It will be a short and sweet blog this week as I have lots to do in preparation for a busy final week.

Well done to everyone who has shown determination and a positive attitude towards their tests this week; clear evidence of growth mind-set in action. Fingers crossed you get the results you deserve and teachers can plan for your next phase of learning.

Unfortunately I missed Tuesday’s Spelling Bee as I was busy getting ready for Mrs Moore’s Health Check visit but Mrs Cormack informs me that it was a super competition and Sophie and Spencer were worthy winners.

Three year groups met with the school nurse team today to receive their flu immunisations and I am hopeful they are successful in helping you to stay fit and healthy so that we can maintain our attendance figures into next term (currently 96.5% which is 0.4% above our target). Elephants were this week’s winners of Churchill with 100% attendance; something I hope they can maintain. We have just a handful of pupils who are classed as persistent absentees and if their attendance fails to improve school will have no option but to refer them to the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) and parents may well receive fines. The law states that children should attend school and we all know that good attendance is linked to good exam results and ultimately good jobs. Getting into good habits now sets you up for a successful and positive future so make sure you’re in school every day and on time; you will reap the rewards eventually.

I am looking forward to Special Mentions assembly in the morning as it is a chance to stop and reflect on some of the amazing successes we see in school every week and to show children how proud we are of them. Tomorrow is also the deadline for Super Student nominations and for reading and maths awards to be handed in. We will announce names of winners next Thursday.

The first of our Christmas events next week is the eagerly anticipated Y3 nativity play which we will all watch on Tuesday morning before parents come to see it after school at 4pm.

Our Y3 pupils are off to Elmsleigh on Monday afternoon to watch their performance whilst everyone is off to church on Wednesday morning to enjoy a festive service before coming back to school for Christmas dinner. We sincerely hope you can bring your Christmas jumper to wear for dinner or even a hat or pair of reindeer antlers; anything to help you get into the Christmas spirit!

Although we are not taking part in the official Save the Children Christmas jumper day tomorrow we are asking that anyone who wants to make a small donation for the charity should bring in their contributions next Wednesday when they wear their jumpers.

Our busy week ends next Friday with the annual carol concert in the hall when each year group will perform something special alongside the singing of traditional songs and carols sung by the whole school.

Brewers are this week’s House Point winners, Gorillas have been looking after the fish for winning the Times Tables challenge last Friday and Snow Leopards won the Reading Challenge.

I still haven’t heard what the official total from last week’s Christmas Fair was but will announce it as soon as Jo lets me know. We also have several raffle prizes left so please make sure you collect them if you have one of the winning tickets.

Have a super weekend and remember to keep reading and practising your times tables facts!

Mrs Hughes

Blog Box question: what might you choose to wear on Christmas dinner day