What a busy term we have had with the loss of our Queen, a visit from Ofsted, Y4's residential to Laches Wood, a roofing project, a community bonfire event, a whole school theatre trip and many wonderful celebrations in the lead up to Christmas. As well as all of that, the children have settled in to their new year groups and have continued to work hard and achieve their very best.

We are very proud to say that we are a 'Good' school and that Ofsted could see all of the hard work that had been done supporting children through the pandemic and in the return to normal school life, where we have closed gaps for children and achieved more than before the pandemic.

As a staff, we have loved being able to plan all of the wonderful parts of school life that we have missed due to the pandemic and I hope as parents that you have enjoyed being in school more and making special memories with your children.

We wish you all a very happy holiday and a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

A big congratulations to Sabrina Pearsall for winning the Primary category KNWH Talent Show organised by the local youth club and our local councillor Shaz Saleem. She did an amazing rendition of 'Somewhere only we know' while also doing sign language in front of a packed room of adults and won! She won £100 for herself and an amazing £1000 for school. Sabrina and I will be meeting in the new year to discuss how we can spend this money at school for the benefit of the children. We are very proud of you, well done.

I was also very proud of the other 7 acts that got through to the final of the Talent Show and they all performed amazingly well. We had magic acts, dancing and singing and they made it a very difficult decision for the judges. Well done to Joseph, Millie, Summer, Nancy, Lily, Hollie, Lola, Annabelle and Evie.

Thank you to everyone who donated to Children in Need. As a school we raised £162!

Thank you everyone who purchased poppy merchandise to raise money for the Poppy Appeal. We raised £385.18. This was the most we have ever raised so thank you so much for your support with this very important charity.

Thank you to all of the children who attended our open event and supported Maidensbridge so well. We were all so proud of them and we received lots of feedback from the visitors about how polite our children were and how knowledgeable they were about our school. A special thank you to our JLT team who presented in front of a room full of adults confidently and clearly. Amazing resilience!

Thank you to the HSA team who have worked tirelessly this term to put on many events and occasions that have raised vital money for the children in our school. The first bonfire event for 3 years was a huge success with 2000 people from our community coming together to share this event and was certainly back with a bang! Save the date of the 9th November 2023 next year and get your tickets quickly!

The HSA have also put on 2 discos this term and have provided raffle prizes at our performances. In total, all of these events have raised over £5000 for the children of our school, which is fantastic!

The HSA would love to get to know more parents and their door is always open if you would like to get involved with some of the fundraising events. Our school survives on the goodwill and support of our volunteers and parents. Please email info@maidens.dudley.sch.uk if you would like to know more about how to get involved and we will pass these on to the committee members of the HSA.

I am very proud of the first members of our Netball Team for this year. We kept our heads well against a very strong Fairhaven team and we continued to work hard and work together, making massive improvements as the game went on. There are many more matches to play after Christmas but the children played excellently as a team with heart and determination. Another great example of our school value of resilience! Well done Lily, Nancy, Ben, Riley, Ava, Ellie, Bethany and Rebecca.

After considering some parent views about parents evening this term, we have made some changes for the planned parents evening in March. Some parents said that they would like face to face appointments with the teacher in school and some parents would still like the flexibility of an appointment on Teams. In response to this we will be offering a blended option of both. On Monday 6th March you will be able to book a face to face appointment with the teacher between 3.30pm and 6.30pm, which will be conducted in the hall or you can book an appointment for Monday 13th March on Teams between 3.30pm and 6.30pm.

The appointments will be released before half term and they will be taken up on a first come first serve basis using our usual system. For parents who would like a virtual appointment on Teams, you will still be able to view your child's books on the 6th March in the classroom.

A big thank you to parents for supporting the School Council coffee afternoon by bringing in and purchasing cakes and drinks.  We raised a total of £179.70, which the School Council want to use to purchase new benches for the playgrounds.  We will let you know about the next fundraising initiative.

Please call: 0300 555 0050

If you are concerned about a child’s welfare please speak to a DSL in school, or call Children’s Social Care on the number above.