Message from Mrs Rachel Tillen Chair of Governors

Message from Mrs Rachel Tillen – Chair of Governors Each school year starts with a plan, developed between staff and governors, of how the year will look and what will be achieved. The governors are responsible for holding the school to account on what it has done to achieve that plan. Often a year does not go exactly to plan, mostly in a good way as we morph and adapt. Conversion to primary and the building works we thought were our most challenging years and we started this year with everyone in their correct classroom, no more moving around a peaceful but action-packed year ahead. Nowhere in our planning and risk assessments for 2019/20 did we have global pandemic. We do not solely measure Ewell Grove’s achievements by academic progress - that is a given - but by the smiles, independence and ambitions of the children and the dedication of the staff. Ewell Grove is a school that has precious memories for many and creating those memories is one of our key aims. To ensure, that as our pupils move on, they are recognised and welcomed as “Ewell Grovers”. As Chair of Governors I have the joy and privilege of working with an amazing team of school staff, volunteer parents and volunteer governors who will always be looking for that something extra. We held the final, virtual, board meeting of the academic year this week. We reviewed and reflected on the year and the last 4 months in particular. While we had seen the work as it went along, reviewing it as a whole the governors were blown away by the amount and quality of work, the depth of planning, the racing to keep up with government policies and all the while focusing on the pupils and their families. We continue to try to plan to be ready to cope with whatever the next year throws at us. We have thanked the staff directly and repeat thanks here to all the staff and in particular the school leaders, Mrs Keane, Mrs Gardiner and Miss Rising. We are also incredibly proud of the whole school community and wish you all a peaceful, restful, and safe summer.

FOEG bought us the biggest Christmas Tree ever…. so we came together to sing whilst making sure everyone had time to put their decoration on it World Frog Day STAR MARK AWARD We were so proud that Ewell Grove was once again recognised for demonstrating high levels of opportunity and impact through our PE provision; therefore we achieved the maximum award of 3 stars. The end of the school year is always a good time to reflect on the times we all shared. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter what we are doing… just being together is enough to make us all happy. Here are some of the times we have thought about, but we are sure you have other memories too. We look forward to being all back in our school together in September. Have fun over the summer, but please remember to stay safe! Mrs Keane’s chance encounter with this lost Manx Shearwater made us reflect at Harvest about what we could do to support a local charity… through your kindness we raised £ 510 for this local Wildlife Charity who took him back to Wales! One of the children even renamed him ‘Max the Seabird!’ You told us that this Science Demonstration was ‘amazing, incredible and loud’.

I remember explaining in a Remembrance Day assembly how we remember not only those who died in the Great War, but also those who have died more recently in service to their country. I thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas Carol Service at St Mary’s Church, I felt so proud to be part of Ewell Grove. I really enjoyed seeing all the smiles on the children’s faces as they passed the office and hearing the voices of happy children playing in the playground. Christmas is always an enjoyable time at Ewell Grove. Every year our very own donkey comes out of the summer shed to see the children in the hall. Putting the lights on the Christmas tree is always a challenge, but it looked so beautiful in our lovely new hall. I love to see the children’s excited faces and slightly nervous chatter as they leave to get the coach for their residential… and then their happy, smiley faces when they return full of stories of the fun they have had. I am sorry that some of you did not get to go on your residential but lucky Year 4 got to enjoy High Ashurst.

Have a wonderful summer holiday! We look forward to seeing you all next year and making some more happy memories.