Dear Parents and Carers

We are nearly halfway through the last half-term of the year and thoughts inevitably start to turn towards the new school year. This week we had our induction meeting for new starters in EYFS and in a couple of weeks we will have our transition days with children visiting their classes for next year. It was great to see a hall full of parents, some new to Manor, and some on their second or even third child starting with us. It never gets old or any less exciting to see the new additions to the Manor family!

It is no secret that teachers will be staying in the classes that they are currently in after a big move around last year. They have all taken on the challenges of new age groups and freshened their knowledge and experience, so are ready to go into the new year putting into place all of their learning from this year.

We are also in the midst of lots of summer events coming at us thick and fast. There are performances being polished and sports teams preparing everywhere you look. The teachers are also writing reports and doing end-of-year assessments as well as trying to keep the routines of learning as a priority right up to the end of term. In amongst all of this, we still manage to find the time for vital extras such as making England World Cupcakes (thanks to our wonderful volunteers)!

Better Together Festival Week

Each year Fierté schools organise a 'festival week' in the summer term. Last year we widened this to include any school across Tamworth who wanted to join us. Following the success of that event, we have repeated the art theme with a finale on Saturday 4th July on the Castle Lawns. We have a dance group who have a routine to perform at around 3:40pm and all children are invited to come and support them then join with all of the schools on stage to sing the four songs that we have learnt in school this term at around 4:20pm.

The week will start on Monday 29th with children being asked to dress up as a 'creative' word. Words to choose from are -

flamboyant, illuminating, dazzling, fluorescent, shimmering, radiant, inspired, original, unique, extravagant.

If you have a different 'creative' word you wish to use, please check with a teacher first. You can go to town on dressing like the word or keep it simple. Please just use what you already have and avoid any extra costs. We would like all children to wear their word as a label in some way (sticker or hung round their neck etc) and the label could be decorated or written in the manner of the word. 

In school, we will start with an assembly to introduce the week and then each day will have a different creative theme. These will be poetry, dance, song, art and writing days. By the Friday we intend to have artwork, bunting, etc ready to display in the bandstand and around the castle grounds on the Saturday for children to visit. 

The Saturday will start with a colour run in the morning, then there will be performances from primary and secondary schools from 12pm until the finale at 4:20pm. All afternoon there will be entertainment such as a petting zoo, street entertainers, food outlets and (hopefully) a hot air balloon!

The theme of 'Better Together' was chosen to show the positive side of life in our community across Tamworth and how great we can be when we refuse to be divided but come together to share in the joy of our children's creativity.

Athletics

Well done to our fabulous athletics team this week. They ran, threw and jumped their hearts out and made us all proud. They loved the experience of running on the proper running track of the athletics stadium and supported each other brilliantly. Each and every one was a star!