Well, where did that week just go? Whilst the half term break already feels like it was ages ago, at the same time, I cannot believe how quickly the week has flown by.

There have been a few things that have happened in school this week worth mentioning, starting with a number of events that happened on Tuesday. First of all, the children in Year 1 went off to Christ Church for a visit related to their RE topic and Year 2 enjoyed their Great Fire of London day related to their history topic. Although I was not there to see the workshop, I know from the excitement that the children had on Wednesday still, that they all had an amazing learning experience that was brought to life by the drama of the day.

In addition to the above, we also had a K’NEX challenge workshop in Years 5 & 6 on Tuesday and by all accounts this was a huge success also. The children got to design and make fairground rides and there were some fantastic creations at the end. Some photos of these will be going up on the respective class blogs.

We have also been able to welcome our Nursery and Reception parents into school this week, for their consultations with the class teachers. I hope that for those of you who were in for this, you got a chance to hear about the positive start that your child has had with us so far and all of the wonderful things that they have been up to since the start of the year.

For the rest of the school, today was the day that the children will have brought home their annual school reports. I know that other schools often send their reports out later in the year, but we like to send them out earlier on so that the children can work on the targets set by their current teachers, within the rest of this academic year. I have had the pleasure of reading over every single one of them over the last week and I am very impressed with the excellent, positive comments that have been made about the children and I trust that they will now work hard on their next steps in order to improve further. As a result of these reports going out now, we do not hold an official parents’ meeting for the whole school in this term, but if you wish to discuss anything from your child’s report, you may contact their class teacher to make an appointment to do so.

We have some equally as exciting events happening in school next week! First of all, as a precursor to British Science Week the following week, we have 2 days of Science Workshops taking place next Wednesday and Thursday. Over these 2 days, the children of all classes will get to enjoy some practical hands-on experiments and investigations that will no doubt spark the children’s enthusiasm and imagination!

We will then be ending the week with our World Book Day Celebrations. As was mentioned in the letter that went out, we have moved this back a day here at Little Heath, so will be celebrating on Friday 7^th March and we will be having an author visit from Camilla Chester, author of the award winning book, Call Me Lion. The children will also be able to come in dressed up as a character from their favourite book. My staff and I will also all be dressed up as well so do look out for our costumes and try and guess the character/book.

In the meantime, it has been great to look out of the window today and see the sun shining which I believe is due to continue for the next couple of days, so as I often say here, do get outside as much as you can and have a great weekend.

So here we are at the much-needed half-term break. It has been a very busy term so far, topped off by a very busy week this last week, but it’s been great to see the children enjoying their learning and having fun in the extra events that have gone on this week.

I am very pleased to start by sharing the fantastic success of our Valentine's Disco from Wednesday! Thanks to the hard work of the PTA as well as the incredible support from you, our parents, we raised a staggering £570 for our school. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the disco such a memorable event! It’s your support that makes these events such a success, and we are truly grateful for the sense of community that we have here at Little Heath.

Moving on to today, it was great to see the children taking part in our Crazy Hair Day and there really were some amazing creations! A further £141 was raised for the PTA from this and please do watch this space for further details about how the funds are going to be used to make things even better for the children in the school.

Wishing you all a good half-term break -I hope you all have the chance to enjoy some well-deserved rest and quality time with your families over the break and I look forward to seeing the children all well-rested and ready for the rest of the term.

I want to start by apologising for not updating my blog for the last couple of weeks, but I’m pleased to be writing this again to share some of the things that have been going on in school.

The week started off with the latest one of our sharing assemblies. It is always pleasing to see the range of subjects and topics that the children choose to share with the school and their parents and this week was no exception, with a great variety of work shared by those children who took part. It continues to be clear that good learning is taking place in all classes and it is wonderful to hear this from the children themselves as they share the work that they’re particularly proud of.

On Wednesday, Mrs Robinson and Mrs Lawrence took a group of children to the o2 to perform in the annual Young Voices event, ably assisted by Mr Mills. I was due to attend with them and I was really looking forward to it but unfortunately I had to swap at the last minute with Mr Mills which I was very disappointed about. I know from speaking to the children who attended though, as well as the teachers, that it was an amazing day and we had quite a few hoarse voices yesterday so they were clearly singing loudly among the thousands of other children who were there. The fact that we were allocated a space right at the front this year was extra special and there are some awesome pictures to be shared on my blog next week. I also hear on the grapevine that there was a picture of Mr Mills on the big screen that somebody managed to snap so I’m hoping to get a copy of that to share here too. I want to thank all of the teachers who took the children, because without them, we could not attend, but also I want to thank the children who went for taking part and representing our school.  

We are into the last week of the half term already next week and there is quite a lot going on. This week was officially Children’s Mental Health week, but due to timetabling here, we decided to mark this in school next week instead. Tuesday is Safer Internet Day so the children will be carrying out activities related to this. The same day, Year 3 are off on a visit to Celtic Harmony and Year 2 are off to Christchurch for a visit related to their RE lessons. On Wednesday, we have our Open Afternoon for parents to come and see and share the work that your children have been doing and we have Friendship Groups taking place on Thursday morning. Finally, on Friday we have ‘Crazy Hair Day’ so we look forward to seeing the wacky creations that the children decide upon!

Have a lovely weekend and see you all again on Monday.

 

I am so pleased to be writing my blog this week going into the weekend with a noticeable rise in temperature from this time last week. It certainly makes it easier to get out and about at the weekend when we’re not faced with sub-zero temperatures!

The week has passed by as quickly as ever and as I mentioned last week was to be the case, we did not have too much going on out of the ordinary this week. We did have some of our ex-pupils in school today doing their Year 7 work experience and it is always a pleasure to welcome them back and nice to know that they had such a positive experience when they were here that they want to return when given an opportunity. It was equally nice to see those who had come to watch their younger siblings in their class assembly before going off to work in their respective workplaces.

The main notable event of the week happened this morning and that was our Year 4 class assembly alluded to above. The children shared lots of learning that they have done so far this year and they presented it in a very humorous and entertaining way! From the work that the children had completed on The Iron Man in English to the Pablo Picasso-inspired portraits that they had created in their art lessons, it was clear to see how much the children have learned during their time in school so far this year. The times tables rock metal song that they sang –acapella I might add –had the audience joining in and highlighted how we try to provide as many opportunities as possible across the school for the children to learn in different ways.

Earlier on this afternoon, I had the pleasure of seeing some of the children from the other end of the school –our Foundation Stage –whizzing around the main playground on their balance bikes and trikes. The wonderful learning that takes place in Key Stage 1 and 2 all starts with the basics being mastered in Nursery and Reception and seeing how confident the children were on 2 or 3 wheels shows how well they have started and shows great potential for the future.

One thing I forgot to mention in my blog last week that was happening this week was the Year 5 and 6 boys’ football matches that took place yesterday. Unfortunately, we lost one game and drew the other one but it is the taking part that counts and I want to thank the boys who turned up to play for their dedication. Next week, we have a girls’ football tournament taking place on Thursday morning and a netball match taking place later that afternoon so I want to wish all of those taking part in these, the very best of luck!

Have a good weekend everyone.

So here we are at the end of the first week back and while it was only a short one, it does feel like we have been back forever already! I must admit that I am very glad that we managed to get through the whole week without any disruption to the school day caused by the weather; when the snow started to come down fairly heavily whilst I was leading the assembly on Tuesday morning, I did have a moment where I thought it might do but alas it wasn’t to be and we have had a good 4 days of learning.

I will keep my blog very brief this week as there is nothing planned out of the ordinary to report next week, but we do have the Year 4 class assembly to look forward to next Friday. If your child is in Year 4 then I am sure that they will be chomping at the bit to share all of the wonderful work that I know that they have been doing with Mr Chanter and Mrs Friedmann and we look forward to welcoming you to see this on Friday morning.

It is due to be another very chilly one this weekend, but try not to let this keep you indoors too much as fresh air is so good for our mental wellbeing.

I cannot believe I am sitting here at the end of term having broken up for the Christmas break! It has certainly been a busy one and being the Headteacher has been harder than I could ever have imagined but equally, it has been so rewarding and I want to thank you for all of the support and kind words that I have had from so many of you.

Little Heath really is a lovely place to work and we do all we can to ensure that our children feel happy and secure in their time with us. The Christmas build up is one of the times in the year where we get to do so many fun and exciting things and this last couple of weeks has been no exception to that. The Foundation Stage and KS1 performances and the KS2 Carol Concert were both very well attended and were a joy to watch the children perform and sing in. I wish to thank all of you who contributed to the collection after the Carol Concert as we have been able to send off a donation to the Make A Wish Foundation of just over £293 which is a fantastic amount of money and will no doubt be very well received! It never ceases to amaze me how generous you all are and I am very proud to say that as a community we help to raise such large amounts of money to support so many good causes.

Thank you for all of the cards and presents that I have been given –I did tell some children earlier today that I will be coming back at least a stone heavier after the break!

I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year and we will see you all on Tuesday 7^th January.

I want to start by saying how awesome everyone looked in their Christmas jumpers today! There were lots of amazing looking jumpers on show and lots of money was no doubt raised for Save the Children; I will let you know how much in total was raised in my blog next week.

Although officially, Christmas Jumper Day was actually yesterday, we chose to do ours today as it coincided with our Christmas lunch and it feels much more festive wearing the right attire whilst tucking into our turkey and sprouts. For those children who had the Christmas meal option, I trust that they enjoyed it –there was certainly not much left at the end so this is always a good sign. Getting everyone sat and fed on time is always a stretch, but I’m pleased to say that everything went like a well-oiled machine today and we managed to get the film started on time in the afternoon, which the children then got to enjoy watching. On that note, I wish to thank the parent volunteers for their help on the playground and then in the hall this afternoon. You know who you are and without you, it would not have been possible to get the staff together for their annual sit down meal (brilliantly served by the Year 6 children as ever) so thank you very much for giving up your time and I hope you enjoyed watching the film too!

Next week, we have lots of festivities taking place, from the EYFS and KS1 performances on Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon, to the KS2 carol concert which takes place on Tuesday evening. Before these shows, we will start the week with our second sharing assembly of the year on Monday morning and you will have been invited already if your child is taking part. Tuesday afternoon will see KS1 having their Christmas party so do make sure that your child has their party outfit in school to get changed into for that. The KS2 party will be on Thursday afternoon and once again, children will need their party clothes in school for this.

Whether you will be in school already watching the show or not, all parents are welcome in school from 3pm onwards on Wednesday for our Open Afternoon, where you can come in and look at all of the learning that your child has done so please do join your child if you are able to.

Have a lovely weekend.