I would really like everyone to go to the staff page and look at the pictures drawn by children of staff! If you want the pictures to get a bit bigger you just click on them. It is funny that I have been drawn (by Chloe) with a tie that only comes half way to my tummy as I always make sure that my tie is nice and long… I think I can promise a day off school to anyone who sees me wearing a tie at that length!! I chose Chloe’s picture of me partly because she gave me ears ( I have two but not everyone seemed to put them in the picture) and partly because she gave me a friendly face.

Which is your favourite drawing? I think my favourite picture is Miss Thistlethwaite’s because it also has the sun in it.

Everyone was asking Ms Tuckett lots of questions about her trip to teach orphans in Cambodia and to help in the elephant sanctuary in Thailand. Did anyone ask her how much money she got paid? It would take a lot of money to persuade me to go, but Ms Tuckett went as a volunteer – she didn’t get paid anything…in fact, it cost her quite a lot to go! Who wants to know how often Ms Tucket got ill, or what was the weirdest creature she saw, or what it was like to be caught up in riots in Thailand? Ask Ms Tuckett some questions and let her answer them!

Today we drew the prizes that marked the end of the three week mini project over school dinners. Every child who had enjoyed thee school meals got a raffle ticket (so if they stayed for fifteen meals they got five raffle tickets!)There were six prizes of £15 each and one enormous prize of £70 for a family treat to go bowling followed by a meal.

The £15 winners were Kyle Spencer, Jordan Mellor, Devon Robb, Hollie Winstanley, Megan Phillips and Blake Roberts. The big £70 winner was Shelbie Eastell. But everyone who had a dinner over that period was a winner because they got small prizes every day and at each sitting a child was awarded a big prize…and finally they got these very big prizes. Dinner numbers have really gone up – I hope that we can keep the numbers up for the rest of the year. Who has enjoyed this little project?

We are coming to the end of a very short half term – we have only been in school for five weeks (and we had a day off for May Bank Holiday!)

After the holiday, children will have their new teachers. Children will stay in their old class but have their new teacher and then they will move to their new classroom in September.

We are going to have lots to look forward to after half-term, including a day when we have a sponsored walk in the morning which will be raising money for books for the school.  We are going to organise lots of fun things to do along the way – so we could have badge making and bracelet making, we can have ‘take a penalty against Mr Brian’, snack areas and so on. Does anyone have any good ideas about what other exciting things children could do on the walk – face painting perhaps, having a photograph taken, a lucky dip…who has some other ideas?

I have some prizes for the best ideas, so please add a comment to this blog and you may be a winner!

Last year, for the first time, we allowed the Y6 to choose their own colour for their school uniform top. They chose red – which was great because we wanted them to look and feel different from the rest of the school in their last year before leaving us for secondary education. The Y6 loved the fact that they had a different uniform and were very proud of it.

It is now the time of year when this Y5 need to decide as a class whether or not they would like to choose their own uniform as Y6s in September. I have had a few conversations with them – and they have talked about purple, black, green – and even jackets! What do people think? I would especially like Y5 and their parents to think about what they might like so that we can come to a decision in the next few weeks so that everything is sorted for the beginning of the new academic year. I like purple, but what do others think would look good?

World Awareness Week got off to a great start yesterday. Three Polish girls, Marysia, Oliwia and Maryt (three girls from Y4) came with a Polish teacher (Anna Strajt) and entertained the Y4 for the afternoon. We found out all about their lives in Poland and now in England. They were lovely, cheerful girls and they taught us lots about their own country. I think it might be a good idea to link up with a Polish school – what do others think?

Mary Sivaanbu, a teacher from India, came and spoke with Y3. She brought dressing up clothes and let children try them. It was a lovely afternoon.

Louise Linford, a sign language tutor, worked with Y2 for the afternoon explaining about how people with a hearing disability cope with that issue. The children really enjoyed her visit.

Today we have Mary Sculthorpe telling children about what it is like to be a refugee…and the infants will be cooking and eating Indian food. It is really important that we know all about the world and it is lovely to welcome visitors to our school and to learn so much from them.

Thank you to the two children who have written replies to the blog – how about some more please!

Almost all of the time it is lovely to be a headteacher! But occasionally I get told off by parents – and most often it is when I rattle on about attendance!

When I arrived at the school in 2006, we had below average attendance and that was like a big arrow pointing at the school and saying “not a very good school”  which isn’t a nice label. I know people will struggle to believe it, but some parents would keep children off for a morning just because they had overlaid an hour, or if the children had a medical appointment or if the children had had a late night… We now have a better level of attendance than any school for miles around – and we have increasing numbers joining the school, we also have fantastic results in SATs because children attend school so well and therefore learn so well.  Every attendance is important just as every lesson is important – which is why I have helped parents out in the past by picking up children, and why we do so much to encourage children to attend with certificates and mars bars! If  a child does not come to school, and a parent does not ring up and let us know (this happens very rarely) and then  a parent does not answer the phone, I will often come to the house – this is partly so that we can make sure that we know why someone is away, but also to make sure that a child is safe – imagine how everyone would feel if a child hadn’t come to school, if school hadn’t found out why and if some harm had come to that child!

Parents occasionally say to me that I am only interested in attendance – this isn’t true; I want children to love coming to school, I want them to love learning, I want them to fulfil their potential. I want parents to feel that they are part of a team working with school staff to the benefit of their children. So although attendance is important to me, it is only one of a number of things that matter. When Ofsted inspectors come again (which will be soon) they will judge us partly on attendance, so it is important that we do everything that we can to make it a postive aspect of the school’s performance. Our attendance at the moment is excellent – and it is something that every child, every parent/carer and every member of staff should take pride in.

We have said goodbye to Y6 SATs for another year… the children have all worked very hard and I am sure they will have done themselves and the school proud.

On Monday 18th May we begin World Awareness Week where the school will have lots of visitors from around the world as well as also meeting with people who either have a disability or represent organisations who work with people with a disability. We are doing this as part of our commitment to community cohesion. It should be great fun!

Advance warning that we break up for the half term holiday on Friday 22nd May and children come back to school on Wednesday 3rd June, when children will be with their new teacher.

I hope that everyone likes the new web site – do feel free to add a comment on this blog!

Joe Brian