Well, I know I often talk about the weather in my blogs but I certainly do not remember a time when I was having to write about the incessant rain in June before quite like what we have experienced this week. I am not too sure that there are many people in schools who enjoy ‘wet play’ –children or adults alike –but unfortunately we’ve had a fair few of them this last week so I am hoping that this does not continue next week.

Whilst I was not actually able to be there in person to see it, I am pleased to report back on our Reception class assembly that took place this morning. I hear from all of the staff who watched it how amazing it was and though I did get to see the final rehearsal yesterday which I thought was superb, the children brought it up a notch in the real thing today and so I’m even more gutted not to have seen it. The learning that the children have clearly developed and the way in which they are able to recall and present it is absolutely fantastic and they are destined for great things as they move through the school. I would like to say a huge thanks to Mrs Sheehan and all of the Foundation Stage team for putting together such a brilliant assembly; a well done to all of the children who performed it; and a big thank you as well to all of the parents who joined us to make it so special.

Today also saw Year 4 out on their visit to Stanborough lakes which judging by the reactions of the children and staff on their return was yet another brilliant trip out. We try to encourage a wide variety of educational visits across the school and we firmly believe that the more ‘adventurous’ types of visit have many positive benefits, from developing team work and resilience to building the children’s confidence in attempting things otherwise out of their comfort zones.

Next Thursday, weather permitting, we have our Sports Day events planned. You will have received the information about this already, but for those unfamiliar to the make-up of the day, KS1 will be taking part in the morning and KS2 are in the afternoon. The events involve a ‘round robin’ of activities first of all for the children to earn points towards the overall House competition followed by the individual races held after that. It is always an enjoyable event and I look forward to welcoming as many of you to it as possible.

In the meantime, have a good weekend everyone.

 

 

After all of the rain, hail and chilly temperatures that we have had this last week, it is nice to be looking at the sun shining outside again, but unfortunately I’m not so sure that it is going to warm up that much over the weekend! We are forecast much warmer temperatures for next week though so let’s hope we can be outside at break times every day without disruption.

A parent commented to me while I was on the gate this morning how quiet it seemed and I had to agree but there was a good reason for this as most of the Year 3 and 4 children went off on their residential visit to PGL Caythorpe early yesterday morning. As a result, it has been very strange in school these last 2 days, as with the two classes missing, it seemed particularly quiet outside at break and lunchtimes. I have heard some wonderful things about the trip from the staff who attended and I am sure from looking at some of the very tired faces of the children as they got off the coach that they will sleep well tonight -and probably tomorrow too! 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 invaluable experiences during their time here at Little Heath.

Whilst we have all missed having the swimming pool in school this week, it does mean that we are able to resume our assemblies once again and we have our next Sharing Assembly on Monday. If your child is taking part, you will have been sent a letter and we look forward to welcoming you into the school then. Unfortunately, I will not be around on Monday morning so I will not get to see the assembly but Mr Chanter will be leading it and I am sure he will tell me all about the wonderful learning that will no doubt be shared by the children.

As well as the sharing assembly we have a couple of other notable events to look forward to next week. On Monday, we have a visitor who will be speaking to many of the children about space travel which will no doubt inspire the next generation of children wanting to become astronauts when they grow up. Skipping forward to Friday, we then have the Oakmere Mini Marathon with all of the children from KS2 getting to take part in this annual event. It is always good to see the parents cheering on their children and I’m sure this will prove as popular as ever and we look forward to seeing those of you who can make it there. All we ask is that you remain in the spectators’ section and cheer on your child from there.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

So here we are at the end of the first week of the summer term already. It may have only been a short one, but it does feel like a lot has happened this week. I hope everyone had a good Easter break and the children certainly all came back raring to go so it seemed like a well-deserved rest was had by all.

This week there was a lot of excitement from the children due to the return of the temporary swimming pool in school and we have seen many happy faces after the children have had their swimming session. It has been a bonus that for much of the week, the weather has been sunny and warm which has certainly helped in keeping the water temperature as warm as possible. May I remind you to send the children in with their swimming kit every day as they will not know what days they will be going in as this will change week by week.

We also had the children’s class photographs today which went as smoothly as possible and the children all looked very smart for these. The photographer said how well behaved the children all were as ever which was particularly pleasing to hear since we had to change the usual ‘studio’ venue due to the hall being out of action.

As well as having the pool, there are a couple of things going on in school which are out of the ordinary next week. We start the week with Years 4 and 5 taking a visit to Legoland on Monday which through an engaging, hands-on workshop, is designed to bring aspects of STEM to life as the children become rollercoaster designers and engineers. As Mr Chanter and I will both be attending this, if you have any questions or queries on Monday, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Robinson who will be only too happy to help.

As prior communications have explained, we then have an exciting day planned on Thursday which is our Spanish Day. It will be great to see the children dressed in their red and/or yellow clothes and I am sure there will be lots of fun to be had in the flamenco dancing workshops as well as the classroom activities and there will be lots of tasty food to be eaten for lunch which will also have a Spanish theme. 

Let’s hope that this sunshine continues and I hope you all have a good weekend.

Well here we are at the end of the term and whilst I often say how quickly the time has gone, this one seems to have gone quicker than ever. I suppose that I should not be too surprised though as it has been a shorter than usual term.

This week saw the latest of our Sharing Assemblies which unfortunately I was not able to be at but Mr Chanter did tell me that there was some wonderful learning shared which is brilliant to hear. It is always great to see and hear what the children have been up to in their classes and the wide variety of work that was shared shows the importance that we put on all subjects here at Little Heath and long may this continue.

Later on in the week, we had our amazing Middle School (Years 3-5) Performances of ‘Robin Hood and the Sherwood Hoodies’. Despite some absences of key cast members, some technical issues and a whole host of other setbacks, the children really personified what we mean by resilience and I want to applaud all of them for how they put on such wonderful shows. From the brilliant singing and dancing of the choir to the acting and solos from the older children that would not be amiss in the West End, I want to thank and congratulate all of the children for their fantastic performances. I also want to thank all of the staff involved but especially Miss Davis for directing it all –I know from years of experience how stressful it is to put together something that looks so effortless on the night but it is all worth it in the end.

When we return after the Easter break, we are very pleased to be getting the temporary pool back again and I saw first-hand how excited the children are when I spoke to them about it in the assembly yesterday morning and I know we will see good progress as a result of the extra lessons that we will be able to offer. Let’s hope that the weather is as kind to us as it was last year.

I want to finish this week’s blog by wishing everyone a Happy Easter holiday and let’s hope the sun begins to shine soon!

I will keep my blog brief this week but I wanted to start by saying how amazing the Year 2 class assembly was this morning and a huge well done to all of the children for taking part. From wonderful stories which would be equally as impressive if a Year 6 child had written them, to creative pieces of art and D & T, it was clear to me and all of the parents that the children have learned an awful lot this year and a big thank you needs to go to Mrs Beadle for this as well as all of the staff who have supported. We had a number of children off today so a well done needs to go to all of the children who stepped up at the last minute as well as a special thanks to Miss Russon for sorting the technical aspects of the assembly also at very short notice.

Next, I wanted to give a huge thanks to all of you, our parents and children, for your support of Red Nose Day today. We managed to raise yet another £420 from the sale of the noses which is fantastic and this money is going to a very good cause which will help so many people living tough lives both in the UK and around the world. For those of you watching the Comic Relief show tonight, I’m sure there will be lots of laughs along with the harder hitting clips showing where the money will be spent.

It has been a very short half term and next week, we have our Middle School (Years 3-5) Performance, which this year is called, ‘Robin Hood and the Sherwood Hoodies’. It promises to be a fantastic show and I look forward to welcoming all of the family members who will be coming to watch.

Wednesday afternoon is our Open Afternoon, where we invite you all in to look at the books with your child(ren). This begins from 3pm (or whenever the afternoon performance finishes if slightly earlier than this) and you are more than welcome to take your child home once you have had a chance to share their work with them. 

Finally, as it is the end of term next week, we will be finishing school at 1:15pm on Friday.

In the meantime, the sun is due to continue to shine this weekend so do enjoy getting outside and we will see you all on Monday.

I want to start by saying how fantastic it was to see all of the children in their wonderful costumes yesterday celebrating World Book Day. The day started off with an assembly where we were lucky enough to receive personal World Book Day messages from Andy and Ben from Cbeebies and Abi from Blue Peter! The assembly then continued with a wonderful presentation from the author Stewart Henderson who was equally as impressed with the children’s costumes as we were. Then Stewart spent the rest of the day leading workshops with the children that they were all inspired by. As well as this, we had another fantastic character scavenger hunt that took place during lunchtime to engage the children which was great to see and lots of fun was had by all of those who took part!

The fun continues next week, as it is Science Week and the children will be completing science activities in class throughout the week, further enriching their scientific skills and knowledge. Thursday and Friday will see the children taking part in Science workshops as well so there is plenty for them all to look forward to.

As well as the above, two trips are taking place next week, with Years 1 and 2 off to Hertfordshire Zoo on Tuesday and Year 3 heading off to Celtic Harmony on Wednesday. I have said it before, but these outside learning opportunities are great ways for the children to learn in a practical, hands-on way and they are the things that they will remember well into adulthood! Once again, I’d like to thank the PTA for funding these wonderful learning visits.

That’s all for now. I will see you all again on Monday, but in the meantime, let’s hope that the rain stops and the sun begins to shine outside again as it really does put a spring in the step when that happens -have a good weekend!

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 the visit from Saffron Severn on Tuesday and the sponsored fitness event that the children took part in. There was such a buzz in school when she arrived and it was such a wonderful thing to see all of the children from Year 1 up to Year 6 completing their circuits and while there were certainly a few out of breath children at the end, it was all good fun and all for a good cause. Thank you to all of the children for taking part and to all those who managed to raise any money at all. If your child has managed to raise some sponsorship money but hasn’t had the chance to return it then the deadline for this is next Tuesday, 3rd March. As the money then gets collated and sent off, please note that we then need to wait for any of the ‘rewards’ to be sent back to us before we can give them to the children. I can assure all of the children though that as soon as we receive them then they will be sent out and the funds that come back into the school for our participation will be used to buy more brand new sports equipment.

On Wednesday, I then had the pleasure of joining Mrs Robinson and Mrs Lawrence as we took a group of children from the choir to the o2 Arena to perform in the annual Young Voices event. It was an amazing day and we had quite a few hoarse voices yesterday as a result of the children singing loudly among the thousands of other children who were there. The fact that we were allocated a space right at the front again this year was amazing. I want to thank Mrs Robinson and Mrs Lawrence for giving up their time to organise the event and take 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. 

Yesterday it was brilliant to see all the children from Year 4 (as well as Mr Chanter) in their Egyptian costumes for their engaging and enriching workshop. By all accounts the children learned an awful lot that textbooks (or even the internet) are not able to teach in the same way and I’m sure they will remember those facts even when they are old like me! Thank you to the parents who attended to help it run so smoothly –I hope that you enjoyed it also!

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 few weeks 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.

Next Thursday is of course World Book Day and we look forward to welcoming in the author, Stewart Henderson who will be talking to all of the children in a special assembly before joining classes across the school for their World Book Day related workshops. We also of course look forward to seeing all of the wonderful book related costumes that thee children come dressed in –this is always a highlight of the year!

Have a great weekend.