And that’s the end of another term and we find ourselves two-thirds of the way through the school year! It has been so wonderful to be all together again as a school community and the birthday party certainly was the perfect way to celebrate this. It has also been wonderful to see the return of some lovely weather- the children were so excited to be able to get out on the field.

Our Trust walking challenge is complete and together we have managed to climb the world’s 100 highest mountains 10 times over which is 5037km in total- go Team Greetland! A special mention needs to go to Charlie Greenwood who managed to cover a whopping 366km!

I know I had to share a bit of sad news yesterday about the vandalism at our KS1 site. Whilst this was very disappointing for us all, what was amazing to see was how our wonderful community all rallied round to offer support. Thank you so much to those parents who contacted us to offer their help. Luckily, there was no major damage and we have informed the police.

Many thanks to those of you who completed the parental survey- there was an overwhelming amount of positive responses and it meant so much to all the staff to read all the comments that were made. As always, there are things that we can work on still and we have really valued getting your perspective in helping us to identify next steps. Our website now reflects the feedback we received and after Easter, Mrs Simpson will also be reaching out to parents to ask for their perspective on how we can support our children with friendships as this is something that has become of particular concern since the last lockdown. Children have been away from their peers for a number of months and have missed out on that vital socialising time and some may be finding it difficult to be back together in bigger groups. You will have already noticed on Seesaw that all the children have been doing PSHCE work around friendships. We were thrilled to read how many of you thought that communication between home and school was a real strength. Seesaw has certainly helped with this but please also note that whilst we share all letters on Seesaw, there will also be a copy on the school website which you can find here: https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/diary-news/letters/. I do also add a copy of my Principal’s message to the website also.

We had a fantastic turn out for our parents’ evenings last week. If you did not manage to make an appointment, please do contact the office as the teachers would be more than happy to arrange to speak to you over the phone. The partnership between parents and school is so important in supporting our children’s progress. As always, the Learning Launch Pad for next half term, which tells you what your child will be learning, is on Seesaw and can also be found on our website here: https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/academic-excellence/learning-launchpads/

Hopefully, the children will all get an uninterrupted final term before the summer where we can really focus on addressing any gaps and continuing to teach the full curriculum. A detailed end of year report will be sent out in July but, as always, if you want to discuss your child’s progress at any point, please do contact the office to arrange a phone call with the class teacher.

This morning we had our second ‘Star of the Term’ assembly of the year. These are my favourite certificate assemblies because the winners are decided by the children- and what a great decision they all made. Congratulations to all the winners!

We are pleased to say that we are starting some after school clubs again after Easter. With the current restrictions we are limited as to what we can offer and whilst it is far from our usual provision, it is a step in the right direction towards some level of normality. Letters have been sent out to those year groups where we can offer a club.

Today we will be having a covid-secure visit from our good friend ‘The Easter Bunny’. He is coming to drop off his sweet treats for all the children at KS1 and we know he is thrilled that he will manage to see the children this time as last year we only managed to capture him on video in the KS1 woodland due to the first lockdown. There is also an extra treat for all our children courtesy of FOGS who generously gifted every child and staff member with an Easter egg- a huge thank you to them.

COVID SYMPTOMS AND RESULTS REMINDER:
If your child should begin to display symptoms over the weekend, please book them a test and keep me updated using the email: covid@greetlandacademy.org.uk. I will be on call over the Easter weekend in case we do have a positive case and need to notify families of the need to isolate. As it stands, I am not awaiting any test results and am hoping this will remain the case. After the weekend, please do continue to notify us of any positive cases/ isolation periods.

On behalf of all the staff, I would like to wish you all a lovely Easter break and we will see you all on 19th April.

Happy Easter
Mrs Crowther