Headteacher’s Blog

The art of ‘talking’ never goes out of fashion does it?!  ‘Talking’ is one of life’s pleasures and it has many benefits.  In school, talking helps me to find out how every child is progressing with their learning. It is talking that helps me to build key relationships with you all and answer any questions that you have.  Myself and your teachers often spend many hours re-living what has happened over playtime or lunch – if there has been a slight disagreement.  The truth is – talking is important and it helps us all to gain information.  However, the question remains, when does ‘talking’ become a bad thing?

Over the last few weeks, we’ve had a few children who have used ‘talking’ to spread inaccurate information as a means of having fun!  This is disappointing and very out of character for you all.  It is often said of life that you ‘shouldn’t read everything you hear in the newspapers!’  Mrs Weston and I have had to chat with lots of children earlier this term about what information needs to be shared and with whom do they share it.  You can never be truly certain about what you hear – unless it is ‘straight from the horses mouth!’ Sometimes what we hear cannot help but stir our emotions and make us feel worse – educating our children to keep a balanced perspective and an open mindset is always something that we are focused on.

We’ve had a’talk-fest’of our own in school this week.  Firstly, I’ve had some great discussions with parents about how we can support their children further. I am really keen to keep up with the communication, we do so much in our school to support every individual child and sometimes, even I forget just what we offer.  Please remember, if you are unsure about something, arrange a chat or call with the class teacher and they can shed some light on a situation. It will put your mind at rest and help us to do all we can.  As we tell the children – get it straight from the horses mouth!  The class teacher is often best placed to shed light on a situation.  Should you need to escalate your query, Mrs Weston and I are the next ports of call.

I’ve also had some wonderful discussions with your teachers too and we’ve been making some exciting plans for sport, science, lunchtime, phonics and collective worship.  Mrs Jones and I have been talking about how we can support the children to display our Christian values at playtime.  Values such as; honesty, trustworthiness and forgiveness.  We’ve been talking about the language that all of our staff can use to model what we expect from the children themselves. Miss Bains and I have been chatting about setting up a Science Club and getting some consistency in terms of what you all do when taking part in experiments during lessons.  I am looking forward to Friday, when Mrs Abbott and I will be working hard on our Sports Premium Statement and then a massive sort of our PE store will be taking place.  There is a lot planned for phonics too!  Mrs Jones is leading some targeted parent sessions in a few weeks with selected pupils who would benefit from a little help to pass their Year 1 Phonics Check but we also have a Learning Lens Session for Phonics planned for all Y1 parents to come into school and see how we teach it at the end of this term.  Please look at the diary dates. Communication can be so productive.

On the subject of communication, Mrs Cresswell and I had a looked to see who was receiving our web alerts last week.  So much time and energy goes into promoting the good work which goes on in school – and we use Facebook and the website daily, posting the key news of the day.  This is a really effective way of us sharing the children’s successes and keeping that balanced perspective on what we offer at our school.  Please chat to your friends and if they are not signed up to receive the alerts, encourage them to do so.  Again, getting the information from the direct source is helpful and you can be sure that it will be accurate.  One thing that was communicated this week, was our school Commonwealth Day celebrations.

On Wednesday, the whole school came together to take part in a scavenger hunt around the site.  The children were asked to locate the 53 flags of the Commonwealth in pairs and then produce some work for display.  I know that the Learning Ladybirds had a super time, learning about India.  Mrs Mailer’s daughter came into school to talk to the children about Mendhi patterns.  There are some super displays in production in the school library area – take a look when you are in next in school.  The Commonwealth champion was Ms Challinor, who showed excellent knowledge when I questioned the children over which country joined in 1996. The Commonwealth has been an excellent institution and this year, it celebrated its 70th Birthday.  You may have seen on the news that a special service was held at Westminster Abbey last Monday and attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex among others.  It is important that we learn from the strength of the Commonwealth – building relationships and holding a common set of values is important – that is why we made it a focus for the children this week. We also wanted the children to learn about diversity and how difference can be a positive thing!  There had been many rumours and gossip surrounding who the next Head of the Commonwealth would be, at the Queen’s passing.  I am pleased that HRH Prince Charles has been confirmed  – the endless gossip and rumours have done little to project the positive image of the commonwealth in recent months. Some countries have began to question to effectiveness of it as a result.  Endless gossip without the full facts is disappointing and unhelpful.

There were some very strangely dressed children in school last week –  I am of course referring to the Roman WOW Day that was enjoyed by the Curious Caterpillars. Miss Bains and the class had an amazing time and learnt lots of interesting facts – some of which I didn’t know either!  Thank you to all children and parents for getting the children dressed up – these WOW days are important to get the children ‘hooked’ into their learning and it is very much a vision of mine to make sure that we do more of these in the coming months.  Going on a trip is one thing but sometimes we can provide these experiences in school.

This week, there are lots more opportunities to learn about what the children are doing in school.  Tomorrow, we have the Learning Lens Session for Curious Caterpillars.  This was rescheduled from a fortnight ago, due to Miss Bains being ill. All children in Year 3 and 4 are welcome to have an adult come into school to see how we teach reading.  Please remember, this doesn’t need to be Mum or Dad.  It can be a grandparent or a family friend too.  It starts at 9 am .  On Wednesday, Miss Abbott and Miss Jones will be holding a session for Year 2 parents concerning the forthcoming Y2 SATS.  It is that time of year where we share with you, what the papers will look like and what they can expect to be asked.  We try to carry out these national tests in a relaxed environment – they are so young!  We certainly wouldn’t want the children to worry about them.  Once again, there is so much hype in the media surrounding them, it is important to get a full handle on the facts in order to keep a balanced perspective.  I hope to see you there, Year 2 parents.  Better to be Prepare Aware!

Please don’t forget to support our School Bingo this week.  It is always a good night of fun and it really helps the FPTA to raise vital money for school.  This takes place on Thursday, doors open at 5:30 and it is eyes down at 6:00 pm.  Children are invited too!

Before I leave you for another week – here are last week’s Special Mentions!  We had an ‘Awe and Wonder’ theme last week.

Logan (Learning Ladybirds) – For being really interested when learning about different countries on Commonwealth Day

Eleanor (Learning Ladybirds) – For some wonderful art work on Commonwealth Day

Henry (Dazzling Dragonflies) – For some enthusiastic writing of a good quality

Leonard (Dazzling Dragonflies) – For engagement and confidence, starting to raise his hand more in lessons

Maisie (Curious Caterpillars) – For having great fun, demonstrating the Marius Mule and discovering how heavy it was

Arlo (Curious Caterpillars) – For having some excellent ideas when being asked about what a stigil was on his Roman Wow Day

Matthew (Busy Bees) – For showing genuine appreciation and excitement when hearing that he’d been cast as President Roosevelt in Annie’

Frazer (Busy Bees) – For showing a good attitude and genuine pleasure at the part he’d been given in the Ks2 Summer Production

I’d like to give a ‘shout out’ to Owen too!  He is a little superstar at the moment and making some great strides forward with his writing – Mrs Mailer and Owen gave me a visit earlier this week with some wonderful work.  Keep it up Owen!

The class with the best attendance was Curious Caterpillars – 99.69% – well done Caterpillars.  I know that Miss Bains and Mrs Thorne will be really pleased

Have a good week!

This week’s Blog Box Question: Who will be the next Head of the Commonwealth, after the Queen?

 

 

 

As a proud homemaker, I love to look out of my kitchen window and see a good green lawn every now and then. A lawn that is free from dandelion weeds and sparse patches.  A lawn that feels comfortable to walk over and soft to sit on and which smells fresh all year round. Children too, enjoy a lush green lawn.  I don’t know about you but I can get quite protective about my lawn!  The truth is; a lawn can be as green as we make it and we all play our part in this.  Where is it looked after by everyone, where it is fed and watered and nicely shaped with care on a regular basis – it can be the envy of every Aunt Bessie, Uncle Tom Cobley and Joe Public! However, to make this a reality, it requires constant hard work, dedication and a will to succeed. It also needs constant improvement and regular checking.   At home, I personally find it easy to mow the lawn when my wife is in the garden with me; it is easy to share the load and support each other as we have quite a hefty lawn to look after!  Forgive the analogy to start this week’s blog; but this is the time of year where all Headteachers take a look at their ‘lawns’ and consider what new exciting things they are going to introduce from September, to keep the grass looking green.

Our school vision is about constantly moving forward and I have had some great discussions with parents this week about how we can make things even better, moving into September. No school is 100% perfect all of the time and you will all know by the now, that I am approachable and I am really passionate about making things as ‘green’ as they can possibly be!  Our school is here to serve the children well and also to support families, by placing them at the heart of everything.  We all know that if you rest on your laurels and let the grass grow under your feet; you end up with hardly any grass at all!  So I welcome this time of year to extend what we already offer to parents and make the necessary improvements.

Firstly, full wrap-around care before and after school and also in the school holidays. Thank you to those parents who have returned the questionnaires which were sent out a few weeks ago.  We have had quite a few of them returned and they will be used to put together a plan which suits the needs of our families.  Mrs Mailer and Mrs Billings have done such an amazing job to get phase one of this up and running over the last 3 years; we now look to take this a step further.  I will be in touch soon with more information.

Secondly, the empty building at the other end of the school playground!  We are currently in discussions about if (and how) we may be able to acquire the usage of the old Sure Start Centre. Discussions have been ongoing for a number of years now, even before I arrived as Headteacher 4 years ago. This has long been a strategic aim for our school and we really look forward to the day when we can use this modern facility. Obviously, there are no promises but rest assured – if remains part of our strategic planning.

Let’s not forget our growing school population.  Did you know that this year we had a total of 36, 2019 Reception applications to join our school?  Applications from families who live in Linton, Castle Gresley, Church Gresley, Netherseal, Overseal,  Winshill, Branston, Lullington, Rosliston, Walton, as well as Coton in the Elms. This is the largest in my time here and it is a testament to the work that we do to keep our lawn as green as it possibly can be.  Our staff team continue to work tirelessly to keep the grass green.

This week I had a useful chat with Mrs Abbott about the sporting provision that we will be putting in place for this term.  We have signed up to lots and lots of sporting competitions, against other local schools.  We’ve signed up for: Tri-Golf (Y5/6), KS1 All-stars Cricket, Primary Orienteering, Dance in the Forest, KS1 Football, Primary Rounders, KS1 Mini Olympics and the Early Years’ Change 4 Life Festival.  So many opportunities for our children to embrace, remember – the grass is as green as one makes it.  Mrs Mailer continues to support the sporting provision also, a keen sports enthusiast who fully understands the impact that sport has on the body and on instilling values such as team work, discipline and a healthy drive and ambition.

It was a pleasure to see so many parents and family relatives come into school to join the children for their Learning Lens this past week.  We’ve had some useful feedback and once again, we will use this to ‘water the lawn!’  Miss Newton structured her session around some of the general enquiries that she had had regarding the use of flash cards which are sent home and many parents enjoyed the activities linked to phonics.  I know that Mrs Weston gave the home adults a chance to see how they could support the children for their forthcoming KS2 SATS, to go with the information that was presented at the KS2 SATS parent meeting in January. Mrs Jones and Mrs Abbott had an amazing turnout and the children had a ball! Please see below for some of the feedback that we received:

“It was lovely to see all the children so happy and confident, learning in a fun way!” EYFS parent

“It’s lovely to see how the class is structured and helpful to learn new things to help at home” Y1 parent

“Thank you for making the effort to make parents part of their child’s education. I really enjoyed it!”Y5/6 parent.

Ms Bains was ill at the start of last week, so we have rescheduled the Y3/4 Learning Lens for Monday 18th March from 9am.  We hope to see you there!

Mrs Jones led a Shrove Tuesday themed Collective Worship this week, as part our education about the meaning of Lent.  You may have seen from our Facebook posts that we have a new learning wall in the school hall.  This is where we encourage the children to reflect and express their views.  Take a look when you are in school as it is quite interesting; our children really do come up with some astute thoughts!

It was wonderful to welcome Coton’s new Minister, Reverend Charles Jefferson into school last Wednesday afternoon.  Rev Charles got to meet some of our children and he was taken by just how polite and well-mannered they were.  He was full of praise for the way how they welcomed him and I am looking forward to him coming into school a bit more often in the future.

I was immensely proud to hear about Luke’s (Busy Bees) sporting success this past week.  Luke got through to the Quarter Finals of a Gifted and Talented Primary Table Tennis competition, against other schools.  I thank Luke for representing our school with such aplomb!  We are beginning to see our sporting legacy take shape!

It was great to see our new Golden Time in action, this past Friday.  Mrs Brace and Mrs Cresswell have been hard at work, making a few tweaks to the sign-up system and it really paid off.  Golden Time is about rewarding children who make the right choices and building a good relationship with all of our pupils.  Talk to your child about what they chose for this week’s Golden Time!

I really enjoyed supporting Homework Club this past week.  There were a total of 7 pupils who came along for some help and I was pleased to be able to help them complete the tasks outlined in their home-learning diary.  Miss Bains, at the request of some children, is going to potentially look into setting up rewarding the best class for completing their home-learning each week, like we did last year. I’ve asked School Parliament to consider this. Please do not forget my green grass analogy  –  we all have a responsibility to ensure that we have success and doing that extra bit of practice outside of lessons makes such a massive difference!

I have seen some great maths work this week.  In EYFS/KS1 – the children have been learning about measuring. Leah (Dragonflies) was full of it when she caught me in the school hall over lunchtime on Thursday!  Some measured caterpillars and others decided to measure me!  Apparently, I stand at a credible 181 cm tall!  I was amazed that some of the Dragonflies could convert this into metres during our Special Mentions Assembly this past Friday!

This week’s Special Mentions were awarded to children who have encapsulated the vision theme of enjoyment:

Riley (Learning Ladybirds) – For having a great time whilst measuring in class, particularly his own feet!

Rose Angela (Learning Ladybirds) – For showing enthusiasm when weighing lots of different objects in class

Laura (Dazzling Dragonflies) – For active participation in English with great story ideas!

Max (Dazzling Dragonflies) – For engaging in all areas of the curriculum – every subject!!!

Arwen (Curious Caterpillars) – For showing enjoyment in Science lessons when learning about the dangers of the sun!

Lochlann (Curious Caterpillars) – For enjoying his learning in PE!

Frazer (Busy Bees) – for asking lots of pertinent questions, showing interest and curiosity when learning about Black Holes!

Luke (Busy Bees) – for showing enthusiasm with his artwork on Stonehenge and using great perspective.

Special thanks to all who supported our school disco last Thursday after school.  We were pleased that the new time didn’t deter children from attending, in fact – there were only a handful of children who didn’t attend for one reason or other. Thanks to our new D.J, there was some very interesting dancing going on!  I am led to believe that a few of our staff members had an occasional boogie – no names mentioned Mrs Billings and Mrs Weston! Our FPTA are working hard to raise as much money as possible to pump back into school.  It is well documented that all schools are facing tighter budgets and cuts in their funding. It can be quite a challenge for schools to maintain what they offer in this current climate. Fundraising such as this goes a long way and entitles our children to have fun – as all children should!

This week, the Curious Caterpillars are having a Roman Wow Day.  Some special visitors will be coming into school with lots of interesting costumes and artefacts and this has been part funded by the FPTA monies raised at our Christmas Fayre.  Our FTPA part fund trips but also enrichment activities in place of these trips – sometimes it is not possible to go out on a trip for every topic, due to limited suitable locations.

Also next week, we will be continuing to develop our provision for pupils who find learning a little bit tricky.  Our staff are going to be receiving some training on how they can make their classroom provision much more inclusive for children who display dyslexic tendencies.  Dyslexia is a difficulty that affects many pupils across the country now, although that could also be attributed to an increased awareness and much better recognition of this condition.  We want to make our school as dyslexia friendly as possible as we know that many children, whether they have an official diagnosis or not, continue to benefit from these classroom strategies.

Next Wednesday, our children will be celebrating Commonwealth Day in school. This is actually tomorrow but we felt Wednesday was a much more appropriate day in school, for us all to come together. This year, with no royal weddings, we felt it important to look at the values which join many countries together under the watchful eye of our sovereign, Queen Elizabeth 2nd. Values such as diversity, friendship and mutual respect for different cultures and traditions. Keep an eye out on the website and on Facebook for what we get up to! Prince Charles has just been confirmed as the next head of the Commonwealth, So it will be quite topical in the coming years.

Before I leave you this week, please don’t forget to return the slips which have been sent out regarding the following events:

• Parents’ Online Safety session – Monday 25th March
• KS2 ‘Annie’ trip (Nottingham Theatre Royal) – Wednesday 22nd May
• Y6 Beau Manor Residential

Finally, a massive thank you to Olivia (Dazzling Dragonflies) for being only one of two people who entered the Blog Box competition last week.  I can always rely on Olivia to put her entry in and it shows a real commitment to our school and everything that we offer – thank you!  I hope we have many more entries this next week, 40 is the number to beat from last term!

This week’s Blog Box Question: What is the name of the new minister for the village of Coton-in-the-Elms?

 

Welcome back after the half term break.  I managed to speak to many of you on the yard this week but for those of you who I didn’t catch, I hope you had a good half-term break, full of rest and recuperation.  The new term has started with real energy and there were lots of things achieved last week. One being our work on Pupil Premium. I’d like to point all parents to our Pupil Premium section on the school website, as we’ve updated this page quite a bit and added lots of statutory information. This is only one in a long list of achievements this week!

First of all, a massive thank you for embracing our World Book Day event on Friday.  Unfortunately, I was not in school, attending various meetings off-site but I have seen the photos and there were some amazing costumes! We had a plethora of Harry Potter wizards to choose from, a range of Disney characters – including a couple of Toy Story adults in attendance – and a Mary Poppins or three!  I know that many of you were keen to see what my 2019 attempt would be – many of the children remember my pink flamingo costume from last year!  Never fear – the pink flamingo costume isn’t too far away (I’m sure it will make another appearance in the future!)

On Tuesday this week, our staff team came together to learn how we can make our Maths lessons much more practical and less abstract.  We were fortunate to have some training from Dave Benson of Derby University and he showed us some interesting techniques to support the learning of maths across the school, such as bar modelling.  I know that many of our teachers are keen to try out a range of new approaches as we continue to develop maths skills across the school.  This remains a big focus for us on our improvement journey this year.

We were most impressed with the courage, maturity and effort that our call-back auditionees put in on Thursday afternoon, when we completed the casting process for our Key Stage 2 production of ‘Annie.’  With every passing year, due to music and performance becoming an embedded characteristic of our school culture and what we offer, we are seeing our children appear much more confident and an infectious love of singing, drama and dancing developing!  The quality and confidence was not confined to the top half of the school either; we have some really talented lower Key Stage 2 children and I think Mrs Weston and I saw this at Young Voices in January! All children will be given a role for this year’s show later this week and then rehearsals will commence.  Most of our rehearsals for the main characters, will take place after-school on a Friday evening until 4:15pm.  This is to ensure that no aspects of curriculum are compromised.

I had a really useful meeting with Mrs Abbott and Ian Gee (School Sports Partnership) this past week, about how we can develop our PE provision into the new school year.  We have entered a wealth of sporting competitions against other schools this year, thanks to the hard work and dedication of Mrs Mailer and Mrs Abbott, and we’ve had some success too!  Becoming Primary Kurling Champions was an achievement not to be down-played!  Mrs Abbott and I will be putting some exciting plans in place for when the weather gets better such as setting up an opportunity for the children to complete the Daily Morning Mile!!!!  Get your trainers ready in preparation folks!

School Parliament have some exciting plans of their own at present, and Miss Bains is diligently working away in the background to support an idea that they have had.  We are looking into developing the internal courtyard of our school, as this is pretty much a wasted space at present.  Sydnie and Matilda presented some plans to me just before half-term and they involve transforming the area into an outdoor reflection space with a range of plants, benches and ‘chill-out’ facilities.   Parliament will be trying to acquire sponsorship and support from local companies to make this a reality.  This is all pretty exciting stuff and it has been on my ‘to-do’ list for a number of years now – so I look forward to updating you on this as the months roll by.

Hopefully you all read the letter that I sent out on Monday, about our new reward systems in school.  In addition to the new Special Mention Awards which are presented every Friday and the prestigious Golden Dove Awards & Golden Book entries, which are chosen every half-term, we have introduced structured Golden Time across the school each week.  This happens every Friday!  Your child will get to choose from 5 interesting activities, as a reward for embracing our school rules and our school vision.  Should our school rules and vision not be followed, children will miss 5 minute increments of their Golden Time. The behaviour of our children has always been a positive and defining feature of our school and we want it to remain so.  However, we also want to nurture the correct learning behaviours in our children as they grow, enabling them to have the strength of character to make the right choices for themselves and adopt those Christian values that we all hold dear.  Mrs Weston tells me that this week’s Golden Time worked really well and so I look forward to seeing it for myself this Friday!

I sent a letter of a different kind to parents this week also.  This was to alert you to an internet craze that had been subject to much publication and hype in the media. The media often hype these things because they have good intentions but it is always a challenge for schools.  Schools have to strike a careful balancing act between the need to share information and offer advice to families whilst, at the same time, respecting the decisions that parents make in the home.  They have to take a measured approach so they don’t point attention to these crazes also. The ‘dangerous’ craze has been investigated and we would just advise all parents to be vigilant when their child is online or gaming.  In school, we continue to remind the children of our core message, which is: you are in control – if you see anything on the screen that upsets you or makes you feel uncomfortable, report it to any adult straight away!  No child has been shown the avatar at school and no attempt has been made to explain the specifics of this craze in lessons – we have just reiterated the core message.  On Monday 25th March, we have set up a special session for parents and carers in the evening.  This will be to talk through elements online safety and showcase some of the latest apps and online crazes which your child may or may not be aware of.  Please return the slip on the reverse of the letter that was sent out to confirm your attendance.  This meeting is for parents and carers only.

I had another successful meeting about setting up full Wrap-Around Care this week also.  As many of you know, this has been a strategic priority of our school for a number of years and it is very much part of my long-term vision for our school moving forward.  We are working hard behind the scenes, to set up both morning and after-school care from September and holiday clubs too.  At my recent Cuppa and Cake, many of the parents who attended were positive about this and I am really keen to take another pivotal step towards improving what we offer as a school.  I will keep you updated!

This week’s best attendance came from the Busy Bees!  What an excellent start to the new term for them!  The Class of the Week award goes to those Dazzling Dragonflies.  Both classes will get 5 minutes of extra playtime when their teachers see fit.  We will post the names of children who achieved a Special Mention Award in the coming week but I’d like to give a shout out to Robert (Busy Bees).  Mrs Brace shared his success with me on Monday; he has made some really good progress over the last few weeks with his Literacy!  Well done Robert!

Next week is another busy one! I’m out on Monday morning, on a Headteacher Fire Safety Risk Management briefing but I look forward to catching up when I return in the afternoon. We have our Learning Lens sessions every morning between 9 and 10, starting with Busy Bees tomorrow. I am meeting the new vicar of Coton on Wednesday, Charles Jefferson. This coming Thursday, don’t forget about our school disco!  We have a new time for our disco event – 3:15 pm until 4:15 pm for Key Stage 1 and then 4:15 pm until 5:15 pm for Key Stage 2.  Whilst our Key Stage 2 children have time to go home and get changed, the children in EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 are welcome to bring their disco clothes to change in to. Get practising those dance moves!

Before I leave you for another week, I have some more Coton baby news!  I am really pleased to announce that our much loved Key Stage 1 and EYFS Leader, Mrs Smith, has given birth to a beautiful baby boy – weighing in at around 6lbs.  We wish Mrs Smith and family many congratulations and we look forward to lots of cuddles in the coming weeks!

This week’s blog box question is: What event did we become Primary Champions of earlier this term?

Have a good week!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last penned a Headteacher blog and there have been so many achievements to be proud of since. The speed at which our school is evolving and improving is great and not a single day passes where we sit back and rest on our laurels.

Click here to continue reading… “No Sitting Back!”

I have said it time and time again but we really shouldn’t under-estimate what our children can achieve when they are prepared to take on new experiences and work outside of their comfort zone! We are all guilty of enjoying what we know and love and being apprehensive about being outside of a comfort zone – changing situations are hard but we have to embrace them and see them as a chance to develop ourselves.  Sometimes, we can all be surprised by just how much we can achieve when we are prepared to aim just that little bit higher!  ‘Belief’ is the theme for this week’s blog!

Some people go to church and believe in the bible, some people believe in the power of love and friendship and some people believe in Brexit but no matter what you believe in, having belief in the first place is the first step towards achieving your goals. As one of my previous schools puts it, you have to believe if you want to achieve! You have to have ambition, drive and determination to succeed and all of this starts with just a little faith!  As your Headteacher, my faith and belief in every child at our school to better themselves is burning bright every single day and last Wednesday was no different.

I am of course referring to this year’s Young Voices concert at the Resort’s World Arena in Birmingham.  This time around, 33 Key Stage 2 children signed up to be part of the spectacle and this experience will no doubt stay with each and every one of them for the rest of their days.  As Ava (Curious Caterpillars) put it on Thursday morning – “It was the best day ever!”  As I turned around to face a sea of white (all of the children wore their Young Voices t-shirts) – I was taken aback by the sight of 33 smiling children, all enthusiastically engaged, all singing, all dancing and a proud look on the faces of the teachers who went along too!   Not only did our children conduct themselves with their usual aplomb – their behaviour was impeccable, they were all confident, self-assured and having the time of their lives! Some of our children had never been in this environment before – raucous cheering from 6628 children, flashing lights aplenty and the magic moment of darkness when the show commenced!  Thank you to the staff who came along to support – it was a late night, but well worth it! I am sure all parents who saw their child get up there will reflect on what was achieved.

The children of Learning Ladybirds have made big strides forward this week also.  Having a new teacher, mid-way through a school year is tricky for children of any age but I am thrilled by just how well our Reception and Year 1 children have adjusted to having Miss Newton teach them.  Mrs Smith will be so proud and relieved to hear this, I’m sure. It can be quite worrying as a parent, when your child experiences a change and some could be forgiven for thinking that their child will be upset or worried.  However, we are delighted to report that every child has made an excellent start with Miss Newton and we’d like to thank all parents for supporting this process in the home environment, with your calmness, your positivity and the faith you’ve shown in us.  It has made a huge difference. Miss Newton already knows the children so well and so she’ll be very well placed to build on the success over the coming weeks. Miss Newton will be keeping all of the routines currently in place, the same, for the time-being and focusing on continuing these good relationships with all parents and children.  In the event that you have a query though, please don’t hesitate to contact the Early Years team.

On the subject of early years – I’d like to say a big well done to Lily!  On Wednesday, whilst walking to the staff room, I caught Lily helping a child in Year 1 to do their coat zip! The zip appeared to be stuck!  This put a huge smile on my face and made me so proud.  Good girl Lily!  We have lots of Zip-Experts in Ladybirds, thanks to Mrs Mailer and Mrs Smith.

Also this week, I have had lots of children knock on my door to show me great work.  I was really pleased to get interrupted by Seb on Thursday morning, along with Mrs Thorne.  Seb’s handwriting has improved hugely since September – both the size and formation of each join is now much more consistent and this is a testament to the belief that everyone has shown in him and also the belief that Seb has in himself! I know that Miss Bains sets the bar suitably high, when it comes to issuing those prestigious pen licenses.  I’d also like to give a ‘shout out’ to Owen in Learning Ladybirds.  This week, Mrs Mailer tells me that something has just clicked with his maths.  I am very proud of you Owen and I must come and see what you’ve been up to this week.  Finally, thank you to Year 6!  Being top of the school is not easy – we all have high hopes for what you can achieve when you put your mind to it and Friday break time and lunch was a real success.  It was great to see you leading by example when playing games on the MUGA.  I have also seen some great lining up from you this week too!

Continuing my theme of belief – who would think that a small school like Coton in the Elms could compete so effectively in a Primary Dodgeball Competition, when playing against much bigger schools- with more children at their disposal?!  Mrs Abbot took a super group of 4 children from Key Stage 2 to William Allitt on Wednesday evening and they represented our school brilliantly – winning one match and narrowly missing out in the other two. Congratulations to the fabulous four who volunteered.  We have two more competitions this week – Primary Kurling and Primary Table Tennis – please speak to Mrs Mailer or Mrs Abbott if you haven’t yet signed up.

Also this week, I am going to be popping into classes a little bit more than my usual walkabout.  This week is Attainment and Progress Week and I will be coming to see how you are all getting on with your learning.  I will be looking to see whether I can see progress in your work, whether it is set out how we expect and also how much you are all completing in lessons.  I will also be talking to you to check that you understand what you are being asked to do. Please remember: good learners take responsibility and refuse to sit back if they don’t understand.  Good learners ask when they are unsure and they engage in what is asked of them. Good learners are also competitive and can you remember me citing Mason (Dragonflies) and Lochlaan (Caterpillars) in Friday’s assembly?  Two Coton pupils who epitomise everything that we expect.  As I also said in assembly, it doesn’t matter how smaller steps you take, so long as you keep moving forward and improving. You don’t have to get everything right first time – getting things wrong helps us learn!

Speaking of special mentions, here are this week’s winners:

• Mason (Dazzling Dragonflies) – for excellent achievement in maths this week
• Reece (Dazzling Dragonflies) – for a great attitude to learning – ALWAYS
• Ali (Learning Ladybirds) – for amazing writing, good sound work and handwriting
• Owen (Learning Ladybirds) – for trying hard with his numbers
• Seb (Curious Caterpillars) – for huge improvement in his presentation
• Anton (Curious Caterpillars) – for a good attitude at Primary Dodgeball
• Matilda (Busy Bees) – for working really hard with fractions and keeping positive
• Robert (Busy Bees) – for amazing us with his participation at Young Voices

This week’s class of the week was Learning Ladybirds, who can have an extra 5 minutes play when Miss Newton and Mrs Mailer see fit.  The class with the best attendance was the Curious  Caterpillars – 100% for the week.  Reassuringly, our school average attendance has shot back up to 97% this week after the absences of last week.

Don’t forget a few things which are happening this week:

Whitemoor Lakes Residential Meeting for all parents – this will take place this Monday 29th January, at 2:30 pm.  We hope that this will give you all the information that you need and generate some excitement amongst the children.  Please remember that this residential is about developing independence and confidence away from home – something vitally important for a child’s ability to cope outside of the ‘Coton Bubble’

Year 6 SATS session for parents – this will also take place on Monday from 5:30 pm until 6:15 pm and we’ll be showing you the types of questions that your child will be asked to complete.  Children may come also if they wish so that we can develop a shared understanding of what it expected of them in May, later this year.

Finally, we had a lovely visit from Mrs Christie and baby on Friday last week.  It was great to see her looking so well and baby Christie is gorgeous!  We are all looking forward to our next visit very soon!

Blog Box Question: How many children took part in Primary Dodgeball this past week?

I apologise for being a little bit late posting my blog this week for I know many of you look forward to my update each week. I am also sorry not to have had chance to catch many of you on the gate over the last week also.  The truth is; over the last week we have had a large number of children and staff off due to illness – there appears to be a virus swirling around once again and we are only 2 weeks into the new term!  Last week, our average school attendance stood at 89% and it is normally around 97%! I think this just demonstrates how the virus has got hold!  However, despite the illness for staff and children, there have been so many positive things occurring in school and lots of hard work going on as usual.

One of the best things about our school is the way how everybody gets ‘stuck in’ and helps in the best interests of our children and school as a whole.  Miss Walton was in school for Mrs Weston last week, Miss Wordley came in to teach the Learning Ladybirds and the Curious Caterpillars were treated to a swimming lesson by yours truly.  Mrs Billings was also unwell last week and so I had to put on my cleaner’s tabard to clean the toilets and both Mrs Cresswell and I shared lunchtime duty in the hall.  I’d like to thank all staff for helping out whilst this virus got hold!  Our school vision is all about doing whatever is necessary to ensure that our children have the best deal possible and this includes at difficult times. As we had familiar faces in school, our children were just as amazing as they normally are and there was a level of continuity for them!  Please be assured that no learning was disrupted and all the essential elements of the curriculum continued to be delivered, despite the absence.

Another unexpected surprise last week was Mrs Smith’s news.  Mrs Smith attended a routine appointment for her forthcoming baby arrival and was advised to start her maternity leave earlier than planned.  It is a very exciting time for Mrs Smith and we wish her and the family all the best for their forthcoming arrival.  Mrs Smith is doing fine and taking the opportunity to rest before the moment arrives for Baby Smith to enter the world!  It does mean that Miss Newton officially starts as a teacher in our school from today – Monday 21st January.  Welcome Miss Newton!  I am sure that everybody will make you feel welcome.

On Thursday last week it was a real pleasure to see so many parents come into school to officially meet Miss Newton.  We had a total of 19 parents who joined us and I know Miss Newton was grateful to meet you all.  Please remember why we set up this opportunity – we desperately want to make sure that we manage the transition process carefully for the children and for you as parents too.  Also we pride ourselves in the relationships that we forge with parents,  this being an essential part of our school vision.  Sometimes it is so easy to forget just how many opportunities are provided for parents and carers to come into school.  Thursday’s session joined the growing list of workshops and meetings that have either already taken place this year or which are in the pipeline.  As with any transition period, it is important to keep talking to us and remain positive, this way our children will remain calm and relaxed also.  If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact. For any parents who have a child in Dazzling Dragonflies, whilst Mrs Smith is off on maternity, please see the class teacher first if you have any concerns, and then Mrs Weston or myself.

Mrs Hall was in school last week to help us make some more refinements to our SEND provision.  I chatted about this some time ago, about how this was a big part of the school improvement plan for this year.  We had planned to send out all of the Pupil Learning Passports last Friday together with notification on the interventions that are running this term.  However, given the staff absence, it is quite possible that you haven’t yet received this for your child (those of you who were expecting this).  We will aim to send out any remaining intervention slips and Learning Passports by the end of this week.

I really enjoyed listening to a few children read last week.  This is something that I am keen to do more often as it gives me a great insight into how our school is doing with reading.  Thank you to Logan and Zac (Learning Ladybirds) for reading with me – I am going to try and listen to some more readers this week.  Please remember just how important reading is!  I know that Mrs Brace had a chat to some Year 5 pupils last week about this; ‘reading’ has to be practised because it is so integral in order for your child to access the wider school curriculum.

On the subject of reading, we have received a few queries about the changing of reading books across the school, especially in light of our most recent investment in a range of new titles.  As part of Learning Lens week in March, we’ll be showing you just how we teach reading so you are all aware of what we look for when listening to a particular child. Please remember that decoding is only one part of what makes a good reader, it is really important that a child is able to discuss the story and show that they have completely understand it before they move on.  Reading for a purpose is such an important skill!

I’d like to pay tribute to a few children who have really caught my eye over the last fortnight.  First of all, Henry in Dazzling Dragonflies. I am really pleased with his attitude towards doing extra home-learning – he is really motivated to improving his maths skills!  Thank you Henry!  I’d also like to say a big well done to Reece and Saffie (also Dragonflies).  I have seen some wonderful arithmetic from you over the past week!  Finally, I really enjoyed my time with the Curious Caterpillars on Friday afternoon – we had a times table quiz and I was amazed by how quickly they could recall their facts!  I am sure Miss Bains would be very proud to hear that after all the practice they have been doing!

Turning our attention to this week –  on Wednesday, 34 children from Key Stage 2 are going to Young Voices at the Genting Arena in Birmingham.  I will be going  to join in the fun along with Mrs Weston (our Key Stage 2 Leader) – it is always a real highlight on our school calendar! If a child is attending on Wednesday, they’ll be able to come into school later on Thursday morning.  This arrangement is also extended to siblings of Young Voices participants too. Also this week, on Thursday our children in Dazzling Dragonflies and Busy Bees will be having a visit from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue – they will be doing fire safety talks.  Finally, there will only be one Rise and Shine Y6 Revision session this week and it will take place on Friday morning from 8:20 am.

Have a great week!

This week’s blog box question:  How many children are going to Young Voices on Wednesday?

 

 

It’s that time of the year. The time that we reach every single year. The time when we have to de-Christmas and pack up the festival baubles, box up the Christmas ornamentals, or take down the lights from the garden. I hope you all had a super break and you made good use of the extended time with your families. Today marks Epiphany, the lesser known aspect of the Christmas story – where the wise men finally made it to visit the baby Jesus in the stable! Or if you are going with the other dictionary definition, a defining moment of realisation – we’re back to work tomorrow!

Those Wise Men or Three Kings as they are often referred to in the bible were pretty persistent! They had travelled so far and yet they still kept going until they reached their destination – the stable where Jesus lay. Let’s not fail to spot the parallel with the story of the three wise men and our journey as a school! Our school vision is about constant improvement, reflection and refinement – no matter how long we’ve been travelling. A journey to excellence. A very wise man of my own once said: “If you don’t improve, you get worse!” Wise words from a dear friend but his message echoes what our school vision is all about: perseverance, aiming for excellence by the way how we conduct ourselves and the effort we put in, whilst enjoying ourselves and showing compassion along the way.  And there are so many highlights from the last calendar year – who could forget:

1. Key Stage 2’s outstanding production of Oliver! at the Brewhouse last June
2. The school’s best Year 1 Phonics results for 5 years last June – 94%
3. Results in the Early Years above national for the first time in 4 years
4. The school’s Royal Wedding last May – when Amber married Oban!
5. Year 6 SATS results rose for the 3rd year in a row
6. The magnificent Y6 leaver’s assembly from last July
7. The purchasing of new reading books across the school last October
8. The WW1 centenary celebration that our children took part in at Church
9. Our Y5 Christmas assembly in church and the wonderful singing
10. Taking part and having some success in the 21 sporting competitions we entered against other local schools – thank you Mrs Mailer and Mrs Abbott for organising these
11. The independence of our Key Stage 1 and EYFS children in their recent nativity performance in St Mary’s Church
12. The fantastic Christmas Fayre organised by our FPTA and attended by so many friends and family

and I could go on and on…..

Celebrating success is vitally important, just as living in the moment can be also.  However, it is important that one never rests on their laurels and they still keep a ‘level-head’ and an honest and realistic outlook – our journey is not yet finished and there is more to come from us in the new year.

Starting this week, our children in Early Years and Key Stage 1 will be going on Safari!  On an African journey of discovery.  I am of course referring to their topic WOW Day on Tuesday.  We will have lots of special visitors in school, some of a furry kind, to say hello to the children.  Mrs Jones and Mrs Abbot have been really busy getting ready for a number of weeks now – their role play area is set up and your child should have received a consent letter about this event. I am sure that they will have an amazing time!

The work steps up in Year 6 this term, as they prepare for not only their SATS but also their life as a Year 7 pupil.  Many of our former parents and children comment on just how different secondary school education is, but not until they leave us.  We are working hard to prepare the children for what they will encounter once they have left our school, from home-learning to taking responsibility for themselves and showing independence.  Starting this week, a number of children will be starting their Rise and Shine SATS Revision sessions.  Your child will have sent home a letter about this about 5 weeks ago had they been chosen.  Rise and Shine sessions take place on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8:20am with Mrs Weston.  We’d kindly ask that the chosen pupils turn up on time as we want to maximise the additional time so it makes a real impact.  For those children who haven’t been selected on this occasion, there are a number of approaches and strategies that we are adopting in school to support them and you’ll be able to hear about these and also what the SATS involve at the parent meeting that we have planned for Monday 14th January @ 6pm.

One thing that has pre-occupied the thoughts of our Ladybird parents is who is going to be teaching their child(ren) when Mrs Smith commences her maternity leave.  You should have received a letter about this before Christmas.  We are delighted to have appointed Miss Samantha Newton who brings with her a wealth of experience from teaching in an Outstanding Infant School.  Over the next few weeks, as we promised in September when we announced the news of Mrs Smith’s pregnancy, we will begin the transition process for the children.  But also for you as parents.  Miss Newton is already well-known to the children having taught them this year on several occasions but she’ll be teaching alongside Mrs Smith so the transition is seamless.  We have planned in a Meet and Greet session so parents can meet her too – this will take place on Thursday 17th January @ 2:15 pm.  This is a really informal session for you to get to know her and to put your minds at rest.  We know that any staffing change mid-year can be tricky for some children and that is why we are being careful to manage this as best as we can.  Mrs Smith will be in touch throughout her maternity leave however, and we’ll love getting her baby updates! In the meantime, Mrs Smith will be on hand should you have any questions.

There are a few performing opportunities coming the way of our Key Stage 2 children. Most notably, Young Voices takes place on Wednesday 23rd January and there is our annual school summer production to look forward to in July also.  We will be announcing this year’s production in the forthcoming days, we have been waiting to hear that we have been successful in obtaining the license. It’s all a bit of a mystery but many children are keen to know what we are doing for this year’s extravaganza.

Before Christmas, I met all of your teachers to hold pupil progress meetings and chat about how we can support the children in the next term.  A number of quality first teaching strategies and ‘reasonable adjustments’ to our classroom provision was discussed alongside potential interventions.  Over the next fortnight, the team will be analysing the impact of last term’s interventions and updating your child’s Learning Passport should your child have one.  This will probably not mean much to you unless you were able to attend my Bacon Buttie and Brew meeting last term, or if your child is on our Special Educational Needs register.

Speaking of Bacon Buttie and Brew, the next opportunity for you to come into school and find out what we are working on and ask questions will be Tuesday 12th February between 9 and 10am.  Please do come along and meet me for a cuppa.  It’s the best way to find out about what we are working on in school.  At our last meeting, I chatted to the parents about our plan to purchase a new online app so that all of the messages about school come from one place – this is also similar to what secondary school parents have.

Also this term we have the following things to look forward to: Y3/4 Whitemoor Lakes Residential, Y1 Phonics Prepare Aware Session for parents, Y2 & Y6 Fire Safety Talks, Y2 SATS Prepare Aware Session for parents, World Book Day, School Disco, FPTA School Bingo, Commonwealth Day Celebrations, a Mother’s Day lunch, Class Zorbing sessions with Progressive Sports and Y6 Bikeability. Please check the diary dates on our website. There will also be a number of sporting competitions for your child to sign up to – as I’ve said before, the more you make of the opportunities provided, then the more you will get out of them.

On the subject of Whitemoor Lakes, Ms Bains and I will arrange a meeting for all parents prior to the residential so consent forms can be completed and important information can be issued.  Please keep your eyes out for notification of this in the coming days.

Did you know, we gave out 62 certificates on the last day of term for 100% attendance!  This is an amazing number and we’d like to say well done to all children who made it to the end of a big term, without a single half-day off school through illness or an appointment.  In the last week of term, the best attendance was from the Curious Caterpillars – with a brilliant 99.37! This term, we will be focussing on lateness as a number of children are beginning to be persistently late in the morning. Please remember that if your child is late, not only is it detrimental to their learning, it also deprives them of a chance to catch up with their peers before the bell.  Please talk to us if you are having difficulty in getting your child to school in the morning – or enrol them into our Breakfast Club, starting at 8 am. Mrs Billings and Mrs Mailer are always on hand to keep them actively engaged and feed them with a hearty breakfast to kick-start their day,

Before I leave you to bemoan the official end of the Christmas period, I have a few important thank you messages.  Firstly, a big thank you to Mrs Farmer and the team in the kitchen for their wonderful Christmas dinner before the holidays – it was delicious and, as Mrs Thorne put it, a big success.  We managed to serve the children in record time I believe!  I’d also like to thank Mrs Thorne and Mrs Harris for their part in setting up the tables.  We had a wonderful festive programme of entertainment in the last week of term and so I’d like to congratulate Ms Challinor, Mrs Smith, Mrs Abbott, Mrs Jones, Mrs Mailer, Mrs Brace and lastly Mrs Harris for their part in it.  Finally, thank you to all parents for their support and, in the case of our nativity, embracing the change of venue.  Change can be difficult to get used to but we’ve had so many positive comments about our decision to use the church this year – despite there only being one toilet!

Finally, a Christmas present of a different kind was given to our much loved Mrs Christie in the last week of term.  We are pleased to now be able to announce the news of her new arrival, a baby girl weighing in at a healthy 6lbs.  All of our team were delighted once we heard the news and we are so glad to be able to share it with you.  We’d like to wish Mrs Christie and her husband many congratulations and offer them the best of luck for what parenthood brings.

Have a good first week back – remember school starts at 8:55 am prompt – don’t forget to set that alarm.

This week’s Blog Box Question: In what month did we purchase the new reading books last term?

 

It’s Christmas week in school and that can only mean one thing….a wonderful roast turkey dinner and lots of Brussel sprouts to look forward to!  Whether you are a fan of the traditional Brussel or not, they are just one of the things that makes Christmas all the more memorable for us, that and the endless repeats on the box!  Whatever you do with Christmas and however you chose to spend it, the most important thing is having time with your nearest and dearest; something that we’ll be doing on many occasions in school this week – coming together as one!

Click here to continue reading… “Christmas is coming!”

Click here to continue reading… “Have Courage and Be Kind!”

The highlight of this week, without doubt, is receiving so many positive comments regarding our Learning Lens sessions from the many parents and carers who attended.  Our partnership with parents and the opportunities that we provide for all families to engage with us was pivotal to our successful Church School Inspection in 2017, and this fact alone played a substantial part of our upgrading from ‘Good’ to ‘Outstanding.’  Thank you to all of the 58 parents and family relatives who attended during the week; from the feedback we received, we know you all found it useful and I suspect it went a long way to quash a generational fear of maths.

Click here to continue reading… “Develop Your Own Narrative!”