Dear Parents and Carers 

There have been many examples of bringing learning to life this week, both in and out of school. Year 2 had an action packed day when they visited the Natural History Museum in London as part of their Dinosaurs Topic. They visited all the main areas in the museum but the highlights included seeing Mary Anning’s famous finds in the Marine Ocean Reptile area, winding through the main Dinosaur Exhibit, a very informative Stegosaurus Workshop and coming face-to-face with a life-sized model of a T-Rex. There was even the added bonus of birthday cake at lunch time to celebrate Dipa’s birthday. As always, the children were brilliantly behaved and great representatives for the school.  

Reception had a surprise visit this week - a bus from the past turned up in the infant school carpark! The children discussed the similarities and differences to a modern day bus and all climbed aboard to have a turn sitting in the driver's seat. The week’s surprises didn’t end there; on Thursday, Reception had another surprise visit - this time it was a sports car. The children were so excited! They asked lots of questions about how it works, loved sitting inside and watching the doors open upwards.  

Some staffing news, after 17 years of service to the school, Bev Reed, School Business Manager will be leaving HTPD and starting her ‘mini retirement’ in May. Bev has held many roles within the school and has seen the school through some really challenging times over the last few years. We would like to share our enormous thanks for her hard work and unwavering dedication to the school. We wish her all the best in her endeavours, after a very well-deserved break. We are delighted to announce the appointment of Danielle Bucket, an experienced School Business Manager, who will join us in mid-May.  

There is much to look forward to next week, the final week of the Spring Term. I am very much looking forward to the Guildford Primary Schools' Music Festival Concert at G Live on Monday evening. Our musicians have been working hard towards this event. A huge thank you to Lilja Helgadottir for co-ordinating this event and making it possible, not only for our children, but all the other local Guildford schools. Music within the school has gone from strength to strength; so much so that our choirs are now too big to accommodate everyone at the GLive event. We are very keen for everyone to have an opportunity to perform, so please do join us for our ‘Choir Showcase’ for parents at 14:45 in the HT Chapel on Wednesday afternoon. 

As we come towards the end of term, our thoughts turn to Easter. Tuesday will be our annual Pause Day and we’ll be celebrating Easter and the end of another successful term. Feel free to join us at Holy Trinity Church on Thursday morning for a whole school service. We’ll be walking down at 9.15 am to be ready to start at 9:45 am – do let your child’s class teacher know if you can help out.  

On Wednesday next week, children at the juniors are invited to bring in their entry for this year's ‘House Bake Off’. The theme this year is Easter. The competition is always a firm favourite among the children, not to mention the staff and house captains who have to judge the entries! If your child would like to take part, they can bring an individual, homemade cupcake or biscuit (no nuts) to show in a special house assembly, where the judging panel will celebrate their creativity and decide on the best bakes for their house. Winners will be announced in assembly on the last day of term. 

Next Thursday, we will be holding our annual Easter Garden competition for the juniors. Children are invited to bring in the things they need to make a special miniature garden that focuses on the Easter message. They may work in small groups and will need to organise and bring into school any equipment they might need. This will include a shallow dish (no bigger than a dinner plate), some soil (or sand), moss or grass, dried twigs, small flowers and a pot or egg cup for the tomb. The children will have the lunch break to put their garden together and prizes will be given out to the best gardens created. 

Remember that we finish for the Easter break at 1.30pm PD/ 1.45pm HT next Friday 4th April and we return for the summer term on Wednesday 23rd April.  

Best wishes,

Vicky

Thought of the Week: Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. Where do you want to shine God’s light?