Dear Parents and Carers,

Tonight's news about the passing of Queen Elizabeth II has shocked and saddened the nation. I wanted to take the time to outline how we as a school will approach and explain this momentous event to the children.

Firstly, I will be holding an assembly for all children at 9.15am tomorrow morning;. We will cover the death of the monarch, her life and service, and as this is the first instance of death that many children have experienced, we will also look at how the passing of a loved one is not just sad, but the chance to celebrate a great life and remember happy times.

Furthermore, we will collapse the curriculum tomorrow and focus exclusively on the queen. We will look at her life and achievement and what she meant to so many.

Following that there will be a collapse of our curriculum for the following 2 weeks (with the exception of maths and science) which will cover the death and funeral of our queen and the accession of our new king. I will be in contact with you with our topics in the near future,

This is a momentous moment. The queen has been a constant moment in the life of the overwhelming majority of the school's community. We have lost our head of state and have gained a new head of state for the first time in more than 70 years.

We have a duty as a school to convey, explain, comfort and educate our children about what is happening in these historic days that will follow.

My thoughts, as I am sure are yours, are with the family of Queen Elizabeth II, who are having to mourn the death of a dearly beloved relative, whilst standing with the rest of this nation at a time of sadness and change.

Michael Watson

Head Teacher