Two weeks in and so much achieved already. Our Foundation Stage children are certainly settling well. It’s an enormous step starting school – so much to learn in terms of hanging coats, changing for PE, going for lunch, where to put book bags…and that’s before we’ve even started on English and mathematics! Well done everyone and especially the adults, who must be exhausted!
The rest of the school has settled into new classes well too. A very warm welcome to our two new teachers, Miss Rose Calver and Miss Jemma Gorham. It seems as if they have always been here!
We had the excitement of the Cinema trip last week. Unfortunately, due to other diary commitments, I wasn’t able to go, but by all accounts it was fabulous. The cinema staff were complimentary about the children’s behaviour and school staff came back smiling, which is always a sign of a good trip. It was an awesome end to a whole school theme of work on Roald Dahl.
…next up, Enterprise Fortnight…
Again this is a whole school theme where each class is tasked with not only learning the principles behind a good business, but to also make as much money as possible. The profit from each class venture will be put towards purchases to improve playtime provision. The children will decide how the money is spent and will be instrumental in sourcing the best products. We may discover some budding Sir Alan Sugars amongst us!
Enterprise Fortnight is the last of the whole school themes for the time being. This year we are working on a curriculum that will involve smaller pockets of themed learning. Rather than has been the case historically, where a class has had a topic for a term, we are focussing on doing less but better. This will provide our children with quality learning experiences. It will make learning irresistible, engaging and relevant and above all will inspire and provide challenge. Look out for talk of ‘brilliant beginnings’ and ‘awesome outcomes’.
That’s not to say that we are not still tracking progress, monitoring outcomes and setting targets; we are, and we are well into the assessment without levels agenda. Each year group has a set of expectations, objectives if you like, that must be taught and achieved at the end of the year. As we move through lessons teachers will be making judgements against those objectives in terms of how well the children, on an individual basis, have performed. Did they manage it independently for example? Could they apply their knowledge completely and have moved into deeper learning? Did they require support? As the year progresses we are able to build up a learning picture of each child; tracking their progress, providing support and challenge where necessary and ultimately being able to predict end of year outcomes. As always we are happy to share this information with you at any time.
Many classes are now using class dojo and are engaging with parents through this tool. It’s a really good way of keeping in touch and finding out what is happening within your child’s class. It also reassures you that in fact your child has been busy all day and not as they might tell you done ‘nothing’!
I mentioned in the newsletter that all staff have a school email address via which they are happy to communicate with you. I am however mindful of their wellbeing so you may not get a reply outside of ‘reasonable’ hours. The same goes with the class dojo communication. It would be unlikely that a teacher would pick up a message after 8.40am as they are working with their Teaching Assistant from that time so anything that is urgent can be telephoned through to the school office.
Our Governing Body have had their first meeting of the academic year and two members will be in school next week monitoring work around mathematics. We will shortly be holding elections for a new parent Governor. If this is something you are interested in and would like to find out more, please contact me.
The PTFA will be meeting again soon to plan another year of great fundraising. They are getting ready to kick the year off with The 100 Club. So if you are up for the chance of winning £50 each month for a £10 annual stake, keep your eye out for details…clearly 24 wasn’t a lucky number for me last year!
I look forward to working with you over the year, and will do my best to update this blog regularly. To say I have had a few IT issues this term so far would be an understatement but we are nearly up and back to speed so I shall have no excuse!
As always, if you have any comments or questions that you would like to share or have answered, please do not hesitate to contact me, or pop in to see me.
Best wishes,
Nicola Wood.