Happy New Year!

I would like to extend a warm welcome back after the Christmas break. It was great to see all the pupils coming into school this week. The building is a very empty and cold place without them. We were also excited to get started again as this term promises to be another one full of developments and progress. Joining us are several new families. Broadford is now established as the school of choice and we are very near full capacity – which is excellent news. All the new arrivals seem to have settled in well and we are very pleased to have them join our extended family.

The builders were in during the holiday to carry on with the outdoor learning area for Reception and Nursery. Part of that involved moving around 500 tonnes of earth to make the surface more usuable. Since the start of this week they have managed to lay the hardcore foundations and get the fencing posts installed. The area has been marked up ready for the trike track to be laid and the slides have been ordered for the tree house and embankment. Unsurprisingly the children have been rather excited by these developments.

I am delighted to welcome some new staff members as well. Mr David Reynolds and Mrs Kirsti Preston have joined us this week as teaching assistants in Key Stage 2. We are committed to ensuring that all children get support so that they can make accelerated progress. In addition we have two new teachers. Mr Matt Gregory started this week in Years 5&6. He will be joined on Monday by Miss Hayley Howson who will become the Maple class teacher until the end of the year. Unfortunately we still do not have a definite return date for Miss Rutherford. The children on Maple class need to know who their teacher is and I am very pleased that Miss Howson has agreed to stay with us for the rest of the year. Finally we have a new Bursar – Mrs Gaynor Griffin Stenning. Although she was able to do a handover before Christmas, she was not officially in post until January. These new additions to the team will help to ensure that we have the best pupils, best staff, best facilities and best parents on the Hill!