And just like that, a year has passed! For me personally, this is a time for reflection on what we have achieved this year, we haven't got everything perfect but we have worked tirelessly to improve the schooling experience for every child and for that, I am very proud. The staff have been excellent and have worked well above what is expected of them contractually because they all care so much to ensure the children achieve well and enjoy their school experience. I thank them enormously for their efforts and support in all they do, but mainly for supporting me in the tweaks we have made this year in our teaching practice. Our Ofsted report is a particular highlight, as I am very proud of what was written in it. We know more children need to attain at higher levels, especially in writing and we have also made great improvements in our attendance data - although we are not at the high percentages we need to be just yet.
Recently we have been awarded three National Awards which we are all very proud of. Our Eco School award recognises the changes we have made to become a more sustainable school and we will continue with our efforts next year and beyond. The NCCE award for computing is another fantastic achievement in recognising our wide use of computing across the school and our dedication to ESafety which has been a huge strength of the school for many many years. Finally, we were awarded the Gold Award for School Sports - fully deserved for the unique sporting experiences the children receive at Poverest in their PE lessons.
The end of term is now a time of rest for the staff so they can return fully charged to go again, and I hope they all have a wonderful break. This is also a time to say goodbye to many members of our community. Our year 6 pupils, many of whom have been here for seven years, move on now to secondary education and we wish every one of them much success in the future. Keep working hard, be polite and nice to others and life will be good to you! They have been an excellent cohort and gave us a wonderful end-of-year performance of Frozen last week. We love hearing from our ex-pupils, so we encourage them to stay in contact and let us know about their future successes. This is also a time we say goodbye to members of our staff and volunteers. Mrs Duffin, Mrs Manchester, Miss Obee and Mrs Cooper all leave Poverest and we thank them all for their dedication to our school and the huge numbers of children they have supported in the years of service they have given. Finally, we wish Mrs Helm a wonderful retirement. She has worked for over 46 years and just over 23 years at Poverest! There isn't anything that Mrs Helm does not know about our lovely school and her knowledge of it will be missed, as will her superb ability to remember deadlines and ensure the headteacher gets everything submitted on time!
Finally a huge thank you to you the parents, for your support of our school and your children. Together we can continue to ensure our children learn, grow and succeed in all areas of school life. Best wishes for the summer holidays and safe travels if you are fortunate enough to be going on holiday. We look forward to seeing all the children return on Thursday 29th August.
Many thanks
Mr Haylock