Dear All, I hope this finds everyone safe and well. I wanted to start by saying a huge thank you to our fantastic parents for their support during the lockdown. It really did make a big difference to all of us at EBPS. Also, it is only right to pay tribute to our parents for their hard work in supporting the children with their remote learning.

We reopened our school to all children from 8th March and as we have seen before, our children have already started to settle back into school routines. Understandably there were a few anxious faces on the first morning back but the feeling around the school has been really calm. I do think that this was due to the thorough preparation of parents and all school staff to make sure we were ready for the children to come back and to meet any and all of the children’s needs.  

 The reopening has gone smoothly and it has been just wonderful to see and hear the school being back to normal. Walking down the corridors I have seen a real variety of activity going on which reflects our very firm belief that a broad and varied curriculum gives the children the best opportunity to achieve.

Our core value this half term is ‘excellence’ and I have already seen lots of examples of this being demonstrated. One of our Year 3 boys enjoyed his writing task so much he then went on to do the task three more times at home! I’ve seen children being ‘excellent’ in other ways too – for example in their kindness and understanding of others and their willingness to offer help without being asked.

I would say that the sense of togetherness and community spirit has been excellent throughout and this continues as we all start to see some ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.

 Our Red Nose Day planning is underway. I love to see the enthusiasm and fun this generates across the school. Staff, parents and the children themselves are always really generous in supporting this very worthwhile event and I am sure this year will be no different.

In closing I want to focus on our children. They have, through no fault of anyone, missed out on so many things. We miss having school assemblies together, taking the children to their swimming lessons and hosting some of our annual fund-raising events alongside our fabulous PTA. Their resilience and understanding has been remarkable and perhaps, as a community, we should think about acknowledging this – perhaps by a ‘Clap for kids’ or you may some ideas yourself? If so please contact me at school – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Very best wishes.

Head Teacher.