Welcome to the spring term, I hope that you all managed to have a very relaxing and restful Christmas holiday and are ready for the New Year and new term. It has been fantastic visiting the classes and having the children tell me all about their wonderful adventures and special time spent with family and friends.
They seem to have delighted in this “free time” to relax and play, to stay up late and have unlimited opportunities to watch television. This down time is so important to give minds and bodies a rest but, after nearly 3 weeks of holiday, many children are now excited to be back at school and both children and parents happy to establish the day-day routines that are essential during term time.
It can often be challenging to establish and maintain good routines but it is worth taking a little time and persevering to get things right at the start of term. Clear, well organised and consistent morning and evening routines help children to feel safe; to know what to expect and what is expected of them; and help to get everyone to get to school on time with minimum stress or anxiety. Routines also help children to develop self-discipline, independence and personal responsibility as even young children can be tasked with looking after and ensuring they have all their school clothes and equipment ready. It is important to make sure that children know about their after school clubs and homework schedules so they can take charge of their own activities and learn to prioritise work and play time. It is also really important that children get enough sleep so we do encourage you to set sensible bed times, encouraging bedtime reading and calm evening activities that promote sleep.
Chatting to friends who have two or more children, I fully appreciate just how hard it can be to get organised for each school day. But, having healthy routines and habits helps everything run more smoothly, more of the time, and makes for happy children and parents. I believe it will be another busy and productive school term and as always we hope to work closely with you to further develop strong home-school partnerships.
Thanks for your continued support.