Dear Parents and Carers,

What a fantastic start to the new school year it has been!

A very special welcome to all of our new Reception children and their families. The children have settled incredibly well and we are so proud of how confidently they have embraced their new school environment. We are looking forward to seeing our Reception classes come together next week and join us for lunch before beginning full-time attendance from 21st September.

Our new free Breakfast Club has been a resounding success. This week alone we have served approximately 1,500 bagels, which is an amazing start to this exciting new provision. It has been wonderful to see so many children enjoying a positive start to their day.

The introduction of our soft starts in classrooms has also been hugely successful. Staff have commented on the calm, nurturing atmosphere this creates, helping children settle quickly and prepare themselves for a successful day of learning.

A reminder that both the Mendip Avenue Gate and Copley Gardens Gate open at 8:30am each morning.

Today, we brought the entire school community together for our first whole-school celebration assembly of the year. It was wonderful to celebrate the fantastic start our children have made and recognise the many positive contributions seen across the school this week.  Unfortunately we do not have a hall that will accommodate the whole school, however while we could take advantage of the fine weather we were able to come together today.   When the weather is less favourable we will be split the school in two and run a morning and afternoon assembly in the halls.  

During the assembly, I was delighted to introduce our new Hot Chocolate Friday Award. This award celebrates children who consistently demonstrate our belief that Character Matters. Each week, one child from every year group will be selected to receive this special recognition. Award winners will enjoy their hot chocolate reward on a Monday morning with me, providing an opportunity to celebrate their achievements together.

Next week, we will be launching the next phase of our OPAL programme, introducing large loose materials into our play offer. A separate communication has been sent to parents with further information about this exciting development, which will provide even more opportunities for creativity, collaboration and imagination during playtimes.

We will also be launching our WOW Walk to School Challenge. We are partnering with Living Streets to promote active travel and encourage more children to walk, wheel, scoot or cycle to school where possible. Following our launch assemblies next week, we will share further information with parents about how the challenge works before it officially begins on Monday 21st September.

As we prepare for this initiative, we would like to take this opportunity to remind parents, wherever possible, to avoid driving directly to school. We will be encouraging a Park and Stride approach, where families park a short distance away and walk the final part of their journey to school.

To support this, parents are welcome to use:

• The free car park behind the Health Centre
• The Proper Job car park, where they have kindly agreed that parents may park before school and walk the remainder of the journey

Both locations are less than a five-minute walk from school and help reduce congestion around our school gates.

If you do need to park near school, please be considerate of our neighbours and local residents. We kindly ask that parents do not block driveways or dropped kerbs and do not park on double yellow lines or zig-zag markings. Your cooperation helps keep everyone safe and maintains positive relationships within our local community.

We are incredibly excited about the year ahead and have many wonderful opportunities, events and experiences planned for our children and families. We look forward to sharing these with our school community over the coming months.

On a personal note, I have absolutely loved my first week at Mendip Green. The week has flown by! Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive, and I am slowly learning names, although there are certainly a lot to remember. Thank you for making me feel so welcome.

I will be on the gates before and after school each day, so please do come and say hello. I am always happy to speak with parents and carers and look forward to getting to know you all over the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued support as we begin another exciting year at Mendip Green Primary School.

Kind regards,

Marie Berry 
Headteacher