Thursday 20^th December 2018

Dear Parents,

We have enjoyed a truly memorable end of term at Cropthorne with Charlton CE First! Year 5 launched our advent celebrations with their superb clarinet performance which also included excellent performances from our talented pianists ranging from our dedicated (and brave) beginners to some virtuoso recitals too! Year 3 then treated us to a wonderful assembly, working with Mr Graham Pharo to present ‘The Gospel According to Sheep’ which enthralled and entertained the rest of the school in equal measure.

In other news, Year 3-5 enjoyed a spectacular production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at The Birmingham Rep. Theatre, they loved their Ice-Creams donated by our PTFA too! The Lempen Theatre visited us too this week to put on a stunning Puppet Show which really captured the children’s imaginations. Thank you again for all the contributions which make these memories possible for the children. We would also like to thank our dedicated PTFA for organising a very successful ‘Movie Night’ last week. A member of staff from the School Library Service has also visited us to donate books and congratulate our pupils on winning the Summer Reading Challenge, incredibly for the second year running! With nearly 250 schools in Worcestershire, this is a fantastic achievement of which all the children should be very proud, thank you for all of your support too! On Friday, Years 4&5 visited The Old School Room in Charlton to sing Carols and some Nativity songs for members of our community at The Chattery. We were very proud of the children and it was great to see our pupils providing so much joy to the audience there. The fun and festivities continued yesterday when we all sat together in the school hall for our Whole School Christmas dinner wearing our Christmas Jumpers. We were so very thankful to all the parent helpers who gave up their time to help serve dinner, it was really appreciated by everyone. This was followed by surprise visit from a person who is very busy this time of year, who dropped in to deliver gifts which had been kindly prepared by some generous Elves!

Of course the highlight of this December was undoubtedly the absolutely fantastic performance of a ‘Noisy Nativity’ put on by Cats Class at Fladbury Church. The children loved preparing for and putting on such an amazing show accompanied by some brilliant singing from the rest of the school and in particularly the Choir. I would like to thank all of the dedicated staff and volunteers who were involved in supporting and encouraging the children to achieve such a feat, and I have been delighted to pass on all the positive comments from parents, friends and relatives who attended the shows. Well done to all of Cats!

Looking ahead to 2019, school will remain closed on Monday 7^th January as all staff will be taking part in training focussed upon the development of children’s understanding and use of vocabulary, which will undoubtedly help us to continue to improve our strong provision in this area. Extra-curricular clubs will begin during the week commencing Monday 28^th January and information detailing the clubs on offer will be issued early in the New Year. Our next set of Parent Consultation Evenings are scheduled for immediately after the half-term break, on Tuesday 26^th & Wednesday 27^th February, although should you wish to discuss anything with your child’s teacher before then, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment. Further information will of course follow nearer to the time.

Tomorrow, our friend the Reverend Sarah Dangerfield will lead our traditional Carol Service at St Michael’s Church from 11.15am until 12.00pm, where we will all gather to mark the closing of this calendar year at school with what is always a lovely service. Family members and the local community are extremely welcome to join us all and the children will be dismissed from the Church when the service finishes. School will reopen for children on Tuesday 8th January 2019 and we look forward to seeing you all then. Until then, on behalf of everyone here at Cropthorne with Charlton CE First I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Rob Bothma

Head teacher