Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a week of productive learning and 'business as usual' in school this week. We have had several visitors who have all remarked on the calm and purposeful learning environments. They have also been impressed by some of our Learning Ambassadors who greeted them at the classroom door to explain about the learning taking place. This week has seen wider pupil voice across school: on Tuesday, Mr Sanderson took the Learner Voice Council members to De Havilland Primary School where they refined their mission for this year, working with children from the five other primary schools in our Trust; throughout the week, the Junior Leadership Team have been meeting the classes they represent to get their ideas for learning environments and World Book Day.

Values: This week our value has been 'resilience'. In our values assembly on Monday, we talked about the strategies we can use to help us build resilience - stay positive, ask for help, keep trying - and how we can apply these to so many different aspects of life in school. Today, our values champions were recognised in assembly for their resilient approach to learning and also some of the relationships they are building with their peers. Next week, our value will be 'kindess' and how the little acts of kindness can build a better culture for us all.

Votes for Schools: This week, we explored 'Is it easy to save your pennies?' with a focus on how we might use money to meet our needs and wants. There was some lively discussions about the challenges of saving against the impulse to spend! The children also discussed how to set up a bank account and where to go for financial advise. Next week, the topic switches to privacy: How do we respect someone’s privacy? (KS1) Should we be worried about drone use? (KS2).

Staffing Update: I realised this week that the letter to accompany the last newsletter of the autumn term did not get sent and so there are some staffing changes to share with you:

• Mrs Helen Ansell joined the team in January as our new Assistant Headteacher. She is developing the quality of teaching and learning across the school, with a focus on reading, and will also be teaching in Year 5

• Mr Richard Lees-Powell joins us to teach Year 6 New York for the remainder of the academic year

• Mr Matt Bristow has been appointed as the interim Phase Leader while Mrs de Garis is on maternity leave. He will continue to teach Year 6 Kingston and help the wider Key Stage Two team

• Mrs Bethany de Garis is on maternity leave after giving birth to her son over the Christmas break. We look forward to hearing from her soon and wish her well as she adapts to family life

• Ms Ann Bergman has left the office team. We thank her for her hard work and dedication to the school and wish her well for the future

• Mrs Sara Kacina has left the school in order to take up a new challenge. We wish her well in her future endeavours and thank her for all that she has done and contributed to the school in her time with us

• Lastly, Kerry Bridgewater has shared her resignation with me this week as she moves to take on a new position in a secondary school. She will be with us until February half term. Mrs Bridgewater has been a huge part of Lanchester's journey over the last ten years and will be greatly missed. In my brief time working with her, she has been a huge support to me and has done so many things to make sure the school runs smoothly.

Fortunately, we missed the worst of Storm Eowyn and it looks like we may benefit from the calm after the storm with a clear and sunny day on Saturday. I encourage you to get outside and make the most of the sunshine after a somewhat gloomy January, weatherwise. Have a great weekend.

Best wishes,

Mr. Matt Morey - Headteacher