Dear Parents and Carers,

Don't panic, it's not Friday! We know the four-day week can play tricks on the mind but we are sending your usual school updates a day early to ensure you have your news ahead of our long weekend.  

This week, I had the privilege of teaching Year Six for two mornings and was really pleased to see the progress being made in their mathematics this term. We successfully tackled percentages and found percentages of amounts. I even had the opportunity to share my mathematical party trick: reversing the percentage and the number and arriving at the same answer (for example, 50% of 20 is the same as 20% of 50). Try as they might, none of the children could disprove the rule! We are all excited about what our Year Six cohort can achieve in their maths this year and look forward to seeing them keep up the momentum throughout the rest of this term and beyond. Keep up the great work mathematicians!  

Elsewhere in mathematics, I would like to express my gratitude to parents who attended our Year Four Multiplication Workshops this week; your active support for your child's learning is truly invaluable. Mrs. Jefferies and the Year Four team worked hard to offer two convenient time slots to accommodate everyone, so we were a little disappointed that only 25% of parents / carers chose to join us. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you partner with us in this crucial area of learning. Workshops like this provide you with the specific tools and strategies used in the classroom, ensuring consistency between home and school, which is absolutely vital to ensure your child knows their multiplication tables by the end of the year.  

Whilst tomorrow gives our children and staff a well-deserved day of rest, Monday is a busy INSET day for the staff team. We are using this time for focused professional development, including essential phonics training for those adults who teach phonics and a dedicated session to review our carousel afternoons in Key Stage Two, amongst other things. We look forward to welcoming the children back on Tuesday for the final 14 days of term, undoubtedly one of the most magical periods in the school calendar. I am delighted to say that details of our exciting Christmas productions for Nursery all the way up to Year Three can be found elsewhere in this newsletter. We cannot wait to share these performances with you during the final week of term!

Although it is an American holiday, today is Thanksgiving! Despite it not being celebrated widely in this country, I do find that this time of year - as we move closer to Christmas - is a fantastic opportunity to pause and appreciate the people and things around us. At De Havilland, I continue to be thankful for our amazing children and dedicated staff and wish everybody a very pleasant long weekend.

Mr. Bostock