Good afternoon,

 

I hope you are well. I wanted to begin by sharing my enormous thanks to FOFSA.  We have such a dedicated and hard working committee and it is a pleasure to work with them.  The Christmas fair was a huge success and I felt proud of the children as they took the effort to say how much they had loved it.  So much work  and time goes into the fair as well as the auctions and wreaths nights. We are incredibly grateful for the enjoyment as well as the valuable fundraising.  Thank you for supporting them and either through volunteering or attending.

 

Our church Advent service is always a highlight for me.  The children who read, did so clearly and confidently.  Mrs Gan joined us to play the piano and the choir were excited and proud to sing.

 

The Chaffinch children were full of excitement yesterday as they prepared for their learning event.  We were delighted to see it so well attended.  Again, the confidence of the children shone through.  Thank you to all the staff and children for sharing your love for learning.  The singing was great and the Roman honey biscuit was quite tasty too.

 

Mr O'Reilly organised a match for the girls this week which they enjoyed and worked hard in but sadly lost 1-0.  The boys in the tournament today played with equal determination and came third in their group.

 

On Sunday, I will be attending Loddon Valley Carol Service.  It is such a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to sing alongside lots of other primary school pupils.  Thank you to Mrs Gan.  The paperwork and organisation, along with the time given on Sunday is appreciated and valued by us all and for me it is always the start of Christmas!

 

The Christmas play rehearsals are in full flow which is great to see, I love hearing the singing!  Tickets will be sent home on Monday for the afternoon and evening performance with each family getting two tickets.  We will ask on Monday for numbers for the Wednesday morning relaxed performance (this one is suitable for preschool children and younger) and there is no ticket needed for this performance. Children under school age, including toddlers and babies should only attend the relaxed morning performance.

 

I am sad to finish on a concerning note but I am very worried for some pupil attendance.  If a child's attendance is as low as 90%, they are missing on average a day a week.  This has significant impact on their learning, friendships, wellbeing and outcomes.  We are working incredibly hard to support families with attendance and need parental commitment and support.  Penalty notices are being issued once a child has 10 sessions of absence which is 5 unauthorised days and our Education Welfare Officer is working closely with us. 

I am keen to celebrate attendance where we can attendance and 73 children have above 95% attendance.  Of the 73,  39 children have 100% attendance.

 

We are looking forward to next week.  We have choir events, our Christmas play, Christmas jumpers on Thursday as well as our Christmas lunch.  Next Friday will be the last Friday football club session this term.  The last Netball club will be on the 19th December.

 

I wish you a lovely weekend.

With kind regards

Jacquie Vanstone