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Welcome back to school

Lovely to welcome pupils back to school. Attendance is high, including every pupil in Reception for the start of school. Teachers are welcoming pupils, focusing on relationships and expectations as part of our Values-based living approach. Specialist clubs, Breakfast club and After-school club all started on Wednesday - superb to see pupils attending a football club before school on the first day back!

 

Our families value the importance of education and want the best for their child. That's why attendance for most pupils is so high. We appreciate your support. We will be working with a small minority of families to help them meet the government's higher expectations on attendance, this year.

 

Pupils look superb in our school uniform. Our value of respect starts with self. Wearing our uniform helps build that sense of self respect and belonging to our school. Thanks to all families for meeting our uniform expectations. Remember summer uniform option until October half-term to give families flexibility and value for money from uniform.

 

Thanks to the Mayor of London's funding, school meals are free to all pupils from the start of Reception to the end of year 6 for this school year. The Mayor says this could save families over £500 per child per year. Find out more about menus and ordering. 

 

We continue to offer our pupils the best possible education and start in life. Behind the scenes, during the school holiday period, we have:

  • started to focus on our improvement priorities with staff training,
  • improved the school's facilities,
  • welcomed our new members of staff.

 

All staff enjoyed 2 days of training on Monday and Tuesday by working on:

  • refreshing our Values-based ethos with a strengthened Values-based living approach;
  • deepening our understanding of learning and the best ways to teach.

 

We refreshed our Values-based ethos, based on the work of Dr Neil Hawkes, with a new emphasis on Values-based living. We revisited the importance of values - helping pupils to grow-up to be the best version of themselves - and using our core values and vocabulary to build a moral and ethical compass. Values determine our behaviour choices as individuals and underpin the school's approach to behaviour expectations and management for pupils. We acknowledge our cherished role of helping to educate pupils for life and the equal importance of academic excellence alongside character development. Look out for children talking about 'Inner Curriculum' lessons every Friday and ask staff about their 'smiling eyes'. 

 

We continue to follow Rosenshine's principles to underpin our approach to teaching and learning. This year, we are focusing on the craft of adapting and scaffolding learning in lessons so that all pupils reach and achieve the highest standards. Staff also thought more deeply about Cognative Load Theory and how we can teach more effectively and efficiently with an understanding of brain theory. Expect teachers to teach:

  • the same curriculum content in each class in each cohort,
  • and in the same style across the whole school - with small variation for their individual personality.

The quality of our teachers and consistency in the way we teach are key ingredients of the school's success.

 

During the holiday period, maintenance and improvement works took place, including:

  • replacement of our intruder alarm to keep the building secure when closed.
  • continuous cycle of maintenance checks to make sure our building is safe for everyone to use.
  • complete refurbishment of Nursery's outside classroom and playground. Children were enjoying learning and playing with the amazing new facilities this morning.
  • renewal of the Kitchen Garden - thanks to PTFA funding - new giant cloche polytunnel, pond re-lined and chicken pen reinforced against foxes.
  • make-over for Nursery's dining area, including acoustic ceiling panels to deaden noise - good for staff and all pupils, especially those with a sensory special educational need.
  • acoustic ceiling panels for the main Dining Hall to deaden noise at lunchtimes and After-school club - again to especially help those pupils with a sensory special educational need.
  • new storage furniture for all classrooms to help teachers and pupils keep rooms tidy and organised, in the same consistent way from teacher to teacher. Teachers are already reporting better organisation and classroom routines.

 

We welcome new teaching staff - Jackie Renault, Jessica Odogwu, Dorcus Talakini, Shaz Ahmed (moving into a class teacher role) and Ruth Gleeson. They started their induction with us before the school holidays and continue to be supported by their teams and looked after by senior staff.

 

Our consistent cycles week-to-week, term-to-term and year-to-year remain mostly unchanged. Please check the school calendar, latest news, weekly bulletin and/or year group noticeboards for:


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