This week we have warmly welcomed three new families to the Farsley Westroyd family. It has been a delight to see our caring, kind children support our new friends to settle in. However, one of the children has already beaten me at Uno, so I think I may need some practice before the rematch!

We were mighty proud of our Y4 Handball team this week, who stormed their way to success at a local tournament at Crawshaw this week. As is our way at Farsley Westroyd, we always go out believing we can win, and we always give our absolute best. I love watching them get ready to set off, there is so much energy, positivity and excitement. It was all well channelled as we won every match with knobs on! So proud of the team. Handball is a great game, fast and engages all the attack and defence skills we teach them in PE lessons.

This year, we have made a pledge that all the children will experience live theatre at least once! As someone who spends a lot of time in the theatre, as my eldest is a performer, to me, theatre takes my mind to a different place for two hours and always brings feelings of joy! A tremendous feel good factor.

For our young children, theatre brings stories to life, right in front of them. This not only sparks curiosity but also inspires children to dream, play and create. I have to say, in this day and age, it is more important than ever, as, unlike screens, theatre requires imagination to “fill in the blanks”. (e.g. a single prop may represent many things and a stage can be many different worlds. But ultimately, a class visit to live theatre promotes community. It is something they have experienced together and if you were not there, you won’t get it! Which some of the children in Y4 did point out to me about their visit to the Alhambra this week to see “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

Some Y5 girls and I went to check in on our friend Joan on Friday, took her some flowers to say thank you for helping us out last Saturday. She had just come back from Morrisons, so we sat and had a chat! She made us chuckle, telling us about how her cat steals the fish’s food, but never tries to catch the fish!

Well, we still seem to be blessed with sunny weather as we start October. Our team of young gardeners have been busy planting spring bulbs in our new planters in KS1 and KS2, ready for spring. Although I did notice that we may have some upside-down plants come spring, by the direction of the bulb going into the soil?! A lot of worm collecting seems to go on, so it must be good soil!