Dear Everyone,
With Easter being so early, the Spring Term has been really short this year. We have managed to pack a lot in since returning from the Christmas break though, and have welcomed Mrs Forster as our new Swans class teacher.
We have had new LED lights fitted across the school which have left the building feeling lighter and brighter and of course have made us more environmentally friendly. The lights have been particularly well received due to the number of wet, dreary days we have had so far this year – according to the Met Office, this February has been one of the warmest but wettest on record. Wellies and waterproofs have definitely been needed to get the children outside as much as possible and we have made good use of the new boot racks that Mr Brooking kindly put up for us!
We had a large number of new, potential, Wrens parents visit on our open days. The Swans children were all involved in taking the visitors around the school and explained to them what The Royal School is all about. It was lovely to receive so much positive feedback regarding how polite and confident the Swans children are and how passionate they are about their school – a big thank you and well done to all the Swans.
We are continuing to work with Windsor Schools Sports Partnership (WSSP). This has enabled us to have sports coaches come into school, to work alongside our teachers, to further enhance our teaching of sport and dance. The children have also enjoyed participating in a number of interschool sports events organised by WSSP and also with Woodcote House school in Windlesham, and The Marist school. The Royal School has a number of children very talented in a whole range of sports. Our girls have enjoyed developing their football skills in our girls only events. Owls and Swans developed their cycling skills through participating in Bikeability. And a huge congratulations to Owls on their fantastic performance at The WSSP dance show – you were brilliant! A big thank you to Mrs Brooking for supporting all of our sporting events.
This term we have had our Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS). A SIAMS inspection focuses on the impact of the Church school's Christian vision on pupils and adults. This involves looking at the school’s Christian vision, the provision the school makes because of this vision and how effective this provision is in enabling all pupils to flourish. Thank you to everyone who contributed. We are very pleased with the report we received following the inspection – if you haven’t yet had the chance to read it, please do. The report can be found on The Royal School website under the ‘Our School’ tab.
In February everyone was invited into school wearing imaginative takes on their school uniform in support of the PTA Dare to be Different Day and we also learnt more about what it might feel like to have Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Anxiety during Neurodiversity Celebration week in March.
Thank you to everyone who bought a book from our Scholastic Book Fair. This raised over £260 for the school which we have been able to use to buy books for the children to enjoy in school. Throughout Book Week all the classes studied Julia Donaldson’s new story ‘The Oak Tree’. We felt this story was particularly fitting for a school in The Great Park as it spans a thousand years, over which time an acorn grows into a mighty oak, and the tree witnesses a whole sweep of history as well as providing a home for the wildlife who depend upon it. The story sparked a lot of discussion and inspired some really great pieces of writing and art work. Book Week, of course, ended with the children, and staff, dressed up in a whole host of book inspired costumes!
The last few days of term were particularly busy. We walked the whole school up to Savill Gardens to enjoy the Adventure Playground, thank you to The Crown Estate for inviting us, we had a lot of fun. Wrens, Robins and Puffins just managed to get back to school before the ‘heavens opened’, Owls and Swans weren’t quite so lucky! Thankfully though, the weather dried up for the PTA Easter Egg trail and bake sale – thank you to the PTA for your on-going hard work.
Due to an amber weather warning and strong winds we had to unfortunately rearrange our end of term service and hold it in the school hall instead of up at The Royal Chapel. Thank you everyone for your flexibility, to our Swans readers who reminded us of the Easter Story and to Canon Poll for leading the service. A lovely end to a very busy term.
I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. I’m sure a lot of chocolate has been eaten! Have a lovely break and I look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Tuesday 16th April.
Mrs Harrall