I must admit that I’m feeling very guilty for not posting a blog for the past two weeks whilst we’ve been getting used to our new school website and how to use it!

I’m sure you’ll all agree that it looks very professional and we’re busy checking to make sure it has everything it needs. It will be the key place to go for policies, documents and key information although the school Facebook page, text messaging service and Class Dojo will continue to be used as the main forms of communication for daily news and updates.

Well done to Potters for another win in the House Point race this week although it was very close with just 29 points separating three teams.

Orangutans had a fabulous attendance score of 99.09% and won Churchill but I can’t tell you who has won the Reading Times Tables Challenges as the deadline for scores is tomorrow morning and I don’t have all the information to make an official announcement yet.

I have been spending time in classes this week to look at your learning and will be in more classrooms next week. Overall, I am pleased to see that there are some positive attitudes with children trying hard to tackle the tasks set by the teachers; some of which have a good level of challenge to really make you think. As a school we know that we need to continue to strive to aim high at all times and make sure there are lots of opportunities for you to practice, use and apply your skills and knowledge.

Along with the other senior leaders in school I am trying to make sure we have consistency across the school so that you don’t have to learn new routines every time you move to a new-year group or class as we all have the same expectations and procedures in place. We all know that I love creativity and individuality but this can still happen within a well-structured environment which is set up to support learning. This can be as simple as making sure everyone has a Multiplication grid on their Maths wall; a vocabulary list on the whiteboard or a text map or model text on the working washing line for you to use as a prompt when writing independently.

Y3 are practising hard for their forthcoming nativity performance; a sure sign that Christmas will soon be upon us and I am really looking forward to watching their performance. The Christmas tree arrived yesterday and is ready for the School Council representatives to decorate tomorrow whilst our Y5 classes are walking to Swadlincote town centre tomorrow to sing on the Delph at 2pm as part of the Swad Lights celebrations.

Don’t forget that we have a non-uniform day tomorrow in exchange for a £1 contribution for the annual FoS Christmas Fair which will take place next Friday from 2pm. Y5 pupils will be wearing their Christmas jumpers for the Swad lights performance and anyone else might want to get into the festive mood by wearing theirs as well.

Enjoy the Christmas lights fun in the town tomorrow night and have a fabulous weekend.

Mrs Hughes

Blog Box question: what might you use to help you with your Maths work in the classroom?