Good afternoon everybody!

Apart from realising that two weeks is a very long time between assemblies, I have also learnt this week that we are all completely surrounded by real-life heroes! I have loved hearing about the people in your lives who care for you, inspire you, make you feel proud and help you to realise the true value of people and relationships, especially when things get a little tricky in the world. People like …

• Uncle Chris who does the food bank trips, tidies the garden and even builds trampolines whilst working long hours in a supermarket
• NHS workers – nurses, midwives, doctors, mums who care for our eyes and Junior Doctors in their first few weeks in post on the frontline 
• A and E Air Rescue trained GPs and surgeons and a little boy who is so proud of the role played by his daddy and his Uncle Ali in trying their best to ‘squish’ the danger that currently exists
• Mums, Dads and other grown-ups who are patiently helping to keep our home learning going alongside all their other jobs, and still managing to take us for lovely walks, cook with us, paint with us, garden with us and have lots of fun with us all at the same time
• Daddies who help to deliver food parcels
• Inspirational, kind and caring teachers who are deeply missed but are continuing to inspire us and make us smile from afar
• Great Grandma Doll Doll (aged 93) who lives by herself but now uses two ipads to manage her family communications!
• Uncle Shane who is tirelessly and bravely supporting the residents of Camden, keeping them safe, well and happy
• An engineer Grandpa who is keeping the wifi in Manchester working so that everyone can keep in touch (I may need to ask you to pop around to help my mum so that we can see more than just the top of her head (… sideways) when we facetime)
• Local farmers who are working long hours to ensure that we can still buy milk in the shops
• Firefighters, ‘posties’, refuse collectors, home care assistants, shop workers, police … even courageous, comforting soft toys …

And my own group of heroes this week, perfectly illustrated by Buddy …

Never has the inner strength, kindness and dedication of this amazing group of people shone more brightly, as they all begin to plan for the next half term. I have said it many times before but I have no idea where I would be without them!

Thank you once again for all of your lovely images and emails over the last two weeks. Time to meet all of your amazing helpers and heroes  … 

As we have been focusing on all of our ‘real-life’ heroes, I thought it would be good to immerse ourselves in the world of a story book hero this week. The often quiet, deeply understated but fiercely talented Eliot  Jones, Midnight Superhero …

And finally, a mention for another quiet, deeply understated but fiercely talented ICT Technician, Miss Barnes (24 Hour Superhero) who has been working hard to ensure that two further recipe books are ready for you, for some half term culinary fun – the Chocolate Collection and the Family Favourites.

Damers Family Favourites – http://www.damers.dorset.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Damers-Family-Favourites.pdf

Damers Chocolate Collection – http://www.damers.dorset.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Damers-Chocolate-Collection-FINAL-Reduced-Size-PDF.pdf

I wish you and your families a happy half term break. I know that I am really looking forward to having some time with my ‘Smith Family’ heroes this week, and I look forward to being ‘with you’ again after half term.

Until then, I know that my thoughts will be filled with 450 purple and blue superheroes who wear butterflies on their chests and help me to stay focused and smiling throughout the most difficult of tasks. I miss you all and can’t wait to welcome you back soon. 

Mrs Smith