I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas holiday! Having chatted to lots of the children and also to parents at the gate, it really does sound like most of you had a lovely time! The children have come back very happy and excited about the term ahead – it’s definitely going to be a busy one.
Congratulations to our new Head Boy and Head Girl, Charlie and Carolina. We feel sure that they will make us extremely proud of them this term as they work hard in their new roles. In Assembly on Thursday we talked about ‘Choices’. Just as we choose to wear our smart blazers for school, and our oldest clothes for gardening, sun hat and shades for the summer and woolly hat and scarf for those cold winter days, so too can we make choices about our attitude day to day. We can choose to persevere in our work and not give up. We can choose to be helpful and kind. These choices should be as instinctive as wearing the right clothes for the right occasion and I know our children will make good choices this term and beyond.
On Thursday, Form 7 were treated to a dance session from ‘Activate’ who came into school to give the children some dance techniques that will help them with their performance skills – particularly in preparation for our upcoming production of Moana. All the children had a great time and really got involved in all the activities. For those children who particularly enjoyed the session, or indeed for anyone interested in dance, Activate run a Sunday dance workshop for children aged 7 and above. For more information please click the botton below.
At the end of last term, 4 pupils sat their Grade 1 ABRSM theory exams. We received the results yesterday and 3 pupils achieved a distinction, and 1 achieved a merit, missing a distinction by only 1 mark. The children attend a weekly theory club that we offer as part of our enrichment programme and are tutored by Mr Vanburgh. We are a registered exam centre so are able to hold ABRSM theory exams in school making it simple for us to enter pupils when they are ready. Congratulations to Dexter, Ren Ren, Lottie A and Daisy H who worked extremely hard to achieve these results. Particular mention must be given to Daisy who is the youngest person ever to sit the Grade 1 theory exam at Sunninghill – and she received a distinction!
As I hope you are all aware, our Sunninghill Academic Series begins next Monday 9th January at 3.45pm – 4.30pm with a talk on Assessment and Tracking. Mrs Moss will be leading this presentation, which we hope you will find interesting. We are extremely proud of the thorough tracking we have here at Sunninghill, and we hope you will find the talk enlightening. Our hope is that our Academic Series will help you to stay connected with the teaching methods we use in school to help you support your child more easily at home. If you have yet to book onto this lecture, or any of the others in the series, please do so as soon as you can. We have our after school club available for your child so that you can attend but please do book in if you need a place by emailing receptionist@sunninghill.dorset.sch.uk. A reminder of the rest of the dates for the series:
Monday 9th January – Assessment and Tracking
Monday 23rd January – Science
Monday 30th January – Maths
Monday 27th February – English – Reception to F2 (phonics and writing) F3 –
F8 (spelling and writing) or Senior English F5-8
Monday 6th March – Humanities
Other dates for your diary worth noting this half term are:
Monday 16th January at 4.30pm – Form 7 and 8 Virtual Parents evening
Tuesday 17th January at 4.45pm – Form 7 and 8 In person Parents evening
Monday 6th February at 3.30pm – Nursery to Form 4 Virtual Parents evening
4.45pm – Form 5 and 6 Virtual Parents evening
Tuesday 7th February at 3.30pm – Nursery to Form 4 In person Parents evening
4.45pm – Form 5 and 6 In person parents evening
Friday 10th February – HALF TERM HOLIDAY BEGINS
Monday 20th February – Staff inset day
Please do also check the Ping calendar for all other entries for this half term. Our clubs and activities start from Monday, so please complete the form over the weekend with your child.
From next week you may receive a special postcard home from one of your child’s teachers for exceptional work that they have done in class. These will be given out for work or attitudes that go above and beyond what is expected of them, so please look out for these in the post and be very proud of your child if they receive one.
This term, we will be doing a big push on our marketing and we would really appreciate your help! Please like and share our posts on Facebook and Instagram, and if you know of anywhere where we can leave some leaflets please come and ask at Reception and we can give you some. We will also be giving each child a postcard with our next Open Morning details on it. If you know of anyone who might like to come and have a look at our lovely school then please pass it on to them. We are very proud of all we do here at Sunninghill and really want to spread the word! Thank you in advance.
Finally, I would like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2023 and I am looking forward to working with you all this term.
With very best wishes
David
