We have begun our in-school preparations for Christmas and we are encouraging the children to think of others and our term 2 school value of “Kindness”. Primary schools in the run-up to Christmas are truly wonderful and magical places to be and I am really looking forward to my first Christmas in Earls Barton Primary.

It was a privilege to judge the “Letters to Father Christmas” competition and to see how our youngest children in Reception were able to put others’ needs before their own in making their Christmas requests! Showing an even more advanced sense of maturity and altruism was Maisie in Year 5 who, unprompted, wrote to me to ask if our school could organise a collection for Afghan refugees. I was, of course, delighted to oblige Maisie’s request – especially as the children in our school have learnt all about “Little Amal” in their classes. “Little Amal” is actually a 3.5m puppet and her journey from Turkey to Manchester (“The Walk”) was to highlight the crucial work being done to raise awareness of the refugee crisis and to advocate for young refugees to have access to an education.We are delighted to be participating in the All Saints Church Christmas tree festival and are holding a special arts and crafts day in school where the children will be able to create their Christmas trees. On this day, children will be invited to wear their own clothes for a donation of £1 or a Christmas hamper item for a local charity which has supported our school throughout the pandemic. The McCarthy-Dixon Foundation based in Northampton carry out lots of magnificent work supporting children and families in need.

A new event for us this year is “Carols on the Playground” where we hope our entire school community will gather with us as we retell the Christmas story through songs and music. We are hoping to have a gigantic, sparkling Christmas tree as our centrepiece; surrounded by hundreds of children and families singing by fairy lights and torches. Fingers crossed for a dry, winter’s evening!

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas in a primary school without a Reception nativity play! Ours this year will be extra special as we could not hold a live show with an audience last year due to covid, so we are all extremely excited to be able to resume wonderful this tradition.

Our wonderful PTA have organised a Christmas fair and Christmas class raffles to raise funds to improve our school. Finally, we have a visiting theatre company coming to school to perform two pantomimes to the children.... oh yes we do! The annual Christmas lunch is a busy affair with all hands-on deck as we serve traditional turkey and all the trimmings to over 400 children! Our term will finish with the Bartonian awards ceremonies on Friday 17th December.

Amongst all this busy-ness and excitement, we will ensure we allow some time for some quiet, calm, contemplation for our children to think about the true meaning of Christmas.

May I take this opportunity to wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas holiday and all good wishes for the new year.

Miss Marie Lally

Headteacher