As we reach the end of this term, it’s hard to believe how much has happened since we started the school year in September.  The weeks have flown by, and we are always truly amazed at the resilience and focus shown by our pupils as they settle into new classes—and for our youngest children, as they begin their school journey with us.

The fantastic learning that takes place every day is a testament to the pupils and to all of the staff who work tirelessly to support them. As a school leader, I see this every day when visiting lessons; how engaged and excited the children are in school.  This term, we have had our usual plethora of trips and visits, exciting opportunities within school and the introduction of our VR headsets, which many of the children have loved.  We have seen a huge level of progress and effort from pupils, something that would not be possible without the support of such a great staff team.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for their unwavering support and determination. It is this commitment that makes our school community such a special place to be part of.

This sense of community has been especially evident over the last couple of weeks as we’ve come together to celebrate Christmas. From the superb nativity performances to the joy of sharing Christmas dinner yesterday (although there wasn’t a sprout in sight!), these moments remind us of how special it is to be part of our Nash Mills family.

Within school, we’ve also been reflecting on the importance of faith—how, through the Christmas story, so many people had to put trust in others. This season is a wonderful time to remember those around us who we rely on every day, those who are always there for us, especially when times are hard. Let’s take a moment to show how thankful we are for these people.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a very Happy Christmas. We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Tuesday 6th January 2026!

Nativities

This year’s production of Lights, Camel, Action! was, as always, an absolute delight to be part of. The children demonstrated incredible confidence, resilience and creativity throughout. With so many lines to learn and dance moves to remember, they rose to the challenge and delivered their performances with joy, enthusiasm and big smiles.

The Key Stage One team are extremely proud of everything the children achieved. Performing in front of a hall full of adults is no easy task, yet they made it look effortless. Thank you to everyone who came to watch — we couldn’t do it without you!!!

Miss Brewer, Mrs Nichols, Miss Jones

Grandparents Afternoon

On Monday, we welcomed grandparents from our school community for an afternoon of festive cheer. Each year group showcased something. Early Years performed some of the songs from their wonderful Nativity, as did Years 1 and 2. Years 3 and 4 demonstrated the learning they had undertaken this term with the recorder and ukulele and Years 5 and 6 sung some carols. The audience enjoyed a warm cup of tea or coffee and a mince pie while they were watching. It was lovely to be able to showcase all of the children's wonderful learning to a slightly wider audience. 

Parish Council Christmas Card Competition

Recently, Nash Mills Parish Council hosted a community event at The Denes, featuring a Children’s Christmas Art Competition. We are delighted to share that Lily was chosen as the KS1 winner and Lily-Roma was chosen as the KS2 winner for their beautiful Christmas artwork! 

Other entries from children within the school were shared and the evening included a range of carols being sung alongside a brass band. It was a lovely evening that highlighted our community spirit. We are very proud of all the children who took part.

Year 5 visit the British Museum

"We saw lots of things we'd learnt about in our lessons at school including the Rosetta stone.  We saw jewellery from the Egyptian times and saw mummified bodies and animals!  It was very fun!"        

Amber and Ffion

"It was very interesting seeing all the artefacts from that time and how colourful and perfect they still are even though they are over 4,000 years old!  We really enjoyed looking at them all."        

EJ and Eddie

Art Week 

This year’s Art Week celebrated artistic expression through watercolour, charcoal and paint, each bringing unique textures and effects to the pupils’ work.

The children painted stunning landscapes inspired by different continents and cultures, including:

• African scenes full of vibrant colours and patterns.

• Japanese art influenced by Hokusai’s iconic wave.

• David Hockney’s fields, capturing bold lines and vivid tones.

• Space landscapes and mountain ranges, pushing imagination beyond Earth.

• A tribute to Van Gogh’s Starry Night, blending swirling skies with expressive brushwork.

• Snowy winter landscapes, bringing seasonal beauty to life with cool tones and delicate details.

It was a joy to see pupils create such diverse and imaginative pieces, reflecting both cultural appreciation and artistic skill.

PTA

Huge congratulations to our PTA team for a wonderful Christmas Fayre, which was held after school on Friday 12th December.  There were a number of games stalls and competitions around the school including our YEar 6 enterprise stalls, which were managed brilliantly by the pupils.  The PTA even managed to book Santa to visit us once again, during what must be an incredibly busy time of year for him!

As highlighted below, the event raised over £3,500, which is an astonishing amount, all of which will go towards projects to further improve and develop our school.  

Thank you all for your support!

Staffing Update

It is not uncommon when we reach a school holiday to say 'goodbye' to some members of our community.  Nursery parents will already be well aware, but in January we will see a few changes in our Nursery class as Miss Archer will be leaving us.  Miss Archer has been part of the team at Nash Mills since 2020, originally joining us to support pupils during and following the COVID epidemic before moving into Nursery, where she has made so many wonderful changes and been such a fantastic teacher to many of our pupils during their first stage of schooling.  From January, we are pleased to share that Miss Bentley will be taking on some of the teaching commitment in Nursery as she enters the final stage of her teacher training.

We will also be saying a fond farewell to Mrs Hussain, who is in school before and after the children each day to ensure that it is clean and ready for learning.  Mrs Hussain has been a cleaner and part of the team at Nash Mills for almost 30 years!  We will be sad to see her leave us, but as she starts her retirement, hope she gets some well earned rest!