Week Ending 13th October 2017
This week, the following children have received a Head Teacher’s Award:
Kalyn-May – Year 1 – for wonderful independent writing
Leah – Year 3 – for exceptional presentation in French
WILF will be visiting class 8 for 100% attendance.
Jessica will be visiting class 4 for 99% attendance.
Diary of the week:
Well, another busy week at Greasley Beauvale and what a pleasurable week too!
The week started on Monday morning with a return from Mrs Tantum to deliver our Harvest Festival assembly. It was BRILLIANT; so lovely to see so many children with their contributions for local food banks and what a fabulous assembly. Mrs Tantum had Miss Busby and Mr Leyshon go head-to-head with Mr Leyshon and Mr Fisher to make the best breakfast for me, using ingredients from harvested produce. I had vegetable skewers, ham sandwiches, strawberries and cream and much more! One team produced a well-presented plate, whilst the other plate was a little more…let’s say…creative. I could not decide on a winner, as the point to the assembly was that we should appreciate the food we are presented with each and every day. I thank Mrs Tantum for returning to us and producing such a brilliant assembly with a fun tone, but a very powerful message. The children also sang some great harvest songs and raised the roof for Harvest!
Throughout the week, we have witnessed some great learning and some fabulous lessons. On Monday evening, I spoke with the teachers about creating a ‘Growth Mindset’ with the children and allowing them to become more independent and challenge themselves further. We talked about the questioning and praise we use with children to allow them to develop their own mindset and think more creatively, positively and independently. Following this, Miss Busby did an assembly about the power of the word ‘YET!’ Children received the message that it is ok to fail, ok to get stuck, ok to take risks and not be able to do something ‘YET!’ The point being, that we can all hit a hurdle or barrier at some point but the power of ‘YET!’ means we will be able to do it soon, or over time, with practice, resilience and perseverance. The children and teachers have taken this on board really well and are working on ‘Growth Mindset’ well.
This week, we have also employed a teacher to temporarily cover Mrs Henshaw’s maternity leave. Mrs Sandra Ramsby will be working in Early Years, Year One and Year Two over the course of the week, covering the teacher’s planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA). We look forward to working with her and welcome her to Team GB.
Today, it was fabulous to develop further links with Hall Park Academy. The year six children spent the morning on a transition visit experiencing maths, English and science lessons in a secondary setting. What a great experience for them at this stage! The children enjoyed the morning and I look forward to further experiences for them over the course of the year.
My day ended today in the best way possible: meeting KS 2 about the Christmas production with the ‘Christmas Crew’, followed by sitting in on a workshop for Early Years parents. KS 2 children cannot wait to get started on their ‘Scrooge’ production and I look forward to the auditions, which start next week. The staff are VERY excited too!
Everyone is working so hard and we are all ready for next week when we will be doing our first assessments of the children’s learning. After half term, we will communicate this with you in the form of the Autumn report, and don’t forget parents evening, which is scheduled for the 1st November (3.15pm – 6.30pm).
After another busy week, I hope you all have a relaxing or fun-packed weekend. Enjoy!
Warm regards
Mrs Michelle Bates
Head Teacher