School Email

For this week’s blog I urge you to take a close look at the picture below.  Look closely – what do you see?  Do you see the same thing that I see?  What would you read into this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If truth be told, there would probably be a range of answers that you could come up with and these will depend upon the amount of time taken to focus and keep your eyes set on the picture.  Irrespective of your answer, the fact remains – you can never underestimate the power of ‘looking.’

 

 

Eye contact is vitally important for us to not only show good manners when somebody is speaking but it is also essential if we are to understand what has been said to us.  Often when we listen, particularly when we are busy or pre-occupied, we fail to set our eyes on the speaker and you see – this is where everything goes to pot!  If we listen with our eyes and set our eyes on the person who is speaking, we can read so much more into what we are being told or what is being said.   We can read emotions and connect better with people, we can retrieve information quicker and above all, we can show common decency and politeness. The art of looking is the theme for this week’s blog and it goes straight to the heart of last week’s message – the small things can make a big difference!

On Tuesday this week, Mrs Dyke and I had a big look at how well you were all concentrating in lessons.  It was really interesting to find (and you may not be surprised) that those children who sat still and focused solely on their teacher when being taught were the quickest to grasp what they were being asked to do.  Those children who didn’t multi-task and faced the teacher when being taught, made the greatest progress too.  I was really impressed with the children in Happy Hedgehogs!  What great listening skills and superstar sitting!  The children may have only been in school for 2 short weeks, but already they are having great success and following instructions well. Also this week, I notice that Mrs Christie’s Phonics group has really developed their looking skills too.  By Friday, all children had their eyes clearly fixed on Mrs Christie and this meant that they were much quicker with their speed sounds.  Over the next few weeks, I am going to keeping my eyes out for any children who are looking and concentrating well in lessons – it really does help you with your learning!

 

 

On Wednesday morning, the whole school did lots of looking or ‘active listening’ as Mrs Christie puts it, when they sat and listened to our 4 candidates for Prime Minister.  Rosie, Owen, Keona and Savannah had all prepared a fantastic speech each and I know (from my powers of observation) that many children were not only taken by what was said in terms of manifesto promises, but also how they were said. It takes a great amount of courage to stand up in front of your peers and deliver a set of promises!  All of the speeches were read with sincerity and passion and our visitor Heather Wheeler MP was really taken by how well the children did.  I would like to congratulate them all for their hard work and for representing our school with such class!  I was one proud Headteacher! Our first School Parliament meeting will take place over the next week.

The lunchtime supervisors have been doing lots of looking this week too.  They have been making sure that all the children are tucking their shirts in when walking around at lunchtime – remember the small things really do matter!  I have given Mrs Billings permission to give the children a gentle reminder if they are not keeping up with their smart standards.  On Tuesday, Miss Wordley came back into school to teach the Hedgehogs and she couldn’t believe how smart the children looked in their new sweatshirts and in their ties.  She could really sense that many children had grown up since her last visit.

On Friday this week, I was really pleased with the turn-out for my Cuppa and Cake session for parents.  In total, I had 11 parents who attended and we had some great discussion about how the start of the year has gone.  We chatted about the new Home-School Learning Logs and the recent welcome meetings.  All parents, were positive about the changes that we have made but I was quick to inform them that we won’t be resting on our laurels. As I said in the meeting, we know that there is still much more to do if we are to develop our school further and it was great to get some thoughts on what we needed to do next, so thank you!  A number of parents appeared unsure as to what day the Home-Learning Logs are to be handed in.  We apologise if we have caused some confusion.  I am going to chatting to all the staff about this over the next week, but logs will be collected in on Monday.  We will then award 5 Privilege Points to every child who has done their home-learning.

Continuing the ‘looking’ theme, Mrs Smith and Mrs Weston will be having a little nosey of their own over the next week or so.  Mrs Weston will be popping into classes to see how the children are getting on with their arithmetic and times tables.  This year, every maths lesson across the school starts with ‘5 in 5’!  Or ‘3 in 5’ in the younger classes.  The children are presented with 5 age-appropriate arithmetic calculations to solve as quickly as they can.  This is part of our drive to nurture a new generation of competent and efficient mathematicians, in line with the expectations of the National Curriculum.  Mrs Weston will also be looking at those ‘small things’ too – how work is presented and how well the children are responding to teacher feedback during ‘Please and Now time’.  Mrs Smith will be having a little look at how Guided Reading is going across the school. I was suitably impressed with the Eager Elms on Friday, they all got down to work super quick after lunch and there was some good reading behaviours observed.  I have already picked up that Miss Popple’s Badgers have quickly settled into the Guided Reading routine.  Well done Brilliant Badgers!

Aside from individual classes, there are a number of children who never fail to impress me around school at the moment.  I was most impressed with Sydnie, Georgia, Natasha and Tristen from the Funky Foxes, for getting on with their work in lessons last week, to Dillan and Fraiser in Badgers and to Kiera for getting her pen license.  I was also pleased to take a look at Keona’s beautiful handwriting and presentation!  In Squirrels, It was great to see Eve’s wonderful writing on Friday too.  Oliver looked very smart on his way into worship on Wednesday, Heather Wheeler MP was most impressed!  I love seeing high standards – it all matters!  Remember, ‘excellence’ has to start somewhere.

If you are doing lots of looking for yourself at the minute, you will notice that my hair is getting awfully long!  It may seem a strange thing for me to mention on here but you know how important I think it is, to look smart at all times – practising what we preach to the children!  Just to make you all aware, in 3-4 weeks’ time, I will be starring in a production of Whistle Down the Wind, and I am growing my hair to match the character that I am playing.  I will be playing the part of ‘The Man’.  Just before half-term, I will also be growing some temporary facial hair for this part.  Rest assured, I will endeavour to look as smart as I can over the coming weeks, including on those wet and windy days!  I know that I am not the only member of our school who is attempting to grow their hair at present!  Maybe we can give each other some moral support Alex!

Don’t forget to get your child’s name down for Breakfast Club if you haven’t already done so.  Mrs Billings and Mrs Mailer do an amazing job to ensure that the children kick-start their day in the best way possible.  We have a number of children attending each day from across the school and many of these children prefer to get into school from 8am so they are more settled in time for lessons beginning at 9am.  A Breakfast Club is useful for those parents who need to get to work early in a morning too.  It can be quite a ‘juggle’ first thing in the morning!  Please contact Mrs Cresswell in the office if you are interested.

In line with one of our school values, compassion, don’t forget that this Friday we are holding our Macmillan Coffee Morning to raise vital funds for charity. We’d love to see you all there, feel free to bring your friends and relatives between 9 and 10:15.  This is a charity that means a great deal to our school population so we really hope you are able to support us.

We have some more special visitors in school this coming week.   Rev Bill Moore will be joining us for Collective Worship on Monday and Mrs Sharples (Headteacher, Pingle Academy) will be in school to chat to the Year 5 and 6 children on Tuesday afternoon.  On Wednesday, we will also be having another visit from the NSPCC.  They will be leading a whole-school assembly on how the children can keep themselves safe.

I’d like to take this time to say a fond farewell to Margarita from Brilliant Badgers, who is leaving us to start a new school on Monday this week.  Margarita has been an amazing pupil during her time at Coton; so well-mannered and polite. We will miss her and the family a great deal.  We wish them all the best and hope to see them visit us very soon.

I was one very happy Headteacher on Friday, when I saw that 15 children had posted an entry into our blog box.  It really made me smile and restored my faith.  Remember, I did say in rewards assembly on Friday that If I got 20 entries this week, I would draw out two winners this week.  So here’s hoping!

This week’s Blog Box Question:  What is the name of the production that Mr. Smith is starring in at half term?

Have a good week and P.E.A.C.E be with you!

It only takes a small pin to burst a balloon or a single smile to make a stranger feel at home. One solitary pebble can cause ripples on tranquil lake and we’ve all had that little itch that can’t be reached without asking for help from a trusted friend. You see – the truth is, the little things in life really do make a massive difference. In school this week, we’ve been working really hard to embrace this notion because we know that ‘excellence’ has to start somewhere and getting the ‘little things’ right is the theme for my blog this week.

Whether it’s making effective use of time, using good manners, looking smart, showing good table etiquette, presentation and handwriting, practising our times tables or reading regularly at home it all adds up and goes a very long way and the children have made an absolutely glorious start this week.

I was really really impressed when I popped into the Happy Hedgehogs on Wednesday morning to see them all writing their names on their whiteboards within minutes of coming into the classroom first thing in the morning. I know that Mrs Smith has really high hopes for our new intake after working with them over the last fortnight.  In equal measure, Mrs Weston’s Wise Owls have been concentrating very carefully on getting their presentation right – making sure that all titles are underlined, their handwriting is formed carefully and, in maths, that they set out their calculations correctly – one digit in each square.

I had a great time reading with Sophie (Brilliant Badgers) and Jamey (Wise Owls) last week also. It was great to see that they had been making good use of their new Home Learning Log at home and reading in their spare time.  I did ask them some tricky questions to check that they had not only read but they had also taken in what they had been reading.  Remember, it doesn’t matter what you read – it can be anything: a set of instructions for manual or game, a recipe or even the back pages of a newspaper.  I hear from the staff that there are many children who are already well on course for achieving their 25 privilege points.  Remember – if the children reads every day, completes their times tables practice and learns their spellings then they’ll automatically earn themselves 5 points!  I am hoping that this Friday will see the first Privilege Time of the new school year taking place.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all of the parents and representatives who attended our welcome meetings this week. In total, we have had 69 home adults who attended over the week and I am sure this will make a massive difference to the success that the children will go on to make this year.  We know that we still have much work to do in providing you with the information you need in order to best support your child in their educational journey but hopefully you can see that we are trying to improve this with every passing term. If you couldn’t make it this week and you would like a copy of the key information that we handed out, please speak to Mrs Cresswell in the office.  We understand that getting time off work to attend can be tricky at times so we’d be happy to hand over anything that may be of use.

 

One of the agenda items at this week’s welcome meeting was information on our new Key Stage 2 Times Table Grand Prix. Mrs Weston has worked incredibly hard to put together a whole school approach to the recalling of times tables. We want learning times tables to be motivating, fast paced and above all – fun!  Our Year 6 team understand first-hand, how important it is that our children have a firm and confident grasp of their mathematical facts so they can access the upper Key Stage 2 curriculum and be best prepared to succeed in the wider society when they leave Coton school.  We made great strides forward with our introduction of ‘reasoning’ last year and the children really enjoyed the ‘And Finally Ticket’ idea that we put in place.  The certificates for our grand prix are printed off and ready to go – It will be really interesting to see how quickly we can get through them before we need to print off some more.

I had a lovely surprise on Tuesday morning when both Kyan and Rocco visited me with some super maths work. Mrs Smith was really proud of them, as was I.  They could show me the progress they had made with the reading of some tricky numbers in words.  Thanks Rocco, thanks Kyan for brightening my day!  I’d also like to pay tribute to Sydnie from Mrs Dyke’s class, who has caught my eye in collective worship this week, showing me great listening and sitting up smartly, setting a marvellous example for the rest of the school.

 

Next week, we have a very important visitor in school. Mrs Heather Wheeler MP will be joining us on Wednesday morning to oversee the election process for our new school Prime Minister.  We have been really lucky to have had two brilliant past Prime Ministers in Amy (who left our school in 2016) and in Mark (who left us for pastures new last summer).  Both previous post holders carried out their responsibilities with pride and represented our school so magnificently.  I look forward to hearing this year’s candidates each read their manifesto in front of the whole school. It is always such a great occasion.  We will be setting up a polling station for all of the children in school to vote on Wednesday afternoon.

 

I am hoping to pop into Michaela’s dance lesson this week to see how the Funky Foxes are getting on. Michaela was full of enthusiasm when she left last Tuesday and she couldn’t believe how quickly the Year 5 children had learnt the dance that she taught them. Remember, Michaela runs a dance club on Monday evening, please get your form into the office to ensure that your child is signed up if you haven’t already done so – there are only a few spaces left.  Equally, we still have some spaces for Wednesday’s film club.  Get your form in to secure your place.

 

On Friday, if you fancy a cuppa, come in and join me from 9am. I will be hosting my termly Cuppa and Cake session. We will be discussing the following things: a new home-school agreement, our improvement priorities for the forthcoming year, parent welcome meetings and getting feedback on the new learning logs. It is always a really informal opportunity to get your thoughts heard.

 

I really hope that I will have plenty of blog box entries this week. Not one single person posted in my box last week. However, I did have two girls come and find me on the yard at the end of the day on Friday with the correct answer to the question I posted.

This week’s blog box question is: What was the name of our first school Prime Minister?

Before I leave you, I’d just like to send my thoughts to the innocent people who were affected by this week’s terror attack in London. I’d simply say, stand firm and embrace the freedoms that we are fortunate to uphold whilst living in Britain.

 

P.E.A.C.E be with you!