Dear Parents and Carers,
What an eventful and busy half term it has been! Christmas is but a distant memory, and spring is slowly making an appearance. If you get the opportunity, take a stroll through St Mary’s churchyard to see the bright crocuses and snowdrops that are providing a splash of colour.
Talking about splashes of colour: you may have noticed that we painted the town red today! Everyone wore something red for a donation to Medical Detection Dogs. This is a very worthy charity that trains and provides Medical Alert Assistance Dogs. Their dogs save the lives of people with life changing conditions such as Type 1 Diabetes, PoTS, Addison’s disease and severe allergies. Their colleagues, the Bio Detection Dogs, are working towards a much earlier diagnosis of multiple cancers and diseases such as Parkinson’s. Thank you for all your donations; we raised an amazing £125!
We would also like to thank you for helping to raise money for our school library. Following three successful book sales, we have now raised the grand total of £111! This money is going towards buying new books for the children to read and enjoy in our newly revamped library.
This week our Year 1 and Year 2 children opened their Toy Museum to family and friends. This was a culmination of their topic ‘Toys Through Time’ and was an opportunity to showcase their learning. The children were fantastic museum guides, showing visitors around and explaining about the old and new toys. In preparation for the museum, they had written labels to provide further information about the toys, and the Year 2 children had even created a class information book about toys. The Year 2 children have also written their own Mr Men and Little Miss stories, which they were keen to share. I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents and grandparents for supporting their children with this topic, visiting the museum and even providing some of the exhibits!
Delicious cooking smells wafted down the corridor this week as Years 3 and 4 created some more masterpieces in their kitchen. They have been on a virtual trip around the world this half term, cooking a range of recipes from the different continents, including chicken curry from Asia, fajitas from South America and pizzas from Europe. Masterchef, watch out!
The Isle of Wight Sports Achievement Awards ceremony takes place each spring and this event honours those young and old who have made an outstanding contribution to sport on the Isle of Wight. It is very exciting that Mr Goldsmith and Brighstone Primary School, as well as the Brighstone Basketball Team, have been nominated for awards. Well done and good luck!
It was with a sad heart that we said goodbye to Reverend Clive Todd on Wednesday, as he is leaving for pastures new at the end of this month. We have all really benefited from his links with the school (as a school governor as well as leading church worship and Eucharist), and we will all miss his energy and enthusiasm! We all wish him the very best for his new job. We also had to say “see you later” to Mrs Lincoln who is taking a step back from her role as Senco but we will still see her around the school on a voluntary basis as she has kindly offered to help the year 6 children with their SATs. We would like to welcome Mrs Bowen who will take on the role of Senco for the remainder of the school year.
I hope that you all have a restful and enjoyable half term.
Mrs Lennon
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