It has been a very busy summer term, ranging from SATs to France, sports to Hampton Court. The Year 6 SATs results produced very encouraging results, even allowing for the well publicised vagaries of the marking system. The children performed well up to and often beyond their teachers’ assessments, traditionally the most accurate measure of attainment, with Level 5 results continuing to rise. The new Government's offer to schools to apply for academy status was not considered advantageous to the school at this time. The school has a very good relationship with the Local Authority and benefits heavily from their service and advice.

A Parents’ Council meeting was held in June and produced valuable discussion on a wide range of subjects. These included children’s assessments, Year 2 transition, school uniforms, safeguarding issues, Government education changes and fundraising. In the latter respect, the Summer Fair avoided poor early morning weather threats to be held as usual in the playground. Children, staff parents and governors managed a record number of stalls offering a wide range of products and competitions and attracted a very good flow of visitors. The monies raised will be used for various school projects, including ICT hardware and the food technology room due later this year.

The School’s "Green Gang" has had a magical few weeks with success in a scarecrow competition and Silver Gilt awards in both South and South-east in Bloom and Test Valley in Bloom. The RHS Campaign for School Gardening invited entries for scarecrows based on Shakespeare characters. Our scarecrow "Rosalind" from "As You Like It" was selected for exhibition at the prestigious Hampton Court Flower Show. Mrs Russell and six Gang members had a memorable day at the show looking at the gardens and finding inspiration for their own work. The South-east in Bloom award was presented by television gardener Chris Collins at a whole school assembly, while the Test Valley award will be made at the awards evening in Longstock in October.

Thirty-nine children and six adults went on the increasingly popular residential visit to France. They had a wonderful week – using their language skills out in the French community and spending time at the PGL Education Centre on a variety of outdoor pursuits.

Sports day took place in excellent weather and there was the usual keen competition before Abbotswood took the trophy, presented to the house captains Georgie Sherin and Francesca Woodrow by new parent governors Mrs Kulbant Kang and Mr Mike Pollard.