Welcome back and more importantly Happy New Year!!

I read somewhere recently that the night before the return to school is the same feeling for parents as Christmas Eve is for children and judging by the happy smiling faces (of parents) on Thursday morning, there may be an element of truth in that!!

The children too seemed genuinely(ish) pleased to be back – mostly so that they could show all their festive gains – and the buzz in classrooms as I’ve walked around school this week has been a real treat.  Sometimes having a short week can be a real benefit in getting the children back into the routines of school.

This term we have made a conscious effort to bring our school values to the fore and focus on one in particular.  The School Council have chosen Determination as our value for the next half term and we will be looking for examples of this from home as well.  It is a great way to start the year – by being determined – and we have asked the children to tell us when their classmates are showing this value so that they can be rewarded.

Mr Taplin led this morning’s assembly and naturally the focus turned to New Year’s resolutions and the origin of our celebrations.  Somewhat depressingly he revealed that only 8% of New Year resolutions are followed through – another good reason for us to be choosing determination as our value.

On Thursday I challenged the children to ‘make 2017 the year I will…’ perhaps it is a mantra for the whole school community.

Here are a few ideas to get everyone started: live beneath your means; return everything you borrow; stop blaming other people; admit it when you make a mistake; give clothes/toys/games not used to charity; do something nice and don’t get caught; listen more, talk less; take a 30 minute walk every day; strive for excellence not perfection; be on time; don’t make excuses; don’t argue; be more organised; be kind to people; be kind to unkind people; let someone in front of you in the queue; take time to be alone; cultivate good manners; be humble; realise and accept that life isn’t fair; know when to keep your mouth shut; go an entire day without criticising anyone; learn from the past; plan for the future; live in the present; don’t let the small stuff bother you. After all it is all small stuff!

Well that should keep us all busy until February at least!!