I spent a short time yesterday sitting on the grass bank at Trent Vale nursery, saying farewell to Jackie Moss, who retires as head teacher there this week. As a family group of head teachers we have found strength from each other and in our efforts to support our community. We will miss Mrs Moss but are grateful for the strength of partnership that she has created with our school, the Lanes and John Clifford, as well as the broader reach of schools, in a family that sees our children through their formative years.

The challenges have continued right to the end of the year, and we have seen more students needing to self-isolate this week. However, we have been determined to celebrate our learning, our creativity and our commitment to new experiences.

We celebrated "Chilwell's got musical talent" this week, with a wide range of musical performances. We are lucky to have so many talented young people with the confidence to share their love of music with others. On Tuesday, we had most of our students on the field at various points in the day for our end of year sports day, and the middle of the week was taken up with Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and geography field trips.

We have a number of staff leaving us today and I want to thank them for the role they have played in the development of the school, the response to the challenges of the past year and to wish them well in the next stage of their career.

Thank you to Mr Ali, Ms Mlejnecky, Mr Chiweshe, Ms Mellors, Mr Kelvey, Mr Bradbury, Ms Cook and Dr Hetmanski.

We give you our thanks and we wish you well for the future.

The new year is planned and details of the start of term, the curriculum and day pattern can be found on our website. Now that the summer break has come, Chilwell school wishes you a safe, healthy and enjoyable summer break.

After a year of pain and challenge, I hope the summer brings a time to recuperate, recharge and be ready to move on. Through the turmoil of the last year, we are now seeing the school blossom.

Let there be peace
Let tears evaporate to form clouds, cleanse themselves
And fall into reservoirs of drinking water.
Let harsh memories burst into fireworks that melt
In the dark pupils of a child’s eyes
And disappear like shoals of silver darting fish,
And let the waves reach the shore with a
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

"Let there be peace" - Lemn Sissay