A message from Miss Harper…

Good afternoon parents and friends,

This morning, celebrating our Harvest Festival in St. Andrew’s church was the highlight of the year for me! It was the first time we have been able to come together as a whole federation since the beginning of the pandemic and it was super-special. The children were amazing (in awe I think) and being able to sing, celebrate, and give thanks collectively was a wonderful and moving experience. For some of our youngest children, this was the very first time they have experienced an occasion where we have all been together – it was really exciting for them! Thanks to Revs Tom and Dave for the lovely service, to Sarah for wonderful music, Juliet for her help and a wonderful welcome into the church, and Mr Scrafton for organising everything school-side. Thank you to our families for your generous gifts to our local food bank.

We have enjoyed welcoming new children to our federation this year, and also Miss Atkinson who has made a wonderful start in our Swallows class. She tells me she is coming back after half-term so she must be happy!

We also say goodbye to Noa and Eli. They have made a wonderful start to school life with us and we wish them a happy, safe and adventurous time on the next step of their journey. Good luck and best wishes to the whole family.

After half-term we welcome back Mrs Johnston who is recovered and raring to be back. Mrs Johnston will be teaching on Mondays and Tuesdays; Mrs Middleton on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Whilst Mrs Johnston’s return to work is joyous news, it is also very sad that we say goodbye to Mrs Cromey-Hawke who has brought so much expertise to our team and been a huge source of care and support for our children. I sincerely hope that she will continue to work with us in the future.

I would like to extend my thanks and admiration for your ongoing support as we have managed Covid cases within school. We all came back to school in September full of excitement about the lifting of restrictions due to Covid-19. I know it has been a disappointment that we have had to reinstate some contingency measures due to rising cases, and I also understand that many of you have, understandably, been worried about sending your children to school during this time. I hope you have felt reassured by our actions and that you and your children feel safe in our care. At the time of writing this, we have no positive cases in school and are thankful that we have managed a small outbreak with neither major illness nor huge disruption to our schools. Many thanks to all of our members of staff who have had to adapt to staff shortages, respond quickly to overnight changes to remote-learning needs, and manage their own illnesses. They have done so without complaint, and with admirable commitment to our children’s education and care.

This half-term we have been doing statutory baseline assessments of all of our Reception children, plus the ongoing Read Write Inc assessment that the rigour of our systems demands. Towards the end of November, our Y2 children will take part in the statutory phonics screening test that would normally be done in Y1 but which has been moved due to the lockdowns of last year. This assessment is done in test conditions and we will ensure that we have given the children lots of opportunity to practise so that they are familiar with the format of the test. We will share the outcomes of this with you when the tests are complete.

May I offer our apologies for any upset caused by the selection of teams for the boys’ football tournaments. We didn’t get it quite right and we have learned lessons from it. Hopefully, when we compete in the next cluster tournament, we will share better clarity with you all about how we have selected teams and how we will ensure an inclusive approach over the course of time. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and for being understanding as we worked through some of the issues.

Already we are beginning to make plans for Christmas (panto, parties, Christmas lunch, productions) and will share details with you as we finalise our arrangements. We tentatively hope that we can invite parents and friends to productions again this year.

Those of you who have children who are due to start reception in September 22, please note that the NYCC school admissions application portal is now open and you can register your preference for a school place there. The deadline for doing so is the 15th January.

Thank you all and I hope that you have a restful and fun-filled break.

Charlotte Harper, Headteacher