The half term is upon us and I think everyone is glad. We have just completed the longest half-term of the year and we do have some very tired children in school. I do smile when I see some suggestions from people who obviously do not work in schools that we have longer terms because they just have to come into a school to see how the children are before a holiday and they would realise what a bad idea that is.

I have seen a lot of you in school this week as it has been Parent Consultation Week. I have heard lots of positive comments back from my teachers regarding the meetings. For the autumn consultations I always sit in on the Year 6 who have to present their learning and targets to their parents and I always really enjoy taking part in them. Even though the Year 6 pupils always get nervous before these presentations (and some more than others) they always do a good job and appear to enjoy the whole process. I would like to remind you that if you do have any concerns about your child you do not have to wait for a parent consultation to discuss it and you can make an appointment at any time with the class teacher throughout the year.

It has been brought to my attention that some children are wearing trainers to school and not school shoes. It does state quite clearly in our uniform list that children should wear ‘formal, non-casual, waterproof black shoes (not sneakers or canvas shoes)’ and a lot of children are wearing canvas trainers which is not uniform. If you have any problem ensuring that your child does have the correct footwear please do not hesitate to contact me. May I also remind you that all KS2 children should be in winter uniform after the half term break which includes a tie. I have seen a couple of children in school in winter uniform not wearing a tie.

I hope you all have a great half term but before I sign off may I remind you all about our firework display on Sunday, November 3^rd. The gates open at 4.30pm and the fireworks are being set off at 6.00pm. The PTA are still looking for some volunteers so if you have not signed up to help and would like to the list is at the school office. I hope to see many of you there as I know it is going to be a fabulous event and it is finishing early enough so that the children can go to bed at a good time to ensure that they are ready to return to school on November 4^th.

I would like to start my blog this week with the good news that we raised £490.65 at last week’s Harvest Festival. This is an impressive sum and I know that the Water Aid charity that we are sending it to will be really pleased to receive this donation. I would like to thank everyone again for their kind donations of cakes and money which helped to make this possible.

We had a lovely end to the week with the Year 5 assembly. It was all about work that they have covered this half term and was very informative – some parents were amazed at the amount of work that they have covered already. I would like to thank all the pupils for giving us such a good assembly and I would like to thank Mrs Zegallo, Mrs Hayden, Mrs Alimadadi and Mrs Onley for their work in helping the children put the assembly together.

I was also told that the children who had their Sharing assembly on Monday did a very good job and there were lots of parents there to see them present their learning. I would like to remind everyone that whilst we love to see younger siblings attend any of our assemblies and shows, that if the youngsters do start to get a little noisy we ask that you take them outside of the hall. A lot of hard work goes into putting on our shows and assemblies and it is a real pity if people cannot enjoy them because they cannot hear what the children are saying. Some children also get very nervous about performing in front of others and their anxiety can be heightened if there is disturbance in the audience.

A highlight for me this week was going to see the choir perform in a ‘Sing Out’ event at Lochinver School with choirs from other local primary schools. It was a really enjoyable event and our choir really did the school proud, especially when they had to perform their individual song which was ‘A Little Bit Naughty’ from the musical ‘Matilda’. I would like to thank all the members of the choir for putting on such a good performance and I would like to thank Mrs Lawrence, Mrs Robinson and Miss Bradford for all the time they have given in preparing the choir for the concert.

The main events for next week are the parent consultation sessions. They run from Monday – Thursday and if you have not made an appointment yet you will need to go on the School Gateway to do so. The first parent consultations of the year are a chance for you to see how your child has settled into the new school year and how they are progressing with their learning. We all love to have parents in school because we do understand how important parent support is to children doing well in school but may I ask that you do stick to your allocated time slot when speaking to the teacher. If there is something that you would like to discuss in depth with the teacher, then please make an appointment to see them at a later date. If only a couple of appointments run over, then it has a knock on affect for all other parents waiting to speak to the teachers.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing many of you in school next week when you are attending the parent consultations.

I am writing this blog after a very busy morning. As you all know we had our ‘Harvest Festival Coffee Morning’ and as usual it was very well attended. It was lovely to see so many of you this morning and I know you all enjoyed the children’s songs. Due to building work we could not have our harvest event last year so it was good to hear the harvest songs again –there are only a limited amount but the children do like singing them. This year we were collecting money for Water Aid which I think is a very important charity and is helping to ensure that all areas of the world have access to clean drinking water and sanitation. We have had our financial people in today so we did not have the opportunity to count the money but I will let you know next week how much we raised. I would like to thank you all for your kind donations of cakes and I would like to thank all the members of the PTA who helped to run the event.

The year seems to be flying past and I cannot believe that the October half term is almost here. However, we still have lots to get through before we break up for our holiday and we certainly have lots of events happening in school next week. On Monday we have our first Sharing Assembly of the year which unfortunately I will not be at because I have to attend some safeguarding training. If your child is taking part you will have already been informed by letter.  The choir is also taking part in a music event at Lochinver School on Monday which I am very much looking forward to watching. On Wednesday the Reception children are having a presentation about their oral health and on Thursday the Year 4 are going down to the Potters Bar Museum to learn more about local history. We are then ending the week with the Year 5 assembly on Friday which is the first class assembly of the year. I know the children are excited about presenting it to their families and the school.

I look forward to seeing you all at the school gate on Tuesday as I will not be there on Monday as I will be attending the training that I mentioned earlier in my blog. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

I think we can all agree that autumn has definitely arrived this week but I am not complaining because it is my favourite time of the year -  I could do without the rain though. It is colder now which is why I am surprised that so many children are coming to school without coats. We only keep the children inside during extreme weather conditions so they will need an outdoor garment to keep them warm during break time. I know some children do not feel the cold but they should bring in something that they can put on when they first go outside which they can then remove after they have run around for a while.

I would like to thank everyone who bought a book at our ‘Book Fair’. We sold an amazing £1234.51 worth of books which means that we are able to purchase £740.71 worth of books for the school, which is great. Without such generous and supportive parents, we would not be able to provide such rich resources for the children.

The next big event on the school calendar is our Harvest Festival Coffee Morning which is next Friday, October 11^th. This was advertised in our newsletter so you should know which time slot has been allocated for your child’s class but, as was explained in the letter, if you have more than one child in school you can bring both your children to join you in one time slot if you cannot make both. All donations of cakes can start to be brought in from Wednesday onwards and we do ask that if you are donating home baked goods that you bring them in a named container so we can return it to you. On the day of the coffee morning you make a donation for the cakes and drinks that you have and all the money raised goes to charity. This year we are supporting Water Aid which is working to ensure that all parts of the world have access to clean drinking water – a fact that we take for granted in the United Kingdom.

I hope you all have a good weekend. Let us hope that storm Lorenzo does not have too negative an impact on the weather to stop us enjoying ourselves. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday morning.