Week Ending 4^th February 2022

Head Teachers’ Awards this week have been awarded to:

Sonny – Indigo 2 – For an amazing improvement with his handwriting! His handwriting has always been neat, but I am so proud of how much clearer it is, and in just one day too.

Betsy – Orange 1 – For her fantastic attitude to writing today. She didn’t give up and produced a wonderful lost poster to help find the missing dinosaur.

Dakota – Orange 1 - For her fantastic effort with her missing dinosaur poster. She sounded her words out carefully and tried hard with her capital letters and full stops.

Alicia, Lucy, Alex and Arthur - Yellow 1 – For their superb teamwork and application of PE skills in a team routine. They included travelling, jumps, balancing and a stance, all co-ordinated by themselves. Brilliant ‘Active Body and Active Mind’ in action!  

Isabella, Lacey, Reggie and Hannah – Yellow 1 – For their teamwork and focus in PE. One member of the team took the lead to count everyone in for each move and the routine was put together as a team. “Inclusive yet Individual” to create a great learning outcome.

‘Elvis’ the chipmunk (with his wonderful sweeping brush) has awarded the neat and tidy classroom award this week to Yellow 2

This half term we have been focussing on writing as a school. We have identified that some of the children, throughout the pandemic, have lost a few of the basics. We are now refocussing as a school and heightening the expectations with punctuation, spelling and handwriting (along with developing the understanding of how to construct a coherent sentence). We are also devising a new approach to the teaching, practising and recall of spellings and will communicate this to you when we are ready to launch the way in which support can happen at home. In the meantime, please support through homework activities when you can. Your support is very much appreciated in advance.

Yesterday, I went on a very inspiring leadership conference titled ‘Fearless Leadership’. The sessions were about leading a team through adversity and there were different speakers from all walks of life discussing how they have led teams of people through difficult situations and scenarios. When the educators spoke, they of course raised the difficulties we have all faced through the pandemic (parents included). The children have also learnt to be fearless through COVID adversity and over the last few weeks, I have been really proud of the children in their isolating bubbles despite not enjoying it fully. (guidance is something we continue to follow and action).

From yesterday’s course, I took away a few things to consider and think about:

• Negative thinking habits can make us defensive – can we change our thinking and mindset?
• You can’t control the uncontrollable – so how do you manage it?
• Sometimes you can’t change the situation or scenario, but you can change your thinking
• New challenges make us more resilient – what positivity can we take away from a hard situation?
• Whatever you ‘believe’ can come true – do you want your thoughts to turn into reality?
• Reframing can be essential – how will you use your mental fitness muscles to reframe and reset your thinking?
• Only use ‘blame’ when really necessary (e.g. negligence or malice) – everything else should be a learning experience

Happy weekend, everyone! Happy thinking and resetting.

Warm regards,

Mrs Bates