Headteacher’s Blog

What do all of these people have in common: J K Rowling, Albert Einstein, Barack Obama, Walt Disney………Theresa May?  The answer is, they are all people who have shown real tenacity, drive and determination.  Sometimes against the odds or popular opinion, sometimes when it would’ve been much easier to give it all up. Sometimes when it would’ve been easier to go along with what everybody else was telling them.  Some might call it stubbornness and others may say it is delusion, but one cannot be in any doubt that the ability to ‘bounce back’ and come through difficult situations is the stuff of life!

Click here to continue reading… “Building resilience!”

After only a week being back at school since Easter, we have another bank holiday break to enjoy, and none of us are complaining. The extra day will be a welcome boost after such a really productive first week back in school.

Click here to continue reading… “Remember those values!”

Easter has been and gone and so has the wonderful weather; a new term begins! The summer term is always a time of the year where lots of events are taking place and, as I alluded to in a previous post, it is a time of the year where we turn our eyes more firmly in the direction of September.

Click here to continue reading… “After Easter”

Our Easter break is approaching and I cannot believe that we are almost done for the Spring Term.  I went tuck shop shopping this afternoon and the shelves were showing no sign of running out of chocolate bunnies, dinosaurs for the sweet-toothed and the usual range of Easter eggs.  Easter is an important part of the Christian calendar and there is much to reflect upon and think about, aside from wondering whether you have managed to find a white chocolate Cadbury’s Creme Egg!

 

 

 

 

Easter is very much about a fresh start, the resurrection of Jesus or perhaps more topical to our every day lives, a fresh start or a rebirth.  One of the best things about our school is the way how, with every passing year, we rejuvenate ourselves.  We make improvements on the previous year and we continuously improve – learning from the things which haven’t worked so well and building on those things which did work well.  Over the last fortnight, we have been making lots of plans to do just this.

On Tuesday this week, I spent the day looking into what we’d like to invest in from this coming September and planning what our school may look like into the future.  These things include:

• An online parent app
• A online learning journey app, accessible to parents, for all year groups
• Wrap Around  Care
• Home resources to support the children with their times tables
• Even more sports coaching in school
• Musical instrument tuition in Year 3/4
• Y1 & Y2 Singing Tuition as part of the school timetable
• World of Work Week – learning about careers
• Staffing to provide additional interventions and catch-up sessions

 

 

 

 

Another key component of Easter, is hope.  Hope is important and it helps us all to keep things into perspective.  Where there is hope, there is belief.  One of the things that we always say to the children is how important it is to believe in themselves.  Mrs Weston and I have took great encouragement this week, when we looked at the most recent assessment data of the children across the school.  There has been some amazing progress since September and in Year 6 specifically.  Year 6 are working hard to prepare for their forthcoming SATS and we are working hard to give them the best possible chance of success.  Whatever your view about the place of the Y6 SATS, we cannot do anything about the fact that they exist.  We are trying to coach the children so they do their best – this is all we can ask of them.  We are supporting them to boost their resilience and have a go.  That is all we ask of them – give it their best shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday this week, I was also full of hope.  I had some fantastic Pupil Progress Meetings with your teachers and we discussed every child in the school – how they were getting on and what we could do to ensure that their progress is even better next term.  We talked about every child as an individual learner- what they are good at and what, if any, support is needed for them to move forward into the summer term.  These Pupil Progress Meetings are an integral part of our school calendar – no child gets left behind.  Learning and progress matters!  On Tuesday this week, we’ll be updating the Learning Passports for those children who have them too. We also be looking at what extra provision we can provide for those children who are not on track.

 

 

 

 

 

Another essential element of the Easter story, is the message of keeping faith.  It can be really tricky to keep that positive mindset at times, and not to lose faith. Especially in times of challenge.  We understand that over recent weeks and months, we’ve had some disruption to staffing, due to illness and other unavoidable circumstances. The fact that our school continues to successfully continue its improvement drive and the behaviour and academic performance of our children remains strong, is a testament to our overt vision, ethos and values. It is also a testament to the resilience and hard work of our team. As your Headteacher, I am steadfast in my commitment to making our school even better than our ‘Outstanding’ Inspection judgement of 2017 suggested.

One area of school improvement which has seen a hefty amount of improvements this year is our SEND provision. Despite these improvements, we still appreciate there is room for further work.  However, this week, I had one of my termly meetings with our Link Governor for Special Educational Needs, where I shared the progress we are making in developing the provision for pupils who are on the SEND register.  I was really proud to show him the strides that we had taken in measuring academic progress for those children working below national expectations.  Not many people may know but, in addition to teacher assessments against the curriculum, we now collect a reading and maths age for every child each term.  As well a standardised score for these areas of curriculum.  These scores help us to work out how close a child is to the ‘normal range’ for their chronological age. Make no bones about it – we don’t wait until we act.  We always have our finger ‘on the pulse’ and we are regularly monitoring and tracking how every child is doing.  Rest assured, we want every child to succeed at their own level.

I really enjoyed listening to a few children read last week.  It was a real pleasure to dust off my stamper and make a few comments in reading logs which go home.  I will be continuing to do this over the next four days – reading is the bedrock to everything.  It is a skill that encompasses many aspects and it can be quite tricky.  Reading is much more than just being able to correctly decode words – it is about understanding too and also engagement.  I look forward to listening to more readers before the end of term.

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of before the end of term, there are lots of things planned for the next few days as we move towards Easter.

 

 

 

 

 

First of all, we have our End of Term Easter Service, led by the Curious Caterpillars on Thursday this week.  Please note – this takes place at 9:30 am in St Mary’s Church.  We are also combining this with our termly Golden Dove Awards and it will be great to give out the awards once again and see which names have been added to the prestigious Golden Book, which lives in Reception.  We will reserve seating for parents of Caterpillar children, in addition to recipients of awards too.

 

 

 

 

 

Before that, On Wednesday this week, we have a special Science Roadshow Assembly. This takes place at 10:15 am for children only.  This assembly will be a fun promotion for a future science club that we’ll be holding in school from next term. I am told that they’ll be lots of fizz-popping involved! Ms Bains is working hard to promote the subject of science more overtly around school – Science is a great subject and lots of fun. Also on Wednesday, members of our school FPTA are going to be setting up an Easter Egg hunt.  This should be a bit of fun to get the children in the mood for the next fortnight.

On another note, for parents of children in Ladybirds, this week Miss Wordley will be welcomed back in school to teach the children. This is to cover staff absence.  We have worked hard to get somebody familiar to the children and somebody who can do the whole week, except on Tuesday, where Ms Challinor will assume charge of the class as usual.

Finally, our SEND Consultant, Sue Hall is in school tomorrow.  She will be carrying out some more detailed diagnostic assessments of children who are not making the amount of progress they should.  The parents of children who this applies to, have already been notified about this and we hope to once again, make those vital reasonable adjustments to suit the needs of all learners.

Before I leave you – here are last week’s special mention winners (our theme was perseverance):

• Lily (Learning Ladybirds) – For being a ‘bundle of joy’ around school and trying her best to be a Coton Superstar!
• Shannon (Dazzling Dragonflies) – perseverance in solving maths problems with a partner – not giving up
• Theo (Dazzling Dragonflies) – Great ideas planning a story and completing all purple pen work
• Seb (Curious Caterpilars) – For persevering to learn his number bonds
• Jessica (Curious Caterpilars) – For maths perseverance!
• Gracie (Busy Bees) – For amazing courage and perseverance with Bikeability
• Tamsin (Busy Bees) – For persisting with modal verbs, fronted adverbials and semi-colons.  A wonderful persuasive argument on why Easter Eggs should not be banned!

 

 

 

Did you know…last week was the first time in my time at Coton school that 3 classes had a full attendance of 100% for the week!  This is amazing and we were so thrilled in rewards assembly when we announced it!  Keep this up – more days in school = more progress!

This week’s Blog Box Question is: Which year group is to have musical instrument tuition from September?

 

 

Enjoy the last week.  Remember – resilience, hope and faith will see us through – Happy Easter!

 

There have been several examples of collective responsibility in action this week and the results have been great to see!  But what exactly does the phrase ‘Collective Responsibility’ mean to you and I?  We all know that ‘more hands make less work’ and ‘you get by with a little help from your friends.’  If you are an avid football fan, I’m sure you saw that it took 11 England players to beat the Czech Republic 5-0 on Friday evening.  Maybe you all know that one swallow doesn’t make a summer and if you’re old enough…..you know that it takes 3 Blue Peter presenters to change a light bulb! It also takes 650 MPs to make our UK Parliament and a 1% difference in a national referendum for a majority!

 

 

 

 

 

As for all things ‘collective responsibility’ you really need not look any further than Brexit! Brexit is rapidly becoming the most avoided topic at the dinner table and yet it is possibly the most important issue to effect us in a generation or more.  Two years ago, our children took part in a mock Brexit referendum in school and they voted to stay in the European Union  – I wonder if they would still vote the same today?  Maybe we should give them another chance to have their say!  Maybe our country will get another chance. – who knows!  The fact is, Theresa May is the Captain of the Brexit ship – charged with the responsibility of steering us towards calmer waters.   Yes, she is the one who is at the prow of the ship but what about the people in the engine room!  This week in school has been a case in point!

Our bingo this past week was really well attended and I feel incredibly proud of what we achieved.  We had a great team of people to help us through – thank you first of all to Emma Best, Aisha Mack and Sam Griffith for their organisation.  These events take lots of planning.  I’d also like to pay tribute to Susannah Clarke who came along to help too with the selling of tickets.  Our very own, Mrs Abbott joined us to lend a hand, as did our student teacher, Miss Watkins, in what was a co-ordinated success.  Thank you also to those people who showed their support by coming to play!  We managed to raise over £300 and this will go such a long way to supplement what we offer in school.  Thank you also to our Bingo caller, Joy Selvey and her assistant Miss Chris.  The overwhelming winners of the night were Frazer’s family, they went home with more chocolate than the Easter bunny! Happy days Fraser!

 

 

 

 

 

Another example of collective responsibility can be found with the governing body.  We held our annual Governor Day on Tuesday last week. Not many people know what being a governor is all about – I don’t blame them, it is quite a complex role.  Being a governor is not about making the day to day decisions such as what time we do collective worship is or whether we have a school football team, it is about keeping a strategic overview, leading by example and supporting all school staff with the adoption and effective implementation of policies.  It is about the effective co-ordination of the school’s strategic priorities and its vision.  Our governors have a 6 year plan with some key aims to take us through the next few years.  These aims will no doubt make our school a better place and they will feed into our school improvement plan.

As a collective, one of the body’s strategic priorities is to prepare our children for their future world outside of Coton and equip them with the knowledge and skills which will support them beyond their school years – life skills.   On Thursday last week, our Foundation Governor came into school to start work on the planning for a forthcoming World of Work Week.  A random sample of children had a discussion with the governor about what they knew about a variety of job types, what they wanted to be when they were grown up and what skills they needed to acquire for the future, if they were to successfully fulfill their ambition.  Ambition is what drives a person to work hard and this is what helps them to strive for the best. In addition to these discussions, all children were given a questionnaire to take home to their parents.  I have been so thrilled by the response – we have had 19 questionnaires returned so far – thank you so much for your support. There is no obligation to send back your questionnaire and we’d ask that these are kept anonymous – they can be posted in a special box, on display in the school Reception.  Going back to ambition and having a goal, it is perfectly fine to change your mind about what you wish to do as you grow older, however it is equally important to have a good overview of the possibilities open to you. Whether you want to be a vet, an electrician, a painter and decorator, an airline pilot, an engineer, a financial adviser or a sportsman or sportswoman – it is important to aim for something. World of Work Week will commence on Monday 24th June and it is our plan to get a range of speakers into school, to speak with the children about what they do as a job. Please let us know if you, as a parent, can help us with this – whether you’d be willing to take part and talk to the children about what you do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One aspect of ‘collective responsibility’ is leading by example and a number of children have done this in spades over the last week.  I was so thrilled to hear of several acts of compassion in our school last week and these children were all given a special mention for their efforts:

Phoebe (Learning Ladybirds) – For being kind to others when they were upset

Zac (Learning Ladybirds) – For supporting other fellow Y1 children with their learning in class about weighing

Thomas (Dazzling Dragonflies) – For being helpful to the teachers in the classroom and to the Y1 Ladybirds in Science lessons

Austin (Dazzling Dragonflies) – For looking our for others and being mindful of their feelings

Willow (Curious Caterpillars) – For being a great friend

Edwards (Curious Caterpillars) – For helping a Reception child when they had fallen over

Teegan (Busy Bees) – for being kind and respectful to everybody

Frazer (Busy Bees) – for being kind and respectful to everybody

‘Compassion’ is a big part of our school vision and it is great to see so many children leading the way and demonstrating one of our values around all aspects of school.

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of leading by example and collective responsibility, I had to chat with quite a few children from Busy Bees last week about their behaviour during collective worship, on the yard and also in lessons.  This is very very unusual.  I’d like to remind all Key Stage 2 children that their main responsibility in school is to set a good example for the younger children in school and wear your ‘top of the school’ badge with pride.  This means, wherever you go around school or out of school on trips, you never relinquish this badge.  You always carry that metaphorical ‘top of the school’ badge and people look up to you. We are all individual and we act in different ways but we must all subscribe to those school rules and our ethos at all times – this is what binds us together as a ‘good’ school.  I have no doubt that the normal high standards of behaviour will be resumed this week.

Speaking of this week, there are lots of things going on and we are all collectively (see what I did there?) working hard to continue our school improvement journey.  This week, Mrs Jones and I will be popping into your Key Stage 1 phonics lessons. We’ll be looking to see how you are all getting on with your speed sounds and whether you are all actively engaged.  I will also be coming around school and listening to some readers.  We need to keep up with the reading – it is such an important skills for life.  Remember – reading is as much about barking at print, as it is about understanding the words and the ‘hidden meaning’.  You will know if your child has been heard by myself as I will stamp their diary and make a comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also this week, we have some KS1 children who are involved in a Primary Gymnastics competition.  I know that Mrs Mailer has been working them hard over lunchtimes to ensure they are all ready for this!  On Wednesday this week, it is our annual Mother’s Day lunch.  We are always excited to welcome so many ‘special people’ into school to have dinner with our children.  If you have a child in EYFS, then you are required to get here for 11:30 am.  Siblings from other classes will be called so that you can sit down with multiple children, if you are here for them.  On Friday, our FPTA will be organising our Mother’s Day gift shop. This is optional but it allows the children a chance to buy a gift for their Mum or ‘special person’ for the cost of £2. Also this week, we have our parents’ evenings.  You should have booked your appointment by now but if you have not, please contact the school office.  Parents’ Evening is always a good chance to tie in with class teachers and to see how your child is progressing with aspects of the curriculum.  Finally, something new to the calendar.  On Wednesday, the reformed Star Foundation Group will be in school to offer activities to each class in return for a donation of unwanted toys, cds, clothes etc.  Please send in any unwanted items on Wednesday – making sure they are in a bin liner bag with your child’s name and class on.  The more donations of unwanted clothes, toys and CDs we pass over to Star Foundation, then the more money we get back to spend on the children in school.

 

 

 

 

Tonight we have our Online Safety Session for all parents and carers.  This starts at 6 pm.  We have a good amount of people who have signed up and I hope that we will see even more.  Traci Good is a Derbyshire County Council Online Safety expert and she’ll be talking to all parents about the latest online crazes and apps and pointing out some of the dangers.  Over the last term, we have quite a few references made to a range of online programs which are not age-appropriate for our children to be using at home.  As always, these decisions lie with parents but we can only serve to educate families to make informed choices in their own homes.  We do hope that as many parents and carers will be around to join us in what will be a really useful session, I’m sure. We never truly know what our children know about online activity – they often surprise us with what they’ve heard about and what they innocently get up to online.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally before I leave you, well done to our best attended class from last week – the Dazzling Dragonflies.  They had a magnificent 99.64% this week!  Sterling Job!  I’d also like to thank the Learning Ladybirds and Miss Newton for warmly welcoming our newest Coton recruit – Charlie – into our school. I hope you had a great time getting to know us last week.  Last but not least – well done to all our young writers in Miss Newton’s class. Their work has been specially selected for a Young Writers book called; My First Riddle!  This is excellent news and I am so proud that they have been chosen at this early stage of their learning journey!  Great job EYFS/Y1!

In the meantime, have a wonderful week.  The sun is shining, which can only mean one thing!  Spring is here!

This week’s Blog Box: Who called the numbers at last week’s Bingo?

 

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?