Principal’s Festive Message
I hope all our KS1 families enjoyed the pavement disco this morning! I cannot believe we have already done a whole term in school, and what a term it has been!
You should all have received your child’s first written report of the academic year on Friday last week as a follow up to your parents’ evening meetings in October. Please can we ask that you return a copy to us with your comments on for our records.
Today we say goodbye to Mrs Bennett who has worked at our KS2 site supporting in class over the past few year. She will be very much missed but we will still get to see her as her children still attend the school and she so kindly is one of our FOGS volunteers. Wishing you all the best Mrs Bennett!
You will have all received a letter at the start of the year on what clubs will be on offer. We really do endeavour to offer a broad range of clubs within the limitations of physical space, pupil numbers and the directed time of our staff who already do so much for our school and children. Next term you can expect to see clubs such as: KS1 Lego Club, KS1 Movie Club, Year 2 Gymnastics, KS2 Football (Dinnertime club), Year 3/4 Choir (Dinnertime club), Year 3/4 Girls Football ,Year 3/4 Computing, Year 3/4 Craft Club, Year 4 Gardening, Year 5/6 Choir (Dinnertime club), Year 5/6 Mixed Tag Rugby and Year 6 Dance Club.
We have had a very festive few weeks in school and we loved having our parents and carers attending our Christmas performances. Both Reception and Year 1 put on amazing shows for their loved ones- they are such a talented bunch. Our Year 5 children also led a fantastic Christmas Service at St Thomas’ Church for the rest of KS2.
Our Christmas project this year has required the children to use their oracy skills to be curious ( one of our school values). Each day the children have done various activities to develop their spoken language skills and vocabulary knowledge.
As you know, we have been unable to have a Christmas Fair this year due to the low numbers of volunteers for FOGS. FOGs did, however, organise a fantastic raffle and pop up shop which will help to raise vital funds for our school. This year FOGS are putting a contribution towards each year group’s school trip to ensure we can give our children some amazing experiences at a lower cost. We will be meeting again in the new year to discuss what events are able to be run with the number of volunteers we have. If anyone would like to help our school further, please watch out for information in the new year as to the time and location of the next meeting.
On Tuesday, we took a group of Year 4 singers to Woodfield Grange where they truly did spread the Christmas spirit to all the residents and workers. We really do have such talented children in school.
We have also made Santagrams again this year for Home Instead that are being sent to those who are alone this festive period. Home Instead’s message is as follows:
Family, presents, and a festive spirit; that’s what Christmas looks like for many of us. But for some older people, it’s a difficult time and a reminder of how lonely and disconnected from the community they are. As a care company that provides older people with a range of care in their own homes, we enjoy helping our clients get out and about in the community. But sadly, not all ageing adults are that fortunate, which means that when Christmas comes they don’t have fun activities to look forward to. We can all do more to help the older people in our communities, and Christmas is a better time than ever. Making even the smallest gesture could go a long way and help them feel special. A Christmas Carol taught us that this time of year is about charity. We want you to begin with the older people in the community! We’re delighted to carry out our Be A Santa campaign to give everyone the chance to help others this Christmas.
Our Christmas jumper and Reindeer Run day was a roaring success. The children and staff all looked amazing in their Christmas jumpers, antlers and noses running around our playgrounds, Lots of money was raised for Overgate Hospice, and you may have seen we had one child in Year 1 who manged to raise over £1000 for this very worthy local charity.
Today will be our first ‘Star of the Term’ assembly for the academic year and these are my favourite assemblies to host as the recipients are voted for by the rest of the class. Our children always make such intelligent and thoughtful decisions about who should be given the award based on who has been fulfilling our Greetland Values of being ambitious, brave, curious, healthy, respectful and united. A huge well done to all the Stars of the Term- we are very proud of you. There will also be the School Council Awards and the lucky recipients all receive a certificate from their class School Councillors again for embodying our values.
Today is also the day when a special visitor comes to visit the children at KS1. His sleigh is already packed high with gifts for the children, and they are all very excited to catch a glimpse of him. He will be joining them in assembly to give them their special gift (which of course is the gift of reading).
As I bring my festive message to a close on this last day of term, I would like to wish all of our community a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Your support, as always, is very much appreciated. We will see you all on Monday 6th January 2025.
See you in 2025!
Mrs Crowther