It certainly feels a bit strange celebrating our 60th anniversary from lockdown, but I’m sure we can all raise a glass (obviously juice or lemonade for the children) and celebrate our school’s 60th anniversary at some time today!
The original plan was to all set off to Whipsnade. We’ve known for a while that this would not be possible, but we’ll definitely mark the special occasion as a school community when it’s fully safe for us ALL to return. And one consolation… the weather forecast is fairly dismal for today compared to the recent sunshine that we’ve enjoyed.
Enjoy our anniversary, whatever you may be doing from home. Our staff loved the class picture and positive message that we received from our reception children yesterday, and we continue to enjoy the wonderful range of photos and the excellent work that your class teachers have received from your home learning challenges.
We miss you all and are extremely proud of you. I would also like to take this opportunity to say how proud I am of our amazing staff. The team at Skyswood genuinely care about every child and it is a real privilege to work alongside such a formidable team. As with our children, I am missing you all and looking forward to a time when we’re reunited as a team. Thank you staff, you are simply exceptional!
In the same way that the teachers have enjoyed receiving your weekly learning tasks, I’ve loved receiving poems, recipes, cartoon and photographs. Tomorrow is the final of our school Master Chef Competition, so my message for Ariella, Carmel, Hamish, Lara, Tabitha and Laura is that you have surpassed in quality anything that I could ever have imagined. So good luck to all six of you tomorrow.
Our school poetry book is really taking shape and the publishers are eager to give us a great deal. We’ll probably aim for a print run of 100 copies. The cost per copy depends upon the size of the book. If it’s 120 pages long then we estimate about £3 per copy. Our staff would love to promote the book throughout our community and like the idea of selling copies for £5 and donating any profits to the NHS as a gesture of thanks. I’m sure we’ll have at least a few more weeks, so if you haven’t had a go at writing a poem yet, why not give it a go at some time and contribute to a great project. Some children have contributed on a weekly basis so I want to give a special mention to Chloe, Hannah, Megan, Ana and Eva… Keep up your amazing efforts and you’ll have a poetry book of your own when we return to school.
I have written a lockdown poem of my own that hopefully re-emphasises the key messages of ‘keep smiling,’ ‘follow the guidance on keeping safe’ and ‘keep showing our appreciation for the selfless efforts of our NHS,’ and thank all of the key workers who are doing so much to keep us going through this period of lockdown.
Enjoy the Sunshine
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Enjoy the sunshine
Dance in the rain
Have a lie in every now and again
It may be a while till you visit the coast
Treasure the times with the ones you love most
I know that we’ve heard it a million times
But through staying in we are all saving lives
Use social media in positive ways
Grandparents
Friends
We can brighten their days
And when this is over let’s hope we reflect
On why it takes this to unite our respect
For society’s heroes
The NHS
Without them no doubt, irretrievable mess
So keep sending photos
Keep posting news
Keep cheering us up with your positive views
And when we can safely come through at the end
It’s our world
Together
We’ll mend.