Dear Parents and Carers
We have now come to the end of another very busy academic year. It is good to reflect on some of the highlights of the year. Earlier in the year we had a Harvest service in the church and enjoyed a French day with crepes for everyone. Class 4 took part in the K’Nex challenge and FOS put on an exciting Spooky disco for everyone.
During term 2 we had a visit from PC Nick Westmacott who gave talks to pupils in KS1 and KS2 about Internet Safety. Following this there was a Remembrance Service in the church on Sunday 13th November which many of our children attended. Around this time children in years 3 to 6 represented the school at the Chipping Campden cross country event. Class 5 attended a fascinating discussion by a NASA astronaut at Chipping Campden and the whole school enjoyed a hilarious pantomime at Chipping Norton Theatre. After the success of the Christmas Fayre, which the children loved, the highlight was of course the brilliant performances by KS1 of the Nativity. All the children were pleased to have a visit from Santa and the Christmas meal was very special.
From term 3 onwards we have all been treated to an array of sharing assemblies from each class. In early February a group of year 5 and 6 pupils performed beautifully at the Bingham Hall for the Cirencester Dance Festival. In the final week of that term a group of girls and boys from year 5 & 6 attended the annual Fire College cross country race where several Blockley children qualified for the county finals.
In term 4 the children loved dressing up in character for World Book Day. Year 4’s spent an afternoon at St James’ school learning more about Internet safety whilst the Year 5’s spent the day at Kingham Secondary school engaged in a range of science activities and workshops. During this term the school put on a wonderful Marvellous Music evening where a number of children performed perfectly to a packed audience. Two year 6 pupils qualified to attend the Youth Speaks competition at the Baptist church in Chipping Campden with both of them speaking, in public, with great confidence and knowledge. In the run up to Easter all the children got to attend the ‘Experience Easter’ workshops which were organised by Rev Dana Delap at the church. Before we finished the term KS2 pupils put together an interesting Easter Service and everyone loved the Easter bonnet parade by KS1.
The month of May consisted of lots of tests which the children engaged well with. Following these a group of children in KS2 went on a fabulous residential trip to London to see the sights! During the final term this year we have enjoyed a range of activities including a visit from the Life Bus. The two main highlights this term were Sports Day and the performances of Joseph. Throughout the whole year children across the school have enjoyed getting involved with Musicate.
New Reception:
Just recently we were very pleased to welcome our September Reception pupils for two taster afternoons. They were all very inquisitive about their new environment and had the chance to meet all their new friends. We are all very much looking forward to receiving them properly again in September.
Sports Day
The decision to hold Sports Day this year at the Prince of Wales Stadium in Cheltenham was a huge success. All of the staff were delighted by the way all the children embraced this new opportunity. The pupils recognised that this was a special place to hold a Sports Day and all of them rose to the challenge. They thoroughly enjoyed their House parade in front of their parents, 
waving their flags and displaying their House banners. Their ‘Olympic song’ was sung by all with plenty of gusto at both the start and finish of the event. Every child gave their very best in each event, scoring points for their House team and participating with friends. There were many highlights but one that remains most is that of the youngest pupils engaging in the bean bag races!
The whole day was a great staff team effort centred on the experience and enjoyment for all the children. I am extremely grateful to Mr Jones who, organised, set up and managed the running of the day. He was of course assisted by all the staff that 
also thoroughly enjoyed the day. I hope that through events such as this we can encourage as many of our young children as possible to take up sporting activities to help maintain a healthy active lifestyle. Finally I must say a big thank you to all the parents who were able to give up their time to come and support this event.
Joseph Production:
The summer production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat was absolutely spectacular! The children in KS2 put on 3 magnificent performances; two for their parents and one to the whole school. Each performance was amazing with every single member giving their very best. The children’s singing, acting and speaking were brilliant – all were done with confidence and characterisation. Some of the children really did have a great deal of responsibility with large parts to learn and many solo’s to sing. We were all delighted with every single child as they all came together and supported each other to make the whole performance an immense success. At the heart of any show is great direction which Mrs Dodgson-Hatto did with great ease. Other staff that helped to make this work so well included; Miss Overton-Short, Mrs Davies, Miss Alcock, Mrs Dean, Mrs Petit, Mr Jones, Miss Riddle, Mrs Alymore and Mrs Siviter.
Thank you to all the parents for carefully putting costumes together and supporting your children through the rehearsals and the performances. A big thank you also goes to FOS for putting on the refreshments, the one hundred square and lucky dips on both evenings.
Fundraiser:
Last Thursday the school organised a fundraising event for all the children to participate in. The money raised was split equally between Diabetes UK, Water Aid and FOS. The fundraising activity was based around the children, organised in their House groups, to collect water from a water trough and then transfer and transport it, in a variety of different containers, to a House 
water butt in the appropriate colour. The children had to work as a team to manage and efficiently move a total of 320 litres of water. This activity enabled the children to realise that water is very heavy and difficult to transport and that using it sparingly is most important. The school managed to raise £214.22 which will now be split evenly between three very good causes. The House that managed to move the greatest amount of water was Dovedale – well done!
Bishop Jacob:
Just this week we were lucky enough to receive a visit from Bishop Jacob from Tamale, in Ghana. The children had prepared a range of questions for the Bishop when they met him on Monday during our school assembly. He was a big hit with all the children as he managed to get them all up singing and dancing!
FOS:
I would like to say a big thank you to Mrs Bolam and Mrs Clark for co-Chairing FOS and organising and running events throughout the year to raise funds for the school. I would also like to thank the whole committee for supporting the co-Chairs during this academic year. I hope that FOS will continue to encourage new parents to join the committee when we return to school in September.
Parents:
On behalf of all the staff I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all parents for supporting your children, getting them to school every day on time and for helping them to learn to read at home. We all appreciate that being a parent is a tough job but at the same time it is immensely rewarding. We are all very grateful for the many offers of help that we have received throughout this academic year.
Year 6:
All the staff would like to wish our 25 year 6 children every success in their new secondary schools. I’m sure that they will use all the skills that they have acquired in Blockley to help them develop and go on to learn new and exciting things in the future. Well done each and every one of you, we are all very proud of your achievements to date.
Website:
Please can I remind all parents of our school website which contains lots of useful information regarding your child’s education whilst at Blockley Primary School.
www.blockleyprimaryschool.co.uk
Summer Holidays:
I would like to wish everyone a happy, safe and enjoyable summer holiday when families can be together and enjoy each other’s company. We look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday 5th September, starting at 8.50am, all dressed smartly in their full school uniforms.
Best wishes and kind regards
Mr Pudifoot
Headteacher