Once again we had another lovely end to the week with a class assembly. This time it was the turn of Year 4 and they presented us with a very entertaining and informative assembly about ‘A Day in the Life of Year 4’. I know they are always busy when I go in but I had no idea how much they are packing in. The whole class did really well and I would like to thank them all for all their hard work in putting together such a great assembly. I would also like to thank Miss Bradford, Mrs Kirby and Mrs Farrell for supporting the children and organising the assembly.

The children have also been very excited today because they have had a ‘Mufti Day’ in exchange for bringing in wine and chocolate for the PTA Christmas Event. I would like to thank everyone who sent something in for their kind donation. The Christmas Event is now just over a week away and I know it is going to be a great day. If you have not already done so you can book tea with Father Christmas for your child at the school office and you can book a slot for them on the ice rink through the School Gateway.

It has been brought to my attention that some parents have been tying their dog to the school fence whilst picking up their child. I have specifically asked for this not to happen because we have had two parents bitten by a dog outside of the school in recent times and some of the children are terrified of unattended dogs and it makes them very nervous about coming to school. If this practice persists I may have to ban people who leave their dogs tied to the fence from the school premises.

The main event that we have to look forward to next week is our PTA Christmas Event on December 9^th. The children have been asked to bring in a Christmas food item to put into a hamper and we would like all these items in by Thursday so all the hampers can be put together in time for Sunday. Have a great weekend and I will see you all again on Monday morning.

I am starting my blog with good news this week as I can tell you all that we raised an impressive £550 for Children in Need last week. That is the most we have ever made and I would like to thank you all for the money that you donated and the cakes that you sent in to make this possible.

The next big event that we have to look forward to in school is our maths evening on Tuesday evening. This will be presented by Doug Harmer who is a maths consultant for HfL. He has been doing some work with the teachers in school to provide us with some extra strategies and techniques to use in class so we can enrich the maths experience that we provide in school. However, we all know that children’s learning needs the support of the parents and so Doug is going to provide parents with lots of practical ideas to support their children’s mathematical learning at home. The event should last about an hour and even though I know it can be difficult to attend school events during the week I think that anyone who comes will find it very informative and beneficial to their child’s education.

Another event that we have in school next week is the Year 4 assembly. I know that preparations have already started for this and the children are very much looking forward to presenting it to their parents. May I take this opportunity to remind parents that we do allow pre-school children to attend assemblies but we do ask that if they do become distressed or start making a noise that parents remove them from the hall so that they do not disturb the assembly/show for everyone else.

Friday is also non-uniform day for the children. In exchange for not coming in uniform they must bring in some wine or chocolate for our Christmas event which is on Sunday, December 9^th from 11.00am – 4.00pm. Volunteers are still required for this so if you think you can spare an hour or two to help please sign up on the volunteers’ sheet which is in the school office area. I cannot believe that I have actually mentioned the ‘C’ word but the whole event is just a month away. I must admit that I love Christmas and all the events associated with it and I feel that it is a real privilege to work in a school at this time of year.

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend – the weather has certainly changed and we do know that it is autumn but I am sure that will not stop us all having a good time. I look forward to seeing you all next week –hopefully many of you at the maths evening!

It has been a very exciting day in school today and it is still not over. As it is ‘Children in Need’ all the children have come to school without their uniform which they love and many have also brought their teddies into school which has also caused great excitement.

We had our first class assembly of the year this morning and Year 5 treated us all to a very informative and interesting assembly about the Ancient Greeks. It was well received by everyone and I would like to thank the whole class for putting on such a good assembly for us. I would also like to thank Mr. da Rocha, Mrs Onley and Mrs Pittson for all their hard work in putting the assembly together.

Last weekend, as many of you know, we held our annual firework display with the Rotary. Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us and it rained for most of the evening although it did ease off a little just before the display started. The fireworks were still very good though and everyone who did turn out was still very pleased with the display. I would like to thank all of those people who came out in the rain to support us and I would like to give special thanks to all the members of the PTA, Rotary and my staff who gave up their time to help run the event. Although I know that takings will be down on last year’s we will still have raised a lot of money for the school and I will inform you of how much we have raised as soon as I find out the amount. The next big event that the PTA are running is the Christmas Fayre which is on Sunday, December 9^th. It is going to be a little bit different this year and one of the new highlights is going to be an ice-rink which I know the children will really enjoy.

May I just give you all a gentle reminder that the only snack the children can eat at break time is fruit or vegetables. Children in KS1 get this for free but in KS2 children can bring their own snack in for break time if they want to have something to eat. It has been brought to my attention that some children are bringing in biscuits or chocolate bars to have as a snack and this is not acceptable.

This week some of our Year 3 and Year 4 pupils took part in an indoor athletic event at Dame Alice Owen School against other primary Potters Bar schools. We finished second and were only two points behind the team that won. I would like to extend my congratulations to all the children who took part and to Mr Mills for all his work in preparing the children for the competition.

As I said at the beginning of my blog it has been an exciting day and it is not over because we still have our cake sale to look forward to which I will go and help with when I have finished writing my blog. Once we have held the sale we will add all the money to that which has already been collected from the children for not wearing their uniform and we will then send it to the ‘Children in Need’ fund. I will let you know how much we raised in my blog next week.

I hope you all have a great weekend –I have a meeting to attend on Monday morning so I will not see you on the gate but I should be there to greet you all on Tuesday morning.

I am typing this blog whilst preparations for our bonfire night are going ahead. This is one of the biggest nights in the Little Heath calendar and I know it is an event that many families look forward to. We are a little late this year due to our half term break but the reason we are having the event this weekend was to make sure all families could attend as some people go on holiday over half term and would not have been back in time to enjoy the firework display.  I will be serving on the barbeque all tomorrow night and I am looking forward to seeing many of you there.

Our Firework Night is certainly the highlight of the week but apart from that it has been good getting our school hall back (I know Mr Mills has been very relieved – he has really been missing his ‘kingdom’). The builders are now working in the music room and ICT suite and what will be our new technology room and as I said before they will hopefully be finished their work by Christmas. Although it has been a bit of an inconvenience having them around they are doing a really good job for us and the school does look really clean and bright in the areas they have completed. We are going to have to work very hard to make sure we maintain that ‘new’ look.

Next week is a really busy week in school. It is Anti–bullying week and to mark the start of this we want the children to come to school on Monday wearing odd socks (they must come in normal uniform apart from the socks). On Friday it is ‘Children in Need’ and for this we are allowing the children to not wear uniform on that day and also bring their favourite teddy to school. If they do this, they must bring in at least a pound to donate to ‘Children in Need’. We are also asking for donations of baked goods to be sent into school so that we can have a big ‘Cake Sale’ at the end of the day. I think having a sweet treat will be a lovely way to start the weekend. I know you have all been generous in the past when sending in donations for our ‘Harvest Festival Coffee Mornings’ and we thought that as we could not have this event this year we should have a cake sale for ‘Children in Need’ instead. We also have the ‘Sharing Assembly’ and the Year 5 Class Assembly to look forward to so I think that next week is going to be a really memorable one.

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing many of you at the fireworks.