Monday similarly saw us off to a flying start as we welcomed Henry’s and Eleanor’s daddy to lead our assembly.  He stepped us through his job as a pilot with British Airways – from the very start of the day, waking up in the middle of the night, all the important initial checks to the aeroplane, the actual flight to finally the landing. The views he sees on a daily basis were simply stunning (we even caught a glimpse of the School and Carlisle Park at one point in one of his picture) but we were all especially taken with the wonderful cloud formations he sees on a regular basis – in fact, safe to say, we were completely wowed by mother nature.  The children heard how he had followed his dream, and of course plenty of hard too, in order become a pilot – which incidentally he had set his heart upon aged 3!  Trying on his jackets and caps was also another highlight of his visit.  Thank you so much for sharing your amazing job – our horizons were well and truly expanded as a result of Monday’s assembly.

Not only has it been Children’s Mental Health Week but on Tuesday, it was Safer Internet Day.  Last year, over half the children in the UK heard about or joined in with Safer Internet Day and we know that the day is celebrated annually in 170 different countries.  Safer Internet Day is a chance to think about any worries we might have about using technology and the internet, but it’s also about celebrating all the fantastic things technology can help us with.  The children could not believe the archaic and clunky looking devices that were around when I was a child their age!

Conversations have hopefully reinforced essential online safety messages to all.  The children will be hearing more about this subject on Monday 19 February when Childnet visit our school.  We are delighted that all the children here, from Kindergarten right through to Year 6, will benefit from their wisdom.  We are also thrilled to welcome you to the parents’/carers’ session at 8.00am on the same day – do consider coming along to this important talk.  On this note, a number have parents have asked, given their child/children’s young age at this point in time, should they attend or not? My resounding answer is yes – definitely come along, as it is so important to have conversations, in age-appropriate ways, from the beginning in order to build that all important digital resilience, empowering the children to make the right decisions to keep themselves safe.  With only ten clicks on youtube, one can be led to some wholly inappropriate cartoons, therefore parental settings must be very carefully set, otherwise your child/children may stumble across all sorts on inappropriate material.

This week the Courtesy Cup and Badge went to Kabir (Reception) for consistent and excellent polite behaviour.  Well done, Kabir.

and Stars of the Week were awarded to:

Year 2: Akshen for a superb “can-do” attitude to learning.  Akshen will always rise to the challenge – whatever the subject!  Keep up the super work!

Year 1: Ilias for being a brilliant architect – and designing and building a house for The Three Little Pigs, meeting all the criteria!

Reception: Wilf for always working hard in class and striving to do his best at all times.  Thank you, Wilf!

Many congratulations to the following children: Lani (Year 1) for her Learn to Swim Award,  Aran (Year 2) for achieving Stage 4 in his swimming; Efe (Year 2) for coming second along with team mates in the Richmond Junior chess tournament; Harry (Year 2) for being chosen player of the week at his rugby club; and Rosie (Year 2) for her Rainbow Gold Award.

Have a restful half term break.