Week Ending 21^st June 2019

This week, the following children have received a Head Teacher’s Award:

Yellow 1 – Imogen – For her new found confidence in maths. She was able to very clearly explain why 10g was less than 1kg. WOW!

Current attendance results are as follows:

1^st place goes to Green 1 for 98.5% attendance.

2^nd place goes to Green 2 for 98.4% attendance.

3^rd place goes to Red 2 for 96.4% attendance.

Weekly update…

Well, another rainy week at school, but a very productive time and one where children are now showing us what they really have achieved this year and the real progress they are making. Next week is assessment week, and I look forward to how well the children have done across school this year.  

Currently, we are all busy writing your children’s reports and I can honestly say they have been a pleasure to compile this year. We have changed the style this academic year and we genuinely hope that you are pleased with the more personable format and enjoy reading about your child’s year in school. It will cover progress and attainment in the core subjects and attainment and attitudes to learning across the curriculum. There will be a letter to the child, targets for the next academic year, comments about ‘school readiness’ and then a comment from myself and the child also. Reports will be going out on the revised date of Friday 12^th July to enable us to have the transition day, in new classes, on Monday 15^th July.  

On Monday, I spent part of the morning in our new nurture room. The atmosphere was truly positive and I witnessed those children accessing nurture at their very best. This week, they have been focussing on the Rainbow Value of ‘Active Body and Active Mind’ and they were designing healthy foods, working on a perfect healthy lunch box and preparing and eating healthy snacks. I am so proud of the children, who work in nurture, and how much they are developing. During the morning, we also had a visitor from the Local Authority, who saw the success of the room in action. I am also thankful to our nurturing, caring and hardworking staff who have been working within the nurture setting. I want to pass my thanks onto Miss Thompson, who has been instrumental in setting up the nurture room this academic year. We plan to continue with nurture provision next year and we know it will go from strength to strength. 

Linked to nurture, Maizie made a cake for Miss Atamaniuk as she is half way through her pregnancy and Jessica made a wonderful framed picture for the nurture room. Jessica asked all the children in the room for words to describe the nurture room. She put them all together and designed the frame, then she stamped out the letters and mum helped her to stick it down. She enjoyed making it and was really proud of herself.Very impressive, Ladies, and well done. We are very proud of you and the creations you have developed.

On Tuesday, some of our athletic competitors went off to the District Sports competition at Harvey Hadden Sports Centre. For the second year running, we came third out of all of the larger schools, who entered, and we were very proud of the children. There were some amazing results on the day and the highlight was the boys winning the relay and the girls coming 2^nd. Such a huge achievement and we are very proud of the children. Thanks also to Mr Leyshon for working with the team to prepare them for the event and for taking the children along to the competition, with a dedicated team of teaching assistants and parents. One parent emailed, with a photograph, on Wednesday morning and said: 

“Hello, another fantastic sports event. Team GB were amazing and brought me to tears the way they supported each other. Brilliant!” 

This is what Mr Leyshon had to say: 

 As normal, the day's events consisted of sprint races (short and medium length), relay races, throwing a rounders ball and the jump events (long jump - Year 3 and 4, triple jump - Year 5 and 6). All children that participated not only did their best in their specific area of expertise, but also showed the support, compassion and team ethics that we always love to see, so it was another fantastic day to be a part of for all involved. 

Overall, it was another great result for the school competitively, finishing in 3rd place for the second year in a row in the 'large schools' category. 

Noteworthy mentions have to include Ethan, who managed to win gold and silver medals for his personal sprint races and also managed to help the boys relay team to their very convincing gold medal win! Noah also proudly brought back a gold medal with him for the long jump too in Year 4! 

Mr Leyshon

On Wednesday morning, I was on a conference for Head teachers, and I unfortunately missed the dance assembly. However, I am told by Mrs Jamson, that the children enjoyed themselves and confidently shared the dances that they have been learning with Miss Jo after school on a Friday evening. Thank you to all the parents who came along to watch the assembly and we hope you enjoyed the children’s pleasure and creations also. If anyone wants to get involved in dance lessons then contact the office and they will be able to tell you if there are any spaces left for the coming academic year. 

On Thursday, we opened up our doors for Grandparents afternoon. Once again, it was great to see so many faces. Many of you mentioned the fun and enjoyment you had with your grandchildren and how you enjoyed being in class. In addition, many of you saw the rainbow we are completing out of plastic bottle tops - Mrs Wright and I had fun for the afternoon with our glue guns.

As you can see, we have had a busy week in school. On top of this, teachers have also had a productive week networking with colleagues across the county. On Wednesday evening, teachers went over to Heymann Primary to take part in writing moderation around the ‘Greater Depth’ standard. This involved sharing books and independent writing and discussing what it means, and looks like, to be a writer at the higher standard. We also discussed what is needed to try and convert a good expected writer into a writer at the greater depth level. There were excellent conversations taking place and the professional dialogue, with colleagues across a different family of schools, was very valuable.  

Have a great weekend everyone and I look forward already to another super week next week
 

Warm regards,

Michelle Bates

Head Teacher