We have had a great last week of the half-term together, which has included chances to work with people in different classes, working within our local community and welcoming visitors to our school.

In assembly on Monday, Mrs Bretherton shared with us that it was 'mental health week for children' across the UK this week and explored the idea of how it feels to experience different emotions. We all then shared a clip in our classes which was focused on the feeling of happiness and how it was important to talk about times when we have experienced this emotion. On Monday, Years 2, 5 and 6 were also really interested to explore NSPCC workshops with Janet, and we were so proud that they all represented themselves and our school so well.

When we gathered together on Wednesday, we heard about the class attendance results for this half-term and were able to congratulate Year 3, who are now planning their class treat for after the holiday.

Years 2 and 4 enjoyed their last session with Sarah and Suzy from 'Meadow Arts' and explored areas of the Rec, focusing on what they could see, hear and feel within nature. When the classes returned to school, they then worked together to use their experiences to write collaborative poetry. Everyone was very impressed by the poems and enjoyed sharing them as a class. The children also had fun exploring carbon paper and found it magical to create images without really seeing them as they drew! We all said a huge 'Thank you' to Sarah and Suzy, who have been lovely to work alongside, and we look forward to seeing them in the future.

Year 3 also welcomed visitors to work alongside them on Wednesday and Friday, as artists from 'The Fetch Theatre Company' shared work based on the wonder of kingfishers which can be found near our River Arrow, and inspired the children to create their own ideas and creative work. The photographs show the awe and interest which Year 3 showed during the day and the rest of the school were amazed by the large kingfisher puppet which had inspired the activities.

On Tuesday, everyone from Year 1 to Year 6 had the opportunity to work with their enrichment friends and focus on different themes of harmony. Children worked brilliantly to learn more about the culture, geography and food of India, explored how art can support their emotional wellbeing, contributed to our wider community by litter picking, baked muffins, thinking carefully about the ingredients, explored how AI can be a useful tool but thinking seriously about how it links to Internet safety and visited Kington Court to entertain the residents. Thank you to all of the staff who worked so hard to plan and prepare these sessions to help make our enrichment morning such a valuable and effective experience.

Today we have sent home a booklet for the Scholastic Book Club, which is an online bookshop where we have the opportunity to receive free books for our school library. If anyone wishes to shop via Scholastic, you can scan the QR code on the leaflet and choose our school when you check out, or you can go to https://clubs.scholastic.co.uk/C-NSH1K7SB to browse the latest books and order online. For every £1 that is spent on this month’s Book Club, our school will earn 20p in Scholastic Rewards.  Please place any order online by March 13th, 2026, thank you.

Today, we have congratulated children who have been chosen to be awarded an 'achievement certificate' for this half-term. Qualities which have been identified for this award included having fantastic enthusiasm for their learning, being a lovely friend and an excellent role model, and growing in personal confidence. We have also heard about children who have a fantastic attitude towards their own learning, who work really hard in whatever task they are focused on and for being a delightful member of their class. These decisions are ones which class adults put a lot of thought into and are greatly celebrated around school, so a huge 'congratulations' to you all.

We have also awarded our school librarian badges to our huge group of Year 4s who have volunteered to take on this important role. We think that this is the most volunteers that we have ever had! Thank you to our Y4s who have already started doing a fantastic job of keeping our lovely library area organised, welcoming and calming.

In our certificate assembly we also thanked our brilliant build team who are planning on being completed by the start of the new half-term. They were really pleased to receive a special certificate and 'thank you' treats to share.

Whilst we hope that the project will be finished by the time we come back, we will use the first week to fine tune our arrangements and set-up of the new building.  This means that we will start the new half-term with the arrangements for Key Stage 2 drop off and pick up as they are at the moment, but we will let you know when we are ready to start using our new areas.

We would like to wish everyone a very 'Happy Half Term Break' and hope that we all get to enjoy moments of sunshine. Our reading newsletter was sent home this week, and it included details of our World Book Day competitions which might be activities to enjoy during the half-term.

Have a lovely time everyone, and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday 23rd February.