Following a holiday in Cape Town over Christmas, one of our Year Four girls, Lili, has been moved to raise money to support the education of a fourteen year old girl called Panashe. Panashe lives in the poorest area of Cape Town. She has to pay £4.00 each day to travel to school. Unfortunately, her mum takes home a daily wage of £12.00. Lili and her friends Ella, Imogen and Darcie spoke in assembly today about their plans to raise money for Panashe and they are asking for your support. During next week, they will collect any unwanted children’s books you may have and then sell them in the following week (just before half term). Lili and her friends are also carrying out a sponsored walk on Saturday 15th February. I am sure you will agree that Lili, Ella, Imogen and Darcie are simply amazing to have organised all this between them. It would be lovely if they get lots of support from the Yattendon community. Well done girls!

We have received emails from local neighbours who write to say that they have been effectively blocked in their driveway, as the gap left for them is too narrow for them to leave their driveway safely and make the turn into the road (especially when there are also cars parked opposite their driveway). On at least one occasion recently, this has caused a resident to miss an important appointment. Please avoid using the car for pick-up or drop-off if it’s at all possible. If you have to park in Oakwood Road or Lumley Road, please do not park adjacent to the drop kerb, as the space either side of a driveway (often the site of drop kerbs) is often needed for residents to exit safely. Thank you for your support with this.

We are pleased to say that the school library is now open every lunchtime. The children will have a day allocated to their year group (to avoid over-crowding) when they can come and enjoy browsing and reading. Mrs Reeve will be in charge, ably supported by Mrs Hawley and Year 6 librarians.

We all lead incredibly busy lives, and this can leave us little spare time. However, we have always been lucky at Yattendon to have the generous help of a small group of volunteer parents who have supported the Friends and come along to Parent and Carer Council meetings. A school is so much better for such support, but it would be true to say that we were struggling a bit with this last term.

Without a viable FOY (Friends of Yattendon), the cost of trips and special events would increase significantly and the school may be faced with having to cancel the exciting and rich experiences that children enjoy so much.

Without enough parents contributing to the Parent and Carer Council, we may have to disband this group. Last year the Parent and Carer Council made incredibly valuable contributions to the school, helping us ensure that initiatives reflected your views and priorities.

Make a difference - please think carefully about coming along to the next FOY meeting at Yattendon on

20th January at 7:00pm. You will not be roped into anything you don’t want to do, but we will be looking at the rest of the year and seeking help with the events being planned. We already have some exciting ideas for giving the summer fair a unique twist! If you can’t make the meeting, please email the FOY (address in the footer of page 2) with an expression of interest.

If you would like to become a member of the Parent and Carer Council, please look out for a letter that will be sent out next week inviting new members. Free cake is offered at every meeting - or fruit if your 2020 good intentions preclude cake!

Children really love seeing their parents get involved. And of course, we would be very grateful indeed for your support.