Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have had a pleasant first week of the final half-term of the 24/25 academic year. 

Here at De Hav this week, we were delighted to welcome Show Racism the Red Card into our school, the UK's leading anti-racism educational charity.  At our school, we are committed to creating a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for every child. Racism in any form is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We believe it is vital that all children feel valued and are treated with respect, regardless of their background or heritage. Through our curriculum, assemblies, and everyday interactions, we strive to actively promote this. We also acknowledge the importance of continuous learning for all and so I know this was a visit which was of high importance to everyone in our staff team. 

Whilst the Show Racism the Red Card educators were with us, they led an assembly for our Key Stage Two children, facilitated workshops in class for Years 4, 5 and 6 and ended the day with a workshop for all of our staff. Throughout the day, we were really proud of how thoughtful and respectful our children were, as well as how open and honest they were about both their experiences and viewpoints. We have very much encouraged our children in Key Stage Two to have further conversations at home around some of the topics covered with family members as we all strive to move towards a more inclusive world. 

At De Havilland, we value phonics as a vital part of early education, as it lays the foundation for children to become confident and fluent readers and writers. By teaching children the sounds that letters and groups of letters make, phonics helps them to decode new words, build vocabulary, and develop strong spelling skills. At our school, we place a strong emphasis on high-quality phonics teaching to give every child the best possible start on their reading journey. To support this, on Monday of this week a large proportion of our staff team took part in a day long phonics training and I would like to place on record my thanks to Miss Frost, our phonics leader, for organising this and for all of her hard work in maintaining and improving the quality of phonics provision in our school. Next week, our Year One children will be undertaking their phonics screening check which enables teachers to ensure that children are making the expected progress with their phonics skills. I would like to thank our EYFS and KS1 team for all of their hard work delivering phonics across this academic year and especially our Year One team, who have been seen presenting flashcards to children in pretty much every area of the school imaginable!

Have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing all of the children on Monday,

Mr. Bostock