Good afternoon everybody!
Well in a week where we have been talking about what we do to ensure fun, relaxation and wellbeing, you have all topped up my wellbeing-ometer to the ‘full to bursting’ level once again! I have the loveliest evenings hearing your news, sharing your adventures and seeing your beautiful creations like this ‘Covidinsky’ …
… this beautiful rendition …
http://www.damers.dorset.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/VID-20200430-WA0002.mp4
… and our much missed teachers also sharing their relaxation fun …
Your grown-ups at home are doing an amazing job at the moment, as teachers, break and midday supervisors, sports coaches, learning mentors, mediators, counsellors, first aiders, after-school provision leaders, cooks, entertainers and all round good eggs! I hope that when you get the chance you will give them a great big hug and a heartfelt thank you!
This week you have shared so many top tips for fun and relaxation. You have told me about …
- The diversity that exists in your homes and amongst your interesting new classmates
- Family sleepovers in the aptly named ‘Kindness Hotel’
- Undercover walkie talkie missions in the Borough Gardens
- Kite flying on windy walks
- The card and board games that you are becoming unnervingly better than the grown-ups at
- The joy of connecting with nature on walks and how this makes you feel so much more positive
- Creating works of art together inspired by Pop Art, Andy Warhol and Kandinsky, Apollo 13 inspired crafting, sewing and screen printing
- Gardening and its link with mindfulness
- Cooking and the memorable sights, tastes and smells of joyful family gatherings
- The wonder of miniature steam engines
- The joy that comes from dancing and singing your hearts out to timeless Kylie classics and one dad performing ‘Shiny’ from Moana
- How great exercise can make you feel – whether this is a family bike ride, the exhilaration felt on a water slide or the excitement of trying to empty or reload a ball-filled trampoline in competition with some rather red faced grown ups
- Your reading adventures and the feelings that come when you realise that a book like The Secret Garden is coming to an end
- Den building indoors and outdoors and the construction of a very impressive ‘Technology Den’
- Trips to the beach inside your own living rooms
- Decorating the house in preparation for a religious celebration
- The joy of creating all kinds of music together
- Caring for treasured family pets and creating stylish feeders for wildlife
- Snow White themed adventures
- Garden camping … outdoor film nights … sleepovers in the tree house …
I genuinely feel like one of the luckiest people in the world doing my job at the moment – thank you for continuously providing a fantastic source of lockdown wellbeing, for each other and for me!
And so, time to share some of the gems that have been sent my way this week …
And finally, one of our Year 3s introduced me to her little friend ‘Guppy’, the tiniest of frogs, this week. Ella has been nurturing Guppy since he was a tadpole and wanted to relocate him to our school pond. This reminded me of one of my favourite fun activities as a child when I was lucky to spend what felt like everlasting summer days outdoors with my brother and cousins, nurturing all kinds of pond and woodland creatures, creating stories about them and building many a magical kingdom (that they rarely stayed in!).
Hence my choice of story this week …
You’ll be pleased to hear that Guppy is having a lovely time and was last spotted an hour ago basking in the sun on the top of one of our lily pads. Thank you Ella!
Don’t forget the big squeeze and heartfelt thank you for your grown-ups this weekend. Time for a Friday dance-off in the kitchen I feel …
I am missing you all desperately!
Mrs Smith