Good afternoon,

We have had a great and busy week.  I have had the pleasure this week of teaching each year group apart from our Year 2 children for at least an hour.  On Wednesday, I had some Year 2 children come to show me their writing.  It is wonderful to see the progress they are making and how inspired they were to write by Sophie's beautiful puppy visiting.  I enjoy my time in the classroom and hope the children and staff are proud of all they do and achieve everyday.

On Wednesday afternoon, we were pleased to welcome some Wellington College students to lead an assembly on advocacy.  They shared how they have used their passions to inspire positive change and to make a difference in the world.  It was inspiring and Goldfinch have reflected on this with me this afternoon.  We really want to power of our vision 'This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it',  to empower our pupils to be advocates for themselves and others.

Thank you to the Goldfinch parents who were able to join us for a Family Learning Event on Thursday.  It is so valuable for children to share their learning and also to learn alongside you.  Thank you to the staff for leading the afternoon.

Today we held our first Mother's Day breakfast, and it was a lovely event and a great success.  We wanted it to feel like a treat and I think it did.  Thank you so much for joining us and thank you to the staff who helped to set up and run it, especially Mrs Dodds on her day off!  We also raised £100 towards our playground redesign. Thank you, it all helps.

Good luck to the girls who are playing football after school.  I hope you have a great time and I know you will represent the school well.

I would like to thank FOFSA for their support with uniform.  We had some committee members in school over the weekend carrying out further stock takes. Thank you for your time.  We have some changes to our system and I would like to share the following information:

All your school uniform can now be ordered via our FOFSA PTA events site. This replaces the old form and email system.  To order, please go to the link below and navigate to the shop from the main menu. Once in the shop you will see the items available. When you select the item, it will give you the size options and quantity available. Simply add your items to your shopping basket and check out. You will be asked to log into your account, so if you have not used PTA Events before, you will need to set up an account at checkout.  Once complete, you will receive an email confirmation. Your order will be available to collect from the school office. https://www.pta-events.co.uk/finchfofsa/index.cfm

Finally, I just wanted to say how lovely it has been to have the positive feedback about the new park.  Many children have really enjoyed their after school visits, we now just need the better weather!

I wish you a lovely weekend.  Next week we will have a Bullfinch learning event on Wednesday at 2.30pm.  Bullfinch will have some things to sell to raise money for their charity, The Dogs Trust. This may run after school as well.  Please bring cash if you can.  We also have our Year 6 Easter experience on Thursday to look forward to.

Happy Mother's Day for Sunday.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone