Dear Parents and Carers,
So, we reach the end of the school year and say goodbye to many of our delightful, joyful, and inspired learners in the Nursery School, some of whom have been with us since babies. It’s an emotional time for everyone.
School is the next big step, and it’s a different experience, but I feel sure that despite the ups and downs of the last couple of years, they leave St Paul’s ‘tanked up’ up with resilience, resourcefulness, curiosity, self-expression, confidence, and love.
Thankyou to you, for trusting us with your precious child, and for supporting St Paul’s throughout their nursery journey. It’s been a year full of creative connections- and we have been so lucky to have benefitted from many of your own talents this year- including your musicality and creativity.
We have had lots to celebrate with our team this year too. There have been staff having their own babies, qualifying as teachers, gaining level 2 and 3 qualifications, learning to lead on safeguarding, and of course, our great and deserved EYs1 Ofsted outcome.
I think every team here has been the most solution-focused, courageous, and caring than I think they have ever had to be. They have ‘stepped in and stepped up’ all year round in response to our recruitment challenges and staff illness and bereavements.
They are awesome. And I can’t thank and appreciate them enough.
Frustratingly Covid remains very much with us, alongside other illness and life stuff. I think we have 10 staff members absent in our Nursery School staff team this week, which has meant they haven’t been able to say their important goodbyes to children leaving as they would have liked to, which is hard for everyone.
Robin, myself and Dilly are also isolating and ill at home- which is so disappointing for us too. Although I know the SLT and Ella in Nursery School are running things brilliantly without us! What a great addition our new teacher Ella is to the team – we had a stroke of St Paul’s luck when we recruited her!
Due to this staffing situation, we are still proceeding with tomorrow’s Summer Celebration in the morning as detailed in my last communication. Please enjoy getting together and celebrating the remarkable year your child has had with us.
For those of you that are leaving, we wish you a wonderful summer, and a successful start to school in September.
For the rest of you we hope to see you next week!
With appreciation and respect
Lucy Driver
Headteacher
Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash
