EMBRACE THE AUTUMN!

...at least you will know what to wear - something warm & cosy... 

So it wasn't the sunniest summer in recent history, but let's leave all that behind us and embrace the coming season.  It's going to be a super term, with a couple of tweaks here and there to the normal course of events.  

For a start, there is going to be less emphasis on grade exams this year. Why? Because it really does take up a huge amount of class time, and since most primary schools cover the exams anyway, we found we were doubling up a lot. The kids at our school are a creative bunch, and we are going to spend the time really focusing on that this year, and facilitating all their brilliant notions as much as we can. If parents are concerned about speech, let me assure you that voice production is well covered as standard in all our classes. There will however, be a dedicated class that students can attend on Saturdays (over a six week period 12pm - 1pm) should they wish to continue with their grade exams. More on this in a couple of weeks.  

The Youth Theatre and the Intermediate students will perform monologue or duologue pieces towards the end of the term, which will greatly enhance their drama skills, and there will be a short fun concert for Juniors too - more details on that soon. 

Classes are an hour and a half, but we do have a short break during which students can eat something small - parents, please ensure this is just a small snack - a piece of fruit or a cheese string and not a lunchbox packed with several items! Smaller children especially feel very put out if we don't allow them to finish everything.  Also, I am going to have to get strict and BAN the following:
NO sandwiches, popcorn or crisps - or anything that makes crumbs.
NO yogurts or yogurt drinks.
NO sweets or treats - it's unfair to the other children
NO juice or fizzy drinks - a bottle of water only. 

There now.  I feel very mean, but believe me, it was getting out of hand! 

Really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things!  See you all next week.

Emer