I suppose that the big news of this week has been the fact that my retirement in the summer has been publicised. I would rather have left it a little longer to announce it as I know how the prospect of change can be unsettling for some children but the process of recruiting a new head is a long one and we did not want the news to spread by word of mouth once the advert came out which it did on Wednesday. I am retiring because I think it is the right time to go -I want to be fit enough to enjoy my retirement after a very fulfilling career in teaching.  There is still a long time until the summer though and I assure you I will be committed to serving Little Heath as best I can until the day I do retire.

It has certainly been warmer this week but that does not mean that the weather has not been causing us problems. We certainly did not have the best start to the week with Storm Isha at the weekend followed by Jocelyn on Tuesday night. I know some people struggled to get to school on Monday because of the destruction caused by the storm. Fortunately, we did not have any damage to the school but I did wake up on Monday morning to the sight of a large chunk of my back garden fence lying on the lawn. It is certainly not the start to the working week that you want but fortunately it is being fixed today so hopefully if another storm comes it will be able to remain standing.

I know the choir are looking forward to next week because they are performing in a Young Voices concert at the O2. This is certainly a highlight for all the choir members and if it is as good as last year both the choir and the audience are in for a treat. They have been preparing for months and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work.  I would also like to thank Mrs Robinson and Mrs Lawrence for all their hard work in preparing them for the event. I will be joining them at the O2 on Monday. I know that when I do retire that I will miss attending events like this with the children so I will have to make sure I make the most of events like this before I leave.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. It certainly looks more settled than last weekend so hopefully no broken fences this weekend. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday morning.

 As usual once the term begins the weeks appear to fly by -I cannot believe that a whole week has passed since I was last writing my blog. I am looking out the window at beautiful sunshine but the sunshine is very deceptive as it is freezing cold. I suppose we should not complain as parts of the country have been really struggling because of the bad weather but I am sure that there are some of the children (and adults) who are disappointed because we have not had any snow (and a Snow day off school).

Despite the cold we have still managed to run most of the after school clubs which is good because the children love these. It is important that you do not assume certain activities or clubs are not running because of the cold. We do assess the weather and conditions on a day by day basis so do please ensure that your child does come to school with their full PE kit regardless of what the weather is like outside because conditions can change throughout the day.

Next week the temperature is set to rise – I cannot believe that I am getting excited at the thought of it being 10ºC although some rain and strong winds has been forecast as well and that is not good.  I do hope that you have a good weekend (in spite of the cold weather) and I look forward to seeing you all again next week.

 Welcome back. I hope you have all had a fabulous Christmas and had a good start to the new year. It has certainly been a cold start for us this term although today has been milder even though it has only been 6ºc.  Due to the weather the children have been spending more time indoors and as the really cold spell is returning they may have to do the same next week. However, the children do spend some time outdoors so can you please make sure that you do send them into school next week with the appropriate outdoor garments to withstand the cold conditions.  

Even though it is the new year I am going to have to have a little moan. My site manager has informed me that some people are parking up in front of the school even though we have requested that people do not do this and we have had a couple of complaints from our neighbours that some people have been blocking their drives which means that they cannot access their homes. I have asked on numerous occasions that parents do not do either of these things. Blocking someone’s drive is against the law and if our neighbours call the police you will have to deal with them. We also ask that you do not park in front of the school so that we can keep the area in front of the school a pedestrian area which makes it safer for our children to walk to and from school. We do not want an accident to occur before parents take our request seriously.

Next week in school all of our extra-curricular clubs start again which makes school life a lot more exciting for most of the children. If you have not done so already, please make sure that you sign them up for their selected clubs so that they can attend.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again next week