St Saviour’s Schools in Bath have relaunched their popular Hot Chocolate Fridays, giving pupils and staff a great way to log in and have fun together during the latest lockdown.
“A year ago we launched Funday Fridays as a day of celebration and fun at St Saviour’s Schools,” recalls Joe Beament, Executive Headteacher for both St Saviour’s Schools. “Every Friday, both St Saviour’s Schools came together to celebrate the children’s hard work, sing together and have fun. However, as the pandemic gripped the country, some of the wonderful events that took place on Fridays, including large group singing and Hot Chocolate Fridays, had to stop as schools had to maintain the use of the bubble system to help with the pandemic response.”
In January 2021, the latest national lockdown meant that the numbers of children attending the schools was greatly reduced, allowing Mr Beament to relaunch Hot Chocolate Fridays using the schools’ virtual learning platform. The new look Hot Chocolate Friday is now a flagship live community event for St Saviour’s Schools, with hundreds of children, families and staff logging in weekly and joining Mr Beament live online for hot chocolate, games and fun.
“It’s a great event that sees me take suggestions from the children, making the event more and more special each week,” said Mr Beament. “Some of the favourites so far have included bringing your pets or teddies, Zumba and games of 20 questions, with the children so far beating me every time!
“Sometimes it’s easy to just celebrate the big things, like trophies from sporting events or high scores in quizzes. We are all guilty of perhaps missing the simple things, like children being polite or helping a friend on the playground. We have always used Hot Chocolate Friday to share and celebrate the tiny moments of magic we see around school every day.
“The pandemic has been tricky for our whole community, but a silver lining to the situation is how we have launched, and all now use, an online learning platform. This platform has allowed us to grow Hot Chocolate Friday from just eight or nine children to hundreds joining us every week. All of our children are special and wonderful and deserve to attend Hot Chocolate Friday – it is the highlight of my week!”