The highlight of this week has been our ‘School Sports Day.’ As with most events that we hold, the children have been very excited for this to happen. Even though we did hold this event last year all the classes had to be kept separate because of Covid restrictions and I think the children missed taking part with other year groups. It was great to see so many parents and friends in attendance and I hope you all had a good time. For those of you who do not know, the results are listed below:

1^st Osborne

2^nd – Thornton

3^rd – Frampton

4^th -Grangewood

I would like to thank the PTA for serving refreshments at the event and I would like to thank all my staff for their work in helping it run efficiently. I would like to give special thanks to Mr Mills for co-ordinating the whole event. I know that for a couple of weeks before the event he is busy with preparations for the Sports Day and although he does enjoy the occasion he always sleeps a bit more soundly when it is all over.

Next week is a very busy week in school because it is parent consultation week. I know that the teachers do look forward to speaking to parents so that you know exactly how your child is progressing in school. However, may I remind you again that these appointments are for 10 minutes so please do keep to your time slot. If you feel that there is an issue that you would like to discuss in more detail, please make an appointment to meet with the teacher again at a later date. One person overrunning can have a huge impact on everybody else who is waiting to speak to their child’s teacher.

As well as being Parent Consultation Week we also have the Reception assembly to look forward to next week. This is the first time these children are performing an assembly for their parents and I know they are very excited about it. I have seen some of the rehearsals and I know we are in for a treat. Year 2 also have their ‘Florence Nightingale Day’ to look forward to on Tuesday. Days like these are great for the children because they help commit learning to their long term memory because the experience is exciting and such fun for them that they remember it for years to come.

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you again next week.

 I am coming to the end of a slightly longer week for me because the school took part in a walking float in the procession on Potters Bar Community Carnival Day which was last Sunday. I am not complaining though because it was a lovely day and it was great that so many of our school community could join us to help represent the school. Our procession was led by an amazing carriage with a model of the queen inside which was put together by Mrs Robinson (with some help from some of the children). It was admired by everyone and it quite rightly was awarded a highly commended sticker on the day.

We also had a lovely end to the week with the Year 2 assembly this morning. I know the children have thoroughly enjoyed preparing for it because they have been talking to me about it all week and they certainly did themselves proud this morning. It was obvious from watching this that they are enjoying their learning in Year 2 and I would like to thank them all for putting on such a great assembly. I would also like to thank Mrs Beadle, Mrs Blatch and Mrs Chapman (formerly Miss Southwell) and Ms Weller for all their hard work in preparing the children so well for their assembly.

As it is the end of term there appears to be extra events on every week and next week is no exception. On Monday we have a Sharing Assembly and you will have received notification if your child is taking part in this one. Unfortunately, I will not be present so the assembly will be led by Mr Gradwell as I have to attend some compulsory training. On Thursday we will be holding our annual Sports Day and I am sure that I will see many of you there. As I stated in my newsletter can you please ensure that during the running races you remain behind the taped fence because if you stand in front of this or in front of the finish line we cannot guarantee the safety of the children. Most parents do kindly follow this request but I always get one or two who do just want to get that bit closer but if I let one person through I would have to let everybody through and then it would defeat our objective which is to keep the children safe.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Originally this hot weather was meant to end today but after checking my weather APP the much predicted rain is now not coming until Sunday so you should have at least one nice day to look forward to over the weekend.

 I hope you all had a great half-term break. As we had an occasional day on Monday and with all the Platinum Jubilee activities that have taken place I feel that I have been away from school for a very long time and it did feel a little strange returning to school for a ‘normal school day’. The school had a really enjoyable Jubilee event on the Friday before the half–term break and it was great to see so many family and friends in school. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the PTA for serving the refreshments – their support makes a big difference to the success of events like the jubilee event. The next time that they will be helping us out at is on our school Sports Day which will be taking place on June 23^rd (weather permitting).

It is great that we are able to hold more school events with parents present after a very unsettled time because of Covid and in school many of the restrictions that we had to have in place because of Covid have now been lifted and things are returning to how they used to be. One of the modifications that we did make during our Covid time was with the uniform when we allowed children to wear extra layers in class because of the cold. As the weather is becoming warmer children do not need the extra layers in class so do not need to bring in the additional sweat tops etc. in school. I am also noticing other slips in uniform - especially with socks and shoes. May I remind you that children should be wearing formal, non-casual, waterproof black shoes (not sneakers or canvas shoes) and their socks should be grey. If you need to check exactly what the uniform is, please look it up on our school website in the parent section.

We have another event to look forward to this weekend as the school is taking part in the parade for Potters Bar Carnival Day which is on Sunday. We have not done this for a couple of years and we are really looking forward to it. For those who are joining us for the parade remember we need to meet on the tennis courts of Mount Grace by 12.15pm. For those of you who are watching the parade remember to wave at us as we walk by.

If you are not joining me for the parade, I hope you have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.