What a week this has been - and we still have Christmas to come. It is always a really busy time in schools at this time of year so we really could have done without the snow on Sunday which caused us to shut on Monday. I always hate having to close the school but I think that so many roads were so treacherous that it was not worth the risk of trying to get here on Monday morning. Not that the roads were that much better on Tuesday but we did all get here (eventually) so that we could open. I have to say the grounds looked beautiful with all the snow so we did let the children go out on the field for a short time on Tuesday so they could experience the feel of snow as we do not get it that often. However, snow is only attractive while it is fresh and I am sure that like a lot of people I want it to go once it has been spoilt by footprints and it turns all slushy. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the two people who came to help us clear the snow on Tuesday morning.

Thankfully the weather did not stop our Christmas performances from going ahead during the week and we were treated to wonderful performances from our foundation and KS1 children. They all sang beautifully and all the people I have spoke to thought that the KS1 production of ‘Angel Express’ was one of the best they had seen. I would like to thank all the children for giving us such enjoyable shows and I would like to thank all my staff for all their efforts in putting two such wonderful performances together. They really help to make the Christmas season special.

Yesterday we had our Christmas lunch at school. The children always enjoy this day because we have music in the playground and all the teachers serve them their food. They then have an extended lunch hour followed by a movie in the hall. The staff also get a chance to enjoy a Christmas meal thanks to the parent volunteers who assist me in supervising the children on the playground. I would like to personally thank all the parents who came into the school to do this. I think they found it an enjoyable experience – at least they were all smiling when they left the school.

Today the KS2 children are enjoying their Christmas Party - the KS1 children have theirs to look forward to on Monday and there is a rumour that Father Christmas himself is going to make an appearance at that party. We also have a pantomime for the children on Monday and this year it is going to be ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. This is something that the children all really enjoy. Then, on Monday evening, we have one of my favourite events which is the KS2 Carol Service.

It certainly is an action packed end of term and we will definitely be ready to break up on Tuesday. I will not be in on Tuesday so this will be my last blog for 2017. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Please remember that we finish at 2.00pm on Tuesday and that all the children are due to return to school on Thursday, 4^th January.

The season of cheer and goodwill is definitely upon us and the children are all very excited which means that my goodwill is sometimes stretched.  Our Christmas activities began yesterday with our Christmas Café. This is always a popular event and is especially popular with the children because Father Christmas makes an appearance. Once again I would like to thank our amazing PTA for all their efforts in making such an event possible and I would like to thank everyone who attended and helped to make the event such a success. When I know how much is raised I will let you all know.

At the end of the last academic year I informed you that we were having lots of renovations carried out internally and that there could be lots of disruption in school. As many of you may have realised this has not quite happened and although we have had workmen on site the work carried out has not been as extensive as I described. This is because county are having to review the project as it is going to cost a lot more than they first anticipated. There has also been a change of leadership for the project so it has been difficult to find out exactly what is going on but I have been promised that communication will be better in the future. They are going to carry out a condition survey in the new year and when they have finally decided what they are going to do I will let you know. We were going to convert our spare classroom into a science/technical room but we have had to put this on hold because of the renovations, however if they do not go ahead with all the renovations we will be able to get this project completed quickly.

Next week there are lots of Christmas events happening in school and I did send out a reminder list of these last week to make sure that nobody misses anything. However I am listing them again because I know how frantic things can get at this time of year and how easy it is to mislay pieces of paper. Remember all school clubs are now cancelled until the end of term because of all the other events that are taking place. I hope you all have a great weekend and I am sure that I will see many of you in school next week.

December 11th	Sharing Assembly (9.00am) (children will be notified by letter if they are involved)
December 12th	Foundation and KS1 performance (9.30am)
December 13th	Foundation and KS1 performance (1.30pm)
December 13th	Open Afternoon 3.00pm – 4.30pm
December 14th	School Christmas Dinner
December 15th	Christmas Jumper Day
December 15th	KS2 party (in school hours)
December 18th	Foundation/KS1 parties (in school hours)
December 18th	Pantomime for the whole school (am)
December 18th	KS2 Carol Concert (7.00pm)
December 19th	End of term 2.00pm

I think we can all agree that winter has definitely arrived this week. I do not think that it has been this cold for years! What has amazed me is that some of the children think that they can dress like it is summer and they will be okay. Can you please ensure that all your children have additional clothing to wear in PE (such as a tracksuit) and that they come to school with a coat. In extreme conditions, if we think it is necessary, we do cut down the amount of time children spend outside but they will always spend some time in the playground so they do need some form of outdoor clothing in winter.

Excitement for Christmas is growing in school and this has accelerated today because everyone is not wearing uniform and have brought in wine and chocolate for the Christmas Café next Thursday. I would like to thank everyone for their donations because they all help make our school events successful. May I also remind you that if you have not sent in your item for the Christmas hampers that you do by Monday so that the people assembling the hampers have plenty of time to do so. I know that the PTA are still looking for help to run the event so if you can spare an hour next Thursday let you class rep know or put a slip into the PTA box which is in reception.

Unfortunately, I have had a complaint about parking this week. Apparently, some parents are parking their cars in front of residents’ drives and this is blocking their entry and exit to their properties which is against the law. If residents inform the police about this the police have the right to issue parking fines.  I have not had a complaint about parking for a while so l hope that this is just a small incident that will not occur again.  

It is going to get a little warmer over the weekend which will be nice. However, one of the advantages about it being really cold is that it kills off a lot of germs which is a good thing as we have had a lot of illness in school recently. May I take this opportunity to remind you that if you child is unwell with sickness they need to stay away from school for 48hours after their last bout of sickness. Eg. if your child id sick on a Tuesday the earliest they should return to school is Thursday. If everyone follows this process we can prevent the spread of illness in school.

Enjoy your weekend. I hope to see many of you at our Christmas Café on Thursday which runs from 3.00pm – 6.00pm.