After a summer where we were blessed with the most amazing weather (if you liked it hot), children and staff returned to school keen to talk about their holiday experiences, whether they went abroad, enjoyed ‘staycations’ or had days out nearer to home. For many, sport dominated conversations with the highlight surely being England’s Lionesses making history by winning the European Championships.

We were delighted to welcome several members of staff. Mr Robinson is our new deputy head (working alongside Miss Geary) and teaching a Year 6 class. Mrs O’Neill joined us as a teacher in Foundation Stage while Miss Munder joined as a Year 1/2 teacher. Meanwhile, Mrs Halford returned after her maternity leave and will be teaching across the school. Mrs Collier (you might know her better as Miss Thain) had already returned in the final few weeks of the summer term after her maternity leave and is also in Year 1/2. Talking of babies, you will no doubt join me in congratulating Mrs Twigg and her husband on the safe arrival of their baby girl.

The children in Foundation Stage have settled well, making friends and learning school routines. They have been thinking about the topic ‘Me and My Home’ learning about their feelings through stories such as The Colour Monster and about their bodies through Funnybones. Children in Year 1/2 are studying Florence Nightingale in history and will be using collage to create artwork in the style of Henri Matisse. Year 3/4 have an ‘Out of This World’ topic, finding out about the moon landing of 1969. In science, they are researching skeletons and muscles, and what the human body needs to stay healthy. Year 5/6 children are also looking at how to stay healthy with the impact of diet, exercise and lifestyle, while in geography they are learning about rivers and mountains.

As always, it was a very busy start to the term, and we are looking forward to an extremely enjoyable rest of the year.