As we head towards the February half term break, I just want to say a big thank you to our pupils, staff and families for such a positive and busy start to the year. The children have been working incredibly hard and it’s been lovely to see their enthusiasm and confidence growing week by week. We’re really proud of everything they’ve achieved so far. We hope the break gives everyone a chance to relax, have some fun and enjoy a bit of recreational time. We look forward to welcoming the children back refreshed and ready for the rest of the term! Debbie Maindonald Acting Headteacher
Douet Destroyers Cheerleading Team
Douet Destroyers Cheerleading Team. The Douet Destroyers are an elite group of 12 cheerleaders who will train once a week and deliver exceptional performances throughout the school year. Cheerleaders will also engage in community outreach, proudly represent the school at events and showcase all the school values. Auditions for the Douet Destroyers will take place after February half term. Auditions are open to boys and girls in Years 3-5. More information is to follow shortly.
World Book Day - 5th March 2026
World Book Day will be taking place on Thursday 5th March, and we are very much looking forward to celebrating our love of reading with the children. To help us mark this special day, we invite all children to come to school dressed as a character from a book. We kindly ask that no football kits are worn. Creativity is encouraged, and costumes can be as simple or as imaginative as you wish. Throughout the day, the children will take part in a range of exciting World Book Day activities, all designed to inspire a love of reading and storytelling. There will also be prizes awarded for the best costume in the following categories: • Early Years • KS1 • LKS2 • UKS2 On the day, every child will receive a World Book Day book token, which can be exchanged at TG Jones or Waterstones. In addition, we will be sending home a special competition over the February half-term holiday. There will be prizes to be won as well as House Points, so we encourage everyone to take part. Thank you, as always, for your continued support in helping us foster a love of reading across the school. We look forward to celebrating World Book Day with you and your children. Mrs Johnson Reading Lead
Online Safety: Social Media Use and Age Restrictions
We would like to remind families that many popular social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp, have a minimum age requirement of 13. We are increasingly seeing issues from out-of-school use of these platforms impacting children’s wellbeing and relationships in school. As a school, if we become aware of a pupil having a social media profile that is under the platform’s age restriction, we have a safeguarding obligation to report this to the provider. We strongly encourage parents and carers to regularly check their child’s online activity, privacy settings, and app usage, and to have open conversations about staying safe and being kind online.
Online Safety: Smartwatches in School
A reminder that smartwatches are not permitted in school. This includes any device that can send or receive messages, access the internet, take photos, or record audio. Smartwatches can be distracting and may be used to bypass school rules around mobile phone use. If a child brings a smartwatch into school, they will be asked to remove it and it may need to be collected by an adult at the end of the day. Thank you for your continued support in helping us keep children safe, focused, and ready to learn.
OPAL
The opal team would like to say a big thank you to Deputy Kovacs for her large donation of toys and books. We would also like to thank other parents that have donated and would like to request if any parents are having a half-term clearance any donations would be gratefully received. Thank you, Opal team.
Housekeeping
In order to keep the whole school community safe, we should like to highlight the following:
- Scooters - following on from our previous newsletter, scooters and bikes should not be ridden to school. At present we have nowhere for them to be stored during the school day and they are NOT permitted to be left outside the front of the school. Please ensure your child leaves their scooter at home.
- Medication - Please be advised that ANY medication that is to be administered to your child during the school day is brought into school and collected from school by an adult. A permission form to administer the medication will need to be completed and signed by a parent.
- Only prescribed medication can be brought into school in the original packaging which states your child's name and the dose to be administered. If your child is prescribed medication that is to be administered 3 times a day, we would request that it is given before school, after school and at bedtime. If it is to be given 4 times a day we can administer it during the school day.
- It is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that inhalers and auto injector adrenaline pens (EpiPens) that are kept in school are in date.
- NUT FREE SCHOOL - Can we please remind all parents and carers that we are a nut free school. We have several children who have a severe allergy, this can be by touch, digested or by being airborne. Please ensure that any product that comes into school does not contain nuts ie cereal / granola bars. Thank you for your cooperation.
Term Dates
Monday 16th - Friday 20th February 2026 - Half Term
Thursday 26th February 2026 - Photographer in school for groups & absent portraits
Thursday 5th March 2026 - World Book Day
Tuesday 10th - Thursday 12th March 2026 - French Eisteddfod
Friday 13th March 2026 - Spanish Eisteddfod
Wednesday 18th March 2026 - Primary Schools Cross Country
Tuesday 31st March 2026 - School Reports sent out to parents
Wednesday 1st April 2026 - Last day of the Spring Term
Monday 20th April 2026 - School Closed Inset Day
Tuesday 21st April 2026 - First day of Summer Term