Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
Sitting down now to gather some thoughts to share with you all, I am reminded of the blog I wrote at exactly the same time last year – just as we were hurtling towards the much-needed half term break after one of the most extraordinary half terms ever seen. And who could have predicted at that time what the rest of the year would have in store for us all?
This half term has seen a return to ‘normality’ in a most aspects of school life, notwithstanding the need to respond quickly to changing situations, and at times making difficult decisions – for example, having to move our eagerly anticipated Year 6 Open Day to an online event. We have however managed to re-commence our usual programme of activities and speakers, and last week year 13 students were visited by two support workers from Cranstoun, a local drugs and alcohol recovery service for young people. They learned about the dangers of a variety of drugs, as well as how to keep themselves and their friends safe from drink spiking and safety issues associated with festivals:
Friends of The Holt
With the continuing uncertainties over hosting large-scale events, planning our usual Friends of The Holt fundraisers, including the popular Christmas Fair, remains problematic. We are grateful to all those who continue to make both regular and one-off donations to help us pay for those extras that we cannot afford from our school budgets. As many of you will be aware, Friends provided funding for the 2 new permanent shelters which appeared on site after the summer. They are already a popular addition, and we would love to be able to afford a third one.
Please also remember Friends of The Holt when you are starting your Christmas shopping – by making your Amazon purchases via Smile Amazon, a donation of 0.5% of the purchase price will be made to the charity. Every little helps!
Smile Amazon | The Holt School
We are always looking for parents to join Friends of The Holt, and if you are interested in finding out more, or attending one of our meetings, please get in touch. Further information can be found on our website:
Friends of The Holt School | The Holt School
Lettings
We are extremely lucky to have such a beautiful site so near to Wokingham town centre, and we are now looking to share this benefit further with the wider community through our re-vamped lettings programme. Our facilities are now available weekday evenings during term time, all day during school breaks, and weekends throughout the year (except Christmas). Please do go to our website for more information on the spaces available – a few are shown below. Don’t forget to tell your friends…
We hope to see you soon!
All that remains now is to wish you, your family and friends a healthy and restful half term from all of us at The Holt. See you next month!
Sian Lehrter
School Business Director