Merry Christmas Everyone!

Tomorrow marks the final day of the Autumn term. It has been a very long 15 weeks, with Covid and norovirus affecting us in the first half of term, followed by a particularly tough half term that ended with three weeks of flu. This flu has hit our younger home schoolers and their parents especially hard, with some of our families feeling the effects for over 3 weeks.

Despite all of this, the resilience and commitment across our community has been remarkable. Over the course of the term, we have answered well over 150,000 questions and completed more than 950 hours of homeschooling. That is something to be genuinely proud of.

A quarter of our families have now had inspections from Education Welfare Officers, or the Inclusion Team, or the Elected Home Education Inspectors. I’m delighted to say that we have been able to provide more than enough evidence to demonstrate that we are delivering a broad, well-balanced, and individualised education. Very well done, everyone.

So, what happens now?

Any work not completed by the end of Friday 19^th December will be magically removed by the Christmas fairy from your “From Your Teacher” list. A few of you still need to finish the paperwork from your support packs, and I am also still eagerly awaiting some gingerbread House photos (I know your family makes them closer to Christmas – but I still want to see them) . We also have the advent calendar to complete, so don’t forget to check in on that. There is the Christmas card challenge to keep you going as well. I’m sure I’ll see some of you at the pool over the Christmas Holiday, keeping moving as part of our health education program.

We will restart the new year feeling refreshed and ready for a fresh start.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you for the lovely Christmas gifts. They are very much appreciated, especially the handmade ones. I will treasure the Christmas bell-shaped stocking forever.

Let’s hope most of us manage to stay germ-free over the Christmas break and enjoy two whole weeks with no learning outstanding—time to truly relax, switch off, and enjoy a well-earned rest.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to everybody!