Dear Parents and Carers,
Projects
The children are fully into the swing of our new projects now and you should have the Spring Term Overview document to see what we are doing. Can I say a big thank you to the children (and their relatives) who brought in precious object linked to projects in the Autumn Term? Several children in Class Four brought truly amazing historical artifacts - including ration books and a Second World War RAF flying log that really helped to bring our project alive. If you feel that you could lend an object linked to a project, we would be super-grateful (and we will take great care of it). Also, if you have experience in an area linked to our projects and would be happy to give a short talk to the children, we would love that too. Just speak to the class teacher.
Attendance
With the proviso that there have been a lot of nasty bugs around this winter that have necessarily impacted attendance, it is fair to say that we are doing pretty well on attendance this academic year - and long may that continue. Since our return in January, overall attendance for the school is 97.97%
We do seem to be improving our attendance this year and a big thank you goes to you parents and carers for this. In a report published by the DfE, High Bickington is ranked 7th out of 21 statistically similar schools in the country. Whilst it is good to be in the top third, it would be great if, by this time next year, we could be at least in the top 25%.
Reading
2026 has been designated National Year of Reading. We will be getting involved with lots of reading activities throughout the year as part of the 'Go All In' campaign. Please make sure your child is reading as normal, but as the focus this year is very much on reading for pleasure, please do try to make reading at home just that ... a pleasure.
In School Council it was decided that we would like to do some fundraising for the Book Trust. School has benefited from free books for new starters from Book Trust before now and the children on School Council thought it would be good to support this charity that provides books for families without the money to buy books. We are currently thinking about what fundraising may look like, and we will probably tie this in with World Book Day fun and games on Thursday 5th March ... Watch this space for more information.
London Residential
We are not far away now from the Year Five's London Residential. As in previous years, there is an amazing programme of activities and events planned for the children attending. High Bick children will be joined by pupils from Beaford, Umberleigh, Witheridge, Brayford and Horwood & Newton Tracey schools from within TEAM, giving them an excellent opportunity to make new friends and socialise in a bigger cohort (some of the people they meet will eventually go to secondary with them). The staff from the other schools are very experienced and have all attended London Residentials in the past. We will be having a short meeting for parents and carers of children going on the residential at 3:35pm on Tuesday 27th January to go through arrangements and the itinerary. We will also be able to answer any questions you may have.
Have a lovely weekend,
Rob Norton
Head of School
