Good afternoon,

I hope you are well.  We have had one of our busiest weeks in school and I wish to begin by thanking the staff for their incredible support and hard work; I feel so fortunate to work with such wonderful colleagues.

On Tuesday, we had our SIAMS inspection.  The inspector spend a full day in school and I thank the parents who were able to speak to her on the day.  It was a very intense day with the inspector spending time with staff, governors and children as well as holding some external meetings with our Diocesan advisor and meeting Reverend Julian.  The children were wonderful and were proud to share their learning and experience of school.  I will share the report once we have it within the next three weeks.

On Wednesday, we enjoyed our first run of the year.  It was full of joy and happiness and I look forward to many more over the coming weeks.  I have attached some photos.

On Thursday, we celebrated the opening of our Barley Bird Nest built by the Nirvana Spa build team.  We had a lovely assembly which was followed by an official opening of the room by Mr Barley.  The children then enjoyed a special playtime and cake.  We are so proud and delighted of our new learning space and it was great to see the children sharing their appreciation in what they did, said and sang.  A highlight at the end was our football boys showing their Nirvana Spa sponsored football kit to Mr Barley!

I thought I would share the words the children performed at our opening assembly yesterday:

The Barley Bird Nest

We love books, learning and exploring,

Computing lessons are great but our technology left us snoring.

Teachers frustrated, children frustrated, we did well not to scream,

But the chance of an upgrade was a distant dream.

One day Mr Winslet’s work donated 8 laptops and a TV,

Maybe our dream was achievable, was this the start of a new opportunity?

Mrs Vanstone submitted a funding application,

And waited and waited and waited in anticipation.

The diocese came back with a YES!

Planning and designing caused excitement and stress!

Mrs Workman and Mr Kennington worked hard to find a contractor,

Could this be the deal breaking factor?

That’s when Mrs Vanstone emailed Mr Barley, could he suggest someone to help?

Now Mrs Vanstone is usually smiley, happy and cheery,

But the email back made her little teary.

We will do it, charging zero

Mr Barley, you are our Finchampstead Hero.

The football team were fueled with cake and headed off to a Year 5/6 match against Holme Grange. Sadly they didn't win but there are many matches ahead of them and they were a great team to take.  Thank you Mr O'Reilly.

Today we had quite a storm at lunchtime which the children either loved or hated!  I am delighted the FOFSA ice pop and second-hand uniform sale could go ahead on the playground with such success.

I wish you all a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.  Over the weekend there is Wokingham Arts Trail and our resident artist Mrs Sheppard will have a stall which I would encourage you to visit if you have the opportunity.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone