Well, after a cooler start to the week, the temperatures have certainly crept up again as the week has gone on and we find ourselves with yet another amber weather warning in place which is due to last until at least next Tuesday. As a result, once again we have put things in place to mitigate against the effects of the heat as much as we can, though sometimes I just wish that we had air con in all of our classrooms (as well as in my office) as there is only so much relief that is given by the fans that we have in place. Still, while I may sit here complaining about the heat right now, it could be pouring down with rain and while this is obviously good for the garden, I know which conditions I’d rather be facing.

The last week has seen a number of things happening, including the Year 6 Residential as well as the Year 4 and 5 visits to Stanborough Lakes. Having spoken to many of the children from these classes, I know how much fun was had by all and I’m particularly jealous of those who got to enjoy the kayaking and paddle boarding as it sounded amazing -I must try and take my own family there over the summer holiday!

Moving onto today, we were lucky enough to have a visit from our local MP, Andrew Lewin. He was most impressed with his visit around the school and he commented when going into the classes how well behaved and welcoming the children all were. He was particularly pleased to hear the well thought out questions that the school council reps posed to him –we certainly have some budding politicians in our midst.

Moving onto next week, the main point of note to mention is our Parent Consultations that are taking place throughout the week, with Thursday being the later evening. These are a great opportunity to share all of the hard work and progress that the children have made this year before they move onto their new classes and teachers. I hope that you will find it a worthwhile opportunity to discuss your child and how well they are doing at school.

Next Friday we have 2 things of note –the first is our non-uniform day which will give the children the opportunity to wear their own clothes in return for bringing in tombola items for the Friday Fun Day the following week. The second thing to mention is the Year 6 Apprentice Day. This is an opportunity for the Year 6 children to raise money for charity whilst learning valuable financial life skills. They have set up a number of different businesses offering a range of goods and services which will then be sold to the rest of the school. This event usually raises a significant sum of money for good causes and I will post the amount raised in a future blog.

At the risk of sounding clichéd by beginning this blog talking about the weather, it would be amiss of me not to do so. It seems that we are clearly seeing the effects of climate change now and the severe weather warnings keep coming more and more often these days. Which brings me onto this heat that we have been experiencing these last few days and which is forecast to continue until at least the beginning of next week. I wanted to address this first by assuring you all that we take the health and safety of all of our children very seriously. All classes have fans in them and we have been ensuring that the children are keeping themselves well hydrated throughout the day and that during lunch and break times, they stay in the shade as much as possible. We have also opened up the main hall at lunch to all of the children to watch a film in a quiet, calm space.

Following on from this, despite the heat, I am pleased to say that we still managed to go ahead with the sports day yesterday and although it was certainly a warm affair to say the least, for the most part it all ran as smoothly as it could have done. As I mentioned in my email beforehand regarding this, we had been monitoring the forecast all week and we felt that despite the heat, it was better to go ahead with it now before the temperatures potentially creep up even further next month. I want to thank all of the children for taking part and I want to give a special mention to the Year 6 children who I hope you will all agree did a grand job at leading the events. I also want to thank all of the parents for coming to cheer on their children and especially those brave enough to take part in the parents’ races at the end –there were some lightning fast runners so I’m glad I didn’t come up against them! Finally, I want to thank all of the staff who helped to run it, but especially Mr Mills for all of his hard work in organising and putting it all together on the day. Grangewood were the eventual winners so well done to them for taking home the trophy this year.

Next week, we have Year 6 away for much of the week on their PGL residential. I am sure that they will have a great time and I know that the school will feel much quieter without them around. Year 4 and Year 5 are both going off to Stanborough lakes on Monday and Friday respectively and having taken a class there before, I know what an amazing time they will all have –especially when they get to cool off in the water when they jump (or fall) in!

On Friday next week, we also have our local MP, Andrew Lewin, who will be visiting Little Heath to see all of the wonderful learning going on in the school, so all in all, there is plenty that will be going on.

Have a good weekend everyone.

After all of the rain we have had this week, it is so nice to be looking back outside at the sun shining again, just in time for the weekend. I hope that everyone had a good half term break. It seems like a distant memory already, even though the week seems to have flown by.

Whilst we have all missed having the swimming pool in school this week, it has meant that we have been able to resume the assemblies once again and I have to say, it was nice to have everyone back in for our assembly on Monday as I know that Mr Chanter felt too when he led the assembly in my absence yesterday. We had lots of children receiving their birthday stickers and it was great to be able to clap the school sports teams as well for all of the games and tournaments that they had played in. We have our next Sharing Assembly on Monday and if your child is taking part you will have been sent a letter and we look forward to welcoming you into the school then.

I had the pleasure of visiting Year 5 yesterday evening on their residential visit to Lincolnsfield Centre. It is actually the first time I have visited the site and I now understand why the children get so excited about going there. The activities that the children told me all about having taken part in, as well as the learning about life in World War 2 that they were able to recall was fantastic and had clearly engaged them all. The children get so much out of the residential visits which is why we will continue to offer and encourage as many of our children to attend these places, offering invaluable experiences, during their time here at Little Heath.

I will not be around on the gate as much for the latter half of next week due to attending meetings as well as a class trip but if you have any pressing concerns, please do speak to the office staff, Mr Chanter or Mrs Robinson who will be happy to help.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.