Before Christmas, I had the privilege of witnessing some absolutely beautiful performances from our Reception children in their nativity and our senior choir performing “Ebenezer Scrooge’s Quiet Night in”. Both were wonderful and showcased the very talented children (and staff!) we have at EBPS!

Special thanks must go to John and Lyn Rees who composed the musical and wrote the lyrics and music especially for children. The performance was different to the one performed by the adults group at the Methodist Church but was an absolute joy to behold! We were also lucky to have John accompany the live performances on the keyboard and Kevin Flannagan on the drums. Special thanks also to our music lead Mrs Sarah Levell for her incredibly hard work in rehearsing senior choir and getting them singing and performing to such a high standard.

Our senior choir were also very busy in the run-up to Christmas, performing at multiple events including singing for the Earls Barton luncheon club Christmas meals on two consecutive Fridays. The children’s singing brought a smile to many faces as they serenaded the luncheon club members with some classis and some new Christmas songs.

You may have read in the December edition of Barton Today that, after 23 years, Mrs Tina Skett left EBPS before Christmas and has relocated to be closer to her family in Wales. As the longest-serving member of staff, Mrs Skett’s wisdom, loyalty and dedication to the children and families of Earls Barton will be sorely missed. We held a special “farewell” assembly on the final day of term, celebrating the legacy Mrs Skett has left and singing lots of her favourite songs as well as holding a “guard of honour” with the legendary Year Six swords! Thank you Tina for all you have done for the school, village, families and children. We all wish you every happiness for the future.

As the new year begins, we have turned our attention to new year’s resolutions, new topics and new learning experiences for our children. We started the year with two days’ of visits from the “Word Guerilla” who inspired our children, through poetry and spoken word, to produce their own poems about our school values and their future aspirations.

A reminder for anyone in need of a Reception school place for September 2024 that the deadline to apply is 15^th January 2024 and we expect this year that we will be over-subscribed due to the post-covid baby boom!

Marie Lally

Headteacher, on behalf of the EBPS community.