Dear Families,
Happy New Year to you all and I hope you have had a restful and healthy Christmas break with
family fun time.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you personally and on behalf of staff for all the cards,
gifts and Christmas wishes we received in the lead up to the school holidays. It really is appreciated
and we are still enjoying biscuit piles in both staff rooms. Thank you so much for your generosity! I
would also like to thank anyone who supported or helped organise the many Christmas fund raising
activities in our schools, it really does make a difference. We are truly blessed.
On the subject of gifts, I know that some children received mobile phones and smart watches ‘from
Santa’. While I certainly wouldn’t want to be a killjoy, this technology is something very difficult to
manage in a school setting. Watches which can be used to record in any capacity are of the greatest
concern as there are many ways these could be used inappropriately. For the protection of all
children and staff, I am including the latest version of our policy and thank you in advance for your
understanding. Please do not allow your child to wear a watch capable of recording or receiving
messages or calls.
I am also including a parent questionnaire so that you can share your thoughts about your
experiences in school and I would be very grateful for as many as possible to be returned. The
reasons behind this are explained in the accompanying letter.
In more exciting news, during the holiday I received a greeting from Nathan from LAB charity in
Madagascar. He was informing me of a visit to the UK in the Spring. He was hoping to visit our
schools and meet the children during his brief visit. Unfortunately, this would be appear to be during
the Easter break and I initially suggested that he and I might make a video for the children, however,
once I have a date from Nathan, I would like to open up school for him to visit and meet our
children/families and he can bring photographs etc with him to share. I thought we might also
incorporate a collection for the charity into the event. More news regarding this to follow although
we have quietly pencilled in April 10th
.
Miss Heffernan and the reading ambassadors are always looking at the take up of books on our
library trolley and asking about the reading habits of children at Warthill. She has identified a slightly
reduced interest from our younger children and thought this could be encouraged with teddies to
read to. The teddies have been purchased and added to the trolley; however, should there be
knitters or sewers out there who might like to fashion some uniform items for them, we would be
very excited. Please let us know and we can provide you with the bears’ vital statistics!
I realise there that are a number of additional ‘letters today as we open up for the Spring Term and
so I won’t bombard you with much else, however, you may remember a ROCKSTEADY assembly just
before we broke up, look out for further information about this next week.
Have a great weekend,
With every best wish,
Beverley Pawson
Headteacher
Sand Hutton and Warthill Federated Schools