And as the end of term 1 drags its knuckles towards us...

...I agree with the sentiments of most of the staff that it has all come as a bit of a surprise.  I thought this term would seem ages and take forever, but, low and behold, not three strictly come dancings later, and we are home and dry on the eve of the end of term 1.

So, my little friends in Blogland, what have we learned in term 1?  What can we add to our roll of perpetual information from this 7 and a half weeks?  What do we possess now in terms of knowledge that we did not previously?  Well, quite a lot actually.

We now know:

• "S" is not a pirate's favourite letter of the alphabet;
• Nursery children are oozing with confidence, and love the new bikes;
• Reception children can write, extremely well;
• Our reading continues to get better and better (so does our stock of reading materials, and so does our library);
• That it's so much easier to serve a whole family when you have a school with a children's centre;
• That year 1 and 2 know who their special people are (and, my!, are they special);
• Year 3 can drum, but we're not so certain about rapping...
• Year 4 can really enjoy themselves when building a fire;
• The glass in year 5 needs steamproofing, from all the work they do when they're in the right mood;
• Year 6 know how advertising works, even the slightly strange stuff.

But more than that.  We have collegiately learned that only when we stand together strongly can we overcome our barriers to learning.  We have been reminded of the power and potential of this great group of adults and children we're building.  We have once again been knocked out by the sheer depth of their generosity, and the staggering versatility of their piratical costume departments.  We have discovered yet more ambassadors for the school - adults and children - and we have continued to show off everything we possibly can.

Thank you all so much for making this brilliant term happen, and thank you to those adults who simply said "okay then" when I put them in an extremely difficult position - I do know the job you've done and what it meant.

Finally, as you may well venture to bonfire parties between now and when next our paths corss, please, please please make care of yourselves and each other.

For the rest of this year, that is certainly not all, but for now, at the end of an extremely productive term, with a huge smile and me feet up, that is all.