Dear Parents
I always find that time speeds up in this last stretch of the term as we head towards Christmas, packing in as much as we possibly can before we head off for the Christmas break. Everyone here has been super busy and the excitement is certainly mounting for our Christmas concert. The children have been speaking and singing so confidently in rehearsals and thank you to parents for rehearsing with them at home and supplying costumes. I have enjoyed sneak previews of songs in both English and Spanish in Years 1 and 3, the dazzle of angel wings peaking out from costume bags on the gate in the morning, and seeing some of our less confident children shine in their roles. It’s going to be a fantastic show.
Our teachers enjoyed meeting with you all at parents’ evenings this week and I hope you were all as impressed with your children’s efforts and progress as we have been. Rick, our new Head of Assessment has had his head deep in Excel, creating individual pupil progress spreadsheets for each child, that will remain with them from Reception all the way into Year Six. They will be populated with the standardised data that we collect as well as English, Maths and Personal and Social Targets set by the teachers in consultation with TAs and the whole staff team. Many of these targets have been shared with you already, but do ask your children about these in the week ahead.
After a rigorous interview process, I am delighted to be able to share with you that I have appointed a new Year 3 teacher to take over from Sinead in January and stay with the children into Year 4. She will be our new Head of Maths and is exactly what we have been looking for: highly skilled, very well spoken and with experience leading Maths and Assessment as well as preparing children for the 11+.
Since graduating from Durham University, Kate has been teaching in Key Stage 2 both in a middle school and in a preparatory school. She believes strongly in helping the pupils in her care to develop their unique talents.
Recruiting Kate has been quite the adventure, as she is currently travelling Latin America, so we have had several calls between London, Ecuador and Peru. I am hoping to organise a video meeting with Sinead and the class before the holidays and I know pupils will be keen to hear her travelling tales.
Hailing from the Lake District, Kate has grown up loving all things outdoors, including kayaking, hiking and rock climbing. Additionally, she is a keen baker and cook, stemming from her degree in nutrition, prior to becoming a teacher. There will be an opportunity for the Year 3 parents to meet her at the start of the Spring term.
Felicidades are due to Pablo, who has gone off home to Spain to get married. We have arranged some excellent PE and Games cover and the curriculum will continue as normal until he returns.
Parent Forum
We had our first parent forum meeting today and have worked on a structure for the parent body to feed back through the new reps.
Our wonderful volunteers are:
Ruth Bienenfeld - Nursery, Reception and Year 1
Anita Balch - Reception and Year 2
Victoria Shapiro - Reception
Kate Blackman - Reception
Izzy Maini - Reception and Year 2
Regan Burns - Year 2
Carla Revere - Year 3
Claire Ward - Year 3
The reps will be in touch a few weeks into the Spring Term to ask if you have any queries or niggles, things that you'd like to improve or understand more about. These items will be collated and discussed at the next meeting on Friday 3rd February, before a meeting summary is then fed back to the whole school via the newsletter, website and the reps themselves.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Ellie