Romiley Primary School

Dear Parents/Carers, Happy New Year! It’s been a cold, wet and dark week this week - but it has only been two days! School looks set to be as busy as ever this half term: there are more school trips planned, some new clubs, the introduction of the Romiley Help Hub and our Time to Talk groups, as well as Forest School starting again. While I anticipate there to be some challenges over the coming weeks, we are committed to giving the children excellent learning experiences in school. COVID Update: On Tuesday, there is a temporary suspension of a confirmatory PCR test; a PCR test will no longer be required to confirm a positive lateral flow device (LFD) test. If you test positive using a lateral flow device, you should isolate immediately. You can now carry out a lateral flow test on day 6 and 7, if they are both negative, you can leave isolation as long as there are no symptoms. This applies to adults who are vaccinated and children under 18. Here’s one I used to teach homophones: I went to the doctors explaining that I felt like a tepee and marquee. He said, ‘You’re too tense’ (two tents)! Have a great weekend. Kind regards, Mr Bassett

Dear Parents/Carers, Please find attached the newsletter for this half term. Have a happy and safe Christmas holiday. Enjoy time to rest and time with your families. Kind regards, Mr Bassett

Dear Parents/Carers, Sometimes, it is difficult to know how to start these blogs. Some weeks are more challenging than others, and I recognise that as we approach the break, there is a great deal of uncertainty in our community. Whilst this is undoubtedly a stressful time for many, please be assured that our incredibly resilient children are having a wonderful time in school. Pantomimes, parties, performances, Christmas dinner day and plenty of Christmas craft activities are all taking place. I saw reindeer made of sticks and decorations made of buttons as well delicious looking mince pies and plenty of Christmas cards this week. I am also incredibly proud of our Year 1 and Reception children for their amazing playground sing along; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Our teachers are working really hard to give our children the Christmas at school they deserve. Theo and Anya have a message for the blog this week about their residential: “Hi Guys, Last week, Theo and I went to Glaramara with Year 6 and a few of our teachers – Mr Bassett included. Therefore, we decided to ask two children and two adults what their favourite thing about Glaramara was. First, we asked Flynn and Alice. Flynn answered with the food and the new activity – Romiley Primary have never done before – climbing in the mine! Alice enjoyed spending time with people she wouldn’t normally spend time with. Next, we asked Mr Clarke, he said that the fact everyone was so supportive no matter what, was a real highlight. The activity he enjoyed best was ghyll scrambling, as everyone was so resilient even though they were cold and wet. Then we asked Miss Thorniley, she answered that she enjoyed the laughs and the many smiles. The joke this week is… what is an elf’s favourite type of music? Wrap music!” Thank you Anya and Theo. It’s fair to say their jokes are improving! I’ll send out our termly newsletter next week, but until then, have a safe and happy weekend. Kind regards, Mr Bassett

Dear Parents/Carers, This week has been one of extremes; extreme highs, extreme lows and of course extreme weather! Firstly, I am sorry for the disappointment that cancelling the Christmas performances has caused. I understand all too well as a parent myself. We have more confirmed Covid cases daily, and the LA now consider there to be an outbreak in school. Whilst they are happy with the measures we now have in place, I am very aware that many of our children in the building have Covid asymptomatically and are therefore not getting tested. I cannot, in all good conscience expose our families to this risk. As I have said to some already, part of the decision making process was about protecting our community as well as staff and children. Cancelling the production was by no means an easy decision. Instead, it’s possible you might hear some children sing on the playground next week. Keep an eye out, we might be asking parents to arrive to pick up their Reception and KS1 children slightly earlier to join in with some festive fun– we’ll let you know. There were so many highs during our residential to Glaramara, not least the climbing and high ropes inside a cave! Your children demonstrated resilience, positivity and support in abundance. Some had such a good time there were tears when it was time to come home! There certainly was extreme weather; we were scrambling up a ghyll, often waist deep in water with snow falling heavily all around us! I just want to thank the incredible staff team who spent time away from their own families to make sure the residential was an amazing success. Photos are available in the Year 6 area of the website. We are also really pleased to announce the arrival of 4 new whiteboards! Thank you to FRPS for purchasing these, the school is so grateful to have such a generous and supportive community. Every penny you contribute really does make a difference. Next week is the last full week before the Christmas holidays. The children have worked so hard this term and they certainly deserve some fun. We look forward to Christmas dinner day, Christmas parties and of course the Pantomime. And finally… last Christmas, I asked Mrs Bassett what she wanted for Christmas. She told me, ‘Nothing would make me happier than a car.’ So I bought her nothing. Enjoy your weekend, Mr Bassett

Dear Parents/Carers, As a parent, I love looking through my own children’s books with them whenever I can; I hope you’ve enjoyed doing the same this week. Parents’ evenings are great opportunities to find out a little more about the work they’ve been doing in class and how to best support your child at home. I trust you’ve found them beneficial: our teachers have, I know they have hugely valued your time. If you still have your children’s books at home, please send them back in with them on Monday. Our Year 6 children are looking forward to Glaramara next week – it’s going to be a cold one though, so make sure you’ve packed their thermals! Residentials are such an important aspect of school life and teach our children so much they can’t learn in the classroom. I will be going with our Year 6 children so I won’t see you on the playground in the mornings next week. I will be back on Friday though, ready for FRPS Festive Friday! To get in the mood for Christmas, we are joining in with Christmas Jumper Day. Wear a Christmas jumper if you have one, but don’t go out and buy one specially – they could wear a hat or you could decorate them in tinsel if you wish! Just to clarify, your child does not have to wear uniform on Friday. Christmas Jumper Day is a fundraising day for Save the Children – if you would like to donate, see the link we sent earlier today. The children were very excited to see the stage go up today! I’m really looking forward to seeing my first Romiley Christmas Nativity! Anya and Theo came prepared today: Anya asked me if knew why the snowman was in the fruit and veg aisle at the local supermarket. I didn’t. She said, ‘He was picking his nose!’ Thanks Anya. Have a great weekend. Mr Bassett

Dear Parents/Carers, I know you’ll share my disappointment that the Christmas Market was unable to go ahead. However, I’m really looking forward to FRPS Festive Friday on 10th December. I know it was a tough decision to cancel, but I want to thank FRPS for doing so much for the good of the children. Every penny raised is used to purchase things our school budget can’t; I was delighted to be told we could purchase two more whiteboards for classes. Thank you for your support – including all the bottle and chocolate donations! You are incredibly generous. Girls’ Football Our girls’ football team were amazing on Monday! The two teams came first and second in the competition at the Cliff (Man Utd’s training ground): I have attached a full report with images. A huge well done – the girls demonstrated our school values in abundance and were a credit to the school. Christmas Performances We’ll send some communication out next week about the Christmas performances and how we will ensure the safety of pupils, staff and parents. I place a high value on these community events and traditions; they are incredibly important and are just not the same done virtually. However, I want to reassure parents we will do our best to make these events as safe as possible. We have invited the health and safety team at the local authority to come and check our site and our risk assessment, but as you can imagine, measures will include limits on audience numbers alongside other measures. Bee Competition We have been overwhelmed by bees! I am so impressed with the amount (and the quality) of entries for the Romiley Bee Mascot design competition. Judging is going to be incredibly difficult – this sounds like a job for our amazing governors! As always, let’s start the weekend with some humour: my favourite piece of furniture is my reclining chair… we go back a long way! Have a great weekend, Mr Bassett

Dear Parents/Carers, The weekend has started! This week, all our children have been doing some amazing writing based on a book called Flotsam. I have been really impressed with the imagination and creativity of so many of our pupils! Why not ask them about the book and their writing. We have also been working hard on TT Rock Stars this week. Mrs Smith handed out some prizes for the children and the class with the most points this week. I have to say a massive well done to both Year 4 classes who came 1st and 2nd - particularly Mr Clarke’s class who won! I am very proud of our children and the level of respect they all showed during our two minute silence yesterday. Anya played an incredibly powerful and emotive Last Post to signal the end. If you get chance, visit the cenotaph in Romiley where our Year 6 children have displayed some poppies they made in class. As COP26 is coming to an end, I’m really pleased to say that we have our very own Eco Committee up and running in school. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the children come up with and how we can work together to look after our world better. The Head Boy and Head Girl fed back to me how great it has been to have our prefects back out in the KS1 playground, playing games with our Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children. Theo also wanted to share this with you, ‘A man walked into a bar… ‘Ouch!’’ I can see I might need to put jokes on our curriculum. Have a great weekend. Mr Bassett