Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome back to another busy and exciting term at The Ridge.  I hope you enjoyed the half-term break.  It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this week.  We have had a busy week with sporting competitions and parent tours for applications to our school for Reception places in September 2026.  This week has been a very successful ‘Bikeability’ project week with Year 5 and 6 children spending two days learning to cycle safely and develop confidence cycling on the roads.  A massive thank you to Mrs Melia for organising the events this week and to Miss Crowson and Miss Howarth for supporting the children throughout the two days of activities.  We have also had our new School Choir session this week and it is lovely to see so many children wanting to spend time developing their singing skills.

We have a school Art project taking place next Friday where children in every class will complete a focused afternoon of Art looking at Colour Stories through the work of the artist Rachel Jones.  We aim to produce a gallery of this work from across all year groups and will provide some of the work produced via the class teacher and through the newsletter to ensure you get to see some of the creative pieces of work children can produce.

There are a number of important dates for this term and they are summarised below:

• 10 November Parent Consultation Book Looks 3.30 - 5.30 pm.
• 12 November Parent Consultation Meetings 2.00 - 7.00 pm
• 14 November Whole School Art project
• 14 November Donations of teddy bears or soft toys please in preparation for the Christmas Fayre
• 21 November Non-uniform day – bottles and / or chocolate donations for the Christmas Fayre
• 25 November Full Governing Body Meeting
• 26 November Parent Surgeries
• December Christmas performances.  Further details will be sent to you regarding the specific details for classes once we have confirmed the timings.  We are mindful to ensure the end of the performances align with the end of the school day.
• Christmas class party information will be sent to you closer to the date.
• End of term for children will be Friday 19 December at 2.00 pm.  Pre-school closes to children at the end of the school day Thursday 18 December.

We look forward to seeing you next week in school.  Please do not hesitate to contact me at school if you require any support or have any questions you would like answering.

Kind regards

Mrs C Gilbert

Headteacher

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Mrs Gilbert is the Designated Safeguarding Lead and any concerns should be shared with her or the Deputy Safeguarding Leads – Mrs Hadley and Mrs Morley.  Where child protection concerns are raised, the school has a statutory duty to refer these concerns to children’s social care.