Happy New Year – Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Dear Marlborough families,
Welcome back for the start of the spring term. I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all the very best for the New Year ahead.
Thank you to all who attended the Christmas concerts and winter lantern parade at the end of last term, it was lovely to see so many of you. At the Christmas concerts we asked for donations for the PTA. We were completely overwhelmed by your generosity; an incredible £1,715.50 was raised in total.
Wow! Diolch yn fawr iawn.
I can’t wait to see what 2020 brings … here is to hoping for a year filled with incredible learning, exciting adventures and strengthening and deepening positive relationships.
Staff News
- Congratulations to Natalie Haberfield who got to married to Dave last Friday, she found her Mr (W)right. We wish Mr and Mrs Wright every happiness in their future together.
- Following the departure of Miss Haskell at the end of the autumn term, there have been a few internal adjustments to staffing. Mrs De Villiers is teaching Y1C on Monday and covering PPA on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mrs Wright is teaching in Y1C Tuesday – Friday.
- We are slowly uploading staff bios onto the Meet the Team page of the website as part of the work we are doing on strengthening positive relationships. We hope that in sharing a little bit of our lives outside of school you and the children get to know us beyond our roles.
Let’s Play
Our new whole school topic Let’s Play has proved to be an inspired choice to start the new term. What could be better than playing games, developing different strategies, co-operation skills, learning to lose well, learning to win graciously … We are very grateful to the PTA for the gift of the new board games, they have been incredibly popular both in lesson and playtimes.
In sickness and in health …
Thank you for your support and understanding during the period of sickness that we endured in December. The ‘flu like symptoms knocked many children and staff for six. However, Christmas went ahead with concerts, panto trips and parties. Remarkably, whole school attendance is still relatively high at 96.01%.
Australia Fundraiser
James in Y5 has inspired us to do something to help all of the people and animals affected by the awful bushfires in Australia. On Monday 27th January we are going to celebrate Australia Day by having a non-uniform day and bake sale. Funds raised will go to charities helping people and animals affected by the fires.
School Improvement Priorities – progress update
As we start the new term, it is a good time to take stock of progress made on our school improvement priorities so far this year.
School Improvement Plan 2019-20 overview
Our overriding focus been to deepen and consolidate positive relationships with the pupils, parents, colleagues and wider community. Last Thursday our Challenge Advisor joined us for a learning walk to help us monitor progress to date. Staff and pupils were really proud to share the work we done together since September.
Chickens
The chickens have settled in to their Marlborough home so well. They are now laying delicious eggs regularly ( as I can attest following my delicious scrambled eggs on Christmas morning – a special gift from the girls). The children love watching them go about their daily business and chatting with Mr Jenkins about their upkeep.
