Dear Felbridge families
I hope you have been enjoying the beautiful September sunshine! It has been a lovely start to the term – we have been able to fully enjoy all aspects of the school grounds, through outdoor learning and breaktimes.
Our new Reception class have now completed their first two weeks in school. It has been wonderful to see how settled they are already, enjoying and engaging in learning and play; it really does feel like they have been here forever – well done Geckos!
We have been focusing on our new values, particularly respect, thinking about ways we can show respect for each other, for our resources, and for the world around us. Here are some of the things we have been talking about that you might like to follow up at home:
Perhaps ask your child to tell you one way they showed respect at school today. Thank you for supporting our values at home — it makes a real difference.
This week, there has been a Year 6-shaped hole in the school, as Jaguars have been in Bournemouth on their residential trip. The children have taken part in lots of exciting outdoor activities and I was lucky enough to visit them on Tuesday for the coasteering and visit to Corfe Castle. It was brilliant to see the children consistently demonstrating our school values: respect and kindness towards each other and the adults, collaboration when working together and resilience and courage when faced with new and perhaps daunting activities – well done Jaguars, you were a credit to the school and we are very proud of you all. A special thank you must go to the staff who organised and accompanied the trip, giving up time with their own families to ensure that the children had the very best experience – Mrs Sims, Dr Clark, Mrs Warland and Mr Keetley – thank you team residential trip!
Next Friday 2nd October, we will hold our Harvest assembly in church. Nick Wooldridge, school governor and vicar of St John’s, will lead the assembly and each class will sing a song or share a poem. Due to space limitations, the assembly is unfortunately not open to families to attend. As part of our Harvest celebration and linking with our value of kindness, we are collecting non-perishable food donations for Crawley Open House and East Grinstead Foodbank – please could you leave any donations on the table in the school entrance by Friday 2nd October. Thank you in advance for your generosity; the charities are always very grateful for our support.
A reminder that the school day starts at 8.50am – please ensure your child is in school by this time. From next week, I will be shutting the gate slightly earlier, at 8.48am, so that all pupils can be in class for a prompt start and avoid missing any important learning time. Any pupils arriving after this time will be marked as late.
We have a vacancy coming up for a parent governor. I will be sending out information about this in a separate letter. If you are interested in this important position, and would like to find out more details, please contact the school office, and I will be happy to have a conversation with you about the role. Thank you to parent Rebecca Flint who is reaching the end of her term with us; we are grateful for her service over the last 4 years as a Felbridge Governor, particularly for her support of SEND.
Have a lovely weekend and here’s hoping the mild weather lasts!
With best wishes
