Mrs Moore’s Memo Wednesday 1 April 2020

Dear children and young people,

I can’t believe that we have officially broken up for the Easter holidays today and I haven’t had the chance to say goodbye to you and wish you all a happy holiday! We will have to think of a way of making up for this when we are finally able to return to ‘real’ School.

In fact, with this in mind, I’d like you all to have a think about a special lunch you would like on your first day back – let me have your ideas -anything you like (within reason) – and I will do my best to organise something special for you all.

I’m sure that the Easter bunny will be ignoring the rules on social distancing and leaving some lovely Easter eggs and chocolate for you all.   Perhaps you could arrange a special Easter egg hunt in the garden, particularly if you have younger brothers and sisters?  I know how exciting these can be and how much my own children (in the past) and my little grandson in the present (virtual search this year I’m afraid L) loved/loves hunting for eggs.   Obviously, I’m also hoping to receive my favourite Easter egg – a Maltesers one!

Today is also quite special as it’s April Fool’s Day.  I was going to play a trick on you and tell you that School is opening again tomorrow, but I knew that wouldn’t work really in light of the circumstances we find ourselves in.  So I’ll tell you about one of the April Fool’s tricks that I have played on Mr Moore over the years:

• We both love watching ‘University Challenge’ and normally count ourselves really lucky if we manage to answer 2 or 3 questions each as they’re really difficult.  However, one April Fool’s day, I recorded university Challenge and played it back to Mr Moore, pretending it was the most recent episode.  Imagine Mr Moore’s surprise when I was miraculously able to answer every single question correctly – even a particularly difficult one on Astro-Physics!  I had obviously memorised the answers previous to running the programme! (try it sometime)

Another memorable April Fool’s trick was played on the British public by the BBC when I was a child (yes, they did have television in those days!)  They put on a news article about the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland being particularly abundant that year because the pasta weevils had been eradicated. Here’s the clip from YouTube for you to watch (No, they didn’t have colour television in those days!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU

I’m kind of glad we’re not in school today because I would probably have had a few tricks played on me by the teachers (or you pupils!).

Anyway, to change the subject, Mrs Healey has kindly let me have a report on pupils who have achieved the most House points during remote learning to date and here are the results (drum roll please…):

Lancaster has gained the most points during remote working, closely followed by Tudor.  Lancaster also has the largest total since September, with York in second place!

Well done all!

While you’re off enjoying your holidays in the Costa del lounge or the Kitchen Riviera, I thought you might like to display the attached copy of the ‘Active Coping Calendar’ from Action for Happiness somewhere where all the family can see it.  There are some lovely daily suggestions for you to try. ( april_2020 Action for happiness )

I’m also attaching some ‘Thunks’ which pose some questions (no right or wrong answers) for you to think about and share with the family – I’ve had some great discussions with various classes over the years generated by these thunks so I hope you enjoy them. (Thunks[1])

Please remember to always follow the safer internet rules while you’re at home and using social media.  Remember my assembly on the ‘digital footprint’ and Mr Sneary’s follow-up assembly for Safer Internet Day and stay safe and be kind to each other!  If you are worried about anything at all, always speak to your parents and check the information I sent out earlier from CEOP about online safety.

Finally, just remember, I am really missing you all and simply can’t wait for everything to get back to normal.  You have been so brave and hard-working since School temporarily closed and I know that it’s been difficult for you and your parents.   I am going to take much more pleasure in the little things in life after this lockdown period ends.   Little things like hugging my family (yes, I’m a hugger), going to restaurants, going to the cinema and theatre – or simply just being able to go shopping again (I love shopping)!  I hope that when we do eventually return to normal, that these little things will mean so much more to all of us than they used to.

I’m signing off for now, but you may hear from me over the holidays (just to check you’re all okay).  In the meantime, be happy, safe and kind and remember to continue helping the grown-ups with those chores.

I’ll finish with a little Irish blessing for you all:

Love and best wishes to you all

Mrs M