Dear Parents/Carers

We've finally made it to the end of a long term. It's been a successful term with pupils excelling in all sorts of ways both in school and out. It has been great to hear about our pupils who have been selected for county and national competitions in various sports, and it has been wonderful to see so many of our pupils showcasing their musical talents in the various performances that we have held so far this year. I must publicly thank all of the staff who give their time, week in week out, regardless of the weather, to give extra opportunities for our pupils. We are currently offering over 50 extra curricular clubs per week, which is a staggering offer for any school.

Our school, like many others, is struggling to cope with staff absences currently, and we are working our hardest to prevent any disruption to our pupils' education. We are particularly short of staffing in our admin team at the moment, so I must apologise if you are struggling to get through to the office or it is taking us longer than usual to return phone calls; we hope to have this situation rectified as soon as possible in the new year and we appreciate your patience in the meantime.

Many thanks for your continuing support - it is very much appreciated.

Have a great Christmas and New Year.

Regards

David Godfrey

Headteacher

9th Jan - Pupils Return to School

14th - 21st Jan - Y8 Ski Trip to France

16th Jan - Parent Forum Meeting 6-7pm

18th Jan - Year 6 & 7 Child Measurement Programme

20th Jan - Year 6 Books Home

24th Jan - Year 6 Parents Evening 1 (Virtual)

26th Jan - Year 6 Parents Evening 2 (Virtual)

27th Jan - Year 6 Parent Tours

30th Jan - Snowzone (Ski Trip Austria Pupils)

31st Jan - Ski Trip Austria Parent Meeting

2nd Feb - Scottish National Ballet - Snow Queen

3rd Feb - Year 8 Books Home

7th Feb - Year 8 Parents Evening 1 (Virtual)

9th Feb - Year 8 Parents Evening 2 (Virtual)

10th Feb - Year 8 Parent Tours

16th Feb - SATs Evening for Year 6 Parents

17th Feb - Careers Event Year 8 (AM)

w/c 20th February - Half Term Holiday

This term, two of our PBL groups in Year 7 have been working towards their Bronze Crest Award. They were challenged with the STEM question 'what makes a bath bomb fizzy?'

The Bronze Crest Award introduces pupils to project work, empowering them to work like real scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.

I think the best part of the Germany trip was the Christmas Markets as we could practice our German and explore the culture through shops and food. I also really enjoyed Phantasialand as there were a variety of areas from around the world. All of the people were very friendly. It was a lovely place to stay.

Thank you for taking us! We are very grateful!

Lottie B

Recently I have been lucky enough to be nominated to go on the Germany trip. Whilst on the trip I have learnt some very strong life skills and had a very memorable experience. My favourite part of the trip was speaking German to all of the vendors at the Christmas Markets. Everyone was really nice and helpful. The boys in the room were very kind when I was feeling unwell. One of the best experiences was going to the Schokoladenmuseum where we got to see how the chocolate was made.

Victor E

Once again it has been delightful to see our pupils spending their epraise points on a selection of different activities during our termly epraise day. This event is always enjoyable for pupils and staff and we love seeing happy smiling faces on these days. We have many pupils who still have points to spend and in the New Year there will be a selection of treats in the epraise shop for them to spend these on, or they may want to save them for the next epraise day in the spring term.

FOVG activity for this term involved a Halloween Disco for Years 5 and 6; a Christmas Disco for Years 7 and 8; and a Christmas Movie Night for Years 5 and 6, where they watched the classic film, “Elf”. We finished off the fundraising activities with our Grand Christmas Raffle, with 15 Prizes in total that were won and a lucky Year 6 pupil won the 1st Prize – a Playstation 5!

We’ve raised just over £3,000 this term and will spend this money to improve the school, either improving facilities and or technology to benefit all children attending the school.

We hope we’ve given the children some fun memories attending these events. We’d like to thank you for your continued support and look forward to hosting more events in the new Year.

Thanks to all our FoVG volunteers and teachers!

We are always looking for volunteers to help out with events, so if you are interested in becoming part of FOVG could you please contact Amber on 07944 558322.