Dear Parents,
Welcome back to the second half of the Autumn Term - and hasn't it felt autumnal? Sadly, both of our sports matches had to be cancelled this week because of the rain, but it has still been a fun week, with the children thoroughly excited about their Hallowe'en activities on Tuesday and recovering from the number of sweets they ate on Wednesday! Around all this, they have really embraced their learning - I have seen so much brilliant maths and inspired writing, using a great range of vocabulary and strategies to bring their pieces to life - just fantastic - as well as some really creative ways in to this half term's new topics.
On our Inset Day just before half-term we focused on our design of learning activities, ensuring we use a balance of written, practical, creative, active and tech-based activities, and selecting the techniques that will most inspire our children and support them in remembering key knowledge and developing their skills across each subject. Our teachers really enjoyed the opportunity to have space to think creatively about how we teach and are looking forward to delivering some fantastic lessons this term and beyond.
As the days get shorter and getting out of bed becomes a little more difficult for us all, I want to remind all parents about the importance of good attendance and punctuality at school. The vast majority of our children have excellent attendance and are here on time, every day. We have a minority of families, though, where children's attendance is not good enough to enable them to reach their potential. If you have any difficulties with organising your morning routine to enable your children to get to school on time, or any issues that prevent your child attending every day, please do speak to Julie, our wonderful Home School Link Worker (jenright3@suttonmail.org), who will be able to support you. Currently, our school attendance is 91.39%; our goal is 98% so we have a long way to go, but there is a lot of support we can put in place to help families who need it.
Have a lovely weekend and a safe Bonfire Night.
Kind regards
Cathy Bell
Headteacher