Dear parents and carers,
It was lovely to welcome back more children into school this week, and the building has been full
of laughter and smiles as children are seeing their friends and teachers again. The stringent
protective measures that are in place are running smoothly, and I would like to thank everyone
for enabling this to happen, as well as for your understanding when following the new
organisational structures at the start and end of each day.
The children have been having lots of fun in school this week in their own bubbles! In Reception,
they have been learning all about ‘Under the Sea’ and the room is full of colourful jellyfish,
octopuses, turtles, fish and other sea creatures. They have been reading Tiddler and writing
some fantastic sentences about his many tall tales! In Year 1, they have been exploring
dinosaurs, and I have been hearing all about t-rexes, pterodactyls, and all sorts of other
prehistoric beasts. The children in these year groups are also enjoying taking part in their daily
RWI lessons. In the key worker group, they have been carrying out learning linked to their year
group topics – there have been messages in bottles, water artwork in the style of Monet and
Anne Wilson, cross-stitches linked to RE, and some wonderful water poetry. I particularly
enjoyed these very effective poetic phrases: ‘whispering waters’ and ‘acrobatic dolphins’ from
Jasmine’s poem, and ‘beautiful waterfall of magic, sparks and dreams’ from Thomas’ poem. In
Year 6, they have been reading The Secret Garden, and have been working in our own school
garden, continuing with the weeding, sowing, and planting.
Please continue to let us know what you have been getting up to at home – we love seeing your
photos!
This week is National Volunteers Week, and we would like to thank all of our volunteers who
usually very kindly give up their time to help the children in school. Even though you can’t
currently come into school, we are still thinking of you and we are looking forward to welcoming
you back when this is possible. One person I would like to thank in particular is Boni Reeks, who
has created three amazing volumes of the children’s poetry and artwork about the Dragon Tree
following our Poetree Day in October. These are now in school and we look forward to sharing
these with you all when school fully reopens. These books are very special and will be treasured
for many years to come.
Another group of volunteers who need a special mention is our school governors. Governors are
responsible for overseeing the management side of a school: strategy, policy, budgeting and
staffing. They enable the school to run as effectively as possible, working alongside senior
leaders and supporting teachers to provide excellent education to children. We would like to
thank our governors here at Brighstone for their wonderful support and advice, which is very
much appreciated.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Lennon and the Brighstone Team
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