Some say that you have to see some things to believe them. It has certainly been one of those weeks! We have had a fun filled and very busy week indeed. The Year 2 classroom has been decorated and is looking  bigger, lighter and brighter.  Pre-School children have been in and we welcomed more pre-school children to our school yesterday. We are continuously altering, adapting and working on the pre-school classroom and parental support has been wonderful. Old blind rails have been taken down and the cupboard locks have arrived! Mrs Melling and Mrs Kerr found the cupboard lock situation hilarious as I couldn’t figure out how the locks were safe if attached on the outside. Thank goodness that Mr Kerr visited school yesterday and solved this dilemma by informing me that the locks need to be fitted on the inside of the cupboards and drawers! Life is always a learning curve!

Fairsnape Class were sent a bag of owl pellets, of which have been disected and various bones identified! Beacon Class have been investigating heart rate and the play rehearsals are going well. Please do come to watch the performance next Wednesday at 6.00pm. It is not to be missed! Parlick Class said a fond farewell to Mr Flanagan,  who has become part of our school family. We wish him every success in his teaching career. They had a great time on their school trip. Pendle Class have been amazing me with their reading skills and I am delighted to observe their keeness to read.

Once again, Mr Blair and Miss Stewart were wonderful promoters of our school and we enjoyed seeing other children, parents and governors from our school. It was a shame that the rain stayed but every opportunity to make our school known is a useful adventure. A little boy, whose father had a stall nearby, took a shining to myself and Mr Blair and he also joined us for the afternoon at our gazebo for pate, crackers and in depth conversation about tractors.

Yesterday was a day and a half! In fact, the activity crammed into one day could have been spread over the week! New Pre-School children came in with their parents, new starters came without their parents, the police visited the infants with ride on electric cars to teach road safety, the Community Action UFA groups held a coffee morning in church, the painters finished painting the Year 2 classroom, the chickens escaped, Miss Stewart found a tarantula (which was actually a bat), a second bat was found on the ceiling (I will come back to this), the sound of the pneumatic drill could be heard as the tarmac men continue to work on the access route, the Summer BBQ was a success and I was put in the stocks to have wet sponges thrown at my face for only 10p a turn!

Back to the saga of the bats. I knew that bats were a protected species but I did not fully understand the complexity of their removal. By removal, I mean to be captured from the ceiling of one room only to be put back into the building after finding bat faeces on an outside windowsill. It seems that the bats are content in a little space above Beacon Class window and there they have to stay. I now have very strict instructions to obey from the police if they are found in school again. Country school excitement!

Now Jeff, on the other hand, was a very welcome visitor yesterday. He is a placid goat and he was very popular with the children. As the children played and parents and visitors mingled, it was the perfect end to an incredibly interesting day. It has been a week of random acts of kindness. We have taken new children for September and a gentleman from the golf club delivered  £150 to be spent on Pre-School resources. This was in memory and tribute to Dave Rossall and we will be including this kind gesture in our article for the papers about the Pre-School opening. I have recently received emails from parents who have heard the word about what an amazing school we have and I am looking forward to showing more round school next week.

Please try to come to Family Mass tomorrow morning. It is the last one of the school year and it will be a wonderful opportunity to give thanks for all of our gifts, talents and our school.

Thank you to all!