Good afternoon,

I hope you are well.  We have had a great week in school. It has been cold, but the children thoroughly enjoyed the small amount of snowfall we had.

We were delighted to hold our Grounds day and have the children working hard to improve the surrounding spaces.  It was fantastic to have Wellington College students with us and their help made a huge difference. Thank you to all the staff for providing the tools and motivation during a busy day.

There has been a focus this week on advocacy and the children have made us very proud.  Chaffinch led an assembly on Water aid which was informative and motivational.  It was wonderful to see the children already showing such commitment and passion for their chosen charity.

I was delighted to join School Council this week to discuss another opportunity for them to share their views and have their voices heard.  There are very exciting plans for a new park across the road from the school.   We had an early look at the plans and after some in-depth discussion, School Council shared the information with the rest of the school.   The Parish Council is working towards finalising a contract and placing an order to deliver the park in early 2026. In parallel to this process, the Memorial Hall has been hired out between 15:15 and 18:15 on Tuesday 25th November to share the plans in conjunction with the supplier and enable children and families to vote on a variety of park components including the name of the castle and colours of the ropes etc. We would be so pleased if parents could take the children to share their views on Tuesday: they have a lot of great ideas.

Next week, I am going to begin some consultation work with the children on our school uniform.  This will form part of a bigger piece of work as governors review our uniform policy for September 2026.  Government guidance is limiting the number of branded items for parents to purchase.  If you have any comments about the uniform, we would be pleased to know your thoughts, so please be in touch.

We are delighted to be holding our carol service again this year and, once again, the music group will be playing a couple of the carols. If there are any parents who play an orchestral instrument, (or used to play and would like to dust the cobwebs off), we would be delighted if you would like to join with some staff members to play in our music group and accompany the carols. The music is very simple – approximately grade 1 standard and Mrs Gan can provide the music in advance along with 1 practice. 

Please email into Finch parents or catch Mrs Gan at the gate by Friday 21st November if you would like to take part. Thank you.

Next week, we have more sporting fixtures, which is great to see.  Well done to our girls for drawing their football match this evening.  We also had many children enjoying Bohunt dance club today which was great to watch. We also have our Advent service on Tuesday at the church.  Parents are welcome to join us, and please remember to drop off at church in the morning.

The Christmas excitement is creeping in as rehearsals begin for the Christmas play and our choir are working hard ahead of their performances.  We would like to ask for empty jam jars to be brought in please.  These will be used in school for a Carol service in December.  

I wish you all a lovely weekend, and thank you for your support.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone