Dear Parents and Guardians,

The weather today has made me feel so grateful for the weather we have had since reopening in March; today was our first wet playtime since then, we have been very lucky.

 

On Tuesday we had our first church assembly on the playground in Key stage groups.  It was Reverend Gemma's last assembly with us so it was lovely to thank her and wish her the best.  Reverend Gemma has given so much time to our school and has provided wonderful support throughout the pandemic.  I am very grateful and I know we will all miss her very much.

 

We have had the opportunity this week to further develop our work on Therapeutic Thinking.  Our governors attended 2 hours of online training with Mrs Dodds and myself.  We are planning to share this work with parents in the Autumn term and I am sure you will understand our enthusiasm and commitment to it when we do.  As a result of the work we are doing, we will be sharing a new Behaviour policy and Home School Agreement ready for September.

As a school we are incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated, supportive and hardworking governors.  On Wednesday evening, as part of a Governor meeting, we were able to reflect on our School Development Plan; because of the staff, governor and FOFSA commitment, we are moving our school forwards all the time.

 

We have recently reviewed our Uniform policy and I thank you for sharing feedback.  We have taken feedback into account and I will put the final policy on the website soon.  As part of the policy we wish for all the children to have a fleece to wear for PE when needed and if they wish to have an extra layer on in the classroom.  I am delighted that we will be redesigning our fleece with the addition of the NSsport logo (previously bought school fleeces do not need replacing).  NSsport are sponsoring us with this which is wonderful and is enabling us to sell the fleeces for £11 each, this is based on 1 per child.  The price will need to increase the following year but by then we should have some second-hand fleeces which will support families.  We will be making a bulk order for the fleeces a week today, 25^th June.  Please complete a facebook survey to show if you need to buy one and which size.  If you do not use facebook, please email finchparents@finchampstead.wokingham.sch.uk  Once the order arrives at the end of term or the beginning of next, we will add the fleeces to Parent mail for you to purchase online.  Thank you NSsport for your support.

 

I know I have sent out a few emails this week. I do try hard to limit the number I send but with surge testing in Wokingham and with surge vaccinations as well, it has felt important to communicate with you.  The Year 6 children are hoping their PGL trip can go ahead without any complications. I encourage everyone to take great care and especially our Goldfinches with just 10 days to go!  I hope the surge testing has the desired impact locally and soon rates of Covid begin to drop.  Please remember to contact me over the weekend if anyone in your household needs to isolate or tests positive.   head@finchampstead.wokingham.sch.uk

 

I wish you a lovely weekend although I think the rain is set to continue.  I must say it is easier for staff to write reports when it is raining than when the weather is beautiful!

 

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone