| Head's Blog

It has been lovely to see everyone back again at school, following the Christmas holidays. The new term has very rapidly gathered pace, and it has been very rewarding to see new topics quickly taking shape.

With our forthcoming STEAM Week coming up in March, there has been a definite science flavour to this term’s activities. Year 1 have been exploring how lenses work and have then designed and made their own ‘magic glasses’ to help them to spot where improvements in punctuation and grammar could be made to their writing. This has linked well with our revised marking policy which we have extended throughout the school, encouraging our children to self-evaluate their work and improve it before discussing it with the teacher for immediate feedback. The children have really enjoyed the instant dialogue with their teachers which this system has facilitated. Year 1 have quickly mastered this concept and, with the aid of their glasses, their writing has made excellent progress.

In Year 2, the children have been hard at work learning about the digestive system. When I visited, a large pile of organs of all shapes and sizes could be seen on tables, as the children puzzled over the exact location of lungs, heart and kidneys, and how they were connected. The children were having great fun working in small groups discussing the function of each organ, as they built some very accurate bodies!

In Year 3, this work was being taken on to the next stage, as the children carried out an in-depth study of the human skeleton, considering how the organs are protected and how the body is held upright.

In all years, children have been busy thinking about new challenges and their New Year’s resolutions, and how they can build upon their successes of the previous twelve months. Our four Learning Powers have facilitated many discussions regarding strategies we can all use when work becomes tricky, and the importance of perseverance and resilience in all aspects of school life. We want all our pupils to believe that, with hard work and determination, nothing is beyond their grasp. As C.S. Lewis wrote:

‘You are never too young or too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream.’

A very happy 2019 to you all!

Heather Hopson-Hill, Head Teacher