It is wonderful to be back in school. We hope you all had a restful Summer break. As you will all understand, the first week back is always full of new routines for children, organising after school (and before school) clubs and making sure that our new children are settled and happy with the rest of the children. You will be sent a newsletter on Friday, which will provide you all with information about parent welcome meetings, curriculum topic maps, dates for your diary and other news. We are delighted to be able to provide a range of clubs before and after school. You will receive a form to sign and tick the clubs you want your child to attend. These will change half termly . Some are led by staff and others are led by experts.   I am sure you can appreciate the logistics of organising before and after school clubs, which is why we will begin the following week.

What an amazing start to our week. It was wonderful to welcome the Mayor of Preston and the Mayoress to our school. They both loved visiting our school and they enjoyed a school tour. Thank you to all of our governors who came to the event. We had some other special visitors, who gave us our tiny chicken eggs to hatch. We made them a card as a thank you. Our chickens are still doing very well! Have a look at the pictures below…

Some say that you have to see some things to believe them. It has certainly been one of those weeks! We have had a fun filled and very busy week indeed. The Year 2 classroom has been decorated and is looking  bigger, lighter and brighter.  Pre-School children have been in and we welcomed more pre-school children to our school yesterday. We are continuously altering, adapting and working on the pre-school classroom and parental support has been wonderful. Old blind rails have been taken down and the cupboard locks have arrived! Mrs Melling and Mrs Kerr found the cupboard lock situation hilarious as I couldn’t figure out how the locks were safe if attached on the outside. Thank goodness that Mr Kerr visited school yesterday and solved this dilemma by informing me that the locks need to be fitted on the inside of the cupboards and drawers! Life is always a learning curve!

Come and visit us next Saturday at the Goosnargh and Longridge Show.  We will be promoting the Pre-School and we always welcome help to distribute flyers.

Each Friday afternoon, children in our junior classes are given a variety of exciting learning experiences to choose from. These are planned for and led by staff, who use their skills and interests to deliver enrichment experiences to our curriculum. The children apply to partake in these experiences and have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. This half term, the children have been offered a community care experience and they have been busy planning for and preparing to open our school to the residents of local care homes. They have held planning meetings and have written letters of invitation to the care home residents. This will remain a part of our school day each Friday afternoon from 1.15pm onwards. The invitation has offered the opportunity to stay to watch the Golden Award assembly also to make an afternoon of time spent in our school. The children will offer bingo, dominoes, lots of chatter, smiles and refreshments to the experienced members of our community.

It has been an emotional week for me which ended with proud tears in assembly today. I was asked to complete some questions for the Year 6 children’s leavers books and it was the first time I had thought about the year end in such a final way. Miss Taylor formally left to begin her maternity leave yesterday but we were delighted to see her again today as she brought her little girl to our Pre-School stay and play session. It only really sunk in that she had left at the end of the day when I had my first chance to sit down and reflect upon the day as a whole. We will miss her very much and wish her every best wish as she becomes a new mother again.

It is amazing how a pair of colourful trousers can transform your whole look. It is the first time I have been described as a ‘big butterfly’ but I have had many firsts this past school year. I am glad that, when this happened, we were off to the Butterfly House in Lancaster because I must have blended in well! We had a great day. The children were wonderful and it was a delight to watch them enjoy learning and playing in a different environment. It has been a long time since I had to put a children’s car seat in my car. The mechanics of different car seats amazed me and having three small children in the back seat was a revelation! I applaud the parents who do this on a regular basis-you are truly wonderful.

As I write this blog, I reflect upon the many transformations St.Francis’ has had throughout the year so far. I have just submitted an article to ‘The Guide’ about our Pre-School and, when I look at all of the things we have achieved together in such a short space of time, it really makes me so very proud to belong at St.Francis’ School. Yesterday, a teacher told me how happy staff are here and I have to say that it shows each and every day. I just don’t know how we are now in our last half term of the year. It stills seems like yesterday when I was only visiting school. We continue to thrive on our ‘onwards and upwards’ approach.