Head's Up!23 October 2026 (by headmarton) |
Weekly news from Mrs Deakin
What. A. Day. Week. Half Term!
I’ve never known 52 days go so quickly, or so much happen in such a short space of time! We’ve welcomed new children, families and staff into our school family and faced challenges that none of us could ever have imagined.
It’s been tough at times, and there have been moments when we’ve felt a little broken. But our wonderful children have made every single one of those days extra special. They are always our reason to do better, to do more and to keep going. I’d like to personally thank every child in our school family for being exactly who they are.
I also want to give a very special thank you to the members of our team (Staff and Governors) who have supported one another, taken on additional responsibilities and simply got on with what needed to be done over the past few weeks. Teamwork, professionalism and a willingness to step up when things are challenging make an enormous difference, and I have been incredibly grateful to see those qualities in action. It is this collective commitment to our children and to one another that makes our school special.
We've ended this half term with our Elsa fundraising day which was just delightful. Our Elsa bees were brilliant and they have raised £231.00 for further wellbeing resources, thank you so much.
Weekly news from busy classes
What a phenomenal first half term for Reception! It has been a joy to watch them blossom, arriving each morning with growing confidence and an infectious enthusiasm for discovery. Over the past few weeks, we have explored making new friendships and knowing that we are all amazing individuals. We have been celebrating the wonderful bonds they have formed and the supportive classroom community they have built together. They have truly embraced their new school journey with open hearts and curious minds. Now, it is time for a well-deserved rest. We hope all our little learners enjoy a refreshing half-term break—recharge those batteries, have fun, and come back ready for all the exciting adventures that await next half term.
What a fantastic end to the term! Year 1 finished their bee topic by writing brilliant letters full of top advice to Griff the Beekeeper, before unleashing their creativity to build some truly amazing, imaginative free-standing structures in DT. Thank you so much for all your support at the Harvest Festival—the children did a wonderful job sharing how bees help grow our fruits and vegetables, and they sang their hearts out!
What a brilliant term we have had in Year 2! We are so proud of how hard everyone has worked and how much progress the children have made. They have shown fantastic effort, enthusiasm and a wonderful attitude towards their learning. In Maths, we have been busy practising our addition and subtraction skills, developing our confidence and finding different ways to solve problems. In Science, we have been learning all about hygiene and germs. We carried out a fun investigation using glitter to show how easily germs can spread from person to person! We have also been learning about our teeth and how to keep them healthy. Our artistic talents have been shining through as we explored monochromatic art, creating artwork using different shades and tones of a single colour. One of the highlights of the week was visiting the ELSA Bee Shop on Friday. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it was a lovely way to end the week! A huge thank you to all our Year 2 children for their hard work, kindness and enthusiasm this term. You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves. We certainly are! Well done, Year 2 – keep up the fantastic work!
Year 3. It's been another fantastic week of learning in Year 3! In English, the children have been putting their imaginations to work by creating their very own weird and wonderful animals and writing non-chronological reports all about them. We have loved seeing their creativity shine through! In maths, we have entered the world of column addition and subtraction, learning how to set out our calculations carefully and developing our confidence with these important methods. In French, we have been putting our knowledge to the test, seeing how well we can remember the colours and numbers we have learnt so far. In history, we have continued our journey back to the Stone Age, discovering what prehistoric people ate and how they found, hunted and prepared their food. Another highlight of the week was our lovely Harvest Festival! The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this special celebration and sharing it with our school community. What a wonderful way to round off a busy first half term!
What a fantastic week we have had in Year 4! In Maths, we have been learning all about area and the children picked it up so quickly! We have been really impressed with how well they have understood this new concept. In English, we have continued to expand our knowledge of verbs, learning more about how we use them in our writing. In French, we completed our assessment lesson to finish our topic, ‘Presenting Myself’. The children all did a fantastic job, and we are so proud of how well they have done! On Tuesday, we had our Harvest performance, and the children absolutely shone! They performed brilliantly, and we couldn't be prouder of them all. As today is the last day before half term, we would like to wish all our Year 4 families a wonderful and relaxing break. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back for the Christmas term, ready for another exciting half term of learning!
Year 5 have had a fantastic week, full of creativity, discovery and musical excitement! In Maths, the children have been developing their understanding of multiples, factors, prime numbers and square numbers. In Art, they have been creating their own imaginative doodles inspired by the acclaimed British artist Mr Doodle. History has taken them back over 1,000 years as they explored how the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were ruled and how they gradually converted from paganism to Christianity, while in French they have been practising their numbers up to 30. In Music, they have been honing their ukulele skills, whilst in PE, the children rounded off their invasion games unit with football. The highlight of the week was undoubtedly rehearsing and performing at this year’s Harvest Festival, where they sang the Healthy Habanera with enthusiasm — well done, Year 5!
Year 6 In Year 6 maths, we have been exploring BODMAS and learning how to apply the correct order of operations when tackling calculations. In English, we have continued developing our atmospheric setting descriptions of Camp Green Lake, focusing on using expanded noun phrases and adverbials of manner and place to bring our writing to life. In science, we have started our new topic of electricity, learning about circuit symbols and how to draw accurate scientific circuit diagrams. We have also been developing our coding skills in computing, putting our logical thinking and problem-solving abilities to the test! It is hard to believe that we have already completed our first half term in Year 6! The children have settled brilliantly into life at the top of the school and have worked incredibly hard over the past few weeks. We are very proud of their enthusiasm, determination and positive attitudes towards learning. We are already looking forward to all the excitement and festivities that the Christmas half term will bring! For now, we hope everyone enjoys a wonderful, well-deserved break, with plenty of time to relax, recharge and have fun. See you after half term!
Gardening Club & Eco: We’ve had a very successful few weeks in gardening club with our new recruits. They’ve done wonderful weeding, set up bird feeders for winter, sowed seeds and harvested a bumper crop. The highlight was watching the children get creative with their pumpkins this week, they did a great job and the results were fabulous.
The Eco council also met recently, where the children all got presented with our new look badges. They were such an enthusiastic group, and it was great to hear lots of their interesting ideas which were very well thought out. Watch out for some of the plans to be put in place. Mrs McLean
Today has also been a day of celebration!
We’ve celebrated Rach, our incredible, superwoman Site Maintenance Officer, who turns 50 today! Rach doesn’t just love our school; she protects it. We are incredibly lucky to have her friendship, dedication and support.
We’ve celebrated Miss Peckham as she begins an exciting new chapter in her photography career. Thank you, Miss Peckham, for all your hard work and everything you’ve contributed to our school.
And finally, we’ve celebrated Mrs Laird, who retires today.
Somehow, Mrs Laird has managed to complete all her own tasks every day, help everyone else, answer countless calls and emails, look after children and staff, keep us supplied with glue sticks and boxes of tissues, and provide us with the very best coffee! She has held this school in both her hands and her heart, and we will miss her enormously.
But we aren’t losing our friend today. She is family, and that love is unconditional. We wish her the happiest retirement, with plenty of time to relax, enjoy herself and do all the things she deserves.
As we head into half term, I want to thank our children, families and staff for being part of our wonderful school community. It hasn’t always been easy, but the love, laughter and commitment that make our school what it is have never been more important.
Wishing you all a wonderful half term, filled with rest, fun and a little bit of magic and treats on the 31st!
We look forward to welcoming all our children back to school on Tuesday 3rd November.
Take care of yourselves and each other,
Nevin Deakin