in my home have still not been completed so I am still living in chaos at home – I am beginning to think it would have been quicker to knock the whole house down and start from scratch but who knows? I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday morning.