As many of you are already aware, 2 schools in the local area have closed as a result of illness. At this time we do not have significant cause for concern at FMPS.

As a precaution, we have contacted Public Health England to seek advice regarding preventative measures we can introduce to school, in addition to our already rigorous cleaning regime. They have advised the following:

Additional cleaning of toilets/taps/toilet flusher/door handles regularly throughout the day

Supervised (where possible) hand washing with soap and water

Removal/limited use of water and sand play

If a child is showing signs of being unwell, they should be sent home at the earliest opportunity

If a child has been absent for vomiting they should not return to school until after 48 hours from the last episode

We have implemented additional cleaning hours so that we can ensure that all of these things happen. Please reinforce good hand hygiene at home so that we can limit the chances of illness.

If it becomes necessary to close the school, we will inform you via website and app.

Thank you for your support.

Mrs B Smith

Our final day in Chania was a fitting end to what has been a truly wonderful experience.

The day began with a visit to Mavromatakis School and a talk about the use of technology, such as drones, to address environmental issues in Crete. The children watched as a drone flew over the school taking pictures and even transporting equipment.

Some children then had the chance to join in a game of dodgeball, this was a great opportunity to mix with the Greek and Italian children; other children chose to take a tour of the school, meeting members of staff and learning about the lessons taught.

This was followed by a presentation ceremony, in which the children were given certificates and presents from the headteacher of the school to commemorate the trip.

In the afternoon we had some time to visit the beach, it was a short walk from the hotel and was a great opportunity to explore the old town and a chance to paddle in the sea. In the sea we spotted lots of small fish and wrote some messages in the sand.

Finally, we enjoyed a goodbye meal with all of staff from Mavromatakis school and other members of the Erasmus trip. We were treated to an amazing multiple course meal and had a chance to learn some traditional dancing. It was a wonderful way to to say goodbye to the group and reflect on the week.

Wednesday began with a trip to Manousaki Winery, during which the children learnt about each stage of the wine making process.

Following this we visited Antonakis Synergatiki Citrus and Avocado Company. We were given a tour of the whole facility, tracking the production process of Avocado and Aloe Vera, from field to the finished product you would see in a shop. We were also given the chance to sample some of the products!

We then made a short journey to Agia lake, where we took a walk around spotting lots of interesting plants and wildlife. It was here we had our lunch, with the lake and mountains giving us a beautiful view.

Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, we visited the Tombs of Venizelos and witnessed a stunning sunset over the whole of Chania! Definitely a view to remember!

Year 6 pupils enjoyed a special French Day, led by Madam Raine, on Friday 25th of October based on a topic called “Notre monde” (Our world).

Pupils used a flag labelling /colouring  activity to learn the French names for countries and capital cities. Next various games were played to practice the continents and major world rivers, and then we moved on to describing the weather using the simple future tense. We tried our hands at being Language Detectives, and then finally learnt about different landscapes.

In the afternoon, all pupils became explorers and produced descriptions of the journey along their newly discovered rivers.

Another amazing day in Chania!

In the morning we visited the Botanical Gardens of Crete and saw a vast variety of incredible plants including many that came from more tropical regions of the world.

We continued our day by going further into the mountains, visiting the Samaria Gorge. The scenery was spectacular, here we enjoyed a 7 course traditional Greek meal with the Gorge as our backdrop. We also visited a small museum in the mountains that had exhibits showing the wildlife and plant life that surrounded the Omalos Plateau.

We had a beautiful drive back into Chania following mountain roads and ever more spectacular scenery.

After a long journey to Chania we arrived on Sunday evening and the children had well deserved sleep in our lovely hotel.

On Monday morning we enjoyed a warm welcome filled with traditional greek music and dancing at Mavromatakis school. This was followed by master classes around the school called ‘repurposing old t-shirts’,’ creating music from disposable objects’ and ‘balancing what the sea rinsed out’. The children then presented the objects they had produced in these sessions to the rest of the group. Following this we enjoyed a traditional Greek lunch and had the opportunity to socialise with others from the Erasmus project.

In the late afternoon the group were given a guided tour of the Chania old town, which included great photo opportunities and stunning scenery.

We are all looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

What a lovely start to the new academic year.

Well done to all of the children who have settled in well to their new classes. We regularly update our Enrichment and Enjoyment page with the activities that each class have been doing – take a look on the Parents section of our website and have a look. As you will see we have been very busy.

We received a visit from Jet and Ben and learned all about ‘Stranger Danger’ and how to stay safe as the nights become darker.

Our annual Harvest Festival Assembly was a huge success and we were overwhelmed at the generosity of the families who donated food for the Durham Food Bank.

At the request of one of our pupils the cross country team raised money for the Rainforest Foundation. Well done to all of the runners.

Our fabulous Year 6 girls won the 7 a side ESFA tournament – with only 6 players on their team! GO TEAM FRAM!

Thank you for your continued support and I hope you all have a lovely half term.

In the final blog of the school year, I would like to take this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to all parents for your continuous support.

We say goodbye to our Year 6 children on Friday. I am sure everyone will agree that the Leavers Show was truly wonderful.

They have been a lovely group, hardworking, great role models to our younger children and a delight to teach. We wish them well for their exciting next step into secondary education.

Mrs Smith

On Tuesday a team of 25 of our children headed to Beamish Museum to compete in the Durham Dash. Half of the team competed in field events including throwing and jumping and the other half competed in the road race – a 600m run.

Our team were amazing and both Florence and Henry reached their finals! Henry went on to win GOLD in his final race – a wonderful achievement.

Well done to all of our team. You all did your best and we are very proud of you.

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In June a group of intrepid explorers travelled to Robin Wood in Alston for 3 days. We took part in a range of activities including; the Zip Line, Trapeze, Nightline, Climbing Wall, Dragon’s Quest and the legendary……Piranha Pool! We had an amazing time.

We are already looking forward to next year’s visit!