Dear parents
We are now at the halfway point in this academic year and, as we break up for this half term holiday, I would like to thank you for all of your ongoing support and to congratulate the children for the amazing effort they put in every day. Beautiful art and music are created, exciting STEM projects take place, the children think hard, discuss and debate and there is a strong sense of our vision of 'life in all its fullness' taking place. I am always so proud to show visitors around the school and they always comment on how calm, polite and happy the children appear to be. Whilst there are always ups and downs in the life of any school, I couldn't be happier with how the children respond to our staff and care for each other. They are a credit to you all.
Over the half term holiday, the finishing touches will be made to some of our outside spaces and we are looking forward to having an opening ceremony where you will have the chance to see what has been developed. The polytunnel has now been installed and the children have already been enjoying using the fitness stations at lunchtimes. Please do have a think about whether or not you would like to take part in some growing in the vegetable garden as we would like to offer children and families the chance to look after a space, particularly if you don't have any outside space at home. We couldn't, of course, have done any of this without the support of the community and a huge thanks must go to Ilfracombe Lions, the Community Resources Group and the Men’s Shed for all of your help and generosity.
At this time of year, there are often a few wet lunchtimes inside (or windy ones!) but, when the children are outside, we now have some great activities on offer. The blue fences in the lower yard create zones for different activities, the top yard has sports games every day and table tennis is in the gym. For quieter play, there is an art room and the quad playground and library are also open. Soon the vegetable garden and field will also be available and the children can choose freely where they would like to play. It has been lovely to see the older children mixing with the younger children and we feel as though there is something for all of the children to enjoy.
Many thanks must go to Huet Bartels for giving up his time so freely to deliver Online Safety lessons to all of the children this week as part of Internet Safety day. Huet is a parent of a year 6 pupil and is an Internet consultant who kindly shared his expertise and experience with all of our pupils. Finally, a big thank you for generously supporting the appeal today to raise money for Minenhle Shongwe who we support at the Bulembu Chrisian Academy in Eswatini. £311 was raised and we are proud to be able to support this work and believe deeply in the children being part of a connected global community and supporting those in most need.
There is so much to look forward to in the Spring and Summer Terms to come but, in the meantime, I hope you have a lovely half term break.
Mr Le Bredonchel