Dear Marlborough families,
What a joy it is to start the Summer term with a school full of children once again. The school is once alive once again with the sound of happy chatter, laughter, squeals of delight and an excited buzz – just how it should be!
Over the past twelve months the children and you our families have shown such resilience and have had to adapt to so many changes. The return to school will feel very different for our children, some will greet it with excitement and readiness whilst others will feel fear and trepidation and a myriad of reactions in between. All responses are completely valid and the team and I are very mindful of supporting all of our children in their return to face-to-face teaching.
Covid-19 restrictions are still with us and does restrict our usual summer term activities. However, the team and I have some exciting, creative and ambitious plans to ensure that the summer term is magical for the children.
my best wishes as always,
Geraldine Foley
Farewell Ray
On Friday 26th March we said a very emotional farewell to our beloved Ray as he hung up his lollipop stick and duster to start his retirement. Ray has been our lollipop man and a member of our cleaning team at Marlborough for many, many years. For many children, he was the friendly face who ensured that they got to school and home safely crossing the busy Marlborough Road. He always took a pride in ensuring that the school was clean safe and sparkling.
I know that he was completely overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness. He is so humble, he genuinely didn’t realise just how much everyone in the Marlborough community loved and appreciated him. Thank you Marlborough families for your lovely send off. Ray’s last stand
Bringing the trips to Marlborough
The summer term, pre Covid-19 would be punctuated by school trips and sports day. We all accept and appreciate the restrictions that prevent us from leaving the school site and gathering in groups. However, whilst we can’t currently go out on visits, we can bring the visits to Marlborough!
My team and I have been quietly plotting and planning how we can make this term extra-special for our wonderful children. We have planned four days where the whole school will host a trip/experience on site. Here are our plans:
- Friday 30th April – The Farm at Marlborough
- Thursday 27th May – Sports Day at Marlborough
- Friday 25th June – Marlborough Festival (our very own Glastonbury)
- Friday 9th July – Marlborough by the sea
All staff are involved and working in four teams to plan and deliver these very special days. If you have any contacts or ideas please get in touch (we obviously still have to work within the current Covid restrictions). Each team will get in touch before each event to provide further details of the exciting days planned for the children. See below for information about the team organising the Farm day.
On Friday 30th April we will have our first trip day to Marlborough Farm Festival…..so get your gingham, dust off your wellies, dig out your dungarees and head on down to the farm which promises to be an day of wholesome fun! Pack a small nut free snack for our picnic during the afternoon and let’s all hope for sunshine.
School lunches
Cardiff Catering are resuming the provision of school packed lunches from Monday 19th April onwards. Lunches need to be booked in advance using parentpay. The link below will take you to the information we shared last November on how to book the lunches.
Playworks – Breakfast and After School Club
Playworks are aiming to restart Breakfast and After school provision the week beginning Monday 26th April. If you are already registered with them they will make contact with you directly regarding the restart.
For families who don’t currently use the provision but need to consider wrap-around provision, here is a link to there website. https://playworks-childcare.co.uk/clubs/club-facilities/
Building a flourishing school – how we continue to develop positive psychology
- Flourishing families programme – thank you to the 35 families who took part in the 6-week Flourishing Families programme with Sally Evans. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I am so pleased that you have been able to benefit from Sally’s wisdom and expertise, in the same way as I and the team have. It really is transformational! Due to the huge success of the programme we are discussing plans with Sally to re-run it in the autumn term so that more families can complement at home the work that we do in school with the children.
- Sally has recorded a series of webinars which I am delighted to be able to share with Marlborough families. I will include one with each monthly newsletter. The webinars complement and consolidate the flourishing families programme but also can be viewed as stand alone videos.
- Character strengths – part of the Building Flourishing Families programme focused on Character Strengths. At Marlborough we think of our individual character strengths as our superpowers. We usually focus on a different character strength each week in our Monday assembly and celebrate how we have been developing our strengths in Friday Celebration assembly. If you are interested in finding out more, there is some great resources on the VIA Institute website and you can complete a free assessment of your character strengths. The video below is a fantastic introduction.
Inset Days
There are three Inset days scheduled for the summer term:
- Friday 28th May – Celebrating our first 10 years as a primary school and strategic planning ahead for the next 10 years.
- Monday 19th July and Tuesday 20th July – days taken in lieu of additional staff development hours worked throughout the academic year