Message from Mrs Smith:
Goodness me I have missed you during the Easter break but I am delighted that we have a chance to get all the blogs up and running today and to start our week together again – Good Morning everybody!
As always, your grown-ups have an email to help with the assembly this week and I’ve included a few extra clips in the notes if you would like to learn more.
It has been great to hear about all the growing that has been happening in homes and gardens over the last few weeks and I have loved hearing about the awe and wonder that many of you have experienced when seeing green shoots appear for the very first time.
This leads us beautifully on to this week’s assembly theme which is all about the outcome of this focus on health and growing – food.
Think about all the special times that you have shared with family and friends and how often food has played an important role in this.
These images may help but I know that you will have thoughts of your own too. Maybe it will be the times that you’ve had tea at a friend’s house, grandma’s spaghetti bolognese, the smell of baking bread at Cranborne, the awe and wonder of seeing lots of varieties of carrots in our school garden … all show us the importance of food in our lives but also the way that it often makes us feel great. Some of these things are still happening, but some may be on pause for a while or may be happening in a different way now as we discover new ways to keep in touch.
You will know that the adults that work with you in school are usually smiling, but I’m not sure if you know that one of the main things that helps them to do this (apart from all of you obviously) is food!
Did you know that whenever Mrs Smith has a really tricky job to do, Mrs Baillie often knows and bakes the most delicious Northern Irish fridge cake called ‘15s’ to keep her smiling? Did you also know that Mr Misun sometimes orders in pizza to keep meetings running smoothly, Mrs Bracey keeps everyone planning creatively with her tasty cheese scones, Miss Barnes livens up many a staff lunch with her homemade falafel and houmous, Mrs Watts and Mr Stone often make Mrs Smith pancakes for breakfast, Mr Oram invests in expensive crackers to accompany cheese and to keep the grown-ups going long after you’ve all gone home, Miss Hudson has a great recipe for vegan cheese, Mr Tims loves baking and Mrs Smith has sometimes arrived home to a most beautiful parcel waiting on her doorstep, filled with her favourite foods and edible love from our carrot cake making expert Miss Nesbitt?!
Food plays such a special role in our lives and while many of us are now in lockdown, we are being given the chance to think about its importance, to grow our own, to celebrate our favourite foods, to cook meals together with our families and to think about love and how it sometimes appears in edible form when sharing food.
There is a lovely campaign at the moment, led by one of our supermarkets (other supermarkets are available and are doing an equally amazing job of supporting us all!) which is designed to celebrate how we pass on much loved recipes through generations of families and within our community.
I know that many of you are doing similar things, cooking a favourite family meal and eating with much missed friends and family virtually where you can.
Hopefully this will provide the inspiration for our community activity this week – a chance to share images of your best loved dishes / favourite meals / treats. Your grown up will help you to share images of your cooking and favourite dishes with me but I would also love it if you could share some of your favourite recipes, maybe decorating them and giving them a catchy title such as ‘Uncle Pete’s Pumpkin Pie’.
Alongside this activity this week, I thought it might be good to revisit a project that I shared with some of you in assembly a while ago …
Newquay’s Community Orchard. You may remember me telling you about Luke Berkeley and how he had turned his life around with a positive focus on nature, community and the joy in growing and sharing food. The clip below shows the community’s Harvest celebration and the amazing way that food can bring everyone together.
And finally, I know that Mr Moore will be sending you information this week linked with the Earth Day celebrations that are planned for Wednesday 22 April. You may want to link some of the activities that are suggested by Mr Moore with our assembly this week in your quest to support ‘Climate Action’ too.
I can’t wait to hear from you (your grown-up will help you to share pictures and recipes with me). I will reply to any messages that come in and I will share all the highlights in our Celebration Assembly on Friday.
Let’s get cooking together this week Team Damers, I can’t wait to dine with you and look forward to the day when we are all back in school sharing a meal together again.
Mrs Smith ☺
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S