Dear Families and Friends,

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Children In Need "Oops! I'm not quite ready" day. All donations will be sent directly to the charity, to support vulnerable children throughout the UK. Helping and supporting our youngsters is so important. They will be the next generation to care for our amazing world, and we must do all we can to ensure they have the best start in life. Who knows what roles they will have as adults?

Next week includes our Parents' Evenings, vital meetings between families and class teachers, sharing how the children are getting on so far this term, and showing the children themselves just how important it is to work together for their good. Please ensure that you are prompt for your appointments.

Apart from our football clubs and After-School Activities Club, other staff-led clubs will not take place next week so that teachers can fully concentrate on information sharing with you.

Just before half-term, we launched our new "Captain Curious" project with you and the children. I have been hearing lots of their ideas, and we wanted to enhance it even further. Check out the latest, animated version of the story start here. I've asked the children to keep sharing their ideas with me, in pictures and writing, so please encourage them to share more exciting thoughts with us, and we will try to weave them into the saga.

To bring the characters to life, we have carefully used specific versions of generative AI software. I am sure that you will have heard about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and possibly even tried using it. This technology is moving extremely quickly and, as a school, we are beginning to use it with caution. Whilst it can produce some amazing results (such as our new images and videos), and can be a real time-saver, its use raises numerous ethical and safeguarding questions. If you would like to find out more about this, and other ways to keep our children and ourselves safe online, we will be running a parents' and families' workshop in January. Do look out for more information about this.

As our build-up to Christmas continues, next Friday is a non-uniform day for our Christmas Fayre. The children may come to school in whatever clothes they would like, for a raffle donation. Each class has a specific kind of item, and reminders will come home early next week. Friday 6th December will be such a fun time. We'll have our window unveiling, choir singing, lots of food, games and stalls, and a special visit from Santa! Do make it a must for your diary. Raffle tickets will be coming home to buy in advance, and you will be able to get more from the office. Do invite others to come along and experience the fabulous event.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Restall & The St Bart's Team