A change is as good as a rest?

Hello and welcome back to the Year Five Blog!

I just want to start this post by wishing you all an extremely Happy New Year! It was lovely to welcome the children back to school and to hear all about their Christmas Holidays. I don't know about you, but I always find the Christmas Holiday very busy indeed so there is part of me that comes back to school for the rest!

As we have been back for the grand total of three days there isn't a huge amount to report this week but you know me, I can always find something to talk about!

All Change!

Well, the New Year brought us a new timetable and I have been very impressed with how well the children have coped with all the changes so far. I do appreciate that it is going to take a bit of getting used to but everyone was very positive with the change of lesson times. We were all pleasantly surprised with how quickly the days went, particularly when we only had one lesson after lunch!

The one thing I would strongly recommend is that all the children have a sizable snack with them for our 11am break as it will be two hours before lunchtime. I personally have stocked up on enough bananas to feed most of Monkey World for next week!

Golden Time

When looking at the Reading Records for 5ER, I was very impressed with how many children read during the school holidays. Well done to every child who has kept their reading going over the break.

We are back to normal next week so the children should be getting their Home/School Diaries signed for last week and before Christmas, completing their five reads and making sure that the homework that is set this week is handed in on time. I'm not even going to mention the 'D' word!

Golden Time will now be held last thing on a Friday afternoon (3.05pm - 3.25pm) which will be a lovely end to the week.

Uniform Expectations

When we gave the children their new time tables on Wednesday, we looked at the Uniform section in the Home/School Diary to make sure that everyone is wearing the correct uniform.

Just a quick reminder that boots and trainers are not uniform and will be queried if worn in school. If you are in the process of replacing school shoes, please make sure that there is a note in the Home/School Diary to let us know why school shoes are not being worn.

Well, that's it for this week. I hope you all have a good few days and I will look forward to seeing you back here next week where I will hopefully have lots to report to you.

Mrs Ray

(who is looking forward to having a whole week of the new timetable under her belt that has had to move a few notches after Christmas - sob!)

Happy Christmas One and All!

Hello and welcome back to the Year Five Blog!

What a hectic but totally fantastic week that was! Many events to report and many pictures to share with you so grab a cup of tea (or mulled wine if you are over the age of 18!), sit back and enjoy the last Year Five Blog of 2016...

Christmas Concert

This was another super evening courtesy of the Music Department. Mrs Hammonds put together a delicious programme of music for us to devour and every single item was a feast for the ears. I was so proud of all the children but especially the Year Fives who performed with great confidence and ability.

I was also very proud of the Staff Uke Group, especially our very own Mrs White for playing two excellent numbers on the night.

What a lovely evening!

Christmas Lunches

On Wednesday we had our annual Christmas Lunch courtesy of the lovely Food Links Ladies.

The food was as delicious as usual and some of the children even attempted to eat their Brussels Sprouts!

Celebration Assembly

A huge 'Thank You' to the 112 parents/grandparents/siblings and friends who attended Thursday's Celebration Assembly. It was a lovely assembly and such a joy to celebrate all of our children's successes this term.

Here is a selection of the photographs that were taken during the assembly.

Well done to the children in 5AD who held their 'certificates' with such conviction.

Here are three of them with the real deal!

It was great to see you all in the classrooms after the assembly, I hope you enjoyed looking at your child's work and hanging out in the classroom for a bit. We will definitely do that again at the end of the Spring Term.

Cake Sale

As if Thursday wasn't busy enough, Mrs White held a delicious cake sale in the Year Five Corridor to raise more money for our Helping Hands Appeal on behalf of  Save the Children.

An impressive £68 was raised and I can personally vouch for the deliciousness of the cakes. Well, someone had to be the 'quality control' representative...!

Christmas Jumper Day

The last day of term saw our now annual Christmas Jumper Day and I was delighted to see so many children and adults entering into the spirit of it!

The Pupil Voice Representatives held a competition for 'Best Christmas Jumper' and these were the finalists in Year Five...

Fantastic!

Well, that's it for the this year but don't worry, I will be back in the New Year to continue to report back on the totally awesome Year Five.

A HUGE Thank You to Mr Murray for manning the fort as Head of Year whilst I took on the Acting Assistant Headteacher role for the term. He did a terrific job and has introduced some new and exciting initiatives that we will continue to develop over the year.

As from January my official title will be 'Year Five Progress Leader'. This will be a new challenge for me and one that I can't wait to get stuck into.

Finally, I would like to say a massive 'Thank You' to the Year Five Team. They are such a committed, inspiring and fun group of people - their hard work and dedication is second to none and I can't thank them enough for all that they do.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone and I will look forward to seeing you all in 2017 for next stage of our adventure together!

Mrs Ray