Newsletter 24th April

Dear parents and carers,

what a glorious day it is today! I very much hope you are all able to enjoy getting outside and having some important sun time this weekend. It almost feels like the start of summer. Naturally we are looking forward to all sorts of things over the next few weeks – swimming lessons, a camp out, our May Day and more – but it’s worth me saying here that I am also really looking forward to letting you know about our new permanent headteacher who will be starting in role in September. The selection process was very rigorous and we are pleased that we have appointed a really strong candidate. We want to give our new head a reasonable amount of time to tell their current school that they are moving on before we put the word out here so please bear with me for just a few more days. I expect to be able to let you know all about them in this newsletter next week. Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Nursery and Reception are just LOVING the additions to the EYFS garden. I cannot tell you what joy it has given me to see the children exploring and experimenting with the new features in the area. I see jumping and balancing, I see thinking and tinkering, I see bravery and imagination. I’d like to give an enormous thank you to the parents, carers who came in over the Easter break to dig, plant, hammer, saw, screw, nail, plane and work magic. A huge thanks also to RGB construction supplies in marsh Barton who donated cast amounts of materials to make this happen – they were very generous indeed. Also to Taylor Construction Management who were very generous in time and expertise.

May Day

Our wonderful May Day Celebration is on May 4th from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The KSPA have been working incredibly hard on this and they are preparing a wonderful day for us. There will be so much fun to be had and so much connection to be made. Get it in the diary, invite every friend and neighbour you can think of and don’t forget to make sure you have cash – with mobile reception being so poor we can’t rely on sum up machines and the like.

The Dolphin Are Looking For A Mascot And It Could Be YOU(r pet)

The community group working to bring the pub back to life want to choose a mascot for the pub. Send in a photo of your pet and you could revel in the glory. The winner will receive a framed photograph of their pet and a copy will be proudly displayed in the pub when it reopens. They tell me it doesn’t just have to be a cat, a dog or even a mammal – goldfish, axolotls and bearded dragons are all equally welcome as entries and equally likely to win.

The link to enter the competition is https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18eGJ7AspX/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Camp Out

On the night of Thursday 18th June running into Friday 19th we will have a big camp out at school for all children in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6. We will be sleeping in the bell tents that we have used before – you may remember them from the last week of Summer Term when we ran our ‘tent school’ in the grounds at Kenn Primary. The tents will be put up in the grassed area behind the Willow classroom and Nursery so that it will be entirely within our secure perimeter and with toilets very close by.

We’ll be asking you to bring your children along after an early tea and we will entertain them until bed time. In the morning we will give them some breakfast and toddle them along till school time. If you want to whisk your child away for breakfast and a shower in the morning that’s fine and we’ll keep the register open until 10:00 a.m. for those children to return – but there’s no need. We will make sure that Key Stage have a very gentle day indeed on that Friday as some may not have slept very much and might have missed home a lot – that goes for the staff too!

Some children will be very comfortable with sleeping away from home but we know that for some this will still be a challenge. That is precisely the reason that we are running this opportunity – we are thinking especially of the children who will be going on the residential trip in the autumn, we want to make sure that they all have the opportunity to try this one night camp out in a very familiar place as a sort of ‘dry run’ before the autumn and the longer time away from home.

We are IVY Week

Next week is we are Ivy Week – classes are all doing things to benefit the community. Chestnut Class are running a cafe for the community in the church on Monday morning and Friday morning, Oak Class are taking some time to help tidy up the churchyard – including cleaning up gravestones, and Willow Class are doing a big litter pick around the school field. More information has gone around on Seesaw and the WhatsApps I believe.

We are IVY week runs right across the trust with all eight schools running a variety of community events that serve to embed our shared values. As a part of the week we will also have a friendly football match between our pupils and children from Cockwood School. Mr Keirle has asked that pupils in Chestnut Class bring in boots and shinpads if they have them so that they can take part.

INSET Day 22nd May

Please do note that school will be closed  to all pupils for staff training on Friday 22nd May. The following Monday is the May Bank Holiday so you have a cheeky four day weekend to enjoy there. Book those campsites before they sell out!

ADDENDUM! A Message from the KSPA