Head of School Update - Friday 11th June 2021
Welcome to this week's Weekly Update! It has been lovely to welcome all of the pupils back to school and to a new term! The children have settled well and staff have enjoyed welcoming them back to school, and sharing new learning journeys. I've already seen some excellent home-learning projects from across this term and am looking forward to seeing more of these across the next few weeks.
With the drier weather, we've been able to use the field at lunchtime and the children have really enjoyed having all of the extra space in which to play games and spend time with their friends and teachers - let's hope the weather continues in to next week.
Although children haven't been at school, all of the staff have and we've had a fantastic INSET Day in school today. It always feels strange, opening the school without any pupils, but all of the staff have been working hard and developing their own training across many sessions, throughout the day. Teaching staff have enjoyed some sessions on developing writing lessons in the classroom and helping to support early readers with their phonics, so that all lessons are the best they can be and our support staff have taken part in ADHD training and online SEND training.
Nevada Smith, the Trust's Lead for Behaviour, Well-being and Mental Health led training for all of the staff on 'Mental Health First Aid'. The aim of the training course was to help staff gain a secure understanding of how to support positive wellbeing and tackle stigma in the world. Staff also learned strategies to recognise the warning signs of mental ill health, and develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone, whilst keeping themselves safe. This has never been more important. Thank you to Nevada for the training!
I'm delighted to share some photographs of our brand-new library! It looks fantastic and the children have really enjoyed the new space - they particularly like the Oakwood Tree, the focal point of the library. We have added some brand new books to the library and we'll continue to do so. The children have been sharing their favourite recommendations and we've been buying these books as we go!
Finally, 'Well done' to all of our weekly award winners. This week's 'Stars of the Week' are:
Y1 Curie - Bertie M-C. for 'Determination' - Trying his best...
Y1 Hillary - Frankie B. for 'Equality' - Showing respect towards others, being kind and helpful...
Y2 Brunel - Elsie-May S. for 'Determination' - Always being determined to improve...
Y2 Farah - Junior H. for 'Achievement' - An excellent start to the term...
Y3 Ashe - Lola-Mai C. for 'Achievement' - Settling in to her new school so well...
Y3 Roddick - Parker T. for 'Knowledge' - Demonstrating knowledge in all subjects...
Y4 Logie-Baird - Freddy-Joe K. for 'Equality' - Thoughtful comments towards others...
Y4 Thunberg - Kian F. for 'Determination' - Trying his best in Maths and English...
Y5 Kipchoge - Esther B. for 'Determination' - Continued determination to do well in all subjects...
Y5 Pankhurst - Amelia G. for 'Determination' - Always trying her best and never giving up...
Y6 Amundsen - Enya H. for 'Knowledge' - Demonstrating superb knowledge and enthusiasm for her new WW2 topic...
Y6 Parks - Mia P. for 'Achievement' - Achieving the most merits this week...
In a 'first', the whole of Stephenson Class received the award for a fantastic week of writing. Well done to all of our winners!
I hope you enjoy looking at some of our pictures. Have a great weekend!
Mr Laker
Head of School
