Well, we have certainly had changeable weather since returning in September, not least last Friday (more of that later), but it is so nice to see the sun shining this afternoon. I was outside during lunchtime break today and it had clearly perked everybody up –children and adults alike. I’d just love to say that it was due to continue over the weekend too but alas, looking at the forecast, that doesn’t look to be the case.

Going back to last Friday, I wanted to reiterate my thanks to everyone involved in making the Funday Friday such a brilliant success despite the conditions which at times seemed like we would be destined not to be able to put it on at all. I still cannot believe how it went from glorious sunshine at 2:30 to torrential rain just 10 minutes before we were due to open at 3pm. Fortunately it didn’t put most of you off though and thank you to all of you attended, helping to raise yet more funds for the school community, of which I will be pleased to send out further news on how it is being spent very soon. Special thanks of course must once again go to Emily and the PTA as well as all of the parent volunteers who helped to run the event –we really could not do it without you!

Speaking of which… last night I met with the PTA to finalise the arrangements for the next big event which is our Fireworks Night. As with last year, the event is taking place on the second Saturday of the half term break and if you are not away and are able to come along, I would urge you to do so. We are using the same company as we have done for the last few years for the fireworks themselves and I believe that there is a special request going in for the same final firework that wowed us all last time around which was a great finish to an amazing show. This event is of course a huge highlight of the year and also a huge undertaking to put on, so we will be needing volunteers to ensure it all runs smoothly so please do look out for the communications coming out from the PTA soon and if you are able to help in any way that you can, this will be hugely appreciated.

Looking ahead to next week, Year 2 are out on a museum visit on Tuesday, but apart from that, there are no particularly notable events happening. I’m sure that does not mean for one minute that there will not be plenty of good learning taking place though and things are never quiet in school.

Have a good weekend everyone.

I cannot believe I am sitting here writing this having completed my first year as the Headteacher at Little Heath. It has been an absolute pleasure leading the school this year and I am very proud of the children here and all they have achieved. I want to thank all of the parents for your support throughout the year and I look forward to this continuing in the future as well. Thank you also for all of the generous gifts that you have given me.

It was very emotional saying goodbye to the Year 6 children this afternoon (as well as a couple of other younger ones who are leaving for different primary schools) but I am pleased to say that it all went without a hitch and they were given the huge applause and fanfare that they all deserved. They all produced a fantastic show earlier on in the week and they held it together well for their leavers’ assembly earlier today. We will all miss them greatly and we wish them all the very best as they move onto the next step of their journeys!

I want to finish by wishing you all a great summer, whether you are off to far off climes or staying local, have a good one and we will see you all again in September.

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.

It is so nice to be looking back out of my office window to warm sunshine again, after the rather chilly weather that we had for much of the bank holiday weekend and first half of this week. It certainly puts everyone in a better mood when the sun is shining and there has been a very upbeat vibe in school again today. Despite the slightly colder temperatures last weekend though, I hope that it didn’t put people off getting out and about and enjoying the extra day off that we had.

The pool has continued to prove very popular again this week and I have been very pleased to hear all of the positive comments from the children about having it in school. We were confident that it was going to be a worthwhile investment hiring out the pool, but even we have been surprised at how much the children have gained from it –the increase in confidence and ability already has been huge.

Although we did have a chilly start to the week as mentioned above, fortunately, the weather was most definitely on our side yesterday for our VE Day Celebrations. We wanted the picnic to be styled like a 1945 street party with all of the children eating together in one long row and as you can see from the pictures below, I think we managed to achieve that. We began with a 2 minutes’ silence and then Mr Chanter got to set off the air raid siren to signal that the children could begin eating. War time music was played through our brand new speaker system and once the food had been devoured, the children then took part in a number of games that would have been played during the period. It was particularly nice to see the children enjoying drawing with chalks on the ground so this is something that we will have to provide more of in future. Mr Chanter also got in on the action as you can see. To top everything off, we also had some war time memorabilia that had been kindly loaned to us by a parent of a reception child which was amazing to be able to see up close. 

Next week in school, I look forward to welcoming in our Reception parents to watch their children’s class assembly. We have had to move the venue into the Foundation Stage block for this one due to the hall being out of action and the rest of the school will not be in attendance, but I can assure that if there are any older siblings in the school, they will be invited to watch it in the unit as well.

Have a good weekend all.

 

 

What a brilliant week it has been in school, having finally got to use the temporary pool that has caused such excitement among the children (and some of the staff who have been in too)! It really has been wonderful hearing the children talk about how much they have enjoyed having the pool in the school and it has been great to see the faces of everyone as they have come out and the confidence that they are all clearly gaining. As you can see below, I have taken a couple of pictures to show you all what it actually looks like inside and how our sports hall has been turned into a makeshift changing room thanks to the efforts of Mrs Robinson and Mr Mills.

As well as the pool, this week we also had our Year 5 children taking part in the Bikeability programme which also ensured plenty of excitement from the children in that class. Well done to all of those who took part -the instructors were very impressed!

Next week, on Thursday, we have the fun and festivities of the 80th anniversary of VE day to look forward to. The children will take part in a range of activities, as well as an immersive celebratory picnic, and this will give an opportunity for the children to learn about the momentous day of celebrations marking the end of World War 2 in Europe.

As we come to this extended weekend, I hope you all have a lovely time -especially if the sun continues to shine as it has done all week.