November 2020

16th November 2020

Well, how have we got here so quickly? The first half of the autumn term seemed to fly by in a bit of a Covid-19 blur for all of us I think, but I have to say that the school community’s patience and resilience shone through and we made it together.

It was an absolute delight to welcome all of our children back into school at the beginning of September and from their radiant smiles it was clear to see that they were glad to be back too. At this time, we welcomed our new Year 3 children to Sitwell Junior School – many of whom had never set foot in the school before! We are all so very proud of how they have made the transition from Sitwell Infant School to Sitwell Junior School. All of the children, from Year 3 to Year 6, have worked extremely hard to settle into their new classes and year groups and meet their new class teacher’s expectations; trying hard to follow our 3 school rules of Ready, Respectful and Safe and demonstrate all of the Sitwell 7 Values: Respect, Relationships, Responsibility, Resilience, Resourcefulness, Reflection and Risk-taking throughout this term. Each week, the class teachers have chosen a Star Leaner of the week who has demonstrated these values particularly well and Year 3 to 5 children receive smiles for doing this consistently throughout the week. Year 6 Head Boys and Girls have been announced and all of the Year 6 children are working hard towards their Purple Prefect Badge – some have achieved this already!

As a school, we have had to do things a little differently this term and be flexible in our approach to all aspects of teaching and learning and, in fact, the general day to day running of the school. With this in mind, last half term we arranged our open evening event with parents via Zoom and telephone calls instead of our usual face to face appointments. This was a great success and it gave parents a chance to meet their child’s new teacher and find out about how well their child has settled into their new class. Throughout this term, we have continued to share children’s learning and successes on our school’s Twitter feed @SitwellSchool and our next challenge is to look at how we can share our Christmas celebrations and other events with you later in the term. Watch this space!