Headteacher Update - Friday 21st April 2023

Welcome to this week's Weekly Update!

I hope you had an enjoyable Easter. We are really looking forward to Term 5, and it's been lovely to welcome children back to school for the Summer term.

The Summer term learning journeys focus on our Local Studies, and our children enjoy learning about the local area through the lenses of History and Geography.

This term's learning journeys are:

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

“How Do Plants Grow?”

“Who’s the King of the Castle?”

War and Peace

Postcards from the Seaside

Tudor Rose

Brilliant Buildings and Lovely Landscapes

“It’s a Smugglers Life For Me!”

As always, we look forward to seeing the children's Home Learning Projects. We share lots of ideas on our Curriculum Newsletters, and we love to share your child's learning from home in school. We saw some brilliant projects in Term 4 and I am looking forward to seeing more of the same.

Our pupils in Year 3 enjoyed a fantastic Victorian Day at the beginning of this week, learning about the similarities and differences of their school today and those in the past, including the equipment they would write with. They learned about the different consequences and punishments and enjoyed playing with some authentic Victorian toys. They looked brilliant in their Victorian school uniforms and really immersed themselves in an exciting 'Wow' day. Thank you to the Year 3 team for organising the day. In Year 2, our pupils have been loving their Maths lessons and looking at the different ways to present their learning.

Well done to all of our certificate winners this week. In assembly, we celebrated the fantastic achievements of our Stars, who have set brilliant examples. This week's Stars are:

Class	Child	School Value
Nursery Class	Chloe S-C.	*Achievement*
Year R Stephenson	Max S.	*Determination*
Year 1 Nightingale	Harvey H.	*Equality*
Year 2 Brunel	Chloe V.	*Achievement*
Year 3 Ashe	Sienna S.	*Achievement*
Year 3 Turing	Vinnie H-W.	*Achievement*
Year 4 Logie-Baird	Teddie W.	*Determination*
Year 4 Thunberg	Elsie-May S.	*Achievement*
Year 5 Hamilton	Naomi N.	*Determination*
Year 5 Pankhurst	Henley V.	*Determination*
Year 6 Amundsen	Rehan U.	*Determination*
Year 6 Parks	Tianna C.	*Knowledge*

Our Term 4 Attendance Challenges came to an exciting conclusion this week. Year 3 Ashe Class, came from the bottom of the leaderboard to sneak a last-gasp victory. Similarly, Year 5 Pankhurst made a great push for victory, securing the title by just 1 point, overtaking a few classes on the way. Well done to both classes who win a £20 voucher!

Please see our Bulletin for all of our attendance information.

As you will be aware from my letter earlier this week, the NEU union and its members will be taking industrial action on Thursday 27th April and Tuesday 2nd May. We will do our best to get some year groups in to school on this day, and fully appreciate the frustration and disruption caused by not being able to remain fully open. I hope that a resolution between the Government and the NEU union can be found. I apologise for the inconvenience caused.

I am looking forward to the term ahead, and hopefully some sunnier weather too.

Have a great weekend!

Ryan Laker

Headteacher