I am posting my blog early this week as I am at Caythorpe Court with Year 3 and 4 for the rest of the week. I have been on this trip before and had a great time and I am expecting to have a great time again. It is only one night but it is an action packed 2 days and it is good fun for the children. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff who are giving up their time to make this possible. I would especially like to thank Miss Natasha Davis who has co-ordinated and organised the whole event –without all of her hard work this trip would not take place.

May I remind you all that children can wear summer uniform this term. I know that many of them are wearing it even though we have not had much sunshine –when is the warm weather going to turn up? However, I would like to remind you that trainers are not part of school uniform and I am seeing too many children wearing them. Please ensure that your child is wearing suitable footwear for school and that means shoes which are waterproof, formal and black. I would also like to remind you that if you choose to put your child in winter uniform and they are in Key stage 2 then they must wear a school tie.

It has been a very busy week in school this week so I am glad to see that next week does not look as frantic. On Wednesday we are having a school Maths Day where the children will be taking part in some extra maths sessions. We see the enjoyment of maths as being very important and days like this help to promote that. You may want to talk to your child about what they have covered during the day.

When I looked at the diary I could hardly believe that it is May next week – how the year is flying by. I hope you all have a great weekend and I will see you all again on Monday morning.

 Welcome back everyone. I hope you all had a great Easter break and are looking forward to the summer term. I always enjoy the summer term as there are so many activities that take place and as this is going to be my last term as head this one is going to be even more special. I just hope that the weather becomes more settled and the rain finally disappears.

The children all looked extra smart this morning in preparation for their class photographs. I know the children always enjoy having these photographs taken - let us hope that you feel all your preparations in getting the children ready have been worthwhile when you see the results in a couple of weeks.

Next week in school is going to be really busy. Year 5 will be taking their cycling proficiency test so you will notice a lot of extra bikes on Monday morning. This should be the only day that this should happen because the majority of the children keep their bikes in school for the rest of the week whilst they practise and complete their test. On Thursday and Friday Years 3 and 4 will be going on their annual PGL trip to Caythorpe and we have football matches at the school on both of these nights. Some children from KS1 are also taking part in a sports festival at Oakmere on Tuesday so it is certainly going to be an action packed week in school.

I am going to be going on the PGL trip next week so I will not be in school on Thursday or Friday but if you do have any issues Mr Gradwell will be in school on both of these days so you will be able to contact him if necessary – it will give him some practice for when he officially takes over in September.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday morning.

 The Easter holiday has arrived and there have been a few glimpses of Spring weather to make us believe that it is actually on its way although the weather this afternoon is certainly not spring like. Let us hope that we do get more warm weather over the Easter holiday although if you look at the forecast it is not good news because there appears to be even more rain on the way. If this continues I think we are going to have to build an ark to ensure that we survive. 

The big event of this week has been the performance of ‘Rock Bottom’ by years 3,4 and 5. The children put on a great show and did themselves and the school proud. I have been amazed by the amount of lines some of them have had to learn and the bravery of those singing solo. It is something that I would never do and more importantly I think that is something nobody wants (or needs) to see. I would also like to thank the Year 3, 4 and 5 staff for all the work they have put in to make this performance possible. It has taken a lot of planning to put on a show in such a short half term whilst still ensuring that the children’s learning has not been disrupted too much. As a community we are very fortunate to have such hard working staff.

I hope you all have a great holiday and come back feeling refreshed and full of energy in readiness for the summer term. It is going to be my last term in this school so I would like it to be one that everyone really enjoys. I look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday, 16^th April.

 

 I wonder if you are like me and cannot believe that next weekend is Easter weekend – where did the term go? I think it has hit me more because next term will be my last term in this school and when I first decided to retire it felt like it was a long way off and now it is only a couple of months. It has suddenly become very real and I feel like I do not have enough time to get everything done that I want to do before I leave – you may have me visiting next year to finish off everything that I feel I should have done before I left.

This time last week everyone was wearing red because it was Red Nose Day and we had a lovely end to the day because we finished with a cake sale. I am delighted to inform you that we managed to raise £713.26 for the Red Nose charity and I would like to thank you all again for all your kind donations.

Next week everyone is looking forward to the Year 3,4 & 5 production of ‘Rock Bottom’. They have all been rehearsing very hard this week and I know the children involved are as excited to perform it as we are to watch it. If your child is performing and you have not yet reserved your tickets please do so - as those that are not taken by Monday morning will be made available for those who want extra tickets and tickets for these shows are always very popular.

Next week as it is Easter weekend we will be finishing on Thursday at 2.00pm. I hope you all have a fabulous holiday and I look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday, 16^th April.

 Another exciting day in school as it has been Red Nose Day.  I have not seen many of the children wearing their noses (even though I did have mine on this morning to greet them at the gate) but I do know they are looking forward to the bake sale after school. I do think that it is good to support causes like this and I would like to thank all the people who have bought noses or donated cakes. There are a lot of bad things happening in the world at the moment and I think that doing anything we can to support the people going through these terrible events is vital. If ever I think that life is not treating me fairly I just watch the news for 10 minutes and I realise how lucky I am.

It has been Science week in school this week and the children have been really enjoying all the different activities that have taken place. This week is a really popular event on the school calendar and I know that the teachers enjoy it almost as much as the children.  I would like to thank the teachers for all the additional work that they have put in to organising the extra activities - I would especially like to thank Miss Davis (Year 3) who has co-ordinated the whole event.

Looking after the wellbeing of the school community in Little Heath has always been a priority for us and we are pleased to announce that this has been acknowledged externally as we have been awarded a National Silver Wellbeing award. This award highlights how we put wellbeing at the heart of learning, teaching and leadership. We are very proud to have achieved this and I would like to thank all the people who work in the school who have helped to make this possible. I would especially like to thank Mrs Cresswell who co-ordinated all the material so we could achieve this award. Without all her hard work all our good work would not have been recognised.

The weather has been very changeable this week but at least we have experienced some better weather – especially yesterday. Let us hope we see some more of that kind of weather this weekend. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

 It has certainly been a very exciting week on school.  It started on Monday when the interviews were held to find who would replace me in September. As the children were involved in some of the activities it was quite an unusual day for them as well but I think they did enjoy meeting all the different candidates. It was an extremely rigorous process for all the people involved but as you all know Mr Gradwell was the successful candidate. I know that parents as well as all the school staff are pleased with that result. I am really glad that he was successful as I have worked very happily with him for 6 years and I know that Little Heath Primary School is very important to him and that he will work very hard to ensure that the school keeps moving forward successfully.

Yesterday was another exciting day as it was World Book Day.  I think it is very important to keep the profile of reading high as it is one of the most important life skills for children to acquire. The children all looked great in their costumes and I got a lot of compliments about my costume as I came dressed as Cruella De Ville. The worrying thing is that people kept telling me that it was a great costume but 85% of it was actually all my own clothes –perhaps I need to make some changes to my wardrobe! For those of you who did not see me, I have included a photograph of how I looked below.

We ended the week with the Year 2 Assembly. It was based on the learning that the children have covered this term and the class presented it really well. The continent song that they sang at the end was very popular with everyone in the assembly. I would like to thank the children for doing such an amazing job and I would Like to thank Mrs. Beadle, Mrs. Alimadadi and Mrs Rexhaj for their work in helping them put it together.

Next week is another action-packed week in school as it is Science Week. The children really enjoy this as they love carrying out all the practical activities and experiments. To help make it even more interesting for the children we have an external company coming into school on Thursday and Friday to carry out some additional activities with the children.

Just to add to the excitement it is Red Nose Day on Friday. I know the children have been purchasing red noses and they can wear them next Friday. They also do not have to wear uniform as long as one of the items they are wearing is red. As this is such a worthy cause I decided to hold a cake sale at the end of the day to help us raise some extra money for the charity. Items for the cake sale can be brought into school from Thursday. Please do not send in any produce containing nuts and if you want your cake container returned please make sure that it has your name on it.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. There have been glimpses of Spring this week so hopefully we will see some of them over the weekend.

 Welcome back! I hope you all had a pleasant half –term. For those of you who remained in this country I know that you experienced a lot of rain and we have certainly had our fair share of it this week. I just hope that when we get to May and we get our first glimmer of sunshine that they do not try and tell us that we have a shortage of water because I do not think that anybody would believe them. I have also just depressed myself with that last sentence because I certainly do hope that we get a glimmer of sunshine before May!

It has been a busy week in school since our return and I think that as it is such a short half term (only 4 weeks and 4 days) that every week until the end of term is going to be a busy week. We have started our ‘Eat Them to Defeat Them’ campaign which involves the school kitchen encouraging the children to eat more vegetables. As an adult I truly like all vegetables but I can remember as a child being less than happy at eating more than a small range of vegetables so I certainly think it is a worthy campaign to support. I have to say though that when I discussed the benefits of eating vegetables in assembly I was very impressed by the amount of knowledge and information that the children had about vegetables. They are certainly better informed than I was as a child.

Year 2 also had an exciting day on Wednesday as it was their Great Fire of London workshop. Dressed in their authentic costumes they had a wonderful day experiencing crafts and activities which reflected how people lived at the time of the Fire of London. To make this event possible we needed a number of parent volunteers to come in and support the children and I would like to thank them for giving up their time to do so. When I spoke to some of them I think that they enjoyed the event as much as the children.

Today is a day that a lot of children dread because the annual school reports have been sent out. After reading all the reports I do not think that any of the children have too much to worry about although I do advise them to read their teachers’ comments carefully and follow their advice because it will help them improve their learning. I would also ask, as I do in the letter that accompanies the report that you do not compare your child’s grades and report with other children as this can cause distress.

There is a lot happening again in school next week but I think that the event that will excite them the most is World Book Day which is on Thursday. I know that the children are coming dressed as book characters again this year which they love and it always makes it a colourful day in school. I will not be in school in the morning but I will be in later to see them in their outfits.

I hope you all have a great weekend – let us hope that the rain stops for a while and we have a little sunshine – roll on spring!

 There has been a really party feel to the end of the week. It has been ‘Crazy Hair Day’ in school and people have certainly gone to town with their hair. This followed our Spring discos last night. They were both well attended and from what I saw all the children were having a great time. Both these events have been organised by our wonderful PTA and I cannot thank them enough for all the amazing events that they put on to help raise funds for the school. Little Heath would certainly not be the well -resourced school that it is without all their support. The next event that they are putting on is a quiz night on March 2^nd. I hope to see many of you there.

Apart from the PTA events there have also been a lot of other events taking place in school. Tuesday was certainly a busy day as Reception and Year 1 had a trip to the Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead and Year 5 had a Viking Day in the hall. I went to the Snow Centre and it was lovely to see the excitement on the children’s faces at seeing the snow inside the centre. Most of them found going down the slopes very exciting although a couple were a little scared and I can understand that feeling as well. They all gave it a go though which is the main thing.

I did not take part in the Viking day as I was at the Snow Centre but I did catch up with the man running the event on my return to school and he told me that he had a fabulous day with the Year 5 children. He told me that their behaviour was exemplary and that he was amazed at the amount of knowledge that they knew about the Vikings –he said that they could answer questions that children from other schools had never been able to answer. I certainly felt very proud at that moment.

Next week it is the half term break which I am sure you are all looking forward to –I know that I am. I hope you all have a fabulous break and I look forward to seeing you all again on February26th. 

 I know I say that the weeks just feel like they fly by but as I have had to be out of school for 2 days I truly cannot believe that it is Friday again - one more week and it is half-term. The Christmas holidays feel like they were a life-time ago. Unfortunately, the weather has also taken a bit of a dip this week so whilst last week I was feeling like spring was on the way this week has made me realise it is still winter.

This week has been a very thought provoking week in school as it has been Children’s Mental Health Week. The children have been looking at strategies to help support them with their well-being which is very important in ensuring they have good mental health. The children have also covered internet safety this week which is also very important. As we all know from watching the news mental health problems in children are at an all-time high and I think that one of the reasons for this is the amount of information and contact they have with the outside world through social media. Although the internet has many benefits children need to know how to manage social media to ensure it does not have a negative impact on their life. Hopefully with what we teach them at school we are helping them with this.

Next week in school is one of the highlights of the school calendar because it is the PTA Spring Disco on Thursday night. The Foundation and KS1 disco starts at 5.30pm and the KS2 disco starts at 7.00pm. We have the same DJ as last year coning to run the disco and he did an excellent job last year so I know the children are going to have fun. If you have not already purchased your tickets make sure you do so.

To finish off the week the PTA have also organised a ’Crazy Hair Day’ for next Friday. Children can make their hair look as outrageous as they like – they also do not have to wear their uniform to ensure it does not get messed up by all the hair spray and possible glitter. It will help give a party atmosphere to the last day before the half-term holiday.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Let us hope that there is not too much rain to dampen our spirits. I look forward to seeing you all again next week.

 We had a lovely end to the week as Year 3 performed their class assembly for us this morning. I always enjoy a class assembly and as usual, the Year Three one did not disappoint. The assembly was based on the learning they did this year and they actually wrote it themselves! The class did a fantastic job in presenting it and I would like to thank them for doing it so well –it is not an easy thing to present to a large audience when you are so young. I would also like to thank Miss Davis, Mrs Reynolds and Mrs Ameen for helping them to prepare for their assembly.

I also had a lovely start to the week as I attended the O2 on Monday with the choir for a Young Voices concert. This was a fantastic experience for the children and I have included a couple of pictures from the concert although they are not the best quality- all the lights and the flashing cameras make it difficult to take good picture. The choir all had a great day and they were all a credit to the school both for their performance and their behaviour. Not many people know but leaving the O2 and getting back to the carpark after a Young Voices concert is quite a challenge with so many schools being there but the children made it very easy –unlike some of the stewards who at times seem quite determined to split our group in two. I know all of those children who can, would love to do it again next year. I must give big thanks to Mrs Lawrence and Mrs Robinson who gave up their time to prepare the choir for this event.

I have had a lovely week but I am going to have to have a little moan about uniform. I have noticed that there are some lapses coming into the uniform. As I have mentioned before some of the KS2 pupils are coming to school without their ties which is not acceptable and I have noticed that some children are wearing black tights and leggings in school when they should be grey. Can you please ensure that your child is dressed in the correct school uniform (and this includes their socks). If you are unsure of what it is, please check our website. If you have any problems in purchasing your child’s uniform, please do not hesitate to contact me via the school office.

Next week is another busy week in school. It is Children’s Mental Health Week and the children will be carrying out some activities related to this in school. As we all know taking care of your mental health is just as important as any other part of your health and we do give children strategies in school on how to manage this. It is also Safer Internet Day and we will be reminding the children again of the importance of how to keep themselves safe whilst they are using technology.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend – it is definitely warmer which makes you feel like spring is on the way. I will be seeing some of you on Monday morning as a Sharing Assembly is taking place – those of you who have children involved will have been informed.

 I suppose that the big news of this week has been the fact that my retirement in the summer has been publicised. I would rather have left it a little longer to announce it as I know how the prospect of change can be unsettling for some children but the process of recruiting a new head is a long one and we did not want the news to spread by word of mouth once the advert came out which it did on Wednesday. I am retiring because I think it is the right time to go -I want to be fit enough to enjoy my retirement after a very fulfilling career in teaching.  There is still a long time until the summer though and I assure you I will be committed to serving Little Heath as best I can until the day I do retire.

It has certainly been warmer this week but that does not mean that the weather has not been causing us problems. We certainly did not have the best start to the week with Storm Isha at the weekend followed by Jocelyn on Tuesday night. I know some people struggled to get to school on Monday because of the destruction caused by the storm. Fortunately, we did not have any damage to the school but I did wake up on Monday morning to the sight of a large chunk of my back garden fence lying on the lawn. It is certainly not the start to the working week that you want but fortunately it is being fixed today so hopefully if another storm comes it will be able to remain standing.

I know the choir are looking forward to next week because they are performing in a Young Voices concert at the O2. This is certainly a highlight for all the choir members and if it is as good as last year both the choir and the audience are in for a treat. They have been preparing for months and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work.  I would also like to thank Mrs Robinson and Mrs Lawrence for all their hard work in preparing them for the event. I will be joining them at the O2 on Monday. I know that when I do retire that I will miss attending events like this with the children so I will have to make sure I make the most of events like this before I leave.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. It certainly looks more settled than last weekend so hopefully no broken fences this weekend. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday morning.

 As usual once the term begins the weeks appear to fly by -I cannot believe that a whole week has passed since I was last writing my blog. I am looking out the window at beautiful sunshine but the sunshine is very deceptive as it is freezing cold. I suppose we should not complain as parts of the country have been really struggling because of the bad weather but I am sure that there are some of the children (and adults) who are disappointed because we have not had any snow (and a Snow day off school).

Despite the cold we have still managed to run most of the after school clubs which is good because the children love these. It is important that you do not assume certain activities or clubs are not running because of the cold. We do assess the weather and conditions on a day by day basis so do please ensure that your child does come to school with their full PE kit regardless of what the weather is like outside because conditions can change throughout the day.

Next week the temperature is set to rise – I cannot believe that I am getting excited at the thought of it being 10ºC although some rain and strong winds has been forecast as well and that is not good.  I do hope that you have a good weekend (in spite of the cold weather) and I look forward to seeing you all again next week.

 Welcome back. I hope you have all had a fabulous Christmas and had a good start to the new year. It has certainly been a cold start for us this term although today has been milder even though it has only been 6ºc.  Due to the weather the children have been spending more time indoors and as the really cold spell is returning they may have to do the same next week. However, the children do spend some time outdoors so can you please make sure that you do send them into school next week with the appropriate outdoor garments to withstand the cold conditions.  

Even though it is the new year I am going to have to have a little moan. My site manager has informed me that some people are parking up in front of the school even though we have requested that people do not do this and we have had a couple of complaints from our neighbours that some people have been blocking their drives which means that they cannot access their homes. I have asked on numerous occasions that parents do not do either of these things. Blocking someone’s drive is against the law and if our neighbours call the police you will have to deal with them. We also ask that you do not park in front of the school so that we can keep the area in front of the school a pedestrian area which makes it safer for our children to walk to and from school. We do not want an accident to occur before parents take our request seriously.

Next week in school all of our extra-curricular clubs start again which makes school life a lot more exciting for most of the children. If you have not done so already, please make sure that you sign them up for their selected clubs so that they can attend.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again next week