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• Head Teacher's Blog!

  Fri 28 Jun 2019 Mrs Michelle Bates

  Week Ending 28^th June 2019

   

  Current attendance results are as follows:

   

  1^st place goes to Violet 2 for 100% attendance.

  2^nd place goes to Indigo 1 for 99.6% attendance.

  3^rd place goes to Yellow 2 for 97.4% attendance.

   

  Weekly update…

   

  What a busy week in school! All the children have completed the final assessments of the academic year. We look forward to gathering all the data and compiling this information into the end of year reports for you.

   

  On Thursday, the Year 1 ‘space centre’ trip took place. I am told that the children had a wonderful time and they represented the school and themselves well. They learnt lots about the topic of space and of course, this supplemented their studies. I am very proud of them.

   

  In addition, Mr Leyshon also took some KS1 children to Brookhill Leys for a football tournament yesterday. This was a non-competitive event within the family of schools, but I am told that our children were driven and were eager to win the matches and do their absolute best when representing their school. Once again, I am very proud of them all.

   

  I would like to thank all the teacher’s for the opportunities they provide for our children and the experiences that they receive whilst here at school.

   

  As the end of term is on the horizon, I thought I would inform you of recent staffing changes and the teaching structure for September 2019.

   

  Over the last term, we have unfortunately received two resignations from teaching staff. Miss Busby and Mr Fisher have taken the decision to fly the Greasley nest and spread their wings – taking on extra responsibilities in other schools, whilst also choosing to work closer to home. Both Miss Busby and Mr Fisher have been at the school for the majority of their teaching career and they have been great members of the team. Over the years, they have taught many children and have provided them with an education that will stay with them for many years to come. We are deeply saddened to be losing such regarded and well-respected members of Team GB. However, I think you will join me in wishing them the very best of luck in their new ventures.

   

  Interviews have now taken place for staffing for September 2019 and we are also excited about having three new teachers joining the teaching team (one of which will also cover Miss Atamaniuk’s maternity leave, which I shared with you all last half term).

   

  I can now provide further information regarding the teaching structures for September 2019. I can also confirm that all classes are due to be split next year and your child will find out who their new class teacher is when they receive their school report. For now, I can confirm that teachers will be teaching in the following year groups:

   

  Year group	Class teachers for September 2019
  Reception	Miss Manson (Assistant Head Teacher) & Miss Baker (Mrs Bold as of September 2019 as she gets married over the summer) (Job share) Miss Hanson Miss Atamaniuk (Reception support until maternity leave)
  Year 1	Miss Schofield & Mrs Barrowcliffe
  Year 2	Mrs Clarke (Assistant Head Teacher) & Miss Brown
  Year 3	Mr Leyshon Mrs Henshaw & Mrs Padley (job share)
  Year 4	Miss Martin & Miss Thompson (Mrs Clarke as of September 2019 as she gets married over the summer)
  Year 5	Mrs Parnell & Mr Khan
  Year 6	Mrs Jamson (Deputy Head Teacher) & Mr Honey (job share) Miss Marvin
  Other	Mrs Stevenson (SENCO), TB Sports and TAs will cover the majority of the PPA time for teachers. Teaching Assistants for each year group are yet to be finalised. Nurture provision is to be provided by Mrs Timson, Mrs Bexon, Mrs Lowe and Mrs Blackbourn. Mrs Snelling has been appointed as Family SENCo for all 5 of the Eastwood Schools and will commence her role in September.

   

  Reports will be going out on Friday 12^th July 2019. Children will then spend the day learning with their new teacher on the 15^th July as part of transition. On Thursday 18^th July, we will also be opening our doors for a very informal open afternoon/evening. This will enable you to view the work of your child (with them personally). No appointments will be needed and this is purely a ‘drop-in’ session for you to see your child’s work for the final time this year. This will take place from 2pm until 5pm. If a one to one conversation is needed with your child’s teacher, then speak to them personally so that they can then arrange a time for you between 3.15pm and 5pm.

   

  Any questions or queries, please feel to ask.

   

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

  Warm regards,

   

  Michelle Bates

  Head Teacher

• Head Teacher's Blog!

  Fri 21 Jun 2019 Mrs Michelle Bates

  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

  

• Head Teacher's Blog!

  Fri 14 Jun 2019 Mrs Michelle Bates

  Week Ending 14^th June 2019

   

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

   

  Yellow 1 – Seb, Jagan and Ollie – For a fantastic attitude to learning. During free time, all three boys chose to work on their writing and maths with each other and there was a great use of vocabulary and ideas. The boys also marked their own work during checking time and self-corrected to make it even better. Super attitude boys – well done!

   

  Green 2 – Jack, Lily Mae and Sid – For their superb homework activities. They have each challenged themselves to complete a range of activities to a good standard and all handed in on time. Their books look fantastic.

   

  Blue 2 – Isaac – For excellent presentation of his poem using personification and good language choices. Isaac focussed really well and gave some fantastic ideas.

   

  Violet 1 – Ben – For his absolutely fantastic contribution to class during the last two science lessons. His knowledge and willingness to learn has been outstanding!

   

  Violet 1 – KJ – For vivid and imaginative description when doing a piece of writing about the ‘Titanium’ video in class. KJ showed great persistent and perseverance when writing and was eager to do more. He pushed his vocabulary choices and aimed for the very top!

   

  A HUGE well done this week to three girls in Miss Thompson’s class, who have now become ‘ROCK HEROES’ on Times Tables Rock. This means that the children are now able to answer the questions at lightning speed…in fact, under a second. Something which I can not yet do! A BIG well done to Ella-Ryley, Katherine and Maddie! Such an achievement!

   

  Current attendance results are as follows:

   

  1^st place goes to Orange 2 for 100% attendance.

  2^nd place goes to Violet 2 for 97.4% attendance.

  3^rd place goes to Green 2 for 96.7% attendance.

   

  Weekly update…

   

  A great start to the week by giving all children, who received 100% attendance in the spring term, their reward certificate and raffle ticket. These children were very excited and Holly from Indigo 2 won the £10 book token. I spoke to the children about attendance being important for school and later on in life when working. However, that we do not expect children to be in school when poorly and that if they didn’t get 100% last term, then they may well do this term. We aim for attendance to be above 95% and currently our figures are at 96.6%. Thanks for your support, as whole-school attendance is improving all the time.

   

  This week, the year 1 children have been sitting their statutory Phonics Screening Check. These are conducted by Miss Atamaniuk and Miss Schofield, but it is good practice for me to go and observe some of the checks. I have to say, I was incredibly impressed. The children worked so hard to segment, blend and chunk the sounds to read out the real words and nonsense words on the page. They clearly have worked hard throughout the year and I have been incredibly proud of the year 1 children and all their staff (including all the TAs who have worked with them this year!).

   

  On Tuesday, Miss Marvin’s class and Mr Leyshon’s class met with their link schools from the other side of Nottingham. Once again, they were able to share their experiences and worked jointly on projects and sessions. These were the last of the sessions and the children have thoroughly enjoyed the experiences of meeting new children from different schools. I too have enjoyed seeing different children and staff at Greasley Beauvale Primary and sharing skills. This is what the Mr Leyshon had to say… 

   

  We began the day by creating welcome posters to ensure that Beeston Rylands Junior School were received warmly. We also introduced some of the Rainbow Values that we hold at the heart of our curriculum. We then split into mixed groups for the morning and afternoon sessions. One of which, with myself, children took part in a teamwork focussed session where they had to create the tallest building-like structure that could house a ‘Beegu’ (an alien we met on a drama activity earlier in the year!), using limited resources. The results, both in outcome and the level of teamwork and cooperation on show, were incredible and a credit to both schools.

   

  In the other session, children analysed the similarities and differences of our two schools and then designed a school of their own. We shared playtime and lunchtime together, with many of the children feeling confident enough to choose to sit with children from the other schools, which was lovely to see.

   

  Overall, it was a very successful day, rounded off by some very sentimental last thoughts we shared about the Link Project as a whole. Nearly all of the children felt a sadness that it was all coming to an end, but they all agreed that the many skills they’d learnt would set them up well for future experiences in life and that they’d feel more confident of meeting new people, particularly at secondary school in a few years.

   

  Mr Leyshon

   

   

  To end the week, our year 6 children are going to Brookhill Leys primary School today for the “Great Get Together”. This afternoon is for all year 6 children, within the local family of schools, to meet before going off to secondary school. This was a planned event to form part of the transition plan from a primary perspective – team building skills and community links. What a great idea and I am sure they will love it.  

   

  Have a great weekend everyone and I look forward already to another super week next week. Please let’s pray for less rain next week!!
   

  Warm regards,

   

  Michelle Bates

  Head Teacher

• Head Teacher's Blog!

  Fri 07 Jun 2019 Mrs Michelle Bates

  Week Ending 7^th June 2019

   

  Current attendance results are as follows:

   

  1^st place goes to violet 2 for 100% attendance.

  2^nd place goes to Blue 2 for 97.9% attendance.

  3^rd place goes to Orange 2 for 97.2% attendance.

   

  Weekly update…

   

  Welcome back to the final half of the summer term and the final half term of the academic year…I cannot believe that it is here already. We have had a great week in school and all the children returned on Wednesday in good spirits and ready for the final weeks ahead.

   

  A short working week, but so much has happened…

   

  On Monday, the staff were working hard to moderate judgements and gathering evidence ready for report writing. This year, we are trialling a new layout for the academic school report, which is more in line with the autumn and spring versions. We really hope that you are going to be pleased with the new format and find them much more personal and informative.

   

  On Tuesday, we were working on developing our new curriculum ready for autumn 2019. We are VERY excited by our new ideas, planning tools and ways in which we are going to be teaching content with more depth and with more links across the curriculum. We plan to teach our curriculum around ‘concepts’ and want the children to start thinking more for themselves and answering deep enquiry-based questions. We look forward to sharing new topics, concepts and BIG questions with you ready for the autumn term.

   

  On Thursday, we welcomed children and staff from three schools within our local community – Priory, Brookhill Leys and Lawrence View. We had a BIG sing event and it was just wonderful to experience the vibe, watch the smiles and listen to the great singing. I was very proud of ALL the children from across the family of schools, and it was also lovely to meet new faces and have great conversations with parents about us now linking more with other schools in the area.

   

  Staff also did this on Wednesday night as we travelled over to Brookhill Leys (along with the other schools in the area) to moderate work and judgements. All judgements were confirmed and this also shows that we are working in a similar way and working together to share good practice.

   

  On Thursday evening, following the BIG sing event, we then had our Macmillan coffee and cake sale and we had a good turnout. The hall was full of raffle ticket-buyers, coffee-drinkers and cake-munchers and the field had a great atmosphere too! I am proud of all the year 6 children for arranging the event and to the staff for supporting it.

   

  Obviously, today we had our annual Sport’s Day. We were extremely worried about the weather forecast, but we chose to take the risk, pray that the showers were running late…and they were. We had an amazing morning and the atmosphere was truly heart-warming. There were three zones around school and it worked so well. The competitive races took part on the school field. In the hall, we had yoga, rest breaks and drinks and on KS 1 playground we had the fitness regime with parents and children…all led expertly by Coach Louise. The weather was perfect for it and we only go rained on at the very end. The children were true sportspeople and supported each other through the fitness and the competitions. Behaviour was exceptional and the whole event ran smoothly due to Mr Leyshon’s excellent planning, drive and passion for sport.

   

  This afternoon, we had a whole school assembly about the sport’s day event and we were very happy to share with everyone the results of the top three teams. We had lots of cheering and the results were as follows:

   

  1^st place – Yellow Team

  2^nd place – White Team

  3^rd place – Green Team

   

  Thank you to Mr Leyshon for organising the event, the kitchen team for the pizza and toast, the Greasley Hub for teas and coffees and to the whole team for making the event run so smoothly and be so enjoyable. Also, a huge thanks to the parents for coming to support the children and for donating money at the end to our current Macmillan collection. I am very grateful to everyone.

   

  I will update you all next week on the funds raised through the Macmillan charity collections over the last two days.

   

  What a great week and a great Friday! Have a great weekend everyone, and I look forward already to another super week next week.
  
   

  Warm regards,

   

  Michelle Bates

  Head Teacher