Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a busy week. Today we had a visitor, Paul, who talked about becoming a judge. This is part of our Black History Month theme of reclaiming narratives. This theme encourages us to shine a spotlight on the untold stories, the unsung heroes, and the everyday individuals who have made an indelible impact on our communities. Paul talked about his journey of becoming a judge with the children and answered their very insightful questions. Paul was a parent and a governor at the school and we thank him for coming in and sharing his journey. Please remember we have our Black History Month event on Wednesday 16th October at 3:30pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Today we enjoyed a delicious lunch to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The children and staff really enjoyed it.

The children in Year 1 went on a great bus ride this week which linked with their Literacy text. They loved it and were incredibly well behaved, well done Year 1.

The children really enjoyed a drumming workshop this week with One-Drum. One-Drum is a troupe of professional Ghanaian performers, made up of African drummers, musicians, dancers and acrobats with over 30 years of experience providing an authentic African performance. Two drummers from the troupe came to visit the children class by class and each child had a drum and they all drummed together. It was fantastic and they loved it. It sounded amazing. Here is the link to the company so you can take a look.

https://www.one-drum.org/performances

Bobbie in Year 6 wrote about the workshop –

‘Over this week, each class has had a workshop on djembe drums. Djembe drums are from Africa, and the ones we used were handmade there. The instructor who was from Ghana, Africa, told lots of jokes and made us all laugh. We learnt many rhythms and by the end, he was inviting people to dance in the circle. All in all, everyone loved it.’

It is Mental Health Day on Thursday 10th October and we would like the children to wear yellow to school. people are encouraged to wear yellow to show support for young people's mental health. This is part of the #HelloYellow campaign by the mental health charity YoungMinds.  The campaign encourages people to wear yellow clothing, such as t-shirts, socks, or headbands. The goal is to show young people that they are not alone if things feel hard and that things can get better. Thank you for your support for this. We encourage the children to talk about how they feel and that mental health is as important as physical health.

We have Grandparent week coming up. If your child has a Grandparent who would like to come into school and read a story or talk to the children about something of interest please book in with your child’s teacher. This starts on Tuesday 22nd October to Thursday 24th October. Availability for each class is in the table below. Please see your child’s teacher or email them to book a time. Thank you. We love seeing Grandparents in school and we look forward to their visits.

Date and time Classes Available

Tuesday, 22nd October – Morning Nursery, Reception, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6

Tuesday, 22nd October – Afternoon Nursery, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Wednesday, 23rd October – Morning Nursery, Reception Aqua, 1, 2 and 3

Wednesday, 23rd October – Afternoon Nursery, Reception Ocean, 1 Violet, 2 Peach, 5 and 6

Thursday, 24th October – Morning Nursery, Reception Aqua, 1, 2, 3 Emerald, 4 Cerise

Thursday, 24th October – Afternoon 1, 4, 5 and 6

We have Science Week coming up soon on October 14th and there are workshops for the children. More information will follow.

We have a table outside for Harvest donations. Any donations would be very welcome and would be much appreciated for our Food Bank.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica