I can hardly believe that another term has come to an end—and what a busy and uplifting week it has been to finish on.
Our School Council began the week wonderfully by leading the whole-school assembly on Monday morning. They introduced our theme, “This is My Place,” and spoke with confidence, maturity, and real pride.
Also on Monday 19th, three of our pupils – Lucas, Joseph and Noora – proudly represented our school in the Look Who’s Talking public speaking competition. They spoke with clarity, confidence and real composure in front of a packed audience at St Luke’s Church, competing against pupils from 19 other schools. Although they were not selected to represent Cheltenham schools in the final round, they should feel incredibly proud of their achievement. Standing up to speak so assuredly in such an impressive venue is no small feat, and they demonstrated maturity, courage and excellent communication skills throughout. We are tremendously proud of them.
Today has been full of colour and joy as the children arrived in their “Dress to Express” outfits. We were treated to an array of creative costumes—including a duck and a turtle in Year 6—which certainly brightened our day! Our Reception children also joined in as part of their Towers and Turrets day. They looked absolutely amazing, and so did the staff.
World Book Day is fast approaching, with this year’s theme “Go All In.” The World Book Day vouchers have gone home today, giving families the chance to use them over the half term. The £1 books are already available in shops, and there is a brilliant range of authors again this year. I know many of our children will be excited to choose one.
It was lovely to see so many of you at Parents’ Evening over the last two nights. Our staff really appreciated the opportunity to share your children’s successes, progress, and next steps. We hope you also enjoyed taking time to look through the children’s books and see the progress they continue to make. One of the real strengths in our early years is the teaching of handwriting, and I am always so impressed when I visit Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 – it is such an important skill to get right early on.
This morning, I had the privilege of speaking with some of our pupils alongside one of our Governors, Antonia Watts. Our discussion focused on Belonging, and I’d like to share a quote from one of our children that I felt captured the heart of our school:
“I belong to our school because of our uniform. Everyone is the same—we are all part of one school. But I also belong to my house, and I love the opportunities we get for the different leadership roles.”
As we head into half term, I would like to send warm wishes to members of our community who will be celebrating Chinese New Year from Tuesday, and to our Islamic community as Ramadan begins. We hope these special times bring joy, reflection, and togetherness.
Wherever you may be over the break, I hope you all enjoy a wonderful and restful half term. I won’t be at the rugby tomorrow—I handed my tickets to my brother—but I’ll certainly enjoy watching it on the television!
Warmest regards
Georgina Flooks
Headteacher