It has been something of a wet week with the weather but so many positives with the children at school, despite the worries for Ukraine. To see the children (and staff) engage so positively with, probably, the highlight of the week – ‘World Book Day’ is heart-warming. In this week’s update we will be sharing a little more on World Book Day; confirming the plans from next week with regards gates being open for parents in the morning and at the end of school; and the fast approaching plans for Gaura Purnima and Holi. There will also be reference to this week’s Coffee Connection for those that missed it.

Building Relationships, Improving Behaviour and Creating Stronger Communities

It is quite natural and normal in life, be it on the playground, in the workplace or around the world for words to be misunderstand or even accounts being wrongly reported. The current situation over in Ukraine is so very sad and whilst different people may have different views, one would hope that anybody involved would be making decisions because they believe it is the right thing to do. This is never easy and when faced with autocracy, it can be so much harder. In the second part of Mark’s book there is a whole chapter about circles.

The whole point of a circle is that humble message that no one person is more important than another and that everybody’s voice should be heard. Of course there are ways this needs to be exercised so that things still get done. We would be foolish to think that we will all, even after all the time to discuss and understand, come to the same opinion all of the time. This aside, we should try. I hope eery day that the dire situation in Ukraine can be resolved and people can enjoy peace. Working in a school with so many different people; different interests; and different ideas, we do have disagreements, but we always try to resolve them in a type of circle. We allow all to share their perception and seek to understand. When we get it wrong and see that, we apologise. I am very grateful to the children, you their parents and the wider community that our relationships are positive and the culture is as such. Let us never lose this. Raise queries when you have them, as will we. Ask questions to understand without judgement, as will we.

Our children are very precious. I hope you would agree with me that the adults are too. Thank you again for the support, positivity and willingness to listen. Thank you also for asking the questions that nee to be asked so we can continue tom improve and do our very best to make the world a better place.

We currently have £265.65  owed for lunches, a small drop from last week’s £291.15. This involves 26 children across the school and we are hoping come Monday, the amount will be significantly lower.

A reminder to book lunches for futures weeks. There will be a new menu for the summer term which should be shared next week, after we have gathered the views of the children.

On Thursday, the 3rd of March we celebrated World Book Day. It was a great day where  so many children and staff dressed up as a character from a book. Around the school, corridors were decorated to set the scene for different genres and the power of words was celebrated. An author, a poet called Terry Caffrey,  visited school and led some workshops with numerous classes. This was after a wonderful assembly where he shared one of his poems and inspired us all with his play on words and an interactive session with some humorous moments. Terry is a Liverpudlian and pleasingly, an Everton fan, so Mr Kite was even more inspired. Being from Liverpool, Terry told us that he went to school at the same at John Lennon and Paul McCartney – nine o’clock!

Thank you all for your great support in making the day wonderful and keep enjoying a variety of books.

From Monday the gates to the courtyard will no longer be a barrier to not cross. Please do help to keep areas as free from congestion as possible but for those whose children are in Foundation Two, Year 1 and Year 2, please do come in at the end of the day to collect your child.

• Foundation Two children will be released from their area (as they were pre-covid). Staff will be about to guide you.
• Year 1 and Year 2 children will be out in the courtyard so come in and collect them from there.
• Year 3 to 6 children will leave on their own and staff will follow them out, hurrying up the slower to leave children.

If you have a question for your child’s teacher, they will, when possible, be there at the end of the day for that. Please be aware this is restricted on days when there run a club or have a meeting.

We will share some more changes as we get back to connecting in other ways that we did before.

A detailed letter will be sent early next week, well in advance of Friday 18th March. In short however, the plan is…

• Traditional dress on Friday 18th March for Gaura Purnima and the bathing of the deities. We plan to have a live Zoom link and hope to invite you in person too, should you wish.
• We will celebrate Holi on Monday 21st March at 14:00. This will save the difficulties of switching from traditional clothing to whites that can be coloured. Again, you are invited to join in!

Look out for the detailed letter next week.

I hope all who managed to attend Wednesday’s Coffee Connection found it useful. Many did ‘ping’ over a message of thanks in the chat and commented on it being useful. That is what we want and will always strive to be, useful.

For those that were unable to join the meeting, we shared an area of the website that shows a good amount of detail on what we cover in the curriculum. Please do explore the link and look at the Topic Overview and Subject Overview. If you then look at the document specifically for your child’s year group, you will have a good overview of what we cover.

Thank you to those that have completed the questionnaire so far.

We have not received any entries in the last week. Please do complete the questionnaire if you have not do so already.

Thank you very much for your continued support. 

Yours sincerely   

Mr Kite

Principal