I hope today's newsletter was useful and informative.  The children have really impressed me this week; their effort to continue behaving well and their concentration on their learning has been a credit to them.  They have had a lot of high expectations put upon them and to still be aiming for those standards whilst Christmas Show rehearsals go on around them and "the tree" is being decorated takes some real stamina.

It has been a week of highs and lows for the teaching team this week.  Mrs Frost has begun her preparations to hand over Class 5 to their new teachers. Mrs Power and Mrs Clarke have been absent due to close family bereavements, Mrs Crossland picked up a virus mid-week and Mrs Tansley, having been so determined to return to school this week, was not well enough to see the week through. 

Despite these issues, new staff who will join the school in January have begun their preparations and have already made a positive impact on the school during their visits.  Mrs Jackie Thacker and Mrs Jane Carroll will share the teaching of Class 5 whilst Mrs Claire Armstrong joins Mrs Tansley in the Foundation Stage Class.  Mrs Fryer was successful in her application to officially become a full member of the Teaching Assistant Team and Mrs Todd (Foundation TA) confirmed her intention to return to work in the New Year. We will also welcome Ms Claire Pollard as Senior Midday Supervisor. 

The "Muskham Events Group" (MEG) team put a huge effort into the organisation of the Christmas Fair, donating huge amounts of their time to ensure that the event ran successfully.  Mr Ford, our Site Manager, put in much work to help chop down and bring us our Christmas Tree as well as putting up the stage for the Christmas Show and making sure that Santa's grotto was ready for him when he came to visit on Friday afternoon.  Thank you to everyone involved in making sure that the start of the Christmas period has been properly festive for the children. 

I look forward to seeing parents, carers and grandparents at one of the forthcoming festive events detailed in the calendar.