Staffing Updates January 2023
Dear parents/carers,
It’s almost the end of what has been an exceptionally long term. By the time we get to our last day, on the 23rd of December, we will all have managed 15 school weeks! Well done to all of us! It’s the longest term of the school year and we’ll all be ready to relax, rest and enjoy family time.
Here are a few staffing updates.
Year 2
I had expected Mrs Stobbs to start the year in Year 2 and for Miss Reynolds to return and take over. But Miss Reynolds is taking some additional leave. So it is now likely that Mrs Stobbs will remain in Year 2 for the rest of this school year.
Year 3
I am really sad to let you know that Miss Gilhespie is leaving us at the end of this term. Miss Gilhespie is getting married next year and unfortunately her fiance’s work means that they are having to move out of the area. I know how important it is for your children to have the right teacher from January so Mr Harker will be joining our staff team. He has already met and taught your children. He is an experienced teacher who I am confident will be as warm and nurturing as Miss Gilhespie. We all wish Miss Gilhespie and her new husband all the best in their new adventures and will miss her very much.
New Lunchtime Supervisory Assistant
We have expanded our lunchtime staff team already this year with Ms Collin who joined us in September. We are also welcoming Mrs Brown from January to further support children during lunchtime.
New Teaching Assistants
A highly experienced Teaching Assistant is joining our school team from Monday and will be working within Year 1. Mrs Fawcett has a wealth of experience and has recently moved up to the North East. I think she will be a great addition to our school team!
Mrs McPherson who has been in our school on supply for a number of weeks is also joining us as a Teaching Assistant from January supporting in Early Years as well as Out of School Club. She has already settled in really well!
KEEP
Due to popular demand, we have made the decision to slightly increase the number of places we can offer in the KEEP. Miss Hood, who already works in our school, is moving to join our EYFS team from January as an additional member of staff to support the increased pupil numbers.
Christmas events
Finally I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Mrs Brown, Mrs Hunter, Miss Gilhespie and our fabulous singing teacher Charlotte, as well as to the wider staff team, for all of their hard work and efforts with our Christmas events. They started beautifully at the Christingle on Tuesday night where just under 50 of our children represented our school at the event involving five local schools. Their singing was beautiful.
A huge amount of time, energy, hard work and extreme patience goes into making this and our other events special. This time of year is a real juggle of time for everyone – children, parents and staff. I hope you all manage to enjoy a little bit of Christmas magic with us somewhere in the coming two weeks. For a remider of the events still to come, click here.
Thank you for all of your support this term. It has been a very long term, but it has been a pleasure returning to normality post COVID. This is the first academic year since 2019/2020 that we have been able to teach and get on with school life uninterrupted. Your children have responded incredibly well to all of the learning and other opportunities in school. Thank you to our amazing whole staff team, including our on-site catering team. Our catering team met and started working together for the first time, only back in April. Their commitment and hard work to develop the provision our children now have every day is so appreciated. The food is simply unrecognisable and it is delicious on a daily basis! As it should be!
Best wishes and have a happy, restful and relaxing Christmas. We will see all children back at school on Monday 9th January 2023!
Miss Byrne, Nigel, Winnie and the whole staff team
