Mrs La Farge's blog

Dear Parents

I hope that everyone enjoyed the fantastic sunny weather we had over the holidays. It certainly helped to lift the spirits and keep positive. As you know all the staff spent a considerable amount of time planning for our revised timetables and getting their resources ready to ensure an exciting and purposeful start to the summer term. The feedback from the first couple of weeks has been overwhelmingly positive and we are all being amazed by what the children are achieving at home.

I have enjoyed thinking about my assemblies and really want to take that opportunity to share the successes of individual children, just as we aim to do if we were all at school together. I have also been encouraging the idea of the importance of kindness both at home and in our communities. There is a considerable body of research providing evidence that helping others and being kind is beneficial for our own mental health. It is really gratifying that the adversity this country is facing is making so many people think about what they can do to support those less fortunate than themselves. There have been many examples of kindness in our Gateway community and it is so important to celebrate these. Our children have been baking for neighbours, drawing lovely rainbows to give to neighbours or display in their houses, siblings are supporting each other on projects, the list is long! I would love the children to create a kindness leaf which we can use to create a kindness tree display as soon as we are able to return to school.

But until we can return, let’s try to derive joy from the mundane: cooking, spring flowers, birdsong, our mandated daily walk. Doing something creative or learning a new skill will also contribute to good mental health during this time, and I know that children are achieving many important ‘firsts’ during this time at home. It is a great opportunity for children to exert some control over an individual choice of a project or challenge which will help our young people to feel more in control of their lives as a whole. We are enjoying seeing all the children in our morning google meets and hearing about their successes and achievements. As we all settle into this next phase of our remote school, plans and thoughts about when and how we may safely return to a more ‘normal’ school day are beginning. Until we are able to welcome the children back to school, we thank all the parents for their continued hard work to support their children with their remote learning, we are amazed at what is being achieved. Thank you!

Keep safe and well

Sue La Farge