Friday 21 October 2016

Term 1 reflections....

As we come to the end of Term 1, I thought I would share just a few reflective thoughts. Here goes...

Term 1 (September/October 2016)
Lots of our children have made good progress this term. This has been supported and driven by dedicated and talented staff who are keen to see the children achieve as well as they can. We are currently introducing a new approach to Mathematics this year and, with time, this will be highly effective in raising standards. We are also prioritising reading comprehension and want the children to really be confident in answering questions about a text and able to use evidence from within to support their ideas.

Not only have staff supported our youngsters, but they have also been supported by their parents. In particular, children who have 'flown' this term have been those whose parents read regularly with them, help them to learn their times-tables, play games with them and take a serious interest in their education. We cannot do this alone and we need every parent to be actively involved in their child's learning.

Daily reading is vital to success along with talking about the book, discussing ideas and making inferences about plot and characters. The more they read, the wider the children's vocabulary will grow....we are really trying to promote and push a broader range of vocabulary for the children to use verbally, in writing and in order to help them improve their comprehension skills. Again, any home support is welcome!

Our new children who have joined Apple Class this September have settled brilliantly and there has been some amazing progress and development seen over the past few weeks. Well done to all of our youngest learners in EYFS!

We have had some issues with parking and road safety this term and I would urge everyone to demonstrate care and consideration for others, especially at home time collection. With 207 children now on roll, we are at our busiest to date so please do take care when leaving the school grounds.

Attendance has been OK but I'd like it to be BRILLIANT (along with punctuality)...daily school attendance is absolutely vital to success and achievement.

Here's to more good teaching and learning next term...have a great half term and see you all ready for Term 2 on 31st October 2016.