We are proud of all the achievements of our Arden Forest family.  Recently Bug the school dog at St Nicholas C of E Primary School qualified as a PAT (Pets as Therapy) dog! She will now share the love at our family of MAT schools, other local schools and care homes.  Well done Bug!

The Arden Forest C of E MAT started the new academic year with an amazing training day.  We had staff from across the MAT joining together for a variety of training.  Our PE Leads met and learnt how to engage pupils in PE through activities such as boccia, archery and tchoukball! All of our admin teams got to meet in person for training, but also to share ideas with their peers.  There was also training for staff on Autism, positive play for our Midday Supervisors and even First Aid.  A great example of our collaborative approach.

It's been a busy, but joy filled, few weeks as our school communities have celebrated Christmas.  From beautiful forest school art, collective worship, Christmas Fayres, nativities, yummy Christmas lunches and even Santa Runs!  As this term comes to a close we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and express our thanks to our pupils, staff, parents/carers, governors and PTAs for all their hard work.

We are delighted to introduce you to our new Director, Revd Daniel Corlett.  Daniel is a Church of England Minister serving with the Alcester Minster benefice of churches, as part of a project to resource and equip local churches to grow and to launch new worshipping communities.  He will be helping us develop our Christian distinctiveness as a CofE trust. Welcome to the Arden Forest C of E MAT!

A while ago St Nicks ran their Lyfta challenge called 'What's Your Heritage' for their pupils. They are proud of the amazing entries they received and it was wonderful to see the conversations families had had about their own heritage around the world!  You can see some of the amazing results below.  They are now planning another competition with a Christmas theme.

As part of their new curriculum, Harbury have added in key values which they believe are important to teach to the children. These have included diversity, climate action, life on land and in the sea, sustainability, equal opportunities, peace and justice. They have based some of these on the United Nations Global Goals. In year 1, they have been considering the impact of plastic on the ocean and the Head was really impressed with Ted who created this beautiful poster and leaflet. Well done. A great example of courageous advocacy and love in action.

Coughton C of E Primary School have been doing some fabulous work in their forest school and each session has a different focus as you can see below, from understanding their carbon footprint to using all their senses and looking at items that are alive, dead or never alive.  Well done Coughton!

Many of our MAT schools marked the beginning of Anti Bullying Week by taking part in Odd Socks Day. Odd Socks Day is a fun and lighthearted event that encourages people to embrace individuality and celebrate differences. On this day, participants are encouraged to wear mismatched socks as a symbol of uniqueness and to promote acceptance of diversity.  The Ferncumbe C of E Primary 'Made a Noise' about bullying after watching the Anti Bullying Alliancee webinar.

We have a number of exciting opportunities across our MAT schools for Teaching and non Teaching roles.  Please click here to view the vacancies and how to apply.

The pupils, families and staff at St Nicholas C of E Primary School have all worked together to produce this beautiful poppy display for Remembrance Day. Mrs Howl has done a tremendous job of putting together this display in the foyer of the school. 'Lest we forget'