I am sure you would all agree that the main event of this week is the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. This was always going to be a sad time because she has always been a part of everyone’s life and it is going to be very strange knowing that we will never see her again. However, she served this country well and when looking back at her life there is a lot to celebrate and be proud of. For me she set a brilliant example with her work ethic and the fact that no matter what life presented her with on a personal or public matter she kept going, keeping all her troubles to herself or trying to inspire the country to keep going through a difficult period. This morning we did an assembly with the children to commemorate her life and her service to the country. Next week we are planning to do a couple of age appropriate activities with the children based on her life and her service to the country.

We wanted the children to have a really good first week back at school so we have had a themed week based around ‘Outdoor Learning’. The purpose of this week was to allow the children to gain from the benefits of outdoor learning and also emphasise the importance of the need to take care of it so that we can sustain the quality of it for generations to come. We did plan to have this the first week back because it is usually very sunny when we return to school but there has been some heavy rain showers this week which I know we should be happy about. Fortunately, the majority have taken place outside of school hours so the children’s learning has not been affected apart from some of the surfaces being a little wet for them to complete their work on. They all appear to have had a very good week and have settled back into school life well after their long break.

Next week all the extra-curricular clubs start again which really helps add a buzz to school life. If you have not already done so, please make sure that you sign your child up for the clubs they want to attend on the Arbor system.

I am sure this is going to be an unusual weekend as the whole country mourns the passing of the queen. When we find out any details about how the national mourning may affect the running of the school we will let you know as soon as possible.