It is just a short blog today as you have just received a newsletter yesterday. I would just like to thank everyone for all the lovely gifts that I have received - they are not necessary but very much appreciated. I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and a great new year and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2023 on Monday, 9th January

 It has certainly been a week to remember in school. I know everyone dreams of a white Christmas but I just wish that that dream had come true about a week later and I would have had a lot less headaches. I truly hoped that when the snow arrived on Sunday night (and it had not even been predicted to fall on Saturday) that it would all have gone by Monday morning but unfortunately that was not the case. I know it has looked very picturesque but on Monday I thought that after having two Christmases blighted by Covid we were going to have a third affected by the weather. Fortunately, that has not been the case and we have managed to run all our Christmas events this week.

We started with the Foundation and KS1 Christmas performances. The Foundation stage sang and performed some Christmas songs for us and then KS1 performed their show, ‘Prickly Hay’. Everyone who watched the performances thought they were great and it was lovely to have Christmas shows back in school after a 3-year absence. The children all did themselves proud and I would like to thank them and all my staff for all the hard work they put in to help put the performances together. The younger children also had their Christmas parties this week and they had a fabulous time at them. It was really great to see the excitement in their faces after they had had their visit from Father Christmas.

Another treat that we had in school this week was a visit from the ex- Arsenal and England footballer, Jack Wiltshire. It was really kind of him to come and see us in school and the children in Years 1 – 6 really enjoyed his visit (some Tottenham supporters even said that they are now going to support Arsenal). They asked him some very thoughtful and pertinent questions and he answered them all very well. He certainly got the message across that to achieve success you have to work hard and not to be put off by negative comments that some will make –he was a definite supporter of a growth mind-set without even realising it.

We ended the week with the choir performing at Mandeville Court. The old people (I had better stop calling them that because from my perspective they certainly are not looking as old as they used to) had their afternoon brightened by our choir’s beautiful singing and the choir really enjoyed performing all the carols for them. I really think doing things like this at Christmas is important because it helps bring joy to others which is what Christmas should all be about.

Next week we are only here for 3 days but there is still plenty to look forward to. On Monday night we have the KS2 carol concert which is on at the church at 7.00pm –children should start arriving at 6.45pm. On Tuesday KS2 are having their Christmas party and details about that will be in the class blogs. On Wednesday a company is performing the pantomime Cinderella to the whole school to help end the term on a high.

With so much going on and Christmas being so close the children will need to rest this weekend so they have the energy to get through to the end. The autumn term is a long term and with all the extra events that take place the children do get tired which can impact their behaviour so please do make sure that they do get enough sleep so they can enjoy the last few days of term. I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

 Time just seems to be flying by at the moment –I cannot believe that another week has passed and there is just one and a half weeks until the end of term. I know people are starting to feel a little tired because it has been a long term but I can still remember the beginning of September like it was yesterday. It is actually starting to feel a lot more like Christmas because of the frost that has appeared this week –the children were very excited when they came into school and saw that our field was totally white because of the frost.

We had another lovely end to the week again as the children who are learning to play the piano put on a recital in assembly this morning. They played a mixture of Christmas songs and exam pieces that they have been learning in their lessons and it was a very enjoyable event to watch. I would like to congratulate all of the children for the commitment they are obviously giving to their piano learning and to their teacher Ms Moldova who is inspiring them to achieve great things. I look forward to their next performance

As you all know we had our first Christmas event this week. We had our Christmas lunch on Wednesday and we also made this our Christmas Jumper Day to help with the atmosphere. We played Christmas music in the playground for the children outside and then we finished the afternoon off with a film. I do love occasions like this because fun events have such a positive impact on the children. I would like to thank all the parents who volunteered to do playground duty with me so the majority of the staff could sit down to have their Christmas lunch served to them by the Year 6 (another thing that they really look forward to) and I would also like to thank everyone for their contributions towards Christmas Jumper Day – we raised £226.

Next week there are lots more Christmas events taking place in school. The Foundation Stage and Key Stage One will be performing their Christmas shows to the school and their parents and I know they are very much looking forward to doing that. If you have not ordered your tickets make sure that you do get them quickly because any unclaimed tickets will be made available to those who want additional tickets for their families and friends. Foundation Stage and Years 1 and 2 also have their Christmas party on Thursday afternoon but their teachers will have provided you with more details about that.

Raffle tickets for the Christmas hampers and the World Cup football and coins are still open so if you have not purchased tickets for those please do so. They are both very good raffles and the prizes are worth winning.

I am sure that along with most of the rest of the country you will be watching the football to see if England can beat France in the quarter finals of the World Cup. According to my husband (who thinks he is an expert about such matters) the teams are evenly matched so it is hard to predict the result. As it is so cold outside it is good to have events that we can do together indoors. Let us hope that we are still in the World Cup when we all return to school on Monday. Even if we are not we have lots to look forward to in school to help cheer us up. 

 Christmas has definitely arrived in Little Heath as we put up all of our Christmas decorations in school. We had hoped to do it yesterday but there had been a mix up with our tree order so that the trees did not arrive until today but it is now officially Christmas in school. The Christmas atmosphere was added to by all the children not being in uniform in exchange for bringing in contributions for the Christmas Hamper. I hope you all do buy raffle tickets for a hamper because having won one in the past it does give your Christmas a boost.

We had a visit in school this week from Karen Trew who is a deputy Lieutenant for Hertfordshire. The role involves her supporting the royal family with their projects and she was in our school because she is supporting the Queen’s Green Canopy scheme. This was set up to help celebrate her Platinum Jubilee by planting a million trees across the country. This target has been surpassed but King Charles has kept it going until March 2023 because he wants to see how many trees can be planted in this time. A picture of the ceremony is below.

We were donated two trees and decided to plant our trees near the entrance to the school so they can be seen by everyone who comes to the school. You may have noticed something if you have been into school but do not worry if you have not because they are very small at the moment. However, I am sure that they will soon grow and will be an attractive addition to our school grounds.

You will have seen that as well as our usual Christmas Hamper raffle we have a World Cup Raffle for an official ball and a set of commemorative coins. I am not sure of the price of the coins but apparently the ball is worth £130 because of the special technology that has been used to build it. I am sure that like me not many of you would be mad enough to spend £130 on a football but if you could get one by spending a few pounds on a raffle it is worthwhile. It also means that with the money we raise we will be able to buy some regular priced balls for the children to play with during their breaks. We do go through a lot and it is hard to keep up with demand so if we can get a few extra many of the children will be very happy.

Next week we have the first of our Christmas events with our school Christmas Dinner. We are making this our Christmas Jumper Day as well to help add to the atmosphere of the occasion. We make this into a bit of an event by allowing the children to watch a film afterwards. Please do not forget to make your contribution towards ‘Save the Children’ which is the charity that Christmas Jumper Day supports.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I expect you are all very busy with Christmas activities now and we also have England to watch on Sunday night to see if they can win and get through to the quarter finals of the World Cup. Let us hope they do so we can have a joyous start to our week.