Dear Parents
We’ve tumbled towards the end of term in an excitable flurry of singing, dancing, snowmen and snowball fights, and even I wasn’t able to dodge those fast flying snowballs on Monday morning! What a joyous start to our final week, and a suitably celebratory end to a fantastic first term! Everyone here, children and staff, has worked incredibly hard and we all leave for the holidays tired, but with satisfied grins on our faces.
The Autumn term is always the longest and the trickiest, as children adjust to new teachers, the demands and expectations of a new year group and the weather gets steadily colder and darker. This year, of course, we’ve had the added novelty of a new Headteacher and a new Year 3 class! The children have shown great adaptability and positivity throughout the term, and our three values: kindness, curiosity and calm have been evident in all classrooms and celebrated in lessons and in assemblies. Well done! Pupils have made good progress and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know everybody.
What a wonderful turnout we had at the Winter Fair and our Christmas Concert – thank you for clearing your diaries to support these events. We made a fantastic £520.24 for the Trussell Trust: The Trussell Trust - Stop UK Hunger – a worthy contribution towards providing emergency food and support to those locked in poverty. On top of that, your purchases at our Winterfair bookshop - £1600 worth, generated £260 of commission for us to spend on books. Ink@84, the bookseller brought a very well curated selection of titles and other toys and ornaments. There was a balanced mixture of classics and new titles, including many that addressed topical themes of diversity and wellbeing. Also popular were books linked to our termly themes, including toys, transport, and space. I carried out a large bag of Chanukah presents! Next term, we will be taking a small group of children to the bookshop, for a tour and to choose books for their class. More details in the new year.
We have had lots of positive feedback on the new format Christmas concert and I look forward to organising more whole school events like these. I’m sure you’ll agree that all of the children - from the very youngest, spoke, sung and danced with remarkable confidence and style.
Our club offering continues to grow, with STEM, pottery and a multi activity option for Reception next term, and a choir! For those of you who haven’t yet signed up – please do so on this link, so that we can finalise these arrangements.
In this morning's Celebration assembly, two children were awarded the end of term Chess trophies. Congratulations to Porter for winning the Chess Tournament with 8 wins and no draws or loses! Allegra also did brilliantly, coming second with 5 wins and 3 loses. Well done Porter and Allegra and all of the children who took part.
Each class teacher shared highlights of the term, and in a topsy turvy spin on our usual assembly routine, children took the opportunity to celebrate their teachers - for their kindness, support and for making lessons fun!
All that remains is for me to thank you all for your gifts, cards and good wishes, and to wish you happy holidays, safe travels if you’re heading out of London and a good, cosy rest.
See you in the new year!
Ellie