Wow, is it really nearly the end of term and the end of this academic year already?! I know I must sound like a broken record by now, but where did that time go?

There has been plenty going on in school this week from the mini beast workshop which took place in Year 3 at the beginning of the week to the Year 6 visit to Stanborough lakes today. The highlight for many in the school though was probably the Apprentice afternoon held on Wednesday which was yet another success and has raised a significant amount of money for charity once again. As the Year 6 class have been very busy over the last couple of days, they do not know how much was raised in total yet and so I did not want to spoil anything by sharing it here but I will add it to my final blog on Wednesday of next week.

Which brings me on to my mention of the events to come next week in our final week of the year. Year 6 will be performing their end of year show to the whole school on Monday morning in their dress rehearsal which will also be their first full run-through, before the ‘real thing’ when they will perform it in the evening to their parents. This is a tradition that is followed in most primary schools across the country and judging by how good it has sounded when I have been passing through their classroom or the hall while they have been rehearsing, I am sure that it will be an amazing show!

The end of year fun will continue on Tuesday when we will also be holding our annual Staff vs Year 6 rounders match. I actually managed to hit the ball for once last year (usually the nerves get to me and I miss in spectacular fashion) and if I am lucky enough to blast it towards the Foundation Unit again, I can assure that I will be doing all I can to get a 'rounder' and help bring the title back to the staff! I look forward to all of the cheers from those children in the school supporting the teachers, but also relish the ‘panto' boos from those who will be cheering on the Year 6 children, as after all, it is for them that we continue to put on this event and I wish the class all the best.

Finally, we will come to the end of term on Wednesday, where we will be holding our annual Leaver’s Assembly for the Year 6 children before they then get to visit classes to have their shirts signed. We will then be waving goodbye to the Year 6 children for good and will be saying goodbye for the summer to the rest of the school as we finish with the ‘guard of honour’ at 1:15pm.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and we will see you all again on Monday morning for these final few days.

Well, after a cooler start to the week which was a very welcome relief from the extreme heat of last week, the temperatures have certainly crept up again today and we find ourselves with yet another yellow weather warning in place which is due to last into the beginning of next week. 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 main points of note to mention from this week were the sharing and class assemblies and our Parent Consultations that took place throughout the week, which culminated in the later evening last night. These meetings 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 and I hope that you found it a worthwhile opportunity to discuss your child and how well they are doing at school.

Monday’s sharing assembly might have been a smaller affair than usual due to being our ‘mop-up’ event for those who missed out earlier in the year, but nevertheless there was plenty of quality learning across a range of subjects that the children proudly shared with us. The Year 1 class assembly today then showed the wonderful learning made by the younger children of the school. It was very well presented and was well attended by our parents and I want to thank all of the parents for joining us, all of the staff who helped to put it together but most importantly, the children who were all superstars.

Following on from my comments regarding the consultations last night, I know that I spoke to a couple of parents about this Sunday’s football match and whether we would be allowing a late start to the day. Having consulted with all of the other local Potters Bar primary headteachers, for once there was not a general consensus with only a couple of other schools offering a later start to their day. For those who have known me for a while, you will know what a huge football fan I am, but on reflection, whilst I do not wish to disappoint anyone, on this occasion, in line with most other schools, we have decided to stick to the usual start time. Despite my love of the beautiful game, I don’t think I could face the day after lack of sleep (especially if it goes to pens) and so I myself will be setting my alarm for 5:30, switching off my notifications and watching it then and whether you choose to allow your child to watch it live or not, I hope our boys do well and I will be cheering as loudly as the next person in the hope that we get through to the quarter finals. If we do so, luckily we will have no more silly-o’clock KOs.

I hope you all have a good weekend.

Well once again it seems that we are clearly seeing the effects of climate change now and the severe weather warnings keep coming. After the pouring rain of last week, we have then had the opposite extreme today with this intense heat which is forecast to continue for much of next week. I have said this before but I wanted to assure you all once again that we take the health and safety of all of our children very seriously. All classes have fans or coolers 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 also opened up the main hall at lunchtime today to all of the children to watch a film in a quiet, calm space if they wanted to.

Following on from this, despite it getting warmer in the afternoon yesterday, I am pleased to say that the weather was a lot kinder to us this year and we were able to go ahead with the sports day and it all ran as smoothly as it could have done. I want to thank all of the children for taking part and I want to give a special mention to the Year 6 children and work experience students 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 for the second year in a row, so well done to them for taking home the trophy once again this year.

Next week, Year 6 are going to be away for the week on their PGL residential, rest day and visit to Stanborough lakes. Mr Chanter and I will be attending this also and I will only be in school on Thursday so if you have any queries or concerns in our absence, please make contact with Mrs Robinson who will be only too happy to help. I am sure that the school will feel much quieter without us around.

Have a good weekend everyone.

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!