The old adage ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ is rooted in the value of a strong community, with its range of skills and experience, in the development of young children.

Here at SVPS, this is something we value enormously and have really missed at times over the last couple of years. Fortunately, after so long following the government-mandated arms’ length approach, we are returning to some old favourite events, such as this week’s Grandparents’ Day.

It is certainly true that all aspects of our School work at their best when all stakeholders are involved. Parents (and the wider family) have a vital role to play in the development of many of the children’s core skills, from reading to timetables, encouraging creativity and developing language as well as providing a wide range of extra-curricular experiences with family trips and visits that further enrich the children’s experience of the world. All of this builds on the work being done in School by both children and teachers, offering consolidation and extension of a wide range of skills in and out of the classroom.

Looking back to last week, the SVPSPA quiz was a great success on Friday; yet another example of a favourite event returning to the calendar! Many thanks to the whole team who worked so hard to put it together.

As this term rolls on, there are so many more events on the horizon, many of which will be post-Covid firsts. The most pressing of these is next week’s Year 6 residential visit to France, complete with visits to, amongst other things, a chocolaterie, a boulangerie and a snail farm. The produce at each of these venues will be sampled with varying degrees of gusto! It is hard to fully quantify the value of a residential trip, but the children always seem to return a little taller, with increased independence, resilience and confidence, drawn together as a group by a shared experience which they will undoubtedly talk about with great enthusiasm.

It has been brilliant to see the start of the Cricket season, as for the first time at SVPS, we have played as a completely mixed sport in the Years 3 to 6 teams. At the time of writing, we are still waiting for the weather to catch up with the time of year, but it has been wonderful to see boys and girls playing together at all levels, developing and encouraging one another in matches and practice.

The Summer Term is always our busiest, with events coming thick and fast as the weeks roll by. Have a great weekend and we will see Year 6 bright and early on Monday morning!

Mr James Watkins, Deputy Head