Friday 11th December

Happy Friday!

The magic of this time of year has really started to creep into school this week and it has given everyone a much needed boost. Following the excitement of the decorations going up last week, this week we had our annual Christmas dinner. This year was a little bit different as we had to stay in our year group bubbles but there were many positive benefits to this. Every year group had their own space for Christmas dinner, this meant that we weren’t trying to rush 400 children through the main hall. It also meant that every space could be decorated - we had paper chains in reception, disco balls in year one, fancy hats in year two, placemats in year three, crackers in year four, a LOT of laughter in year five and photo props in year six. It was wonderful to see the children and staff enjoying this time together. Thank you to the catering staff who provided our dinner - the sprouts were slightly controversial but a must on a Christmas dinner plate. Yes children, I did eat all of mine! Thank you also to the staff who made sure it was a special event for the children. Never has it been more important that we find the excitement in the small things.

Coinciding with our Christmas dinner day, we also had the first of our Christmas jumper days. We loved seeing our children coming to school looking so festive. I was very jealous of the jumpers with lights on. I want one (maybe I could put it on my list to Santa). Some of our children have also been wearing Christmas hats to keep them warm outside; if you look across the playground you are able to see all these little red heads bopping up and down. Our next Christmas jumper day will be on Friday 18th December. We love seeing our whole community dressed up for a special occasion - if you’ve a jumper or an accessory think about wearing it on drop-off and collection.

Our elves have continued their mischief making this week. Just yesterday, year one were walking down the corridor and they were very noisy. I thought it was rather strange as they usually walk around the school very quietly. Anyway, as they came to my office door they seemed to get louder. I looked up from my desk to see what all the commotion was about. I had forgotten that Harold, the SLT elf, had tried to escape through my window and he was still dangling there. Take a look at what some of our other elves have been doing:

Next week will be our last week in school before the Christmas break. Our last day will be Friday 18th December and the children will finish at their usual time. The children will return to school on Tuesday 5th January.

Finally, I want to share something that a child said to me today. Something that made me smile but also made me feel a little bit gloomy. You have probably all noticed that we have new vehicular access gates at the front of school, we are just waiting for them to be automated. As I was stood near the gates this morning a child asked me whether I was putting the gates there to stop coronavirus from getting into the school. I had to explain to the child that the gates wouldn’t stop coronavirus, but that everyone was doing everything they could to keep each other safe. I did also say that I wished our gates would prevent coronavirus and I would pay lots and lots of money for them if they did that. As a school, we recognise that the Covid19 pandemic continues to be an anxious time for many people in our community, including us. Please do contact the school if you feel we can support you. Through the generous donations of our community we are able to help those in need.

It is time for me to sign off. I need to check that Miss Walters has left the building (yesterday, Mr Weston accidently locked her in and all the alarms went off!).

Have a great weekend all.

Stay safe.