It has been a very busy week for myself and our school. Myself and Mrs Wilson attended the Cray Valley Forum on Monday evening. It is a local group of volunteers who share what they do for the local community and how we can support each other for the benefit of everyone who lives in the Cray. Part of this includes the re-launch of the Junior Cray Forum which will include children from our own school so that their voice is heard on local issues and the adults can support them in making positive changes to the area in which they live.
We also had our full governing body meeting for the Spring term. We are very lucky to have such an active and supportive governing body and it is a joy to celebrate and share all the positive things about our school. The governing body's duty is to hold myself and our senior leadership team to account and question the decisions we make so that we are all certain they are in the best interests of our community. On Thursday I met with the parent forum. The minutes and answers to questions will be on the website shortly. We discuss homework, clubs and communication as well as the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire which I have shared details of below. It is very important to myself and the school that the uptake of the questionnaire is high so please do give 5 minutes of your time to register and complete it. We also discussed safeguarding and I shared how the filtering and monitoring process works for our internet to ensure children are kept safe from harm but also so that the children have the tools to report things that make them feel upset or worried.
In school, Year 6 has had a WWII Immersion Day, the provision took part in a school curling competition at Coopers Secondary School and made the quarter-finals - well done to all and thank you to St Barnabus Church in St Paul's Cray for the loan of their mini-bus and Mr Mills for driving it for us on his day off.
Finally, we have held two Grandparent's Tea Parties on Friday. We are so lucky to have over 200 Grandparents attend to watch all our children perform whilst enjoying tea and cake in relaxed surroundings. Next term will be the Spring Concert which will be for parents and guardians. With almost 440 children at our school, it is impossible to fit everyone in for each event but we love to show off our talents in performances for different groups so all family members have the option to see the children perform every year. A huge thank you to the Friends of Poverest for the constant boiling of kettles and tea delivery service! A big thank you to Mrs Mills and Mrs Inwood for arranging and of course all the staff and children for their preparation. It was a lovely event to celebrate all grandparents whether they were able to attend or not.
Next week we have our Celebration of Learning event in school. We did miss this off our online calendar so I do apologise in advance if it isn't in your diary. This is a chance to come into school from 2 pm and see your child with their learning and have an opportunity to speak to your class teacher face to face. You do not need to arrive at 2 pm. You can come at any time before the pick-up time at the end of the day.
Have a great weekend,
Mr Haylock
