We have had a lovely end to the week as Year 4 performed their assembly to the school this morning. Their assembly was based on all the learning they have covered this term and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who watched it. One of the best things about it was I could tell how much the children enjoyed presenting it to all their families and the school. I would like to thank all the children for all the hard work they put into their assembly and I would also like to thank Mrs Bidder and Mrs Stevenson for all their hard work in helping Year 4 put the assembly together.

Last Friday was also an exciting day in school because it was ‘Children in Need’ and if you can remember we all came to school wearing spots. I am delighted to inform you that we managed to raise an impressive £265.15. This is up £50 on last year’s donations which I think is really amazing when you consider how all families’ budgets are being stretched due to the significant increase in the cost of living. It just proves how everybody wants to support this amazing charity and all the good cause they support.

It has been a very busy time in school sports wise because the children have been taking part in a lot of sports matches. Below is a picture of me with the netball team just after our 6-5 victory over Cuffley School.  

 

 

 I do think that it is great that all the sports leagues have started again and I know by the numbers of parents attending that you all enjoy it as well. May I just give you all a gentle reminder that when you are watching that you do need to respect the referees and their decisions. I did hear some children talking this week about how they had been robbed of a victory because of an unfair decision and part of their judgement had been based on adult comments that they had heard. We insist that all children need to abide by the decisions of the officials running the games and we expect parents to follow this policy as well. 

I hope you all have a great weekend. Preparations are well underway for Christmas in school and I expect they are for you as well –the great day will be upon us before we know it. I look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday.

 I have been seeing spots before my eyes all day. I have not taken ill or gone mad – I am sure that you have guessed that it is because of all the spotty clothes that the children have been wearing for Children in Need. We have received a lot of donations so far but if you have not made your donation online please do so soon, so that we can send our contribution through to the Children in Need appeal.

It has also been ‘Anti- Bullying Week’ in school this week. I think that this is a very important week because we highlight the importance that nobody has the right to bully anybody else. It also ensures that children know what to do if they think they are being bullied so they can make sure it stops. As I keep reminding the children, ‘80% of bullying would not exist if people reported incidents of unacceptable behaviour within 10 minutes of them happening’.

I think that we would all agree that there has been a drop in the temperature and that autumn is definitely with us. However, even though it is cold, a number of children are coming to school without a coat. A significant thing that the ‘Covid experience’ taught us all was the importance of the outdoors for children’s wellbeing. Unless the weather is really bad we do send the children outside for their breaks and after their lunch so can you please ensure that you send your child into school with a coat that is suitable for the outdoors.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I do not want to mention the ‘C’ word yet but I think we know that it is fast approaching and that we will have to start our preparations for the festive season soon (if we have not already started them) but I do hope that you can all still find the time this weekend to relax. I am sure many of you are also looking forward to the football starting next week. On Monday the first England game starts at 1.00pm so we will be showing it in  classes. Let us hope that we can go one step further than we did in the European Championships and bring home a trophy. 

 I know that I saw many of you at the fireworks on Saturday and it is hard to believe that they took place almost a week ago. Even though we did have a little bit of rain it managed to hold off for our display. The event was very well attended and all those that I have spoken to have said what a great event it was. I would like to thank again everyone who attended and give a massive big thanks to our wonderful PTA who organised the whole event. This really is a huge undertaking for those who take it on and the fact that the event ran so well is all down to them. We do not know yet how much money we raised but as soon as I know I will inform all of you.

This time last year many Covid restrictions were still in place which meant that many of our inter school sporting events could not take place. Thankfully, that is not the case this year and we are starting to have competitive matches against other schools. We had some football matches this week and they were well attended by parents which is great. However, may I remind you all that the same parking restrictions that take place during the school day still apply after school so can I ask that if you do attend a match to support your child that you do not park near the school. That happened this week and a couple of parents were upset as they felt it was rather unsafe for their children going home.

There are more sports matches taking place next week and there are lots of other events taking place in school as well. On Monday it is the start of Anti-Bullying Week and for the first day we are asking the children to come to school wearing odd schools to help celebrate how we are all different (the children must wear normal uniform apart from their socks). On Friday it is ‘Children in Need’ day and to celebrate it being the ‘Great Spotacular’ the children are allowed to come to school in non-uniform as long as one of the items is spotty. We are asking for all the children to make a donation of at least £1 and you can do this by sending in cash with your children or by making a donation online to ‘Just Giving’ (the link was on the newsletter).

I hope you all have a great weekend – you do not have the fireworks to look forward to but I am sure you will still all be able to find enjoyable things to do. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

 I hope you all had a wonderful half term. I actually went away and had a lovely relaxing break although I still have the cold virus that I had before the half–term break. I have been checked out and told that a lot of people are suffering with this at the moment and it could be another 4-6 weeks until the cough goes. I just hope that it has gone in time for Christmas!

Before half–term does feel like a long time ago but I am sure that you can remember that on the last Friday all the children came to school dressed in red to support the ’Red for Racism’ day. We did ask for a £1 donation in exchange for not wearing uniform and I am delighted to inform you that we managed to raise £151.00 for the anti-racism movement. I would like to thank everyone who made a donation towards this cause.

It has been brought to my attention that some parents are encouraging children to enter the school before we officially open the doors at 8.40am. We already open the doors 10 minutes before our official opening time of 8.50am and we open the gates to the playground so people do not have to stand on the road. Children should not enter the school before 8.40am (unless they are a Year 6 pupil carrying out their morning job) and if they need to enter the school before 8.40am for any reason they should do so via the school office. If we find that people do not follow our expectations, then we will have keep our playground gates locked until 8.40am so that we can make sure that children do not enter the school before the correct time.

The big event for this weekend is our annual firework display. I know that this is a very popular event and all the children look forward to it. The forecast is not promising but as long as you are well wrapped up you will not notice the weather once the fireworks start. You also cannot rely on the weather apps because they all said it would rain all day on Thursday and it only rained in the morning. It would be a real shame if your children missed out on a fun packed evening just because of a little bit of inclement weather.

I will be there on Saturday so do say hello if I pass you. We can then talk about all the fun we had at the fireworks when we return to school on Monday.