Dear Parents,
Firstly, thank you to everyone who has supported our Jeans for Genes Day. At the time of writing, we have raised £300 on our JustGiving page, which is a wonderful achievement. We haven’t yet added in the cash donations received, so we are hopeful that the total will continue to grow. Thank you for your generosity and support for such an important cause.
We started the week with a whole-school assembly celebrating our newly appointed House Captains, Vice Captains and Sports Captains. Our Year 6 pupils wrote some truly exceptional letters of application and staff carefully considered these before voting for the Autumn Term leadership roles. Providing opportunities such as these is an important part of school life, enabling children to develop their leadership skills, take on responsibility and make a positive contribution not only within their houses but across the wider school community.
On Monday evening, we had our first Governing Board meeting of the academic year. After many years of dedicated service to our school, Lynda Dineen has stepped down as Chair of Governors. We are incredibly grateful for her guidance, wisdom and leadership, which have supported the school through many important developments over the years. We wish her every happiness as she enjoys more time with her family and of course, her tennis! I am pleased to share the news from the meeting that Antonia Watts is our new Chair of Governors and John Jones is our Vice Chair of Governors. John joins us as a new co-opted governor and we are also delighted to welcome Val Smith to the Governing Board as another co-opted governor. Both have backgrounds in education, John is an ex Headteacher and Val was our Wellbeing Lead before retiring a few years ago. Whilst the meeting was largely administrative in nature, it provided a positive and productive start to the year.
In another important volunteer role, we are always delighted to welcome parents and grandparents into school to support our children. One of the most valuable ways you can help is by hearing children read. Regular reading practice with a caring adult is vital in helping children develop confidence, fluency and a love of reading. Just a small amount of your time can make a huge difference to a child’s progress and help them become enthusiastic, fluent readers. If you are able to spare some time, we would love to hear from you and welcome you into our school community. Please read more about it on the weekly bulletin.
School clubs began this week and it has been wonderful to see children embracing these wider opportunities. Mr Williams and I launched our Young Voices Choir on Thursday lunchtime and I have to say that the ABBA medley was a particular favourite! It promises to be another fantastic concert in January. Providing these wider personal development opportunities is something we are continually striving to enhance for all of our pupils. I am extremely grateful to our staff, who give up their time during and after the school day to run clubs and activities that enrich our children’s experiences. As part of our recent INSET programme, I shared future plans for expanding these opportunities even more, ensuring a fully inclusive approach so that every child can benefit. Staff are excited about what lies ahead and we will be sharing what this entails at a later date.
Finally – the PTA have their AGM on Tuesday night at school starting at 7:30pm. It would be lovely to welcome some new faces – so please come along.
That just leaves me to say: have a wonderful weekend.
Warmest Regards
Georgina Flooks
Headteacher