Dear Parents/Carers

Well, another half term is over, and it has certainly been a busy one in school!

Firstly, I would like to say a big well done to all the children in Year 2 and Year 6 who have been working hard on their end of Key Stage SATs tests over the past couple of weeks. I have been very impressed by how focused and sensible they have all been. Thank you also to all the staff who have been involved in test administration, it really has been a big team effort. After half term, it will be Year 4 and Year 1's turn to complete their statutory assessments. They have all been working hard too, developing their fluency in multiplication and phonics respectively and I am sure they will do a super job. Thank you for all the additional learning support you have provided at home too, it really does make a big difference.

We had a super time on our Amble Ramble Jubilee Jaunt yesterday. It was wonderful to see everyone dressed up in red, white and blue. Thank you to everyone who came along to join us, it was a great community event. Please remember to complete and return your sponsor forms by the end of the week, if possible. Every penny you can raise will be so gratefully received. We are very excited about how we can use these much-needed funds to support and develop wellbeing throughout school.

Our Platinum Jubilee Party was also a great success. Picnics, games, dancing, bubbles we did it all! Thank you to all the staff and the RFA for your time and hard work to make it such a special event. We will be sharing photos on our website this week, so you can all see what fun we had.

Today we have commemorated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee with our tree planting ceremony. Pupils from school council and other representatives from each class, including Kindergarten, helped to plant our special plum tree in 'The Jubilee Garden.' We hope the tree provides shade and fruit for the children of The Ridge for many years to come, as well as memory of this historic occasion.  Thanks to Websters of Wollaston for this kind donation.

In keeping with the gardening theme, our new teaching assistant Miss Thompson and I helped children plant our jubilee flower display during lunch times last week. The children did an excellent job and really enjoyed the gardening experience. So much so, that we have decided to make this a regular feature of our new approach to developing play activities and wellbeing at lunch times. We are a bit short on supplies at the moment, so if anybody has some spare gardening tools they could donate, which would really help us get our Ridge gardening gang up and running. Other equipment that would be very useful includes: watering cans, pots, canes, flower or vegetable seeds/plants (child friendly and labelled please).  Another nature project the children are developing is ornithology. If you have any spare bird feeders, tables, bird seed, information books etc that you are happy to donate, that would be amazing. Please remember that we cannot have any peanut related products in school due to allergies.  If you have links to any businesses that may be able to donate these sorts of products, please put in a good word for us. (If you can bring anything in, you can hand them in to me while I'm out on the playground in the morning, or bring them into the school office at another time to suit you). I would like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Thompson for all her hard work and enthusiasm, this half term. She has really enhanced the range of lunch time activities the children can participate in. We are very lucky that she has joined our team.

Last week we launched our first 'Ice Cream Friday.' It was incredibly popular, which is wonderful, but we know some of you were queuing for quite some time - thank you for your patience! Despite the long queue, there was a great atmosphere, it was lovely to have time to chat with so many of you. We are planning to continue this, as long as the demand is still there next half term. We hope you all enjoyed your treat and thank you for your custom, as every penny raised goes to school funds. Particular thanks go to our RFA volunteers and their Year 6 helpers, who all did a great job under pressure!

Tomorrow our Year 6 children will be heading off to the Pioneer Centre for their residential. They will be accompanied by Mrs Rouse, Mrs Evans and Mrs Melia, who has kindly stepped in to take my place, so that I can remain in school while Mrs Hudson is absent. We wish everyone a wonderful action packed trip!

After half term, we will be hosting our first sports days since 2019! I for one, have really missed them. If you are free, please come and join us on the field. You are welcome to stand or if you prefer, bring a chair or blanket and make yourself more comfortable. If you have some spare change, refreshments will be provided by the RFA. Let's hope the sun shines! (EYFS 9:30am & KS1 10:30am, 14^th June, KS2 9:30am, 15^th June).

Sadly, we are saying farewell to Mrs Adams, our specialist sports teacher this half term. Thank you for all that you have done to support staff and children to develop their sports skills over the past few years and we wish you luck with your new ventures.

As you may be aware, Mrs Hudson has been absent this half term. She has been missed, but I am pleased to say that she is making steady progress, so we hope she will be able to return to school if she's fully recovered next half term. In the meantime, please contact me if you require any support, either by contacting the office or emailing me directly on: jhadley@ridge.dudley.sch.uk

Thank you for all your support this half term. We hope you all have a relaxing, sunny half term spent with your family and look forward to seeing you all next half term when we return to school on Monday 6^th June.

Kind regards

Mrs J Hadley
Deputy Headteacher