Welcome back to the new school year and welcome to our Greetland family our new reception parents! Your little superstars have settled in so well to school life.

For those parents who are new to school, I send out regular Principal’s Messages through Seesaw (usually every two weeks) to celebrate successes and keep you up to date with what has been going on in school. I also put a copy on the school website which can be found here:

https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/diary-news/principals-seesaw-messages/

The children have all settled back amazingly into our school routines and it is like they have never been away. It’s been lovely to hear all the things they’ve been up to over the summer and to meet our new reception children and their families.

You should all be able to access your child’s Seesaw account so that you can keep up to date with what is going on in school and what your child is learning. Just a polite request that parents do not send teachers messages on Seesaw in the evening and at weekends. The school office email should be used for this purpose. I’m sure you’ll all agree that our staff work extremely hard and they should not be expected to receive and respond to messages outside their working hours.

On Friday, we held our first celebration assembly of the year and I know the teachers really struggled to choose their first certificate recipients as all the children have been so impressive. If your child got the certificate, this will have been shared with you on Seesaw.

Whilst the children have been at home over summer, we have been busy developing the entrance and office at our KS2 site (School Street). You may have already noticed a new hatch for Zoe and new doors. We still have some decorating and furniture to purchase and the entrance system still needs to be connected but I’m sure you will all agree, it is a huge improvement on what used to be there.

We currently have an issue with the roof of the gym at KS2 and so for the time being the gym is not in use. This may impact on the Halloween disco arrangements but we are currently looking at alternatives as we know how popular this event is.

Last week you will all have received the first Learning Launchpad of the year via Seesaw. These let you know what your child will be learning over the upcoming term and also highlight key dates.

Over the next few weeks we will be working on our clubs plan for this term. Watch out for a letter in the future about our clubs offer and the details on how to request a place for your child.

Today our Year 6 children go on their residential trip to Robinwood and we know they are going to have an amazing time. There will be some photos on Facebook of all the exciting activities they got up to. I am joining them on this trip and so I won’t be on the gate at KS1 until Thursday.

As the cost of living increases, I fully understand the pressures on everyone’s household budget. FOGS offer a pre-loved uniform service at most school events and we can also accept requests via email. You will see in our uniform policy that there is also no expectation that you purchase the jumpers and t shirts with our logo on- a plain red jumper or plain white polo shirt is absolutely fine. If you do have any issues with sourcing the correct uniform, please do let us know: we do understand that sometimes things cannot be avoided. I am aware that the YMCA also has excellent quality pre loved uniform. Please note that children should not wear any jewellery or watches (including fit bits). One pair of plain studs can be worn but the child must be able to take them out themselves for PE.

Finally, I’m happy to announce that over the summer Mrs Morgan had a little boy named Rory who is a gorgeous little brother for Arlo. I have passed on our congratulations as a school and I’m sure she will be bringing him in for cuddles soon.

I will see our KS1 families on the gate on Thursday morning.

Wishing you a great week!

Mrs Crowther