Dear Parents,
It is such a pleasure to see the school fully open with a relatively normal timetable in place. We are following government guidelines on social distancing, but we can finally take children on educational visits and welcome all of our specialist teachers back on-site. When I hear the Year 2 children practise tap dancing with Amy, I know we are enjoying a normal summer term.
One of the great losses for the school over the past year has been the lack of whole-school events such as Wheelies, the auction and the summer fair. Even small events like welcome drinks for new parents, have been sorely missed, as they help build our strong school community. We are unable to hold face-to-face events until 21st June but are organising a few events between that date and the end of term.
We are going to hold Wheelies on Tuesday 22nd June, with a back-up date of Tuesday 29th June in case of bad weather. The new Reception tea party will take place on Thursday 1st July at the end of the school day at the Upper School. Our Year 2 children are in the process of selecting an environmental charity and are planning their own fundraising event. Their outreach sale will take place on Thursday 24th June in the Upper School playground at 3.30pm. We will send you details of these events nearer the time.
This term we are running three after school clubs per week for Year 1 and 2 children, from puppet making, sports and pottery to Djembe drumming. These clubs end at the later time of 5.00pm, which has proved popular with parents. The children are enjoying a wider choice of clubs and an unhurried club time. Next term we will be offering after school clubs to all children at the Upper School, including Reception. Clubs will run until 5.00pm Monday to Thursday. We will also offer a breakfast club between 8.00am and 8.30am five days per week.
Please think about next term's clubs now so that you can reorganise after school childcare if necessary. Clubs will include fencing, chess, art, sports, choir and drama.
Upper School Staff have been training in Philosophy for Children (P4C). This is a programme of work that increases children's cognitive ability through open-ended questioning. It improves children's communication and resilience and gives them greater confidence in questioning and reasoning. Teachers and teaching assistants are excited by the programme and P4C sessions have already begun. Nursery staff will begin training in P4C next term.
I will be writing to you soon with an outline of our vision for the prep school and will meet with Year 1 parents this term to discuss plans for our first Year 3 cohort.
Wishing everyone an enjoyable bank holiday weekend.
Warm wishes,
Kate